Page 71 of Wild King
It has the opposite effect, however.
“No!” she cries. “I don’t want to go to the hospital without Matthias. Where is he?”
Eleanor and Salem look at me like they want me to be the one to give the bad news. Reluctantly, I tell Ava, “He’s still in London. He won’t be back in time. I think it’s on us until the ambulance comes.”
“Let me call 9-1-1 again,” Eleanor says before hurrying out of the room.
I watch as Salem sits down next to Ava and asks, “How bad is the pain? Do you want to lie down?”
Ava gives her a smile. “I feel like I want to walk. Is that okay?”
“Ordinarily, I’d say you should lie down, but I get the feeling this baby is coming whether we’re all ready or not, so I figure you might as well be as comfortable as possible. Just hold my hand and take it slowly. No running marathons for you tonight.”
That makes Ava laugh. “I’m not really a marathon kind of girl.”
Salem looks over at me and smiles. “Well, how about no running at all for you tonight? I just want you to take it easy. We’ll walk back and forth across the room to give your back a little break since I bet it feels like someone’s jabbing you with a hot poker at the base of your spine.”
“It does! I thought all the pain would be in the front since that’s where the baby is, but oh my God, my back is killing me. That’s why I wanted to get out of bed for a few minutes. I just want a break from that pain.”
As they pace back and forth very slowly, Ava turns to me and asks, “Would you get Matthias on the phone? I want to see him to let him know what’s going on, okay?”
I nod and fish my extra cell out of my shorts pocket. Watching her and Salem slowly walk across the room toward me, I feel like I need to tell Ava how bad I feel about all that’s happened between us.
“I’m sorry about what I said. About everything.”
In typical Ava fashion, she smiles sweetly and shakes her head. “I know how hard it’s been for you. It’s okay, Kellen.”
A few seconds later, I get through to Matthias, who answers my call looking frazzled. “Kellen, what’s going on? I got five calls from Eleanor, but she didn’t leave any message. Are you at the house? What’s wrong?”
Aiming the phone so he can see Ava and Salem walking around the room, I say, “It looks like your firstborn is coming early. Salem knows what to do, and since the roads are flooded and the ambulance can’t get here any time soon, I think we’re going to have a baby right here tonight.”
The sound of my oldest brother groaning fills the room, and Ava stops in front of the phone to see him. “It’s okay. I’m fine, honey. Just get back here as soon as you can, okay?”
“I’m so sorry I left. I thought I had more than enough time. The baby’s not due for weeks. What happened?”
Ava shrugs and gives him a smile. “Babies come when they want to, Matthias. They don’t follow our schedules. We follow theirs. We need to decide on a name, though. I have mine. I just need to hear yours and then we can choose one for a girl and one for a boy.”
Just then, she doubles over in agony and lets out a sound I’ve never heard a human being make before in my life. It’s like a cross between a moan and a deep sob, and it hits me square in the chest like someone punching me.
“Ava!” Matthias screams. “What’s going on?”
Sure he doesn’t need to see her hunched over in pain, I turn the phone back to face me. “Just the miracle of birth. Dude, she needs names. What are yours so I can tell her?”
He shakes his head like he has no idea what the hell I’m talking about. “I don’t know! We were going to have this conversation in a few days. I thought I had more time.”
“Well, you don’t, so she wants something.”
His mouth opens and shuts a few times before he gives up. “I don’t know. Tell her I’m flying back tonight. I’ll leave as soon as I can. Promise me you’ll take care of her, Kellen. Take care of her until I can get there.”
“I will. I won’t let anything happen to her. I promise.”
Ava lets out another cry, this one sounding more bloodcurdling, and Matthias looks like he’s going to lose his mind. “Is she okay? What’s happening?”
Salem answers from across the room. “Just labor. She’s going great. No worries.”
Hoping to calm him down, I say, “Matthias, get on the plane and get back here as fast as you can. Keep in mind that the roads are swamped all around the area.”
“Then I’ll get a helicopter and land on the goddamned front lawn. Ava, I love you, honey. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”