by Kate Kisset
Becca dropped her fork and reached over to help. She grabbed hold of Becca’s arm. “Where are you going? Bathroom? I’ll walk you there.”
Georgia winced again and doubled over like she’d been punched in the stomach. “Wait. Just a second.” She sucked in a quick breath, and then another. “Something’s not right, here.”
“Okay,” Becca said, “well, whatever it is, let me help.” But Georgia didn’t respond and with a shell-shocked expression glued to her face, looked down.
Becca followed the path of Georgia’s eyes and saw the dark stain at the crotch of her jeans.
“I think my water just broke.”
“I think you’re right.” Becca swallowed nervously, trying to keep her cool. She’d never been in this situation before, but had watched enough hospital shows to guess where the next stop would be. “You better call Harlan.”
“I can’t.” Georgia gasped, with an edge of panic in her voice. “He just got on the plane in New York. I don’t think it was a nonstop.” She nodded, clutching her belly. “It can’t happen now. He needs to be here—he really wanted to be here.” Her voice wobbled. “He’s gonna miss it.”
“Not necessarily. You might have a way to go. Sometimes it takes a while.” Becca wrapped an arm around her waist. “Are you in a lot of pain? Maybe you should sit down?”
“Everything okay here, hotcake?” Linda asked, hurriedly flanking Georgia’s side, coming out of nowhere from behind.
“I think I’m in labor. Ow.” Georgia doubled over again, sucking air between her teeth, holding on to Becca and Linda.
“Well, let’s get you to the hospital then, okay?” Linda suggested, wide-eyed, looking across Georgia, who still had her head down.
“Let’s get her to that chair.” Linda pointed to a nearby crowded table. “Guys, clear out, pregnant lady coming through,” Linda joked as the seated employees frantically scooped up their plates to make room for Georgia.
“I’m not going to have the baby on the table, guys. I just need to sit down,” Georgia chuckled. “I think I can walk by myself. I feel okay now.”
“Do you have this, Linda?” Becca kept her tone calm and steady, hoping not to panic Georgia. “I’ll get my car keys.”
Linda gave her a nod and with a jerk of her chin, told her to get moving.
“Be right back.” Becca said, dashing off to the small closet behind the bar where employees kept their belongings, a million scenarios stampeding through her brain.
Would Boone cancel the show? What about Colt? Should he be notified? Georgia’s mom. Where was she? Would they make it to Billick General in time, or would she have to pull over and deliver the baby in her car?
She grabbed her purse, reminding herself that women give birth every day and there was no reason to worry.
As much as Becca dreamed of having children of her own, she didn’t have any personal experience with the process of getting babies out of a body. She’d only visited her two mom-friends after their infants were born.
Becca rounded the bar, banging her hip in the process, and hurried back to Georgia. “Can you walk to the parking lot?”
“We can get her to your car, no problem,” Linda encouraged, sounding positive and light as if this sort of thing happened every day at The Owl.
“I called my doctor,” Georgia said breathlessly, heaving herself up from the chair. “She’s going to meet us at Billick General.”
Chapter Nine
BOONE ACCEPTED THE applause and bowed as gracefully as possible with one foot out the door, finally wrapping up the longest performance of his life.
In moments he was flying down the country highway to Billick General, amazed he played so well and remembered the lyrics while worrying about Georgia. With Harlan out of town, Georgia was his and Colt’s responsibility, and if anything happened to her and the baby—he tried not to let his brain even go there.
They’d taken three breaks during the two-hour show, and every time Boone checked in with Georgia or Colt he’d held his breath, half expecting the situation to have changed. But every time they reiterated their last conversation, explaining the baby was taking its time. Still, he couldn’t wait to get to the hospital to see for himself that everything was okay.
He easily found a place in the half-empty lot to park near the hospital’s entrance, locked his truck, and took off for the glossy double door entrance.
The heels of his boots clicked on the shiny tile floors as he entered the building, immediately recognizing an antiseptic hospital smell. He rushed through two sleek doors to a hall with corded telephones, hand sanitizer dispensers, and a series of different wildlife figures...bobcats, elk, a prairie dog, each painted in muted colors...lining the walls.
Boone turned the corner, passing through a quiet hallway, and came to a large reception counter stacked with brochures, clipboards, and a warning for him to get a shingles vaccination.
A sleepy receptionist looked up from her paperwork. “May I help you?” As he was about to say something, Boone spotted Becca slumped in a small, uncomfortable-looking blue chair in the waiting area on his right.
“Thanks. I think I’m set.” He tapped the counter and stealthily approached Becca, not wanting to wake her.
Keeping an eye out for Colt, who said he’d meet him in the waiting room, Boone entered the small, carpeted space and the sound of his footsteps disappeared. There was only one other person besides Becca in the room. A middle-aged man with his head fully back and mouth wide open, snored under a nondescript painting of two egrets in a marsh.
Becca must have heard him coming, because she straightened, and broke into a smile. Reflexively he smiled too, feeling a tinge of excitement knowing he still had that effect on her. She hadn’t looked too happy to see him when she dropped off the water bottles earlier.
“No change?” he asked, settling in the chair next to hers, getting a whiff of coconut and coffee.
“I would’ve called. Or Colt would’ve gotten in touch,” she said sleepily. “But no. Georgia’s settled in for the night back there.” Becca pointed to a well-lit hallway lined with wide-open doors and things he didn’t want to look at inside shadowy rooms.
“Harlan will be relieved the baby hasn’t come yet. He wants to be here when it happens.”
“Maybe he’ll make it in time. But if you want to keep your head on your shoulders, don’t mention anything to Georgia about how long it’s taking,” Becca teased, “I think she’s ready for the baby to come out.”
“I can only imagine. Take that back. I can’t even fathom it.” Boone peeled his eyes away from Becca, fully aware of how close they were sitting and how their arms were only inches away from touching.
He took a deep breath, trying to wrestle his attention away to focus on something—anything—else. But it wasn’t right that he had to keep his distance from her. They went through so many rough times together, why couldn’t he and Becca share the happy times too?
“Are you doing okay?” He looked her over, flashing back to the last time he was at this hospital.
“Because I’m back here, you mean?”
“Yeah.” He thought back to how his heart had ripped to shreds when he saw how fragile Becca looked, like a broken bird connected to wires and cords trapped in a hospital bed after the accident.
“I feel fine.” She gave him a drowsy smile. “Glad to be in the waiting room and not the other way around. They took good care of me here. The nurses were great.” She scanned the adjacent corridor. “I was in ICU, though. I don’t think any of them work on this side of the hospital.”
“Right,” Boone commented, remembering ICU all too well. “And where is the illustrious Colt? Hitting on nurses?”
“You never know,” Becca said quietly, meeting his eye and holding on a little longer than she had to. Her gentle expression, the soft, warm quality of her voice, brought him back to the way things used to be between them, before all the shit happened—before Harlan, before the accident, before she left
him.
And for a second Becca seemed like his best friend again.
“Colt’s out scouting for food and more coffee,” she added.
Boone nodded, debating whether he should drape his arm across the back of her chair, or rub her knee, or touch her at all.
“Thanks for being here.” He connected with her eyes, and she beamed, lighting up the dreary room.
“Of course. Happy to.”
He eyed her devilishly, loving the way she was still smiling at him. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were stalking me.”
“What?” She shifted, straightening. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Moving back to Lonesome.” Boone raised his brows, grinning. “Getting a job at The Owl, right when I happened to be booked there, following me around with water bottles, and now you’re here.”
“If you want me to leave, I’ll go.” Becca reached for her purse, but he leaned across the chair to stop her, brushing her satiny arm in one quick motion.
A crackle of heat swept over him like a brush fire, shooting embers up his arm and down his torso straight to his groin, making his cock twitch. Which surprised him. But if anyone could have that effect on him in a sad hospital waiting room decorated with paintings of comatose wildlife, it was Becca.
Becca froze, locked in his eyes, apparently feeling it too. Would the electricity between them ever go away?
“I was teasing.”
She let go of the purse strap. “Fine, I’ll stay.”
Boone brought his hand to his side. “Okay then,” he whispered, settling back in the chair, where he wouldn’t torture himself by lusting over her, so pathetically, desperately wanting something he couldn’t have. “But I’m sure there are a thousand other places you’d rather be.” A vision of her in bed with Harrison flashed through his brain.
“There aren’t.” Becca adjusted her position, crossing her smooth, silky legs.
“Good, because this is where you belong.”
“I do?”
“How can you even question that? You’re like family,” he admitted, wanting to add, my family. Mine.
“Cafeteria is closed, but I found a machine." Colt came up from behind and slapped Boone’s shoulder before dumping a pile of candy, chips and crackers on the fake wood coffee table. "I also stopped by Georgia’s room. She’s sleeping. Any word from Harlan?” Colt asked, easing into a chair across from Boone and Becca.
Boone rifled through the mound of junk food. “Yeah, I talked to him on the way over. He’s landed and on his way.” Boone plucked a Hershey bar from the pile and handed it to Becca.
“Thanks.” She waved the candy, looking surprised he remembered that she loved chocolate almost as much as kissing. “I think I’ll save this for later.” She tucked the bar in her purse. “I’m getting a little tired, so now you’re both here and Harlan’s on his way, do you mind if I take off?”
Colt leaned over the table and grabbed a package of crackers. “Everything's under control here. We’re fine. Thanks for coming, Becca. It’s like old times.” He laughed. “Old times, minus you in the hospital, plus a baby on the way.”
She chuckled. “I guess we’ve made a new, better, memory tonight.”
“Are you okay to drive home?” Boone asked, looking her over. Even under fluorescent lights in the dead of night, she was still the most beautiful woman on the planet.
“I'm good now, but in another hour I probably won't be.”
“I’ll walk you out.” Boone said, rising.
“It’s okay.” She shrugged, grabbing her purse. “I can walk myself out.”
“It wasn’t a question.”
“Don’t,” Colt butted in. “It’s either him or me. You’re not walking out to an empty parking lot in the middle of the night by yourself. It’s a Beckett brothers’ code violation,” he stated matter-of-factly, before popping a cracker in his mouth.
“Well, I sure don’t want to break any code.” She rose, turning to Boone. “Sure, walk with me if you’d like.”
“Goodnight, Colt,” Becca tossed over her shoulder as they headed out of the waiting room.
“Billick’s a safe town, but the lot isn’t very well lit.”
Becca nodded as they passed the reception desk, and they strolled side by side into an empty parking lot.
Boone scanned Becca as they approached her car. “There’s a sweatshirt in my truck if you’re cold.”
“No thanks, I’m fine.” Becca shook her purse. The keys jangled and she fished them out of her bag. “See?” She waved the keys. “I’m all set.”
There was something about the way she looked at Boone with her typical bravado that struck him. “I don’t think you’re all set, Becca. Far from it.”
She looked up at him, probably about to say something, but before she could he leaned down and brushed his lips over her soft skin and kissed her cheek.
Becca drew a quick breath and let out a moan as he lingered, kissing her again, relishing her scent and the feeling of home on his lips. She didn’t move, but he pulled himself away before his instincts got the better of him and he swept past those few inches and kissed her lips. So close, yet so far.
He doubted Harrison had the same kind of reaction to a peck on the cheek. No. That moan was solely for Boone. He let his hand glide down her arm.
“Now you’re set. For the night, at least.”
Becca didn't say anything. She didn’t have to. He could tell by the look on her face she liked it. She eyed him for a few extra beats before getting behind the wheel.
“Drive safely.”
“Thanks, I will,” she said quietly as Boone closed the door.
He wistfully watched her pull out of the lot before returning to the waiting room to find Colt snoozing.
It wasn't long before Harlan finally arrived and Boone and Colt went home to get some rest.
The next morning Harlan woke Boone out of a dead sleep with the news that seven-pound, three-ounce, nineteen-inch-long Ruby Jane Beckett arrived at six thirty-six. Harlan was so overcome with emotion when he explained that Georgia and the baby were healthy, he started bawling, which made Boone choke up too.
The moment he hung up, Boone hauled ass over to Billick General and spent a few hours at the hospital visiting before picking up his mother, the baby's namesake, at the airport.
Chapter Ten
ALTHOUGH IT HAD BEEN weeks since Harrison proposed, Becca still hadn’t had the chance to discuss the ramifications in depth with her mother. With her part-time job at Belle’s Boutique and volunteer work at the elementary school, Joanne Barclay was a difficult woman to pin down.
“You look a little tired. Did you sleep okay?” Joanne asked over her shoulder on their way to the kitchen. Filled with happy childhood memories and decorated with vintage knickknacks, the sunny space was one of Becca’s favorite rooms in the house.
“I did. Although I kept waking up. Must be the weather or something. Or maybe I’m worried about moving.” Becca wasn’t about to tell her mom she had the same dream about Boone again—the waterfall dream of the first time they made love—twice since she moved back to Lonesome. And both times Becca woke up at the exact moment in the dream when she and Boone were on their horses riding home. And she cried both times, because she didn’t want to ride away from the waterfalls. She wanted to stay there, lying in Boone’s arms, where he’d never let her go. The dreams left her exhausted, like she’d been crying for hours in real life.
“So, Georgia and Harlan had a girl.” Her mom opened the dishwasher, and a puff of steam escaped from the compartment. She bent down, inspecting the plates.
“Yep. And they’re both happy and healthy. Here, let me help unload,” Becca offered, waving her mom away.
“If you insist.” Joanne grinned. Her smooth, unlined face was nothing short of miraculous. She was in her late forties, medium height, and trim, and every man over the age of forty in Lonesome had asked her out. Joanne hadn’t dated much since her husband pa
ssed, but it wasn’t because she didn’t have the opportunity. “And you were there with the family in the waiting room the whole time?”
“Not the whole time. Just for a few hours with Boone and Colt.”
“Uh-huh,” her mom nodded. “And you’re sure you didn’t make a rash decision about Harrison?”
“Positive.”
“Because that wouldn’t be fair to anyone, including you.” Joanne passed her two warm plates.
Becca trotted to the upper cabinet over the coffee maker and put them away. “Come on, you’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I am on your side.” Bent over the dishwasher, Joanne passed her several mugs. “I’m only looking out for you. I’m not sure you’ve been thinking straight since you’ve been home.”
Becca frowned, stacking the mugs on the open shelf by the kitchen sink. “Harrison and I hadn’t even discussed getting married. I couldn’t say yes, I just couldn’t, not with a clear conscience.”
“Come.” Her mom closed the dishwasher door. “Those can wait.” She led Becca to the small floral loveseat in the adjacent family room. “Sit.” Joanne patted the cushion.
Becca plunked down beside her. Her mom was right, as usual. Becca hadn’t been exactly Zenned out since she moved home to Lonesome.
“Woman to woman, did you say no to Harrison because of Boone?”
“What?” Becca huffed. “No. No one on this planet could compare to Boone. I didn’t even tell him Harrison and I broke up. We got into a massive fight at The Owl a few nights ago, by the way.”
“Why didn’t you tell him you split up? I don’t understand.”
Becca groaned. “Because I didn’t want Boone’s brain to go exactly where yours just did. I don’t want him to feel guilty about anything, or worry he has to get back together with me because I didn’t get engaged to Harrison because of him. He didn’t even notice I wasn’t wearing an engagement ring last night.”