Untitled Book 2 (33 page)
Authors: Chantal Fernando
Shayla
Five months later
“O
H
my god, she was right; it's like knives!” I yell, closing my eyes and trying to manage the pain.
Holy fuck.
It hurt so badly.
I want to scream.
I open my eyes and glare at Vinnie, who is holding my hand and telling me to breathe. “I don't want to breathe!” I yell at him. “Why don't you try and breathe through getting stabbed?”
“Do all women get this mean?” he asks the nurse, whose expression doesn't change at his question.
“For the most part.”
“I don't know why you're yelling at me,” he says, staying completely calm. “You're the one who didn't want the epidural, trying to be some kind of warrior woman.”
The nurse hands me some gas, I suck it like it's going to save my life, which I'm kind of hoping it will. Yes, I fucked up by saying that I didn't want an epidural, but he didn't need to keep
reminding me of it. Now it was too late to have one, as the baby was almost crowning, or so the nurse keeps telling me.
“Fuck!” I yell as another contraction hits me. I want to cry, but it won't help, so there's no fucking point.
Finally, the midwife tells me it's time to push. I don't really want to, but I want this over with, so I push, through all the pain, I push.
“The head's out,” Vinnie says, eyes wide as saucers. I don't know when he moved to the other end, right in front of my vagina, but I'm pretty sure I told him not to look down there.
“Don't look!” I all but beg, only to be ignored, again. Even I don't want to look, and I'd rather he remember what my vagina was like beforeânot when it's stretched out with a giant baby head coming through it.
“Vinnie, stand by my head!” I growl, then start whimpering. They keep on telling me to push, so I keep pushing.
“Almost there,” the midwife tells me, acting all calm. How is she so calm? I feel like punching her based on that alone. I close my eyes, block out Vinnie, still standing where he isn't supposed to be, and the midwife telling me to keep pushing, and I just push. With everything I have, I push.
And then, something amazing happensâthe pain stops. I hear a baby crying, and I feel nothing but relief.
“We have a daughter,” Vinnie says in awe. The nurse asks if he wants to cut the umbilical cord, and he does. I start crying. They place our little girl on my chest and she stops crying. She has a thick head of silky, dark hair, which I know she got from me, but when she opens her eyes, all I see is Vinnie.
“She's perfect,” I say, tears running down my face.
After a little while, the nurse takes her from me, cleans her
up and wraps her. The nurse then hands her to Vinnie, who holds her awkwardly, but without complaint. He sits down, and just stares into her eyes.
When a tear drops from his own, I know that Faye's words were true.
AUTHOR PHOTOGRAPH BY KRYSTA GUILLE
CHANTAL FERNANDO
is the
New York Times
bestselling author of the novel
Maybe This Time
, the Resisting Love series, and eight Wind Dragons MC novels and novellas. She lives in Western Australia and can be followed on Twitter and Facebook, or visit her website at
authorchantalfernando.com
.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR:
authors.simonandschuster.com/Chantal-Fernando
MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT
The Wind Dragons Motorcycle Club Series
Dragon's Lair
Arrow's Hell
Tracker's End
Dirty Ride*
Rake's Redemption
*âebook only
We hope you enjoyed reading this Gallery Books eBook.
Join our mailing list and get updates on new releases, deals, bonus content and other great books from Gallery Books and Simon & Schuster.
or visit us online to sign up at
eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com
Gallery Books
An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Chantal Fernando
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
First Gallery Books trade paperback edition August 2016
GALLERY BOOKS and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or
[email protected]
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at
www.simonspeakers.com
.
Cover design by Patrick Kang
Cover image © Brion Topolski/Getty Images
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-1-5011-3957-4
ISBN 978-1-5011-3960-4 (ebook)