The Perfect Ride

Chapter 42

It was December 5th. Exactly one week until our last show, and I moved to Texas with the love of my life. We were in New Mexico. Jess was still at Roz's side the whole time. Cooper was a mess.

Cooper and I were currently in craft services about to eat.

"You know, Rozlyn picked out a name" He says, sitting down with his plate.

"What is it?" I ask. He shook his head.

"Nope. Can't tell you. She wants too" He says.

"Well, it better be after the coolest aunt in town" I say going in for a Hite of my sandwich, but my phone rang. It was Jess.

S- hey, baby.

J- sadie! it's roz

S- what's happened? what's wrong?

J- she keeps grabbing her stomach, and screaming out. i don't know what's wrong.

S- okay. does it feel like she's having cramps?

J- i don't know.

S- ask her!

J- she said yes. what's that mean?

S- labor. get her to the hospital. cooper and i are on our way.

"Labor!?" Cooper shouts, standing up with me.

"Text David. We gotta get to the hospital" I say. He grabs his phone and texts him. Thank God our hotel was beside the hospital and only a couple blocks away from the arena. Cooper and I ran. Minutes later, we were at the hospital.

"Hi! Hi, can you tell us where Rozlyn White is at?" I ask the nurse at the front desk.

"Room 932" She says.

"Thank you" Cooper says. He and I take off. When we reach her room, Jess was standing outside the door.

"Babe!" I say.

"Baby" He says and scoops me in his arms. "Uh, she's having a pelvic exam right now". Cooper and I both went inside. Jess wanted to respect her privacy.

"Oh! Oh, Coop. Sadie" She says. Her red hair was in a bun, and she had sweat tricking down her forehead. "Oh, hell. Tell Jess to get in here". I turned around and motion for him. He walked in.

"Roz, you're four centimeters, but dilating quickly. We're going to set you up with a epidural, okay?" The doctor asks.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's fine" She says. Cooper sits beside her in the bed. I say on the other side and Jess stood beside me.

"Okay, we'll be back in a few minutes" He tells her. As soon as the doctor was gone. Roz fell into Cooper.

"Baby, it hurts" She says.

"I know" He says and kisses the top of her head. "But, baby...in a couple hours...we'll be holding our girl". She smiles and kisses him.

"Hey, do you need anything, Roz? I'll go get it" Jess says.

"Oh, no. I just need you guys to stay here with me. I need you guys here when she's here" Roz says. I take her hand in mine.

"We'll be here. We'll be here through it all" I say.

***
Hours had passed. It was 1AM on December 6th. Roz was 9 centimeters. Cooper and Jess were both passed out on the floor. I was sitting in a chair beside Roz.

"This girl is coming soon, Sadie" She says.

"Yeah, she is" I say. I was so excited.

"Say...what's your middle name?" She asks.

"Uh, you know it's 'Moon'. After daddy's first bull he rode" I tell her. Daddy picked that name because he said aside from staying on that bull for 8 seconds, being a father would be the hardest thing he'd ever do.

"Picking a name for a baby is hard" She says.

"I thought you had one" I say.

"Oh, I do. Just saying...it's hard to pick a name" She says. We both laughed. "Look, I'm contracting". She pointed to the monitor.

"Getting close" I say.

"Sadie, Cooper and I talked earlier and..we want you in the room when I deliver. You and Jess both" She says. I smiled so big.

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah. I mean, you and Jess were there with me when I found out she was on the way. It just makes sense. You're my family" She says. I nuzzle into her side. "Plus, Jess can stand behind me so he doesn't see anything".

"Count us in" I say.

The door opened and the doctor walked in.

"How you doing, Roz?" He asks.

"Good. Getting sick of waiting" She says as he begins his exam. A smile appeared on his face.

"Well, we're done waiting. You're completely dilated. Let me get my team in here and then...baby time" He says.

"Boys!" I yell. They both shoot up.

"What? Did I miss it?" Cooper asks, rushing to her side.

"Babe, it's time" She says. Jess walks over to me.

"Roz wants us to stay" I tell him. "You just stand beside her here, and you won't see anything". He smiles so big and leaned down to kiss Roz on the head.

"You got this" He says just before the doctors come in.

"Okay, Roz. I'll let you know when to push" He says. She sits up. I held one leg, while Cooper held the other. "Now". Roz let out a scream, while pushing. Jess kept saying so many things to her to encourage her.

"Oh, my god. I see her head!" I exclaim.

"One more push" The doctor says. She takes a deep breath and pushed one more time before the sound of cries filles the room. Roz then had her daughter plopped on her chest. Everyone was crying. Jess buried his head into my neck.

"Hi! Hi, baby. I'm mama!" Roz says, kissing her little girls head.

"I'm daddy" Cooper says doing the same. Jess and I just held onto each other. This was a moment I'd never forget.

**
About an hour had passed before the baby came back to Roz after being checked out. Cooper and Jess were calling all the riders and I was sitting with Roz in the room.

"Look, she has my nose" Roz points out.

"Yeah, and your hair. She had a head full of auburn hair already. It was gorgeous.

"Come on, she wants to meet Aunt Sadie" Roz says.

"Are you sure?" I ask. She nods. I happily take the baby from her. Her body was tiny and soft. I held her close to my heart. "Hi there, sweet girl. I'm Auntie Sadie. I was there when your mama found out you were on the way. I knew I loved you then, and I sure do now". I kissed her head gently before sitting down with her on the couch. I held her out in front of me.

"You haven't asked her name yet" Roz points out.

"Oh, yeah. What is it?" I ask.

"We wanted something special. Cooper picked out her first name to honor his grandma." She says. "And I picked the middle name. After an old friend. Well, actually she's more like family" She says.

"Which is?" I ask, not taking my eyes off the baby.

"Auntie Sadie?" She says. I look up to her. "Meet Ruby Luna White. Named after Cooper's grandma, and...you".

"Luna" I say. "Means 'moon' is Spanish" I say. I stood up and walked over to hug her with the baby still in my arms. Roz and I both just stared at her. "Welcome to the family, Ruby".

I couldn't get enough. This was our life now. Looking into the future...this was the life I wanted with Jess.