A light came into his eyes and he kissed her ebulliently. “Say that again,” he demanded.
“I love you.” She wrapped her arms around his neck.
“And I love you.”
“Yeah?” She leaned back and traced a finger down his chest.
“Yeah. I think we should take a chance on it, ride this baby and see where it goes. For another sixteen years and another and another.”
“I think we should spend a lifetime at it. Come on.” She pressed her mouth to his. “I dare you.”
Epilogue
“WHERE IS SHE?” DELANEY burst into the waiting room of the obstetrics wing.
Brady, Rand and Zach looked up from where they were playing poker. “In the birthing room,” Brady answered as Zach tapped one finger to check.
“What are you doing here?”
“Taking their money. Read it and weep, gentlemen.” Brady smiled broadly as he turned up his hole cards to show a flush and scooping up the small change they’d thrown out on the coffee table.
Delaney rolled her eyes even as Dom, next to her, grinned. “I meant why aren’t you in the room with her?”
“The nurse kicked us out,” Brady said aggrievedly. “Just when I was going to take Kelly big-time with a full house.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Rand said, picking up the cards and beginning to shuffle. “They said we were breathing up all her oxygen. Only let the girls and the father-to-be back there.”
“And Stef,” Zach reminded him.
“Oh, yeah, the film crew.”
“How’s Kev?”
“Looking a little green,” Brady replied.
Delaney nodded and turned to Dom. “You know Rand. This is Zach Reed, Paige’s boyfriend and Brady McMillan, Thea’s boyfriend. Guys, this is Dom Gordon, my…”
“—main squeeze,” Dom finished, pulling her in close.
Brady chuckled and offered a hand. “Pull up a chair and play with us.”
“I’m going on back,” Delaney told them. “Dom, you want to stay here, or come pick me up afterward?”
He nodded at the game. “I think I’ll stay. Make Brady work for it some.”
“Try not to lose all your money,” she advised, kissing him.
“If they tell you someone’s gotta leave, send Kev back,” called Brady. “He has never learned not to bet on a gutshot straight.”
Delaney charged into the hall just as she heard a cry of absolute agony. She hurried to the nurse’s station. “Kelly Cooper?” she asked.
The nurse glanced up at her. “Another one? She’s down in birthing room three. Better hurry. She’s eight centimeters dilated. It won’t be long now.”
Comfortable chairs, linen-shaded table lamps that gave it a warm glow. The space looked more like a bedroom than a birthing chamber, assuming Kelly was in the habit of having eight friends and a nurse running around her bedroom.
“This was a bad plan, I knew this was a bad plan. We should have adopted.” Kev stood by the bed mopping Kelly’s forehead, his own face peaked.
“It wasn’t—” Kelly broke into rapid panting that was replaced by a high-pitched shriek.
Everybody in the room looked over at Kev.
“Sorry,” he muttered and flexed the hand Kelly had released. Apparently, he wanted to see if any of the bones were left uncrushed.
“There was no plan,” she reminded him through clenched teeth. “It was an accident, remember? And while we’re on it, you’re never touching me again.”
“Ever?”
“Not even when the Dodgers win the World Series. Oh, you motherf—” the words turned into a hoarse cry of pain that raised the hackles on Delaney’s neck. “I want better drugs,” Kelly demanded when she could speak again.
The nurse moved in to check her, sweeping the curtain around the bed. “It’s too late,” she said, coming back out. “I’m sorry but you’re dilating so fast we can’t risk it. I’m going to go call the doctor. The rest of you had better move, except for the ones who are going to be in on the birth.”
With brisk efficiency, the nurse swept out.
Delaney moved by the bed, holding Kelly’s hand for the next contraction. “Why the big hurry?” she murmured, wiping her friend’s forehead. “You weren’t supposed to go into labor for another week and a half.”
“Maybe he’ll be more punctual than his father,” Kelly managed, gripping Delaney’s hand and then she gasped.
“What’s wrong?” Delaney demanded.
“I need to push.” Kelly’s voice rose. “Oh, I need to push.”
Kev turned white as a sheet, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.
Stef moved to the door, bellowing “Nurse!” even as Paige pressed the call button.
The nurse hurried in. “What? What’s happening?” Then she saw Kelly on the bed and her eyes widened. “Oh, glory, she’s having it right now.” She forgot about the curtain, just put Kelly’s legs into the stirrups and draped her.
And before Delaney’s fascinated eyes, the top of a head appeared. “Come on, pant,” she exhorted.
“Good Lord,” someone—she thought it might have been Cilla—murmured behind her.
Kelly’s pants became a bloodcurdling shriek as the head came all the way out, and the shoulders and then in a slick, red rush the baby was there and in the nurse’s hands.
“Oh, you’re in such a hurry, aren’t you little girl?” The nurse beamed.
Kev stared, a faint yellow tint under his skin as the nurse handed him gloves and scissors. “Do you want to cut the cord?”
He swayed a bit and crumpled to the floor.
“I think that was a ‘no,’” Delaney said.
“We’ll tell him he managed it,” the nurse said and snipped the cord herself before tidying the baby and swaddling her. “Here you are, time to meet Mama.”
Kelly’s eyes opened and she stared at the tiny face with its perfect dark arcs of lashes. “Hi, darling,” she whispered, her expression utterly rapt. “Welcome to the world.”
“What’s her name?”
“Savannah. We picked it together.”
There was a pop behind her and Sabrina held up a bottle. “Sparkling cider for everyone,” she announced, handing glasses around. “To the proud mama, the proud papa,” she looked at the chair where a groggy Kev sat, “and most of all to Savannah, the next generation of the Sex & Supper Club.”
“To Savannah!” they all echoed.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-0004-7
BAD BEHAVIOR
Copyright © 2007 by Chez Hardy LLC.
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