by M. Stratton
Rolling her eyes, Kat sat down next to him, putting her head on his shoulder and smiling at their sleeping son. “Oh, they were helping, until a group of young doctors came into the cafeteria to eat. At that point they decided they were going to stay and get something to eat.”
“And you just left them there?” Evie’s eyes were huge.
Laughing, Kat shook her head. “I’m not that brave to stop them when they are on a mission.”
“Lord help us, we’re going to have to bail them out of jail again, aren’t we?” Evie looked at her husband, who was trying not to laugh. “I don’t know what you think is so funny—it’s our turn to put up the money.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
Jackson laughed. “This is great! We’re out of state. Good luck trying to get them back here for a court date. At least the last time we had to do it, we were in Massachusetts.”
“Someone needs to get them.” She looked at her husband, who smiled, shook his head, and pointed to the sleeping child on him.
“Looks like it’s you, sis.”
“Doesn’t someone else want to go?” She looked around the room.
“Who else is there? You think someone’s going to pop up from behind the couch and volunteer?” Jackson rolled his eyes. “Suck it up and go.”
Noah walked into the room with Josephine in his arms. She was trying hard to keep her sleepy eyes open as her arms were wrapped around her daddy’s neck.
“Where’s the Trio?” Noah asked.
“In the cafeteria,” Kat said.
“Alone?” Noah frowned.
“Not actually alone, since there are a group of doctors there.”
“Dammit.”
“Daddy,” Josephine reprimanded.
“Sorry, honey. Here,” Noah tried to hand Josephine to Kat, but she patted his cheek and snuggled in closer to him.
“When does the band get here?” Evie asked.
Looking at the clock on the wall, Noah shook his head. “They should be here pretty soon. And I know what you’re doing.”
“What?”
“Trying to distract me from the fact the Trio isn’t here and it’s your and Anthony’s turn to bail them out.”
“Dammit.”
“Aunt Evie,” Josephine said.
“Sorry, kid. Fine, I’ll go.” She turned to look at her husband. “But I’ll remember this.”
Anthony smiled and winked at her.
Whipping around, she stomped out of the room and down the hall, muttering to herself as she followed the signs to the cafeteria. Frowning, she wondered what that sound was. The closer she was to her destination, the louder the noise got. Opening the door, she saw the Trio trying to get the doctors to dance with them. They had music blasting from one of their phones on the table. Evie walked over to it, and with a swipe of her finger she turned the music off.
“Hey,” Evelyne said. “Why’d you do that? We were just having some fun.” She shimmied over to Evie.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to remain calm. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe because we are in a hospital. We have bigger things to think about than having fun.”
Leigh shook her head. “I don’t know how you are the biological granddaughter of Evelyne. I guess the fun gene must’ve skipped a generation.” She removed the hair tie from her long gray hair and smoothed it out. “Live a little—otherwise you’ll end up growing up to be an old fuddy-duddy.”
Evie tried to keep a lid on her anger, but the Trio knew exactly which buttons to push. Hoping to appeal to the most reasonable one, she approached Marie. “Please, we need to go upstairs.”
Immediately the ladies’ faces fell and Marie clutched her arm. “Tell us, are Lexi and the baby okay?”
“We still don’t know anything.” Evie hated making them worry, but she didn’t want Noah or Lexi to deal with the fallout from anything the Trio might do. “But one of the Dr. Halstons should be coming in soon to update us.”
The ladies looked at each other and nodded their heads. Within a couple of minutes they had said their goodbyes and had everything packed up and ready to head out.
They were almost to the door when Evelyne turned around. “If any of you boys want to know what it takes to be a real man, I’d be happy to show you. Call me: 555-Eat-Me69.”
“Grams!” Evie gently shoved her along, out the door. “You’re insatiable.”
“You got that right, kid. Did you see those young bucks? I was thinking; maybe after we got the update from the doctor we can go around the hospital bringing some joy and happiness to the poor, lonely men here.”
“You know, there is a reason why people are here, and it’s not as some kind of personal dating service for you.” Evie rolled her eyes.
“Dating service,” Marie scoffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. We only want to bring joy and happiness to everyone. You know, I think this world would be a better place if there weren’t so many grumpy people around.” She looked pointedly at Evie.
“A-ha,” Leigh exclaimed. “I figured it out.”
Sighing, Evie knew she was going to have to ask, because from experience it was always better to find out earlier what they were up to, rather than later at the police station bailing them out. “What did you figure out?”
“The reason why you’re so grumpy, of course. It’s your turn to bail us out.”
“Yes, yes it is,” Evie agreed. “And since we are so far away from home, Anthony and I would really appreciate it if you all did not get thrown into jail while we’re here.”
“We can try. We can’t promise anything, but we’ll try. Anyway, it’s usually the cops’ fault anyway. They don’t seem to have the sense of humor they used to,” Evelyne said. “Why, when we used to—”
“Please stop reminiscing about the good old days. No plotting adventures that you can go on. I need you to be here for Lexi, Noah, and the girls. Please,” Evie begged.
“Of course, honey.” Marie patted her arm. “Why didn’t you say something to begin with? Let’s go cheer everyone up.”
“I know the perfect thing we could do,” Leigh said, and pulled her friends in close and started to whisper.
Evie trailed begin them, taking controlled, deep breaths. While she couldn’t hear what they were saying, she was able to keep an eye on them and make sure they didn’t take any detours into men’s hospital rooms.
Chapter Eleven
Noah felt pulled in a million different directions. Part of him wanted to be by Lexi’s side, the other part wanted to be with his daughters, and yet the pull to be by his newborn son was extreme. He looked around the private crowded waiting room and was glad for all the support, but for once, there were too many people there. His bandmates and their wives and children were there, along with the family that he made since meeting Lexi. Thankfully the children were able to keep each other occupied, and since the hospital had given them a large private room to wait in, none of them had to worry about the press. At least that was the reason he thought they had done that. For all he knew, the Trio’s reputation had preceded them and the hospital was hoping to keep their mayhem to a minimum.
As the door opened, Noah’s head whipped around to see the doctor come into the room. Slowly, he stood up on shaky knees with his daughter Stephanie held tight in his arms. A hush fell over the room.
Dr. Halston smiled and the sound of everyone’s breath rushing out of their lungs at once filled the room. “Everything went according to plan. There were no complications and we were able to remove the tumor from your son. The chances are good that there will be absolutely no lasting repercussions from this.”
“And Lexi?” Evie asked. “How’s she doing?”
The doctor nodded. “She’s doing fine. She’s been stabilized—there was a lot of blood loss during the delivery. She'll be all right, but needs her rest. We are requesting that you go in one at a time, for a few minutes. Maybe some of you can even wait until tomorrow to see her.” Looking around the room, his eyes landed on the
Trio before shaking his head.
Noah walked over and shook Dr. Halston’s hand. “Thank you so much. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you taking care of my son and making sure my wife had the best care possible.”
“You're very welcome.” The doctor turned and left the room.
As soon as the door closed, Noah backed up until his legs hit the edge of one of the chairs and he sat down. “Everything’s all right,” he said over and over.
“Okay, obviously Noah is going first,” Kat said. “Then Evie, then Jackson, and after that we’ll see how she’s feeling to determine if we will continue today, or wait for tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.” Evie sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “It’ll give me time to get myself under control. You know how Lexi always gives me a hard time about ugly crying.” She buried her head in Anthony’s shoulder.
Noah absently handed Stephanie over to Ren, who came over to grab her so Noah could go see Lexi. Rapidly, he blinked his eyes as he walked out of the room.
One of the nurses was waiting for him and escorted him down the hall to Lexi’s room. Standing in the door, he watched her, lying there so peacefully, her dark hair spread across the white pillow, and took a moment to thank God she and their son were okay.
He walked over to the bed, and leaning close to her, he whispered in her ear, “Laying down on the job?”
Without opening her eyes, her eyebrow twitched up. “You know me, I’m such a slacker.”
“My beautiful slacker.” Noah caressed the side of her face. “How are you feeling?
“Weak,” she said. “Very, very weak.” Her eyes open and tears fell down her face. “But I’m so thrilled. He’s okay—he’s going to be okay.”
“I told you there was no need for you to worry so much.”
Sighing, Lexi shook her head. “The reason everything went so well is because I put so much effort into worrying. I worry, so he’s fine.”
“Keep it up, and you’re going to end up with more of these.” He lifted up a lock of her hair. “Look, there’s one gray hair. You can expect more.”
Narrowing her eyes at him, she frowned. “I see you’re working on giving them to me.”
“You are the most beautiful woman, giving me three amazing children, but I kind of think we should be done. I don’t think I could go through this again.”
“I’m kind of with you on this one,” Lexi said.
“Good. Now that this is settled, I’m going to go check on our son. I’ll be back to give you a report.”
“Pictures—I need pictures.”
“Of course. You, my beautiful wife, are amazing. Thank you for everything you have filled my life with. I can’t imagine it without you or our children.”
“Oh, Noah, you’re the one who’s given me everything. I was ready to give up ever having a happy ending after Jeremy had tried to take everything from me. But you’ve shown me I could have it all. There’s no one I’d rather spend the rest of my days with than you.”
Leaning down, he kissed her softly on the lips. “Get some rest and make sure you kick everyone out if you get tired. I’ll be back to stay in a little bit.”
When Noah walked out of the room, the same nurse was standing there waiting for him. She filled him in on more particulars about the surgery. Everything had gone according to plan, and there should be no long-lasting effects. They were going to have to continue to monitor their son, but as long as his levels stayed the same, there probably wouldn’t be any additional invasive tests.
When Noah saw his son for the first time after his surgery and could see for himself that he was fine, he couldn’t stop the tears from falling from his eyes. His family was complete.
Chapter Twelve
“Come on,” Evie said through clenched teeth as she pulled Kat into Lexi’s room.
“No.” Kat’s furious whisper filled the room.
“What are you two up to now?” Lexi said from her bed.
Folding her arms across her chest, Kat narrowed her eyes. “Evie is trying to get us kicked out of here.”
“No, I’m not,” Evie said.
“The doctor said only one person should be in here at a time. You dragging me in here makes it two, and that’s against the rules.”
Evie rolled her eyes. “If I hadn’t pulled you in here, you would’ve waited until you were the very last person to see her, and you would have been going crazy with worry. I did you a favor.”
“We’re becoming the next generation of the Troublesome Trio, aren’t we?” Lexi asked.
“Not me.” Kat shook her head but pointed at Evie. “She, on the other hand, comes by it naturally.”
“Hey, she’s your grandmother too,” Evie replied.
“Yes,” Kat said. “By marriage. You have her blood running through your veins.”
“Yep. We’re going to be the next Trio. I don’t know if I should be proud or cry.” Lexi looked between the two of them.
“Well, you know, when your grandmother was alive she was part of the Fearsome Foursome, so technically you come by it naturally too, Lex. Sorry.” Evie shrugged.
“Shit, you’re right. We’re doomed.”
The door opened again, and a lady from the cleaning crew came in. “Oh, excuse me.”
“No, you’re fine,” Lexi said. “Do what you need to do.” She focused back on Kat and Evie. “How’s Noah doing? Really, tell me.”
“He’s better now that both of you are through the worst.” Kat walked over and picked up Lexi’s hand. “We were all pretty worried when he called us.”
“Yeah, but my wonderful husband saved the day. He was ready for this and had a plane on standby to fly us all here at a moment’s notice. My hero.” She batted her eyes.
“Whatever,” Kat said. “Oh, and all of Noah’s bandmates were here too. They’re waiting until tomorrow to come see you.”
“They all flew out here? For this?” Lexi’s brow furrowed.
Evie poked around Lexi’s dinner tray and ate a cracker. “Of course they did. What else would they do? They’re practically like brothers.”
“I know, I just hate to put everyone out.”
“Right, because this—” Evie waved her hand. “—is nothing in the scheme of things. Haven’t the two of you been to every birth and birthday for their kids? Haven’t you all gone on trips together? They’re family. We’re all family. We’re here for each other.”
“You know,” Lexi began, “I’ve been thinking. If it weren’t for Jeremy, would we even be here right now? For all the horrible, messed-up things he did to us, if he hadn’t done them I probably would have never moved here—never would have met Noah.” She looked at Kat. “Never would have needed a bodyguard who was also one of his victims. Evie, you would have never met Anthony, and Kat would have never met Jackson.”
“I still say he can rot in Hell,” Evie said. “I’m not nearly as forgiving as the two of you. He got off easy as far as I’m concerned.”
“You just hate the fact that she has a point,” Kat said, and raised her hand to stop Evie from talking. “I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am that I no longer have to look over my shoulder waiting for him to find me and finish what he started. But I’ve healed. We’ve all healed. We are lucky enough to be married to three amazing men.”
“I don’t know,” Evie interrupted. “You’re married to my brother.”
“Stop it and let me finish. Lexi and I have children now, something both of us always wanted. Your bookstore is going international, Evie. Everything has come together and we are all so much happier than we ever could have dreamed.”
“Well.” Evie pursed her lips. “I hope you both have time to get ready for another niece or nephew early next year since, you know, I’m pregnant.”
“Get out,” Lexi said.
“This is amazing. How far along are you?”
“We just found out.” Evie rubbed her belly. “I took ten tests over three days—all positive. Anthony and I
are going to be parents.”
“See? Everything is coming together. I’m so happy,” Lexi said.
Evie looked down at her best friend and squeezed her hand. There on the other side was her sister-in-law, another woman who had come to mean so much to her, holding Lexi’s other hand. Together they were stronger. Together they were family.
Epilogue
Dana Marshall walked out of the hospital, tossed the uniform and fake ID badge in the garbage can, and smiled. Because of her, these couples were able to fulfill their dreams. Removing the darkness from their lives had made them all blossom. To be so close to the women she’d saved from Jeremy Ellison was a thrill—especially since they had no idea who she was and what she’d done. It was good to see her life’s work successfully played out. It made her happy to continue doing what she loved. If the justice system wouldn’t take care of the scum, she would, and everyone would live happily ever after.
The End
Don’t miss out on all the other stories available in the Passion, Vows & Babies Kindle World! They’re all crossover stories with characters from the Sex & Vows and/or Yeah, Baby series by Fiona Davenport.
The Storm Series
If you want to know more about the characters in Born in the Storm be sure to pick up these books and see how the adventure began.
The Storm Series (Romantic Thrillers)
After the Storm – Book One:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G5WYCD8
Eye of the Storm – Book Two:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IJF4E2I
Caught in the Storm - Book Three:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KY4DH6G
The Storm Series Box Set –
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZWA6RP0
The Dana Marshall Files - Volume 1 (Two short stories) - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0113F0UQ4