“Let's see if we can get it in.” He told her to roll over on her side and round her back for him. She was having another pain and she couldn't do it. She felt as though everything was out of control in her body, and people were doing terrible things to her and wanting her to do things she couldn't. It was the worst experience of her life.

The anesthesiologist managed to get a long catheter into her spine, and then began to feed in the medication. He had her roll on her back then, and the next pain hit her like a tidal wave. She had another one right after, and the medication had had no effect yet. He explained to them that she might be too dilated for it to take effect, and then suddenly the pains stopped. Nothing happened for a full five minutes, which was a relief to Jane.

“The epidural could slow things down,” he explained. And then as quickly as they had stopped, the contractions started again. Jane said they were worse than before. It went on for another ten minutes, and then the nurse checked her again, and Jane cried out in pain and shouted at the nurse.

“Stop doing that!” she screamed at her. “You're hurting me!” And then she just lay in bed and sobbed. The epidural had done nothing for the pain so far.

“I'm going to put in some more medication and see if that works better for you,” the anesthesiologist said calmly as the nurse reported to him.

“We're at ten. I'll get her doctor.”

“Did you hear that?” Liz said to her. “You're at ten. That means you can push. The baby will be out soon.” Jane nodded, looking dazed, and the monitor showed that she was having another contraction, but this time Jane didn't react to it. The medication was working. Everything was happening very fast. They had only been there for an hour, which felt like a lifetime to Jane.

Her obstetrician walked into the room five minutes later. She smiled as she said hello to Jane and Liz, and they introduced her to Coco.

“We're having quite a party here,” she said cheerfully. “I've got good news for you, Jane.” She leaned down close to her so she'd listen. “With the next contraction, you can start pushing. We're going to get that little boy into your arms as fast as we can.”

“I can't feel the contractions now,” Jane said, looking relieved. Her eyes were glazed, as Coco and Liz exchanged a worried look.

“We may lighten up on the medication a little, so you can help us push,” the doctor told her, which panicked Jane.

“No, don't,” Jane said, starting to cry again. Coco was shaken watching her tough older sister disintegrating before her eyes.

“She's doing fine.” The doctor smiled at Liz and Coco, and the nurse put an oxygen mask on Jane as the anesthesiologist left the room. He had another epidural to do for a C-section but said he'd be back. It was a busy night at the hospital. The nurse said there were a lot of deliveries that night.

The monitor said she was having another contraction. They set Jane's long legs up in stirrups and told her to start pushing. Another nurse came in to help. She had a nurse on either side of her, the doctor at the foot watching for the baby's head, and Liz up close to Jane's face. She felt surrounded by people, and they kept telling her to breathe and push. Nothing happened for a while.

Jane pushed for an hour and nothing changed as Coco watched. Everyone was intent on what was happening, and another nurse came into the overcrowded room with a plastic bassinet.

“I can't do it,” Jane said, sounding exhausted. “I can't push anymore. Get him out.”

“No,” the doctor said cheerfully from the foot of the bed. “That's your job. You have to help us now.” They told her to push harder and asked Liz to brace Jane's shoulders, while each of the nurses braced her feet. The anesthesiologist came in then, and the doctor told him to ease up the medication, and Jane begged him not to. It went on for another hour. She'd been pushing for two hours by then, and nothing was happening. The doctor said she could see the baby's hair, but that was all she could see so far.

They did an episiotomy then, and used forceps. It took another hour and Jane was screaming, as Coco stood on one side of her, and Liz on the other, and she had to keep pushing until she said she was dying. She let out a hideous scream that Coco thought she would remember forever, and slowly, slowly, the baby's head started to come out of her until there was a little face looking up at them with wide eyes. Liz and Coco were crying, and Jane was staring down at him, and her face turned purple as she pushed harder. They got his shoulders out and then the rest of him, and there was a long wail in the room and this time it wasn't Jane crying, it was their baby. They cut the cord, wrapped him in a blanket, and laid him on Jane as she sobbed and looked at Liz in agony and elation. She had never done anything so hard in her life and hoped she never would again.

“He's so beautiful,” they all said as they looked at him. They took him to clean him off and weigh him, while they delivered the placenta and sewed Jane up.

“He weighs nine pounds, fifteen ounces,” the nurse said proudly and then handed him to Liz. “You delivered a ten-pound baby,” she told Jane. It had taken her three hours to push him out. It was easy to see why. He was huge, and Coco looked at him in amazement. They let her hold him, and then she gave him back to Jane. She put him to her breast, and he lay there sucking quietly with big blue eyes, staring at his mother. He had beautiful hands and long legs just like hers. Liz was standing close to her, kissing her and smiling and talking to their baby, who seemed to recognize their voices as he looked at Liz and Jane.

Coco stayed with them for another hour until they took Jane to a room. She was exhausted. Liz was spending the night, so Coco went back to the house, still in awe of what she'd seen. She kissed Jane and Liz before she left and congratulated them, as Liz picked up the phone to call Jane's mother and tell her Bernard Buzz Barrington II had finally made his appearance, and all of them were thrilled.

When Coco got back to the house, she called Leslie and told him all about it, and how painful it had been for her sister. But how happy she looked when he was born.

“The next one will be ours,” Leslie said gently. “Tell Jane and Liz congratulations for me.” He promised to come up that weekend to see him, and then Coco was going back to L.A. with him. The baby had arrived two days before his due date. And now it was Coco's turn to begin a new life. It was exactly eight months since the day they met. It had taken almost as long as Jane's baby.





Chapter 21

As he had promised to, Leslie came up on Saturday. Jane was home from the hospital by then. She was weak, sore, and ecstatic. She and Liz fussed constantly over the baby. The baby nurse they'd hired was there and showing them everything they needed to know about caring for him. Jane was nursing. It was a perfect time for Coco to leave.

Leslie and Coco had dinner with Jane and Liz that night, and Leslie held the baby, and looked very comfortable with him. Coco said a tearful goodbye to her sister. She felt closer to her now after sharing the birth.

Coco and Leslie flew to Los Angeles the next day, and Leslie had filled the house with flowers for her before he left. Everything was immaculate and looked perfect. He had cleared two huge closets for her. And there had been no paparazzi outside when they got there. His security service was patrolling the house.

He even made dinner for her that night.

“How did I ever get so lucky?” she asked in wonder as she kissed him.

“I'm the lucky one,” he said, looking at her with wonder. He still couldn't believe she was finally with him. They had both passed the test in Venice, and the two agonizing months after. There was no question in their minds now. They knew they belonged together.

They called Chloe that night and told her Coco was there and had moved in. They had told her she would, when Chloe went back to New York at New Year's, and she was thrilled. She could hardly wait to come out and see them.

“Are you going to have a baby now?” Chloe asked pointedly, and Coco wondered if she was worried, as Jane must have been when she was born. She didn't want that to happen to Chloe. There was enough love for all of them, and she wanted Chloe to know that.

“Not yet,” her father answered solemnly, but he hoped they would.

“Are you getting married?” she asked with a smile in her voice.

“We haven't discussed it yet, but if we do, we won't do it without you. I promise,” her father told her.

“I want to be a bridesmaid.”

“You're hired. Now all we need are the bride and groom.”

“That's you and Coco, Daddy,” she said, laughing. “You're silly.”

“So are you. That's why I love you,” he teased her. And after they hung up, he turned to Coco, who had been listening on the other phone. “She has a point, you know, about our getting married. I'm a respectable man. You can't expect me to live in sin with you. That would be very brazen of you. And think what the tabloids would do with that! 'Major movie star lives with dog-walker.' Positively shocking,” he said as he kissed her.

“I'm not a dog-walker anymore. You don't need to worry,” she said, rolling over on their bed with a look of pleasure. She still felt like Cinderella. Even more so now. The glass slipper was hers and it fit her to perfection.

“Well, even though you're not a dog-walker, I do have a reputation to worry about. What do you think? Should we do it? Just to give Chloe a shot at being a bridesmaid? I think that's an excellent reason myself. The other reason of course is that I love you insanely, and before you run away from me again, I'd like to establish some ownership here. Will you marry me, Coco?” He had slid off the bed, and was kneeling next to it, looking into her eyes with a serious expression. He looked as though he were about to cry from the emotion. And Coco felt moved to tears as she listened.