A Special Summer (Love Conquers All) (22 page)

“I’m sure. If I change my mind, I’ll let you know.”
Another hour, I’m going to die. I just might take the drugs if I have to go on like this for more than an hour.

“Okay, I’ll be back in a little while to check on you.”

“Thanks, Dr. Neil.”

Feeling awkward like she was in the way and needing to give Summer and Nick some privacy, Starr announced, “Summer I’m stepping out to get a bite to eat.” It was ten thirty and the last time she had anything to eat was sometime around nine that morning.

“Nick, do you want me to bring you anything back?”

“Nah, Starr, I’m cool. Thanks though.”

Summer wanted to beg her to stay and not leave her alone with Nick. But she wouldn’t be selfish; Starr had been there with her every step of the way. “Take your time Starr, I know you’re just as hungry and tired as I am.”

“I’ll be back in a few, I promise.” Grabbing her coat and purse, Starr blew Summer a kiss as she left out the door.

No sooner than she closed the door, Nick started in on Summer with his inquisition.

“Why didn’t you tell me this morning you were having contractions, Summer?”

Summer stared at Nick in disbelief.
Why is he starting with me now?
“I didn’t want to….oh no… here comes another one,” Summer moaned as she prepared herself for the pain.

Nick hadn’t a clue as to what to do as Summer’s body stiffened and she moaned and groaned in pain as she held onto the side rail of the hospital bed. When her uterus finally relaxed so did her stiff body. She waited for her breathing to return to normal before answering him.

“I didn’t want to bother you.”

Now, Nick was the one with a look of disbelief. It had been hours since she’d been laboring. From what Joan told him the laboring started with mild contractions yesterday evening at dinnertime. More than twenty-four hours ago and she hadn’t said one word to him. Nick was asking himself why? again. Why wouldn’t she tell him she was in labor? She had an opportunity earlier that morning. Did she really think he’d rather be conducting business than with her while they await the birth of their baby? No, it couldn’t be. Nick was growing weary of Summer keeping him in the dark. Before anger could creep into his bones her words rang clear in his ears. “Please, Nick don’t. . .”
That’s why she didn’t call me.
Summer had reacted to his threat. The fact she hadn’t called him had nothing to do with her bothering him as much as it had to do with her fear of having her baby taken away.

Nick didn’t know which was worse, the tight knot in his gut or the fact that he wanted to kick himself. Yes, he’d been angry with her but he didn’t want her to have to go through labor without him being at her side. He’d already missed most of her pregnancy; he’d wanted to be with her from the moment her true labor began.

Nick’s shoulders slumped as he removed his coat and draped it over the back of a chair. Pulling up a chair to the side of the bed, he sat and watched her saying nothing.

Summer felt his eyes on her, but refused to look at him.

“Hey, look at me for a minute.”

As she lifted her eyes to meet his, she noted the gentleness his voice held as he spoke to her.

“I’m not upset. I just wanted to be here with you when the baby is born. I thought I was going to miss it.”

“I’m sorry. I know I should have called you.” Summer’s voice quivered as a tear slid down her cheek.
Damn hormones!

Nick wiped the tear away. “Don’t cry. You don’t have anything to be sorry about. Okay?”

“Okay.” Summer softly whispered.

Neither knew what to say. This was the longest the two had been in each other’s company for days. They sat in silence until Summer needed him.

“Nick, please take my hand I’m having another contraction.”

Without hesitation Nick allowed Summer to wrap her tiny hand as best she could around his large hand as she squeezed with all her might as the contraction consumed her.

Before Starr came back Summer had several more contractions. Nick held her hand as she squeezed and breathed her way through each contraction. He couldn’t believe how powerful her grip was for such a tiny woman.

Each time Nick watched Summer suffer through the pain guilt jabbed at him starting with the day he ended their relationship, up until the night a few days ago he’d left her standing alone crying in his living room.

Nick wished he could take on the pain for Summer. It didn’t seem fair her tiny body had to endure so much discomfort. He was amazed at her strength and determination not to take drugs for the pain. He too had tried to convince her to take “a little something.” Nick was relieved when Starr returned from her dinner break. Summer got through the contractions much better with Starr coaching her using the breathing exercises they’d learned during childbirth classes.

Summer was becoming more and more frustrated with how long it was taking for her cervix to dilate that last centimeter. Nick and Starr were both startled when she burst out into tears. “I can’t take this anymore! This hurrrrts too much! I just wanna diiiiie!” Summer screamed as she was hit with searing pain.

“Come on, Boo, you can do this. You made it this far,” Starr soothingly coaxed her.

Shaking her head back and forth, Summer cried, “No… no… I can’t… I can’t …take this anymore.”

“Yes, you can baby. Starr’s right, you can do this.” Nick told her as he rubbed her lower back.

Something suddenly snapped inside of Summer, as if possessed by an evil force. Neither Nick nor Starr saw it coming. Summer’s very soft genteel feminine voice dropped a few octaves, coming out in a deep tenor as she turned on Nick.

“Don’t touch me! Get your hands off me! This is your entire fault, Nick! All your fault! You did this to me!”

Nick continued to rub her lower back. He didn’t allow her outburst to shake him. “I know baby. You’re right, it is my fault.” Nick validated Summer’s verbal attack in a soothing voice as he continued to rub her.

This seemed to calm her temporarily as she collapsed against the pillows trapping Nick’s hand. Gingerly, he pulled his hand out as he looked at Starr, his eyes questioning, “What now?”

Reading the message in his eyes, Starr said, “I’ll be right back. I’m going to get Dr. Neil to come back in here and check you Summer.”

“Thanks Starr.” Summer grimaced in pain. Helplessness overwhelmed Nick, as he didn’t know what to do to comfort her. Daily he handled multi-million dollar business transactions, yet when it came to comforting the woman giving birth to his child, he was clueless. He felt like a fish out of water thrashing back and forth.

With all of his resources, there was nothing he possessed that would help to ease her agonizing pain. No amount of materialism he own could comfort her. Only the delivery of the tiny life in her womb would erase the torturous contractions wrecking havoc on her exhausted body.

Nick tenderly wiped at her damp brow with a cool washcloth. “Summer, is there anything I can do for you? Just tell me and I’ll do it.”

Summer looked at Nick, tears spilling from her eyes, her voice cracking as she softly spoke. “I only wanted you to love me Nick. To love me how I’m loving you right now.”

The wind was knocked out of him as if a three hundred pound linebacker had tackled him to the ground. Immediate revelation floored him, as he
finally
comprehended the breadth of Summer’s love. She had loved him so severely she refused to snuff the life out of what may be the very best of him. She had made a heart decision to nurture, to care for, and to love a baby that was the very essence, the very nucleus of him.
A baby I didn’t want.

The lump forming in his throat threatened to cut the air supply to his lungs. “Summer, baby −”

A blood-curdling scream likened to a wounded animal cut his words off. The scream brought Dr. Neil, Starr and two nurses running into the room. Quickly washing his hands, Dr. Neil snatched a pair of latex gloves from a box, donning them, he examined Summer. “The cervix is measuring at ten centimeters and a hundred percent effaced. Okay, Miss Summer, you’re ready to start pushing.”

“Thank you Jesus.” Those were the sweetest words Summer ever heard in her life.

Removing the gloves, Dr. Neil left the room to scrub and dress for the delivery. As the doctor was preparing himself, the two nurses efficiently and quickly transformed the ordinary hospital bed into a birthing bed. Just as the nurses were placing Summer into the birthing position with her feet in the stirrups, the doctor backed through the door careful not to touch anything as he took his place at the end of the bed on a stool between Summer’s open legs.

“Summer, I’m going to massage a little mineral oil onto your perineum to help stretch it, hopefully preventing you from tearing as you push the baby out.”

Summer nodded her head. She didn’t care if he used a tub of Crisco as long as he got this darn baby out of her. Placing a hand on her belly, Dr. Neil instructed, “Summer, with the next contraction you can push.”

No sooner than the doctor gave the command, a contraction reared its ugly head prompting Summer to grab Nick’s hand as he stood at her side.

Taking a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut, Summer pushed. “Ahhhhhhhhh.”

“Come on that’s it, push… push…push.” Starr coached until the contraction ended. “Okay Summer, relax and breathe.”

This cycle went on for thirty minutes until Dr. Neil told Summer to stop pushing.

“Summer, the baby’s head is beginning to crown. I’m going to inject a little lidocaine into your perineum just in case you do tear you won’t feel a thing.”

Summer winced as she felt the prick of the needle and burning from the medication. Relief washed over her as the burning quickly faded into a numbing sensation. “With the next contraction, I want you to give a
big
push, okay?”

Summer gave a weak nod.
Never again, never again,
is what she chanted in her head as she waited for the next contraction. Upon the decent of the contraction, Summer squeezed her eyes shut and pushed with all her might. “Ahhhhhhhh! Come on bayybee!”

The excitement and exhilaration of delivering a baby came in waves over Dr. Neil. Every time he assisted in bringing a new life into the world it was just as thrilling as his first delivery twenty-five years ago as a young intern. He excitedly cheered her on. “Come on, Summer… Push! …Push! …That’s it! …That’s it! …Push! …Push! This baby has wide shoulders. Push!. . . Push!”

Summer pushed to the point of exhaustion. Relief came with a final push as the warm solid mass slipped from her body.

“It’s a boy! You have a baby boy! Congratulations!” Dr. Neil sang as he guided the tiny, squirming infant from its mother’s birth canal.

Summer eagerly reached for her baby before the doctor could fully wrap, let alone wipe off the birthing residue and clamp the umbilical cord. Once the baby was within her embrace Summer collapsed against the pillows. His tiny body felt so warm as she hugged him close. Summer didn’t want to give her son up to the pediatrician to perform his examination of the infant. She hadn’t held him long enough and missed him as soon as the nurse removed him from her arms. Summer patiently waited for her son as Dr. Neil delivered the placenta and sutured her lacerations.

Nick glimpsed at the clock on the wall in the birthing suite. It was 1:45 am, February 14. The entire experience for Nick was surreal from the moment he stepped into the birthing suite. Though he and Summer had issues to resolve, he gained a newfound respect and admiration for her. She was determined to take this journey alone if necessary. The desire to work things out between Summer and himself became a burning obsession as he watched mother and son.

After the pediatrician examined the baby, the nurse thoroughly cleaned, weighed and dressed him. Starr used this time to say her goodbyes so that mother, father and baby could have their privacy. Wrapping the baby in a receiving blanket the nurse placed the tiny bundle in Summer’s arms. “If you want you can nurse him now.”

“Okay, I will. I just want to look at him first.”

A mixture of excitement and exhaustion plagued Summer when the baby was placed on her abdomen directly after delivery. His features were barely noticeable as he was covered in birthing residue and slightly purple from making the exchange from maternal oxygenation to breathing on his own.

Laying the infant on her lap she slowly loosened the snug blanket from his tiny body. Summer studied his tiny face. He must have known his mommy was looking at him as he stretched with tiny fist balled up, yawned, then gradually opened a pair of tiny eyes that immediately locked with hers. Summer’s breath caught, the tiny pair of eyes was identical to his father’s. A faint smile curved her lips as she further inspected his little face. He had the cutest nose and lips. Lifting her hand she caressed the locks of silky dark curls. With care, rubbing the silky strains between her fingers she noted the texture was like hers. Delicately as if he was a porcelain doll she touched his hands and his feet making sure there were ten fingers and ten toes.

In slow motion she brought her head down as she lifted a tiny foot kissing its sole. The baby was light in complexion. However, closer inspection revealed ears that were the same rich chestnut coloring as Nick’s complexion.