The End Where I Begin (Book Four of the Glen Power Series)

Chapter 38

So much pain...

My vision swims around me, all sounds melting into one another to make a loud drone. I don't know where I am any more. Am I in the ambulance? The hospital? The morgue? I don't know. All I know is that I'm in so much pain...

But he's here with me.

I can't see him through the dizziness. I can't hear him through the screaming in my head. But I know he's here. He's here for me. Just like it was always meant to be.

My senses suddenly come flooding back, and I realise that I'm in a hospital bed. I'm screaming out, fighting off the floods of doctors and nurses that swarm around me. The babies feel like they're ripping me apart. Oh God, stop...

“Her water broke in the ambulance and she's been unresponsive since. Violent, angry, scared...you name it. We need to deliver these babies before it kills her.”

I'm in labour. And it could kill me.

“Save them!” I hear myself scream. “Forget me! Just save my babies!”

My head falls back as another surge of pain tears at my stomach, fully expecting it to land on a soft pillow. But it doesn't. Instead, it lands on something hard. Warm. Human...

“Don't you dare give up,” I hear him tell me. “Don't you dare stop fighting.”

I turn my head and see him behind me. My hands are buried in his, squeezing so tight that I'm surprised that I haven't broken his fingers. The determination in his face is perfect. He's here until the end. And he's going to get me through this.

I go to speak to him, but another burst of agony tears my stomach apart and I end up just screaming. My face falls forward, landing hard against him. I feel him pushing me back, fighting against the pressure I'm putting on him.

“I won't let you die,” he says through gritted teeth. “I won't let you die on me.”

“You need to start pushing,” I hear someone say.

“I can't!”

“Mrs Power, if you don't start pushing now, then I can't guarantee your safety.”

“It hurts! Oh God, it hurts!”

“I'm here, babe,” I hear him soothe. “No matter how much it hurts, I'm here. I'm here with you. So push. Please, babe. Push!”

So I do. I follow the instructions of the people around me, screaming in agony at every single sensation. I'm going to die. I'll never see my beautiful babies. Glen will be alone...

“I can see a head!”

I can hardly breathe. The pain is just too much. My vision starts swimming and I can feel myself start to slump against him. I want to sleep. I want to sleep so much...

“No!”

Glen's scream forces my eyes back open. Those blue eyes bring me crashing back down, grounding me back in this world of pain. I don't want to be here. I just want...

His lips crash against mine, his hand burying into my hair. My reaction is instant, desperate. The fire in my stomach is something other than pain now. It's happiness. It's determination. It's love.

“I love you, Emie Power,” he says shakily as he pulls away. “I love you with everything I've got. And if you think you're going to die on me, then you've got it wrong.”

I gasp for air with the impact of his words, along with the torment of the labour. All of this has been for him. For us. How did I ever lose sight of that?