Accidental Surrogate

Sinclair

I sigh, sitting down on the bed next to my mate, giving her a significant look as I humor her. She grabs her phone, eagerly pulling up the clock timer and never taking her other hand off her stomach.

“Okay,” she murmurs, looking down at herself. “Well, this contraction has been over for a little bit,” she looks up at me. “Should we just wait for the next one to start the timer and time between that one and the next?”

I breathe out in a huff, closing my eyes and working very hard to control my anxiety and be patient. “Just start the clock and add two minutes to the time, Ella,” I beg. “Please.”

“Okay,” she says. Then I feel her hand on my cheek and I open my eyes to look down into her sweet, excited face. “It’s going to be okay, Dominic. You heard Hank. I’m strong – there’s no reason to rush off to the hospital yet.”

“There’s no reason not to,” I retort, giving her an even stare. But my little mate just wiggles herself closer to me, pressing herself warm against my side. I lower my head to her hair, my heart still beating fast with anxiety and anticipation, and take a deep breath of her warm scent. She’s right, at least a little – there’s no harm in waiting just a few minutes. As I work on my patience, I hear Ella clicking away on her phone.

“Okay,” she chirps. “I texted Cora she’s up, she says she’ll meet us there when we’re ready. But she says to text her the time between contractions when we’ve got it. She also says it could be false labor,” Ella notes, looking up at me with an interested expression. “Since it’s so early. So, we might be panicking for nothing.”

I murmur something back – I honestly don’t know what and wrap my arm around her, concentrating on being steady next to her, where she needs me. Ella is excited, but deep down I know that she’s anxious as well – how could she not be? Throughout this nightmare of a pregnancy, something’s gone wrong at every turn. I know that, like me, she’s on pins and needles, just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The next few minutes are torture for me. Every instinct in me tells me to get up and move, to prepare, to do something. I could go start the car, have it ready and pointed out to the street so that we can go the moment she’s ready. I could double–check this hospital bag, although Ella’s packed and re–packed it twelve times. I could go rip that ridiculous stairlift right out of the wall, now that we don’t need it anymore,…

That, at least, would give me some satisfaction and burn off some of this anxious energy….

But, despite that impulse, I stay right here by my mate’s side, where she needs me. There’s no place else I’d dare to be.

“Ohhh,” Ella says suddenly, her hand sliding low on her belly as she closes her eyes tightly.” Okay,” she breathes. “I think this is…another one.”

the bed next to her. Eight minutes. “Ella,” I snip,

frowning at the phone. “How

low with warning and anxiety now. “Please we’re going

says, raising her eyebrows at me and putting her feet on the floor. “I think

breathe, leaning close and taking

didn’t think it would hurt this

pounding. I head for the door but she stops me, slapping my shoulder.

she cries, and I spin, squatting down to grab it and then leaping from the room in one swift action. I pound down the hall, eagerly headed for the stairs. As I begin down them, though, Ella gives a sharp gasp and convulses in my arms, freeze, holding her

terrified. But there’s nothing I can do I just hold her until she stops, until she opens her eyes and looks shocked into my

demands. “Put me

Ella

into action, hurrying to the bottom of the stairs where he can put me down. I

of is the blood that I saw all over me on the temple steps when I’d nearly lost the baby, when I

What if –

go horribly wrong –

through me. He places me down steadily on my feet and I

I call, wiping my hand down my legs,

the hall switch. Frantic, I look down at my hand but see …clear.

but it’s clear. I give a frantic little laugh as I