Although the pain that I had experienced on the Fourth of July was concerning, I had an ultrasound scheduled for the next week and Dr. Gregory said that everything was looking good and my cervix had only thinned out a bit more. He suspects that it was either round ligament pain or a Braxton Hicks contraction. Either way, it was nothing to worry about, and that at least put my mind at ease. I couldn’t say the same for Wes, but I’m not sure he had stopped worrying since I told him I was pregnant.

I hated spending the summer on bedrest, but everybody did what they could to make me feel involved. Betsy did a lot of cookouts and get-togethers at the ranch so I could see everybody. Once a week Stacy took me into town to check on the bakery. As long as I stayed sitting the entire time we were there and didn’t attempt to get up and work, it was okayed. I was still able to work doing the behind-the-scenes bookkeeping and general ownership stuff, but it wasn’t the same.

I really missed out on the bakery and Kathy assisted me in hiring a full-time baker. We are in the process of hiring another part-timer because Gio will be leaving for college in a couple of weeks. Kathy put an ad in the newspaper and a young lady from Waldorf had called expressing interest. The only bakery experience she has was working at the grocery store, but if she can handle the front of the store, Kathy can train her to do other things.

The house is coming along really well and everybody is hoping it’ll be done by the time the baby is born as long as he doesn’t decide to come early. I may not be able to help with much, but Wes is always bringing me samples of flooring, paint colors, etc and I’m picking out what we put in there. Thanks to Amazon, I’ve also been able to buy a lot of things for the baby.

I wasn’t expecting anything different to happen today. Annabelle and Betsy were downstairs making breakfast and I was scrolling through the laptop looking at different designs for the bedrooms with there was a knock on the door. I assumed that was just one of the Brown family members. “Come in!”

The door opens slowly and Holden pops his head in. “Hey, sis!”

“Holden! What are you doing here?” I hadn’t seen Holden in a few days so it was nice to see a different face.

“Just wanted to check in before I headed down to the house.”

Holden has been staying in one of the ranch houses while he is working on the house with Wes. I love that my brother is helping my future husband work on our family home. I know if my dad was alive he would be right there as well. Holden takes a seat on the edge of the bed. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m good, just tired.”

He gives me a glimpse of a smile, “What kind of tired? Tired of sitting in this room, tired?”

“Yeah, and regular tired too. You’d think on bedrest you’d rest a lot, but this kid is always up in my ribs.” I rub my hand over the area of my ribs that always seems to hurt these days.

“Have you decided on a name yet?”

“I think we’ve got a couple of good contenders.”

“Well at least with a strong middle name like Holden, he’ll have that to fall back on.”

I don’t mean to laugh so loudly, but it just came out. “Oh, you wish I was naming my baby after you!”

He puffs his chest out a bit, “It is the most obvious choice, you know?”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I close my laptop and set it down next to me. “In all seriousness, his middle name is going to be Charles.”

Holden smiles and takes my hand, “I had a feeling that it would be. Mom and dad would be so happy for you.”

“I think so too,” I try to say without tears forming in my eyes.

“Sometimes when I’m out there working, I think that dad would totally be right beside me.”

I chuckle a bit, “I was just thinking the same thing. He’d probably be trying to keep a budget and get mad at me for going over.”

Holden laughs as well, “All those years with mom going over budget, I think he was used to it.”

The seven-year mark of our parents’ passing happened at the end of July. Every other year I would have gone to their gravesite with my siblings, but the no travel order kind of ruined that. They did Facetime me while they were there and Hannah was sure to tell them the good news. I already told Wes that once the baby is born I want us to all make a trip so they can meet their grandbabies.

Holden starts to stand up, “I better get going before my boss yells at me.”

I give him a confused look, “Isn’t Wes your boss? “

“Yeah, he’s a total pain in the ass.”

“I’m not even going to argue with you on that.”

Holden looks back in my direction, “You planning on getting out of bed anytime today?”

“Only for about four hours, you asshole.” I toss one of the many pillows on the bed in his direction. “Mind helping your whale-sized sister down the stairs?”

“You’re not a whale, you’re carrying precious cargo, and don’t you forget that,” he taps me on the tip of my nose.

I swing my legs over the edge of the bed and Holden grabs my hands to pull me up. He puts his arm out and I loop mine in it as we waddle to the steps. Well, I waddle, he walks normally. Slowly he goes down one step and I follow. My stomach makes it hard to see where my feet are landing and since I spend most of my time laying down my balance is totally off. With about four steps remaining I stop in my tracks as I feel a pop followed by a rush of liquid down my leg.

“Oh shit, Holden, stop.”

Holden stops quickly and looks at me with a bit of fear in his eyes. “What happened, Holl?”

“Go get Betsy,” I tell him with a shaky voice.

“What’s going on, Holly?”

“My water just broke.” He looks down and back up quickly with shock and horror on his face.

“Shit….okay let’s go down the rest of the steps, we’re almost there.” We begin to slowly move down the steps again and Holden yells for Betsy. “BETSY! Come quick!”

Betsy comes running from the playroom at Holden’s terrified call for her. We’re finally nearing the last step. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Called 911, her water just broke,” his directions short and to the point.

“Oh no. Get her on the couch. Can you call Wes?” Betsy comes to the other side of me and the two of them slowly get me over to the couch.

“I’ll call Wes, promise you’ll stay with her?” Holden asks Betsy and she nods her head. Holden pulls out his phone as he walks into the other room and Betsy moves around some things for me to sit down.

“I can’t sit here, Betsy, I’ll ruin the couches.”

“Dammit child, I will replace all this furniture before I will let you stand there. Now sit your ass down on this couch and get your damn feet up. I’m on the verge of having a freakout and Betsy makes me laugh with her way with words. I get situated on the couch while Betsy dials 911. While I try to even out my breathing, I listen to Holden trying not to panic Wes too much on the phone.

“Hey Wes, you need to come back to the house.”

“Her water broke.”

“I know. Your mom is going to.”

“Yeah, she’s okay.”

A few minutes later, Wes comes running into the house. “HOLLY!! HOLLY!” His screams sound desperate and in pain, not helping me over here trying to keep my composure either.

“In here!” Wes comes running into the living room and kneels down beside me, holding my hand while he does a once-over of me.

“Hey baby, you okay?”

I shake my head, but still try to keep the tears at bay, “I’m scared, Wes. They said 37 weeks, I’m only 32 weeks. It is still too early.”

Wes brushes back my hair and kisses my forehead, “It’ll be okay, remember he said every week he gets stronger.”

Tears fall from my eyes and Wes pulls me into his arms the best he can, “Everything is going to be okay, Holly. Trust me that everything will be okay.”