Read Online Mother Puncher by Gina Ranalli - Free Book Online Page A

assessed the damage to it and felt his face tighten. There were now countless scratches and dings in it that hadn’t been there before. Not to mention it was now in serious need of a washing.
    Grumbling, he walked into the hospital, hearing the angry shouting fade as he got further away.

 
    15
     
        “ Hey, you made it,” Sandy greeted him inside.
    “Yeah, barely. I thought they were gonna skin me alive.”
    “They probably would if they could,” she agreed.
    He nodded. “Anything doing yet?”
    “We have one woman whose water just broke, but other than that, no rush on anything.”
    He looked past her down the hall. Someone was standing outside of the birthing room. “That fat guy the father?”
    Sandy glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t think so. But he’s been here for a while now. Maybe a friend or relative.”
    “Huh.” Ed pondered this a moment, before saying, “Well, guess I’ll go get a cup of sludge from the caf. You want anything?”
    “Hmm. Maybe a cinnamon-raisin bagel, if they have any left?”
    He smiled. “You got it, sister.”
    She surprised him by standing on her tip-toes and kissing his cheeks. “Thanks, Ed. You’re a doll.”
    He blushed and walked away fast, eyeing the fat guy as he passed by. He bore a startling resemblance to some old time movie actor, though Ed couldn’t place the actor’s name. Now he knew it would drive him nuts until he remembered it. It was just how his mind worked sometimes, worrying things the way an old nun will worry her rosary beads.
    It was at the cafeteria counter while he was waiting his turn that it came to him. “Laurel and Hardy,” he blurted, causing everyone to turn and give him curious stares. “Sorry,” he muttered, but inside he was smiling, proud of himself for remembering something that had happened so long before his time. He wondered which was the fat one? Hardy, he thought, though he had no idea if he was right or not.
    He returned to the nurse’s station and, when he didn’t immediately see Sandy, set the bagel on the counter. She was probably in with the patient, measuring centimeters or some such nonsense.
    Eyeing the fat guy again, he decided to go over and strike up a conversation with him. Maybe find out just who the hell he was. But as Ed started walking towards the stranger, the guy saw him coming, turned and began waddling away like a duck.
    Ed’s eyes narrowed and he increased his pace. He knew that walk. God knew he’d seen it enough times.
    “Hey, hold up,” he called, knowing perfectly well that the stranger wouldn’t obey. He wasn’t particularly worried though. He knew from experience that pregnant women can’t run worth a damn and it was only a matter of seconds before he was grabbing her by the shoulder and spinning her around to face him.
    “Nice mustache you have there, sir,” he said. “Mind if I ask where you get it trimmed?”
    Large, frightened eyes blinked at him, blue as a summer sky.
    “Maybe you trim it yourself?” Ed volunteered.
    When it became apparent that no answer would be forth coming, Ed reached out with the hand that wasn’t holding a cup of coffee and ripped the fake mustache from the woman’s face.
    “OW!” she cried, reaching to feel her upper lip.
    He regarded her with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. “What the hell are you doing?”
    “Nothing!” she snapped. “What business is it of yours?”
    “Well, for starters, I work here.”
    “I know who you are,” she said coldly.
    After an unconcerned sip of coffee, he said, “I guess that makes you one up on me. I take it you’re not a fan from my fighting days?”
    “Take it any way you want to.”
    “Who the hell are you?” he demanded. “What are you doing here? Are you in labor?”
    She pursed