Red, White and Beautiful (17 page)

“God dammit!” I cry.

Marcus is silent a moment. Then I see his face peer of the side of the bed. He’s got that ‘I’m trying to restrain myself from laughing’ look on his face.

“Oh just laugh, asshole!”

He bursts out laughing and lifts me up, pulling me back onto the bed.

“Baby, do you want me to do it for you?” he chuckles, his chest rattling.

“No!” I snap, sliding out of bed and stomping towards the bathroom.

“Sierra?” he calls, still laughing.

Caring fiancé, truly he is. When I get into the shower, I turn it on and step in, running my hands over my massive bump. I shift from side to side as my back begins to ache. God, did I hurt it falling like that? It wasn’t far, but it’s feeling very achy. I rub my hands over it and Marcus walks in still laughing until he sees my face. He quickly steps into the shower, taking my face in his hands.

“What is it?”

“Oh, I think I hurt it a little, that’s all.”

“Do you need a doctor?”

I shake my head. “No, no, I’m ok.”

“Do you think the baby is hurt? God, Sierra, I didn’t mean for…”

I press a finger to his lips. “It’s ok, it’s just me being all round and shit…”

His eyes widen, and he bursts out laughing again. “Aw baby, you’re god damned cute when you’re like this.”

I roll my eyes and press my cheek to his chest. “That was hot, Mr.

Harrison.”

“Hmmmm, you like seeing your man wank himself?”

I shudder. “God, say it like that and yeah, I totally do.”

He grins and presses a kiss to my head. “I have to get ready for work.”

I nod and hug him closer a moment. Marcus works as a CEO of his own company now. He lets me do a lot of the PA work from home and he made sure the massive building he purchased to start it, was nice and close to our lovely home. He seems really happy. He comes home and he has no hassles from constant phone calls or messages. We just get to hang out. My parents visit often and Quinn comes out with Raine every few weekends. We don’t hear from Chayne, it seems she took the hint and left. Marcus had a lot to work out with his old job, but slowly, it all began sorting itself out.

“Not much longer and you’ll be at home with me and the peanut for a month.”

He shudders, with nerves? I don’t know.

“I can’t wait.”

“Really?”

He nods. “Yeah, I’m all prepared for the long nights.”

I smile and step out of the shower, ignoring the pinching in my back that’s getting worse. I wrap a towel around myself and Marcus does the same. When we’re dressed and he’s ready for work, we sit at the breakfast bar having a coffee. Right before he’s ready to go, I feel a warm gush of water trickle down my legs. For a moment, I’m fairly sure I’ve wet myself. Ok, I know pregnant women don’t have good bladders, but damn, did it get that bad?

“Sierra, are you ok?”

I look up at Marcus, who is watching me with a worried expression.

“I…something is running down my leg.”

He looks confused for a moment. He comes around the bench and looks down at my legs.

“Did you…”

“No,” I cry. “I didn’t wet myself.”

“Sierra…I think…your waters have broken.”

I snap my head up and gasp, “What? I still have a few weeks!”

“I guess the baby doesn’t think that.”

“Oh god, what do we do? Marcus, what do we do?”

He grips my shoulders. “Aren’t I meant to be the one freaking out?

Come on Sierra, we’ve got this. We went to all those classes.”

“I can’t…oh no…oh god.”

“I’m calling your mom, ok? Calm down, we’re going to be fine. You can do this. You are tough sweetheart.”

“My vajayjay, it’s going to be ruined!” I cry, cupping my face in my hands.

Marcus looks down at me, truly confused.

“Your what?”

“Oh god, I’m not ready. I’m not ready!”

“Hey,” he says, putting on his dominant voice. “Look at me.”

I open my eyes and look at him, trembling.

“We’re doing this, and we’re going to be fine. Just think, soon you’ll have a beautiful baby in your hands.”

“Beautiful baby,” I whisper. “Yes.”

“Good girl, now sit tight while I call your mom.”

He walks around the corner for a moment and I resume panicking.

When he comes back, I see a glimpse of panic on his own face, but he quickly smothers it. He gathers my hospital bags and helps me up.

“We’re going to the hospital to get this checked out, ok?”

My back cramps again and I whimper.

“Are you ok?” he asks.

“Cramps in my back are getting worse.”

“All right, we’re on our way. Hang in there, baby.”

The drive to the hospital is brutal, seriously. It’s slow, traffic gets in our way and by the time we get there my back pain has gone from bad to worse. A nurse rushes out and helps us inside. When we get in, I see my mother and sister. They come rushing over as soon as they lay eyes on me. My mother takes my hands and instructs me to breathe.

“You’re going to be just fine, good girl, keep breathing.”

I cry out as the pain in my back begins to resemble a knife being stabbed into it.

“God, it’s so painful. Why is it in my back?” I cry, rubbing my back furiously.

“Back labor,” the nurse says softly. “The baby might have its spine to yours, and that will cause the labor to be felt in the back, instead of the front.”

“Is that bad?” I cry.

She shakes her head quickly. “No, it can just be a different kind of pain.”

When we arrive at the birthing room, Marcus helps me onto the bed.

My mom rushes around gathering ice cubes while my sister sits beside me holding my hand.

“All right, we’re just going to check how far along you are, ok love?”

I nod and shift uncomfortably as the nurse checks. It’s one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever done. Seriously.

“Oh, wow, you are coming along nicely. You’re around seven centimeters. It won’t be long now love. Do you want some pain relief?”

“No,” I groan, rolling to my side.

“I’ll go gather the doctor and we’ll go from there.”

Marcus begins rubbing my back as the pain becomes overwhelming.

“How did I not know I was in labor?” I cry.

My mother strokes my hair. “Sometimes it just creeps up on us.

You’re doing very well honey.”

“It hurts!”

“I know, it will be all over soon.”

It wasn’t. It took another twelve hours for me to get to ten centimeters, and another two hours of pushing before we finally brought our baby into the world. I slump down when the doctors deliver and my eyes flutter closed. Then I hear that cry. The crackly, new cry of fresh life. I open my eyes, Marcus is down the other end of my body, tears are stumbling down his cheeks as the doctors hand him a little blue bundle.

“It’s a girl,” he rasps.

He walks over to me and I feel my own tears swell as he places the little bundle into my arms. The first thing I see, are the mass amounts of black hair. She’s perfect in every way. Pink cheeks, rosy lips, perfect little chubby features. I sob loudly and brush my finger down her face.

She’s perfect. She’s everything I could ever want and more.

“Oh, Marcus, she’s perfect.”

He puts his arms around me, stroking my hair and using his other hand to slip his finger into her little fist.

“Oh congratulations you two, she’s perfect. Welcome, sweetheart,”

my mother sobs, kissing us both, and then our daughter before leaving.

“We did it,” I whisper, swiping a tear from my eyes.

“She’s beautiful, Sierra. She’s everything I ever imagined and more.”

“She’s ours.”

“All ours.”

The doctors do what they have to do, and when we’re alone, Marcus crawls into the bed beside me. He wraps his arms around me and our daughter, and we sit staring down at her.

“Esme?” he whispers.

“Yes, it’s perfect.”

“She’s perfect.”

I look up at him, and he leans down, kissing the side of my mouth.

“Who knew we’d end up here?”

I nod, swallowing back my tears. “You made all my dreams come true, Marcus Harrison.”

He tightens his grip on us. “No sweetheart, you did that all on your own. I just gave you a helping hand.”

~*~*~*~*~

MARCUS

“Marcus Harrison, she is not a football!”

I chuckle as I tuck my six month old daughter under my arm and carry her like a football to her change room. Sierra giggles as she follows down behind me. When I get to Esme’s room, I place her on the table and smile down at her. She cackles and reaches up at the yellow ducks hanging above her head.

“It’s daddy’s turn!” Sierra smiles, slumping down onto the old rocker in the corner.

“We got this, don’t we, Esme?” I grin down at my little girl.

Esme smiles back at me, a big, toothless grin that gets my heart every time. She’s the image of her mother, only she has my dark features.

Her thick, dark hair, curls at the ends and flicks out. She has big brown eyes, and two perfect dimples. I lean down, letting her give me one of her famous sloppy kisses.

“Aw, daddy is a sucker,” Sierra teases, standing and wrapping her arms around my waist.

She peers around me and looks down at Esme.

“She’s so darn cute!”

“She got it from her momma,” I grin.

“Maybe a touch from her daddy.”

“Maybe a touch,” I smirk.

When we’re done changing, we all go out to the large patio and I put Esme in her rocker. I fall back onto the swing chair and Sierra crawls in next to me.

“Are you happy, Mr. Harrison?”

“I could never be anything, but with my two favorite girls around.”

“You’re still a smooth talker, sexy sweet.”

I chuckle. Sierra still uses the nickname for me, the way she did the day she created it. I grip her hand, pressing it to my lips. The girl drives me wild, no matter how many days go by, she always manages to bring me pure happiness.

“Only smooth for you, baby.”

“Hey, Marcus?”

“Hmmmm.”

“Did you ever think this is where you would end up?”

I lean back in the chair and stare out at the ocean over the road. If she had asked me that two years ago, I would have told her I never wanted to lose my career or change my life. Heck, I thought I was happy with Chayne. I thought nothing could ever make me feel better. But life is funny like that, isn’t it? Sometimes you think you have everything figured out, but really, you’re just getting started. I thought I had it all, but in reality, I didn’t have any of it. I had a career, I had big dreams but I didn’t know the meaning of happiness, until Sierra.

“I didn’t ever think this is how things would go for me, sweetheart, but I can tell you…I would never change it. I wouldn’t do a god damned thing differently.”

“Do you ever miss your job?”

I shrug. “There are days I miss the craziness of the job, but when I walk in the door to you each night, and see my daughter smiling at me from her chair…I don’t think anything could ever be worth more than that.”

“You wanna know something, sexy sweet?”

“Always.”

She grins up at me, her eyes sparkling as she wraps her hand around one of mine.

“I love you.”

Grinning, I press a kiss to her forehead.

“You wanna know something sweetheart?”

“Always.”

“I love you too.”

And heck…that was all there ever needed to be.

THE END