Out Of The Friend Zone (34 page)

"You do have work to do. This food isn't going to feed itself, and the presents won't open themselves, so get cracking!" Rylee said, as she came up behind the couple, and put one arm around each of their shoulders.

"This is so great, Rylee! We can't thank you enough," Brynn said, knowing that she meant every word that came out of her mouth. She was glad that she and Rylee had overcome the small speed bump in the road, so to speak.

"That's what friends are for," Rylee said, giving Brynn a hug, then rubbing the belly that seemed to protrude further and further every day. "But I can't take all the credit. Nyla helped me so much. We were equal partners in this."

"I just have to know, who did you force into the clown suit?"

"Let's just say I need to be extra nice to Zaiden for the next two months or so," Nyla grinned as she walked up to join the conversation. The three girls looked at each other and burst out laughing. The night had been meticulously planned. Chandler and Brynn received more gifts than they knew what to do with, and were very appreciative of all their generous friends.

But the best part didn't come until they got home. Chandler crawled into bed, waiting for his fiance to come out of the bathroom, where she had been for the past fifteen minutes.

"Brynn, are you okay in there?" he called out to her.

"I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute, but you have to promise not to laugh," she called back through the closed door.

"Why would I laugh? Brynn, come on out," he called back, wondering what she was doing, and why she was taking so long.

It wasn't long before his questions were put to rest. The door opened to reveal Brynn standing there, wearing a short black satin nightie.

"Wow! Baby, you better put something on over that, or else I'm not going to be able to control my reaction," Chandler told her.

"You don't have to control it. The doctor gave me the go-ahead yesterday to resume sexual activity, as long as we are careful," she said as she crawled into the bed.

"I think you look absolutely stunning, and I can't wait to get my hands on you," Chandler told her as he enveloped her lips in a searing kiss. "What a perfect night."

"A perfect night indeed," Brynn said, as they became tangled up in each other.

B
rynn waddled through the kitchen, making lunch for the kids to bring to school. She was now in her ninth month of pregnancy and felt as big as a house. She was constantly uncomfortable, and was just praying that the baby would decide to make its entrance into the world soon. The baby inside her was becoming just as restless as she was. It was constantly kicking and moving around, never giving its mother much respite.

Everyone was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the baby. The kids talked about it non-stop, always fighting about whether they wanted a brother or sister. Every day when they woke up, the first words out of their mouths were, "Is it time yet?"

Chandler walked into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Brynn's waist, or as much of it as he could. He kissed her cheek and watched as she made the kids' lunches. "You got up early this morning," he said.

"Sorry, I couldn't sleep. There's just so much to do." She started to list all of her plans for the day, making Chandler tired just hearing about all she had planned.

"Well, my mom's coming to take the kids to school today, since I have a meeting first thing on the other side of town. Why don't I ask her to come back after she drops them off to help you out a little?"

"She doesn't have to do that. I'm sure she has plans already," Brynn said, then called to the kids to hurry up or they'd be late.

As if on cue, a car horn was heard out in the driveway. Chandler went out to say hi to his mom while Brynn finished getting the kids ready for school. She ushered them out the door, then waved to Madilyn before heading back into the house to return to her chores.

Chandler came in a few minutes later to say good bye to his fiance before he headed off to work. He gave her a long, passionate kiss, and told her he would see her at lunch.

Just after he left, Brynn sat on the couch to catch her breath. She had been having some minor pains in her lower abdominal area since the middle of the night, but figured it was nothing major. The moment soon passed, and Brynn was back up and working.

Half an hour later, the doorbell rang. "I knew it!" she said as she opened the door. "I told him not to bother you. I'm sure you have better things to do than help me get the housework done," Brynn said, as she hugged her future mother-in-law.

"Nonsense dear! I am more than happy to help. Besides, how often do you and I get to spend time together without anyone else around?"

Brynn thanked her for coming, and the two women got to work on washing the baby clothes and putting the finishing touches on the nursery. Brynn was thankful she was so comfortable around Madilyn.

Madilyn felt the same, and was very grateful for everything that Brynn had done for Chandler and Willow. Brynn pretty much gave them their lives back. How could she not love someone who would do that?

Most of the morning was spent talking and laughing, but Madilyn didn't miss the little episodes when Brynn looked like she was in pain. Not wanting to pry, Madilyn didn't say anything at first. But when the moments became more and more frequent, Madilyn had to speak up.

"What's wrong? I can tell that you're in pain," she said to Brynn.

"Oh, it's nothing. I think I'm just having some false labor pains," Brynn speculated.

"What makes you think they are false labor? How long have you had them?"

"I woke up with them in the middle of the night. They started off really mild, but the past couple have been stronger."

"I can see that," Madilyn said, walking calmly over to the phone. She picked it up and started dialing.

"Whom are you calling?" Brynn asked, suddenly feeling a little panicked.

"Hello, Chandler? I think you need to come and get Brynn. She's going into labor," Madilyn said into the phone.

"What?" Chandler shouted into the phone.

"What?" Brynn shouted at Madilyn.

Madilyn remained calm as she finished the phone call, telling Chandler to relax, but he needed to get home to take Brynn to the hospital. She grabbed a pen and a piece of paper from the tablet next to the phone, then went to the living room.

"Brynn, come sit with me," Madilyn called out.

Brynn waddled into the living room and plopped down on the couch. "Why did you call Chandler? You're going to alarm him for no reason."

"Honey, I'm not alarming him for no reason. You really are going into labor. I've been glancing at the clock every time your face grimaced in pain, and it seems like you are getting contractions about every 10 minutes. We're getting down to the wire here," Madilyn pointed out.

Brynn shook her head. "But this feels nothing like contractions I had with Barrett."

"Every labor is different, dear."

Brynn still wasn't convinced. They both watched the clock and wrote down every time that Brynn had a contraction. Finally she had to admit that Madilyn was right - the contractions were getting stronger. She was in the middle of a big one when Chandler came bounding through the front door. He ran to the hall closet, grabbed the bag they had packed for Brynn's hospital stay, then ran to the living room.

His face was beet red and sweat was dripping from his forehead. "Are you okay, baby?"

"I'm fine," she assured him. Chandler helped Brynn from the couch. With Madilyn on one side of Brynn and Chandler on the other, they walked Brynn out to the car, helping her the whole way. They put her in the back seat where she could be more comfortable, then Chandler and Madilyn got in the front seats.

Chandler started patting his pockets frantically, looking for his keys, and not remembering where he left them. Madilyn looked over and laughed, saying that it might be better if she drove.

"Why do you say that? I am perfectly capable, Mother!" Chandler growled.

"I sincerely doubt that, especially when you can't see that the keys are in the ignition, and the engine is still on."

"Good point!" Chandler said, and got out of the driver's seat. He and his mother switched seats, allowing her to drive them all to the hospital.

After arriving at the hospital, Brynn was brought up to her room while Chandler had to change into a set of scrubs. Madilyn left to get the kids from school and bring them back to the hospital, so they could wait for their new baby brother or sister to be born.

When Chandler finally got to Brynn's room, he was surprised to find her crying. "Baby, what's wrong?"

"I don't want our baby to be born like this!" she wailed.

"Like what? In a hospital?"

"No, born to unmarried parents."

Chandler was shocked. "Brynn, this never bothered you before. I asked you if you wanted to get married before the baby was born, and you said no."

"Well, I changed my mind, if that isn't obvious. But it's too late now," she responded, crying even harder.

Chandler looked at her for a long moment. "Hold on, I'll be right back." He ran down the corridor, pausing only briefly at the nurse's station to ask for directions. Finally he disappeared into the elevators.

What seemed like hours later, but in reality was only ten or fifteen minutes, Chandler came bursting through the door again, but this time he was followed by another man in scrubs.

"Baby, this is Pastor Paul. He's going to marry us, right here and now. I explained the situation, and he said he'd perform the ceremony. I had to go to the chapel to find him," Chandler explained.

"It might not be entirely legal," the pastor pointed out. "You need to get a marriage license. But so far as ceremonies go, let this one stand as your own personal date of marriage - the date you said your vows to each other and were married in spirit, if not on paper."

The smile that spread across Brynn's face was priceless. "Now?"

"If you want," Chandler replied.

The pastor, seeing that the time was right, started the ceremony. He made it very brief, and though they didn't have any rings to exchange, it made for the perfect wedding. Brynn grinned the whole way through the ceremony, even during her contractions.

Just as he pronounced them man and wife and told Chandler to kiss the bride, the doctor came into the room. "Let's take a look, Ms. Chase," she said.

"Actually, that's Mrs. Tiller now," the pastor took the liberty of saying.

Brynn thought labor was never going to end. She pushed and pushed with all her might, but felt like it was not enough. Chandler stood by her side the whole time, holding her hand and wiping the sweat from her brow. He was amazed at her strength.

Finally the doctor called out encouragement. "Come on Brynn, you can do it. Just one more good push. In three, two, one, go!"

Brynn closed her eyes and pushed with every ounce of strength she had left. The pain was intense, too intense to be believed. But it was also a healing, satisfying kind of pain, the kind that would lead to good things. She pushed so hard that everything in her hurt, but in the end she was rewarded by the shrill cry of a baby. She slowly opened her eyes to see the doctor cuddling the little one.

"Congratulations, it's a girl! Dad, would you like to cut the umbilical cord?"Chandler nodded, and moved to the end of the bed to cut where the doctor pointed. He then rejoined his new wife at the head of the bed, where the doctor placed their newborn daughter.

"We haven't even picked out a name yet," Chandler said as he looked at the beautiful baby girl before him. He had such an indescribable feeling of pride and of joy.

"I've been thinking about it, and Willow came up with the perfect name. Jasmine Elise Tiller."

"That's what Willow wants?" Chandler asked, and Brynn nodded. "Well, as long as you like it, and Barrett won't be too upset, that's fine with me," he said, smiling.