Ezra tore off his tie and tossed it to the side. Pulling his tucked in shirt out of his waistband, he dropped to his knees and scooped Leila up in his arms.
Andrew trekked down the stairs, following Ezra, more people trailing behind them.
As soon as they got downstairs to the room where the ceremony had taken place, the bride and groom emerged frantically from the stairwell, Renee clutching her wedding gown’s train. Bianca and her daughter darted toward them, along with two more firefighters who’d been part of the wedding party.
The music kept booming from upstairs. Andrew could only hope that everyone was engaged in dancing, so that his sister-in-law wouldn’t get a wedding audience.
“Is Leila having the baby?” Renee’s eyes widened in shock.“It’s going to take us forever to get her to the main road.”
Ezra clenched his jaw at that reminder. “You and Jake need to get back to the reception. It’s your wedding day.”
“Yes, and we’re married, but this is my niece being born,” Renee said. “We’re staying!" Her statement sounded final, which was not a surprise, because she was rarely told what to do. Jake nodded in agreement.
“Ouch!” Leila let out a loud scream of pain this time. “Honey,” she panted, leaning against the wall. “We have to have this baby in the hospital.”
“I know, Sweetie.” Ezra fumbled with a water bottle that he got from the cocktail table, twisting off the cap and offering it to his wife.
“What’s taking the medics so long to get here?” Ezra snapped as he set the bottle beside Leila on the bench.
As if to answer Ezra’s question, their dad returned with alarming news. “The ambulance can’t get here for another forty minutes...”
“Great!” Ezra spoke in frustration. “So great!” His forehead glistened with sweat. He dragged his button up shirt over his head and tossed it to the floor, staying in his white undershirt.
Leila threw her hands over her face, her bridesmaid dress sweeping the ground as she sank down. “With our location, and that unpaved road, that will be another hour.” Her face tight with fear, she looked up at her husband for reassurance.
He didn’t have any to give her. Even if the ambulance was on the way, the nearest hospital was fifteen miles away. On an arduous, rutted road, that could easily seem like twenty miles.
“Is Aunt Leila going to be okay?” Daisy asked when Bianca ambled toward Leila.
“Yes... honey.” Leila gasped her response, and turned to Bianca, then to the girl. She said, forcing a calm tone, “Daisy, can you and mom go upstairs and pray for me?”
The girl nodded, and Bianca seemed to understand that Leila didn’t need a seven year old watching her go through the painful ordeal.
“Let me take her upstairs, Bianca,” Crystal offered. “Since you and Leila are so close, I’m sure she’ll be more comfortable if you stay with her.”
“I feel the baby coming.” Leila’s eyes widened as she pulled up from the bench. “I... I can’t sit down. I need an epidural.”
Ezra ran a hand through his hair. “Practice the Lamaze breathing...”
“Are you kidding me? I can't remember any of that.” She gripped the front of Ezra's T-shirt and let out another painful scream, sweat streaming down her scrunched face.
By “feeling the baby,” Leila could mean she was just sensing increased pressure, or it could mean she felt the baby exiting the birth canal, and that made everything a lot more urgent. Truth was, she wasn't going to make it to the hospital.
Leila delivering her baby on the floor in front of a bunch of her husband’s family and friends would be humiliating for her.
Andrew slid out of his suit jacket and took off his loosened tie. He drew near to make a tight circle with Jake and Dalton, but asked in a voice loud enough for everybody around them to hear, “Okay, guys, who has the most recent first aid training?”
Dalton raised his hand. “Me.”
“I'll go find some gloves,” Robert offered, and turned to leave.
“I’ll go find a blanket or something,” Renee said, following her dad.
“How do you feel, Honey?” Ezra asked.
“Like if I stop clenching my muscles, a watermelon will fall out of me.” Leila gripped Ezra’s arm so hard that his face reddened and he winced. She wailed again.
Richard returned with a box of latex gloves and handed a pair to Dalton.
“Let’s get this baby delivered,” Dalton proclaimed as he yanked off his button up shirt.
“No, Dalton, you can’t deliver my baby.” She could barely get the words out through panicked breaths. Her normally dark face was ashen. “None of you guys get to see me that way.”
Her words were cut off by a painful contraction. It would only be a matter of minutes before Leila didn't care who was there, as long as the baby came out healthy. Ezra grimaced as Leila’s fingernails dug into his elbow.
Bianca reappeared at Leila’s side and held one of her hands. “Hey, girl, everything’s going to be okay.”
Leila gave her friend a skeptical look before another contraction racked her body .
Besides giving her breathing instructions, Ezra timed his wife’s contractions. “They’re too close together,” he said. “We’re out of time.”
“It looks like the baby is going to be born here,” Ezra gently spoke to his wife. “It’s going to be okay; God is in control,” he assured her, even though he looked hopeless.
She nodded, surrendering. “Can you ask all those people to leave? Maybe they can go and pray for me instead? Everybody except you, Bianca. I can’t have all my in-laws watch me like this.”
Andrew assumed she didn’t want him around, but Ezra didn’t appear to be in any condition to pull the birthing process off by himself. “Can I stay and help Ezra with the baby?”
Resigned, she nodded, tears streaming from her eyes. “I guess,” she said in a voice that was barely audible. “As long as Ezra does the delivering.”
“I’m going to ask a few people to stay behind and help us hold linens to give you some privacy,” Andrew suggested, and Leila agreed.
“Get us as many linens from the tables as possible,” he ordered, and in a matter of seconds, linens were spread on the floor for Leila to lie on, and Bianca hijacked a sofa cushion for her to rest her head. Several people lined up, facing away, and held the remaining linens up in an effort to give her privacy.
“Let me look first and see what’s going on. If it’s time, then you can push,” Ezra said. “But we don’t want you to push before the baby’s ready.”
Her brows pinched, and Andrew cringed at the pain he saw in her face.
“We can’t wait anymore,” Ezra said.
Ezra pulled on a pair of gloves, so Andrew did the same as he stood to one side.
“You’re almost there, Babe,” Ezra said, peeling off her tights underneath the bridal dress. He looked under the dress, then his eyes flew up to Andrew, wide with shock. “I see the baby’s head.” He let out a nervous chuckle. “Drew! I see the baby!” His eyes glistened under the bright light.
“Is the baby okay?” Leila asked, worry edging her voice. Bianca’s hands flew to her chest in panic.
“I...” Ezra breathed, and threw his hands on his head. Not one to ever cry, tears were streaming down his cheeks. It was either joy, panic or both. Forgetting that he was in charge of delivering the baby, Ezra moved beside Leila’s head without letting go of her hand. “Honey, we’re going to have the baby,” he sobbed.
Baby and mom were going to be under stress if something wasn't done. Forgetting Leila’s orders that he stay away from the birthing, Andrew took over. Right now, she was not his sister in-law, she was any woman he would help deliver. He had undergone several EMT childbirth trainings recently, due to having joined a new firehouse.
“Leila, I need you to push!” he said, eyes intent on the top of the baby’s head.
She pushed with a groan.
“Try another hard push.”
&n
bsp; And she did, screaming and groaning. On the fourth push, her face began to crumple as tears welled in her eyes.
When she took another sharp intake of breath that held a note of panic, Andrew blocked out everything but the baby crowning. Pulling out the baby, he held the tiny frame covered in blood. Should he be doing something here besides holding it? A moment went by before the baby let out a tiny piercing cry.
Andrew checked the gender and declared, “It’s a girl!”
“Adalee,” Bianca said as she darted toward Andrew, but stopped a few feet away, watching the baby in fascination.
Andrew’s heart almost exploded with joy as he gently wiped the tiny body with a cotton towel. She felt like a peanut in his strong palm, and it felt like he could break her.
He then wiped at the tiny head full of dark hair. “What a peanut!” he said, his smile uncontainable. He had delivered babies before, but this was different—she was his niece, and he’d been a part of the process of getting her into the world!
Ezra kissed his wife, both of them crying.
While Ezra covered Leila with some linens for modesty, Andrew wrapped Adalee in the soft blanket Renee had handed him.
A siren wailed in the distance.
Andrew assessed the infant. The birth had gone as smoothly as unplanned labor on the floor could go, and by the time the paramedics arrived, Andrew’s grin widened as he held the squirming, fussy bundle to his chest, while Renee, Bianca, and Mom blew up their phones with pictures.
With the paramedics’ arrival, Andrew handed Adalee to Ezra, who kissed her and set her on Leila’s lap before they wheeled her out on a stretcher. She gazed at her new daughter with wonder.
Ezra followed the medics as they left to transport the baby and mom to the hospital, in case either of them needed advanced medical care.
Music was still blasting above—thankfully the DJ had things under control.
As far as excitement went, it had been a good day. His sister had gotten married and his niece had been born, and Andrew had been a part of both.
CHAPTER 2
With one hand thrust in the pocket of her brown hoodie, Bianca clasped her daughter’s hand in the other as they barreled through the half-empty King Soopers’ parking lot. Daisy panted as her little steps struggled to keep pace with Bianca’s fast strides.
Bianca tightened her grip on her daughter’s hand as a car slowed to allow them to cross toward the store entrance.
The smell of coffee from the Starbucks inside King Soopers engulfed her as soon as they walked through the sliding doors. The aroma reminded her of the full to-go cup of coffee she’d left on the kitchen counter when they’d raced out of the house this morning.
Too bad she couldn’t indulge in the five dollar cup of coffee at Starbucks. She would have to wait until she got to work, so she could brew herself a cup in the back room.
It wasn’t until a month ago that she’d started drinking coffee. After being thrown into exhaustion from working two jobs, Bianca needed an extra boost of energy to get her through the long days.
When her mom, Carmen, broke her leg, not only had she quit her house cleaning job, but she’d needed a procedure and physical therapy afterwards. Which meant extra bills piling up, on top of the mortgage and health insurance, all on Bianca’s income. That was the reason Bianca had gotten the restaurant job to supplement her income from the vet assistant job.
“Mom, can I get the Uploaded Lunchable?”
Her daughter’s voice pulled Bianca back from her thoughts, and she turned to the wide open refrigerated section Daisy was pointing at. It was stocked with packaged hot dogs, lunch meats and to-go lunch packages in clear plastic containers.
Daisy picked up a package with lunch meat, juice and Oreos. Not the healthiest lunch, but Bianca hadn’t gotten around to making her peanut butter and jelly sandwich this morning. Her stop at the grocery store served a dual purpose—buying something for her daughter’s lunch, and using the purchase to get cash back for Daisy’s field trip.
Before she could agree to Daisy’s Lunchable, Bianca crouched and squinted to get a clear look at the price tag on the shelf. Four ninety-nine. “Ugh!” She plucked the box out of Daisy’s hand and gently tucked it back in between the others.
“How about you look at these over here?” Bianca pointed to the smaller, generic version of a Lunchable. “They’re on sale for a dollar.”
Daisy frowned when she looked at Bianca’s suggestion. “But those don’t have a juice box.”
Bianca bent to be eye level with Daisy. “Honey, they do have cookies in them. It’s just the same, pizza and two Oreos, minus the juice.” She could easily buy a package with forty juice boxes for five dollars—not that her daughter needed any more sugar with Easter less than five weeks away. Candy and sugar always found their way into their house during the holidays, between school parties, church and neighborhood parties.
Bianca let out a victorious breath when, after a few minutes of debating which was what, Daisy pouted her lips in resignation and crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine,” Daisy huffed, then grudgingly pulled the dollar pizza Lunchable from the fridge shelf.
“Hey!” Bianca peered into deep brown eyes that mirrored her own. “Right now, we can’t afford a five dollar lunch, but I will make sure to get you one next Friday.” Friday was payday at the cafe, or at least she would have enough tips gathered up by then.
Daisy’s face slowly unfurrowed and she nodded in understanding. “Can we still have our ice-cream Tuesday, though?”
Bianca smiled at the genuineness there. Tuesday afternoons, she didn’t work, and she’d dedicated them to Mommy-Daisy time after school. Her daughter had opted to call it Ice Cream Tuesday, instead.
“Counting on it.”
Misunderstanding forgotten, Daisy beamed before turning away. “Okay, we better get going so I’m not late for school.”
Bianca stopped at the fruit clearance cart and picked up a ninety-nine cent bag with five apples. She intended to add one to Daisy's lunch and keep four for her own lunch, to eat with the peanut butter she kept at work.
Having lost twenty pounds to fit into the bridemaid’s dress, Bianca wanted to maintain her new weight. It felt good to finally fit in size six.
After scanning the two items at the self checkout, Bianca pushed the button to get twenty dollars cash back for Daisy’s field trip. She grabbed the receipt and her bag, and they were out of the store.
Ten minutes later, she was in the car-line drop off.
“Don’t forget the money for my field trip, Mom,” Daisy reminded as she stepped out of the minivan and walked to the passenger window.
“Oh, yes.” Bianca lowered the window and kept her foot on the brake pedal as she reached for her black purse from the passenger seat.
She blinked at the rumpled receipts and credit cards in the wallet, but there was nothing green in it. She dug out the receipts and tossed them on the passenger seat, her mind scrambling, as she realized she had no memory of retrieving the money from the cash dispenser. Calm down...calm down.
She let out a slow breath and gritted her teeth before speaking. “I think I left the money at the store. Do you remember me getting it out of the machine?”
“No.”
Of course she wouldn’t. She’d been busy staring and asking if they could buy the candy bars on the checkout shelves.
“I will have to bring it when I pick you up, okay?”
“‘K.” Daisy turned when one of the kids called her name. Brown curls bouncing, she darted off through the damp grass and toward the entrance with several kids who were entering the brick building. “Bye, Mom!” she called, wiggling her fingers in a little wave.
IT WAS ALMOST AN HOUR later when Bianca settled on the swivel chair behind the tall square counter, disappointed and defeated. Of course, no one had turned in the money she’d foolishly left behind, the last twenty dollars from her account. Daisy had been counting on that field trip.
She pushed t
he power button on the computer, and while waiting for it to power up, she reached for the steaming cup of coffee from the table and tilted it to her lips. The scent of coffee overpowered the pet food and medicinal smell that usually emanated from the wall shelves and behind the counter.
Setting the cup down, Bianca ripped open a Kind protein bar and bit into it.
After watering, feeding and changing animal bedding for the various animals under the care of the veterinary practice, she’d gotten a recap from the doctor about today’s agenda and appointments. Thankfully, there were no offsite appointments today. From time to time, they had to go to a client’s home, especially if the case involved farm animals, like horses and cows.
The notification tone for updates rolled, and the screen lit blue with a family of Dalmations as the background. She waited for a few seconds as she shoved the last piece of her protein bar in her mouth and wiped her hands on her burgundy scrubs.
The door to her left squeaked open and one of the main owners of the clinic emerged from the examination area. Gray occupied most of Dr. Emerson’s brown hair. “Did you get a hold of the St. Bernard client?”
Bianca glanced up at the veterinarian, who ran the place with his wife. “She said she will be in at noon to pick him up. She was relieved to know that her dog just had a stomach bug and nothing major.”
“Good!” Dr. Emerson turned to go back where he’d come from.
“Dr. Emerson?” Bianca called in a timid voice. When he looked at her, brows raised, she blurted, “Could I borrow twenty dollars?”
Good heavens, what must he think of her? She hastily explained about Daisy’s field trip, leaving out the part where she forgot to take the money from the self checkout so he wouldn’t realize he’d hired a scatterbrain. She finished with, “I just can’t let Daisy down again.”
Dr. Emerson gave her an understanding smile. “No problem. My wife is stopping by Walmart on her way here to pick up some cat litter, since we ran out. I’ll text her and have her get twenty dollars cash back.”
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