Sea of Dreams (The American Heroes Series Book 2) (47 page)

“No worries. I’ll be here when you get back.”

He kissed her again and pushed himself off the bed. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

He winked at her as he slipped out the French doors to his waiting truck.  The little girls heard him leave and tried to run after him, but Blakesley stopped them.  Unhappy, they pouted and jumped on her bed until she turned cartoons on.  With the little ones drifting off to sleep in her arms in the mid afternoon, Blakesley settled back on the bed and waited for the Braxton Hicks contractions to subside.

***

When Beck returned home a couple of hours later, he had no idea what he was walking in to.

He came in through the back door with Lizzie and the little girls were in the kitchen with Nikki, who had started dinner.  Nikki had never said more than two words to Beck the entire time she had known him, so it was odd for her to go out of her way to speak to him.  She literally blocked his path as he walked in the door.

“Mr. Seavington,” she said hesitantly. “Blakesley… she wouldn’t let me call you, but I think something is wrong.”

His brow furrowed. “Wrong? What do you mean?”

Nikki pointed to the bedroom. “The baby, I think.”

Beck bolted. The master bedroom door was closed and he tried not to charge in, but it was difficult.  As it was, he startled Blakesley, who was lying all curled up on her side, facing away from him and watching television. Eyes wide with fright, Beck went around the side of the bed and fell to his knees beside her.

“Baby?” he grasped her hand. “What’s wrong?”

Blakesley looked pale. She squeezed his hand. “Damn Nikki,” she hissed. “Did she call you?”

He shook his head. “No, she didn’t call me,” he was bordering on panic. “What’s the matter?”

She looked at him and sighed heavily. “I wanted to wait until you got back before making any decisions,” she said, grunting as she rolled on to her back, “but the contractions have gotten worse.”

He visibly paled. “Did you call the doctor?”

She nodded. “About an hour ago. He told me to drink some water to make sure I’m hydrated, because dehydration can cause cramping, and then wait a little while to see if they go away.”

“Have they gone away?”

“No,” she shook her head. “I need to call him again but I didn’t want to do anything until you got here.”

Beck grabbed her cell phone next to the bed and went through her phone log, dialing the doctor’s office.  The exchange answered and Beck calmly but forcefully explained who he was and what he wanted.  The exchange took his number and promised to have the doctor call him back shortly.  Beck hung up the phone, put his hands on his hips, and studied his wife with concern.

“They’re going to have the doctor call me,” he said. “Is there anything else we can do?”

She shook her head and closed her eyes, tired. “Not right now,” she said softly. “I had Braxton Hicks contractions a lot with the girls. They never amounted to anything which is why I wasn’t worried.  But they’ve been really strong over the past hour, like they’re getting worse.”

He watched her, brow furrowed, feeling helpless and sick to his stomach.  “Were any of the girls born early?”

She nodded. “Cadee was three weeks early.”

“But this baby would be almost four weeks early. Oh, my God, I can’t even say that without feeling sick. I’m not ready for him to be born yet.”

Blakesley opened her eyes, seeing his tense expression. She could tell he was starting to get worked up and she patted the bed beside her.

“Lay down with me,” she begged softly.  “Tell me about your trip to Afghanistan. I want to hear about this general who took thirty million dollars in exchange for my husband.”

He didn’t hesitate. Kicking off his shoes, he carefully lay down beside her and with extreme care, cuddling up with her. Blakesley snuggled against him, feeling comfort with his strength.  She’d missed it terribly.

He was worried and edgy, but he told her what he could of his mission to Afghanistan.  Blakesley lay still and quiet in his arms, listening, and it took him a few minutes to realize that her hands, resting on his arm, were digging in to his flesh with regularity.  He began to notice and it distracted him from his story.  He told her about the harsh conditions, of eating local food that gave him the runs, and was in the process of telling her about a particularly hairy helicopter ride when she suddenly dug her nails into his arm and grunted softly.  Stricken, Beck put his hand on her taut belly and began to rub it.

“Colt, you need to stay in there, buddy,” he begged softly. “Stop scaring the crap out of your old man. Your mom and I love you but we’re not ready to meet you yet.”

Blakesley giggled softly as the cell phone rang.  Beck moved so fast to pick it up that he nearly knocked it off the nightstand.  He managed to keep it in his hand as he answered.

Within ten minutes, they were dressed and heading to the hospital.

Chapter Twenty Four

Beck was sitting in the plastic hospital chair, his mouth and chin resting on his folded hands as he watched Blakesley.  She was resting in a hospital bed, in a private labor and delivery room at Scripps Mercy, hooked up to fetal monitors and an I.V..

The ward was quiet, the hour late as he sat, waited and watched. The doctor on-call had hooked Blakesley up to the monitors and took a blood test. He had done an initial exam on her, noting her water hadn’t broken and she wasn’t dilating, but her cervix was thinning out, a sure sign that labor was approaching.  He diagnosed the early stages of labor and wanted to run some tests on the baby before he took the next step. 

So he put Blakesley  in a room hooked up to some monitors and left, with Beck sitting beside his wife, terrified of what was going on but determined not to show it.  He didn’t want Blakesley to see just how worried he was.  With everything he had faced in his lifetime, the death and battles, this was clearly the most frightening, mostly because he was helpless. It was out of his control and he didn’t like that one bit. 

Beck blamed himself, of course. All of the stress he had put on Blakesley with deploying to Afghanistan and his subsequent capture had taken its toll.  Blakesley had so much to deal with in his wake and, as strong as she was, something had to give. He utterly blamed himself. Feeling sad and despondent, he simply hung his head.

Exhausted and in some pain, Blakesley eventually drifted off to sleep but Beck couldn’t sleep.  All he could do was watch his wife every single second as if fearful something would happen if he took his eyes off her.  He had called Marshall on the way over to the hospital, who promised to drive over to the house in the morning and take the girls to school, and Marshall had in turn called Gabrielle. The woman was on duty this night and as Blakesley slept fitfully, she came down from ICU to Maternity.

Beck saw her in the hall as she got off the elevator.  He stood up from his chair and went out into the hall to greet her.  Gabrielle gave him a big hug.

“Thank the Lord you’re back safe,” she said, taking a good look at him. “How are you, baby?”

Beck smiled weakly. “I’m fine,” he said. “No worse for the wear.”

Gabrielle’s smile faded as she studied him. “You sure gave us a scare. You gave your wife a scare.”

Beck sighed sadly. “I’m sure that’s why she’s here,” he said. “All that stress must have triggered this. This is all my fault.”

Gabrielle peered around him, into the room, seeing Blakesley asleep.  “Don’t blame yourself,” she told Beck. “These things happen. Has the doctor been back to see you?”

Beck shook his head. “He’s still running some tests on the baby. He hasn’t come back to talk to us yet.”

Gabrielle nodded. “I read Blakesley’s chart,” she said. “Her vitals look good, so it doesn’t look like she’s in any danger.  The baby’s vitals look good, too.  It’s my guess they’ll just let her go into labor and have the baby.  He’s not too early.”

Beck sighed heavily, closing his eyes as if to ward off the horrifying thought of a premature birth. “Are you sure? She’s not due for another month yet.”

Gabrielle could see how upset he was and she patted him on the arm. “Babies are born this early all of the time,” she assured him. “Don’t worry so much. I’m sure the doctor will be around soon to talk to you.”

Beck just shrugged, not knowing what more to say, when he suddenly heard his name.  Turning around, he could see Blakesley sitting up in the bed and he very quickly went into the room.

“Hi, baby,” he said as he approached the bed. “What’s…?”

Blakesley cut him off. “My water broke,” she said, gripping the sides of the bed. “I just had a huge contraction.”

Startled, Beck looked on the bed and he could see a big wet spot around her pelvis. Everything was soaked. Gabrielle was already buzzing the on-duty nurse as she went to Blakesley and put her arms around her.

“Looks like we’re going to have a baby tonight,” she said cheerfully. “I’d better call Marshall. He’ll want to meet his grandson.”

Beck was still rather dumb struck.  He just stood there and held Blakesley’s hand, not even sure what to say as the on-duty nurse came in, saw what was going on, and swung into action.  Between Gabrielle and the nurse, they put Blakesley into a supine position and the nurse checked to see if Blakesley was dilated.  She was, about three centimeters, and suddenly everyone was all smiles because the baby was on his way.  Everybody but Beck, that is; he stood there, struggling to process everything.

“Wait a minute,” he finally said, concerned. “The baby is early. You have to stop this labor.”

The on duty nurse grinned; her name was Kelli and she had been a Labor and Delivery nurse for twenty years. She could see how rattled the man was, but she’d dealt with a lot of rattled fathers in her time.

“Commander Seavington,” she said calmly. “The tests on the baby have come back fine. His lungs are developed, his heart rate is good, and there’s no reason to stop the labor.  Everything will be fine. We’ll call your wife’s doctor and let him know what’s going on.”

So that was it. Colt was coming whether or not Beck was ready for him.  When Beck realized he was going to be a father that night, he looked at Blakesley with some shock.  He kissed her hand and caressed it.

“How do you feel?” he asked her, worried. “Okay?”

Blakesley saw how apprehensive he was. “I’m fine,” she assured him. “Please sit down and relax.  This shouldn’t take too long.”

He looked terrified. “Why do you say that?”

She grinned at his expression. “Because my labor with Charlotte was only four hours,” she said. “We should be holding Colt by midnight.”

Beck’s eyebrows lifted with astonishment.  He started to grab around for the chair. “Oh, my God,” he breathed. “I have to sit down. I don’t know if I’m ready for this.”

Blakesley laughed softly. “Baby, it’s okay. It’ll be fine.”

“But… I’ve never seen a baby born before. Well, I mean I have never seen a child of mine born. I wasn’t around when Lizzie was born. She was two months old when I first saw her, all pink and perfect and pretty.”

Blakesley lifted a serious eyebrow. “You realize that the stork doesn’t deliver them that way, right?”

He fought off a grin at her teasing. “No shit?”

“No shit.”

“You’re a smart ass, you know that?”

“Maybe so, but at least I’m not crying over the thought of a little bit of blood.”

Beck broke down into soft laughter, holding Blakesley’s hand and kissing it. Suddenly, he seemed a lot more relaxed than he had just moments earlier.  Blakesley was laughing because he was.  He seemed a little slap-happy.

“I swear,” he shook his head, “put me on the field of battle and I can take anything thrown at me. Battle wounds, guts hanging out, bullets flying over my head… you name it, I can take it. I’m still standing when others fall around me. But having a baby… I feel like an idiot.  I feel like I’m going to vomit.”

Blakesley kept laughing. “Buck up, Seavington.  You can do this. Just breathe and push.”

He stood up from the chair, leaned over, and kissed her.  “You just tell me what you need me to do and I’ll do it,” he murmured, kissing her again. “But weren’t we supposed to take childbirth classes for this?”

“Uh... you were in Afghanistan. You couldn’t make the classes.”

“That’s an affirmative.”

“No worries. I’ll coach you through this. But if you don’t do it right, I’ll yell at you.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Are you in, then?”

“I’m in, baby. All the way in.”

“Actually, I think that’s what put us in this situation in the first place.”

He laughed at her. She was in rare form, happy that Colt was on his way and thrilled that Beck would be at her side to experience it.  He was fine, too, laughing and joking with her for about the first hour until the contractions became progressively stronger. The laughter faded after that but Blakesley was still rolling with the contractions, still in good spirits, as Beck fed her pieces of ice and her regular doctor finally showed up.  The man did a quick ultrasound to make sure the baby was in the correct position and he was, already engaging in the birth canal.

 By the beginning of the third hour of labor, the contractions were starting to come fast and heavy, and Blakesley had entered the realm of misery.  Gabrielle came down from ICU and spent a few moments holding Blakesley’s hand, comforting her when the strong contractions would hit, and braiding her long hair to keep it out of the way.  Very quickly, the pains became very strong and very hard and Blakesley was having some difficulty breathing through them.  But she managed, keeping her cool, focusing on what she needed to do to bring the baby into the world.

Although this was a new world for Beck, he was deeply impressed with Blakesley’s tolerance and demeanor. He could see on the monitor that her contractions were peaking at nearly 100% but she never let out more than a soft grunt. She breathed and remained focused, and Beck held her hand the entire time, telling her how well she was doing and how much he loved her. It was a bonding experience beyond anything he could have imagined, this woman whom he loved with all his heart and soul, giving birth to his child.  He’d never known that kind of connection existed and it made him feel a part of her like he had never felt with anyone else.