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Chapter Thirteen

“ W hattaya mean she’s in labor?” Ian knew that was a stupid question to ask Devon , who was on the jet’s phone with Kristen , but he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Apparently , he hadn’t kept his voice down because everyone in the cabin was now awake and staring at him.

It wasn’t supposed to happen that way—he should be by Angie’s side every second until after Little Bit came into the world.

He’d promised her he’d be there. While she’d understood his need to fly twenty hours away to the Philippines , it still didn’t make him feel any less guilty.

He’d been torn between the two women who meant the most to him in the entire universe.

One’s life had been in danger, while the other was bringing a new life—his child—into the world.

He jumped to his feet and began searching for where he’d left his cell phone in the area behind several rows of first-class-style seats, which was designed to look like a living room. It even had a built-in bar, and right now, he could use a stiff drink. “ Shit , where the hell is my phone?”

“ It’s in your thigh pocket,” Devon responded, “but don’t call her, she’s having a contraction.

And calm down. She hasn’t been in labor for long, they’re at the hospital, and everything’s fine.

Kristen says it’s going to be at least several hours— Angie’s barely dilated.

Egghead , patch him into Kristen’s Skype .

She has her iPad, and this way he can see Angie while he talks to her.

That should keep him from punching a hole in the ceiling and sending us crashing into the ocean. ”

Thrusting his hands into his hair, Ian glared at Devon as he started to pace.

The wise ass shouldn’t throw stones in a glass house.

He’d been freaking out much worse than Ian was now when Kristen had gone into labor with JD , since that’d finally happened after several false alarms. But this was the real thing with Angie .

They wouldn’t have admitted her if it wasn’t, right? “ This can’t be fucking happening!”

When he pivoted once more to go back in the other direction, he stopped short when he came face to face with his mother. She patted his chest. “ She’s going to be fine—she’s a strong woman, and the female sex has been doing this since the beginning of time.”

“ I know.” She has to be okay. “ How ... how long before ...” A lump formed in his throat, and he swallowed hard. “ I wanted to be there, but there’s no way we’ll—”

“ Ian , stop. It could be a few hours, or it could be much longer. I was in labor with you for twenty-seven hours.”

“ What ?” His mouth gaped as he stared at her in disbelief. How had he not known that? “ Seriously ?”

She chuckled. “ Yes , seriously. Your father was such a basket case, they almost had to sedate him.”

“ She’s making that up,” Chuck retorted, but the smile on his face belied his statement.

“ All right, maybe I was a little nuts, but that was because you, boy, weren’t easy on your mother.

At least Devon , John , and Nick were much faster.

Nick was the longest labor next to you, and he was out within six hours. ”

“ That’s because he weighed the most out of all of you and the fact I hadn’t been pregnant in years.” Nick had been a surprise pregnancy, nine years after John had been born, since their parents had thought they were done having children.

“ Hey , Boss -man, I’ve got Ang on Skype .”

After giving his mother a swift kiss on the cheek, Ian hurried over and took the laptop and seat Brody offered him.

In his rush, he fumbled the computer. Brody snatched it before it hit the floor and handed it back to him.

“ Chill and channel your inner Dom —she doesn’t need to see you freaking out. ”

Knowing his friend was right— Ian had to be calm and strong for Angie —he took a few deep breaths.

A pair of noise-cancelling headphones had been plugged into the laptop, and he put them on to drown out the jet’s white noise and the few conversations taking place.

The video feed was bouncing around while he waited for Angie to come into view.

Kristen’s voice filtered through. “ Hang on a sec, Ian .”

Finally , his wife was there, looking more beautiful than ever but a bit upset. Her eyes were red, and her face had a sheen of perspiration. Her long, blonde hair was up in the ponytail he loved to tug on when they were scening. “ Hey , Angel , can you hear me?”

“ Ian , I’m sorry—”

Her sob and sudden tears almost ripped him to shreds.

“ Hush . There’s nothing to be sorry about.

You can’t control Mother Nature —trust me, I’ve tried on many occasions.

” Just not in terms of procreation. “ If Little Bit decides to come into the world before I get there, then I’m going to stay with you on here for the entire time and watch and coach you as best I can, okay? ”

The video tilted a little as she wiped her eyes with a tissue. “ Okay .”

“ So , give me a sit-rep. Is Monique there yet?” She better be .

Angie shook her head. “ Not yet, but she’ll be here in a little while.

The nurse told her I’ll be in labor for hours, so she’s getting some more sleep but said to call her if I start to progress.

I’m only two centimeters dilated, and the baby’s heart rate is good.

The contractions are still about fourteen minutes apart. ”

“ What do they feel like?” He wanted to know everything she was experiencing.

The wonder of giving birth was the most special gift God had given women—men couldn’t handle it, of that Ian was certain after watching Angie’s body change and react over the past nine months as Little Bit grew inside her.

Give Ian and his teams a mission, they had it covered.

Make one of them push something the size of a peanut out their cocks, yeah, they’d be screaming and begging for morphine.

Make it the size of an orange, and C -sections would’ve been performed for every delivery since ancient times.

And , God forbid, they had to give birth to a baby the size of a watermelon, like Angie would be doing soon, because the human race would’ve been extinct not long after it’d been created.

“ In terms you can relate to? Right now, it feels like my nipples were moved to my lower back and you just took off a set of clamps.” He chuckled at her analogy.

“ Trust me, I’ll let you know when the urge to castrate you hits.

And I’m warning you now, do not even think of tallying up my curse words for future punishments or money for the swear jar, because I have a feeling I’m in for pain like I’ve never felt before. ”

“ I wish I could take the pain from you, Angel . Don’t worry about cursing—hell, you can curse me if you need to—you get a free pass for the next few days. I love you.”

“ I love you too.” She paused. “ Is your mom awake? Is she up to talking? I’d like to say hi before the next contraction.”

“ Yeah , she just sat down next to me. Hang on.” Removing the headphones, he gave them to his mother and turned the laptop, so she could see Angie . “ Talk normal—she’ll hear you.”

Once she had the headphones on, Marie waved at the laptop’s camera. “ Hi , sweetie. How are you? I’m so sorry Ian’s not there, but thanks to technology, it’s almost like he’s there.”

He put his arm around his mother as the two women chatted for a moment.

Having lost her own parents in her early twenties, Angie had developed a close bond with Chuck and Marie over the past few years, and they often talked on the phone.

On more than one occasion, Angie had mentioned she’d gotten lucky in the in-law department and loved when his parents visited.

His mother tapped his leg. “ Tell Nick , Jake , Devon , and your dad to come here a minute, please. Chuck and I have something we want to tell all of you.”

Ian’s eyes narrowed, but he did as he was told.

Once the four men joined them, Marie looked back at the screen.

She still had the headphones on. “ We were going to announce this when we got home but might as well do it now. Dad and I are going to be semi-retiring over the next few months.” Ian’s eyebrows weren’t the only ones to shoot upward.

“ We’ve been talking about this for a year or so now and think it’s time.

Chuck has a good executive board in place, and I’ll be continuing with my charity work only.

I’ve already advised my partners that I’ll be leaving the practice.

And ... we’ll be moving to Tampa or Clearwater by the end of the year.

Our whole family is in Florida , and at our age, that’s where we want to be—with our family.

If that’s okay with all of you, of course. ”

“ Of course!” The sentiment was unanimous among her sons and son-in-law, and as far as Ian could tell, Angie had agreed as well.

Ian reached out and shook his father’s hand. “ It’s about damn time, Dad . When are you getting the fishing boat you’ve been talking about forever?”

A wink preceded Chuck’s response. “ It’s already in the works. And I already have one of my top agents looking for an apartment or townhouse for us. We don’t need a huge house anymore.”

“ Whoops ,” Marie declared, taking off the headphones. “ Hang on, sweetie. I’m giving you back to Ian so you can curse the day he was born to him.”

“ What do you mean the labor stalled?” Angie asked Monique at the same time Ian did via Skype .

She’d been having contractions every thirteen or fourteen minutes for several hours, but now they were coming about twenty-five minutes apart and not as strong.

The nurse had contacted her obstetrician, and she’d come to the hospital immediately. “ What —is that bad for the baby?”