nashville reborn (sequel to NN)

Chapter 39

***
It was September 16th. Mine and Tuck's nineteen year anniversary. Nineteen years ago, I held his hand and said 'I do'. I was so thankful for him and I was so thankful that we were celebrating nineteen years together with the same people that we started those years with all that time ago. Or....so we thought we would be celebrating. Today was also Ryne's due date...she was absolutely miserable, and being stuck on a bus definitely does not help. We were driving from Texas to California. We had shows in San Francisco and then San Diego. Then we were hanging out on the west coast for some shows for  bit, then at the end of the month we were driving completely across the country to New York. We were almost to our hotel in San Diego and Ryne was sprawled out on the couch in the lounge. Her head was in my lap and her feet were in Jase's lap. Maddie, Tae, and Carrie were sitting back there with us.

"I am miserable" Ryne complains.

"I know, baby. I know" I say.

"I haven't had any contractions or anything. I thought the baby would come today" She says.

"Sometimes people go over their due date as much as three weeks over" Maddie says. Ryne groans.

"I want this baby out" She says.

"Well, we're almost to San Diego. We can get you into a hospital and get you checked out" I say.

"How far away from San Diego are we?" Jase asks.

"About 45 minutes to an hour" Tae says. Ryne groans again and usues a pillow to cover her face. I turned to Maddie to say something to her, but before I could speak, Ryne shot up from my lap and kicked Jase in the side. He shoots up from the couch.

"Ow! What are you doing?" He exclaims. We were all shocked.

"This is your damn fault. You did this to me!" She yells.

"And that means I deserve to be kicked in the rib?" He asks.

"Yes!" She she says. Jase threw his hands up.

"Okay, I-I'm going to go out here for a while" He says before walking out of the lounge.

"I feel like I'm going to die. I'm hot, I'm in pain, and I'm carrying around a human inside me" She says.

"Well, we all have carried around humans inside of us" Maddie says.

"We know how you're feeling, but when you see that baby, it will be worth it" Tae adds in.

"Exactly" I say. "And, I don't want to hear you complain because I carried around two humans and still performed up until two days before you two decided to come into this world".

"I don't know how you did it" She says putting her head back on my lap.

"I had a pretty good support system" I say looking over to Maddie and Tae. "Then your idiot father father decided to kiss Tae".

"Yeah, I've heard that story plenty of times" Ryne says with a laugh.

"Your mother threw Hannah's water bottle at Tae and brusied her chest for a bit" Maddie adds in.

"Yeah, and I broke that water bottle too" I say laughing.

"Did you ever buy her a new one?".

"No. No, I never did" I say. All the girls laugh.

"I'm sure Hannahs forgiven you by now" Ryne says.

"Well, if she hasn't, oh well" I say. We all laughed again. We were all grateful to laugh instead of hearing about Ryne's pain.

***

We had made it to San Diego and Ryne, Jase, Maddie, and I all went to the hospital while everyone else went to the hotel. They had finally called Ryne back to do an ultrasound. Jase always stood back during the medical parts of the pregnancy. Maddie and I stood beside her.

"Well, I can see why you're in pain. The baby has pushed himself up against your ribs. That's where your pain is coming from" The Doctor says.

"Well, when is my son coming out?" She asks.

"Your due date is today?".

"Yes!".

"Ryne, I can see how much pain you're in, and I wish I could help you with it, but right now I don't think he's moving anytime soon" He says. Ryne groans.

"There's nothing you can do?" Maddie asks.

"Well, I'm going to give her a pelvic exam to see if there has been any dilating, but...from what I can see here, I can say with certainty that she is going over the due date" He says.

"Well, let's to the pelvic, and then see where we are" I say. He nods and begins the exam. A few minutes later he, spoke again.

"I'm not even getting one finger in there, so you're definitely not having this baby today" He says.

"Ew" Jase says. I couldn't blame him. It was bad enough that my daughter and Maddie's son were having sex. I didn't want to hear about how many fingers were fitting inside of her.

"When do you think he's going to come?' Ryne asks. The doctor smiles.

"Ryne, I say this to a lot of expectant mothers...the minute this baby was conceived, you started going by his time, not yours. He'll be here when he's ready. Be patient" He says. Ryne sighs and then nods. I knew she hated waiting like this, but the doctor was right. She was living by what that baby needed now. It wasnt just about her anymore. She had a son to worry about.