Desired Fate

Chapter Thirty-One

"What?" I screamed and jumped up from the sunbed. "Shouldn't we be doing something?" 

"Calm down, will you?" I heard Adam laugh from behind me as Riley joined in with his chuckling.

Adam sat down on the edge of the sunbed and placed a glass of iced water down next to Riley before he dabbed a cool cloth on her forehead to tame the raging heat she was feeling.

"It's only early stages. I've bad backache and period-like cramps at the moment. My waters haven't even broken yet."

"So all we need to do is relax and wait," Adam smiled and attended to his wife.

I took a deep breath in and sat back down, I looked around and caught Freddy's gaze, he gave me a reassuring smile before turning back to talk to Eliza.

"I thought you were having a home birth? Shouldn't you be at home?" I quizzed.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Riley joked.

I shook my head, "just concerned."

"I called Eliza before coming over here, she said that I can use her substantially large bath to give birth in." 

"You're going to have the baby here? Is that safe?" I shook my head in shock. 

"My pregnancy has been healthy, Eliza, who is a doctor will be here and my regular midwife is on speed dial if we need her," Riley stressed. 

"We have baby's car seat and the bag filled with everything they will both need with us," Adam added. 

"Wow. This is really happening," I shrieked to which Adam laughed.

"I thought I was the one that was supposed to say that?" Riley jibed. 

I puffed out the air I had found myself holding in and rested my head back. I watched Riley and Adam quietly interacting with each other, it felt like I was intruding on an intimate moment the way Adam was caring for her but it was too beautiful not to watch. 

My eyes darted away from them and over to Aria, Alice, Anna and Poppy who were all playing in the pool with an inflatable ball. Alex and Tommy were sitting away from everyone else, holding hands and deep in conversation, I saw from out of the corner of my eye that they were occasionally kissing each other so everything must be good between them. 

Eliza, Freddy, Aidan, Danny and Avery were happily chatting away near the barbecue whilst Freddy was keeping an eye on the food cooking. Jace and Sam walked past my line of vision, each with a drink in their hand as they made their way over to where Aidan was standing. 

This was a family. Although it was still a relatively new concept for me and like tonight, sometimes that concept surprises me especially when you offer for your daughter-in-law to give birth in your bath. However, looking around I realised why this offer was so conventional to Riley. 

What could be better than bringing a baby into the world right into the heart of the family? After all, wasn't that what family was about? Being surrounded by love and warmth, sharing joy and happiness with them and for them to be your support network when you need it. Poppy was also loving all the attention she was getting from her aunts and uncles. 

"Happy birthday!" I heard the bellowing of Jayden's voice before I saw him. 

He came skipping over happily to me whilst Mason followed behind him at a slower tempo. "Thank you," I gave him a smile.

"We got something for you," Jayden handed over a small red bag that I could see had red tissue paper poking out of the top. I immediately recognised the bag from the shop and I felt my insides flip at what Jayden might have gotten me.