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Baby Jack is coming today.

By the time I reach North Coast Regional Medical Center, most of the family has already claimed a section of the maternity waiting room. Mom and Dad are sitting together near the windows. Conlin is sprawled across two chairs with a paper cup in his hand, and Sloane is pacing with her phone.

Mom stands as soon as she sees me. “You made good time.”

“I obeyed most traffic laws.”

“Most?”

Dad points toward the empty chair beside him. “Corrine. Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to.”

I drop into the seat and look toward the double doors leading to labor and delivery. “Any news?”

“Not since Lachlin came out twenty minutes ago,” Mom says.

Conlin takes a sip of coffee. “We did learn more about cervical dilation than any of us wanted.”

Sloane stops pacing. “A lot more.”

I look between them. “How much more?”

Dad gives me a look. “Like I told just your mom, don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to.”

Almost on cue, the doors open and Lachlin walks into the waiting room, wearing the expression of a man doing everything in his power to appear calm.

He isn’t fooling anybody.

“How is she?” Mom asks immediately.

“Good. She’s doing good.” He drags a hand through his hair and exhales. “She’s at eight centimeters now, contractions are about two minutes apart, and the nurse says the baby’s dropped lower.”

Conlin closes his eyes.

Lachlin keeps going. “They checked her again about ten minutes ago, and her cervix is almost completely effaced, so that’s good.”

I look at Conlin. “You weren’t exaggerating.”

“No.”

Sloane points at Lachlin. “We love you. We love Briar. We are thrilled about the baby. We don’t need a detailed report from the business end of this operation.”

Lachlin stares at her like he honestly doesn’t understand the problem. “You asked how she was doing.”

“I was expecting something like fine, tired, or ready to murder you.”

“She did threaten to poke my eyes out with an ice chip.”

Dad nods. “That’s the kind of update we can use.”

A smile pulls at Lachlin’s mouth, but it doesn’t last long. He glances back toward the doors.

Mom notices. “You don’t need to keep coming out here.”

“I know.”

Conlin raises his coffee. “Yet somehow you keep doing it.”

Lachlin ignores him and looks at Mom. “She wanted me to make sure everyone knows she’s okay.”