Too Close

Chapter Thirty One

"On the count of three, I need you to push." The doctor instructed as she saw the hair from the baby's head peeking out.

"I can't." She cried while shaking her head. "I can't do this." The unbearable strides of pain were hitting her back to back.

"Come on, Ms. Graye. You're doing so well."

Once the doctor got to three, she pressed her chin to her chest, letting out a scream as beads of sweat dripped on her face and mixed with the tears streaming from her eyes.

"She's almost here, honey. You got this." Brandy held her hand, completely unphased by how tight she was squeezing it.

"Yup, we see her head. Right sister?" A nurse turned to Gianna who looked like she was on the verge of passing out.

"Yeah, I see her, Dev." But she wished she couldn't. She was finding it hard to see why childbirth was known as a beautiful phenomenon when it was actually horrific. Nothing looked how it was supposed to down there and her sister had been screaming in agony for hours. What's beautiful about that?

The delivery room doors opened and Devin's fiance ran in with his work uniform on. The nurses tried to get him to at least wash his hands but he'd already spent too much time, not by her side. Kareem grabbed her unoccupied hand, kissing it several times before apologizing for the delay in his presence. The traffic was heavy coming from his job, so he took many backroads trying to get to the hospital as soon as possible.

"I know it hurts now baby, but it'll all be worth it when she's here. Just one more push, alright?" Kareem comforted her with his words and touch. Devin nodded her head, mustering up the strength before giving her everything into that final push.

Just as her mother promised, the baby was out and her cries filled the delivery room as the doctor gave her bottom a love tap. She was placed on Devin's chest as nurses came up and gently removed the vernix caseosa from her eyes, nose, and mouth with a bulb syringe. Then, Kareem was awarded the duty of snipping the umbilical cord.

Brandy left the now parents of two alone with baby Kodi and joined Gianna in the corner of the room by the large window.

"You alright, Gigi? You're looking a little pale."

She stumbled over her words a little bit before getting it right, "I don't know how you did that three times. There's no way something that big should come out of something so small. I'm scared as hell and nothing even happened to me."

"Don't tell me you're traumatized?" Brandy laughed softly, "It's all a part of life. When you have kids, you'll feel differently."

"Not happening, Ma. And don't pull the grandkids card on me, you now have two, and I'm sure Brina will come back from her honeymoon pregnant, so there's three. Maybe four if the twins trait kicks in with her."

"Or you." Brandy smirked while elbowing her side and Gianna rolled her eyes.

She was now twenty-seven years old but still had so much to accomplish before settling down and starting a family of her own.

Gianna was finally about to release her first mainstream novel after years of working hard, making connections, and writing. Her story was finally about to leave her flash drive and be printed into physical copies.

She was under one of the most well-known publishing companies in the country and soon her schedule would be packed now that she was officially a published author. Her career was just getting started.

She'd also have to find someone she was willing to make children with. Love has been the last thing on her mind, her work and healing reigned over everything else in her life. She'd found a new sense of happiness, one that she didn't need a guy to contribute to. It was all her.