Coming Around Again by Billy London Page B

whispered to her belly, “I will take you to
Disneyland.”
    Niels lifted an eyebrow. “Really? You think that’s going to work?”
    “What else do you have?” she demanded. “What help are you offering,
apart from being mean to me?”
    “I could turn you over and smack you on the bottom. That works for
ketchup bottles. Why not you?” She burst out laughing, then winced as soon as a
contraction hit. He immediately reached for her hand, and rubbed the heel of
his hand over her spine.
    “Bad?”
    “Bad enough I feel like throwing up. You know, I think I might have to.”
    Without missing a beat, Niels grabbed a cardboard bowl and held it under
her chin. Cripes , she thought as he whipped the bowl out of sight and
gave her some water. He’s never going to want to have sex with me again.
    “Can you move around a little?” he asked, easing her back so she floated
a little more in the water. His fingers filtered through her scalp and massaged
the beginnings of a headache away.
    “Nah, do that.”
    He worked his fingertips in circles under her curls and she closed her
eyes. “Stella,” he said softly.
    “Yes?” He didn’t reply and she tweaked open an eye. Oh dear. He looked desperately
tired and worried. “I’m all right. We all are. We will be.”
    He nodded distractedly. “I’m just going to balance the mini speaker on
your belly. The midwife said music encourages movement as well.”
    “Throw it at me. And can you call your parents? Tell them what’s going
on? We did leave dinner in a massive hurry.”
    Solemnly, he agreed and after handing her the waterproof phone and
covered speaker, he left the room to call his family. Bracing one arm on the
side of the pool, Stella balanced the phone on her belly and held the speaker
by her hip bone. “Vaughan Williams,” she told the twins. “Your favourite. You
moved all the time to this one.”
    Closing her eyes, she breathed through the next contraction, or tried
to. Mainly she wanted to know what was taking her husband so fucking long.
Hissing through her teeth, she turned to the side and dropped the phone into
the water. “Why, Lord?”
    She pushed the speaker over the side, to use two hands to get out of the
pool. Niels walked back into the room, his eyes going from the phone, to her,
with one leg out of the pool, bottom high in the air.
    Uh-oh . Without saying a
word, she eased back into the pool and pretended a contraction had hit. “Oww?”
    “Let me explain something to you, so you stop behaving like you’re imprisoned
and I’m your jailer. You are in labour.”
    “Yeah, I get that.”
    “I truly don’t believe you do. You haven’t had any drugs to warrant
this…” he directed to her bare-arsed escape. “Isn’t this enough? Why do you
want to cause yourself any more harm?”
    “I’m in the right place for it? All right, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Hold
on, I’ll let you berate me in a minute. God, it’s like someone’s ripping me up
from the inside out.”
    “Do you want to stand up?” he asked. She nodded, thinking it might feel
a lot easier. He curled his arms around her and pulled her to her feet,
ignoring the fact she drenched him with water. He cradled her until the pain,
which seemed to last for an hour, passed.
    Niels leaned back and looked at her. His expression pretty much
destroyed her.
    “Oh, please don’t!”
    “I hate seeing you like this,” he muttered. “When I can’t even help you.
And you keep trying to distract me by making me cross.”
    She grinned, before the next wave of agony took over. “Just hold me. And
don’t go anywhere.” Her words rushed out.
    “You have me. Always,” he said into her wet shoulder, clasping her to
him. “I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”
     
    ***
     
    Niels put his arm around Stella’s seat and said to both boys. “Take your
stuff inside and get yourselves ready for bed.”
    “Dad, we’ve slept so much.”
    “You know I don’t like repeating myself. Off you go.”
    Danny