Jake and I rushed down the stairs in a haze of worry, only to find Miley and Lilly laughing as they dialed a phone number.
"What happened?" I asked tiredly. It was probably a false alarm if they were laughing.
"Miley" Lilly worked not to laugh, "Dropped her ice cream. And it scared the mouse."
"That mouse is still here?" I sighed, walking over to the cabinet to get a trap. Lilly now had the phone to her ear.
"Hi mom" she sang, still struggling, and losing, against the laughter. "Yeah, Miley's in labor. No, we don't know, there's only been one. Yeah okay. Thanks mom." What? I thought it had been a mouse. "She's going to finish the grocery shopping and then come here. She says that labor will probably take awhile and just to be comfortable." She explained to Miley, who I saw in the shiny refection of the cabinet drawer pull shrug and go back to ice cream.
"Miley I'm sorry. I shouldn't have teased you" Jake apologized, kneeling by her side.
"I forgive you" I heard her smile. "Daddy, aren't you gonna call Aunt Dolly?"
"What?" I asked as Lilly handed me the phone.
"Aunt Dolly, she said she wanted to be here." She explained, taking the phone and dialing the numbers for me. "I'll do it. Hi. Aunt Dolly? Yeah it's me, Miley. Can you come over? Sure. Alright, I'll see you then. You too. I will, bye." She hung up and placed the phone on the table. Not knowing what to do I set out to finish what I'd started, setting traps.
"Daddy don't" Miley cried, grabbing my arm as I set the trap. "don't kill her daddy."
"I'm not gonna kill her" I laughed, "just catch her, and set her out far, far away from us."
"Daddy!"
"Miley what do you expect me to do?" I asked, turning to her, "that mouse will spread germs. It'll scare people. I have to get it out of the house."
'"Daddy!" she whined, but this time not in terror of a dead mouse, but in pain.
"Just breathe" I instructed, trying not to show the panic raging inside of me. "In and out."
"It's not the bad" she told me, bending to lean onto her knees. "Really it's not."
"Then use it as practice" I suggested, "In and out."
"In and out" she muttered, but talking seemed to be making it harder to breathe. Finally, she stood upright.
"I'm fine" she insisted, "it wasn't that bad, it just caught me off guard."
"I know" I told her, watching Lilly roll her eyes. "Wanna watcha movie while we wait?" she offered, "I brought a couple over."
"Sure" she agreed, picking up her ice cream, "what did you bring?"
"Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, She's the Man, The Lake House, and Zombie High, season 2, including the Hannah Montana episode!"
"No Zombie High" Jake insisted, making himself a bowl of ice cream as an evil grin spread over Miley's face.
"Defiantly Zombie High" she insisted, taking the case from me and popping it in the DVD player. Scrolling through episodes she finally landed on her first on the show. She loved teasing Jake about the episode, but he never made fun of her kissing a dog.
Things progressed slowly for a while. Every so often Miley would get contractions and they'd pause the show, but otherwise everything was normal. They laughed and joked until Mrs. Truscott finally arrived two hours later. After that she helped Jake and Robby prepare Miley's room for the birth, she didn't come in until two that night, tired and sick of labor.
"Alright Miles, tell me when you get your next contraction" Mrs. Truscott told her, scratching some notes onto a clipboard. It wasn't long until Miley was squeezing her pain into Lilly's "willing" hand. Jake rushed forward to offer his hand, but Miley reached passed him towards me as she screamed. Taking her in my arms she curled as much as she could into my lap, her head pouring tears onto my shoulder as her nails dug painfully in my upper arms. Dejectedly, I watched Jake walk out.
"Howdy partner" Dolly greeted him, looking up from her cards. "What's wrong?" she asked, standing.
"She doesn't want me" he whined, leaning against Miley's closed door, "she wants her dad."
"Can you blame her?" she asked bluntly. "If you were in pain wouldn't you want your parents?"
"No" he answered untruthfully. "Alright, yeah, I would. But I'm the father, I should be there."
"Then why aren't you?"
"Sometimes it seems like she doesn't love me" he told her, ignoring the question.
"She loves you" Jackson told him, surprising both Dolly and Jake. Fumbling with her jacket pocket, Jackson handed him a little book opened to a page full of flowery writing. "Read it."
Dear Diary,
"Jackson!" Dolly reprimanded.
"Just read it."
The flower parade continues. Have I told you about it? Every day Jake has left a sweet-smelling rose on my desk, complete with a card, water, and vase. I must have a dozen by now, and he still continues to send them. When I tell him to save his money he just says that this is the best use because it make me happy, isn't that sweet? He's the best guy I could hope for, he never leaves my side. Sometimes I get so frustrated at him, and I can't help but kill myself later, because the frustration is caused by him being there for me all the time. Isn't that stupid? Uh-oh, dinner. I'll continue later Diary, bye!
"Okay so maybe she does like me." He said, smiling to himself.
"Go back in there sport" Dolly commanded, opening the door, "she needs you." He stumbled in, sitting next to me on the bed. Miley wasn't squeezing my shoulders anymore, but she was still crying, and I was failing at comforting her.
"shhhh" I instructed, rocking a bit, "it'll be okay." Reaching over, Jake started to rub her back. Slowly, Miley uncurled herself, revealing her tear-stained face from my shoulder.
"I want to go to the hospital" she announced to the room, wiping her nose on her ready sleeve.
"Can we still do that?" I asked Mrs. Truscott as she sat beside me.
"We'll have to check how far she's dilated." She answered, "Last time it was about six centimeters, so at that pace she'd nearly be at seven now. If she's not yet at eight, I think we can risk it, otherwise I wouldn't only because we'd be cutting it close."
"Did you hear that Miley?" I asked, she nodded as I lay her back onto a ready mountain of pillows. "Let's wait outside while she's checked." I suggested, taking Jake and Lilly out with me. When we came back in Miley had wiped away her tears and pulled back her hair, and was in the process of slipping on her ballet slippers.
"She's just at seven right now" we were informed as Jake and Lilly helped Miley throw somethings into her backpack as a hospital bag. "The hospital's realy close, so I'm going to call ahead so they're ready for us." She explained, "If you want they'll probably let me help with the birth, but it's your choice."
"I think she'd like that" I told her.