“Get towels and blankets, too,” Quentin added.
“How do you know that?”
“Hey, I occasionally watch doctor shows on TV. Oh, and cookies.”
She snorted. “Cookies?”
“In case Rayna gets hungry.” Quentin grinned at her.
All of a sudden, the strangest feeling came over Caitlin. A swell of love filled her chest as she looked at this incredible, selfless man. With a sense of humor no less! She couldn’t imagine Stefan during a crisis. He’d probably be uselessly wringing his hands.
The urgency of their situation crashed over her full force. “Hurry!” She yelled to Quentin, running down the dark hallway into her room to grab her coat and medical bag. In the kitchen, she found a cardboard box and threw in bottled water, sterile hand wipes, and a stack of towels. Three thick blankets went on top.
She left it all at the front door and raced back upstairs.
Quentin was sitting on the bed, holding Rayna’s hand and breathing with her through another contraction. Just having him here, his presence was so comforting. He was strong and solid and so perfect in an emergency.
“How far apart?” she asked Rayna, getting her into warmer clothes.
“Still three minutes, no longer.” Rayna’s arm suddenly went limp and she closed her eyes.
“Is she okay?” Caitlin said, alarmed.
“Just exhausted,” Quentin said. “As soon as you get her dressed, I’ll carry her to the truck.”
“All the supplies are by the front door.”
“I’ll take them out now and come back for you in two minutes. I don’t want you to have to wait in the truck longer than necessary.”
Caitlin helped Rayna pull a heavy sweater over her head and then double-layered her socks.
“Even though it’s cold outside, we’ll forgo long johns so we have easier access to the baby.”
Rayna gave her a weak smile. “I caught what you just did there.”
“The realities of delivery, right?”
“What would I do without you, Caitlin?”
Before she knew it, Quentin was bounding back up the stairs. The man was so strong; he lifted Rayna into his arms and carried her all the way out to the truck while Caitlin ran after them.
With slow movements, Rayna crawled onto the long bench behind the front seat and Caitlin covered her in blankets, sitting beside her, crouched on the floor of the vehicle to hold her hand and breathe with her.
The truck was toasty warm because Quentin had never turned off the ignition. Now they roared back down the driveway and within moments they were flying toward Main Street. If any vehicle could drive these roads, it was his truck with dually tires and four-wheel drive.
Caitlin smoothed Rayna’s hair off her face. She was sweating, but also shaking with chills. A contraction came on and Rayna gripped her hand like a vise.
“I don’t want to scream in front of Quentin,” she said with a chuckle when it subsided. She’d bit her lip and it was bleeding a little. Caitlin dabbed at it with one of the moist wipes.
“Scream all you want,” Caitlin told her. “I’m sure he’s used to it.”
“I have six younger sisters,” Quentin said, overhearing their conversation despite the heat blasting on high and the noisy diesel engine. “It’ll feel just like home to me.”
That brought a weak smile from Rayna who began to take deep breaths again in a fresh contraction. She held her belly with both hands and let out a loud groan, gritting her teeth not to scream in the presence of Quentin. While she panted, Caitlin checked her watch. One and a half minutes apart. They’d left the house just in time.
Main Street soon got slippery. “Black ice under the fresh snow,” Quentin said. “But the hospital is up ahead in about a mile.”
“I gotta push!” Rayna suddenly said. “I can feel the baby. It’s right there.”
“Okay, honey.” Caitlin did several things at once. Checked her temperature with her wrist, did a quick blood pressure check, which was rising a little, and then laid her head on Rayna’s abdomen. The baby was moving down the birth canal, but Caitlin could feel small movements from the baby, which reassured her that the baby wasn’t in distress. At least not yet.
“Uh, oh,” Quentin muttered.
Caitlin glanced up. There were two pick-up trucks sideways in the middle of the road. One with a trailer filled with hay. A man wearing a heavy coat, boots and hat waved his arms and Quentin eased on the brakes to stop without sliding, cranking his wheel to the right to avoid the other vehicles.
He rolled down his window and icy air rolled in. Caitlin shivered, shocked by the depth of the cold, making sure the blanket around Rayna was tight around her neck and arms to keep her from shaking, despite the fact that she was already trembling with pain and the pressure of the baby so close to birth.
“Everybody okay here?” Quentin yelled out the window.
“Yeah,” one of the men shouted back. “Nobody’s hurt. Gonna push the cars off to the side and call a tow truck in the morning.”
“Need a ride?”
“Wife’s coming soon. We’ll huddle under the eaves of Big C’s and wish he was open and serving.”
Quentin yelled to the men, revving the gas pedal with a brief wave of his hand. “Hospital! We’re having a baby!”
A whoop and a holler came from behind them as Quentin shifted gears and roared forward. The lights of the hospital soon came into view and Caitlin breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“The baby’s coming,” Rayna said, agony in her voice. “I have to push.”
“Keep panting through the last of the transition,” Caitlin ordered, squeezing her hand. “Shallow breaths. No pushing. We’re almost there. We want the doctor before that boy pops out.”
“We’re having a boy?” Quentin called from the front seat, swerving around another abandoned car. Miraculously, his truck hardly strayed from the road.
A second later, there was a big dip and a bounce as the truck went into the hospital driveway. Rayna let out a scream of panic, beginning to writhe side to side on the truck seat.
“We’re at the Emergency Entrance, honey,” Caitlin said, wiping a towel across Rayna’s sweating face. “We’re here.”
Quentin pulled up at the glass doors. Lights blazed in the deep darkness surrounding them. “Thank the Lord for a generator,” he said, jumping out to open the back door.
“I’ll grab a wheelchair,” Caitlin said, running for the automatic doors. One was just inside and a nurse jumped up from the desk further down the hall when she spotted them.
“Emergency delivery,” Caitlin called out, pushing the wheelchair through the double sliding doors and out onto the sidewalk.
Thankfully, there was an overhang so the walkway next to the doors was dry, despite snow piling up on either side.
The nurse nodded and ran back to her station to telephone for more help.
At the curb, Caitlin put the brake onto the wheelchair to hold it steady while Quentin lifted Rayna out of the truck.
Rayna was unsteady, her eyes almost crazed. “I can’t stop it,” she blurted out, staring at Caitlin with sheer panic on her face.
With a single loud scream, Rayna bent over and groaned so loud, the entire overhanging structure echoed with the sound. She tried to take tiny steps forward to the doors, but was clutching her belly so hard she couldn’t move very fast.
“We have a wheelchair,” Caitlin said, rushing forward so fast she fell, sliding to the ground at Rayna’s feet as if she was going into first base.
Rayna was tugging at her over-large sweat pants while Caitlin yelped, “The baby’s crowned!”
Another deep moan came from Rayna and the baby slipped out, right into Caitlin’s arms.
“Blankets!” she yelled. Blood and a trickle of amniotic fluid rushed out onto the ground.
Quentin shoved a blanket toward Caitlin who wrapped the baby into it, just as Rayna collapsed, falling limp into Quentin’s arms.
17
While the nurses got Rayna settled into a room on the maternity ward, Quentin held Caitlin’s hand tight in both of his as they sat in the empty waiting room. Doctor Taggart had already been in to see Rayna and ordered an IV and blood tests. Thankfully, her blood pressure had come down once the baby was born. She’d fainted due to exhaustion and an iron deficiency.
Nervously, Caitlin tapped her foot up and down. Quentin reached out and touched her knee.
“You okay?” he asked softly.
“I guess it’s an adrenaline let-down. I’m excited and over-tired both. What time is it?”
“After midnight. Don’t ask specifics, it’s not good for your health.”
Caitlin smiled at that. “I should know the time since my phone’s been glued to my ear for the last two hours. I’ve left five voicemails for Wade. I just hope he gets them soon.”
“He will. He’ll be here as soon as he can. I know that much about the man.”
“I’m sure he’ll be frantic.”
“And, just so you know,” Quentin added. “If you feel like fainting, my arms are waiting.”
“I just may take you up on that, Mr. Hudson,” Caitlin flirted. She gazed at him, thinking about how astonishing he was. He’d shown up at the Starry Skies, knowing they might be in trouble with Wade gone, and hadn’t batted an eye when Rayna spilled a baby in all of its gory glory right in his arms.
“I know one event where you can’t avoid my waiting arms,” he said with a sly look.
“And what’s that?”
“The Valentine’s Dance tomorrow night.”
“That’s tomorrow? I think I’m losing days now.”
“Actually it’s today since we’re closing in on one a.m. but I’m trying not to count the hours.”
Caitlin reached out and took his hand again. He was so sweet once she got past the monster truck. The thought made her smile.
“What are you grinning about? You look like the cat that swallowed a mouse.”
She shook her head. “Nothing. Nice things. You.”
Quentin reached out and brushed his warm hand against her cheek. “Is it against the law to kiss you here? There’s nobody around.”
“Yes, it is,” Caitlin teased. “I’ll bet there are security cameras.”
“Well, shucks.”
“I’m going to make you wait and take me on a proper date.”
“We haven’t had one of those yet? The last twenty-four hours feels like a week.”
A nurse passed through the waiting room and lifted a hand to signal them. “Mrs. Kinsella is resting well. In a few minutes, I’ll let you tiptoe in to see her, and you can also come by the nursery and see the baby.”
“Oh, thank you. How is the baby? I was terrified he was going to freeze outside on the sidewalk.”
“He’s perfectly healthy and scored well both times on the Apgar. A solid seven pounds, eight ounces, and twenty inches long. Despite being at least three weeks early.”
Relief and happiness filled her. “He let out a pretty good yell when I rushed him in through the doors. But I’m pretty sure he just wanted his mama.”
“Has Rayna had a chance to see him yet?” Quentin asked.
“She was awake for a little while and was able to hold him. Then she fell asleep. It’s been quite an ordeal so we’re taking care of her son tonight. Or at least until Daddy shows up.”
“He’ll be here,” Caitlin said. “He’s out helping people in this storm.”
“That’s what I understand. Give us about twenty more minutes and then come on back. Farthest hallway, turn right, and keep going until you see the signs.”
A bit later, Caitlin and Quentin rose to go down the hall, but as soon as they stepped out of the waiting room, Wade came rushing through the double glass doors. A burst of freezing air came in with him.
“Wade, you made it!” she cried. He was still wearing his fireman uniform, helmet in hand, muddy boots tramping footprints on the clean tile floors.
“Is Rayna okay? She’s okay, right?” Wade said, bursting with questions. His hair was a mess, his face ragged with lack of sleep. “The baby is three weeks early. Is he alright? What happened? I got worried after all your phone calls lit up my cell when I got back to a tower. I couldn’t drive fast enough. Took me three hours.”
“You should have called me,” Caitlin said. “I could have saved you all that worry.”
“Roads beyond town are horrible. What a mess. One of the biggest snowstorms we’ve had in several years. I had to focus on my truck making it through.”
“Rayna’s doing well,” Quentin said to reassure him. “The baby coming was a big surprise but Caitlin was amazing and we got her to the hospital.”
“I have a feeling there’s more to the story,” Wade said, his eyes going back and forth between their faces.
“Let Rayna tell you when she feels up to it. We’re all just inordinately relieved.”
Impulsively, Wade reached out and bear-hugged Caitlin. “Thank you for saving her life. Thank you for helping bring our son into the world.”
“Congratulations, Wade,” Caitlin told him, trying not to cry now that he was here and it was all over. “We were just on our way down to see him.”
Two minutes later, the three of them stood before the nursery windows. The lights were dusky, the babies asleep so they didn’t walk in and disturb them. The same nurse that had come to the waiting room earlier pointed to Wade Jr in his bassinet. “He’s beautiful,” she mouthed, waving them into the room.
The nurse placed the sleeping baby, tucked into blankets like a burrito, into Wade’s arms. His head bowed as he stared down at his newborn son. “Alright guys, I’m having a hard time taking this in. It’s real. I’m a father.”
Quentin clapped him on the shoulder while Caitlin said, “You’re going to be a great father. Do you have a name picked out?”
“We’ve been debating names for a long time but I figured we had a few more weeks.”
“That big boy is certainly not a preemie,” Caitlin said with a grin.
They each took turns holding the baby for a few moments, careful not to wake him. His skin was smooth and pink, tufts of dark hair tucked under the little hat snug around his head.
Quentin finally said, “So you’d better get on the stick and go see your wife.”
Wade gave him a wry salute and rushed down the hall.
Following a bit more slowly, Caitlin peeked into Rayna’s room for a moment. She had to be sure that Rayna was doing well. The new mother was lying under the white sheets, cleaned up, her eyes closed in exhaustion. Glancing at the monitors, Caitlin saw that Rayna’s vitals were normal and she wasn’t on oxygen.
Wade had taken off his heavy yellow fireman coat and flung them over a chair. Perched on the edge of the bed, he held Rayna’s hands in his. Her eyelids fluttered open and then she let out a weak cry when she saw him there. Wade scooped her close to his chest, kissing her hair and then burying his face into her neck as he rocked her.
Crisis averted.
Now Caitlin just wanted to go home and to bed.
18
Which she did—after Quentin drove her home and made sure she was locked up tight. Thankfully, he’d remembered to douse the candles and lamps before they’d left for the hospital to minimize the fire risk.
He gave Caitlin a hug and told her he’d pick her up the next day for dinner at six o’clock. Since Snow Valley wasn’t going to have power again until Sunday, he was going to drive her to the next town for a nice dinner before the dance, warning her that they were now going as official chaperones, which made her laugh.
Using a flashlight to dress in the cold house, Caitlin bundled into flannel pajamas and a knit hat, pilling extra blankets on the bed to sleep.
It was after two a.m. when she fell asleep and noon the next day when she woke.
She spent the afternoon enjoying a steaming hot soak in the tub and getting ready. She’d never been so grateful they didn’t have guests this week
end.
Just before Quentin picked her up, Caitlin glanced at her Fortune Teller predictions, but his honk in the driveway made her jump up before she could read them over.
Grabbing her purse and coat, she stuffed the sheet of paper into a side pocket and ran for the door.
When she opened it, there he was, devastatingly handsome in a suit and blue tie, which matched those amazing eyes.
“Are you ready to kick up your heels, Just Caitlin?”
“Good evening, Mr. Hudson. I guess we’ll see who can outlast who on the dance floor?”
After a steak dinner, they did just that.
The high school had managed to get a couple of generators hooked up and the place was decorated to the hilt. It was also warm with extra heaters going on either end of the gymnasium.
Janet Hamilton from the local flower shop had done a bang-up business, decorating all afternoon with red roses and daisies. Baskets of hearts on each table and heart-shaped candy in bowls. The dance committee had lit lamps and electric candles for ambience. A nod to the snowstorm of the year.
It was romantic and everyone was in a happy mood to get out of their houses and compare horror stories about the storm.
The DJ, a young man named Sam Mason, whom Caitlin learned was the son of the local dentist, Dr. Mason, played a mix of ballads and waltzes.
“He’s good,” Caitlin said. “The sound system sounds just like a live band.”
“You should know,” Quentin said with a devious grin.
She glanced up at him, arching an eyebrow. “I heard what you did there,” she told him, knowing he was referring to Stefan and Painted City.
“As long as you keep your sense of humor you’re going to be okay, Just Caitlin.”
She bit her lips as he gripped her hand in his and kissed the back of her fingers.
“And now, may I have this dance?” he asked. “And every dance on your program card tonight?”
“Why, Mr. Hudson, you’ll make a girl blush at all the attention.”
UnBreak My Heart_A Snow Valley Romance Page 11