Thumped by McCafferty Megan

Author:McCafferty, Megan [McCafferty, Megan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harper Collins, Inc.
Published: 2012-04-24T04:00:00+00:00

harmony

I’M PANTING LIKE A DOG IN A DROUGHT.

“Another contraction!” Jondoe says excitedly. “That’s only five minutes after the last round! We should call an air taxi now!”

“No!” I insist, gripping the wall as I inch myself forward. “Not yet!”

“But you said yourself you don’t want to deliver the twins here.”

I don’t want to deliver the twins here.

Or anywhere.

“It’s too soon! I’m five weeks early!”

“Preterm labor is not uncommon with twins,” Jondoe says assertively.

“How can you be sure I’m in labor?” I ask, panic rising in my voice. “How do you know I’m not having those, um, Brixton Hacks—”

“Braxton Hicks,” he corrects.

“WHATEVER!” I roar. “YOU ARE NOT A DOCTOR.”

I’ve never raised my voice like that in my life. If I yelled at Ram like that, he’d scurry away with his puppy tail between his legs. But Jondoe doesn’t back away. He stops and gingerly places his hand on the curve of my back.

“Exactly,” he says softly. “Which is why we should go to a hospital.”

I ignore his words, though his soothing touch is harder to resist. I’m determined to do a few more laps up and down this hall.

“The twins will settle down,” I say unconvincingly, “this is a false alarm and—”

I stop midsentence.

Something has just happened inside me.

A pop. A pulling apart. A loosening. And releasing . . . releasing . . . releasing . . .

Within a minute, I’m soaked from the waist down.

“Ack! Gack! Ack! Gack!” I’m flapping around the hall like a goose with a broken wing. “The twins can’t come now! I’ve got five weeks to go! It isn’t time!”

“They can and they are,” Jondoe replies, taking deep breaths to remain calm.

He offers his hands to me, but I take a step backward. I’m scared to let him touch me. Afraid of what else might come apart.

He looks me directly in the eyes before speaking.

“Your water’s already broken,” he says gently. “There’s nothing else I can break.”

Oh, Jondoe. How I wish that were true.

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