Always and Forever || Evan Buckley || 9-1-1 (Book 3)

T-H-I-R-T-Y E-I-G-H-T

"I know, baby. And daddy is absolutely right. Now one is hurt, but I believe your baby sister or brother is coming right now, and I can't drive to the hospital because my um—my tummy hurts," My fingers dug into the doorframe as another sharp pain hit me. "So, would you please grab my phone from the kitchen table and call?"

At the mention of the word baby, Maia's eyes grew more prominent with excitement. She didn't wait for another second before her little legs took off, running down the hallway.

"Hi, Josh!" I heard Maia exclaim from the living room. "Daddy said to only call for emergencies, but mommy went potty on the floor, and my baby sister or brother is coming."

    "Maia, give me the phone, please." I said, letting out a sigh of relief as the pain ceased. Without wasting any time, I met Maia halfway down the hallway.

    "It's Aunty Maddie's friend." She informed passing me the phone.

    "Oh—" Another wave of pressure made its way through my body, starting on my lower back this time. The pain feeling a little more intense than before.

    "Momma?" I felt Maia's small hand taking my free one. Her voice went from excited to worried, making me feel terrible. I didn't want to scare her, but controlling the faces the pain was making me do was quite impossible right now. It's like I couldn't control anything.

    Feeling the pain pass for the second time, I stood up straighter, reassuringly squeezing my daughter's hand.

    "Josh, I'm on the verge of panicking right now. My water broke, and the contractions are around 3 minutes apart. I think I've been in labor since last night because I kept experiencing stomach pain, but I thought it was indigestion for eating all those stupid spicy wings and the mountain of loaded fries Buck told me not to eat—"

    "Agatha, sweetie, take a deep breath with me." Josh interrupted my almost endless rant. With tears in my eyes, I followed his lead and took a deep breath before letting it out. "Just grab the things you need for the hospital and stay calm. The paramedics from the 116 are 5 minutes away. I'll stay on the line until they get there. Okay?"

    I nodded, blinking away my tears. "Thank you."

    Still holding on to Maia's hand, I walked towards the living room, ensuring one of the three hospital bags Evan insisted on preparing three months ago was next to the front door. The other two were in our respective cars.

    I thought I was the over-thinker and overly panicky person in this marriage, but after getting pregnant, Evan won the title fair and square. The man has read more pregnancy and parenting books than the number of months I've been pregnant.

    Shit, Evan.

   I had to tell him what was going on.

    With Josh still on the line, I searched for Evan's name in my text messages and shot him a text, not wanting to call in case he was on call at work. The last thing I needed was my husband getting hurt in a call for panicking while I was about to have our child.

   An insistent pound on the front door made both Maia and me jump. "Agatha, girly is us. Let's go have this baby." Daisy shouted from the other side.

  I felt Maia looking at me to open the door, but another contraction overtook me. "Go open—"

  The little girl got the memo and immediately stood on her tiptoes to unlock the door. "Do not panic, anyone. Auntie Daisy is here to help. Boys hurry up and get the stretcher. Maia go with uncle Jake. Agatha, honey, let's go." Daisy started barking instructions to everyone sporting one of her bossy looks.