by Tami Lund
“That was considerate of you,” Camila said, and then another contraction hit.
“They’re awfully close together,” Amelia whispered to Elliot, who knew nothing at all about birthing babies so he could only shrug.
“I want to push,” Camila ground out through clenched teeth.
“No, you can’t,” Tommy said, rubbing her back and watching the monitor again.
“Don’t tell me what to do unless you want to trade places with me,” she snapped back.
“I would if I could, I swear.”
“No, you wouldn’t. Because this sucks. It’s terrible. And if you don’t stop looking at that stupid monitor and go get that goddamn doctor, I’m going to smash the thing on the ground.”
Tommy jumped up, his face stricken.
“Do you want me to—?” Elliot started to ask, but Tommy was already out the door.
“Somebody come here,” Camila demanded. “I need a hand to hold.”
Elliot rushed to her side, motioning for Amelia to have a seat in the only chair in the room. Camila grasped his hand so tightly he was certain a few bones cracked, but he wisely did not say a word.
“Has it peaked yet?” she asked.
He had no freaking clue.
“Yes,” Amelia said from over his shoulder. “Just now. You’re coming down now. Almost done. You’re doing great, a real champ. Breathe, Camila. You’ve got this.”
Apparently, she hadn’t taken his hint to get off her feet. She was standing so close he could feel her breath on his neck, and, despite all the distractions, he was acutely aware of how nice it felt. Tingly. Erotic.
Wow, he did have it bad.
Chapter Sixteen
If Amelia were to look up the term “rabbit hole,” she was certain this situation would be listed as an example.
Hot admin who insisted on taking care of her, check.
Hot admin who was the elusive unicorn of kissers, check.
Hot admin who she wanted to do more than kiss, check.
Hell, while guiding Camila through that last contraction, she’d actually thought, I could do this, so long as Elliot was by my side. And it stood to reason that if he were there, in the delivery room, coaching her along, he was probably at least partially responsible for getting her into that situation in the first place.
Rabbit hole.
Now, here she was, helping a pregnant woman who she did not know breathe through her contractions. Hey, at least it was distracting her from the Thursday board meeting.
And the bruises forming in her armpits from the damn crutches that were a hair too tall for her.
The door burst open, but instead of a doctor, a young woman who strongly resembled Camila and a man who could be none other than the remaining Bryant brother she had yet to meet charged into the room.
“Camila,” the woman cried out, rushing to the other side of the bed.
“Maddy,” Camila replied in an equally high-pitched voice.
They hugged, Camila cried, and Amelia stared at the only woman Elliot had ever dated.
Younger than her, probably closer to his age, wavy dark hair, olive complexion, bare minimum makeup, tall and thinner than Amelia.
So this was the competition.
No, no, that was not how she should look at this situation. Maddy, Madison, whatever, was happily married to the man standing behind her, rubbing her back. Or at least Amelia assumed that was the situation.
“Hey Kyle,” Elliot said, confirming her suspicions as he walked around the bed to give his brother a hug.
“Maddy, I need to push,” Camila complained, clinging to her sister’s arm and giving her a beseeching look.
“What’s the doctor say?” Maddy asked.
Camila flapped her hand. “He left. Tommy went to find him. What’s taking him so long? They’re both going to miss the birth at this rate.”
Maddy chuckled and looked at the monitor, even pushing buttons like she knew what she was doing. Which she probably did. Elliot had mentioned that she was a nurse. “No, they won’t. You’ll be…well, these contractions are awfully close together.”
“Told you,” Camila said, and then she clenched her teeth. “And here’s another one.”
She squeezed her eyes closed again, her entire body going rigid, her arms wrapped around Maddy’s elbow while her sister said soothing words and stared at the jagged lines on the monitor, which Amelia had deducted registered the strength and timing of the contractions.
“You’re almost there, Cam,” Maddy said when this last one petered away. “You’re going to be a mama soon. I can’t wait to meet this little peanut.”
Camila burst into tears, her shoulders shaking as she openly sobbed. Maddy stared at her in apparent shock while Amelia hobbled over and snagged a handful of tissues and offered them to Camila.
“She cries a lot right now,” Amelia said. “It’s okay.”
Maddy blinked rapidly and lifted her gaze. “Who are you?”
She stretched her hand across the bed. “Amelia Gerard. Nice to meet you.”
With an uncertain look on her face, Maddy shook her hand. “But who are you? Why are you in my sister’s room when she’s about to deliver her baby?”
“Elliot brought me. But before you ask, no, we are not dating.”
Maddy’s eyes went round as her gaze darted from Amelia to some point behind her, which she guessed was where Elliot was standing, and then back to Amelia. “You’re-you’re his new boss? You work with Chelsea?”
“Oh, that’s right. You two were roommates in college.”
For some reason, Maddy’s cheeks darkened. She cleared her throat and nodded. “Yeah. Um, so Elliot brought his boss to his niece or nephew’s birth?”
“I told you this, Madison,” Kyle said.
“Yeah, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I was too busy making sure we were ready to head over here.”
Amelia glanced over her shoulder at Elliot, whose lips twitched.
The door opened again, and Deanna and Joe Bryant rushed into the room, carrying pastel-colored gift bags in their hands. Deanna dropped hers and hurried over to stand next to Maddy.
“Camila, sweetheart, how are things progressing?” she asked as she bent and gave the mother-to-be a kiss on the forehead.
“Fast,” Camila said, her face pinched. Looked like she was heading into another contraction. They really were coming quickly now.
Deanna glanced up and smiled. “Hello, Amelia, dear. Nice to see you again.”
“Er, you too.”
Elliott and Kyle greeted and hugged their parents. Joe asked, “Where’s Tommy?”
“Looking for the doctor,” Elliot replied.
Camila groaned and breathed through another contraction, and when her body relaxed again, she asked her sister, “Where’s Mom and Dad?”
Deanna answered for her. “They’re here. We passed them in the lobby. Your mom was using the restroom, and then they should be up.”
Amelia tried to back away from the bed and bumped into something. Elliot.
He touched her arm and said, “You okay?”
“I need some air.” She needed to get out of this room for a minute. She needed to catch her breath.
She needed a break from all the…family.
Turning toward the door, she hobbled away, acutely aware of Elliot following. Tommy nearly barreled her over as he rushed back into the room, followed by the congenial doctor.
“Sorry,” he said, holding her arms so he could move around her, and then he hurried to Camila’s bedside while Amelia stepped into the hall and then leaned against the wall and closed her eyes.
“What’s up?” Elliot asked after a few moments.
She shook her head, her eyes still closed. “Nothing. I’m fine, really. You can go back in there and be with your family. I’m really okay.”
“You don’t look okay.”
“Gee, thanks.” But she knew what he meant. Well, she knew he wasn’t insulting her, merely commenting
on whatever expression was on her face. She’d confessed so much to him during the ride over here, and how he hadn’t been judgmental, hadn’t thought any less of her for her family history.
“It’s just a bit overwhelming, that’s all.” She waved to indicate the scene they’d stepped away from. “I’m not used to so much…”
“Busybody-ness?” Elliot suggested.
She smiled. “Yes, but that wasn’t the word I was thinking.”
“People getting into other people’s business?”
She chuckled, her eyes still closed.
“Love?”
Her eyes popped open. An elderly woman stood before her, blatantly observing her. “Grandma Bryant,” the woman said, offering her hand to shake.
“Amelia Gerard,” she said weakly. After all that…yes, love, she’d just experienced, she wasn’t sure she had the emotional capacity to hold her own against whatever this woman was about to dish out.
“Nice to meet you,” the older lady said pleasantly, and then she turned to Elliot. “How’s it going in there?”
“As crazy as you’d expect,” he replied.
Grandma Bryant chuckled. “Maybe I’ll go sit in the waiting room. They’re probably going to kick everyone out soon anyway, huh?”
“Apparently she’s progressing faster than expected,” Elliot said.
Grandma Bryant nodded. “All right, I’ll be over there.” She pointed at a nearby doorway with a sign that read Family Waiting Area, and she wandered away.
Amelia stared after her. “That was…” Not at all what she was expecting. And frankly, it was a relief.
Elliot shrugged. “She’s pretty intuitive. Sometimes, at least.”
“I think I want to go sit with her.”
“Are you sure? I can—”
“Elliot, your family is wonderful from what I can tell. Even your ex-girlfriend.” She lifted her hand when he opened his mouth. “I know, I know, she’s your sister-in-law now. Anyway, they seem wonderful. I’m just not used to this, that’s all. Let me catch my breath for a bit, and I’ll be fine.”
He watched her, clearly trying to make up his mind, and after a long moment, he nodded and waved for her to precede him into the waiting area.
“Ah, had your fill, have you?” Grandma Bryant said by way of greeting. She had her phone in her hand, but tapped the screen a few times and dropped it into her purse when Amelia sat in the chair across from her.
“I mean, it’s not really my place to be in there anyway. I literally just met Camila today.”
Elliot hovered. “Do either of you want anything? I can run down to the cafeteria.”
“That’s a good idea,” Grandma Bryant said. “Go get us each a bottle of water. Or would you prefer something stronger?” She directed the question to Amelia, but Elliot answered.
“I don’t think they allow anything stronger here, unless you’re talking juice.”
“Water it is.”
Elliott turned to Amelia. “You too?”
She shrugged. “Sure. Thanks.”
He left, leaving her and Grandma Bryant alone in the waiting room. The maternity ward definitely wasn’t busy at the moment. Apparently, it wasn’t a full moon tonight.
“So, what do you think?”
Amelia glanced up at the elderly woman, who was leaning back in her chair, arms crossed over her abdomen, watching Amelia as if she could figure out the answer to her question simply by staring. For all Amelia knew, she could.
She might as well not bother beating around the bush with this woman.
“You mean all this or Elliot in particular?”
“Both, really. I mean, it’s a package deal. The Bryants, they take the idea of family seriously. And it’s a big one, which I’m sure you noticed. Gonna keep growing too. Wanna make a wager?”
“On what? The sex of the baby?”
“Nah. The way she’s carrying, my first great-grandchild is a girl. I already know that. Deanna’s going to be over the moon. I’m pretty sure she has thirty-year-old, frilly girly baby clothes vacuum-sealed in plastic and tucked away somewhere, waiting for this day.”
“Elliot said they had hoped he was a girl.”
Grandma lifted one shoulder. “Joe didn’t care. But, yeah, Deanna desperately wanted a girl. Not that she loved him any less or resented him or anything, you know.”
“No, of course not. It’s pretty obvious this family has a great dynamic.”
Grandma canted her head. “Yours doesn’t?”
Amelia toyed with her skirt and lifted her focus to take in the room with its beige walls, not overly comfortable furniture, the coffee service set up in the corner, the television bolted to the wall, the sound muted, the channel tuned to the Game Show Network.
“Is that why you’re so scared?”
Amelia glanced at the older woman. “What do you mean?”
She waved at the doorway. “There’s definitely a spark there. And my grandson’s a good man. But you’re holding back. How come?”
“How in the world have you determined that in less than five minutes?”
She chuckled. “I’ve been around a long time. And I’ve been madly, deeply in love. And lost that love, after more than fifty years together. I know the signs.”
“Signs? You think I’m in love with Elliot?” She glanced at the door. “I haven’t known him long enough to fall in love.”
“Only takes a moment.”
Amelia wanted to argue that, but her mother had once told her the same thing. Except she fell in love with the wrong guy. Her husband couldn’t give her as much love as she deserved. He wasn’t capable of it.
When her mother first passed away and her father turned inside himself, basically stopped doing much more than existing for months and months, Amelia thought it was because the love of his life died. Eventually, she realized that wasn’t the case.
She’d been having a particularly bad day and foolishly asked him for a hug. The man had recoiled. “What is it?” Amelia had asked. “Mom’s the only one of us you actually loved?”
He’d shaken his head. “I didn’t even really love her, not the way you’re thinking.”
“Then why are you moping around all the time?”
He pointed at her. “Because she took care of you. And your brother. And I don’t know what to do with you two now.”
It had been a terrible discovery for a grieving fourteen-year-old, and she’d retreated even further from him and her brother, until she had no relationship at all with Duane and the one with her father had become strictly business.
“I didn’t come from a good background either,” Grandma Bryant said, pulling Amelia out of the memories.
“What do you mean?”
“My father was an alcoholic. Abusive. Mostly to my mom, but if we got in the way, he’d sock us too. Didn’t matter to him, so long as he could take out all that aggression and anger on someone.
“I ran away when I was sixteen. Had enough. I was the youngest of five, and I was deathly afraid of being the only one left at home when my brother joined the army. My oldest sister, who, by that point had a couple of her own kids, took me in, and I became her nanny while I finished school. Met my husband at the ice cream shop. I had my niece and nephew with me, and he thought they were mine. But he struck up a conversation with me anyway, even asked me out. Didn’t even know until after I turned him down that the kids were my sister’s.”
She slowly shook her head, a small smile playing at her lips. “I turned that man down ten times before I finally gave in and went on a date with him. In today’s society, he would have been considered a stalker.”
She cackled at her own joke.
“He took me to the drive-in, and afterward, we went to this playground and sat on the swing set and just talked. I told him about my dad and how I was never going to get married and have kids because I didn’t want them to go through what our family did.
“He told me that not everyone is like that and I should give him a ch
ance to prove it. And you know what?”
She paused long enough that Amelia pressed her hand to her chest and said, “What?” in a breathless tone, like she was being told a suspenseful story.
“I did. And he did. He was an amazing husband and father. Literally the polar opposite of what I grew up with. I had the best life with him, and it’s all because I managed to make the decision to give him a chance, despite my own fears and reservations.”
Amelia let out a deep breath and leaned back in her chair. “I understand what you’re saying. Unfortunately, my situation isn’t quite the same. It’s not even about Elliot and me and…whatever could transpire between us. It’s about the fact that I run my father’s company and he thinks I’m not good enough to do it, so he’s about to kick me out and give my position to my brother.”
Chapter Seventeen
The mood had changed when Elliot returned to the waiting room, bottles of water in hand. Like a veil of sadness had been draped over the room. Had Grandma Bryant gotten Amelia to open up about her own family?
Probably, knowing his grandmother.
After passing out refreshments, he dropped into the seat next to Amelia, fully prepared to start cracking jokes to lighten the atmosphere.
Except, before he could, Kyle burst into the room. “The baby’s here,” he shouted and started to turn around, but then flung back around and called out, “And Philip passed out!”
He took off again.
Elliot, Amelia, and Grandma scrambled to their feet. He placed his hand on the small of Amelia’s back but hesitated. He’d been about to sweep her into his arms to carry her, which of course wasn’t remotely appropriate here in the hospital. He wished it were though, because she looked truly exhausted.
“Did he say it was a girl?” Grandma Bryant asked as she hurried along.
“He didn’t say,” Elliot responded. “Although I’m more curious about Philip passing out. He’s an ex-Marine, for God’s sake.”
“And he isn’t even the father,” Amelia pointed out.
“Remember that bet I said I wanted to make with you?” Grandma Bryant said, which made even less sense than Philip passing out in the delivery room.