Alpha Billionaire Series
Doctor Daddy Chapter 32

BROOKE

of all the people?

My water broke in the most epic cinematic fashion while we were setting up for an obstetrics conference. One minute I was fine, the next I was in full force labor. The hotel had to be crawling with baby doctors by now, so why did Jason have to come back with Mark Pain clamped down on my entire body. I groaned through the pain.

"Push," Mark told me again.

Like that's not what my body was naturally doing. I was too exhausted to snap back at them. I was fighting just to get through the pain. My teeth clenched together, and it was a very real struggle to breathe.

I didn't know if I could also focus on pushing too. Everything hurt. I didn't know I had muscles in my toes that could cramp up that hard.

"Push, you've got this," Mark coached from between my knees.

"Don't tell me what to do," I managed to pant out.

I resented the fact that I had gone into labor in the middle of my shift. I resented that I was being a spectacle, surrounded by confused hotel staff who were doing their best but weren't labor and delivery nurses. I resented the fact that I was going to have my twins born on the floor of this ballroom and their father was going to deliver them and he didn't even know they were his.

I screamed and curled up, grabbing my knees as I had been told. Jason was doing his best to be a good labor coach, but he was out of his depth. He was just a part-time employee while he worked his way through his undergraduate degree. I squeezed his hand hard. I probably broke several bones in his hand doing so.

"God Brooke, this is amazing. You are doing really well," he said but he looked scared.

While Mark looked like he knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he did. He was a baby doctor.

"Okay, Brooke, we're getting close. On this next one, I need you to push with all your might. While you do that, I'm going to twist the baby, so the shoulders come out. Okay. It's gonna happen fast. I need you to-"

I couldn't hear him anymore as the contraction took over my body. I did as he told me, pushing with everything I had. I growled out a scream and suddenly with a rush, I could tell the baby was out. I stared at Mark whose focus was all on the small, messy new-born in his hands.

And then I heard the most amazing sound. My baby cried. Mark held the baby in his hands, just looking at it for the longest time.

He shifted his gaze to me. "She looks like you."

He handed her to me, laying her on my chest. There was a brief moment between us, and I thought he knew, thought he had figured it out that this was his daughter. The moment ended as swiftly as it had begun. He turned his attention away from me and began barking orders at the other people who were still not sure what to do or where to go.

"Is that ambulance here yet? Let them know the baby's been delivered," he said.

She was perfect. I don't know if she looked like me, but her face held a serious expression that looked like Mark's.

"She looks like her father," I said before I started to moan as my contractions continued.

"The second one is coming," I managed to say.

Mark looked back at me with a combination of surprise and confusion on his face. "What do you mean?"

"That's only the first one. Twins," I managed to pant out.

"I need some clean pillowcases!" he yelled. "What's taking so long? Where is that emergency crew?"

I still needed to push. It was hard to cradle the baby in my arms while I was overcome with so much pain.

"I need you to stop pushing right now. Do you hear me, Brooke? Don't push, let the contractions get the baby into position."

"No, no. I need to push," I whined.

Mark put his hand on my stomach. "Stop pushing. Look at me, breathe with me. Breathe with me."

He lifted his hand across his chest as he inhaled.

I tried to copy him and inhale through my nose. When he blew out through his mouth, I did the same. His eyes never left mine, and at some point, his hand wrapped around one of mine.

"Good, that's good. I'm going to check on the baby's position. This might be a little uncomfortable."

I gasped at the understatement as his hands invaded my already tender and sore body. I was in so much pain. I liked to think that I was fully aware of what was happening the entire time, but I knew that wasn't the case. People moved about, had another obstetrics physician arrived to help? My baby girl was taken away and wrapped in a sheet.

Jason no longer held my knee. A woman now did that job. I didn't know who she was. She was in casual clothes, but she seemed as competent as Mark, not panicked like Jason.

Where had Jason gone? For some reason, he had become my anchor to reality through this ordeal.

Jason held my girl nearby so I could reach up and touch her.

"She's beautiful, Brooke."

My strawberry girl. I couldn't remember any of the thousands of names Angela and I had come up with over the past several months. Strawberry and Summer were all I could think of.

Time moved in strange bursts, where everything moved so quickly, and then in long drawn-out moments that lasted an eternity. I was either in a great deal of pain, or I was floating. I had to touch my baby or have someone hold my hand, so I knew how to stay grounded. "Brooke, you need to push." The words broke through my fog of floating and pain.

"Hang in there with me Brooke, you need to push honey, push." Mark wanted me to push. I wanted to push, but something in me reminded me that I was pissed off at him, and how dare he tell me what to do. I wasn't going to do a damned thing that man told me to do.

Another voice cut through the haze in my brain. "We need you to push, Brooke."

I liked that voice, that voice made sense. Yes push, it was time to push and push hard.

I screamed through the pain.

At some point, the second baby was born, and I held another new-born against my chest. I didn't remember her being taken from me, but I did remember two swaddled babies being placed in my arms. And the look of amazement on Mark's face was suddenly replaced with no emotion.

Someone said something about the emergency crew finally arriving.

I looked up and saw firemen in heavy boots running toward me. I didn't want them to take my babies, but the woman, who I later found out was indeed another doctor, assured me that it was so they could be examined. They were safe and cared for. I was so exhausted. The constant pain that had taken over my body left me limp and achy.

Mark spoke with authority and competence, but I wasn't sure what he was telling them about me. I vaguely remembered having my temperature taken, along with my blood pressure. I watched them slide a needle into my arm with disinterest as if I was watching them do that to someone else.

I was hooked up to a line of fluids before they eased me onto a gurney.

"Where are my babies?"

"They are right here," someone said.

My gaze followed where they were pointing. My babies were in clear plastic baskets.

"I want to hold them."

"They'll be safe in the baskets for the ambulance ride. You can't hold them right now."

It made sense. Of course, they would be safe. Mark was with them right now. Did he know they were his? I felt the urge to tell him the truth.

Memories of why I hadn't told him flitted in and out of the fog I was still under. I hadn't told him because I didn't know if I could trust him. I didn't know if I had been the only woman he had been seeing. How many kids did he have out there? How many that he knew about? How many he didn't know about?

"How's your pain level?" A large face blocked my view.

"What?" No one had bothered to ask about the pain before, why now?

"Your pain level?"

"Yes, pain level," I managed to say. "Pain."

Everything was so confusing. I was so tired. I just wanted to take a shower and go to sleep. Maybe sleep first. But I couldn't sleep, I needed to make sure my babies were all right. I didn't ever want them out of my sight. I reached out for them. "My babies," I said.

"Don't worry, they're coming with you."

I was so tired.

"Mark," I called out. He was by my side faster than I expected.

"How are you feeling Brooke?"

"Whatever you do," I wanted to tell him not to tell my parents. I wanted to tell him to stay with the girls. I wanted to tell him so much. But my mouth was so dry, and my tongue felt thick and sticky. I think I managed to say his name one more time before I passed out.