Chapter Eighteen

In the early morning hours of October tenth, Karli woke from a deep sleep and nudged Jordan’s shoulder.

“Baby,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Hmm,” came the sleepy response.

“No. The baby. I think I’m in labor,” she told him, her pitch rising as the next contraction almost stole her breath away.

“And I think my water just broke.”

Jordan went from mostly asleep to wide awake in an instant, scrambling for his watch.

“Tell me when this one is over, okay? And breathe, honey. In through your nose and out through your mouth,” he directed, moving around the room to get dressed and grab her hospital bag.

“It’s gone,” Karli said, and motioned to him to help her sit up and maneuver to the side of the bed. “But I think another one’s pretty close behind it.”

When the subsequent contraction began, she panted, “Now,” and he noted the time then coached her breathing through it.

“A little under five minutes apart,” he calculated once it had passed. “I think we need to get going.”

She nodded, holding still while he slipped her shoes onto her feet, then helped her stand.

Two more contractions happened between the bedroom and the truck, with Karli clutching his hand through each.

“Jordan.”

“Yes, honey?”

“We might want to hurry,” she said.

Jordan drove as fast as he safely dared to, then threw the transmission into park at the patient drop-off zone.

He leapt out of the truck and ran around to her side to bodily pick her up and carry her into the emergency entrance. A quick sign-in while an attendant brought forth a wheelchair, and away to the birthing suites they went.

As soon as she was wheeled into the room, Karli laughed.

“Wow,” she said. “How bizarre. You weren’t kidding. That is one big mirror.”

“I’m on it,” Jordan assured her, and rummaged up an extra blanket to drape over it.

***

She had waved off pain medications, determined to see a natural childbirth all the way through. Twenty-three hours later, after some of the worst pain she’d ever experienced, it was finally time to push.

“Come on, Karli, just one more,” Doctor Hollard urged, and she strained with all her might, yelling through gritted teeth as she braced against Jordan’s chest.

For a split second there was an immense silence, and then the most beautiful sound Karli had ever heard – her daughter sucking in a lungful of air, then wailing.

“She’s here, honey,” Jordan murmured in Karli’s ear as tears streamed down his cheeks. “She’s here. And she’s beautiful.”

Karli slumped back against him, exhilarated and exhausted.

Hollard deftly handed the newborn to his nurse, who promptly weighed and measured the baby and cleaned her up a bit, then wrapped her in a tiny pink blanket and brought her to Karli.

“Here you go, Mommy,” the woman said with a warm smile as she lay the baby in Karli’s arms. “She is beautiful. Congratulations!”

***

A little while later, once the aftermath had been tidied up and the doctor and nurse had left, Jordan sat on the edge of the bed, cradling the infant in his muscular arms and talking to her in his low murmur.

Karli smiled as she watched them together, the baby’s expression serene but occasionally smiling at Jordan as he spoke.

“You’re the most gorgeous little baby ever,” he crooned. “Our little angel.”

“What should we name her?” Karli asked.

“We?”

“Yes, Jordan. We. What should our daughter’s name be?”

He blinked rapidly.

“I like Grace,” he managed to say after a long pause to try to regain his composure.

“Emily Grace,” Karli mentioned, and smiled. “I love that. What do you think?”

Jordan looked up at Karli.

“What do I think? I’m so in love with both of you,” he proclaimed, his voice thick with emotion. “I want us to stay this way forever. Please say you’ll marry me, Karli.”

“Yes,” she answered, beaming with happiness. “Yes, Jordan. I’ll marry you.”

***

Four months later, Jordan and Karli arrived at Madge’s house as scheduled.

“This is gonna be alright, right?” Karli said nervously. “It’s her first time away from us.”

“I’m having trouble with it too, honey,” Jordan admitted. “But it’s gonna be okay.”

“It should be fine,” Madge assured them. “But if you need to, swing on by and check on her in between your running around. Or come pick her up right after dinner. No harm in it. I was a new parent too once, so I know how this feels, guys. It can be a little nerve-wracking the first time.”

“Thanks, Madge,” Jordan said.

They got back into the truck after giving Emily copious kisses on her chubby little cheeks.

“Okay,” Jordan began. “Dinner, and then whatever else you’d like to do on our date.”

Karli turned her head to look at him.

“I already know exactly what I want to do tonight,” she said, toying with the solitaire he had put on the third finger of her left hand.

“Whatcha got?”

“You remember when we were talking that one time about… you know… and you said it’s a big deal, a big step, and it only needed to happen when we were both ready?”

“Yes, I remember.”

Karli leaned across the cab and kissed him, then whispered against his lips, “I’m ready, if you are.”

“Straight back home it is then,” he growled against her mouth.

The way she laughed with delight as he gunned the motor was music to his ears.