Chapter 178

“Dot?”  Allegra asked, rubbing her back as they meandered through the baby department at one of the city’s upper-end department stores.  “What else am I going to need?”

Feeling exceptionally energetic, Allegra had convinced Dot to spend their Saturday buying ‘necessities’ for the short time she would be in New Jersey after the birth.  Uncle Tico had thoughtfully provided every starter set that his children’s clothing line offered, but there were still diapers, wipes, a bassinet, car seat, baby wash, powder, and on and on.

“I think you have plenty and should probably call it a day.  You’ve only got two weeks until the baby’s due.  Why don’t you take the chance to rest while you still can?”

Allegra shook her head.  “I feel remarkably well today and I’d like to get this all finished.”

Dot looked upon her friend with a critical eye.  She was bright eyed and didn’t seem to be fatigued, but she kept rubbing at her back.  Jeans and tennis shoes prevented inconspicuously checking her ankles for swelling.  Allegra wouldn’t mention it even if they were.  An intervention was in order.

“Honey, you are finished,” she told the younger woman, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, guiding her toward the registers with her armload of soft pink assortment of sleepers, socks and the like.  “Faith has everything she’ll need and if we think of something else, we’ll have it delivered.  Let’s go home.”

“Are you sure?”  Worried eyes darted over the racks of baby blankets, hats and mittens.  “What if it snows?  Won’t she need a little coat?”

Dot laughed.  “If it snows, you wrap her up in a blanket or two.  Trust me, she doesn’t need a coat yet.”

Reluctantly agreeing, she put her purchases on the counter with a groan of frustration.  “Ugh.  I have to go to the bathroom again.”  Withdrawing the debit card from her wallet, she passed it to Dot asking, “Can you pay for this while I go to the ladies’ room?”

Waving away the card, Dot assured her, “I’ve got it.  Aunt Dot hasn’t gotten made a contribution to her wardrobe yet.  Consider this my gift.”

With a smile of gratitude, Allegra tucked the card back in her purse and shuffled off to the ladies’ room as fast as her rounded shape would permit.

The purchases were quickly paid for and placed in bags, leaving Dot to wait and watch for Allegra.  Leaning against the wall outside the restrooms, she fished the phone from her handbag.  She figured Jon was up by now and she wanted to relay her suspicions.

“Hey, baby,” he greeted her with a happy lilt to his voice.  “How’s life in the northern hemisphere?”

“Hey yourself.  Life in the northern hemisphere is about to get more interesting.”

“Not until I get home in another coupla weeks it’s not,” he told her with a sultry chuckle.  The man, just like every other man, could turn anything into a sexual reference.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, you perv,” she griped good-naturedly.  “It’s not all about you or sex.  I called for a totally different reason.”

“What’s more important than me and sex?” was his mock-wounded response.

“Listen Horndog, I’m placing you on red alert.  Unless I miss my guess, you’re going to be an uncle slash cousin again very, very soon.”

“What?”  She could hear something clatter in the background and briefly wondered what he’d knocked over.  “Rich told me the doctor says she’s on track for Christmas Eve.”

“That was on Monday.  A lot can change in a week, and I’m telling you the baby’s dropped and she’s got back pain and boundless energy.  She’s nesting Jon.  I bet the first labor pains hit within twenty-four hours.”

“Jesus,” he groaned, implicitly trusting his wife’s assessment after four trips to the delivery room.  “What the hell am I supposed to do when he finds out he’s gonna miss this and turns into a basket case on me?”

Sympathy wasn’t something Dorothea dispensed without a good reason and her husband’s inconvenience didn’t make the cut.  Her reply was immediate and brooked no argument.  “You get him the charger for his phone and quiet corner, because he’s going to be phoning it in.”

♥ ♥ ♥

Allegra was in the shower the next morning when the first pain hit.  It felt like a muscle cramp in her abdomen but, while it hurt, it wasn’t overwhelming. 

That can’t be a labor pain.  It’s not time yet.

Inhaling deeply a couple of times, she resumed washing her hair, opting to wait and see if it was just a fluke before she panicked.  After the suds had been washed away and she soaped and rinsed her body without so much as another twinge, Allegra dismissed it as a random occurrence.

Probably those Braxton-Hicks things I read about.

The second, more pronounced pain, struck when her hair was nearly dry several minutes later.  This one slackened her grip on the hairdryer and it nearly escaped a dunk into the sink.

“Faith, don’t do this to me,” she murmured, putting the appliance away and massaging the underside of her belly.  “Daddy isn’t home yet, so you just go back to sleep and enjoy the waterbed of Mommy’s bladder until he gets here.”

Padding into the bedroom, she flipped through the closet for her most comfortable elastic-waist pants and a soft, long-sleeved sweater to slip on.  Her grand plan for the day was to launder the newly purchased baby clothes and spend the day at the main house with Dorothea and the kids.

Suspiciously eyeing the overnight bag in bottom of the closet, she wondered at Dot’s practically forcing her to pack it last night after their shopping trip.

If she did, the woman is psychic.  There’s no reason to believe I’m going to the hospital any time soon.

Shaking her head, Allegra gathered up the tiny sleepers and socks from the bassinet that had been positioned alongside the bed.  She had no more tucked them all into the crook of her arm and taken half a dozen steps across the room when the impact of the next pain allowed them to tumble in a heap to the floor.

“No, Faith, no,” she whispered, rubbing her hands soothingly across her belly, heartbeat aflutter with panic.  “It’s not time, baby.”

This had to be false labor. 

Where’s my phone?  I’ve got to call Dot.

Moving as quickly as her condition allowed, she located it on the living room table and quickly dialed the main house.

“Bongiovi residence,” Sophia’s professional voice answered.

“Sophia, it’s Allegra.  I need to speak to Dot.”

“Just a moment ma’am.”

The wait for that calming no-nonsense voice on the other end of the line seemed interminable, but eventually it came.

“Good morn-“

“I think I’m in labor,” she interrupted the greeting anxiously.  “What do I do?”

Dot seamlessly assumed control of the situation, surprised only that it had taken this long for the call to come.

“The first thing you do is stop and take a deep breath.  Don’t panic.  Everything is going to be fine.”  She covered the receiver with one hand and instructed, “Steph, you’re going to have to help Sophia and watch the boys today.  I’m taking Allegra to the hospital.”  Her voice became present and clear again when calmly questioning, “Allegra, how far apart are the pains?  Has your water broken yet?”

“I guess about fifteen or twenty minutes.  No, I don’t think my water’s broken.”

“Okay, that’s good, because you would definitely know if it had.  Grab your bag and I’ll meet you in front of the guest house in five minutes with the car.” 

Orders issued, Dot disconnected from Allegra, grabbed her cell phone and placed her own call as she stepped into the garage. 

“God Dot, it’s four in the morning.  Didn’t you check the time zones?”

“I don’t care what time it is there,” she informed her groggy and, no doubt, bleary eyed husband.  “Because it’s baby time here.  Wake Richie up.  He’s going to be a daddy today.”

♥ ♥ ♥

His eardrums reverberated with an incessant pounding that was giving him a headache.

Damn, I must have a hangover.

Richie shook his head against soft, down pillow as consciousness began to seep in. 

I don’t drink anymore, I can’t have a hangover.  What the hell is that noise at… He checked his phone.  Four o’clock in the morning?

Finally his sleep-addled brain cleared enough to realize the pounding was coming from the front door of his hotel room.  Just about the time his bare feet hit the floor and a pair of shorts slid up over his hips, the phone started vibrating with an incoming call.

Jon.

Ignoring the phone, he went for the door instead.  There was no doubt both callers were one and the same.

“What the fuck, man?” he growled at the man standing on the other side of his door with nothing but a pair of jeans and a serious case of bed head.

“Call your wife,” he commanded, barging in with no thought of asking permission.  “It’s time.”

“Time?  Time for what?”   Richie scratched his head, shoving his overlong bangs from his eyes.  He was so not a morning person.

“Time to have a baby, buddy.”

His eyes rounded and he trailed after his friend to the sofa.  “Excuse me?  She’s not due until Christmas.  Bug doesn’t even have a middle name yet.”

“She may not have a middle name, but your daughter has her own timetable.  Imagine that – Allegra having a headstrong baby.”  He chuckled at the image of a gray headed Richie trying to referee mother and daughter when they butted heads down the road.  “They’re on their way to the hospital now, and I have a feeling your wife would like to hear from you.”

“Dammit!” The cushions bounced under his weight as he collapsed on the sofa.  “This wasn’t supposed to happen.  She was supposed to wait until I got home.”

“Yeah, well I’m sure Allegra’s saying the same thing.”  Jon scooped Richie’s phone from the nightstand and tossed it to him.  “Call before Dot has my head.”