Breathing

Epilogue 1:

"Ezra, I swear, you hit one more bump and I will reach over and strangle you." I screamed at him as he was driving like he was purposefully aiming for them. He hit another bump.

"Errr..." I growled at him and began hitting him as hard as I could. He threw his arm up to block my assault. 

"I am trying, Riley. It's not my fault they tore up the street." He tried to defend himself. He weaved in and out of traffic and slammed on his breaks, narrowly avoiding hitting a garbage truck stopped in front of us.

"Do you want me to drive?" I screamed at him again.

"Could you?" He asked with a completely serious look on his face. His face was pale and beads of sweat clung to his hair like he had been working out for the last hour.

"Sure, Ezra, scoot over." I said sarcastically as I breathed in and out. I cried out, digging my nails into the center console. "We can take turns driving between my contractions."

He honked the horn and cursed at the garbage truck as he beat his fist against the steering wheel. "Move your fucking ass!"

"Ezra, calm down. We will make it. Babies come on their own time." I said, feeling a little relief as the contraction began to pass. I placed my hand on his knee, trying to comfort him. It should totally be the opposite. He should be the one trying to soothe me right now. I don't blame him for being scared. He didn't get to see the 24-hour labor I had with Jessa. I was hoping this little boy was not as stubborn as his big sister.

"You heard the doctor, Riley. That kid is a monster!" He yelled back at me.

I looked down at my big belly and laughed. The doctor did say he was going to be a big boy and that I might not be able to have him naturally due to my injuries when Jenna sliced me open.  In fact, we were told that having any more children was completely off the table.  The doctors told me the chances of getting pregnant again were pretty slim.  I cried that night, thinking I couldn't give him another child.  Ezra was really supportive and told me we had Jessa and she had enough personality to field a whole football team.  He told me it didn't matter if we couldn't have any more children, our family was perfect the way it was and he was so lucky that he couldn't have asked for anything more. 

Imagine our surprise when I went to go for a check-up and was told I was already halfway through my second trimester.  I just thought I was gaining a little weight from the excessive amounts of fast food I was devouring.  Of course, Ezra was too polite to tell me I was gaining weight at an alarming rate. The doctor was as shocked as we were and placed a note in my file that said to take me for a C-section at the first sign of any problems.

Ezra honked again and I felt my stomach start to tighten with another contraction.

"Ouch" I whined, digging my nails into his leg. "Ahhh, please. It hurts."

"What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?" He screamed, grabbing his hair and slammed his hands against the wheel.

"Get it together, Miller!" I screamed back at him.  The car display lit up. My Mom was calling. He used the button on his steering wheel to answer.

"Where the hell are you?" She said over the speakers.

"Somebody decided to tear up the street and we are stuck in traffic. Fucking move." Ezra was screaming at my Mom over the phone like it was her fault.

"Ahhhmmm." I moaned as my stomach tightened again.

"I don't know what to do, Stacie. She's in a lot of pain." Ezra was freaking out.

My Mom was laughing hysterically at him.

"Well, of course, she is. She's in labor Ezra."