Lib Novel Page 37
“Dear God, I’m going to die!” Zoe cries out, and I’m about to throat punch someone if they don’t give my Zoe what she needs.
“Here, why don’t we try the ball while your husband rubs your back, okay?”
Zoe doesn’t correct the nurse when she calls me her husband.
And neither do I.
Maybe the world did flip over today after all because just an hour ago I’d run out screaming if someone called me the word that up until now shared a spot with pineapples on my “top hated” list.
In case you didn’t know, I’m allergic to it and break out in hives when I eat it. Yet now I’m waiting for her to call me that again.
Yep, the world is about to end.
The next hour is spent just like that. Zoe on the ball, me rubbing her back and it does seem to work a little. The contractions are close, but the first baby seems to be stuck in the wrong place—or something like that. So, we are trying to twist and turn Zoe so the baby moves, each time with a whole lot of pain for my girl.
“Matteo, I need some water,” Zoe whispers, and of course the useless hag is not here when we actually need her.
“I’ll go get you some.” I kiss her sweaty forehead and take off, looking for a vending machine or a cafeteria when I come to a screeching halt at the scene in the waiting room.
“What the fuck is this?” I extend both of my hands toward the seven elderly members of Loverly Cave—my own mother amongst them—who are sitting right there, a blanket in the middle of them with sandwiches, fruit, and fucking cookies laid out neatly as if they are having a picnic! “Are you out of your minds? Wait, what am I asking…of course you are.” I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“Well, we are going to be stuck here for hours, might as well eat,” Fanny says and takes another bite of her sandwich like it’s a completely normal thing to do.
“Oh, Matteo!” My mom jumps up right away, running to me and cupping my face in both of her hands and the second I see that too-sweet smile on her face I know I’m in for it. “Where did I go wrong in this life?”
Here we go…
“Apparently, at every corner if my only son doesn’t think to call his own mother and put her out of her misery thinking she raised a manwhore.”
“Jesus, mom.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. Again. “Tell me how you really feel.”
“Oh, I’ll tell you.”
“Can it wait? I’m kind of in the middle of something here.”
“Yep. I’ll just be right here, eating this garden sandwich with the knife in my back.” Leave it to my mom to make this life-changing day about her…why not?
She pats the wrinkles out of my shirt. “How is it going? Is my favorite grandchild that I will raise much better than you, here yet?”
“Wrong question, Willa,” a grumpy, threatening voice sounds from behind me, and I swear a chill runs through my body. I turn around to see a pregnant Joy Levine glaring at me, with her arms crossed at her chest while her fiancé, Jacob is rubbing her back and giving me a I’m sorry, man look.
“The real one is what the hell are you doing here? And go tell that nutwit at the reception that you are leaving so I can go in and be with my friend.”
“Wildflower, you need to calm down.” Jacob tries to coax her, but she only gets more fired up.
“I need to calm down?” She points to her chest and then redirects it at mine. “He has no business being in there! Zoe needs me and they won’t let more than one person to go in.”
Hope and Grace, her sisters, try to calm Joy as she keeps yelling and threatening the whole hospital if they don’t let her in. Come to think of it, there are a lot of people over here.
“The hell I don’t!” comes out a lot harsher than I thought it would. “I’m the father! So, you all can go home or sit here quietly and wait.”
Dead silence fills just now a very noisy waiting room as all eyes descend upon me.
“What did you just say?” Joy asks slowly.
“I don’t have time for this right now,” I snap. “Zoe needs water.” I start moving but before I can turn around, a hard fist connects with my jaw and a little crunching sound echoes around us as I feel the coopery tang of my blood over my lip.
Who the fuck just punched me? Pressing my hand to my mouth I turn my head and see an older guy standing there, his nostrils flaring, his hand still balled into tight fist as he glares at me before thrusting a water bottle into my hands. “Go give this to my daughter, then come out so I can hit you a few more times.”