The Nurse's Newborn Gift by Wendy S. Marcus

stays behind to work with the players who are injured. And not all of the guys travel with the team. The ones who remain here still practice, so an athletic trainer needs to be on site.”
    â€œDon’t go changing your schedule at work because of me. I mean it’s not like I need a coach.” She continued to stare out the window as Spencer pulled into the parking lot behind her doctor’s office. “I mean I am a nurse. I did do a labor and delivery rotation as a nursing student. I know what Lamaze is.”
    She demonstrated a breathing sequence he recognized from the Lamaze research he’d done online to prepare for the class. “During which phase of labor are you supposed to use that particular breathing technique?”
    Still looking out the window, she crossed her arms over her chest, defiant, and said, “When it hurts, that’s when.”
    Spencer pulled into a vacant spot, turned off the car, and removed his seat belt. Then he shifted in his seat to face her. “What’s the matter?”
    â€œNothing’s the matter.” She wouldn’t look at him.
    â€œYou’re all sulky.”
    That got a rise out of her and she swung around to face him. “I am not all sulky.”
    Oh, yes, she was. It’s not like he’d never seen her sulky before. This was her standard MO back in high school, every time he and/or Jarrod had tried to get her to do something she didn’t want to do—like go to geometry class, stay after school for extra help in U.S. History, or walk directly home with them rather than getting into trouble with the kids who hung out at the deli on the corner.
    In the past he’d have made a joke or poked fun to get her riled up. But not today. Today was too important. “What’s wrong, Krissy?”
    She turned back to the window. “I don’t want to be here.”
    Now they were getting somewhere. “Why not?”
    Shoulders hunched, she shrugged and mumbled something.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI’m not ready,” she said quietly. “For the whole giving birth thing.”
    â€œYou’re not ready? I’ve got news for you. This baby’s going to be coming in the next couple of weeks whether you’re ready or not so you’d better get yourself ready.”
    She turned on him. “Don’t be mean to me, Spencer. I really can’t handle you being mean to me right now.” Her voice sounded like she might be on the verge of tears as she turned to look down at her hands fidgeting in her lap.
    A moment of vulnerability from the tough-talking, fiercely independent and confident Krissy took him by surprise.
    â€œI didn’t think this whole ‘have Jarrod’s baby’ idea through carefully enough,” she went on. “The pregnancy itself? Not totally awful. Raising little J.J.?” She caressed her belly lovingly. “I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it.”
    Get the hang of it?
    Her eyes met his again. “It’s the getting the baby from in here,” she pointed to her belly, “out into the world that’s giving me some trouble.”
    â€œKrissy—”
    â€œI have four weeks left until my due date,” she cut him off. “In four weeks I’ll have to be ready and I will be ready. Until then I don’t want to talk about it or think about it or worry about it.”
    He reached for her hand, finding it ice cold. Whoa. “Hey.” He gave it a squeeze. “You know it’s normal to be scared.” For sure he would be. “But women have been having babies for centuries, a lot of them over and over again. It’s a very natural process.”
    â€œSays a man who has never experienced and will never have to experience the act of pushing a fifteen pound baby out of an opening the size of a walnut.”
    Smiling probably wasn’t the best response, but he smiled anyway. “You’re not having a fifteen pound