by Ladew, Lisa
“Ouch, Craig, stop that,” Emma said, one hand going to her belly as her other hand pushed him away. “They always kick when you talk to them.”
Craig stood and grinned at her, flashing his dimples so she couldn’t stay mad. “I know, that’s cuz I’m d-a-d-d-y.”
“Ouch,” Emma gasped and bent slightly. One baby rolled inside her while the other kicked again and again. A sharp pop sounded inside her head and moisture seeped down her legs. “Oh God,” she stammered, looking up at Dani and JT’s grand wedding unfolding in front of them. Dani had finally gotten the anchor position she’d been fighting so hard for and had finally said yes to marrying JT. She had it all planned out. One year on the job. Marriage, then one more year on the job, then one baby, with six months off, then a nanny on set so she could go back to work. Emma grimaced as she thought of how easily plans could be derailed.
“What’s wrong?” Craig asked, bending to hold her up.
“Craig, get me a towel, some napkins, anything. Quickly.”
Craig’s face went white as he contemplated these instructions. She squeezed his arm. “Go, get me something!”
He disappeared and came back a moment later with a handful of paper towels. Emma dried her legs and shoved the towels in her underwear while hiding behind Craig. They were the only ones left out there anyway.
“Emma, what’s going on, are the babies coming?”
“My water broke, but I’m not having contractions. I’ll be fine for a few moments.”
Craig clutched at her, looking ready to throw her over his shoulder and rush out of there.
Emma took a step back and held up her finger. “No sir, no way. You just keep back. I’m not missing this wedding.”
“But Emma, the babies, are they OK?”
“They are fine. I can feel them rolling around in there like normal. I’m not even having contractions.” She pulled Craig close to her. “There’s no risk if we just stay for a few minutes. Just long enough to see the I do’s. I promise.”
Craig stared down at her doubtfully.
“Look, I’m a paramedic, I’ll deliver these babies myself if I have to. I’m staying, so you better just get on board. It’s our turn.”
Emma took his arm and pulled at him, slightly anxious that he would just pick her up and run for his truck no matter what she said, so when he stood straight and began to walk she breathed a sigh of relief. “Smile,” she whispered at him and they stepped down the aisle, Emma now very glad she was in flats.
At the altar, Craig faltered, wanting to stay with her. She gave him a warning look and a little push, then went her way, glad to see he went to stand at the end of the groomsmen.
Emma took her place next to her sister, wanting to tell her that her water had just broken, but not wanting to spoil the wedding. She held her tongue. They both had chairs waiting just behind them if they needed to sit. Emma didn’t need hers quite yet.
They watched as Dani’s parents walked her down the aisle, kissed her on the cheek, and gave her away to JT. Emma smiled at Dani’s beauty. She looked fresh and lovely in her sleeveless, low-back bridal gown. Emma listened with rapt attention as the couple promised to love each other for the rest of their lives, and she finally sat down when tiny, fluttering contractions started at the top of her belly.
Craig noticed her sitting and left his side of the ceremony immediately, running out the side door. As the rest of the church watched JT kiss his bride, Emma watched glimpses of her husband sprinting past doors, around to her side of the church.
He came in the side door closest to her. “I’m taking you to the hospital now.”
“Just one more minute,” Emma told him, breathless as another, stronger, contraction took her. She craned her neck to see JT and Dani as they broke apart, smiled at each other, then smiled at the crowd and started down the aisle. Happy music filled the room and Emma’s heart filled with gladness for her brother.
“Ok,” she whispered to Craig, knowing he couldn’t hear her over the applause. She stood, leaning heavily on him and tapped her sister on the shoulder, leaning in to whisper, “My water broke,” into her ear.
Vivian spun around and grabbed her hands. “The hospital…”
“We’re going,” Craig said roughly, putting his arm around Emma and encouraging her to lean on him.
“Give my apologies to JT and Dani,” Emma told her sister and allowed Craig to pull her away to the side door, away from the crowd.
Vivian caught up with them. “I’m coming too.”
“No, don’t come now. It will take forever for me to get checked in and examined. I’ll text you if anything good happens.”
“Good luck. I’ll see you soon,” Vivian called after her. “Don’t have those babies till I get there.”
***
Vivian stood outside the reception hall, debating back and forth when to tell Dani and JT that Emma was in labor. She didn’t want to ruin their wedding, but she didn’t want anyone to miss anything either. Finally she decided to wait at least until after the first dance. It wasn’t like the hospital would let all of them in the room anyway.
Decision made, she breathed a sigh of relief and waved her husband over to stand in the greeting line with her. Nervous excitement filled her belly. Emma was finally having her babies! Emma had wanted this for so long, and she wasn’t getting just one baby, but two! Twins were hard work, but so worth the sacrifice. Anna and Abigail meant everything to her and Hawk. They had Hawk completely wrapped around their fingers. All Anna had to do was laugh her little girl laugh and daddy fell all over himself to make her happy. All Abigail had to do was frown slightly, her big, electric-blue eyes misting, and Daddy would move mountains for her. Vivian smiled at the thought of her daughters, then looked around the large reception hall for them as Hawk joined her at the end of the line. She saw them in the corner with Archer, Jerry and Sara’s son. Vivian’s mother and father were getting all three children drinks and snacks.
Vivian massaged her belly lightly as braxton-hicks contractions tightened it. She’d been having them on and off for weeks. She’d get some water as soon as she got inside. She’d been on her feet all day.
***
Emma screamed as the vice tightened around her middle and the pressure in her pelvis became unbearable. “Where’s my sister!” she shouted at Craig, pulling him around by his shirt like he weighed nothing.
“I don’t know, babe, no one is answering my texts,” he said, pulling his phone out of his pocket again.
It had been just over eight hours since Emma had left the wedding. The doctor had insisted on starting pitocin on her to speed up her contractions, and although Emma hadn’t wanted to do it, when he’d started throwing around the words c-section and fetal distress, she’d acquiesced. The pitocin contractions were hitting her heard and heavy, double-peaking and leaving her no time to relax. She really wanted her sister to help her through it. Craig was great, super-supportive, but Vivian had done this. Vivian had made it through this. She wanted Vivian there to tell her she could make it through this too.
Emma thrust her belly in the air, trying to find the least uncomfortable position. In a fit of labor-induced rage she ripped all the wires off of her belly and turned onto her hands and knees. Immediately she felt a head drop.
“Oh, God,” she screamed. “Get the doctor, they’re coming!”
Craig dropped his phone and looked towards the door, then back to her, unsure what to do.
Emma gripped the edge of the bed and let out a scream as she felt her baby being born. “Catch her, Craig!” she screamed.
Craig ran to the end of the bed, a frantic look on his face, as Emma screamed and her body did its work. A nurse sprinted in, yelled down the hall for the doctor and joined Craig at the end of the bed.
Emma took a few seconds to breathe, face smashed against the raised head of the bed, then turned around slightly to see what was going on. A baby cry sounded, harsh and loud in the tiny room. Tears fell from Emma’s eyes as s
he saw her husband cradling their first baby, looking down at her like she were a miracle straight from heaven. Which of course she was.
The doctor and two more nurses rushed in, one of them taking the baby from Craig, the other clamping and cutting the cord so she could take the baby to be weighed and measured while they prepared for the other twin to be born.
Craig hugged her with one arm and cried onto her neck. “She’s so beautiful Emma. She looks just like you. Red hair and blue eyes.” Emma’s tears flowed harder as she felt her body bearing down again, taking over.
“Ok, people, we’ve got another baby coming,” the doctor said and Craig squeezed Emma’s shoulder. She could do this. She was doing this.
Forty seconds later, a second baby’s crying filled the room and Emma dropped to the bed, her hard work done. Craig disappeared for a few moments, then came back, carrying a tiny, red-faced bundle of absolute perfection. He beamed at her, tear tracks shining on his face.
Emma held her arms out for her baby, still trying to catch her breath. “Is this our first baby?”
He nodded.
“What about our second?”
“She’s perfect too. And just as beautiful. But she’s blonde.”
“They’re fraternal,” Emma whispered, ever so lightly caressing the baby in her arms on her tiny cheek.
Craig disappeared again and came back with the second girl, also swaddled in a pink blanket. Emma watched as the tiny bundle waved an irate fist at her daddy and wailed. “Which is which?” she asked Craig. They had names picked out, but she didn’t know how to choose who got what name.
“This is Winter, for sure,” Craig whispered, his voice light and full of wonder.
Emma looked down at her bundle of fat baby cheeks and long lashes over closed eyes. Then she had Summer. Perfect, beautiful Summer.
The door burst open and Hawk rushed in, his hair mussed and his suit jacket off. “Sorry I didn’t pick up your call,” he started, then stopped as he saw the babies.
He clapped Craig on the back. “They’re gorgeous, Dad, congratulations.”
Craig didn’t even look up. He nodded, his eyes plastered on the perfect package of baby in his arms.
“Thanks Hawk,” Emma said lightly, trying not to disturb Summer. “Where’s Vivian?”
“Ah well, that was the problem. She went into labor too. She’s right down the hall.”
Emma stared at him, her eyes wide. “The babies…?”
“She had them already. It was super quick. Two boys this time. Broin and Camden. Brown hair, blue eyes. Broin was six pounds, eight ounces, and Camden was six pounds, four ounces.”
Emma felt more tears come. “Identical or fraternal?”
“Fraternal this time.”
“When can we see them?”
***
Emma held her babies in her arms as her husband walked by her side and the nurse pushed her bed towards the recovery unit. Summer and Winter had both nursed like champs and fallen asleep. She wouldn’t let anyone take them. They were staying with her.
The nurse pushed her bed into her recovery room, and although she’d originally asked for a private room, she could tell by the size of it that this wasn’t one. Curtains surrounded what had to be another bed with another mother in it. Oh well, the hospital was full right now. She’d just head home as soon as possible. She had her babies. That was all that mattered.
The nurse positioned her and locked her bed and tried to take the babies one more time. “No thank you,” Emma said. “I want them with me.”
The nurse left the room, leaving them alone for the first time since the birth. Well, almost alone. She smiled up at her husband. He brushed a lock of hair off of her forehead and gave her a gentle kiss.
Emma heard the curtain pull back next to her bed and she broke the kiss, looking up.
Hawk stood there, a smile on his face. “We asked them for the same recovery room, I hope that’s OK.”
“Of course!” Emma cried, her eyes falling on her sister, who also held two babies in her arms. Two perfectly handsome baby boys who already looked like their father. Emma felt waves of happiness radiate up her body and spill out as tears. Cousins. Built-in-best friends. With big sisters/older cousins to show them the ropes and protect them and take care of them.
She finally had her big family.
And it was better than she ever imagined it could be.
This time makes up for all, she thought, knowing that not one second of any of the hell she’d ever been through in her life mattered. This was what mattered. Her babies, her sister, her husband, her brother, their spouses, all their friends, her nephews, her nieces, and her godson. Life was good to her. And it always had been.
<<<<<<<< The End >>>>>>>>
Author’s note: Oh I SO enjoyed writing this story! Thank you so much for requesting a Heat 7. I missed these guys a ton. :) I hope you enjoyed meeting Knox Rosesson. He will be the hero in my next book. He reminds me a lot of Hawk, although he’s more rowdy like Craig, and boy, does he have a lot of SECRETS. Preorder or buy here.
P.S. If you haven’t read the Hide Me Series, that is the series where West Shepherd is the hero and the scene where Craig has to go help him and Katerina is in Hide My Soul, although he’s also in the earlier books a bit too. That series is a bit darker than the Heat series, just so you know.
Another Author’s Note: You may have seen me talk about starting a new pen name - well, I scrapped that idea. There were a lot of reasons for it, the biggest one being I am going to start writing in serial format (shorter books, more often, with cliffhangers) and I didn’t want to shock my current readers with that, but it would just take so much time away from writing to do that. I decided to just hope you guys were OK with it. Thanks for understanding! I will still try to keep all my prices just as competitive as they are now, so most books will be .99 I’m sure.
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About the Author
Lisa became a full time author in the summer of 2014, fulfilling a childhood dream. She lives in the Inland Pacific Northwest, and is married with 2 sons. She is a U.S. Army veteran, plus former paramedic, 911 calltaker/police radio dispatcher, and volunteer firefighter. Her husband is also a veteran, and a retired police officer. Connect with her on her facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LisaLadewAuthor or email her. [email protected]