Ready Or Not

Ch 27 - My World

** Luke's POV **

The feeling you experience when you first lay eyes on your newborn child is indescribable. It's literally love at first sight. And maybe it was because she had just given birth to my child, but seeing her hold Landon for the first time, I realized that I was completely and utterly in love with Jordyn. I already knew that I loved her, but I could no longer imagine my life without her. I wanted to never be separated from her again, even to go into the next room. She and that baby were my world, my whole existence.

After the nurse got all the measurements and did everything she needed to do, she bundled up our little man and handed him to me. She looked out the window, then back to me, saying, "Please stay here a moment." Then she took off to Jordyn's bedside. The look on her face told me that something was wrong. I looked at Jordyn through the window, but I couldn't see her for all of the people surrounding the bed. Naturally, I disobeyed the nurse and rushed to the other room.

"Hang a unit of packed cells now."

"Pressure's 80 over 52. Heart rate is 120."

"Tell the O.R. we're on our way."

I physically could not move. I'm pretty sure I even stopped breathing. I knew something horrible was happening.

"Sir, I'll take the baby to the nursery. You should go to the waiting room with your family," the nurse who had been with me in the other room said.

I handed off Landon to her and found the strength to ask, "What's going on?"

"She's having a lot of bleeding. They're going to have to take her to the OR to see what's causing it, and hopefully correct it."

"Hopefully? What do you... You have to correct it!"

They started pushing the bed out the room, but I made my way to Jordyn's side first. She looked so vulnerable and scared as she weakly reached for me. I was barely able to touch her hand before they pulled her away and she was gone. One minute my world was perfect, and the next it was falling apart.

One of the nurses led me to the private waiting room everyone was gathered in so that she could tell us all what was going on. It must have scared them to death when they saw me. Every one of them stood, the smiles quickly disappearing when they noticed the obviously-not-happy tears freely falling down my face.

The nurse explained, "Mrs. McIntyre has had excessive bleeding. There are several reasons this can happen. The doctor has taken her to the OR because conservative treatment hasn't stopped the bleeding. She'll check for trauma and other causes before deciding what needs to be done. If the bleeding doesn't stop, it's likely that she'll have to have a hysterectomy."

Jordyn's mom gasped, clutching her chest, and her dad asked, "But she'll be okay, right?"

She gave us a forced smile that wasn't too reassuring. "She should be."

She should be. How the fuck are you going to say that the woman I love should be okay? She had to be. If she wasn't, I wouldn't be, either.

I have no idea how long the lot of us sat in silence. It was probably less than an hour, but seemed like an eternity. The only sound was an occasional sniffle, which I realized were mostly coming from me. Damn, what an emotional day.

I was by no means a very religious person, but I silently prayed as I had never prayed before. I thanked God for blessing me with a new life and begged him to not take Jordyn's. I bargained and swore to be the best father and husband that ever lived if everything turned out to be okay. And, yes, I said husband. I knew with a doubt that as soon as feasible, I was going to marry Jordyn, if she'd do me the honor.

Finally, the doctor entered the room. She smiled just enough to let us know that it wasn't bad news, but she still looked upset. She explained, "Mrs. McIntyre had excessive bleeding, as you know. It was caused by uterine atony, where the uterus doesn't contract after delivery of the placenta. Despite the massaging and medications, the uterus remained 'boggy' as we call it. She would have continued to bleed if we didn't intervene surgically. Unfortunately, we had to remove her uterus. But the good news is that she will be fine now."

She will be fine. That's pretty much all I got from that conversation. It was all I needed to hear. "Thank you, God," I whispered as a fresh round of tears threatened to spill.

The doctor continued, "Dad, you'll be able to see her shortly. A nurse will let you know when she's ready."

Being called 'dad' was going to take some getting used to. Hell, there was a lot that I was going to have to get used to. Overwhelming feelings for another human being were on top of that list.

The guys didn't let that "dad" reference go unnoticed. They gave me a hard time about it, but in a loving way, as they do. It was a nice way to lighten the mood.

I sat down, finally able to breathe without it feeling like something was sucking the life out of me. When the nurse came in, I let Jordyn's parents go back first, because it was the right thing to do. But I asked them to tell her that I'd be there as soon as they left, as only two were allowed back at once.

It was still hard to relax, and would be until I saw for myself that she was okay. Ashton sat down beside me and gave me a one armed hug.

"So, I was right, huh?" he asked.

I was lost. "Right about what?"

"She's turned out to be the love of your life, man. It's obvious."

I nodded. "Damn right she is."