He Looks Stressed

Isabelle

"Where is she?" Sterling asked as he looked between his grandfather and Scarlett.

He's been on edge since he got the phone call that Kaydence is in labor. I expected him to be thrilled, becoming a big brother was something he was thrilled about when Scarlett was born. I figured he'd be even more thrilled about Samuel.

"The delivery room." Scarlett answered him. "Dad's with her. He's been coming out and giving updates but there's not much going on right now."

"Okay." Sterling nodded.

He continued to hold my hand as he led us over to the seats next to his grandfather and Scarlett. We both sat down and I watched Sterling as his eyes looked to the ground. I can see he's tensed up as he began to tap his foot on the ground.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I continued to watch him.

"I'm fine." His answer was short as his eyes remained glued to the ground. "Just a little anxious is all."

"I understand." I began to rub gentle circles on his back in an attempt to relieve any of the stress he's feeling right now.

"Her water broke at home." Scarlett started to give more details on Kaydence. "From the last update, the doctor thinks that she'll go pretty quickly."

Sterling didn't respond, he just continued to look at the ground with his foot tapping. I could feel his muscles tightening even more under his suit. My attempt to help keep him calmed down doesn't seem to be working right now.

We sat in the waiting room for an hour before Damon came out with an update. It's only when he stood in front of us that Sterling's eyes moved away from the ground and he stopped tapping his foot.

"Everything is going well so far." He informed the three of us. "She's getting close to pushing. Hopefully the next update I have is that he's born."

Sterling abruptly got up from his seat. "But she's okay so far?"

"Yes." Damon nodded. "They're both doing great."

Sterling's throat bobbed as I watched him gulp. "Okay."

"I'll be back in a little bit." Damon informed us before turning around and heading back into the delivery room.

Sterling didn't sit back down, his eyes went back to the ground and I watched as he started pacing back and forth. He looked like he was in deep thought about something, part of me wants to ask but I don't want to pry.

"What's he doing?" Scarlett asked, pulling my attention away from him.

"I don't know." I kept my voice low as I responded to her. "I thought maybe you would have an idea."

"Nope." Scarlett shook her head. "This is a first that I'm seeing. He looks like he's stressed about something, you'd think he was the one having a baby."

He stopped once he heard her words, turning around to face her. "What did you say?" His tone seemed to darken.

"Sorry, I guess I should have spoken up." Scarlett was clearly annoyed he had been listening in. "With the way you're acting, people would think you're the one having a baby."

"No." His eyes grew dark. "That's not fucking happening."

Scarlett's brows furrowed as I felt like he had just given me a punch to the gut. We haven't planned much of our future out but I didn't think there was anything off the table for us. Especially having a family of our own.

"You realize what you just said right?" Scarlett questioned, this would give him a chance to correct himself.

But he doesn't take it.

"I'm fully aware of what I said." He was confident in his words. "I'm not having a child, ever."

"Excuse me?" I decided now was my time to speak up. "I wasn't aware that wasn't going to be an option in the future. When did you make this decision and why?"

"Having a baby is selfish." I could tell on his face he was standing firm with everything coming out of his mouth.

I folded my arms across my chest. "How is it selfish?"

"How is it not?" He scoffed and shook his head. "It's selfish for a woman to put her life at risk just to bring in another that didn't ask to be here."

I could feel myself getting angry, this is not a topic we need to be discussing right now. As much as I want to express myself, I need to wait until we're home. I don't want to end up in an argument here at the hospital where something happy is supposed to be happening.

"What?" He asked as I just stared at him. "Don't tell me you want to bring a baby into this fucked up filthy world?"

"Sterling." Martin spoke with a raised voice, getting his grandson's attention as he stood up from his seat. "Enough."

"But—" Sterling attempted to protest but Martin cut him off.

"I said enough." Martin was stern with him, making sure he knew it wasn't up for a debate. "You and I are going to take a walk."

Sterling didn't say a word as he followed Martin out of the waiting area and down the hallway. As I watched him walk away I could feel the heaviness in my chest by how cold he had been on the subject.

"He doesn't mean it." Scarlett spoke, drawing my attention to her as a soft expression took over her face. "He's doing that thing where he's saying things he doesn't mean."

I raised a brow. "How do you know?"

"I just do." She shrugged as she let out a low breath. "He always does that when he's stressed out or anxious about something. The more he's an ass, the bigger he's struggling to process his emotions."

"You know your brother well." I acknowledge.

"Yeah, he is my brother." She responded. "Whatever is going on in his mind, grandpa will get it out of him. Grandpa has a way of getting people to talk to him and let things out."

I exhaled a low breath. "I hope so. Being on the verge of a disagreement isn't exactly how I want to spend our time here."

"I know." Scarlett nodded. "Just give him a minute before you get yourself worked up, he just needs to come to his senses."

I hope she's right, God I hope she's right. If not then I have no idea what will happen considering we clearly want different things.