Evergreen Springs

by RaeAnne Thayne

  “You knew where she was,” Cole growled, looking ready to drag the man behind his horse for a few hundred miles. “You could have come out here to Idaho anytime to see her in person.”

  “I wanted to. God knows, I wanted to. I started to a dozen times, but I was afraid of making things worse, pushing you further away, and then this morning I had finally decided, to hell with it, I was driving here anyway to have things out with you once and for all. Just as I’m on my way out with my bag packed, I get a phone call from Stanford, who tells me in no uncertain terms, with a great deal of unflattering terms, what a son of a bitch I’ve been.”

  Tricia frowned. “My...father called you?”

  “Yes. Earlier this morning. He told me I deserve to rot in hell for leaving you here alone with a sprained ankle and two babies you’ve been trying for two weeks to keep from coming too early. Why didn’t you tell me, Tricia?”

  “What difference would it have made?” she snapped.

  “I would have been here, from the very beginning! I could have helped you through this, damn it. Instead, you shut me out, like you’ve been doing from the moment you found out you were pregnant.”

  “I shut you out?” Tricia flushed and Devin saw her heart rate rise on the monitor. “I did everything I could to involve you in the pregnancy. You wouldn’t even come to the last ultrasound!”

  He raked a hand through shaggy hair. “Because you told me very clearly that I didn’t have to come. In fact, you made it sound like you didn’t want me there. You deliberately scheduled the ultrasound for a time you knew I had an upcoming trip and would be away, just like every other prenatal appointment. You scheduled them all when I was traveling or had meetings I couldn’t miss, even though I was careful to give you my calendar.”

  In response, Tricia only moaned in pain as another contraction rolled over her. Her hands clenched the side rails of the bed and her abdomen visibly tightened under the sheet.

  Sylvie, eyes wide as she watched the ongoing drama, froze for a moment, so Devin stepped in. “That’s it. That’s the way, my dear,” she said calmly to her patient.

  When it was over, Tricia sagged against the pillows with her eyes closed. “Do we have to discuss this now?” she said to her husband, her voice sounding weak, muffled. “I’m only a few contractions away from having these babies. I don’t need this right now. I would like you to leave.”

  Cole moved closer, all wide shoulders and dangerous, menacing muscles. “You heard her. You need to leave.”

  Hollister gaped at his brother-in-law and then at his wife. “I’m the father! Don’t I have the right to be here?”

  “You didn’t want these babies and you didn’t want me. As far as I’m concerned, you have the right to go to hell.”

  The last word came out on a sob. As fervent declarations went, it was a little on the cheesy side but Devin decided she would give Tricia some allowances for being in labor and in pain.

  “I never said I didn’t want you. I love you!”

  “But not the babies.”

  He raked a hand through his hair again. “Neither of us wanted children. We said it to each other a thousand times. And then you get pregnant. With twins!”

  “Not by myself, if you recall,” Tricia said heatedly, just as another contraction washed over her, stronger this time. They were definitely heading into transition. The contractions were coming faster and stronger.

  When the wave of pain was over, Sean Hollister looked even more pale than Tricia.

  “Please...go,” she whispered, looking devastated. Her heart rate climbed another notch on the monitor and Devin decided she needed to step in.

  “I’m afraid I have to ask you to leave the room,” she said. “I can’t kick you out of the hospital unless you’re deemed a security risk but the mother gets final say about who can remain in the delivery room.”

  “Even when they’re my babies?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry.”

  Cole crossed his arms over his chest like a bouncer in a nightclub, ready to throw his brother-in-law out on his ass, Devin was sure.

  The man looked even more devastated, his eyes hollow and filled with so much pain that Devin couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for him.

  “I need to say one more thing. You told me to go to hell. Where do you think I’ve been this last month? I haven’t slept more than an hour or two at a time since you left. I keep waking up and hoping this is some kind of nightmare and you’ll be there. I’m bollocks at work and can’t focus on a thing and I’ve lost a stone in the last month.”

  He gripped her hand, a desperate look in his eyes. “Whatever else you think of me, I love you, my darling. I never stopped. I love you and...and I love our son and daughter. Here. I brought something for them.”

  Out of the pocket of his suede jacket, he pulled two tiny onesies out. One was pink and said Daddy’s Sweetheart and the other was blue and said Daddy’s Little Man.

  “Oh,” Tricia whispered.

  Out of the corner of her gaze, Devin saw the nurse press a hand to her mouth, eyes watching the unfolding drama as if it was more exciting than the telenovelas all the staff watched on their breaks.

  “I bought these the day you told me you were having twins,” Hollister said, his voice shaking with suppressed emotion. “I’d forgotten about them, stuffed them in a drawer in my bureau and only just found them when I was throwing things in a bag to come here. I’m sure they’re too big but...maybe they’ll fit in a month or two.”

  Tricia said nothing, only gazed between the little onesies and her husband.

  At her continued silence, he drew in a shaky, defeated breath and stepped away. “I... May I stay here at the hospital until they’re born, just to see them and make sure you’re all...safe?”

  At that word, Tricia hitched in a wobbly breath.

  The man sank to his knees beside the bed and grabbed her hand. “Please, Patricia. Please don’t make me leave. I’m begging you. I want to be here for you and for the babies. I’ll stay in the corner and won’t say a word, but please. Let me stay.”

  “Oh, Sean.” She grabbed the onesies with her other hand and clutched them to her breast, then burst into noisy sobs.

  “Don’t cry. Don’t cry. I’ll go. I’m sorry.”

  After a moment and another contraction, her sobs subsided. She shook her drenched head on the pillow and then curved her hand up and pushed a lock of hair out of his face. “You need a haircut and a shave. You look as lousy as I do,” she said.

  “I’ve never seen you more beautiful,” he said fervently, eyes blazing with emotion.

  Beside Devin, Sylvie gave a small, breathy sigh of delight.

  Devin didn’t know what to think. She thought of the heartbreak Tricia had shared with her, the fear that her husband would never be able to love their children. It had been a great enough fear that she had left him over it.

  This man looked like someone completely enamored of his wife. He also looked nervous about becoming a father, but that didn’t necessarily mean he wouldn’t be a good one. Perhaps he was one of those men who had a tough time showing their deeper emotions—the natural anxiety a man would have facing impending fatherhood of twins—and perhaps Tricia had interpreted that as him not wanting the babies.

  Devin thought it just as likely that Tricia’s own background had colored her perception. While she wasn’t as bitter as Cole and had begun to reestablish a relationship with Stanford, her father had walked out at an impressionable age and certainly must have left scars and insecurities.

  Perhaps this had been a preemptive strike. Maybe Tricia had been subconsciously looking for things that proved her husband wanted to abandon her and the babies, just as Stanford had abandoned her and Cole, and had fled the situation to protect herself and her children from future hurt.

  No
t that the reasons mattered now, not when Tricia’s body was tensing with another hard contraction. This time, her husband was there to wipe her face and murmur encouragement.

  “So that’s it?” Cole demanded when the contraction had passed. “After a month of ignoring you and the babies, he just gets to walk back in like nothing has happened?”

  Tricia turned from her husband to her brother. “These babies are going to be here within the hour. I don’t have time to figure out if I’m making the right decision. I only know I love him. He’s my husband and the father of my children and if he wants to be here, I want him here. That’s the only thing that matters right now.”

  Cole looked baffled by the whole situation. “Your choice, I guess. Since you don’t need me now, I’ll go back into the waiting room with the kids. Just know that if you change your mind, I’m just out there. I’ll be more than happy to come in and toss him out into the snow for you.”

  “Thank you, Cole.”

  She gave him a ragged smile. After a moment, Cole walked to the bedside. “For the record, I love you, too. You’re one of the strongest women I know. You got this.”

  He kissed the top of her head in a tender gesture that made Devin’s heart ache and then turned away. As he did, his gaze met Devin’s. She thought she saw something flash there, raw and emotional, then he nodded curtly to her and walked out of the room.

  * * *

  THIS WAS NO new revelation to him, but Cole did not understand women.

  All these weeks of misery, of Tricia being completely convinced the man didn’t love her and their children, and now his sister was willing to let her husband back, just like that. It made no sense to him—but then, it wasn’t his decision, either. If Tricia wanted Sean here now while she went through the pain of labor and delivery—if she was willing to work through their issues, despite the past rough few weeks—Cole had to support her. Even if he didn’t understand what had just happened in there.

  His mind kept straying to Devin. She wore green scrubs, with her luscious hair pulled back into a tight braid. She had looked brisk and efficient and in control—except that moment when her eyes had met his just as he walked out, when deeper, unfathomable emotion had stirred there.

  He couldn’t tell if she was angry with him or if he had glimpsed something else.

  He wanted to march back in and ask her but he supposed she was a little busy right now, delivering his sister’s twins and all.

  With a sigh, he pushed the memory away and walked out to the waiting room, where he found the kids still watching one of their favorite Christmas movies.

  They were snuggled together on one of the sofas under a blanket one of the kind labor and delivery nurses must have brought them, like two little puppies. As he watched, Ty covered a yawn.

  Poor things. This wasn’t the way they all intended to spend Christmas Eve. It was now nearly 8:00 p.m., about the time they should be settling down in their beds to dream about Santa and what he might bring the next day. Instead, they were stuck in a hospital waiting room.

  They’d been wonderfully patient through the whole thing and as he stood in the doorway, he was consumed with love for these two little creatures doing their best to adapt to the circumstances life had handed them.

  Jazmyn spotted him in the doorway first. Her eyes brightened. “Did Aunt Tricia have her babies?” she asked.

  He walked inside. “Not yet. Soon, though.”

  “She’s really gonna have them tonight? On Christmas Eve?” Ty asked in an awestruck voice.

  “Looks like it.”

  “Are we going to stay the whole time, until she does?” Jazmyn asked.

  What else could he do? He should probably take the kids home but he didn’t feel good about leaving Tricia, even though her husband was there now. “I’m pretty sure it’s close now. Do you mind waiting a bit longer.”

  “No. I want to see them. Can we hold them?”

  “Probably not tonight but maybe tomorrow. Thanks for keeping an eye on Ty for me.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  She looked at the television set, then back at him. “Who was that man you were mad at before?”

  “I didn’t like when you yelled,” Ty added.

  He could only imagine how frightening that must have been for his kids when Sean had walked in, bold as brass, and Cole had lost his temper.

  He was careful to keep control around the children. They had probably never seen him truly angry.

  “That’s her husband. Your uncle Sean.” He still thought it was sad that the children had never met Tricia’s husband, since Sharla had despised his sister and would never have made the effort to connect, even when she was in California.

  “Why were you so mad at him?” Ty asked, still giving him wary looks.

  He sighed. “It’s a long story. He made Aunt Tricia sad and I didn’t want him to do it again.”

  “Is he in there now, with Aunt Tricia?” Jazmyn asked.

  “Yes. He’s going to stay until the babies come.”

  “Will Aunt Tricia go back to California now?” she asked.

  “Maybe. I don’t know what will happen.”

  She seemed to accept this with equanimity. Ty yawned and snuggled down into the sofa.

  He thought again they should be home in their own beds but he would get them there eventually. If nothing else, this would be an unforgettable Christmas, the year they waited for new cousins along with Santa Claus.

  They watched for a few more moments, until the closing credits, then Jazmyn turned to him. “Will you read us a Christmas story?” she asked. “While we were waiting for you, we went through all the books on the bookshelf until we found some. You said we could read stories tonight.”

  She pointed to a stack of five or six Christmas stories. What a funny kid she was. Before he knew Tricia was in labor, he had told the kids they could watch a Christmas movie and read some books that evening to celebrate the holiday. The venue and the circumstances might have changed but Jazmyn would hold him to what he had said, no matter what.

  “Sure. Sounds perfect. Let’s see what we have here.”

  He picked up the pile and leafed through it until he found a story that looked appealing.

  “Scoot over. You need to sit in the middle so we can both see the pictures,” Jazmyn directed.

  Someday she was going to make an excellent four-star general. Or maybe a prison warden.

  He almost laughed at the irony of that as he complied and moved to the middle of the sofa. Once the children were settled with their blankets around them, Cole started reading.

  This wasn’t at all the way he intended to spend Christmas Eve, he thought after the third book—this one about mischievous Christmas trolls—but it wasn’t bad, either. Jazmyn had her chin resting on his biceps so she could see the pictures and on his other side, Ty was quiet and still.

  He turned to the next page just as he sensed the presence of someone else. He looked up and his mouth tightened at the sight of his father standing in the doorway, his features strained and his parka covered in snowflakes.

  That same helpless frustration as always washed over him. He opened his mouth to ask his father what the hell he thought he was doing there but then just as quickly closed it. He figured he had done his share of yelling for the night.

  “Has she had the babies yet?” Stan asked urgently.

  “Not as far as I know. How did you know she was in labor?”

  Stan moved into the room. “Hollister texted me that he was here and that he was staying through the delivery. I suppose you think I shouldn’t have told him she was in the hospital. One more thing for you to hate me over.”

  Cole couldn’t seem to dredge up any anger, as much as he wanted to. How many times had he hounded Tricia to call her husband over the past mo
nth? He had almost called the man himself a few times but had always backed down at the last minute, figuring his sister had the right to manage her own life.

  Maybe if he had called Sean, they could have avoided this last-minute drama.

  “He’s here now. Don’t know what either one of us can do about it at this point.”

  “I hope I did the right thing.”

  He wasn’t about to give his father absolution. “Tricia wants him to stay, so I guess that’s the end of it.”

  “I suppose you’re right.” Stanford sank into the sofa across from them. “I interrupted. I’m sorry. Go back to your story.”

  He was going to wait here with them? Cole swallowed down his irritation. He couldn’t ask the man to leave. It was a public space and he didn’t have that right. He supposed he would have to tolerate it, for Tricia’s sake.

  Feeling itchy and uncomfortable, he returned to the story. When he finished, Jazmyn gave a happy sigh. “That’s a great story.”

  “I like it, too,” Ty said sleepily. He was three-quarters of the way asleep. A little push in the right direction would send him over the edge.

  “Why don’t you two close your eyes and stretch out on that other sofa.”

  “I’m not sleepy,” Ty said, smothering a huge yawn.

  “You don’t have to sleep, just rest for a minute. I’ll let you know when Aunt Tricia has her babies.” Cole picked up his son and carried him across the space to the other sofa. “Jazmyn, there’s room on this other end for you. You can come down here and read to yourself for a minute.”

  “I guess I could.”

  “Do you want me to carry you?”

  “I’m not a baby,” she said, picking up her blanket and carrying it to the other sofa. He helped her get settled and handed her a book, but he could tell even as he returned to his own spot that she would soon be asleep like her brother.