Chapter 3
A week had passed and Eddie's parents had left for Jamaica and Eddie had temporarily moved into the Reagan house. Eddie was supposed to be sleeping in Erin's old room but she spent most nights with Jamie.
"Are you a virgin?" Eddie asked as she and Jamie laid in Jamie's bed one night.
"No. I'm not. Are you?" Jamie was a little nervous about where this conversation was going.
"Yeah. I've dated a few guys but it never went that far with any of them."
"Does it bother you that I'm not a virgin?"
"No. I don't really care, I was just asking."
"Are you thinking about us having sex?"
"I'd be lying if I said no. I've thought about. I think I want us to eventually."
"Me too. You know, if we did it right now, no one would no. My parents are like rocks when they're sleeping, and Joe's not here."
"Are you being serious?"
"Yeah. If you're not ready, that's ok, but if you are, then why wait?"
"Ok."
And they had sex, right there in Jamie's bedroom. Unfortunately, they'd been so caught up in the moment they had forgotten to use a condom.
They fell asleep in each other's arms and stayed like that until the morning. They actually ended being a little late to school because they'd overslept.
"Jamie, can I talk to you." Mary said as her son rushed down the stairs.
"Mom, Eddie and I are gonna be late." Jamie said, rushing around the kitchen to make a lunch for himself and Eddie.
"Jamie, I know what you and Eddie did last night."
Jamie stopped dead in his tracks. "What're you talking about?" He asked, playing dumb.
"Don't play dumb, Jameson. I will not have that continue under my roof. From now on do as long as Eddie is staying here, she sleeps in Erin's room. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, ma'am. It won't happen again."
"I can't believe you did that and thought you'd get away with it. I raised you better."
"I'm sorry, mom."
"You know I have to tell your father, right?"
"Do you really have to? I promise it won't happen again."
"I'm telling him, and that's final. Now go. You're already late."
Jamie gathered his things and met Eddie in the car.
"What took you so long? We're already late as is." Eddie asked, as they finally started the drive to school
"We can't have sex again?" Jamie said, not really answering Eddie's question.
"What? Was it really that bad? I mean yeah it was my first time but it wasn't that bad, right?"
"No, baby, it was great. You're beautiful. It wasn't you, it's my mom. She knows."
"She knows? Do you just think she knows or did she tell you?"
"She told me she heard us last night. She told me that from now on you have to sleep in Erin's room like we had originally agreed, and we can never have sex in that house again. She's gonna tell my dad."
"I'm sorry, Jamie. It's my fault."
"It's not your fault, just don't say anything about it. Don't mention it unless she does."
"Ok."
The couple finally made it to school and then went their separate ways.
They met up again in 8th period because they had it together, but neither one of them really talked much. They drove home together like always and then Eddie went into Erin's room, and Jamie went to his room. During dinner, they still hadn't really talked at all, even when they were talked to. Eddie excused herself after only eating a couple bites. That night, Jamie didn't expect to here a knock on his door.
"Are you ok? Did I do something wrong?" Jamie asked.
"No, I just realized maybe this wasn't the best idea. I mean we just met each like a few months ago and we've only been dating for like two weeks. We already had sex and I'm even living in your house. I just think this was a bad idea."
"What exactly do you think is a bad idea? Our friendship, our relationship, living at my house, or is having sex?"
"To be honest, all of it."
"So, this is it? You're just gonna shut me out of your life?"
"I've never been good at trusting people. I'm usually the loner. No one wants to even be my friend, let alone date me. I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to be in a friendship or a relationship. Maybe I will never know how. That's why I think it would best if we just parted ways. My dad's talking about moving again after the holidays anyway."
"Ok, if that's really what you want then I'm not gonna stop you. It was nice knowing you." With that, Jamie slammed his door in Eddie's face.
Eddie packed all fo her things up within 10 minutes, said her quick goodbyes to the very gracious Reagans and left.
She kind of went off the grid for the next few weeks. She didn't go to school, barely left her house, she practically fell off the face of the earth. One of the only times she actually did go out was to confirm her suspicions. She'd been felling like crap for about a week and she realized she had missed her period. She went to the drug store across the street from the giant apartment she lived in, picked up a pregnancy test, and then went back home.
She took the pregnancy test nearly an hour after she bought it, and didn't look at the results for another 3 hours. When she finally did look at the results, it wasn't what she was hoping. She was pregnant with Jamie Regan's baby. Just her luck, the first and only time she has sex, she gets pregnant.
Eddie spent the rest of that day going back and fourth on whether or not she should tell Jamie. She eventually decided she wasn't going to tell him. It would ruin his life. His family would be more than angry. She didn't want to cause anymore trouble that she already had so she decided she wasn't going to tell him.
And she didn't. She went on through her pregnancy, much to the dismay of her parents. She'd moved schools, but her father decided he was going to keep the family in New York. Eddie had prepared everything for the baby during the pregnancy. She'd decorated the nursery, bought clothes, diapers, wipes, bottles. All the essentials needed for a baby. She'd even made a birth plan for the hospital. She wanted an all natural water birth in a hospital.
Unfortunately, her plan didn't play out the way she wanted.
One night, at 41 weeks and 2 days, Eddie woke up to her water breaking. She glanced over at the beside clock and saw that it was 2am. She decided she'd try to go back to sleep for awhile until the contractions started picking up, and then she'd go to the hospital. She fell back asleep for a few hours and woke back up around 5:30. The contractions were getting stronger and closer together but they were still 10 minutes apart, lasting for less than a minute each. Eddie labored at home some more. Her parents left for work around 8:30, leaving her with the maid and her mom's car so the maid could rove her to the hospital. At that point, Eddie's contractions were 7 minutes apart, lasting a minute and 15 seconds. She still wanted to stay home until labor progressed more.
It definitely did. In the span of an hour, contractions went from 7 minutes apart to 2 minutes apart, and Eddie started feeling pushy. After having given birth to 3 children herself, the maid knew Eddie would not make it to the hospital if she drove her there. She started getting towels and blankets to cover the floor and called 911. She laid down enough towels and blankets to protect Eddie's bed, and had her lay down. Within 5 minutes of calling them, 2 patrol officers showed up at the apartment to assist.
"Eddie!?" One of the cops was none of than Joe Reagan, big brother of Jamie Reagan, and the uncle of Eddie's baby.
"Joe." Eddie breathed out, already exhausted from labor.
"I didn't know you were pregnant." He said, still slightly shocked to see her about to have a baby.
Eddie didn't get a chance to respond before another contraction hit. The other cop, who had introduced himself as Officer Renzulli, was coaching Eddie in how and when to push. She pushed for 10 seconds as she was told, took two deep breaths, and then pushed again. She did that for the entire contraction.
"I don't want to be in this position. I can't be on my back." She announced. She was laying in the traditional birthing position. Her back was killing her and the extra pressure made the pain so much more unbearable. No one argued with her as she flipped over, now on all fours. The nurse quickly scrambled around for the birthing ball so she could lean against it. She was now balancing on her knees, with her head resting on the birthing ball. Gravity would help immensely with bringing the baby down and out. Once the next contraction came, she pushed again, and at the end, Renzulli said he could see the very top of the baby's head.
"Have you ever done this before?" Eddie asked, slightly out of breath. The question was meant for Renzulli but both officers answer.
"Yes." Renzulli said
"No." Joe said.
"I've delivered three babies, and one of them was my own. My wife was actually in a very similar situation as you." Renzulli said. That made Eddie feel slightly better.
"Joe, you can't tell Jamie about the baby. I don't want him to have to deal with this. It's not his problem, it's mine. Promise me you won't tell him." Eddie said to Joe, pleading with him not to tell his younger brother.
"I promise I won't tell him." Joe said. He knew keeping the secret would kill him, but he also knew Eddie wanted what she thought was best for her baby. If she didn't want Jamie in the baby's life, then he would respect that.
7 contractions later, the baby's head was finally out. Things went pretty quickly after that. It only took one more contraction to get the baby out, and Eddie was turning back over on her back to cradle her baby.
"Come on, baby, give us a good cry." Renzulli said, lightly shaking the baby's abdomen to get it to cry. After a few light pats on the bottom by Eddie, the beautiful baby let out a loud wail. Eddie's eyes immediately filled with tears. She was a mom. In fact, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. The maid had gotten a nose bulb that Eddie happened to have and sucked fluid out of the baby's nose and mouth.
"Congratulations, Eddie." Joe said, a few years falling down his face.
"Thank you so much, all of you. This definitely wasn't the way I wanted to give birth, but all I care is that my baby is safe. She is thanks to you."
Only about 5 minutes after the baby was born, the ambulance showed up and loaded Eddie and her baby girl in. Eddie asked if Joe would ride with her and Renzulli said it was fine. Renzulli gave the maid a ride in the RMP and they followed the ambulance.
"She's beautiful, Eddie. Does she have a name?" Joe asked, as he gushed over the baby.
"Her name is Josie Marie Reagan Janko."
"Josie?" He asked, wondering if there was any connection.
"I found that name a few months ago. I like it but I wasn't sure. After what just happened, I figured she should be named after someone who helped bring her into this world. I didn't want to name her Josephine, so Josie was the next best option."
"I'm honored."
They got to the hospital and Eddie was taken up to L&D. Joe waited until the waiting room.
Once in her room, Eddie was given a dose of Pitocin to stop bleeding and help her deliver the placenta. Within 10 minutes, the placenta was delivered. Josie was given a small bath by a nurse, a diaper, and white onesie that was provided by the hospital, and swaddled in a pink and purple receiving blanket. To top it all off, she was given a pink hat. The nurse handed her back to Eddie, and Eddie began nursing.
"You made quite the entrance, huh little one." Eddie said softly to the nursing baby.
In response, Josie have a little whine.
"It's just you and me, little one. We're gonna take on this world together."
Eddie ran a finger lightly over her daughter's soft chubby cheeks. As they stared into each other's eyes, Eddie fell in love. She'd never lived anyone or anything more than she loved her daughter.
After an hour of mommy-daughter bonding, Eddie invited Athena (the maid), Joe, and Renzulli into the room.
"So, since you delivered her, I think it's only fair that you get to hold her." Eddie said to Renzulli. Eddie handed Josie over very carefully, and Renzulli cradled the baby with expert knowledge. She felt safer knowing that he had kids of his own. Once Renzulli had his baby fill, he handed her back.
"You're technically her uncle and now her namesake, you can hold her if you want."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Joe happily excepted the infant. He also held her with expert knowledge, having held Nicky and now Jack plenty of times. He bounced the baby slightly and cooed softly. He secretly wished Eddie would let him be in Josie's life. He'd already fallen so in love with this baby.
"I was so wrapped up in getting through labor, I honestly forgot that today's my birthday." Eddie announced.
"Happy Birthday to both of you." Renzulli said. "Reagan, I hate to break up this sweet moment, but our shift ended an hour ago, and we have to go fill out paperwork."
"Ok." Joe carefully handed Josie back to her mom. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. "I don't know if it really means anything, but I am technically Josie's uncle. Just give me a call if you ever want help or need anything. I'll be available." He gave her the card and then followed Renzulli.