The Betrayal

Part V

“What happened?” the nurse asked as she rushed into the room.

Cayley waited for the screams for mercy to stop before she said, “I think my water just broke,” only to slowly exhale as pain shot down her spine and over her belly before adding, “and I’d like a new best friend.”

That earned her a murderous glare as Sean bit out, “You broke my hand, you evil little leprechaun!”

Shaking her head in disgust, because he should really be grateful that she held back, Cayley released the death grip that she had on his hand, ignored his weakly mumbled, “My hand,” as he pulled it against his chest with an accusing glare aimed in her direction. Ignoring the large man hugging his hand against his chest, Cayley grabbed onto the bed and-

“Oh, God!”

-decided that this was a good time to start screaming again.

That was followed by Sean releasing a string of impressive curses, the nurse yelling for help, and Cayley regretting her decision to leave the bed in the first place. Before the last scream had a chance to leave her lips, Sean was picking her up and carefully laid her back in bed. With a weakly mumbled, “Bless you,” Cayley sniffled, somehow managed to shift onto her side, grabbed hold of the bed railing and decided that deserved another scream.

This hurt a hell of a lot more than the brochures said it would, Cayley couldn’t help but notice as she lay there, waiting for the pain to subside so that she could open her eyes and glare at her best friend. “We are no longer speaking,” she said with a firm nod, a gasp of pain, and a prayer that her vagina wasn’t about to be ripped open when the pain shifted to places that she never knew could hurt this much before.

“Because my brother knocked you up?” Sean asked as he gently pried her hands off the railing so that he could lower it before taking her hands in his.

“Yes!” Cayley hissed, only to follow that up with a gasp and a weakly mumbled, “My poor vagina,” seconds later.

“I told you that you could do better,” Sean said, shaking his head in disgust before shifting his attention to the nurse, cleared his throat, and said, “I think it might be time to get the doctor.”

When she released another bloodcurdling scream and tightened her hold on his hand, he cleared his throat and added, “And her husband.”

“The doctor should be here any moment and I believe her husband was updating your family in the waiting room,” the nurse explained as several nurses rushed into the room and they began shifting Cayley onto her back and adjusting the bed as metal stirrups suddenly appeared at the end of the bed.

“I think my vagina is being ripped in two,” Cayley mumbled weakly as her feet were placed in the stirrups as a sheet was draped over her bent knees.

“What have we got?” Roger asked as he walked into the room and headed for the sink.

“She’s fully dilated, Doctor,” the nurse said as Cayley closed her eyes and sighed with relief.

That is, until Roger muttered, “Shit!”

That’s when she decided to panic, mostly because she didn’t think that was a good sign. She opened her eyes and-

“I think we should talk,” Sean said, reaching over to cup her chin and forced her to look at him.

“Now? You want to talk now?” Cayley demanded as she watched Sean’s eyes dart past her and-

Did he just wince?

Oh, God…

Reaching up, Cayley shoved his hand away and moved to turn her head when his next words stopped her.

“It was never going to work between us,” Sean said with a heartfelt sigh, making her frown as she slowly looked back to find him standing there, shaking his head with a helpless shrug before adding, “You need to find a way to get over me.”

“What the hell are you talking about, you demented bastard?” Cayley asked as she watched the nurse standing next to him swallow hard as she stared past her.

“I’m just not into you. I’m sorry that you had to find out this way,” Sean said, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze with another heartfelt sigh that ended with a wince as his gaze once again darted past her.

Blinking up at the man that had clearly lost his mind, Cayley shook her head as she moved to see what was going on, only to have Sean slap his hand over her eyes to stop her. “I am going to kill you!”

“Probably,” Sean murmured in agreement, not really sounding all that concerned as she reached up to slap his hand away, only to grab onto his arm and squeeze as excruciating pain went everywhere.

“We’re going to start pushing now,” Roger said, sounding distracted.

“Not until Bryce is here,” Cayley bit out through the pain as she squeezed her eyes shut as her grip tightened around Sean’s arm. Ignoring his muttered curse and demand for “someone to cut off his fucking arm,” Cayley pushed, hoping beyond hope that it would be enough to stop the pain even as she screamed Bryce’s name.

“Push,” Roger said in a soothing tone as pain tore through all the places that were making it difficult to do just that at the same time that she heard, “He’s coming to, Doctor,” which was promptly followed by, “He’s out again,” making her frown as she turned her head and-

“This is where you should profess your undying love for me,” Sean said with a long-suffering sigh as she once again found her attention pulled back to find him going for a hopeful smile even as his eyes flickered past her and-

She was forced to scream as the urge to push distracted her from whatever the little bastard was up to and he was definitely up to something, Cayley thought as she pushed down one more time and-

Heard the most beautiful sound in the world.

Her baby boy crying.

“He’s beautiful,” Roger said with a warm smile as he looked down at the small bundle in his arms.

“Of course, he is. He looks like me,” Sean managed to get out on a hoarse whisper.

“He looks like his Daddy,” Cayley said with a watery smile as she watched the nurse take her baby boy from Roger as another nurse picked up a small pair of scissors and sent Roger a questioning look. With a discreet shake of his head and a pointed look in Sean’s direction, the nurse handed the scissors to him.

Clearing his throat, Sean took the scissors with a trembling hand and cut the umbilical cord while Cayley lay there, feeling her heart break at the realization that Bryce missed their little boy’s birth. “Where’s Bryce?” she asked, unable to take her eyes off her little boy as she watched the nurses take him over to the small table near the window to clean him.

Sean cleared his throat before mumbling, “He’s around,” drawing her attention to find him gesturing past her. Frowning, Cayley followed his gaze and-

Tried to make sense of what she was seeing.

Bryce was…

“Why is he in the fetal position?” she found herself wondering as she watched Johnny, Brian, and Craig share a panicked look before they looked at her. Clearing his throat, Johnny gestured absently down to Bryce and said, “He tripped?”

“On what?” Cayley asked, noting the murderous glare her husband was sending his brothers before moving her gaze over him and found herself wondering why he was bleeding.

“Many things?” Craig murmured, only to follow that up by clearing his throat and going for a hopeful smile.

“We wanted to see the baby,” Brian said, not quite able to meet her gaze as he shifted awkwardly before sending the door behind him a wistful glance.

“We heard you screaming and came running and  we may have accidently ran into him,” Brian said as he reached up to rub the bridge of his nose to hide a wince.

“You sent me head-first into the wall, you assholes!” Bryce snapped, only to cringe as he slapped his hand against his forehead and moved to stand up, only to fall back on the floor with a pained groan.

“I believe it was the door,” Craig pointed out.

“He’s going to need stitches,” Roger murmured absently as he gestured for the James boys to take care of that.

“Right,” Brian said with a sigh as all three brothers reached down and grabbed hold of Bryce while Cayley lay there, shaking her head in wonder as she watched them drag her husband out of the room and-

“I’m going to need you to hurry up and get started on the next one,” Sean said, drawing her attention as he placed the most beautiful baby boy that she’d ever seen in her arms.

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