Womb For Rent Part 13

Maimie fluttered around the foyer, carefully tucking a cream colored crocheted afghan around Talli's bare shoulders. "I do declare, I swear you all are crazier than six cats in a tissue box. You take good care of my girl, you hear me, boy?" Maimie called after the departing pair.

"I will, don't worry." Derek called back in response.

Talli closed her eyes against the pain, a single tear slipping down her cheek. "I can't believe I went into labor tonight. Right in the middle of your party, no less."

"Most fun those folks have had all year, I bet," Derek answered, trying to keep her spirits buoyed. "Besides, it'll give them something to talk about while we're gone."

"Great, now they'll talk about how you carried me out of there. Oh...," Talli groaned, lacing her fingers across her stomach, as another contraction swept over her.

Derek placed his hands next to hers, feeling her stomach tighten with the force of the contraction.

(BM) CHAPTER 9.

Derek nervously paced the hospital corridor, his steps echoing loudly off the pastel colored walls in the silence of his sterile surroundings. How long did this take? he thought nervously. A half hour before, Derek had followed the attendant through the double doors of the hospital's emergency entrance.

The admittance clerk immediately put out a hand to stop his progress. "Mr. Cameron, I need some information from you first, then you can go on up to the Maternity floor."

"Can't this wait until later?" Derek asked, not pleased to be asked to leave Talli's side. Her fingers slipped from his as the attendant continued forward into a waiting elevator.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Cameron. I really do need the information now," the clerk repeated apologetically.

Derek leaned against the corridor wall and shoved a hand through his hair, his senses honed for Talli's voice.

"Derek, you can come in now." The doctor's voice called to him from within the half-open door.

Derek levered himself off the wall and nervously peered around the door frame. Talli lay on her side, her eyes closed, her face pale under the fluorescent lights of the sterile white room. "Is she okay?"

The doctor smiled and nodded. "She's fine, just resting between contractions. Things are moving along smoothly. Right now, she's dilated to four centimeters."

"But the baby isn't due until January. Will he be all right? What about Talli?"

"Well, from the exam I just gave her, I would say it's time. All her vital signs are stable and labor is progressing normally. The best thing for you to do now is keep her calm. First time babies sometimes take awhile to make their presence known."

The doctor clapped Derek on the shoulder and headed for the door. "Oh, you might want to change into something less formal. Labor tends to get messy. I'll have the nurse bring you a set of scrubs."

Derek nodded, his eyes on Talli's wan face. "Thanks."

Just then she rolled onto her back, hands splayed across her stomach. "Oh, oh."

Derek hurriedly moved to the bedside. "It's all right, Talli. I'm here, sweetheart. Okay, that's it. Breathe." The contraction pa.s.sed, leaving Talli damp with perspiration.

Two hours later, Derek felt Talli's fingernails bite into his palm as her contractions grew in intensity.

The doctor gave a satisfied smile. "Your cervix is just about ready. You're at nine centimeters. Won't be long now."

Talli smiled at the doctor. "Good."

Derek brushed a damp curl off Talli's forehead. "You're doing great."

"Thank you for being here with me. I don't think I could have done it without you." Patting his arm, her eyes closed tightly against the wave of the next contraction.

Derek took a sip of the coffee, feeling the hot bitter liquid burn at the back of his throat. Pulling the slat of the blind down, he looked out on the quiet night. The moon, full and round, shone down brightly from its vantage point high in the sky.

His eyes followed an approaching ambulance, as it pulled up to the emergency entrance, the attendants scurrying out to admit another patient. His stomach tightened with emotions he couldn't describe. When had he felt such eagerness? Such antic.i.p.ation? Realization caught him dead between the eyes. He let the blinds fall back in place and sat the cup on the night stand.

The doctor broke the silence of the birthing room.

"Well folks, I'd say it's time to have this baby. Everybody ready?"

"Definitely," Talli whispered.

Derek heard her soft voice, his heart constricting at the thought of the pain she was enduring and he wished there was something he could do to somehow take it away from her.

"Talli, I want you to push. Give it all you've got. Not yet though. Wait till your next contraction," the doctor coached.

Talli gritted her teeth. "That's now."

"Derek, support her shoulders. That's right, stand behind her. Let her lean into you. Good."

Derek positioned himself behind Talli. Her fingers clutched at his as he held her shoulders, supporting her weight with his own.

Talli closed her eyes and willed herself not to cry. She had tried so hard to be brave through all of this, now she wanted to let the tears fall. "I hurt. Oh Derek, it hurts so much."

"I know sweetie. We're almost there. Come on baby, push."

"Okay, Talli now push. The pain is going to be pretty rough, but I want you to focus all your energy on pus.h.i.+ng. A big heave ho and we can pop this baby right out. Can you do that, Talli? I know you're tired."

Talli nodded, a single tear sliding down her cheek.

"Okay, another contraction's coming. Talli, push. Give it everything you've got. I can see the head crowning."

Talli gritted her teeth against the pain and willed her muscles into action. Every bone in her body felt like it had been run over by a truck. She could hear Derek's words of encouragement beside her ear. She pushed, then fell back against Derek exhausted.

A loud wail filled the room as Talli heard her baby's first cry.

Derek stared at the squalling infant the doctor held in his hands. "Well Daddy, it's time for you to cut the umbilical cord."

Derek moved forward to take the scissors from the nurse. He snipped the cord with shaky hands. The nurse reached out and took the scissors from Derek's limp hold, then directed him back to the chair next to Talli's bedside.

The doctor looked up in concern, "Derek, are you all right? You look a bit pale."

"That was the most amazing moment of my life," Derek admitted, tears streaming freely down his face. "I actually watched my son being born."

Talli watched the play of emotions cross Derek's face, her body s.h.i.+vering despite the warm blankets the nurse piled atop her.

The nurse patted her hand. "A lot of new fathers react this way. They never expect it to affect them, but it always does. You rest now. I'll be right back with your baby."

"Thank you," Talli whispered, her limbs felt as though she had climbed mountains.

Derek stood, his hands tight on the edge of the bed for support, until he could trust himself to stand unaided. He leaned over and brushed a gentle kiss on Talli's lips. "Thank you so much. You can't imagine what this means to me."

Talli closed her eyes and drifted into a deep sleep, the feel of his lips her last conscious thought.

Derek sat in the rocking chair and reached out nervously as the nurse gently placed his newborn son in his arms. After a long minute, the baby's dark eyes opened to peer directly into Derek's.

"Hi there, little fella. I'm your daddy."

The baby yawned and closed his eyes once more.

Derek grinned. "I got the same reaction from your mommy a few minutes ago." Your daddy, your mommy. The words rolled clumsily off Derek's tongue. He stared down at his sleeping son. Thick auburn hair like Talli's covered the baby's head, dark eyes so like his own. Derek s.h.i.+fted the swaddled bundle and began to rock.

Talli opened her eyes and blinked in the brightly lit room. Roses of every color and size adorned every available nook and cranny. She pushed herself upward in the bed and winced at the discomfort she felt.

"Hey good looking. I was wondering if you were going to sleep all day." Derek sauntered into her hospital room, his tuxedo s.h.i.+rt rumpled, arms laden with presents. His rugged good looks only enhanced by the lines of fatigue that etched his ebony eyes.

A football tucked into the curve of one arm and a baseball bat dangled from his other hand.

Talli laughed, motioning to the a.s.sortment of goodies he held. "What's all this?"

"Well, you can never start too early you know." Derek dumped his load on the chair and came toward the bed. "How are you feeling this morning? Long night, huh?" He reached out to tenderly cup her cheek with his hand.

Talli cleared her throat. "Derek, I think there's something you need to know about last night."

"Such as?"

"Before my water broke, I sort of had a few words with one of your guests. I got a little angry and said a few things I shouldn't have."

Derek reached over and picked up two papers off the chair. "You mean something like 'Derek Cameron ruts in back seat of limousine with household help in an attempt to have a baby' or maybe something like this one 'Love child result of tryst between Derek Cameron and mystery woman.' Those sort of words?" He pointed to the headlines in the two daily papers.

Mortified, Talli tried to look anywhere but at Derek. "It made the papers? Twice?"

"Talli, look at me." Derek commanded.

Her eyes met his in chagrined dismay, only to find Derek grinning broadly.

"I'm really sorry, Derek. Can you ever forgive me? I don't know what came over me. She was so nosy and I..."

Derek leaned over, silencing Talli with a finger pressed tenderly to her lips. "Talli, I thought it was great. Cornelia needed to be taught a thing or two about nosiness."

"But the paper, the articles."

Derek shrugged. "So what? Let them guess what really went on that night." He leered at Talli, his eyes taking in the pink stain on her cheeks. He leaned close and whispered in her ear, his warm breath causing a case of wild s.h.i.+vers to rush through her body. "Besides, look what we got out of it. A beautiful baby boy."

A beautiful baby boy, Talli thought. Our baby.

A chorus of raised voices in the hallway outside her door caused Talli to force her thoughts to the present.

Maimie bustled through the door, trailed by Joseph and Anthony. "Child, how are you? Oh, my sweetie girl had a beautiful baby boy. I'm so happy for you. Are they taking care of you in here?" Maimie ambled her way to Talli's bedside to place a kiss on her cheek.

Joseph and Anthony shook hands with Derek, his grin infectious as they heartily slapped him on the back. Joseph walked over to Talli. "Is there anything I can get for you, Miss Talli? Anything you need?"

Talli grasped his outstretched hand. "Thank you, Joseph. I'm fine. Also, I'd like to thank you for getting me here so quickly last night."

Joseph bowed and backed away from the bed, embarra.s.sed by her public display of affection.

Anthony took his place. "Well, well, how's our new little mother doing today?"

"Fine, a little sore in places I didn't know even existed though," Talli acknowledged, as she s.h.i.+fted herself about in the bed.

Anthony turned to Derek. "Derek, I have the figures that were raised last night for the Children's Castle. Thought you might like to see them." He pulled a piece of folded paper from his coat pocket and pa.s.sed it to Derek.

Derek studied the paper. "Well, what do you know."

Talli searched his face. "Is it good?"

"See for yourself." Derek offered the paper to her.

She glanced at the figures and let out a loud gasp of surprise. "You raised over five hundred thousand dollars last night alone?"

"Not just Derek. You raised one hundred thousand yourself," Anthony stated.

Talli looked dumfounded. "Me, how could I raise any money?"

"Remember the conversation you had with Cornelia Vandergood?"

Talli's cheeks flushed crimson as she thought back and recalled her words.

"It seems a gentleman who wishes to remain anonymous overheard your conversation and donated a very substantial amount to the Children's Castle, saying he thought it was well worth every dollar spent to see Cornelia speechless beyond words."

"But it was a thoughtless, stupid thing for me to say and do. Derek's all over the newspaper's now, thanks to me, and I'm sure the press can't be that good."

Derek spread his arms wide. "Well, I guess some bad press is better than no press at all."

Maimie, Joseph and Anthony all looked at their employer in shocked surprise. He was willing to let the papers have a field day with him, and he didn't care! They weren't sure what had changed him, but there was no doubt in their minds that Talli was definitely good for their boss!

A knock on the door caused all five heads to turn in unison at the sound.

Talli's heart melted at the sight of her son, held snugly in the nurse's arms. The nurse crossed the room to place the tiny bundle in Talli's embrace. Talli looked down at the baby, not trusting herself to speak.