Babysitting the Player

Chapter 24

9 Months Later

"Just one more push, sweetie. You're doing great." The nurse in baby pink scrubs urges me.

Thanks to my epidural, the pain isn't too bad, but the pressure is a bitch.

"I can't do it!" I cry as another tear rolls down my cheek.

"You can, you're already doing it. Just one more push."

"Keep squeezing my hand." Bryce kisses my forehead and I do as he says.

I force myself to give one last big push and I wouldn't be surprised if Bryce has be taken down for an X-ray to see how many fingers are broken.

When I really start to feel like I can't push anymore, I finally hear the first cry.

My tears of frustration and stress from the last thirty-six hours of laying in this hospital bed instantly turn into those of joy.

"Congratulations." The doctor smiles. "It's a boy."

"It's a boy?" I ask.

"It's a boy." He holds my son up for me to see before the nurses take him to get cleaned up.

"I want to hold him," I say.

"Just one minute, we'll be very quick."

"You did so good." Bryce smiles.

I pull him in and kiss him.

"Thank you for being here."

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

"You wanted to get a paternity test, correct?" Dr. Watson asks.

I nod.

"Okay, I'll need to get a DNA sample by swabbing the inside of your cheek," he says to Bryce.

"Okay."

"Can I hold him now?" I ask as Bryce's cheek is swabbed.

"They're just swabbing his cheek and then you can."

I can't see anything through the nurses' backs and I'm just itching to be able to see his face again.

"Do you know who the father could be if it's not Bryce?" Dr. Watson asks.

I nod. "Unfortunately it would be my ex boyfriend."

"Is he here?"

I shake my head. "I told him about the pregnancy but he wasn't interested in being a dad. He said he didn't care about getting updates or being here for the birth or anything. I still told him I was in labor but he never cared to acknowledge it."

The apple really doesn't fall far from the tree.

"So it's either Bryce or your ex?"

I nod.

"Okay. So either way we'll have our answer."

I hadn't thought of it that way.

I think back to nine months ago. Johnny was harassing me with fake accounts, he was driving by my house nonstop, sitting out front in the middle of the night, assaulting me at the mall, visiting my father in prison.

It took a police report and a couple court dates, but I was finally granted a restraining order.

He had to stop driving by, he had to stop messaging me from fake accounts, and he had to discontinue his visits with Brandon.

Given the fact that I was pregnant with a child that could be his, not all communication could be broken. I was ordered to give him updates such as finding out the sex, which I opted not to do until the birth in case he's not the father. He chose not to come in to provide a DNA sample. If I want him to, it'll take a court order. None of my updates received a response.