Worth the Wait (Picking up the Pieces #4) (27 page)

Past

“Lance,” I gasped, trying my hardest to sit up in the bed. I tried doing those breathing exercises I’d seen on TV to work past the pain, but it was pointless. Lance said Lamaze classes were a waste of time and money. He claimed that he wasn’t going to throw away billable hours at the office to attend some stupid class that only reminded you how to breathe.

Well, as another contraction shot through me, I’d have given anything to have taken those damn classes. I needed relief.

“Lance.” Reaching over, I tried to shake him awake. We needed to get to the hospital. I wasn’t scheduled to have a C-section for another nine days, but sometime in the middle of the night my water broke. I could only figure that my little babies decided they wanted to make an early appearance. The contractions came on fast and strong, getting closer and closer together as the minutes passed.

“Lance, honey. Wake up.”

“For fuck’s sake, Mackenzie, will you please shut the hell up? I’m trying to sleep!”

“I’m in labor. We need to get to the hospital. Now.”

With an angry grumble, he finally pushed off the bed and started tugging his pants on. “Well, that’s just fucking perfect. It’s the middle of the goddamned night, and I have a deposition in the morning. How the fuck am I supposed to get through that with no sleep, huh?”

I couldn’t concentrate on his rant, and honestly, at that very moment, I really couldn’t have cared less about his stupid deposition. I was in too much pain.

“Well, you going to just fucking sit there or get your lazy ass up? Come on!”

Lazy? I was in fucking
labor,
for Christ’s sake!

Knowing that arguing with him would only cause an even bigger fight and delay me getting to the hospital in time, I clenched my teeth and moved off the bed, trying to breathe through the contractions.

“All right, Ms. Webster, it’s time to move you into surgery. Are you ready to meet your little ones?”

Nerves coursed through my body as they prepared to wheel me into the room to begin my C-section. I was terrified and excited all at the same time. “Lance, honey, you ready?” I turned my head to look over at where he sat, his laptop perched on his lap as he typed away.

“I’ve got a lot of work I need to get through,” he answered, only looking up from the screen to address the doctor. “You can come and get me once she gets into recovery. I’m sure everything will be just fine. You don’t need me there.”

“Lance,” I gasped, tears burning the backs of my eyes before they broke free and slid down my temple onto the bed I was laying on. “We’re about to have our babies. I’m scared. I want you there with me.”

He let out a frustrated huff and finally deemed me worthy of a look. “Tomorrow’s a big day for me, Mackenzie. I need to get this finished. I’ll see you when you come out of surgery.”

“Sir,” the doctor cut in, “your wife could really use your support in the operating room—”

“She’s not my wife,” he answered, his tone full of disinterest. He’d already gone back to his work, effectively cutting off whatever else the doctor was going to say.

Turning away from him in disgust, I caught the look of pity in my doctor’s eyes before she nodded at the nurse. “We need to get you into surgery now, Ms. Webster.”

“O-okay,” I tripped over my words and my nerves took over complete control of my body, causing it to shake uncontrollably.

“It’ll be okay, sweetheart,” the kind nurse leaned in to whisper as they began moving me from the room. “We’ll take good care of you, then you’ll have two precious babies to love when it’s all over.”

“Thank you.” I tried so hard not to cry. It was supposed to be a happy day, a blessing. I was finally going to meet my babies after so many months of pregnancy. I hated that I was letting Lance take that joy away from me.

It wasn’t until I heard Cameron’s shrill cry in the delivery room that my tears turned from those of sadness to happiness. From that moment forward, I’d finally have two people in my life to love me as unconditionally as I loved them.

Four days had passed since the twins were born, and each passing day was another that Lance couldn’t be bothered to come to the hospital to see us. After briefly checking on me in recovery, he’d gone to the nursery to see the babies. He’d stayed for an hour, tops, before leaving to go home and get some sleep.

Every time I called, he was either too busy or too tired to come up and visit. I was heartbroken. Finally, on the fourth day, the doctor released us to go home. The discharge papers had been completed, the babies’ diaper bags had been stocked, and we were ready to go. All that was left to do was wait for Lance to show up.

I held the phone to my ear as the call when to voicemail yet again.

“Hey, it’s me. The doctor released us to go home two hours ago. Could you please come get us? I know you’re busy, but if I have to stay in this hospital any longer, I’m going to lose my mind. Please call me back.”

It wasn’t like I could have just called a cab to come pick us up. I had two babies and no car seats. Lance was our only way home and he couldn’t even be bothered to answer the phone. It wasn’t until four hours later that he finally graced us with his presence, and by that time, I had already worked myself up so much that I couldn’t contain my anger when he walked through the hospital room door.

“Where were you?” I demanded as I rocked a fussy Cameron in my arms. Callie slept peacefully in the hospital’s little basinet, but Cameron had proven to be a difficult sleeper. I’d spent the last three nights rocking and singing to him to try and get him to relax, but nothing seemed to work. I was exhausted and angry.

“I was at work,” he answered coldly, staring me down with his icy blue eyes.

“I’ve been calling you all fucking day! They released us this morning, Lance. Is it too much to ask for my
fiancé
, the father of my children, to show the hell up when he’s supposed to? You haven’t even been here!”

“Well, I’m here now,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “So let’s fucking go. I need to get back to the office after I drop you off.”

“Are you kidding me?!” I shouted, startling a cry from Cameron. I hadn’t meant to yell like that, but I was just so damn furious. “You’ve been working the entire time we’ve been here! Can’t you take a goddamned day off? I could really use your help!”

“Let’s. Go.” That was all he had to say.

A nurse arrived with a wheelchair to help me down to the car. I kept both babies perched in my lap the whole way down since their own father couldn’t be bothered to carry either of them. Once we had them properly buckled up, I slowly climbed into the passenger’s seat, still unable to move comfortably due to the C-section. Lance walked around the front and climbed into the driver side as I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, exhaustion tugging at me incessantly.

“Mackenzie,” Lance said, drawing my attention to him.

The vicious slap he landed across my cheek the moment I turned my attention to him startled a pained yelp from me as tears instantly welled up in my eyes. He grabbed hold of my chin and jerked my face back toward his.

“If you
ever
talk to me like that again, I’ll make you fucking pay. You understand me?”

All I could do was nod as my stinging tears broke free, running down my already swelling cheek.

We drove from the hospital to the house in utter silence. Once there, he helped me get the twins and all their stuff from the car. As I expected, he couldn’t be bothered to make sure we were settled before he was out the door again.

As I spent the rest of the night trying my best to take care of two children all on my own just days after their birth, I kept asking myself how it was possible that I’d allowed my life to become so horrible.

Present

“Beauty,” Brett said in a rush the second I answered the phone.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just got the call; Emmy’s in labor. I’m on my way to the house to pick you up.”

I looked from the stove where I had dinner cooking over to where the kids sat, watching
Tangled
.

“We can’t take the twins to the hospital, Brett. Odds are it’s going to take a while. They’ll get antsy. Why don’t you just head straight to the hospital and I’ll try and find a sitter. Hopefully, I can meet you there in a few hours.”

“Already got it covered, baby. Jeremy’s mom is on her way over there now. She offered to watch the twins for us.”

There was that melty feeling again.

“Honey, you didn’t have to do that.”

He chuckled through the phone line. “You’re my family, babe. A man takes care of his family. That’s our job.”

“Emmy and Luke are your family too, you need to be there for them.”

“And I will be, just as soon as I get my kids squared away and my woman in my jeep.”

Every time… every single time the man opened his mouth, he turned me into a puddle of goo. “Good Lord, I love you.”

“Right back atch’. Now get your sexy ass moving. We got a baby to meet.”

I was at the stove, trying to finish dinner when the doorbell rang.

“Hey, there sweetie,” Jeremy’s mother, Kathy, greeted with a beaming smile as soon as I opened the door.

“Thank you so much for watching the twins. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”

“No problem,” she offered with a wave of her hand as she made her way into the living room where Callie and Cam sat, still transfixed on the TV. “I’ve got a whole mess load of grandbabies. These two will be a cakewalk. Believe me.”

Just then, Brett came rushing through the door like his ass was on fire. “We ready to roll?”

“Yep, just a second.” I turned back to Kathy and the kids. “Dinner’s in the oven. It just needs a few more minutes to cook.” Leaning down, I planted a kiss on the twins’ heads. “Be good for Ms. Kathy. We’ll be back soon, okay?”

“Okay,” they answered as Brett stepped up to give them each a kiss as well.

“Love you, Mommy,” Callie said, followed closely by, “Love you, Daddy,” from Cam.

Kathy and I both pulled in a gasp as we turned our wide eyes to Brett. My son had just called him Daddy.

Brett’s chest was puffed out, his smile so wide I was scared it might crack his face. It was obvious that hearing my son refer to him that way had just made Brett’s entire year.