Chapter 238

Justin’s POV

Taking another deep breath, I tried to relax my white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel. “Is there anything I need to do?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she replied calmly. “You need to drive and focus only on doing that correctly and calmly.”

Her giggle accompanying this statement was followed by a wince and a huff of air.

“What? What’s wrong?” I demanded.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she soothed. “It’s just a contraction.”

Contractions? The doctor had mentioned these would be a marker of how close to delivery Helen was. We had to time them so we knew where in labor Helen was. Now, how far apart were they before we needed to worry? What if she delivered in the car?

“How far apart are they?” I insisted. “You were timing them like Dr. Peterson suggested, right? How much time do we have?” All this came out in a rush.

This time Helen made a face at me. “I don’t know how much time we have, but we have enough time that you don’t need to be like this. You’re stressing me out, and I have enough work to do.”

She huffed through another contraction. “It’s going to be okay. They say that it can take many hours for a woman to have her first pup. Besides, we don’t want to hurry things along. We need to be at the hospital so that Dr. Peterson can check and make sure that both twins are in the correct position to be born naturally.”

“If not,” she continued, “they’ll have to do it via a C-section. So there’s plenty to stress my body out, and you freaking out is definitely adding more stress to me.”

I nodded. “Okay. I’ll try to be calmer. Anything else that I can do? Did you get a meal? Do you need anything?”

She laughed. “Have you already forgotten that we ate breakfast right before you went for your walk? I don’t think they’re gonna let me eat much until after I deliver. But that nice breakfast was big enough, so I’m good. Thank you.”

She paused a moment in thought. “Before they take away my snacks or some such at the hospital, I could use a nice smoothie, though. So let’s swing through the coffee stand on our way to the hospital. We’ll get me a nice fruit smoothie, and then I can enjoy one last indulgence before they tell me I shouldn’t eat anything.”

“All right. And you’re positive we have time for that?” I double-checked.

“Yes,” she answered through her gritted teeth.

I wanted to snap and snarl at the baristas at the coffee stand for taking so long. How long did it take to blend a freaking mango and some yogurt and some ice? It was just a freakin’ smoothie. But when they finally gave it to us, and Helen was sucking happily on it in between wincing at contractions, I took comfort in knowing that my wife was satisfied and happy, or at least as happy as she could be. Because even though she wasn’t complaining about it, the look on her face said that the contractions weren’t comfortable.

When we got to the hospital, again, it seemed to take everyone on the planet forever to get anything done.

We had to get checked in.

And then we had to go up to the maternity ward.

And then we had to get checked in again.

And then they had to put her in a room.

And then they had to run a battery of tests that could have diagnosed an entire unit of my warriors for every ill that had ever befallen them before the doctor finally came in. I was nearly ready to scream at someone.

“Let’s see how far along you are.” The doctor lifted the sheets and bent, checking between Helen’s legs. She came up with a smile. “Excellent. You’re at two centimeters. We have plenty of time to do the ultrasound and make sure that both twins are facing the right direction for a natural childbirth. And if there’s anything wrong on the ultrasound, all of the rest of the tests look good, so we’ve got more than enough time to schedule a C-section. You are in good shape to deliver your twins happy and healthy, both Mama and babies.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Good. Good. Let’s get that ultrasound tech in here and get that done.”

Dr. Peterson smiled over at me. “King Justin, can you join me in the hall, perhaps?”

“Absolutely.” The moment the door was shut, I nearly pounced on her. “What is it? What’s wrong? What do we not want to tell Helen?”

“Helen’s fine, but we don’t want to work Helen up. The issue is you. You have to calm down.”

I took a deep breath in and let it out. “I’m trying, Doc. I’m trying.”

She reached over and took my hand. “I’ve already texted Randy for you. He’ll be here in a few minutes. I think you could use some moral support.”

“I’m not sure Helen will want guests.”

“Not to worry. We’ll kick Randy out when things get hairy in the delivery room. But until then, I think it might be good for him to be here just to level you off.” Her smile at me was kind. “Don’t worry so much. I know that’s like asking a first-time dad to quit breathing while his wife delivers, but you need to understand that this is a natural thing. Werewolf ladies do this all the time, and everything looks good on your wife.”

She squeezed my hand reassuringly. “You don’t need to panic. And if at any point there is a reason to panic, I will be sure to let you know.” This statement held a good deal of teasing.

I nodded and huffed out a sigh. “All right, Dr. Peterson. I’ll try my best.”

She let go of my hand and gave me an earnest stare. “What your wife needs most of all right now is a good distraction, something to keep her mind off the fact that this is going to take a while. So, I suggest that you guys make use of the TV in there and find something to binge-watch. Or play a card game or something else to pass the time.”

“Like how much time?” I demanded.

She shrugged. “It’s hard to say. If everything goes smoothly and she does a normal delivery, we could be looking at well into tomorrow before you actually have babies in your arms. At the very least, I wouldn’t expect anyone before dinner time. If we do if we discover that we need to do a C-section at any point, it can go faster, depending on how urgent the surgery is needed. But if it’s not an emergency, it’s still going to be several hours while we prep everything and get both her and the operating room ready.”

“So you’re saying I have a minimum of hours? Probably like dinner time hours?”

She nodded. “Yes. This is why you need to calm down. You’re going to wear yourself out before you even have babies to wear you out. Haggard and exhausted is not the way you want to greet your children.”

“Probably not,” I agreed.

She gave my arm a parting squeeze and opened the door to send me back in. “Now, go distract your wife, and kill some time. The anesthesiologist will be here in the next half hour or so to set up the epidural. Until then, Helen will be in a little bit of pain, and after, she won’t feel much of anything. So you guys can simply relax and conserve your energy to spend on your infants when they arrive.”