Chapter 199

Hannah

At first, I wanted to deny that my water had just broken in the middle of Raya’s wedding. I really thought I just peed myself. Wren has been sitting on top of my bladder the entire time and I felt the urge to pee for the longest time. But then, the pain hit me suddenly and I nearly fell to the ground.

It felt like cramps, but ten times worse. I screamed out as I held onto my stomach. There was no denying it now; I was going into labor.

“Someone, call an ambulance!” I heard Dr. Davis say as he jumped to his feet.

I felt Nancy’s hands around my arms as she pulls me towards a clearing in the chapel.

“I need some room!” She shouts to those who are surrounding us.

Everyone scatters to give her some room. Sebastian was quick to be by my side. He was saying something that I couldn’t quite understand. The pain was too much for me and all I could think about at that moment was needing something to keep the pain at bay. But I wasn’t in a hospital, so I was out of luck.

“I’m going to need a pillow, some blankets, and a bowl of hot water! Right now!” Nancy orders.

I had never seen her take such charge before, I was impressed by this. I knew she delivered a few babies at the hospital, so I was in good hands. I just wish this wasn’t happening in the middle of Raya’s wedding. She looks so concerned for me as she stands by Arnold’s side.

Tears welled up in my eyes again; I felt so guilty.

That guilt soon turned into more pain as I had another contraction.

“Lay down,” Nancy says as she places a pillow on the ground.

I do as she says and lay on the pillow. She lifts my legs and takes off my underpants. I felt so exposed. This isn’t how I wanted the kingdom to see me. I feel so embarrassed.

“We don’t need an audience for this,” Sebastian barks to the wedding guest. “Wait outside and give us some space.”

They don’t hesitate to do as he orders; nobody ever kept the alpha king waiting. They all dispersed from the chapel and went outside, only a handful of us remained. Arnold, Raya, Scott, Caroline, Dr. Davis, and Nancy.

Dr. Davis and Nancy sat at the other end of me while Sebastian remained at my head. Trying to get me to calm down, but I couldn’t stop crying. I had so many emotions that were rushing out of me. I was finally going to see my daughter again, the pain that takes over my entire body, and the guilt of having this happen in the middle of my best friend’s wedding.

The timing of this was terrible.

I felt the warmth of hot water in my lower region as Nancy worked on cleaning me out. It felt nice and I was able to sigh in relief as the water soothed away some of my pain. But it wasn’t enough; more pain coursed through my body soon enough and I screamed out in agony.

“it’s going to be fine,” Nancy breathes, trying to keep her tone calm.

I can see Dr. Davis staring at her with wide eyes as she takes control of the entire situation. There’s almost a look of admiration in his gaze.

“I need each of her legs to be held. We don’t have time to wait for the ambulance,” Nancy says. She looks over at Scott and points to him. “You. Hold one of her legs like this.” She demonstrates.

He hesitates for a moment; I knew it was weird for him to be this close to my lower region; it would have been weird for me too if I wasn’t in so much pain. He lowers himself and grabs onto my leg, lifting it and bending it slightly. Dr. Davis does the same with my other leg.

Now I felt really exposed.

“You’re crowning,” Nancy says as she peered between my legs. She grabs one of the blankets that someone has brought to her and places it under me. “Here; give her some warm water for her face to calm her down,” she orders Sebastian.

It’s not often that someone had the nerve to order Sebastian around, but he wasn’t in the position to argue with her. He takes some of the warm water and washes it over my features. The warmth felt nice, and I sighed again in relief. My body had stopped trembling for only a moment. He wraps me in his arms and holds me close to him.

“You’re doing great. It’ll be over soon,” he whispers.

I hope he’s right.

I can hear the light sirens of the ambulance in the distance. They are coming closer, but they are still far enough away that it might take them a little while to get here. I knew we weren’t going to have enough time.

“You need to start pushing,” Nancy says as she prepares herself.

“What?” I gasp, my body beginning to tremble once again. “I can’t… not now…”

I wanted to wait until I got to a hospital.

“Trust me,” she says, meeting my eyes. “This is your best option right now.”

As I stared into her eyes, I realized how serious she was. She was right; I needed to trust her. I nodded my head as more pain coursed through my body. I gritted my teeth and cried out in agony, tears streaming down my face.

She counted down from 3 and screamed, “Push!”

I pushed with all my strength; I can feel Wen’s head making its way out of my center, tearing the flesh in the process. I screamed in agony; I didn’t think I was going to be able to keep going. This hurt so bad. Sebastian held me even tighter and kept whispering how great I’m doing and how much he loves me. It was nice to hear, but he also has no idea about the kind of pain I’m enduring right now.

“Again!” Nancy orders loudly. “Three, two, one! Push!”

I push again, feeling everything in my body shifting. I can’t help but wonder how gross I must look down there. I was surprised that Scott hasn’t fainted yet. He was trying hard not to look, but I knew he couldn’t help himself.

I felt Wrenley coming out a little bit more and I can see the excitement on Nancy’s face. I stopped pushing and laid back on Sebastian’s lap. Trying to maintain my rapid heartbeat. The sirens grew even louder and this time I can see the red flashing lights outside the chapel doors.

The ambulance was here. They were rushing in quickly with a stretcher, ready to take me away.

“One more big push,” Nancy orders. “Three, two, one! Push!”

I push again, despite thinking I didn’t have any more in me. I pushed like my entire life depended on it. Technically it did; Wren was my entire life. She depended on me, and I wasn’t going to let her down. I screamed as I pushed; the pain was so great that it was nearly numbing my body, but I still pushed.

“That’s it!” Nancy said excitedly. “Almost!”

I continued to push knowing I was red in the face and no longer breathing. I grew lightheaded from my lack of oxygen. Sebastian kept telling me to breathe, but I tuned him out. Everything was going distorted; all their voices and my vision were starting to fade.

My heart grew less rapid, and I knew that wasn’t a good thing. I kept pushing until I was blue in the face.

“Hannah?” I heard Sebastian’s distorted voice from behind me. He sounded so far away, even though I knew he wasn’t.

Soon, I heard the light cries of a small baby. Then, everything went black.