The Silent Partner (Mature themed)

Prologue

I woke up with water soaking the bed and a pain in my stomach. "Colter!" I whimper.

He turns over in the bed and looks at me. "Baby, why is the bed wet?"

I feel pain in my stomach and tears stream down my face. "My water broke."

His eyes open wide. "Let's get you to the hospital."

I look at Colter. "Please, don't tell our parents. I want to surprise them when our daughter is here. I don't want them in the waiting room."

He kisses my forehead. "I'll give them a call later."

I climb out of bed and look at the mattress. "Can you put the sheets in the washing machine?"

"Sure," Colter takes the sheets off the bed and he walks out of the bedroom.

I walk over to the closet and pull out an old yellow sundress and put it on.

Colter enters the room and he picks up the hospital bag and we exit the house.

At the hospital, our doctor meets us in the waiting room. He looks at me and then Colter. "I'm going to take you to one of the birthing suits." We follow the doctor to the birthing suite and I'm given a hospital gown. I walk into the bathroom and change into it. I enter the room and sit on the bed.

I feel a stabbing pain in my stomach and I cry out.

The doctor helps me onto the bed. I lie on it. The doctor looks between my legs. "You're 5cm dilated. I'll be back soon to check on you. I have other patients to see." He exits the room.

Colter moves to my side and takes my hand. He wipes the tears from my face. "Everything is going to be fine." He pushes my hair out of my face.

On the next contraction, I squeeze Colter's hand.

"Ouch," he cried.

I give him a sheepish grin. "I'm sorry, Colter."

Two painful hours later, I give birth to a beautiful baby girl. I hold her in my arms while she's naked and bloody.

Colter pulls out his phone and takes a photo of us. He smiles. "This is my perfect family." He kisses me. "I love you, Lexi Kingsman."

I smile. "I love you, too, Colter Kingsman. I'm a lucky woman to have you and a beautiful baby girl."

The nurse looks at me. "We have to clean her up. We'll bring her right back to you." She wraps my daughter in a blanket and carries her out of the room.

Colter sits next to me. He pulls me into his arms. "I need to call our parents." He pulls his phone out of his pocket and calls my parents first."

Mom: Hello, this is Vicki.

Me: Hey, Mom. Colter and I have news for you.

Mom: What's that?

Me: I just gave birth to your first Grandchild.

Mom screams and I hear her tell my brother and father.

Mom: We'll be at the hospital soon. Congrats, sweetie.

Mom hangs up.

Colter calls his parents next.

Kelly: Hello, this is Kelly.

Colter: Hey, Mom. Lexi just gave birth to our daughter.

Kelly: That's great. Your father and I will be there soon.

Colter ends the call.

The nurse enters the room with our daughter.

Colter takes her from the nurse. "What are we going to name her?"

"Peta," I look at him. "You can choose the middle name, Colter."

He looks at our daughter. "Peta Marilyn Kingsman."

The nurse writes her name on a piece of paper and sticks it inside the baby cradle.

I take Colter's phone off the bed and I take a photo of him holding our daughter. I send the picture to my phone.

An hour and a half later, my parents and Colter's enter the hospital room. The Grandparents take turns holding my daughter.

At 5 pm, the nurse comes into the room and she tells our parents that they need to leave.

Later that night our daughter died and the doctor told us he'll do an autopsy to find out the cause of her death. After that, I shut down and Colter started to pull away from me.