Backwoods Backwards

Thirty-Nine

It's been a long time since I've felt a wave of anxiety as strong as the one I feel now, and I've been anxious a few times in my life. I've also never driven this fast before, either.

"Uh, Lacey, how far out are we?" Ian sounds nervous, and looking in the rearview mirror at him, I see he looks nervous, too.

"Not close enough! Drive faster!" Lindsey is the opposite.

"I'm driving, I'm driving!" I retort back. "I can only go so fast!"

"Tell that to this baby!" Lindsey half moans, half cries in the backseat. "I don't want to have my baby in a car."

Lindsey's water broke not too long ago, and I've been put on driving duty while Ian sits with my sister in the back of the car and tries to get her to calm down. She's been saying since early on that she was afraid of the kind of pain she'd be in for childbirth, and she wasn't kidding when she said she imagined she wouldn't handle it well.

Ian's phone rings, and he thrusts it at me. I fumble to take it without taking my attention off the road. "I can't right now, Lacey."

It's Mom. I accept the call, then tap speakerphone. "Hello?"

"How is she? How far apart are the contractions?" Mom sounds frantic.

From behind me, Lindsey moans again and then cries some more to Ian.

"How's that for an answer?" I quip, making a left turn.

"My poor baby," Mom says. "Are you at the hospital yet?"

"No, Mom, we're not." I drop the phone into my lap so I can free up my hands. "Say hi to Mom, Linds."

Lindsey lets out another low moan in response.

"How far out are you?" Mom asks, clearly stressed. "I'm about to leave now."

I slow down for a yellow stoplight, bringing the car to a stop on red. "About five min-"

"Do not stop this vehicle!"

I wince at my sister's sharp command. "Linds, I can't just-"

Ian tries to soothe his wife. "Honey, she's doing the best-"

She interrupts us both. "Mom, how the fuck did you do this twice?"

Mom's voice chimes back in as the light turns green and I step on the gas. "I know it's painful, baby, but it's all worth it in the end."

I hear rather than see my sister thunk her head against the backseat headrest. "Oh my god."

"Almost there, Lindsey!" I report, seeing the hospital loom into view up ahead past another stoplight. "Gotta go, Mom, see you soon!"

"Okay, honey, be-" I end the call as I move into the turning lane, just waiting for an opening in traffic.

"Just pull up to the front doors," Ian tells me, still clutching Lindsey's hands even as he moves around in the back to grab the baby bag and Lindsey's overnight duffel. "I'll take her in while-"

"-I park, yeah, I figured," I snap back, pulling into the hospital's entrance. Realizing my tone was a bit harsh, I lock eyes with my brother-in-law through the rearview mirror. "Sorry, Ian, I didn't mean to-"

He tries to smile at me, shaking his head to wave off my apology, but his smile turns into a grimace at Lindsey's tightening grip. "S'okay, Lace."

Stopping the car at the hospital's front door, I shift the gear into park and swivel around in my seat to glance at the couple in the backseat. "I'll meet you in there as soon as I find a spot."