Brad goes inside to find a chair for me so I can sit down. I’m still performing surgeries which requires I stand for sometimes up to five hours straight, but it’s become very obvious in the last couple of days that I’m going to have to take leave. I can feel my feet swelling in these boots. I say a silent prayer in hope that I can get them off after Colin has seen me.
I glance down the row of balconies on the front of the hotel and see a lot of people that I know. Colin invited the players’ wives, girlfriends, and families to watch the parade from our hotel rooms. Colin’s parents are on the balcony next to us with a group of their friends from Colin’s hometown. I catch his mom’s eye and wave. I’m still not her favorite person.
She hated Colin and I living together, but there was much more to it, I’ve since found out. Susan blames me for Colin’s first marriage, and the disaster that it was. If she only knew about the prescription pills and overdose. Not even her first grandchild would get me back in her good graces.
Colin’s dad is much friendlier, and smiles. I walk over to the edge of the balcony and lean across the railing to give him a hug.
“How’s my grandkid?”
“Growing and moving like his daddy,” I reply with a smile as I stroke my hand over my taut stomach.
“It’s got to be boy. Colin was so active. Susan would have to push him back to remind him to be gentle,” John says, getting a little glassy-eyed as he reminisces about his only child.
As if on cue, Baby McKinney gives me a firm kick to the ribs. I wince, and rub my side. Then, I feel a tightness spreading across my abdomen—one of the many Braxton Hicks contractions that have plagued me for the last month. I almost didn’t make it to Miami for the Super Bowl. I thought these were labor contractions, and spent a night in the hospital before I was assured that everything was fine and sent home.
Poor Colin was beside himself. He was already in Miami doing all the pregame press. I wouldn’t let him fly home until we knew if this was indeed show time. Brad was my rock, holding my hand and keeping Colin updated. Fortunately, Doctor Starr got on the phone with Colin and explained that Braxton Hicks contractions are nature’s way of preparing the body for labor, and I was perfectly fine. Just to be on the safe side, she chose me an obstetrician in Miami and forwarded him a copy of my medical file.
Colin rented me a private plane to travel to Miami so I could stay lying down, and so our family could travel together. Between my overzealous assistant, who’s also an RN, and Colin’s mother, I thought that I might toss them or myself out of it. She kept telling me about her pregnancy with Colin, and Brad tried to time contractions that weren’t really contractions. I love them both—dearly, but I wanted to scream Have you all forgotten that I’m a doctor?
On the other balcony to my left is Colin’s management team. After Colin fired Mark, he hired Aiden to be his business attorney and manager. So far, it’s worked out well, with Colin just using Mark on a case-by-case basis, like the whole walking out of the ESPY-Awards fiasco. We haven’t needed a full-time public relations person because Jenny can reply, “Mr. McKinney and Doctor Collins do not comment on their private life” just fine. Colin has gone so far as to refuse to confirm the pregnancy, or that we’re even married. After many discussions and bamboozlement—according to Colin—he finally agreed that me keeping my maiden name in the professional world was a great idea. Okay. Maybe not a great idea, but it was an idea that we could both live with.
One reporter asked him after a game how I was feeling. His reply was, “I don’t comment on my private life.” The reporter pushed on and said, “I saw your wife. She looks ready to pop.” What was Colin’s answer? “I’m sure Doctor Collins will be amused to know that the media thinks that she looks fat in her pants.” I felt sorry for the reporter. Even though I was about seven months and clearly looked pregnant, the guy had a horrified expression on his face.
Aiden’s balcony is filled with other clients that his firm represents, and some junior attorneys. Mark notices me and gives me a slight wave.
Rachael is off doing what Rachael does best; becoming the ruler of the known world. My best friend is a piece of work who’s only gotten more awesome as the years have gone by.
Aiden motions for me to come over so I walk to the other end of our balcony. “How ya doin’?”
I smile. “I’m hanging in there. I just wish the kid would quit kicking me, and these damn contractions would stop.”
Aiden’s eyes grow wide with worry. “I’m okay. They’re just pretend contractions, but damn they hurt.” I smile reassuringly at him trying to communicate that I am okay.