Free Attainment (The Temptation Series) by K.M. Golland Page A

to kiss the spot where my hand
had just been, apologising for breaking the ‘no patting rule’. This seems to do
the trick because she smiles meekly at me.
    “Your contractions are three minutes apart and lasting just
over one minute long,” Kate explains. “I’m going to check how dilated your
cervix is now, then we will discuss an epidural.”
    Alexis nods.
     I nod, too. At this point in time, I think I’ll nod at
anything being said. Nodding is good.
    “Not another one, fffruit cake” Alexis moans, and turns the
shade of a tomato. “I just had one, give me a break.”
    I take a hold of her hand, remembering not to pat her. “Just
breathe, Hunny.”
    “Seriously?” she huffs.
    “That’s what you told Lucy to do.”
    “I know, but its bullshit.”
    “I just thought—”
    “Shut up!”
    Another note to self: shut up.
    “Bryce I’m sorry. I love you. I just don’t like you right
now.”
    “Yes. You do,” I say with an authoritative tone.
    She looks at me with knowing eyes, and mouths with exhausted
defeat, ‘yes I do’.
    I bring her hand to my lips. “I know, Hunny.”
    She nods and closes her eyes during a long exhale.
    Kate positions herself between Alexis’ legs, her expression
one of concentration. “Hmmm, I’m sorry, Dear. But you are nine centimetres
dilated so there will be no epidural,” she explains. “Looks like baby is nearly
ready to meet his or her parents,” Kate offers in compromise, her eyebrow
raised persuasively.
    “His parents,” I reply, overjoyed. “We are having a boy.”
    “Congratulations!”
    “Argh! For the love of fffurry freakin’ ferrets...Where is
Dr. Rainer?” Alexis screams, now clearly stressed and in much more pain, not to
mention tripling her f-bomb replacements.
    “She’ll be here any minute,” Kate reassures her, moving
around the room quickly, collecting towels, mats, a trolley on wheels with
sharp looking implements that curdle my stomach, and a see through crib with an
overhead light.
    Alexis screams out again. “Fuck! I want to push. I want to
push, he’s coming.”
    “Not yet, Alexis, just breathe through it. You can push in a
minute. You’re doing really well.”
    “What happened to not saying fuck, Hunny?”
    “Fuck you! You try pushing a tennis ball out the eye of your
dick and see if you can not say fuck. Fuck!”
    The doors to the birthing suite open, and Dr. Rainer walks
in with gloves and a big smile on her face. “Just in time I see,” she says as
she sits on a stool at the end of the bed. “Bryce, would you like to come and
stand next to me and help deliver your son?”
    Deliver my son? Me? Are you crazy?
    “Sure,” I answer, like it’s something I do on a daily basis.
    Alexis screams out again and pushes, and all I can see as I
stare at her is her mouth moving at a million miles per hour. She looks
angry...and red...and angry. I can’t hear anything she is saying though,
because it’s like someone has just pushed a mute button and removed all sound.
What I can decipher is just how beautiful she is, how amazing and strong she
is, and how much I adore her. I smile at her lovingly; she simply takes my
breath away.
    “Are you smiling at me, Bryce?” she growls, snapping me out
of my adoration and removing the silence.
    “What?” I stutter.
    “I said are you smiling at me? Does this look fucking funny
to you?” she yells .
    Mental note yet again: don’t smile.
    “No. I’m—”
    “Okay, Alexis. I see his head. When I say, I want one big
push and—”
    “Head?”I croak, and take a sneak peek between
Alexis’ legs. The sight before me nearly has me dying of shock. “I can see his
head, Hunny. Push!” I command with over enthusiastic encouragement.
    “No. Not yet,” Dr. Rainer warns and gives me an annoyed
look.
     I ignore it.
    “No. Don’t push,” I add, following her instructions. She is
the doctor after all.
    “When can I push? I want to push. Screw you all, I’m pushing.”
    Dr. Rainer places her