CHAPTER 8

	“Ready to go?”  Cole asked, beaming like a kid with a secret.
	“When are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Hannah asked, giggling as
he helped her out the door.
	“When we get there,” he promised, and Hannah groaned as she guided herself
into the car.  She was getting so big, it wasn’t easy to get around anymore, but at least
she could breath better than last week. She glanced at Cole as he got into the driver’s
seat. 
	“Please?” she pretended to beg, but when he shook his head and put the car in
gear without a word, she laughed.  He drove into town, with the occasional prodding
from Hannah, in hopes of making him tell, then finally pulled into a parking spot at the
shopping mall.
	“You’re taking me to the Mall?” she asked, in disbelief.  “Cole, I’m as big as a
house, I don’t need to be wandering around at the Mall!”
	He simply held the door open for her and helped her out of the car. “I can get you
one of those wheelchairs they keep at customer service, and push you around?”
	“Not on your life!” Hannah objected. “Where are we going?” Again she shot him a
hopeful look, but he grinned and shook his head. 
	“Inside, my Dear, and soon you shall see,”  he said, in excitement.
	My Dear.  Hannah felt her heart do a flip at his words, and quickly she told herself
that it was just a silly old endearment, in keeping with the theatrical mood of his secret
plot.  It meant nothing.
	They walked through the mall and Hannah glanced around wondering where he
was taking her, then at long last he rested his hand on her arm and stopped her. “Alright,
just around the corner.  Are you ready?”
	She giggled.  “Yes, Cole, yes! What is all this secrecy about?”
	He kept his hand on her arm and led her forward around the corner.  Hannah
looked up and gasped.  There in front of them, was the biggest baby decorating and
supply store she had ever seen!
	“Cole?” she asked, almost breathless, standing motionless at the entrance to the
store. “What are we doing here?”
	His eyes almost sparkled as he spoke. “We are going to decorate the nursery,”
he said.  “Pick out anything you want. Anything!”
	Hannah stared at him.  A speciality store like this could be nothing but expensive.
She had never even dared window shop in a store like this in her life, now Cole was
telling her to pick out anything in the store and he would buy it for her.  She hesitated,
but he led her into the store, where they were greeted by a brightly smiling sales lady.
	“I see you brought your wife with you today?” the lady asked, smiling cheerily,
and once again Hannah felt her heart flip. 
	“Oh, I’m not — “ she began.
	“She’s tongue-tied,” Cole broke in. “It was a surprise, I didn’t tell her I was
bringing her here today.  Just give us some time alone to browse for a while.” He
glanced at Hannah and smiled pleasantly. “What do you want to look at first, Hannah? 
They have paint and wallpaper swatches, fabrics, and furniture, and all kinds of
accessories.”  He leaned in closer and grinned at her. “This is where I got the bear.”
	Hannah was in awe as she wandered around the store.  Anything anyone might
need to decorate a nursery was there, all in one place. At times she ran her fingers over
things as she walked past them, or cooed over items that caught her eye, but she still
couldn’t bring herself ask Cole to buy any of them. At last, she took a deep breath, and
looked around the showroom.
	“Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to pick out paint colours.  It wouldn’t cost very
much to paint the walls, do you think?”
	Cole smiled at her. “Hannah, don’t you get it?  I don’t care how much it costs. We
are going to design a nursery today, whatever it costs.”
	“But Cole — “ she turned a worried expression towards him.  She had never had
enough money to do anything she wanted with, and had never dreamed of using
anyone else’s money so freely either.  The last thing she wanted to do was take
advantage of Cole’s generosity.  She was nobody’s charity case!
	“No buts.  If you like something, say so. We don’t have to pick out anything
today if you don’t want to.  We can wait until we know if the baby is a girl or a boy, and
decorate after, but today we can at least determine what we like. Leave the money up to
me.  I’ll decide if we can afford it or not, alright?” he insisted, and Hannah chewed on her
lower lip.  
	“Alright,” she agreed, albeit reluctantly, looking around her.  Perhaps she could
just choose some simple, inexpensive decorations and it would be enough to keep him
happy.  “So let’s look at these design books and get some ideas.”
	They flipped through the books with pictures of rooms in them, and Hannah
pointed to a few that she liked, while every now and then, Cole piped in with his ideas.
	“That’s pretty,” she said, flipping over a page, showing a room of flowers and
bows. 
	“Yes,” Cole agreed. “Look at this one. Isn’t it cute!” he said, pointing to a room
decorated like the sky, with clouds and birds painted on the walls.  The next page
showed an Old MacDonald’s farm themed room, and both of them laughed.  “Look, if it’s
a boy, we can do a Grand Prix room!”  Cole exclaimed as he turned the next page. 
Hannah was amazed at the range of ideas pictured in the books.  Every inch of the
rooms were styled around the main theme.  So much stuff, she thought, to be put into a
design that the child was eventually going to grow too old for.
	“This is beautiful!” she gasped suddenly, as she flipped the page over once
again. The room was done in pale pink, with white slats around the bottom half.  “It’s so
simple, but so elegant!”
	“Perfect,” Cole agreed, noticing that Hannah lingered over the page before
moving on through the rest of the book.  Nothing seemed to catch her attention after
that, except a blue room designed for a boy later in the book.  At last they pushed the
books aside, and started looking around the showroom once again. 
	“Here, try this out,” Cole suggested, as he pointed to a comfortable looking
armchair that moved when he put his hand on it. “It’s a rocking chair. Every nursery
needs a rocking chair!”
	“Oh, it’s so soft and comfortable!” Hannah exclaimed.  “I could fall asleep in this
chair!”
	“Not til we’re finished window-shopping,” Cole winked at her, and she smiled at
him, but didn’t move. Her feet were swollen and she was tired, and she took the
opportunity to stay sitting while looking around the store.  There were beautiful
wall-hangings, and lamps, and toy boxes everywhere, and Hannah started to feel more
comfortable pointing out the things she liked. 
	And there were bears!  Everywhere they looked, there were Teddy bears of all
shapes and sizes.  There was a white one just like the one Cole had bought her, and
smaller ones all around the store.  Fluffy bears, and fabric bears; gingham bears and
polkadot bears; bears with bows and bears with sweaters. There were also cats, and
dogs, and giraffes; cows and horses, and elephants, and ducks — a virtual jungle of
stuffed animals for any theme of room and any age of child.
	Hannah boosted herself out of the rocking chair and took a step towards one
display, then stopped and clutched her stomach, catching her breath. 
	“Are you alright?” Cole asked,  quickly rushing to her side.
	She took a deep breath and nodded.  “Just a Braxton-Hicks contraction,” she
said, smiling and taking another step, noticing the questioning look on Cole’s face.
“False labour.  I’ve had them before.  I’m fine,” she explained.
	Cole did not look convinced, however, but with her reassurance, he reluctantly
agreed to continue looking through the store. A few minutes later, Hannah let out
another gasp, and gripped her belly once again. This time, the sales lady rushed to her
side.
	“Are you alright, Ma’am?” the lady asked, helping Hannah to a chair. 
	“She says she’s getting false labour,” Cole told the lady, who smiled, and
smoothed Hannah’s hair away from her face. 
	“How much longer before the baby’s due?” the lady asked. 
	“Just over two weeks,” Hannah said, smiling. “I’m OK now.”
	The lady smiled back at her. “This could be the real thing,” she suggested, and
Hannah looked up at Cole with wide eyes.
	“Do you really think so?” she asked the sales lady. 
	“Two weeks isn’t too early to go into labour.”
	Hannah chewed at her lip. “Do you suppose we should go over to the hospital
and see what Gwen says?” 
	Cole frowned. “Gwen will probably say I shouldn’t have brought you shopping for
the day!” he said.
	Hannah laughed. “Probably,” she said, with a grin, then she turned to the lady
and smiled at her. “I’m alright now, thank you.”
	“Well, we better get you checked out,” Cole said, as he instinctively looped his
hand into Hannah’s elbow.  He was beginning to think it had been a bad idea to bring
her out shopping if this was the real thing. The sales lady walked them to the store
entrance, and was chatting pleasantly with them about babies and decorating, and
promising to help them with anything they needed when they returned, when Hannah let
out another gasp and nearly doubled over.  Cole gripped her arm tightly, and the woman
frowned.
	“At this rate you aren’t going to make it to the car,” she observed.
	Hannah frowned, and took a deep breath, then looked pleadingly at Cole.  “Can
we hurry?”
	He nodded, and they moved into the mall at as quick a pace as Hannah could
handle, with Cole still holding onto her tightly. They manoeuvred through the crowd, and
just made it to the mall door when Hannah stopped and gasped again. 
	“Cole!” she said, clinging to him. “I really think we need to see what Gwen says
about this!”
	“As fast as we can,” Cole promised, and when she could move again, they made
their way across the parking lot.  He was just pulling the car out onto the street when she
gripped her belly with both hands and let out a loud cry. He put his foot down and sped
the car through the traffic  in the direction of the hospital as fast as he could.
	“Hold on, Hannah!” he said, his voice panicking.  “I’ll get you there.” He pulled the
car onto a side street  to beat the traffic, and cursed a stoplight as Hannah gasped then
panted through another contraction.
	“I suppose I should have been timing these!”  she said, with a frown. “But I wasn’t
exactly expecting anything like this to happen quite yet. “ She glanced at Cole, hopefully.
“It could still be false labour,”  she said, although she was starting to think the chances of
that were pretty slim.  She’d had false labour before and this was much more powerful.
	Cole frowned. “I’m not taking that chance.”  He pulled the car forward as the light
turned green. 
	“Oh Cole!” she exclaimed, as he turned back onto the main road for the final few
blocks to the hospital. “I — on second thought, I think this is the real thing!” she gasped,
looking at him with wide panicked eyes. “My water just broke!”
	Cole sped up and reached for her hand. “Hang on, Hannah, we’re almost there,”
he said, breathlessly. 
	She looked at him with wrinkled brow.  “But your car seat —”
	“— is leather,” he finished for her. “Don’t worry about it. All I care about is getting
you to the hospital in time to have this baby!”  
	A few minutes later they reached the hospital and he pulled the car up just past
the emergency door.  He rushed around to her side of the car and nervously helped her
out.  Inside the door he found a wheel chair and settled her into it just as a nurse walked
past them. 
	“Nurse! She’s in labour,” he said. “Her water broke on the way over here.” 
	The nurse immediately reached for the chair, and led the way.  In no time Cole
found himself swept into a whole new world he had never seen before. The world of
labour and delivery!  Hannah was handed over to an obstetrical nurse, wished good luck
by the other nurse, and whisked into an examination room while Cole paced in the
hallway. 	 
	“Call Dr. Marchand, STAT,”  the nurse called to someone down the hall, when
she had finished examining Hannah and stepped out of the room.   “The baby is
crowning,” she said to Cole.
	Cole looked at her as if she were speaking a foreign language. “What does that
mean?”  
	“It means you just made it here in time. The baby is on its way,” she explained.
“We haven’t got much time.”
	“Don’t babies usually take longer than this to arrive?” Cole said, glancing around
the nurse into the room where Hannah lay dressed in a hospital gown.  “I mean, she was
fine a half hour ago!”
	The nurse smiled at him. “Most of the time there is warning, and sometimes it
takes hours and hours to give birth.  On the other hand, sometimes there are mothers
who barely have to blink to drop a baby.  It seems your wife is one of those.”
	Cole swallowed hard and fidgeted, while Hannah was moved into another room. 
He only half noticed that the nurse had called Hannah his wife.  It didn’t matter right now. 
All that mattered was that she was going to be OK, and that the baby was going to be
OK.  
	“Put this on,” the nurse instructed, as she tossed a green gown at him. Cole
glanced questioningly at Hannah. Of course, with the assumption that  Hannah was his
wife, came the natural assumption that he would be with her when the baby was born.
They had never discussed whether he would go in the delivery room with her. Would
she want him there?  Just as he opened his mouth to speak, another contraction hit, and
Hannah reached for his hand, gripping it tightly.
	“Don’t leave me alone, Cole!” she panted, and the doubt seemed to evaporate
from his face. 
	“Don’t worry, I won’t.  I just have to put this gown on and I’ll be right behind you!” 
Hannah let go, and he tried to get into the gown as quickly as he could, getting his arms
all tangled in the sleeves, and fumbling with the ties, until at last he was ready.  By the
time he entered the room, they had transferred Hannah to the delivery table, and she
was looking towards the door with a worried look on her face. When she saw him she
reached out her hand, and he went to her side without hesitation.	
	“I’m here,” he said, softly.
	“Cole!” she said, in depression.  “We never discussed names for the baby!”
	He squeezed her hand. “Well, we can still do that,” he assured her, trying to keep
her, and himself, calm, while the nurses rushed around the room preparing things. “Did
you have any in mind?”
	“I was thinking about Nicholas, or Morgan,” she said. “I really couldn’t decide.”
	“I like them,” he nodded. “Morgan, for a girl?” 
	She nodded, and her eyes shot wide open and he knew another contraction was
coming.  “Oh my God!” she exclaimed, and Cole gripped her hand as he looked at the
nurses.
	“Don’t push yet,” the nurse instructed her, brushing a cloth across her forehead.
“Dr. Marchand will be here any minute, then you can push.”
	Push!
	Cole’s head began to spin.  He knew nothing about delivering babies, but he did
know the word push was associated with the actual birth.  It was happening!  In no time
he would be a father, a real father!  He looked down at Hannah and saw the already
tired look on her face, just as Gwen walked in the room.
	“Well, well, Hannah, couldn’t wait?” she joked, moving into place at Hannah’s
feet.  She took a look and soon another wave washed over the panting mother, and
Gwen glanced up at Cole.  “This is it, are you ready? She’s not wasting any time.”
	Cole could not answer, but instead he gripped Hannah’s hand tight, as she let
out a loud grunt.  Gwen instructed her to push, and Cole felt his heart beating faster.  
	“OK, take a breath while you can,” Gwen told her, then winked up at Cole. “You
too, Daddy.  OK, Hannah, the next one is coming.  This baby is almost here.  You’re
going to push it out on the next contraction. Here it comes — “
	Cole’s eyes widened in awe as Gwen suddenly lifted a wet and glistening little
body from beneath Hannah’s gown.  The nurses moved in in synchronised motion with
suction and towels, and suddenly a baby’s cry filled the room.
	“Oh!” Hannah gasped, lifting her head to try to see, looking from Cole to the
baby.  
	“A beautiful baby girl!” Gwen announced, and both mother and father beamed at
her. The baby was wrapped in a blanket and brought to Hannah to hold, and she stared
at the tiny little girl with the brightest smile Cole had ever seen on her face.
	“My perfect, sweet little girl!” she breathed. Then she looked up at Cole. “Look at
her! There you are, Sweetie, look at Daddy!”
	Cole’s heart felt like it was swelling twice its size. He was looking down at a
precious new-born life, and someone was actually calling him Daddy!  He trembled as
he reached for the tiny hand that waved outside the blanket, remembering the fingers on
the ultrasound. The hand was so small it couldn’t have even wrapped around his finger!
	The nurse reached for the baby.  “We’re going to get Mom cleaned up, and take
Baby for her wash, but does Daddy want to hold her first?”  
	Cole looked at Hannah, who smiled and nodded, letting the nurse hand the baby
to him. He held her, looking down into her eyes, the tiniest living thing he had ever held
in his arms, and he was in complete awe of her. 
	“I love you, Morgan McKinley,” he whispered softly under his breath.  But Hannah
heard him, and tears welled behind her eyes.  It meant so much to her to hear him say
those words to their baby.  If only — 
	“Time to clean her up now,” the nurse announced, reaching for the baby. “She’s
going to get a good check-up by the paediatrician, then we’ll bring her back to you.”
	And at the same time, Gwen announced that Hannah was ready to be moved to
a hospital bed, and they began to transfer her to a stretcher.  For the first time since they
had left the store, Cole felt he could actually breathe.  It was over!  Everything had
happened so fast, he could hardly believe it, but it was all over, and now he was a
father!  He wanted to tell the world!
	He smiled down at Hannah and wiped the damp hair from her forehead. “Are you
OK?” he asked her
	“I’m wonderful,” she said, smiling.  “Isn’t she beautiful?”
	“She sure is!” Cole said.   “I was so worried I wouldn’t get you here in time.”
	“You did just fine,”  Hannah said, beaming up at him.
	“Heck, I didn’t do anything but drive the car!  You’re the one that did all the work.”
Clearing his throat, he straightened up and looked around the room.  “If you’re OK, I
guess I’d better go move the car!”
	Hannah laughed, remembering the rush to get her into the hospital. “I forgot all
about the car,” she said, then a worried look crossed her face. “Will you come back in
after?”
	“That’s my baby girl!  Nothing could keep me away,” he said, smiling proudly as
the nurses began to wheel Hannah out of the room.