by Bella Andre
Grayson’s chest, though still a little tight, felt increasingly better as he reached out for the tiny dog of indeterminate breeding. Lori grimaced slightly as she handed the puppy over, which normally would have jump-started Grayson’s worrying again. But after their talk this morning, he knew he needed to turn over a new leaf. Most likely, he told himself, it was simply because she didn’t want to let go of the puppy so soon.
“You stay here on the sand and play with the puppies. I’ll take this little guy over to the adoption desk and make it official. Although he doesn’t look old enough to take home yet.” He studied the puppy’s paws and muzzle. “I’m guessing we’ll be able to pick him up in about three weeks.”
“A baby and a puppy at the same time.” Lori beamed. “How perfect!”
Grayson knew plenty of people—make that most people—would disagree with her on that score. But he knew that she truly meant it. As far as his extremely energetic wife was concerned, the more activity and fun and excitement in her life, the better. Even if it meant dealing with dirty diapers and puppy accidents on too little sleep.
As he carried the puppy over to the adoption table that had been set up on the sand, the puppy kept trying to lick his face. No matter how he repositioned him, the little furball scampered back up Grayson’s chest and planted another wet puppy kiss on his cheek.
Though Grayson wasn’t the world’s biggest fan of dog breath, Carmelo’s persistence was pretty darned adorable. It didn’t hurt that Lori had finally picked a good name for one of their animals.
It never got any less weird to see the pigs come running for their feed when she called out, Marcus, Chase, Ryan, Sophie. As for their cat, Milliebob? Well, that had to be one of the worst names in creation, a crude combination of the names they’d each chosen for their rescue cat.
“Would you like to adopt this handsome fellow?”
“Yes.” Grayson handed over the puppy to the woman from the local pet shelter so that she could check his tags. The puppy whined until the lady handed him back, then happily snuggled into the crook of Grayson’s arm and closed his eyes. Snuffling snores sounded less than sixty seconds later.
“Please fill out this paperwork. Once we’ve checked that everything looks good—” Grayson appreciated that this pet rescue took the time to make sure their animals were going to good homes. “—we will give you a call to let you know when you can come pick him up at the shelter. He’s got another few weeks to go before he’s fully weaned.”
“Sounds good.” Holding the puppy on one arm, Grayson filled out the adoption application. “In addition to adopting the puppy, my wife and I came today to see if you could use some extra volunteers.”
The woman looked even more pleased. “We’d really appreciate the help. Honestly, the most important thing is to make sure people get a chance to meet the animals. Especially the ones that aren’t as obviously adorable as your new puppy.” She stroked the soft fur on Carmelo’s head. “If you and your wife—who I’m assuming is the stunning woman playing with the other puppies—would like to join me, I’ll take you on a tour of some of the animals we need to go the extra mile with to increase their odds of adoption.”
For the next fifteen minutes, Lori was in heaven meeting the different animals. A cat with three legs. A blind rabbit. A guinea pig missing most of the fur on its back.
Without being told, Grayson knew Lori wanted to adopt them all. Honestly, he was tempted too. More than tempted, in fact. But as their farm really was full to the brim, he hoped there were other families here today who would take these animals home and love them the way they deserved to be loved.
Just the way Lori had always loved him.
* * *
Lori didn’t normally second-guess herself. Once she made a decision, she moved boldly and confidently.
But she couldn’t stand the thought of Grayson being unhappy. Particularly when they were on the verge of the most wonderful thing ever to happen to them.
Soon, they were going to have a baby. A little girl who was going to have the best daddy in the entire world—one who would always put her first and who already loved her to the moon and back.
The muscles in Lori’s back tightened again, a beat before the pain inched around the front toward her belly button. Both sharp and lingering, her contractions had definitely ratcheted up during the past hour.
When she’d been lying in Grayson’s arms after making love this morning, she’d been able to convince herself that they were nothing more than Braxton-Hicks “practice” contractions. But with each passing pain since, she’d started to wonder if she might not actually be given much practice before having their baby.
Still, as Grayson finally looked at ease while chatting with prospective adoptees about the charming and friendly personality of the three-legged cat, she wasn’t about to let him know that there was a teeny, tiny chance she might be going into labor three weeks early. Not yet, anyway. Not when the darkness that had been hovering over him was dissipating more and more with every animal he helped to find a new home, and with the joy and laughter of the kids playing on the beach.
Hopefully, their little girl would hold her horses for just a while longer, until Grayson had found some measure of peace. Because if Lori really was in labor, that newfound peace was exactly what he was going to need to get him through.
* * *
Grayson couldn’t take his eyes off a little girl who was no more than five or six. She looked so much like the picture Mary Sullivan had given him of Lori when she was that age: pigtails flying, missing a front tooth, her cheeks pink with excitement as she met the animals one by one. Though she was a ball of energy, she was extremely gentle with the animals, especially the older ones.
“She’s cute, isn’t she?” Lori looked up from where she’d been working her magic by convincing a couple that they absolutely had to take a brother and sister pair of Chihuahuas. “I keep wondering what our daughter is going to be like. Is she going to be a little spitfire like me, or quiet like Sophie? Or maybe she’ll be creative like Cassie? Or a wiz at business like Mia? Or maybe a brilliant brain like Suzanne?”
“Whatever her personality, she’s going to be perfect.”
Lori gave him a smile so big, his chest ached with love for her. Then she winced again, a flash of pain clear enough that he couldn’t blame sharp puppy nails or lightly nipping teeth.
“Lori—?”
But then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the little girl reach out to pet a small white dog at the exact moment that a bull terrier, who had to weigh at least eighty pounds, went chasing after a ball…and knocked the girl’s feet out from under her.
Grayson leaped into action, trying to get to her before she could hit the sand. Without superhuman speed, however, he didn’t stand a chance.
His heart thudded painfully in his chest when he saw how hard she went down, though sand had thankfully cushioned her fall.
Kneeling at her side a few moments later, he asked, “Are you okay?”
She blinked up at him as though he was crazy. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You just fell.”
“I fall all the time.” And then, “Are you a superhero?”
“No.” Not even close. “Why?”
“You kind of look like one.”
With that, she got up and skipped away, not the slightest bit bothered by an accident that would have had any other child on the beach bawling their eyes out.
Still staring after the girl, marveling at how she hadn’t so much as missed a beat, he didn’t realize Lori had come to kneel beside him until she said, “You’re wrong, you know.” She put her hand on his cheek. “You are a superhero. My superhero.”
She kissed him, then looked back toward the girl. “Resilient little thing, isn’t she? I’m tempted to ask her if she wants to join my dance troupe.”
That was when it hit him. “Resilient.” He turned to face Lori. “You’re resilient.”
Now it was her turn to l
ook at him as though he had a screw loose, so reminiscent of the little girl’s expression that he might have laughed.
“That’s right. I am.”
“Leslie wasn’t.” Wanting Lori to understand, he explained, “Back when Leslie and I met in college, she was already pretty fragile. She had a huge heart, but she wasn’t up for many risks. And when life only got harder…well, you know what happened.”
“I’ll never stop wishing I could have met her and thanked her for loving you.”
Time and time again, Lori showed him it was okay to revisit the past with both tears and laughter. She had not only healed his broken heart—she’d made it whole again.
He reached for her hand to help her to her feet. “That little girl reminded me so much of you. Most of all when she got up and skipped off as though she hadn’t just crashed to the ground moments earlier. You’re so resilient that I can finally see that our daughter will be too. All this time, I shouldn’t have been worrying. Because you’re stronger than anyone else I’ve ever known, Lori. Even if life sometimes knocks you down, you’re going to get right back up again.”
“You’re resilient too, Grayson.”
Her words made him stop to think about whether it was true. But he didn’t need to do that, did he? Not when he knew that Lori only ever spoke the truth.
What’s more, he finally saw why she had decided to bring him to this pet adoption on the beach in the middle of their intense discussion. She had wanted to remind him of all the wonders of life and the beauty in absolutely everything.
“You’re right.” It had taken him far too long to realize that for every ounce of pain and hurt in his past, there was far, far more love and laughter in his present and future. “Whatever happens, I’m not going to lose it.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’ve finally realized that I’m right about everything.” She winked. “Especially this.”
Then she winced again.
Regardless of his innate resilience, his heart couldn’t help but squeeze tight in his chest. “Lori, what’s wrong?”
“Absolutely nothing.” Her smile was sunnier than ever. “In fact, you know how I told my mom at the party that I wished we didn’t have to wait three more weeks to meet our baby? Well, it looks like my wish is coming true.” She pointed at the small puddle on the sand between her feet. “My water just broke. We’re having our baby today.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Do you need me to drive?” Lori asked.
Grayson sat frozen behind the steering wheel, the engine idling in the parking lot. “No, you’re in labor. I should drive.”
“Cool,” she said in the lightest voice she could manage when a massive contraction was currently gripping her stomach and back and every other part of her it could reach. Waiting until she thought she might be able to speak again without the words coming out through clenched teeth, she finally said, “Then maybe we should head to the hospital now.”
But instead of putting the car in gear, he said, “This wasn’t the plan. We have everything arranged with the hospital at UCSF. You love your obstetrician there. We have a birth plan.”
Sophie had warned her about how even the calmest man tended to lose it once labor started. Actually, many of her sisters-in-law and cousins had told her the same thing—their strong, steady husbands had fallen apart when they’d given birth to their first child.
“I love that already our daughter doesn’t play by the rule book and is ready to come a few weeks before her due date.” Lori put her hand over Grayson’s and squeezed it. “I’m not sure, however, that it means she needs to be born in a car.” She hit the button on his phone that would give them the directions to the nearest hospital in Monterey as they drove. “Just do what the nice robot voice says, and we should be there in thirty minutes.”
Thankfully, he finally put the car in gear.
She hoped a half hour would be fast enough. Sure, having a baby in a car in Carmel would be a heck of a story to tell. But though she’d always been a showman, Lori would be perfectly happy to toe a more tried-and-true line with doctors and nurses nearby when it came to giving birth to her first child.
Not, of course, that she was planning on saying any of that to Grayson. Though he’d had a great epiphany about resilience on the beach, there was no need for the universe to force his hand this quickly. A nice, easy, simple birth would be fantastic. For both of them.
She couldn’t help laughing out loud at the thought. So few things in her life had been nice, easy, or simple that it was preposterous to think her labor and delivery would fall under any of those categories.
As if to prove her right, another contraction hit, morphing her laughter into a groan.
“Lori?” Grayson nearly slammed on the brakes.
“I’m fine.” She puffed the words out in the Lamaze breathing rhythm that she’d learned during the prenatal classes she and Grayson had attended. “Just keep driving.”
Though she’d intended to be as stoic as possible, she needed to grab his arm and clamp down tight to make it through the next contraction.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart.” Grayson’s voice was suddenly strong and clear again. She’d been the steady one in her pregnancy up until now, but from the renewed strength in his voice, she knew that it was now okay for her to fall apart. Her husband would be there to pick up the pieces if she needed him to. “I’m going to get you to the hospital with plenty of time to spare. Everything is going to be fine.”
“I know.” And despite the brutal pain now coming at ninety-second intervals, she truly believed him. As always, she’d never felt safer, or in better hands.
Using the car’s hand free speaker, he called the hospital. He calmly explained that they were five minutes away and that she was having near-constant contractions. When the administrator asked for more information, before either of them could give it, Lori was hit with the most overpowering pain so far.
Her moans said it all. The administrator informed them that an obstetric nurse would be waiting out front.
Lori closed her eyes on the next contraction and didn’t open them again until they were parked in front of the hospital and Grayson was helping her into the wheelchair the hospital had provided. By the time the nurse had wheeled her inside the maternity ward, Grayson had supplied Lori’s name, age, expected due date, and other vital information.
“As soon as you’re up on the bed, we’ll see how far along you are.” The nurse was cheerful, but thankfully not in a fake way that made Lori want to punch her. She had obviously been doing this for many years. It was comforting to know that whatever happened today, this nurse would have seen it and handled it before.
Grayson had barely finished helping Lori strip out of her clothes, put on the hospital smock, and get onto the bed, when a sound she’d never thought she’d make came out of her mouth. It hadn’t hurt this bad when she’d broken her arm at fifteen and the bone had come through her skin!
The nurse nodded as she took a quick look. “Looks like your baby is ready to say hello.” She pulled off her gloves, then reached for the phone on the wall. “Could you please let the doctor know we’re ready for him in room four?”
“We’re about to meet our little girl.” Grayson’s hands over hers felt like they were the only things tethering her to the earth. “I love you so much, Lori.”
She wanted to tell him she loved him too, wanted to thank him for giving her more happiness than she’d ever dreamed of. But as another contraction hit—one that made her want to bear down like nobody’s business—what came out instead was a string of curses.
“You sound just the way I did when I had my three daughters,” the nurse said, a hint of laughter—and empathy—in her voice.
“Three?” Though gritting her teeth, Lori couldn’t hold back her incredulous response. “You willingly did this three times?” Sure, she’d often talked about having a house full of kids. But that was before she had felt this.
>
“I know it might be hard to believe right now, but I promise it’s all worth it. Ah, here’s the doctor.”
“Hello, Lori, Grayson. I’m Dr. Mishrani.” The man had a warm, friendly smile that instantly comforted her, despite the searing discomfort she was in. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’m being torn in two!”
Grayson gripped her hands tighter and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You’re so strong, Lori. The strongest person I know. You can do anything. And I’m going to be here for you every single second.”
She’d never appreciated the warmth of his touch, the rock-steady confidence in his gaze, more than she did now, when she needed it most. And yet, she still couldn’t keep from begging the doctor, “Please make the pain stop!” She’d once danced the final half of The Nutcracker with two broken toes. That had been nothing compared to this.
Settling onto the stool between her feet, the doctor did a quick check. “You are fully dilated and ready to push, which means that you will be feeling much better very soon. In fact, the next time a contraction comes, I want you to bear down with all your might for five seconds, which I will count down for you. Okay?”
Already feeling everything inside of her tighten and cramp, without replying, she started to push for all she was worth.
“One.”
Lori swore nothing had ever been so hard before!
“Two.”
Why had she thought having a baby would be no big deal?
“Three.”
She was going to break a tooth if she gritted her teeth any harder.
“Four.”
Somewhere in the back of her head, she could hear everyone chanting, “You’re doing great! Keep pushing!” But she couldn’t respond, not when every ounce of her focus was on getting this baby out of her.
“Five!”
The last thing she expected to hear next was a loud wail. For a moment, she thought it was coming from her own mouth. After all, she’d never in her life been through anything that difficult.