So far, Mrs. Griggs’s ghost hadn’t put in an appearance and Skye wasn’t sure if she was happy or sad about the spirit’s absence. Maybe, once the new house was built, Mrs. Griggs would return.
A loud meow startled Skye from her musings and she said, “I just fed you.”
She peered over her stomach and raised a brow at the black cat doing figure eights around her jean-clad ankles. Frannie and Justin had returned Bingo before heading back to school, and surprisingly, the usually finicky feline had adjusted with minimal fuss to his new life in the motor coach.
Just before Skye’s young friends had left, Justin had hugged her and whispered, “Thanks for getting help for Mom and Dad. The aide starts next week and will come on Mondays and Wednesdays to make sure they have the basics.”
Skye had been relieved that the assistance had been put in place so quickly. It would have been a shame for Justin to sit out a semester waiting for his parents to get the support they needed.
Shortly after Frannie and Justin’s departure, Skye had gotten a gleeful call from Linc. Carson had arranged for all the kennels and supplies the veterinarian needed to shelter the animals left homeless from the tornadoes. She’d been able to evade the vet’s questions about the mysterious donor, but at some point, she and Wally would need to figure out a way of revealing his father’s fortune.
Skye had a feeling that when the babies arrived, there just wouldn’t be a way of hiding his wealth from the town. Maybe the best thing would be to have Kathryn Steele interview Wally about Carson’s generosity for the newspaper. The Star’s owner would handle the story in a tasteful manner.
Shoving that concern away for another day, Skye watched as the last of construction trucks disappeared from view and Wally’s squad car pulled into the driveway. Skye glanced at her watch. It was after five and she hadn’t even thought about dinner yet.
Biting her lip, Skye turned to head into the kitchen, but before she reached the fridge, there was a sudden rush of warm water pouring down her inner thighs. Well, heck! Apparently, the contractions she’d been experiencing over the last several hours weren’t Braxton-Hicks after all.
A few seconds later, when Wally walked through the door, Skye hadn’t moved. He started to speak, but she pointed to the puddle on the floor and his face drained of all color.
After a frozen instant, Wally stepped closer, put his arm around her, and asked, “How close are your contractions?”
“I’m not really sure.” Skye bit her lip. “Maybe twenty minutes. I didn’t realize they were the real deal. Should we wait and see?”
“Absolutely not!” Shooting her an anxious look, he said, “Do you want to change or just go like that?”
“I’m not going to the hospital in wet pants.”
“I’ll call Dr. Johnson while you get dressed.”
Skye nodded and darted into the bedroom. She grabbed a pair of yoga pants from the closet, then as she shimmied out of her jeans, a contraction gripped her and she yelped.
Wally raced into the room and wrapped an arm around her back and waist. “Breathe through it, sugar.”
Skye felt Wally panting with her and the warmth of his embrace helped ease her panic.
“That one was the worst so far,” Skye said after the pain lessened.
“What can I do?”
“Help me get these on.” Skye shoved the pants into his hands.
Once she was decent, she snatched her purse from the dresser and Wally grabbed her suitcase. Walking outside, he tried to steer her toward his police cruiser, but she turned toward Wally’s gift to her—a shiny, silver Mercedes.
“We are taking my car. I love it and I’m riding in it to the hospital.” Skye stared at Wally, daring him to object.
“But I can use the lights and siren if we take the cruiser.”
“No.”
Wally opened his mouth to argue, but apparently, her stubborn glare changed his mind. He helped her into the luxury SUV, ran around the hood, and leaped behind the wheel.
As he sped toward Kankakee, Skye cried out when another contraction hit. She held her belly and panted.
“Shit!” Wally glanced at his watch. “That was only eight minutes from the last one.”
“I’ll text my parents, your dad, Charlie, Trixie, and Vince.” Skye dug her cell from her purse.
“Good plan.”
Skye finished her texts, then screamed, “I need to push!”
“Hold on to it, sugar.” Wally pressed down on the accelerator. Five minutes later, he pulled up to the hospital’s emergency entrance and laid on the horn.
When a man dressed in scrubs rushed out the door, Wally shouted, “My wife’s contractions are three minutes apart and she feels like she needs to push.”
“Be right back,” the man said as he raced into the hospital.
A few seconds later, the attendant returned with a wheelchair and Wally helped Skye into it. He accompanied her as she was propelled toward the birthing center. A nurse met them in the hall and took their information. They had preregistered for one of the Labor/Delivery/Recovery suites and they were quickly ushered into a room.
Once Skye was in a hospital gown, her pulse, blood pressure, and temperature were taken and a monitor was placed on her stomach to check for uterine contractions and assess the baby’s heart rate. Skye was lying on the bed, panting through another contraction, when her ob-gyn arrived.
The doctor pulled up a stool and said, “I’m going to examine your cervix to determine how far labor has progressed.”
“It feels as if my insides are coming out.” Sweat dripped down Skye’s face.
“You can do this, darlin’.” Wally stroked her wet hair away from her forehead and held her hand, continuing to murmur soothingly into her ear.
“I feel such an intense pressure,” Skye sobbed. “Like I have no control over what’s happening.”
“You’re dilated to ten centimeters,” Dr. Johnson announced. “And the baby’s crowning.” She shot Skye and Wally a smile. “You guys made it here just in time.”
Skye grunted her agreement. The pain had become so bad she couldn’t speak. Wally’s face was pale and his brown eyes shone with concern.
Dr. Johnson looked at her. “Skye, you can push now.”
Bearing down as hard as she could, Skye felt as if she were caught in a bad remake of Alien and her stomach would burst open at any minute.
When Wally stroked her cheek, she knocked his hand away and hissed, “Don’t touch me.” After a few more rounds of pushing, she added, “Ever again.”
A couple of minutes later, the first baby was born, and his sister appeared ten minutes later. Dr. Johnson instructed Wally on how to cut the umbilical cords, and once that was successfully accomplished, the nurse took the infants to clean them while the doctor finished with Skye.
After Skye had on a new gown and the bedding was changed, Wally helped her sit up. The nurse placed Skye’s new daughter in her arms and a second nurse handed Wally his son. Then, finally, the four of them were alone.
“Thank you, darlin’.” Wally wiped the moisture from his cheeks as he gazed adoringly at his son. “I never thought I could be this happy.”
“Me either,” Skye murmured, looking at their daughter with the same tears of joy in her eyes. “Thank you for giving me the life I never even knew that I wanted.”
Ten minutes later, Wally said, “We should probably let my dad and your parents come meet their grandchildren.”
“I suppose.” Skye squirmed. “Mom is none too happy that I wouldn’t let her in here for the delivery. Or that we still haven’t picked out names.”
“She’ll get over it as soon as she has an armful of baby.” Wally grinned.
May, Jed, and Carson spent several hours with their children and grandchildren. Charlie, Trixie, Owen, Vince, and Loretta also popped in to v
isit. But finally the nurse shooed everyone away. Once they were all gone and the babies were in their bassinets, Wally sat in a recliner next to Skye and held her hand.
“It almost feels as if we’ve just been through another tornado.” Wally sighed. “So much has gone on these past couple of months.”
“But it’s not what happens to us that’s important.” Skye stared at her wonderful husband. “It’s what we do about it and what we learn from it.” She squeezed his fingers. “And I’ve learned that I don’t care about things. All I care about is having our family together.”
“Me too.” He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. “Me too.”
Read on for an excerpt from
Tart of Darkness
the first book in a brand-new cozy series from Denise Swanson!
The tantalizing odor of pumpkin spice scented the air as Danielle Sloan watched her neighbor Ivy Drake stuff Halloween cookies into her mouth. It was still several weeks before the holiday, but Dani had been practicing a new recipe, and as usual, Ivy volunteered to be her taste tester.
Dani was nearly a dozen years older than Ivy, who, having skipped two grades, was an eighteen-year-old junior at the local university. But over the past few months, the two of them had drifted into a sort of big sister/little sister relationship.
Ivy seemed to prefer hanging out with Dani to partying with friends closer to her own age. Most evenings, she ended up in Dani’s apartment, chowing down on whatever Dani had cooked that day while they both watched Cupcake Wars or Hell’s Kitchen.
Dani wasn’t sure exactly why she enjoyed having the girl around, but her old psychology professor would probably claim that it was because of Dani’s deep-seated desire for siblings. She had begged her parents for brothers and sisters. But all they’d come up with to assuage her only-child loneliness had been a stupid goldfish named—wait for it—Goldie.
“What are these?” Ivy interrupted Dani’s thoughts, gesturing to the cookie she’d selected from the open Tupperware bowl on the coffee table.
“Mystic Macaroons.” Dani eyed the confections critically. “I’m not sure if I should have added the chopped candy corn or not.”
“You definitely should. Candy corn is delish and corn’s a vegetable, which makes these cookies good for you. It’s a win-win,” Ivy assured her, then licked her fingers and added, “I’m so glad you quit your job. My roomies and I were dying of starvation before you started cooking for us. The only time we ever got a decent meal was if Uncle Spence took us out to eat, and I was beginning to feel like we were mooching off of him too often.”
“I’m sure he enjoys the chance to spend time with you,” Dani said, squirming until her back rested against the arm of her worn, plaid sofa. “So I hope you still go to supper with him.”
She had never met Spencer Drake, but Ivy had mentioned that after retiring from a career in law enforcement in August, her uncle had taken a job as head of the university’s security department. Dani pictured him as a lonely, old ex-cop watching reruns of Law & Order as he ate his solitary meal off a TV tray.
“Oh, we never turn down a free dinner.” Ivy wrinkled her nose. “But your cooking is wicked.”
“Thanks.” Living in an apartment building full of college kids, Dani was fluent in the native lingo and interpreted Ivy’s statement as a compliment. “I’m happy you like it because I’m thrilled to get the food out of my kitchen.” She flicked a disapproving glance at her curvy hips and belly pooch. “Otherwise, I’d eat it all myself.” Her shoulders drooped. “It’s not as if there’s a guy in my life for me to feed.”
“You were right to dump Dr. McCreepy.” Ivy shot her a sympathetic glance. “You’re nobody’s side chick.”
“Sadly, that’s not correct. He might have told me I was his girlfriend, but I was just his fill-in.” Dani massaged the back of her neck. Thinking about her ex, Dr. Kipp Newson, always made her tense. “Hard to believe that I didn’t realize he was engaged to someone else. Who would have guessed he’d have two Facebook accounts?”
“Me.” Ivy’s expression was a mixture of pride and guilt. “I’m sorry I had to be the one to tell you, but I’m not sorry that I checked him out. I knew that loser was up to something when he claimed he worked every weekend.”
“I figured as the newest doctor hired in the emergency room, he got the worst shifts,” Dani said defensively, knowing that wasn’t the complete truth.
In reality, she knew something was off with her ex, but for once, her father had been proud of her. He had been more impressed when she’d introduced him to Kipp than when she’d graduated from college summa cum laude. Her dad was delighted that she was dating such a handsome, successful man, and she hadn’t wanted to acknowledge that there could possibly be anything wrong with their relationship.
However, in her heart, Dani always believed it was too good to be true. There was no way someone like Kipp Newson would really be interested in someone like her. And all her fantasies about a future with him had shattered when Ivy had exposed him as the selfish, heartless, egotistical ass that he was.
Dani knew she shouldn’t have been surprised. As her dad frequently told her, she wasn’t pretty enough, she wasn’t thin enough, and she certainly wasn’t special enough to attract a guy like Kipp.
She had never been able to live up to her father’s standards of beauty and charm. In her dad’s eyes, she didn’t come close to her mother’s perfection. But living up to the memory of the gorgeous woman he’d loved and lost at such a young age was an impossible goal for his daughter to meet.
Breaking into Dani’s depressing thoughts, Ivy said, “When Dr. Detestable threw such a fit when you posted a picture of the two of you, I knew he was hiding something.”
“You’re right.” Dani swallowed the painful lump in her throat. “And working in human relations, I certainly should have thought to investigate his social media presence more thoroughly.”
“Speaking of which…” Ivy popped a third or maybe fourth cookie in her mouth, then as she chewed, she mumbled, “Last week, when you announced that you had turned in your resignation, you never said why you were bailing on your job. You were at Homestead Insurance, what, six years?”
“Seven. I started the day after I got my degree.” Dani smiled, amused by Ivy’s moans of appreciation at the cookie’s peanut butter and coconut flavor, then said, “But I really didn’t have much choice. I had to resign. I was turning into someone I hated.”
She paused, thinking about the reason behind the reason—the one she couldn’t share with Ivy. Even if she hadn’t signed a nondisclosure agreement, she wouldn’t have told her young friend about what she’d been forced to do. Although she’d resisted the CEO’s directive to dissolve an entire department and sweep a scandal under the rug, in the end, she’d gone ahead and followed orders she knew were morally wrong—something she’d never allow herself to do again.
“Oh?” Ivy tilted her head. “Who were you turning into that was so bad?”
“A sycophant.” Dani spit out the words as if they were covered with poop.
“Huh?” Ivy’s confused expression morphed into an accusing glare. “You just made that word up.”
“I swear it’s a real word.” Dani hid her smile. Ivy was brilliant in the sciences, technology, and math, but her vocabulary lagged. Searching her mind for a relatable example, Dani said, “It means acting like someone’s minion.”
“Oh.” Ivy nodded sagely. “But how did you know you’d been minionized?”
Dani chuckled, then explained, “It was pretty damn clear that I was burned out. I mean, what kind of person hears that over the weekend their boss died of a heart attack and their first thought is, ‘Gee, I guess we won’t be having our usual Monday morning chew-out session after all’?”
“Yeah. Even if the guy was a hater, that was cold.” Ivy used her tongue to rescue a crumb from the corner of
her lips and frowned. “Which isn’t like you at all.”
“That’s what worried me. At that moment, I knew that if I stayed, I’d only become more and more of a corporate zombie.” Dani blew out a breath. “Originally, I’d thought by being in HR, I could make a difference in people’s lives. Welcome new employees, solve problems, make the company stronger. But that didn’t happen.”
“Why?” Ivy played with one of the bright-pink wisps of hair scattered among her long, blond strands.
“Probably because I was working for the wrong firm,” Dani confessed. “There’s so much employee turnover, all I ever got to do was review résumés. After my inappropriate reaction to the boss’s death, the more I thought about it, I realized that I couldn’t stand to read one more stupid response to a job application.”
“Like the one you told me about?” Ivy giggled. “The guy who circled no to the ‘Have you ever been arrested?’ question but then felt the need to explain?”
“Exactly.” Dani rolled her eyes. “He was doing so well until he got to the next question. Who knew a single word like ‘why’ would trip up someone so badly? If he would have just ignored it… But for some reason, he filled in the blank with ‘Never been caught.’”
Both women laughed until they were gasping for air. When Ivy caught her breath, she grabbed another cookie from the plastic container and said, “This morning, when I was leaving for class, I saw the mail carrier having you sign for a letter. What was that about?”
Having become used to Ivy’s abrupt change of subjects and unquenchable curiosity, Dani didn’t miss a beat as she answered, “It was from a local law firm.” She crinkled her brow. “It seems that I’ve inherited a house.”
“What!” Ivy’s shrill scream sounded like a teakettle boiling over. “From who?”
“A woman named Geraldine Cook.”
“Where’s the house at?”
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