Chapter 87

"She’s having really hard contractions," Kevin said breathlessly as he motioned for the doctor to follow him to her room. "Does that mean the baby is coming now?"

The doctor laughed light-heartedly seeing the panic in Kevin’s eyes. He always got a kick out of the first time fathers and how they panicked so. Out of his twenty-two years in practice he had more than three dozen fathers pass out before the baby was ever born, missing the joyous moment. Then, there were the ones who thought THEY were the doctors. So many times he had wanted to pick them up by the back of their shirts and toss them out of the room, however, he knew that it was mainly nerves causing them to react the way they did and therefore, he had to be somewhat sympathetic towards them.

"Could be," he said, pushing the door open and making his way to Lynne. "How are you doing sweetheart? Ready to have this baby the old fashioned way?"

"Old fashioned way HELL!" Lynne shouted through clenched teeth. "Someone better get that damn epidural in here quick!"

Positioning himself between her legs, he lifted the sheet and examined her while Kevin’s skin turned an ashen color. Once again he could not help but chuckle at the couple before him.

"Looks like she’s about ready to deliver" he affirmed. "I’ll have the nurses prep her and I’ll meet you in the delivery room. I sure hope you two are ready to meet your son" he smiled, leaving the couple alone.

"What about the drugs?" Lynne yelled, her fists clenching as yet another contraction wracked her body. Turning to Kevin she grabbed his wrist, tears streaming her flushed face. "Get me some drugs, please!"

"Yes, baby. I’ll be right back," he said as he went running out the door and right into the path of a team of nurses that were coming in to prepare Lynne for delivery.

"Holy shit! Watch where you are going, jerkoff" the younger dark haired nurse smarted as she tried to pick herself up from the floor. "Damn, there IS a speed limit in here."

"Shannon! That is enough," the eldest nurse said as she turned apologetically to Kevin. "Don’t mind her, she just found out that she can’t get tickets to see her favorite boy band and she’s a little bit angry right now."

"No, no!" Kevin said as he held his hand out to the cute little nurse he had knocked on the ground. "It was my fault and I apologize."

Looking up at him as she took his hand, her mouth fell open and she felt her head start to spin. "Oh. My. God!" she exclaimed, covering her mouth instinctively. "You are HIM!"

"Him who?" the nurses chorused in confusion.

Kevin laughed, realizing that she had recognized him. "You must be a fan," he said as he helped her to once again become steady on her feet. "I’m really sorry for knocking you down. What group where you wanting to see? I’m sure I could pull some strings to get you tickets."

"I...um....oh, thanks but....I, uh...." she stammered, trying to straighten her uniform and fix her hair.

"What in the world is wrong with you, Shannon? You act like he’s one of those Backyard Boys, Backlot Boys or whatever their name is!"

"Backstreet Boys!" Kevin and Shannon said in unison, falling into fits of laughter.

"Yeah, that’s it" she said with sarcasm. "Now, if you two are done, can we please go in here and deliver your girlfriend’s baby?"

"Your girlfriend? Your baby?" Shannon asked, her eyes wide with disbelief.

Following the older nurse into Lynne’s room, Kevin whispered. "I’ll get you tickets and backstage passes to our next concert if you promise to keep this quiet. No press! Understood?"

Shannon nodded her head in agreement. "I promise, but what I really wanted was tickets to Brian’s breakfast fund-raiser and they were all sold out."

Kevin laughed out loud. "I’ll get you those too."

"Thank you" she blushed as she suddenly realized that she had a job at hand. Making her way over to the drawer of supplies, she started preparing the infant tray while Kevin went back to Lynne’s side and took her hand in his.

"You doing okay, baby?" he asked, kissing her damp forehead.

"Are you done flirting with ‘Look at me, my breasts are fake and I know you want to touch them’? she snarled.

"Shh! She’ll hear you, baby. You know that’s not nice" he whispered, stroking her hand.

"Well, if you haven’t noticed, RICHARDSON....I’m about to give birth to something WAY too big to come out of my body without drugs. And so far, I haven’t seen a needle or anything! Unless YOU want to have this baby, I suggest you get me some drugs!"

"Mrs. Richardson" Shannon said quietly, "The anesthetist is on his way and you’ll have your epidural momentarily."

"Thank you" Kevin murmured, holding Lynne’s hand once more as yet another contraction hit.

She simply nodded and walked away with a bright smile on her face.

Within twenty minutes Lynne had gotten her epidural, the pain was almost nothing and she was in the delivery room with the doctor ready to deliver their son, Kevin by her side and whispering sweet words of love and devotion to her.

The doctor peeked from around the sheet and smiled at Kevin, giving him a thumb’s up sign. "Okay, Lynne. This is it. One more really hard push and your baby will be out and ready for you to hold him. You think you can do that for me?"

"I don’t know," she cried, lying her head against the pillow. "I’m so tired."

"I know you are, honey. But, one more push and it will all be over."

Squeezing his hand, Lynne bore down hard and grunted loudly, tears streaming her face. The next sound heard throughout the room was that of a new baby crying angrily, his jet black hair matted to his adorable little head.

"Dad, would you like to cut the cord?"

"Yes!" Kevin shouted excitedly. With scissors in hand, he cut the umbilical cord and baby Richardson was whisked away to be cleansed before being handed back to his proud parents.

A few minutes later he was placed in Lynne’s waiting arms, wrapped in a baby blue receiving blanket, his mint green beanie adorning his perfectly rounded head.

"He’s so beautiful," Lynne cried, holding her newborn son in her arms while Kevin sat on the side of the bed and wrapped his arm around her. "Isn’t he gorgeous?" she asked.

As a single tear slid down his cheek, Kevin quickly brushed it away and kissed Lynne sweetly. "Just like his mother."

Chapter 88       Index