Read Online Just a Little Sequel by Tracie Puckett - Free Book Online

was happening in that room. “Come on, Rebecca, push .”
    I couldn’t do it; the longer I stood in the corner, plastered against the wall, the sicker I felt. I was disoriented, nauseous. I thought I could seriously vomit at any given second. My presence went completely unnoticed—or so I thought, I mean, I didn’t look up once to see if anyone had seen me. I reached back for the door and slipped out once again.
    “Well?” Derek asked, and I turned right into his chest. He backed away immediately and leaned down to meet my stare. “What’s going on?”
    “Any second,” I rubbed my eyes. I hadn’t even seen anything, and I still felt the need to flush my eyeballs.
    Derek let out another anxious breath and started pacing the floor again.
    “Hey,” I reached forward to take his arm. He stopped walking and looked down at me. “This is happening, okay? Any second, you’re going to be a father. And as soon as she’s had the baby, and the doctors have had time to examine it, they’re going to let you in. You’re going to get to see your baby, hold him or her, and admire everything about your little one. In the meantime, breathe . These are your last few minutes of independence, Derek. Embrace them . Because the moment that baby is born, your life is going to change forever. The second that baby cries—”
    And then we both heard it. The screeching, struggling scream of a newborn baby flooded the room behind us and echoed into the hallway, and we both turned to stare at the door.
    “Oh my God,” I whispered, turning to my best friend. Derek’s eyes were just as tear-filled as mine, and his cheeks were moist from the tears that had already fallen down his face. He looked down at me, no longer looking half as disheveled as he had ten minutes earlier, and a simple smile stretched across his lips. “ Congratulations! ”
    I opened my arms again, and this time he didn’t refuse my embrace. He held his arms around me, holding me tightly. After a long, hard hug, he swept me off my feet, twirled me into a circle, and a child-like laugh escaped from deep in his throat as he planted me back on my feet. Still standing chest to chest, Derek leaned down and pressed a long kiss to my forehead.
    And that was that. He brushed by me and disappeared through the door. I sprinted back down the hallway and reentered the waiting room. Lonnie and Luke both perked up as I stopped right inside the door, and I managed the faintest smile.
    “We have a baby!”
    Father and son both jumped to their feet and hugged one another, and it was the most special moment I’d ever seen them share.
    Luke turned back. “Boy or girl?”
    “Yeah,” Molly said, as if it was the most important question she’d ever ask. “Is it a boy or girl? Please tell me I have a sister!”
    “I don’t know,” I shrugged. “We just heard the cry, Derek went in, and I came back to tell you.”
    Luke didn’t seem to care that I hadn’t come back with better news. He just kept smiling—almost laughing, really—and he ran both of his hands down his face. He didn’t know how to contain his excitement, and I didn’t know how to interpret his behavior. I’d never seen Luke so... giddy?
    He reached forward and grabbed me, pulling me in tightly to his chest. I nuzzled myself into that familiar cave in his shoulder and closed my eyes. Luke’s hand fell gently on the back of my head, and he stroked my hair with his thumb.
    “Congratulations on your little niece or nephew,” I whispered.
    “ Our little niece or nephew, Jules,” he said quietly, “ours.”

Chapter Seven
    Saturday, October 25 | 3:00 p.m.
    “Hey there, baby girl,” Luke cradled his newborn niece just inches from his face, talking to her in a voice that was just a couple notes higher than his normal pitch, “I’m your Uncle Luke. Can you say Luke ?”
    “You know babies can’t talk fresh out of the womb?” Lonnie asked, because he didn’t seem certain that his son knew one way or the