Spring took its time on the peninsula, which Tom appreciated. Every week, Chloe’s belly grew a little more. With the library upheaval finally resolved, she was able to focus on planning for the transition to the new space in the emergency services building—and take some of the vacation time she had banked to make a few extra long weekends.
Most of those were spent at home, cocooning together in their new and improved digs. It was a glorious honeymoon of sorts.
But by the last week of June, the temperature started to soar, summer finally arriving with a vengeance. Tom installed a ceiling fan in their bedroom, but Chloe still struggled to be comfortable. It didn’t help that her belly now had its own centre of gravity, and rolling over in bed required an Olympic effort—her words, not his, although he would give her a gold medal in baby making if he had the power.
He’d also make the summer heat go away if he had that ability.
“There is a real and present danger that I may strip down to nothing at the picnic,” Chloe announced as she stood in front of the closet. “It’s too hot for clothes.”
Tom was not complaining about her refusal to get dressed. If his pregnant partner wanted to run around in a pair of panties and a crop tank top, he and his dick both agreed that was a spectacular plan.
Their friends and family might not agree when they arrived at the annual Pine Harbour Canada Day celebration, but what the fuck did they know?
“We could stay home.” But it was hot here, too.
She made a noncommittal noise. “We should go.”
They really didn’t need to. “Do you want to go?”
“Sort of. It might be the last big party before the babies arrive.”
That was true. “You can put your feet up and have some lemonade.”
“That makes me sound like a little old lady,” she protested. “But yes, and I will.” She finally settled on a lightweight red wrap dress and sprawled out on the bed beside him, still in her underwear.
The dress lay beside her, scrunched in her fist.
“What’s wrong?” he murmured as he stroked her cheek.
She sighed. “I miss my body. I miss sex. We had some amazing sex, once upon a time.”
The last time was two weeks earlier, but Tom wasn’t about to argue with her. That was clearly a lifetime ago, and a travesty. There had been a good run there where they’d been intimate almost every day, but she hadn’t been up for it, or anything else, in the last little while. “We can have sex right now.”
“Not the kind of sex I want to have.”
“Come on, you gorgeous prickly pear. Try me. I’m strong.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, despite your big, sexy belly, if you want me to hold you over my head, Dirty Dancing style, I can do that.”
“You wouldn’t let me soar over your head,” she pouted. “You’d think it was dangerous.”
It would be dangerous.
But he tamped that down. “Whatever you want. I want to make the next month all about you, because when these babies arrive, it’s going to be hard work.”
“You’re really selling this whole experience. How about I stay pregnant forever?”
His fingers trailed over her breasts. “Okay.”
She burst into tears.
Fuck. “No, Chloe, I’m sorry.”
She laughed. Through tears. “Me too. I don’t know why I’m so weepy today.”
“Maybe it’s a full moon.”
“Maybe.”
But it wasn’t, and Tom couldn’t help but worry that this was the start of a whole new level of pregnancy hormones.
“Lemonade?” She whispered it, a tiny little plea, and he nodded.
“Unlimited lemonade, just for you. I’ll kill anyone who tries to get in your way.”
“Seems excessive.”
“I’m in an excessive mood, apparently.”
“That makes two of us.” She giggled and wiped her eyes. “Damn it. Okay. Help me up, and then I’ll put on this dress and fix my face.”
The picnic planners had outdone themselves. The lemonade stand was one of the first tables on the way in from the parking lot, and there were misting stations set up to cool everyone down.
Once she had her travel mug filled and she’d taken a slow stroll through two of the misting stations, Chloe had to admit she was in heaven. “I take back all my crankiness from earlier, with the qualifier that it may return at any moment.”
“That is absolutely your right,” Tom said. “Are you interested in any food?”
She made a face. “Nope.”
“Face painting?”
She shook her head and did a search for her friends. “I want shade and a good gossip session, probably.”
“We can arrange that.”
They found Matt, Natasha, and Emily first. Like Chloe, Natasha was ready to pop. “Any day now,” she said. “How about you?”
“Another few weeks.” Chloe rocked back and forth on her feet. The short walk around the park had tightened up her legs, and her back, and she was desperate to sit now. “I’m napping a lot.”
“Same. Where did you get the lemonade?”
“Towards the parking lot.” Chloe pointed.
Tom gestured to Matt. “I can show you where it is?”
While the guys went back for lemonade, Chloe joined Natasha on some folding camp chairs they’d set up under a tree. They caught up on non-pregnancy chatter for a while, but after the guys returned with lemonade, Emily wanted her mom to go and get matching face painting together.
“Up we go,” Natasha groaned as Matt helped her stand.
Chloe couldn’t imagine chasing a preschooler around right now. “Have fun,” she called out.
As soon as Natasha departed, Jenna arrived, pushing James in a stroller. She held her fingers to her lips. He’s napping, she mouthed.
Chloe gave her a thumbs up.
Tom leaned in and whispered to Chloe that he wanted to catch up with Ryan Howard, who was manning a booth about the kids’ ice hockey program. She nodded, and after he left, enjoyed the silence while Jenna rocked the stroller back and forth, until James was finally out enough that his mother felt confident sitting down.
“How’s it going?” Jenna asked.
Chloe blew a silent raspberry. “Crazy rollercoaster of emotions, that’s how it going. One minute I’m over-the-moon excited about lemonade, the next I’m grumpy about…literally anything. I couldn’t decide what to wear this morning, and then I burst into tears about sex. Sorry if that’s TMI.”
Jenna laughed. “It’s fine.”
“And before we came here, I seriously thought about doing the whole Marie Kondo thing on my wardrobe.”
“Don’t throw out clothes now. You might want them again in a few months.”
“Nothing will ever fit me again. I’m Muumuu Girl for life now.”
“Don’t diss the muumuu.” Jenna gestured at her own flowing tunic. “Comfort rules.”
“You look cute. I look like—”
“A gorgeous pregnant woman, stop it.”
“Sorry.” She shifted in place as her butt tightened up again. “And apparently I can’t even go for a walk without my body protesting.”
“Hip pain?”
“No, more like a sore back.”
“What kind of soreness?”
“Nothing major. Just a dull ache. It comes and goes.”
Jenna nodded. “Tell me when it stops, okay?” She pulled out her phone.
“Why?”
“No reason.” Jenna tapped on her phone with quick fingers.
“What are you doing?”
“Just texting your husband to get his butt over here in case we need to go to the hospital. Keep drinking your lemonade.”
Chloe squeaked. “Jenna!”
“Mmm?” Her friend kept typing.
“That’s a long message.”
“Now I’m texting Sean and telling him to come fetch his child in case I need to go with you to the hospital. Kerry’s off this weekend and I’m covering for her.”
“I don’t think I’m in labour.” Chloe shifted. “I’m telling you, it’s just a dull ache. It’s nothing like labour.”
“What is it like?”
“Cramps.” She rolled her eyes. “Okay, that makes it sound like labour. But it’s really…” Taking a deep breath, which was hard with the distracting ache across her lower back, she waved her hands.
“Still going?”
She rolled her neck. “Mmm.”
“Let’s go for a walk. See if that stops them.”
She carefully pushed herself to a standing position and grabbed her lemonade. This would be a civilized stroll.
They were around the ice cream stand when Tom appeared from the aging community centre building. Now he was jogging toward her, looking casual until he was up close. Then she saw his face was drained of colour.
“Hey,” he said, his eyes wide, as he stopped in front of her. “What’s going on?”
She made a face. “Jenna thinks I’m in labour.”
“What do you think?”
“I think Jenna’s a bitch.”
Her friend chuckled.
“It’s not funny,” Chloe protested. “You’re very mean for ruining my Canada Day lemonade celebration like this.”
“I’m super sorry,” Jenna said. “And it may be nothing.”
It had been almost five minutes since the last contraction. Correction, back ache. But just as that rebellious thought snapped through her head, her womb tightened up again. She winced. “It’s back.”
Jenna nodded and tapped her phone screen again. “Keep walking. Tom, do you guys have a hospital bag packed?”
“Sort of. We started.”
“Can Olivia maybe finish that for you? Bring it later? Is there anything you definitely wanted to have with you during labour?”
Chloe shook her head. “I have a playlist of songs I want to listen to on my phone. That’s it. We’re pretty flexible.”
“Good. Flexible is great. How’s that contraction doing?”
“It’s not a—” Chloe’s hand tightened hard around Tom’s fingers as the worst of it peaked, then faded away. Oh God. There was no avoiding this. “Fine,” she muttered. “But I want some lemonade for the road.”
“Deal. I’m going to follow you in my car. You can’t speed. This is not that kind of emergency. But we are going to go straight to the hospital in Owen Sound.”
“Owen Sound? Not Walkerton?” Chloe looked back and forth between Jenna and Tom in confusion, but then it dawned on her. Walkerton had a birth centre, with lovely labour rooms. But Owen Sound—the bigger city—had the intensive care nursery. There would be no nice, small community hospital delivery for her if the babies came today.
Tom nodded tightly.
As long as the babies were okay, that’s all that mattered.
Another contraction started as they headed for the truck. She could walk through it. Maybe Jenna was wrong—and Chloe knew her friend would be happy to be wrong here—but this time the contraction slowed her down, and kept going.
When it ended, after she was buckled into the passenger seat, she was sure her friend wasn’t wrong.
The babies were on their way whether she was ready or not.