by Nalini Singh
“Abe.” Sarah’s voice was shaky.
He turned his head to look over the back of the sofa, got up at his first glimpse of her face. “What’s wrong?” She’d gone to the restroom after a quick look at the photos, had been excited to come back and look through them more slowly, but now her skin was pale, her hand on her abdomen.
“I think I just had a contraction.” She swallowed, her fingers trembling. “It’s too early.”
“Only by a couple of weeks,” he reassured her even as his own heart thumped. “You okay for me to drive you or should I call an ambulance?” Stay calm, Abe. Stay calm. “We’re not that far from the hospital you wanted to use if I put pedal to the metal.”
“You drive.” She winced, but it passed quickly. “I don’t think the baby’s in a rush.” Her voice held, but he heard the tremors beneath. “We should have plenty of time.”
Taking his cue from Sarah, Abe drove fast but not recklessly. No way in hell was he getting into a wreck; no way was he hurting Sarah or the baby. At first it all proceeded slowly with Sarah’s contractions quite far apart. He was beginning to calm down, thinking they’d have plenty of time to get her settled in at the hospital—hell, the doc might even send her home until the labor was more advanced. He’d read that some women were in labor for twenty-four hours or more.
All hell broke loose about twenty minutes—at normal speed—from the hospital, Sarah’s contractions suddenly coming far too close together for his peace of mind.
“Another one?” he asked when she gasped, his hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel.
Sarah breathed in and out in short bursts. “Y-yes.”
“We’re almost there, sweetheart.”
Sarah kept breathing jaggedly.
“Hey, yell at me, swear.” Abe didn’t dare take his eyes off the road. “I’m the one who put you in this position, right?”
“I-I… help—” The rest of her words were a scream.
Oh, Christ. “Should I stop?”
“Hospital. Doctors.”
Right, of course she’d want the hospital and the doctors. Abe increased his speed… and yeah, there was a cop behind him right that instant. “Fuck.” Pulling over, he rolled down the window and waited until the older man swaggered to the window, ready to tell him this was a goddamn emergency.
“License and regis—”
“I’m having a fucking baby!” Sarah screamed before Abe could speak. “Unless you want to deliver it, get me to a hospital. Now!”
The cop’s mouth fell open before he jerked out of his shock. “Follow me,” he said to Abe, then ran back to his squad car and pulled out, full sirens and lights going.
Abe fell in behind the police vehicle, grinned. “Hey, the peanut’s going to have one hell of a birth story.”
Sarah laughed, sounded surprised into it. “Don’t tell our baby I swore,” she said, her breath a throaty gasp. “I was ladylike. Got it?”
“Got it.” He focused on staying on the cop’s tail, following his path exactly as the vehicle cut a swath through LA traffic.
Screaming into the emergency department of the nearest hospital, Abe jumped out and got to Sarah’s side as medical personnel poured out. Sarah swiveled in the seat, legs hanging out… then gripped his hand, sheer terror on her face. “Abe, my water just broke. I think the baby’s coming.”
Abe didn’t even think about it. He just scooped her up and ran into the hospital, the nurses following. No fucking way was he allowing the news choppers overhead to get images of his wife and child in such a vulnerable moment. It was to the medical personnel’s credit that they raced past him to show him into a room.
He laid Sarah down on the bed.
She wouldn’t release his hand, and the pain ripping through her made her incapable of speaking. Abe was the one who explained that the baby was early by about two weeks. He also quietly mentioned the stillbirth to a nurse, made it clear Sarah and their baby were not to be separated unless it was a medical necessity.
Time passed at the speed of light. Later, he’d find out it had been fast. Twenty-five minutes from the time he laid Sarah down on the bed. But in the moment, it just felt like controlled chaos to him—Sarah’s contractions coming closer and closer together, sweat dampening her hair, then the medical staff telling her to push, push!
And then, while his heart was pounding like that of a racehorse, his only focus Sarah’s exhausted face, a lusty cry broke the air.
“I want to see,” Sarah sobbed. “Please let me see.”
“Here you go.” The nurse to whom Abe had spoken placed their strong, healthy baby boy on Sarah’s chest. “We’ll have to take him for tests, see if he needs a little extra help, but his lungs definitely seem fine.”
Smiling, sobbing, Sarah kissed their baby’s head as Abe dared put a gentle hand on that tiny body. “He’s so small,” he whispered, shaken to the core.
She sniffled. “Only compared to you.” Light filled her eyes. “He’s all right, Abe. Our baby’s all right.”
THEODORE “THEO” GREGORY BELLAMY WAS very much all right. Healthy and strong and, right now, sleeping in his daddy’s arms.
“I have a kid,” Abe said, not for the first time.
David touched a finger to the tiny hand fisted against Abe’s T-shirt. “You have a kid. Shit.”
“Don’t swear.” Sarah scowled from the hospital bed where she sat dressed in the pj’s Lola had bought for her on the way to the hospital.
Abe’s mom was on her way from Chicago, so excited to meet her grandson that she was a bubble of pure joy.
“Right, sorry.” David held out his arms. “Can I hold the little guy?”
Abe put their son in David’s careful hands.
“Look at that face,” Fox murmured, peering over David’s shoulder. “You two made a mini Abra.”
Punching the lead singer lightly on the arm, Abe couldn’t stop smiling. “Did you see his hands? He’s going to play the keys, I can tell.”
“I dunno,” said a new voice. “I think those are a guitarist’s fingers.”
Walking in, Noah drew Abe into a back-slapping hug while Kit went over to join Thea, Sarah, Molly, and Lola. “Congratulations, man.”
“Sarah did all the work,” Abe said, sending her a smile that was probably a little goofy.
Her responding smile was exactly as goofy and it melted his heart. He went over and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, dropped a kiss on her hair. “A wedding and a baby in less than two weeks. I think we should slow down now.”
Sarah laughed softly and held out her arms for Theo. “Look at him. Pure sweetness.”
“Yeah. I already love being a dad.”
THREE WEEKS LATER, DRESSED ONLY IN WHITE boxer briefs, Abe walked back and forth on the gritty stone paving beside the pool, Flossie pacing beside him and the night air balmy and quiet apart from the screaming and furious tiny person cradled against his bare shoulder.
They’d moved into his larger place post-birth because it had better security and a lot more private space where the media couldn’t pry—but Sarah had brought her place with her in all the décor. Including endless bookshelves in the music room, which had been transformed into their family room.
Abe loved it.
The day before, he’d mounted a sweet photo of Aaron beside his favorite picture of Tessie, and they’d all smiled at seeing those two beloved faces on the wall while Theo slept in his mother’s arms.
Right then, however, sleep was the last thing on Theo’s mind.
Abe stroked Theo’s little body, the fabric of their baby’s blue one-piece soft under his hand. “Come on, kid,” Abe said without halting his rocking, patting walk. “You’re well fed, warm, and dry.” He patted Theo’s diaper butt, a butt he’d personally cleaned up and reclad after waking to the baby’s first cry. “Why don’t you let your parents and your grandma catch some shut-eye?”
Theo just wailed louder.
“Good lungs is an understatement,” Abe said, co
ntinuing to walk, Flossie loyally following his lead. “Lead-singer material right there.”
He turned to kiss an angrily scrunched-up face, his hand careful to support Theo’s head. “It’s fine. I don’t need sleep.” Love, huge and endless, filled his heart. “All those nights of partying are finally coming in handy.” Blinking gritty eyes as his son cried even louder, he kept walking.
It took thirty minutes for Theo to wear himself out and finally fall asleep.
Yawning, Abe carried him upstairs and would’ve gone into the nursery except a sleepy Sarah whispered his name. She’d risen up on her arm, her hair a gorgeous tumble around her shoulders. “How long was he awake?” She rubbed her face.
“Forty minutes or so.” Abe sat down beside her with Theo in his arms. “How long do you think he’ll stay down?”
“AN HOUR IF WE’RE LUCKY,” Sarah said, leaning over to kiss their baby’s soft cheek. “I’ll take the next wake-up call.” She was utterly exhausted, sleep-deprived… and madly in love with both the big man seated on her bed and the tiny child he held in his muscular arms. Abe was just as sleep-deprived and as exhausted as her, but he’d proven endlessly patient.
Where others might’ve crumbled under the stress of a newborn, Abe was thriving. He soaked up the advice Diane gave them both about how to care for a baby, his joy in being a father open—he was already “teaching” Theo the piano by holding their baby in his arms as he played.
Theo always listened intently—and every so often, Sarah would wake in the night to the music of Abe playing the piano. It seemed to settle their little rock baby better than anything else. “Music didn’t work today?”
“The peanut’s a harsh critic.” Fisting his hand in her hair, her husband tugged her into him for a kiss that was slow and lazy and lush. “How about it?” he murmured. “Got enough energy to make a different kind of music?”
Sarah’s toes curled. “Let me put him down.” She took that precious, warm weight, overwhelmed by love. “I feel like snuggling him a little.” Carrying Theo across the carpet and into the adjoining room, she put him in his crib after a long cuddle. “Dream happy dreams, sweet baby.”
She tiptoed out and slipped into bed beside Abe… to find him fast asleep on his front, his breathing deep and steady. Laughing softly, she pressed a kiss to his shoulder. He stirred long enough to say, “I love you, Sarah.”
“I love you too,” she whispered, tracing his lips with her finger.
He pretended to bite at it, though his eyes were already closing again.
“My Abe,” she whispered, stroking his bristly jaw before settling down against him to sleep… just as a whimper came through the baby monitor.
Abe started awake. “I’ll—”
“Shh. I’ll go.” Slipping out of bed, she scooped up Theo, who was all wet eyes and trembling mouth. “Mommy’s here,” she said, snuggling him close.
He didn’t cry this time, apparently just needing a little cuddle.
When she walked into the bedroom, Theo in her arms, she found that Abe had turned onto his side and was facing the nursery. Though his eyes were heavy, he’d managed to open them. “I’m a lucky man.”
Sarah’s heart just burst, her own eyes stinging.
Going to sit in bed beside his sprawled form, she rocked their baby as she watched her husband sleep. No doubts. No fear. This, her and Abe, their family, they were forever and always.
EPILOGUE
FOUR MONTHS LATER AND Theo watched wide-eyed and smiling from Abe’s arms as Noah promised to love and cherish Kit until the earth stopped turning and the stars stopped shining. The peanut was an honorary groomsman, complete with his own tiny suit that matched those worn by Fox, Abe, and David.
Looking at his happy little face, you’d never know this was the same baby who’d screamed down the house six weeks running.
These days, Theo had his mother’s Zen going on.
Sarah stood on the other side of the bride, her smile misty as she watched Kit speak the same promise in return. It was as well Abe had already given her a handkerchief. Yep, there she went, wiping away a tear.
“…husband and wife!”
Abe grinned as Noah went in for the kiss. He’d expected laughing passion or maybe a raw lip-lock, but his hands cradling Kit’s face, the guitarist kissed his new wife with a tenderness that had every single woman in the room sighing and all but melting into the floor.
Abe shook his head. “He really doesn’t give a flying you-know-what about his bad-boy image does he?” he said to David.
David shot him a laughing look, his golden-brown eyes shining with happiness for a friend who’d found his way out of the darkness that had haunted him for so long. “Says the man holding a baby and avoiding the F word.”
Abe grinned as Noah and Kit turned to walk back up the aisle, the guests showering them in flower petals that fell softly over the fine lace of Kit’s long veil and train as beams of sunlight gilded the entire scene. That light came from endless rows of delicate glass windows, the venue the ballroom of a venerated country home.
Sarah had told him Kit had been firmly against the big wedding her parents wanted to throw her and Noah until her mother dragged her to this place. “It’s so elegant and lovely, it’s no wonder she buckled,” Sarah had said. “Especially after Thea found her that incredible gown. It needs a dramatic venue.”
Of all the Schoolboy Choir weddings, Noah and Kit’s was undeniably the biggest, with a large number of glitzy guests. But Abe knew the grandeur was mostly for Kit’s mom and dad—they weren’t exactly perfect parents, but they loved their kid in their own way and Kit loved them back.
Noah and Kit had held a much more intimate wedding breakfast earlier today, with only their closest friends and family, including Noah’s sister, Emily. And of course Abe and the others had taken Noah for a bachelor party—where they’d had their daisy tattoos transformed into an obscure symbol David had found on the Internet.
He’d told them it meant friendship. He’d been drunk at the time.
The women had gone dancing, come back tipsy and happy.
“Did you save me a dance?” he asked his wife as she joined him to follow the bride and groom down the aisle.
“I saved you every dance.” It was a husky whisper just as Theo tried to dive-bomb into her arms.
Sarah laughed, which made their son laugh.
It was the most beautiful music in Abe’s life.
Author’s Note
I hope you enjoyed Rock Wedding! Before you go, I have two pieces of news!
First up, if you’d like to get a glimpse of David and Thea’s wedding from their point of view, or if you’re wondering about that astonishing pink Ferrari from the pool party, then head on over to my website (www.nalinisingh.com) and sign up for my newsletter. Both short stories (Sunshine and With this memo…) are included in the Welcome newsletter. If you have any trouble accessing it, drop me an e-mail: [email protected].
I’m also working on other short stories set in the Rock Kiss world that I hope to share through the newsletter over the coming months.
Secondly, while Rock Wedding is the final book in the Rock Kiss series, it’s not the last time you’ll see the Rock Kiss gang. You’ll notice we didn’t get to attend Gabriel and Charlotte’s wedding in this book—that doesn’t seem fair to me! Which is why we’ll be checking back in with them in my next contemporary romance, coming in 2017. The story will feature one of Gabriel’s hunky rugby-playing brothers.
And, last but definitely not least, if you missed the earlier books in the Rock Kiss series, they are: Rock Addiction (Molly & Fox), Rock Courtship (David & Thea), Rock Hard (Gabriel & Charlotte), and Rock Redemption (Noah & Kit).
Thank you for reading, and here’s to plenty more story adventures together!
~ xo Nalini
Acknowledgments
THANK YOU TO EACH AND EVERY ONE of you for taking a chance on this new series from me. I hope you’ve enjoyed this rockin’ ride! I
had a ton of fun writing each book and I’m looking forward to doing further contemporary romances. (I mean, how can I leave those rugby hunks hanging, right?!)
To all the bloggers and reviewers who’ve supported this series, thank you. You’re awesome.
A special shout out to Rahaf and Leena for your wonderful feedback on the draft, and to Nephele and the TKA team for all your work. Jenn - thanks for shooting the amazing cover image! And Frauke - I love what you did to turn the image into a cover.
And last but not least, a great big thanks to all the sexy, bad boy rock stars who inspired this series!
About the Author
NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY bestselling author of the Psy-Changeling, Guild Hunter, and Rock Kiss series Nalini Singh usually writes about hot shapeshifters and dangerous angels. This time around, she decided to write about a gorgeous, talented keyboard player and the woman he’s never forgotten. If you’re seeing a theme here, you’re not wrong.
Nalini lives and works in beautiful New Zealand, and is passionate about writing. If you’d like to explore the Rock Kiss series further, or if you’d like to try out her other books, you can find lots of excerpts on her website: www.nalinisingh.com. Slave to Sensation is the first book in the Psy-Changeling series, while Angels’ Blood is the first book in the Guild Hunter series. The website also features special behind-the-scenes material from all her series.
Other Books by Nalini Singh
Rock Addiction
Rock Courtship: A Novella
Rock Hard
Rock Redemption
The Psy/Changeling series
Slave to Sensation
Visions of Heat
Caressed by Ice
Mine to Possess
Hostage to Pleasure
Branded by Fire
Blaze of Memory
Bonds of Justice
Play of Passion
Kiss of Snow