Page 149 of Call You Mine
Jack explains how Georgie called Rumi early this morning when Ava’s water broke, and that I wasn’t home. Rumi andJack called Sadie to watch Evee, and then picked up Ava and Georgie before going to the hospital. Emerson met them there.
“She said that you were back in your hometown, but no one could get a hold of you. I finally started calling the chief, but it was hours before he finally picked up this last time,” Jack explains.
I shake my head, my knuckles turning white with how hard I grip the steering wheel. “He was making sure my mom got home okay and got some sleep after my brother got out of his second surgery.”
“What happened to your brother?” Jack asks.
“He was shot. It’s a long story, one I can’t think about right now. Can I talk to Ava?”
Jack grunts his response before I feel shuffling on the other end, my body feeling restless in the driver’s seat of my car as I wait to hear Ava’s voice.
“The anesthesiologist isn’t done yet, but Rumi will have her call you when he’s done.”
I slam my palm against the steering wheel, my jaw ticking with how tightly I’m trying to hold on to my composure.
An hour goes by before my phone rings, and I answer on the first ring. “Hello?”
“Hi.”
The relief I feel at the sound of her voice is both euphoric and excruciating.
“I’m sorry, love.” Tears stream down my face, making it hard to see the road in front of me. “I’m so sorry.”
“Where are you?” she asks, and she sounds tired, like she can’t even muster up the anger she probably has toward me. “How’s Auggie?”
“He’s fine. Don’t worry about him right now,” I say, trying to keep my voice light, even with how heavy I feel. I’m about twenty minutes away from the hospital, but I won’t find anysemblance of relief until I have my wife in my arms. “Are you okay?”
Ava sighs. “I’m much better. Labor is no joke,” she says, and I feel my lips curve.
“Jack said you got the epidural.”
“I needed to. The stuff we practiced wasn’t working, but I’m feeling much better now. The doctor came in a little bit ago, and I’m still only three centimeters dilated, so it’ll still be a little while before it’s time to push.”
My lungs fill with air for the first time since my uncle called me last night. I still feel absolutely horrible that I missed as much of Ava’s labor that I did, but at least I have some time before the baby comes.
I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself if I missed my daughter’s birth.
Thank fuck I can still make it.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can, love. I promise,” I say, my voice cracking.
“I know.”
I wipe the tears from my cheeks. “I love you.”
“I love you t?—”
Beeping begins on the other line, the kind that immediately raises your heart rate and goes straight to your nervous system. “Ava? Ava, are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here,” she says over the beeping, but there are other voices, and I can practically hear the chaos ensuing in the room.
“Ava!” I slow down, pulling over on the side of the highway. It’s not safe for me to keep driving, not when I can hear all the beeping and muffled voices I can’t make out over the shuffling.
“Ava, please!” I yell into my car speakers, slamming my car into park.
More shuffling and then she finally says, “Something’s wrong.”
And then the line goes dead.
