Elena’s POV

The day my baby decides to arrive does not begin with calm breathing, soft music, or quiet anticipation like people always describe in books, and it definitely does not begin with dignity, because the very first thing that happens is a sharp, powerful pain tearing through my body so suddenly that I wake up screaming, not a polite cry or a quiet gasp, but a full-blown, startled scream that echoes through the bedroom and probably half the house.

Cole bolts upright beside me like ...