The Journey Collection (34 page)

“Yeah, she would have,” Travis agreed, sitting down. “But then, she is pregnant so maybe we can cut her some slack.”

“Yeah, I guess,” he groused.

“Um, Travis.” Looking over, he saw Penelope standing in the doorway to the dining room, one hand pressed against the wooden frame and the other cradling her belly. “I didn’t need to pee.”

“Okay,” he said, slowly. “Come sit down, then.”

“No, I think we’d better get in the truck,” she murmured. “My water broke.”

***

Chapter Ten

A New Life Emerges

Travis stared at Penelope, unsure he’d understood the words that she’d just spoken. Her water had broken. The baby was coming. Taking a deep, ragged breath, he scrambled to his feet, causing his chair to slam back against the wall.

“Oh, my God!” he yelled, almost catapulting over the dining table in an effort to get to his wife. Wrapping one arm around her waist, and placing the other hand on her belly, he cradled her against him. “Are you okay?”

“For now,” she replied with a weak smile. “But we should call Dr. Chan and head to the hospital. You know, since the baby will definitely be coming now.”

Travis nodded and dug his cell phone out of his back pocket. Keeping his arm wrapped around Penelope, he flipped the phone open and scrolled through his contacts until he found Dr. Chan’s number. Since it was Thanksgiving, he debated whether or not he should call his office and try to get to him through his answering service, or if he should use the man’s cell number. After the accident, Dr. Chan had told him to call his cell if needed, but Travis wasn’t sure if he was just being polite or if he meant it. How many doctors give their patients their cell number?

With a subtle shake of his head, Travis made his decision and hit send. The phone rang three times before he heard a click, followed by a muffled “Hello?”

“Um, hello,” Travis muttered. “This is Travis. I mean Travis McCoy. Penelope’s water broke.”

“How long ago?” Dr. Chan asked.

“Five minutes,” he replied. “Maybe seven. I don’t know. I mean, it hasn’t been very long.”

“Travis, stay calm. Everything is going to be all right,” Dr. Chan said. “I’ll meet you at the hospital, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.” He hung up the phone, a feeling of foolishness washing over him for rambling on like a lunatic. “He’s going to meet us at the hospital, so we’d better get going.”

“We’ll follow you,” Nadine told him, draping her arms around Max and giving Travis a look.

“Thank you.” Turning to Penelope, Travis smiled. “Are you ready?”

“As ready as I will ever be,” she mumbled, fear lacing each word.

Travis knew nothing he said right now would help, so he let it drop. Keeping his arm wrapped around her, he led her out of the house and out to the truck, sweeping her off of her feet and placing her in the passenger seat. Once he made sure she had her seatbelt buckled, he closed the door and rushed around and climbed in behind the wheel.

Reaching over, he grabbed Penelope’s hand and brought it to his lips. “Let’s go have a baby.”

“I love you,” she whimpered as a few tears trickled down her face.

“I love you, too.”

Releasing her hand, Travis put on his seatbelt, started the truck, and reversed out of the driveway. A few minutes later, they were on their way to the hospital.

~*~*~*~

By the time Travis pulled up in front of Baptist St. Anthony Hospital, Penelope had had four contractions. When she had the first one, Travis panicked and had started to pull over to the side of the road. One glare from Penelope, however, and he kept going. Once she had breathed through the pain, she explained that the best thing he could do for her right now is get her to the hospital. And that’s exactly what he did.

Shifting into park, Travis looked over at Penelope. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Hurry,” she replied, taking a deep breath.

He threw the door open and attempted to climb out, but when the seatbelt cut into his neck, Travis cursed and slung it off. Travis shook off his humiliation and rushed inside, grabbed a wheelchair and pushed it outside where he’d parked. He had just helped Penelope out when Russ, Nadine, and Max ran up to them.

“You take her on up,” Russ told him. “I’ll park the truck and meet you up there.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Travis muttered, grabbing the back of the wheelchair and pushing her inside.

They had been instructed to head straight up to the labor and delivery floor when the time came, so Travis led them to the elevator. Once the doors slid open, he pushed Penelope inside and tried to calm his racing heart. He could feel the excitement radiating off of Max and Nadine, and knew it rivaled his own. This was the moment that he’d been looking forward to since Penelope whispered in his ear that they were having a baby together. Today, he would get to meet his daughter at last.

“Can I help you?” one of the nurses asked, looking up from the chart she’d been writing in.

“My wife is in labor,” Travis blurted out.

The nurse smiled and looked from him down to Penelope. “Name?”

“Penelope McCoy,” she replied, reaching back and grabbing Travis’ hand. “And here comes another contraction.”

“Breathe, baby,” he said, automatically.

Penelope scoffed but didn’t say anything as she took several deep, calming breaths. Less than a minute later, she released her hold on Travis’ hand. “It’s over.”

“How many have you had?” the nurse asked, picking up a clipboard and coming over to them.

“That was my fifth in an hour.”

“Her water broke, too,” Travis added, feeling his ears redden when the nurse and Penelope looked over at him.

“Okay, well, let’s get you in a room,” she chuckled.

Travis insisted on pushing the wheelchair down to Penelope’s room. Once they were inside, the nurse told them her name was Clara and instructed Penelope to put on the gown she laid out on the bed and stepped outside, giving them a little bit of privacy.

“Wow, all of a sudden this got real,” Penelope murmured, standing up and reaching for the gown.

“Has it not been real for the last thirty-seven weeks?” Travis asked, sliding his hands down the sides of her large stomach and grabbing the hem of her shirt. “Lift your arms.”

She did as she was told and Travis slipped her top off. Laying it on the bed, he noted that she hadn’t bothered to put on a bra this morning.

“I can’t explain it, I guess. I’ve gotten so used to feeling her moving around inside of me. It’s going to be weird to hold her in my arms,” she described.

“I can’t wait,” Travis murmured, helping her take off her pants and panties. Putting them on the bed, he grabbed the pink and white checkered gown and held it up to her. “It feels like I’m dreaming. I want to hold her and kiss her cheeks, tell her how much I love her. Does that make me sound like a wuss?”

Penelope shook her head, dislodging the tears that had been swimming in her eyes. “No. I denied you that chance with Max. I wish I could give you those ten years back, but I can’t. What I can give you is our daughter and a lifetime of love. Is that enough?”

“More than enough,” Travis whispered before he leaned down and kissed her. “You’re amazing.”

“You’re pretty amazing, too.”

Travis helped to button the snaps on Penelope’s gown and then helped her into the bed. A few minutes later, Clara came back inside. She placed two hospital bracelets on Penelope’s wrist and hooked her up to an IV, a fetal heart monitor, and another monitor that would watch her contractions. Travis had never been this nervous — not even when he left Clarendon to go to college at the University of Texas, or when he had been drafted by the Sharks.

“Dr. Chan called and said he should be here in a few minutes,” Clara explained, flittering around the room and getting everything set up. Stopping at the end of her bed, she smiled. “Need anything right now?”

“No,” Penelope replied, rubbing the top of her stomach. “I think we’re all set. Just make sure you have the number ready when it’s time for an epidural.”

“Will do.” Clara laughed and left.

For the next few hours, Penelope continued to labor. Travis settled on the side of her bed, keeping her hands in his and doing his best to keep her calm. Russ, Nadine, and Max had trickled into the room, but had kept themselves busy by making mindless conversation amongst themselves. Travis was grateful. While he loved his family, right now his wife needed his undivided attention.

Dr. Chan had shown up fifteen minutes after Clara left and performed the first of many examinations to see how close she was to being able to push. At the time, she had been dilated to four centimeters. As the afternoon progressed, he had come in three more times and checked her. The last time, he declared her to be seven centimeters and ready for an epidural, which made Penelope ecstatic.

Just before five, Dr. Chan came back in to check on Penelope. She winced and tightened her grip on Travis’s hand.

“Well, it looks like we’re ready to have a baby,” Dr. Chan announced, smiling at them. “You’re at ten centimeters and fully effaced. It’s time.”

Penelope released a deep breath and nodded, her sweat-soaked hair falling into her face. “Okay.”

Dr. Chan hit the call button, instructing Clara that they were ready to push. She came in with a couple of other nurses and they started getting Penelope’s room ready for the birth of her daughter.

Once they had the bed ready, Dr. Chan instructed Penelope to push with her next contraction. A few moments later, she tightened her grip on Travis’s hands and began to push, low grunts slipping from between her lips. After he counted to ten for her, she fell back against the bed, panting.

“Have I mentioned that I love you?” Travis asked, brushing her hair out of her face.

“A few times,” she murmured, giving him a weak smile. “Have I told you that I love you, too?”

“A million times,” he whispered, “but I never get tired of hearing it.”

“I’ll never —” Penelope stopped speaking in mid-thought, lurching up in the bed and grabbing at Travis’s hands once again. “Oh, fuck!”

“It’s okay, baby, I’ve got you,” Travis said, trying to encourage her to keep pushing.

“Your baby does not have patience, Penelope. A couple more pushes and she’ll be here,” Dr. Chan instructed. He looked up at her. “You can do this. Just focus on your husband.”

“Okay,” Penelope muttered, her voice shaking.

Tightening her hands around Travis’s once more, she began pushing once again. Travis watched in awe as Penelope struggled to deliver their baby — their daughter. Three pushes later, the room fell silent as they waited for the sweetest sound to fill the air. A moment later, his daughter’s cry filled the air. Travis was unable to keep the tears from falling. Pressing his forehead against Penelope’s, he whispered, “I’m so proud of you.”

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Penelope cried, clinging to him.

“Yes, she is.”

~*~*~*~

Travis tapped his foot nervously and watched the numbers above the elevator light up one at a time: six, five, four. Time felt like it was standing still, and a lifetime passed in the minutes it took for ‘One’ to glow. The door slid open, but Travis had to wait for an older couple to step off before he could enter and press the button that would take him to the fifth floor. A foolish grin covered his face. Today marked the start of a new journey.

Once the doors slid open again, he walked out, not needing to stop at the nurse’s desk to ask where to go. He had just left the hospital for ten minutes, and he knew which room he needed. He whistled under his breath, some song he’d heard on the radio but the title of which he hadn’t yet learned. It had been an up-tempo song; the lyrics were about finding hope and love. Travis had already found those in his family.

Travis stopped in the doorway of room 524, and his smile grew. His Penelope was lying in the hospital bed with Max sitting on the far side, one arm draped over his mother’s knees. Tears burned the corners of his eyes at the sight of his family. Just twenty-four hours before, they had been standing in the middle of their kitchen, and now, he had two children with the woman who had owned his heart since he was a teenager.

“Hey, you,” Penelope called, breaking through Travis’ inner ramblings. “Why are you just standing there?”

“Just watching.” Travis pushed off the doorframe. He walked over to her, leaned down, and kissed her.

“Get a room already,” Max groaned. Travis and Penelope laughed. “Seriously, Dad, the last thing she needs right now is you slobbering all over her.”

“Hey, I decide what I need.” Penelope scowled, reaching up and grabbing Travis’s shirt. She pulled him down, brushing her lips against his.

“Ugh, gross,” Max whined. Travis ignored his son, shoved a gift into his hand, and handed Penelope a rose. Max let out a “heck yeah!” when he saw the new football video game Travis had bought him.

Penelope’s lips began to tremble. “Yellow roses are my favorite. How’d you know?”

“Because I know everything about you, and I love you,” Travis whispered. “Thank you.”

“For what? I should be thanking you for the rose, goofy.” Her eyes were full of amazement.

A low whimper drew their attention to the small plastic bassinet that had been pushed against the wall. Travis stood up and walked over to it, gently lifting the small baby that was swaddled in a white blanket. He turned back to Penelope, unable to keep his tears from falling. “You gave me a family.”

“Oh, Travis,” she cried, shaking her head.

He settled on the edge of Penelope’s bed, placing their daughter in her arms.

“She looks like your mother.”