Thank You
Brennan 7 Months later
I wrapped my arms protectively around Leah as she curled up on my lap. We were at the hospital, waiting to hear about Madison. When she went into labor during our in-home movie double date, we had accompanied them to the hospital. Leah wanted to be the first person besides the parents to hold their baby, and Maddie had been okay with it. I bent down to kiss Leah’s forehead as she shifted uncomfortably.
“What’s wrong, baby?” I asked.
“Ugh. There’s so much pressure in my lower back. I can’t get comfortable. And the triplets aren’t helping,” she answered.
“How long have you been feeling like that?”
“For a few hours,” she admitted.
“A few hours?” I repeated, shocked before reaching out to grab the nurse walking by. “I hate to bother you, but as you can see my fiance is pregnant. She’s feeling a lot of pressure. Is there any way we can get her checked out?”
“Of course we can check her out for you, Mr. Morgan.” She looked at Leah. “How far along are you?”
“35 weeks,” I answered before Leah could.
“Alright. Let me go get a wheelchair.”
When she came back a few minutes later, two other women trailed behind her. We carefully got Leah into the wheelchair before they started to wheel her away.
“STOP!” She cried before turning a little to reach back for me. As soon as I took her hand, she relaxed. “Okay, now you can go.”
As we were walking toward a room, a small gush of fluid came from Leah, who immediately groaned as her fingers tightened around mine. She looked up at me with fear in her face.
“Am I in labor?” She asked me.
I nodded as I kissed her hand. “It seems to be so.”
“Don’t leave me.”
“Never.”
After getting her onto a bed, one of the other women bent her leg to check her while I sat next to her, kissing her hand with my eyes glued to hers. She tensed up and I began to murmur softly to her, trying to soothe her.
“Well, Miss — ummm—”
“Morgan,” I told her, smiling at Leah.
“Miss Morgan, you’re 6 centimeters dilated.”
My mouth dropped open as I stared at Leah. “You’re 6 centimeters dilated? Why didn’t you tell me you were having contractions?”
“Because I didn’t think they were contractions!” She snapped before her eyes widened. “I’m sorry.”
I chuckled as I patted her hand. “Yell at me. Scream. I don’t care if you threaten me. I’m still going to be here.”
“I know. I love you.”
“I love you too, baby.” I brushed her hair back. “Try to get some sleep, baby. We have a long night ahead of us.”
She sighed as she nodded. “I’ll try, but I’m not making any promises.”
I started to hum her, trying to make her drowsy enough to fall asleep, which she did an hour later, constantly shifting in an effort to get comfortable. I pulled my phone out to text Joey, letting him know that Leah was also in labor before shooting Caleb a text too, asking him to bring Leah’s bag to the hospital for me. Then I texted Mallory to ask her if she would pick Sugar up from our house and keep her for a few days until we got out of the hospital. I knew it wouldn’t be a big deal, considering that she was already going to be watching Maddie and Joey’s dogs. After receiving replies from Mallory and Caleb, I got up to remove Leah’s shoes and socks before carefully taking her dress off to put a hospital gown on her. After bringing a chair over to the side of her bed, I started to play a movie. As my second movie was winding down, Leah woke up screaming.
“Leah? What’s wrong?”
“I’M HAVING BABIES, YOU DICK!” She screamed.
I took a deep breath before going over to the door, relaxing when I saw two women hurrying toward our room. I went back over to the bed to take her hand again as the women rushed in. One set about checking her again, almost instantly telling the other woman to get a doctor. Leah’s hand gripped mine harder as she started to pant, while her face turned red. She grunted as she held her breath, obviously pushing, which sent me into a nervous frenzy.
“Stop pushing, Leah! The doctor’s not here yet!”
“I can’t,” she bit out, still pushing.
Suddenly, a loud cry rang through the air and I turned my head to look at the bloody baby now in the nurse’s arms as people rushed into the room. The doctor took the nurse’s place between Leah’s legs as the nurse offered to let me cut my son’s umbilical cord. I declined, too terrified that I would mess it up. The baby was handed to someone else while Leah screamed again, gripping my hand even tighter. I breathed out slowly, trying to avoid letting her know how hard she was holding my hand.
“You’re doing great, baby.”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” She yelled.
I fell silent as she continued to bring our babies into the world, letting her angry, pain-caused words roll over me. I wasn’t going to hold it against her. She had no pain meds and this was the worst pain imaginable. When our first daughter started to cry, I brought Leah’s hand to my lips, kissing the back of it as I met her eyes, trying to convey how much I loved her.
“One more, baby. One more. You’re doing wonderful,” I praised.
“SHUT UP OR I WILL STAB YOU!”
I instantly clamped my mouth shut before I pissed her off even more. A half an hour later, a third cry filled the air seconds before Leah collapsed on the bed, panting. I hesitantly reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear, relaxing when she met my eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
I burst out laughing as I kissed her hand again. “I’m not. You are a fucking badass! My future wife is a beast!”
She smiled sleepily as the doctor started encouraging her to push again. “And don’t you forget it.”
A few minutes later, the nurses brought all three babies over to us, carefully positioning two of them in Leah’s arms while our other daughter was placed in mine. I looked down at her before lifting my tear-filled eyes to Leah’s.
“They are perfect.”
She nodded as she gazed lovingly down at them. “They are, aren’t they?”
I nodded as I leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Yes. Thank you, Leah, for giving me everything that I ever wanted. I love you.”
“I love you too, Brennan.”
I settled back in my chair, completely in awe of our little family. As much as I knew I should hate some of what happened between us, I didn’t, because I knew that we needed it. It made me stronger. It made her stronger. But above all, it made ‘us’ stronger. And that was all that mattered in the end.
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