The Roommate (12 page)
Authors: Carla Krae
Epilogue
One year later
Patrick stood in the Baggage claim area of an LAX terminal searching through the crowd for his parents.
After several passengers had come through, he spotted his father waving.
His mother ran to him and hugged him.
“Are we too late?”
“No, Mom. Jess is anxious to see you.”
After confessing their love—and celebrating it—Patrick proposed.
It popped out, but Jess didn’t hesitate in saying yes.
A month later, they married in his parents’ backyard in front of a small crowd of family and friends.
Two months after
that,
Jess discovered she was pregnant, and that led them to today.
She’d gone into labor this morning, but it was progressing slowly, so his parents had hopped on the first plane.
Now he was rushing to the hospital as safely as L.A. traffic would allow.
His phone buzzed.
“Mom?”
She read the text.
“’7 centimeters.’
Not long now, Ricky.”
His father clapped his shoulder from the backseat.
“Puckering, yet?”
“
Samuel
.”
“Labor’s not the scary part, son. It’s when you have to take that new baby home.”
“Not helping,
dear
.”
He kept his eyes on the road.
“Maybe for your generation, Dad.
We’ve studied, prepared, and the nursery’s been finished for weeks.”
“Ah, the arrogance of youth…”
“Samuel, do stop baiting the boy.”
Patrick shook his head at his parents.
Some things never changed.
Yeah, he was nervous, naturally, but he’d read every book, watched videos, taken notes in Lamaze class…as they say,
I got this
.
And kids liked Jess.
They’d be fine.
When he parked at the hospital, he left the keys in the ignition knowing his parents would lock up and follow.
Jess was at eight centimeters.
“I’m here!” he said, throwing open the door to her room.
Jess was sweaty, her cheeks blotchy.
“Another contraction.”
These were not the twinges of pain she’d woken him with hours ago.
He took her hand.
“Are they bad?”
“According to them, my level of pain is normal. I thought I hated cramps during my period, but this sucks.”
“What can I get you?”
“This baby out of me.
I’m tired.”
“I know, sweetheart.”
A washcloth sat in a bowl on the table.
He pressed it to her forehead and cheeks.
She closed her eyes.
“I’m glad you’re here.
Didn’t want you to miss it.”
He smiled.
“Maybe our daughter will hurry up now Grandma and Grandpa have arrived.”
“That’d be nice…”
Jess leaned on him.
He rubbed her back.
And hour later, they were in the delivery room and the baby practically flew into the doctor’s hands.
Patrick cut the cord and they waited for her first cry.
“Patrick?”
“She’s perfect, Jess.”
The tiny girl was cleaned up,
then
he got to carry her to his wife.
She beamed at him despite the exhaustion.
“Hey, there, Grace Autumn Clark,” she cooed.
“I love you,” he said.
“I know. And we’re not doing this again.”
He chuckled.
“I think wives have been saying that since the dawn of time.”
She unwrapped Grace and examined ten little fingers and ten little toes.
“You try squeezing a watermelon through a hole the size of a baseball and we’ll talk. This perfect angel is all I need.”
“That’s lovely, but it’ll be a few more years before Grace can kill spiders for you.”
Jess slapped his arm.
“Shut up.”
He kissed her hair and wrapped his arms around them both.
“Still don’t regret picking me up at the airport?”
She finally glanced up from their new daughter.
“Never.”
The End
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About the Author
Fiction writer.
Sci-fi lover.
Trained vocalist.
Cat mom.
Debuting in 2011, Carla Krae lives in California with two crazy cats and a tech guy.
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My Once and Future Love Revisited
series:
Book #1:
Kissed
Book #2:
Betrayed
Book #3:
Forgiven
Book #4:
Loved
Book #5:
Completed
– May 13, 2016
Book #6:
Dylan and Jen
(stand alone)
Book #7:
Mike and Hannah
(stand alone coming soon)
Stand-alone Books
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