Page 15 of Home for Nathan (Secret Springs)

Chapter

Fourteen

“ N o!” Nathan shook his head, horrified. “No way.” He stared into Zion’s eyes. “I want cake!”

“Well, it just so happens your midwife is here.” Devon, who ran the local birth center, bustled over, laughing.

“I think we can probably monitor you here. There’s very little risk of infection if you just sit and be social and eat cake.

And then we can move down the mountain to the birthing center in a bit. ”

“I’m a mess,” Nathan whispered, and suddenly his mom was there, and Zion’s mom too.

They surrounded him and shuffled him off to a room, Charlie leading the way, drying his tears and finding him towels and clothes. The moms helped him get changed and cleaned up, both of them chattering and happy, just being excited for him, which helped a little bit.

“Did I ruin Zion’s shoes?”

Zion’s mom rolled her eyes. “I will buy him more shoes. If he says a word about it, I will hit him with a rock.”

That made him tear up again. “You’re good to me.”

She patted his hand. “Of course I am. We’re all family.”

His mom nodded. “Yes, and we’re all going to be fine. There’s plenty of leftovers. You’re going to come out here, you’re going to have some cake. Smile and nod. Then there’s going to be a baby.”

“It’s a little early…” But he was big as a house and so he didn’t think it was going to be the worst thing ever, honestly, to just go ahead and have this baby.

Everyone was still wandering around a little bit in shock, he thought by the time he got back out dressed in clean clothes. “I’m sorry, guys.”

There was a chorus of don’t-worries and it’s-all-rights and come-have-a-seats, and finally he was sitting next to his husband who he hoped didn’t hate him.

He reached out. “I’m so sorry.”

Zion blinked at him. “For what?”

“For ruining your wedding.” Silly man.

“What?” Zion’s eyes went wide, and his husband kissed him hard enough to make him dizzy.

“This is the best story ever! Are you kidding? You know how many times you’re going to be able to tell this tall tale?

Hundreds. Absolutely hundreds of times.” Zion beamed at him, rubbed their noses together.

“And it’s late enough in the day that the chances are that the baby’s birthday will be tomorrow, and so we can have our anniversary and then the birthday. ”

“Okay…” That was important?

“It means we can go out for our anniversary and not miss the baby’s birthday. It’ll be fabulous.”

Nathan blinked at Zion, who possibly was on speed. “You’re excited?”

“Are you kidding? Our baby is coming. We’re going to get to meet Rachel soon. You’re going to get your belly back soon. We’re going to get to hold her soon, and we’re married. I’ve never been married before.”

Nathan’s lips twisted. “Me either.”

“Well, see? It’s rad. We’re amazing, you and me.” Zion laughed, the sound a little wild, but so, so happy. “I love you.”

“Oh, God, I love you too. And I’ve been a little crampy all day, but I didn’t want to ruin things.”

“Babe, this is the best.”

“We brought the cake to you guys.” Charlie and Ryan, who worked at the hotel in catering, wheeled a huge cake over on a rolling table.

“It’s so beautiful.” He sniffled, his heart about to burst.

“It is.” Zion leaned down and kissed the top of his head. “Not as beautiful as you, though. Not even close.”

His cheeks burned, and he beamed. “Thank you.”

A cramp started, deep in his back and rolling over to draw up over his belly. Oh, that was…uncomfortable.

Devon had a stopwatch out and had one eye on him.

He firmed his lips up. “Cake.”

“Cake!” Saul presented him with a gorgeous silver cake cutter that looked antique. “You and Zion need to cut the first piece. No smashing.”

“That’s tacky,” he and Zion said together.

They had so many things in common, and that was one of them.

They cut the cake, the filling a deep rich chocolate with a luscious pecan filling in between the layers.

Damn, that was gorgeous.

He fed Zion the first bite, then Zion fed him, the phones snapping photos wildly. It was perfect.

Well, except for the contractions.

Those sort of sucked big hairy monkey balls.

But he ate all his cake. He watched some of the dancing. He observed the dogs make what seemed to be an organized effort to steal a whole brisket…

They failed.

He winced as hard contraction pushed at him, pulled at him. Ow.

“Okay.” Devon called it. “Time to head down. It’s going to start snowing soon, and we need to go while the roads are still pretty clear.”

“But…we’ll be able to get home after, right? Someone will clear the roads? What about my go bag? The outfit the baby is wearing home? What about?—”

Dad smiled at him. “I’ll go get the bag and bring it down.”

“The baby will be able to go home,” Mark told him. “You’re nowhere as high as this monstrosity of a house.”

Zion nodded and stood. “I’ll get our coats. Can we ride down with you, Devon? I’ll give our folks the keys, and they can get all the things from the house and bring them to us.”

Everything was just happening, all around them.

“Of course.” Devon gave him a reassuring smile.

“We’ll take Torah, too,” Zion’s mom came to kiss his cheek. “You don’t worry about anything. Jeb and I have this.”

“Thanks, Momma.” Her name was Kelly, but she’d been firm. If his mom was Mom, she was Momma.

“Of course. Go on, get settled, and we’ll be there in short order.” She hugged him quickly. “We’ll have to pick her out some Christmas dresses, our sweet Rachel.”

His mom nodded and bundled him into his coat. “Go on, baby.”

Yes. Baby.

His back spasmed again, and he panted softly, as the contraction took him. “Oh. Oh, my.”

“I know. I’ll just feel more comfortable with you down the hill at the center.” Devon moved him toward the bright orange Jeep with the wide wheelbase, a baby rattle dangling from the rearview mirror. “There’s the big tub, surround sound, everything you’ll need.”

“I saw. When I did the tour with Raven.” He smiled, or tried to. Wow, he was in it to win it all of the sudden.

“No slipping, love.” Zion was right there, helping him into the Jeep, then sliding into the back seat, rubbing the back of his neck. “We’ll be down in no time.”

“Sure.” He sucked in a breath as another contraction yanked at him.

“I’ll drive like a super careful maniac,” Devon assured them.

Sure enough, they arrived at the birthing center in amazing time, but without a single issue, and Devon and Zion hustled him into the building, where Raven was already setting up a room for them.

“Sorry I missed the wedding,” Raven said, a little breathless. “I was with another client.”

“How’s Millie?” Devon asked, easing him into the most comfortable chair he’d sat in since he’d gotten so big.

“She’s doing great. She really held up like a trooper,” Raven said.

He and Devon went on to discuss quite a bit of stuff, but to be perfectly honest, Nathan missed it.

He was hurting pretty badly, and all he could do was look at Zion, the green flecks and the gold glint in those hazel eyes holding his attention.

He really hoped the baby didn’t look like her bio donor, and that maybe somehow or another, by some miracle, she had hazel eyes. He thought Zion’s were the most beautiful he’d ever seen.

“You’ve got this, babe,” Zion told him. “I’m right here. All you need to do is hold on to my hands, and Devon and Raven and I will do everything we can to make this easy.” That worried smile was so sweet.

“We absolutely will.” Devon had the best voice when it came to something like this.

It wasn’t scary and medical, but it wasn’t strident and happy and super joy-joy.

It was just calm and reassuring, and Nathan let it soothe him, especially when the cramps really took him.

He was afraid that he was going to just explode.

“Are you feeling good where you are?” Devon asked. “Or do you want to go sit in the pool for a little while?”

“Will that help? I’m really having muscle contractions in the worst way, and I don’t know if I’m supposed to be ready to push anytime soon, or what.” Shouldn’t he know more at this point?

“Well, first, let me get you laid back on this chair so I can check how far along you are with your dilation. We’ll see what we see.”

“All right.” Yes, he could do that. The whole idea sounded like something he could handle. He liked to have data. He liked to have a plan. He was a weaver after all. Nathan made patterns, so that worked for him.

“Good deal. All right, Zion, I’m going to need you to move over here to the side, and then I’m just going to move the chair back and lay it out.

We’ll put a sheet underneath you, Nathan, so that you feel perfectly comfortable with opening up wide and letting us clean you up a little bit while we look. ”

They had washed him up after his water broke, but before he had cake. Still, he understood what they meant. He was a little gooey. There was a big goo factor to this whole business.

“Oh, you’re just progressing right along, aren’t you?” Devon hummed softly, and Nathan wasn’t sure exactly what that meant.

So he just was going to assume that meant things were good. Progressing was good, right?

“This progressing thing is good, right?” Zion asked, and he loved it, because he didn’t feel as if he was the stupid one.

Devon just chuckled. “Yes. You’re doing fine. Perfectly normal.”

Oh, that was a relief. “Do you think it’ll be soon?”

Contractions were not as fun as they were rumored to be.

“It’s hard to tell, but you’re moving along nicely, so I’m going to say, it’s what? Six o’clock? Let’s say that by tomorrow morning, there will be a baby.”

“Tomorrow morning?” Wow. “That’s okay.”

He’d be ready by then.

“So I think you should get settled. The pool is open. You can just soak. We could have the lights however makes you comfortable. There’s a television if you would like to watch TV, music. This is your birth day experience. We’re really just here to give you what you need.”

Give him what he needed. Like he knew. This was his first time.

They left, so he and Zion stared at each other, blinking and dazed.

“So…this is the last time we will ever not be dads,” he murmured. “It’s kind of exciting, isn’t it?”

Zion looked at him, so serious for a scary second, then he smiled. “Yeah.”

“Are you ready?”

That earned him a laugh and a shake of the head. “Nope. Not even a little bit.” Zion stroked his hair off his forehead. “No. But I’m excited. It’s better than any kind of trick that I did on my board, more important than winning any medal.”

Nathan honestly couldn’t think of anything more dear, or of anything he wanted to hear more. “Thank you, babe. I promise. I’ll make you happy.”

Zion laughed, kissing his forehead. “My love, you already do. Let’s have our baby, okay?”

Yeah, that sounded like a great idea.