by Taryn Quinn
Kelsey tugged at the little bit of lace on her dress. “Sounds like a different life.”
“It was. And I loved it. Me and my brother had been working pit crews at the derbies as soon as we hit sixteen. He’s a few years younger than me and snuck in before he got his license. I swear, the only reason I pulled ahead and landed a team was luck.”
“I doubt it.”
I untwisted her fingers from her dress and wound them with mine. “It’s the truth. I was a good driver, but there are a lot of them out there. If Jeff—the driver of the team I took over—hadn’t fucked up and failed a drug test, my life might be a lot different.”
I might still be living my life one race at a time. I might never have had my kid. I might never have met Kelsey. It was unsettling to think about. There were some nights when I wondered what would life be like if I’d made a different decision. Now, it seemed even more terrifying.
“That’s how you ended up racing?” Her voice was filled with wonder.
“Yep. Crazy, right? Right place, right time. Hell, if I hadn’t raced the track three tenths of a second faster than my brother, he might have been right where I was.”
“And with Katherine?”
My laugh was harsh enough that she flinched. “No, probably not with Katherine. Racing was his sole focus. Still is. He knew how to party, but he always had his eye on the winner’s circle.”
“And you didn’t?”
I shrugged. “I loved it. But the moment Katherine told me we’d gotten pregnant, my life changed. I wasn’t just thinking about the leaderboard anymore. Maybe that’s why I fucked up in the end. Your head has to be completely in the car and the race.”
I hadn’t thought about that before. I wasn’t big on self-analysis. Never had been.
Walking away from racing should have been harder. But Wes had meant more to me than leaving him alone all the time. Or using a nanny while I raced and trained.
“And Katherine isn’t in Wes’s life at all.”
I shook my head. “I’m actually shocked she lasted a few years. I get a text on his birthday every year, but otherwise, she left both of us behind.” The exit for the hospital came up and I let Kelsey’s hand go as I downshifted to turn off.
“God, I couldn’t imagine. I was only his teacher and he was definitely one of my more memorable students. And now he’s mine...well, if you are okay with it.”
We came to a light and I cupped the back of her head to drag her mouth to mine. Just the idea that this woman could want to take both of us on—that she wanted my kid even in the midst of all these huge changes—made my kiss a little wild.
She turned in her seat to me and cupped my face, her fingers scraping through my short hair as she held on and kissed me back with the same intensity.
When a horn blared behind us, I pulled away. “Sorry.”
She collapsed back in her seat. “Don’t be sorry.”
“Yes. I love that you want both of us.”
“Of course I do.”
We rode in silence, then parked and gathered up the food for the waiting room. I loaded a half dozen bottles of water in with the sandwiches to keep them cold and handed her a bag with six more. Laurel wasn’t a terribly huge hospital, but it had a good-sized maternity ward. Evidently, with a few towns surrounding the hospital, there was a lot of babymaking going on.
I knew it definitely included me.
“You have a doctor’s appointment coming up?”
She nodded. “Friday.”
“Is it all right if I come?”
Her smile was sweet, and her cheeks pinked up. “I’d like that.”
I tried not to ground my molars because she didn’t immediately demand for me to go with her. She wasn’t alone, and I was determined to make her aware of that every moment of the damn day.
She rushed forward with her bag to hug Ally when we made it into the room. There were a few people in there, but it was mostly the Sage contingency.
I lifted a bag. “Brought rations.”
“Oh, thank God. I was just looking at the vending machines with tears in my eyes.” Seth dug into the bag. “You must like us or something. Jersey Angel’s roast beef on rye? I’d kiss you if I was into beards.”
“Pass.”
“I do have a talented tongue. You’re missing out.” Seth grinned and ripped open the deli paper. “So good. Thanks.”
I dug out two waters for Ally and Kelsey and handed them out. “Drink.”
Kelsey wrinkled her nose at me. “Yes, sir.”
The sir thing didn’t do it for me, but her looking up at me like that sure fucking did.
I just grunted at her and went back to the bag for my own water and a sandwich. There was a lot of sitting involved and the girls all took turns going back to see Sage. Kelsey seemed edgy and distracted and she disappeared once or twice. I hoped she wasn’t dealing with nausea again.
Finally, Sage was settled into a room. By then, my ass was asleep and my noose of a tie had landed in a pile with the rest of the guys’ ties and jackets. The food had been demolished in the waiting room, since Sage couldn’t eat anything now that she was in active labor. Even though she had threatened bodily harm to all of us for daring to eat when she could not.
She was a scary chick.
Oliver came down the hallway. “Hey, guys. She’s finally settled in a room.” He ran a shaky hand over his hair. His tie was long gone and his dress shirt sleeves were rolled up, tails out of his pants. I didn’t think I’d ever seen Oliver quite so disheveled.
Kelsey popped up from her place next to Ally. They’d been FaceTiming with Sage’s parents. They were heading back to Crescent Cove, but they were still a few hours away. They’d taken an impromptu trip, thinking they had a bit of time until the baby was born.
I crossed to my wife and took her shaking hand. “Sage is doing great. It just takes time.”
“Why is it taking so long though?”
“Babies come on their own timetable.”
“God, knowing me and my luck, ours will come out sideways.”
My gut clenched and unfurled when she said ours so easily, but I could see the bloom of panic on her face. That and how very tired she was.
“How’s Wes?”
“Having the time of his life. He and Pop got a new puzzle.” I was forever shocked that he would never sit down for anything—my boy was always running and active—unless there was a puzzle in front of him. But it gave him some much needed quiet time.
“Oh, that’s good. He loves them. We picked out some when we took a Target trip earlier this week.” She hugged herself and rubbed her arms. “Why do they keep it so cold in here?”
Personally, I was dying and was running out of things to take off, but I knew she was beyond overtired. I pulled her into me. “How about we go see Sage and then you lay down for a little bit?”
“I’m fine.”
“I know, but you’ve been up since dawn, I bet.”
She shrugged, then settled her cheek against my chest. “She threw a jug of water at Oliver last time I went in.”
“Planning to do the same?”
She pulled back. “I don’t know. I don’t deal with pain well. Might be more like the bed itself.”
“Well, then.” Her giggle made me smile down at her. “Good to know.” I uncurled her hand from between us and tugged her down the hallway after Oliver. She gripped my hand with both of hers when shouts reached the hallway.
“Drugs! Give me the goddamn epidural!”
I pushed open the door slowly. Kelsey’s mouth dropped open as Sage dragged the nurse down by her stethoscope.
“Mrs. Hamilton, you’re past the point of having one.” The nurse’s voice was calm as she peeled Sage’s fingers off her stethoscope. “The doctor will be in soon.” She gave us a tight smile and rushed out.
“Because you left me in the damn emergency room for hours,” Sage yelled after her. “Ice chips. Where are my damn ice chips? Sweet bloody fuck, this baby is rippi
ng me apart.”
Kelsey rushed over to the table for her cup of ice.“Here you go. Can I do anything?”
Sage crunched on two cubes, her eyes like hellfire. “Yes. Can you reach in there and rip this thing out? That would be great.” She threw her head back on the pillow and growled. “I’m having a demon. That’s the only explanation for this.” She slapped the railing.
“Honey, just breathe.” Oliver brushed Sage’s hair back. “You have to calm down.”
“Are you having this baby?” She sat up until they were nose to nose. “I think not. If you had something trying to rip its way out of your parts, you would not be so calm.”
Oliver paled, but he didn’t move. In fact, it was impressive how he eased her back against the bed as he glanced at one of the monitors. He took her hand and kissed their clenched fingers. “Here we go.”
“Fuck!” Sage’s voice was like nails down a chalkboard with a lightning strike chaser.
“Breathe,” Oliver said in a stern voice.
“Breathing.” Sage’s voice was little more than a snarl as she slowly calmed and collapsed against the pillow. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I love you.”
Just like that, she turned into a blubbering mess as the contractions eased off.
I curled my arm around Kelsey and pulled her to the side as the door opened again. A woman in a white coat bustled in. “Hello, Sage. Evidently, your little one decided to come early.”
“Doctor, could you please tell your staff that I’m so not too late for the drugs thing. I really need them.”
The doctor lifted Sage’s gown and I turned my head away. I had no need to see all the things when it came to Sage. There was friendship and then there was hell no. The doctor reached around in there and I winced as I turned Kelsey to face me.
From the color of my wife’s cheeks, she was well on her way to freaking out.
“Nope. You are about ready to go, young lady. In fact,” the doctor turned to us, “out you go, guys. Unless you’re a birthing coach or the father.”
“Birthing coach!” Ally yelled as she came in. “I’m here.”
“Where have you been?” Sage’s voice was accusing.
Ally held up a stuffed unicorn. Or was that a pony? I was eternally grateful that my son didn’t go for anything in the girl realm of toys. Not that I wouldn’t let him play with anything he wanted to, but I sure as fuck didn’t need to buy him anything else since I currently owned every damn dinosaur I could find on Amazon.
“I have Sparkles.” Ally waved the stuffed toy.
“Oh.” Sage made grabby hands. “I need Sparkles. Thank you. I love you. You’re the best.”
Kelsey buried her face in my chest. “Sparkles is what she focuses on to breathe through the pain.”
“Oh.” Considering I hadn’t been able to get Katherine to show up to a birthing class, we definitely hadn’t known about anything like that.
Yeah, it was time to hustle my girl out of the room.
We got down the hall, but instead of turning into the waiting room, she went out through the front doors of the hospital. “Kelsey!”
She shook her head. “Nope. I’m good. We don’t need to do any of that.” She waved her hand up in the air. “I changed my mind. Having a baby isn’t what I want after all.”
My belly twisted for a second before I chased after her. She didn’t mean it, but God, hearing that was fucking sobering. “Kel, come on.”
“No way. There is no way I can do that. Nope. I take care of kids after they come out and grow like five years or whatever. That part? Nope.” She shook her head. The curls from the ceremony were long gone and it was back to her long, perfect red hair. “I can’t do that.”
“Yes, you can. You’re the strongest woman I know.”
“You are sorely mistaken, sir. I am a wimp. I cry when I have cramps. You think I can do that?”
“Yes.” I curled my fingers around her upper arms and forced her to face me. “You are going to be awesome at that. And you’ve told me that Sage is a bit of a…what do you call it?”
“Drama llama,” she muttered.
“Right. And you can do anything you set your mind to. You wrangle twenty-four six-year-olds and seven-year-olds. Having a baby is nothing compared to what you do every day.”
“Yes, but there’s no blood—well, usually no blood.”
“See?” I tipped her head up and kissed her. “You’re already ahead of the game.”
“You’re just trying to placate me.”
Fuck yes, I was. I truly didn’t know how any woman gave birth, but I wasn’t telling her that. “Yes, how am I doing?”
She stuck out her lower lip and crowded into me. “Okay.”
“Yeah?”
Her lips twitched.
“I see that smile trying to come out. Come on, let me see it.”
“Stop. You are being ridiculous.”
“Oh, and flying out of the hospital saying you changed your mind isn’t?”
She punched me in the belly. “Get used to it, buddy. I haven’t even begun to be an irrational pregnant woman yet. I reserve the right to get way worse.”
“Looking forward to it.” I curled my arm around her shoulders. “Now let’s get back in there before you freeze.”
“Too late.” She shivered and huddled in close.
An ocean-liner-sized vacation home on wheels pulled up and a woman scrambled down the stairs.
“Mrs. Evans?” Kelsey took a step toward the woman.
“Oh, goodness. Did I make it in time, dear?”
Kelsey laughed. “I think you did. Hurry up, let’s get you inside.” She turned to me and I waved her ahead.
My wife needed to have a plan of action. Nerves fell by the wayside when she had something to do.
I stuffed my hands into my pockets and took a deep breath of the cool night air. The canned air inside the hospital was killing me slowly. I checked my phone and gave my mom an update. She sent me a sleeping picture of my kid.
The scrape of sneakers and a lanky guy shuffling around the side of the building, then back toward the emergency entrance made me look up. I glanced back down as he disappeared. Twenty seconds later, he returned.
“You lost, man?”
“What? Oh, yeah. Not sure.” He pushed a mop of curls out of his face. “I, uh, am looking for my girlfriend—well, ex-girlfriend.” He huffed out a strained laugh. “So fucked up.”
My gut tightened. I straightened and stuffed my phone back in my pocket. “I’ve been here all night. I can at least point you in the right direction.”
“Maternity. Shit. I can’t even believe I said that word. She said she was here.”
I swallowed hard. “You found it.” I nodded to the doors behind me. “Who are you looking for?”
“You probably wouldn’t know her.”
“I’ve been in the maternity waiting room all night.” My hand fisted in my pocket. The bad vibes got louder in my head.
“Oh. Well, then yeah, maybe.” He speared his fingers into his hair, pushing it back from his pale, emo fucking face. “Kelsey. She’s a cute ginger girl. Sweet, a little goofy.”
The door opened behind me, but the growl that came out of me made the kid take a step back. “Whoa, dude. If you don’t know her, that’s cool.” He tried to go around me and stopped. “Kelsey, babe. I got here as soon as I could.”
“Tommy.”
I didn’t know that blood truly could run cold until that moment.
Now, I knew that it was a sterling fact.
Twenty-One
My heart stopped.
Literally.
There was no way this should happen in my life. Today of all days. “Oh, God. What are you doing here, Tommy?”
“You texted me.”
I glanced at Dare. His face was red and the tendons in his neck were bulging. He was still wearing half of his suit. His dress shirt was half open, showing a V-neck undershirt with the tails untucked. Instead of s
eeming unkempt, all I could notice were the ropey muscles of his arms on display, making my ex-boyfriend look even younger and more slight.
Tommy bounced on his heels, his Converse sneakers untied as always. He was wearing skinny jeans and a plaid shirt two sizes too big for his lanky frame.
Seeing them side-by-side was sobering.
My husband versus the boy I once knew. That I’d even had a moment’s sadness about Tommy breaking up with me seemed so stupid. I’d leveled up by miles.
I rushed forward and curled my hand around Dare’s arm. He pulled back and stepped away from me.
“Dare.”
“What is he doing here, Kel?”
I swallowed. “I texted him.”
“Why?” Dare shook his head. “Today of all days? Are you kidding me right now?”
I stepped toward him, but again, he sidestepped my touch, folding his arms. “I had to. Seeing all this happen today with the baby and then with us and our conversation in the car. I had to. It wasn’t fair that I hadn’t told him yet.”
I glanced at Tommy.
Tommy’s gaze pingponged between me and Dare. “I’m not sure what I’m walking into here. All you said was we had to talk and then you said you were at the hospital. Are you okay?” He looked me up and down. “Are you wearing a…” Tommy tipped his head. “Is that a wedding dress?”
“Yes, it’s a fucking wedding dress. She’s my goddamn wife.”
“Wife?” Tommy’s shocked eyes were almost comical.
Almost.
Because my husband was about to rip someone’s head off and I was pretty sure it might be mine. Okay, no, he wouldn’t. I didn’t know Dare as well as I wanted to, but there was one thing I knew. He’d never hurt me, no matter how mad he was.
And holy crap, was he mad. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him so angry. Even the day at Macy’s, he’d been annoyed and possibly ready to throw a punch, but not like this.
Not pop-a-blood-vessel angry.
I straightened my shoulders and stalked up to my husband, ignoring Tommy’s wide open mouth. “Yes, I texted him. But I didn’t think he was coming here.” I lifted my hands to cup Dare’s face and he flinched.