“I like you covered in bodily fluids.”
“You’re terrible. You just saw my vagina stretched to the size of a bowling ball and you’re still thinking about sex.”
“I gotta be honest with you, I wish I hadn’t seen that. But it’ll go back to its normal size, right?”
“I’m sure it does or women would never have more than one baby.”
“Cap, any sign of an ambulance yet?”
I looked out the window and saw darkness for miles. “Nothing yet.”
“Okay, just keep Maggie and the baby warm and comfortable. If the baby starts rooting around, Maggie needs to try and feed her.”
“Sure,” I said, as if I knew what the hell he was saying.
“Okay, you still have to deliver the placenta. That could take up to a half hour. Maggie will feel contractions and she’ll have to push it out. Don’t cut the umbilical cord until the placenta is delivered.”
“What the hell do I cut the cord with?”
“I have a pocket knife.” Sinner held out a hunting knife and handed it to me. It just seemed wrong to use this on my baby girl, even if it was just on the cord. In the distance, I heard the wail of sirens and looked up to see lights flashing.
“Sinner, call 911 and direct them to us.”
The ambulance pulled up ten minutes later and got Maggie and the baby loaded in the back. Sinner was going to take my truck to be detailed and then have it dropped at the hospital the next day.
“Maggie, I would stay and see you at the hospital, but I’ve seen enough of you for one night.”
Maggie held up her middle finger to Sinner and grinned. “Just wait until it’s your kid.”
“You know I love you, but you’re like a sister and no man wants to see his sister’s vagina.
✯✯✯✯✯
When we got to the hospital, the nurses took the baby and cleaned it up, showing me how to properly bathe it. Maggie had delivered the placenta in the ambulance and was exhausted after delivering the baby without any pain meds. Maggie had wanted to take a shower as soon as we got to the hospital, but the doctor nixed it and told her she needed to give her body at least the rest of the night to recover. She had been dozing in and out since we got settled in a room, so I gladly learned how to do all the shit you needed to do to keep a baby alive and well maintained.
The nurses wanted to take the baby to the nursery, but I wanted some time with her before Maggie woke up. I was a little worried how she would react to really seeing the baby for the first time since she was cleaned. Maggie had never wanted this baby and I was worried that those feelings hadn’t totally gone away. I knew she had come to accept that she would have it, but that wasn’t the same as loving her.
I rocked her in my arms and stared at her beautiful face. She looked all squishy right now, so I couldn’t tell who she looked like, but she had a reddish tint to her hair. Her little hand was so tiny in mine and I couldn’t get over the fact that she was all mine.
“You look good,” Maggie said from her bed.
I stood and walked over to her and Maggie held out her arms for the baby. It surprised me, but I tried not to show it. I didn’t want to insult her. She took her and cradled her in her arms like she had been doing it for years. I was relieved to say the least. I knew since Maggie decided to keep her that she wasn’t sure if she would be a good mother, but I could tell that this wouldn’t be as much of a struggle as she thought.
“I think I know what I want to name her.”
“Please tell me it’s not something like Brittney or Courtney.” I really hoped she hadn’t chosen something like that.
“Do you have something against those names, or you just don’t want her to be a pop star?”
“They were just very popular names growing up. It seemed like every girl I met had a ‘ney’ at the end of her name.”
“I was thinking Caitlin.”
“Caitlin Reed. I like that. It’s perfect.”
“You know, I was really nervous that when I had her I wouldn’t feel anything. Now, I can’t even begin to think of what my life would be without her. That’s weird, isn’t it? She’s only a few hours old.”
“You carried her for nine months. I think it’s normal to feel that way, but it wouldn’t have been weird if you didn’t feel that way either. There’s no right or wrong, Freckles. It’s an adjustment.”
“I’m just so mad at myself that I almost got rid of her.”
I saw a tear slide down Maggie’s cheek and land on Caitlin’s little hand. I sat down next to her on the bed and wrapped my arm around her. “Freckles, you can’t think about that anymore. Don’t beat yourself up about a decision that you didn’t end up making. It’s in the past now and tormenting yourself isn’t going to make a difference. She’s here and she’s going to keep us so busy that you won’t have time to think about that time of your life anymore.”
Maggie sniffled and looked uncertainly into my eyes. “What if I can’t take it? What if I get mad and can’t handle her?”
I shrugged. “I really don’t know, Freckles. I’ve never done this before either. I think we just take it one day at a time. If you can’t take it and feel like you need a break, then you call me and I’ll be there.”
“Don’t be silly. You can’t drop everything just because I can’t handle it.”
“Maybe not, but you have girlfriends that would gladly help out and you know they all understand. It’s going to be fine.”
“I’m sorry that I took off today.”
“It was a very stressful day, but I’ve come to expect the unexpected from you. How about in the future, you don’t decide to do anything crazy right when you’re about to have a baby?”
“In the future? I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself. Let’s see if I can handle this one and then I’ll consider the possibility of a second.”
“I just have one request.”
“What’s that?”
I kept my face as serious as possible. “Make it a boy. I don’t think I could handle any more mini-Maggies.”
“You just want a boy so you can have someone to teach all your badassery to.”
“My badassery?”
“Yeah,” she grinned.
“I hate to tell you this, but I’ll be teaching my badassery to Caitlin too. She needs to know how to defend herself from boys. I won’t always be there holding a gun.”
“And she won’t always want to use her badassery on boys. You know that one day she’ll want to wear makeup and then go on a date.” I shook my head, but she kept going. “And then she’ll be having sex and you can’t just go shoot those boys.”
“Boys? There will be no boys and let me tell you something, Freckles, I’ve been properly trained to take out any threat and that includes pimple faced boys that want to get in my daughter’s pants.”
“Then you’ll end up in jail.”
“I know how to hide a body. I have friends and every single one of them would be on my side.”
“Go to Logan. I hear he’s very willing to help dispose of a body.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Epilogue
Maggie
“Yes, you are a pretty girl. Yes, you are. Yes, you are.”
Caitlin was lying on the floor in front of me, smiling her first really big smile. Every morning was something to look forward to with her. Sebastian and I took turns getting up with her in the morning and changing her diaper. Then, I fed her and had my morning snuggles. I loved everything about her and was grateful every day that I had made the decision to keep her.
That being said, after six weeks at home, I went stir crazy and Sebastian and I made the decision for me to go back to work. Most days, one of us still watched her. I was doing freelance journalism for the local paper and while they weren’t the hard hitting stories I was used to, I found that my new life went quite well with this job. If I got bored at home and had nothing to work on, I went into Reed Security and helped out where I could. There was al
ways someone close by that wanted baby snuggles. There was also a room that Sebastian set up where I could work and have the baby close by in a pack ’n play.
“Mommy loves you so much, but if I stay here at home today, I’m going to go crazy,” I said with a smile. Caitlin grinned back at me and then made the face. I quickly picked her up and reached for the burp cloth, but I wasn’t fast enough. Caitlin spewed her morning milk all down my shirt. I pulled her away from me, grimacing at the smell of baby vomit. I was definitely not one of those mothers that thought everything baby was adorable and sweet. The smell of her diapers sometimes made me want to puke.
“Ugh, gross. Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. Mommy is going to let you play in your pack ’n play and I’m going to go take a shower and wash the smell of puke off me. Okay?”
Caitlin made some cute noises and squirmed around in my arms. My phone rang and I rushed over to get it. It was most likely Sebastian. He always called to see how his girls were doing.
“Morning, Cap.”
“Uh, this is Keith.”
“Oh,” I laughed at myself and then got back to the phone call. “How’s it going, Keith?”
“Good, I have a story for you.”
“Keith, I don’t work in Pittsburgh anymore.”
“Trust me, Maggie. You’re going to want to take this one.”
As he told me the details of the story, my eyes widened. This was a good one and definitely one I couldn’t pass up. Also one I couldn’t take a baby along for.
“Uh, can you meet with me? I can be there in an hour.” I looked down at my vomit covered clothes and Caitlin. There was no way I could make it to Pittsburgh in an hour. I had to get cleaned up and drop Caitlin off. “Give me two hours.”
“I can’t. I have to be back at the office soon or I’ll be in trouble.”
“Please, Keith. Stall. I’ll be there in an hour and a half. I swear.”
He sighed on the other end and agreed. I quickly hung up the phone and dashed to my room, setting Caitlin down on the bed while I changed into jeans and a white t-shirt. My hair was a mess and I still smelled, but it would have to do for meeting Keith. I grabbed the diaper bag and hoped it had everything I needed. Sebastian usually kept an endless supply of baby paraphernalia at Reed Security, so I really hoped we would be fine.
After getting Caitlin buckled in, I quickly made my way to Sebastian’s office and entered all the codes. Now that we were back together, I had access to the building just like everyone else so that I didn’t have to wait with Caitlin. I rushed through all the safety procedures and hobbled over to the conference room, hauling the car seat as quickly as I could. Sebastian was in the middle of a meeting, but this couldn’t wait.
“Hi! So sorry to interrupt and I swear I wouldn’t ask if this wasn’t urgent, but I have to get into the city to meet Keith and I need you to watch Caitlin.”
I quickly unstrapped her as every member of Reed Security watched on in amusement.
“Freckles, I’m in the middle of a meeting.”
“Yep, I know, but I have a meeting to get to and there is no way a baby can come along. This is big!”
“Are you forgetting what today is?”
“Uh..” I flung the diaper bag in the corner and handed her over to Sebastian, putting a burp cloth over his shoulder. “Saturday? Thank you! I promise to call if I’ll be late!”
I ran out the door and headed for my car, only to come to a stop when Mark got in with me.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Cap told me to get my ass in the car with you.”
“Why? I don’t need you to tag along and play bodyguard.”
“Freckles, you really don’t know what day it is, do you?” he said with a laugh.
Sebastian
Maggie ran out the door, leaving me standing in front of the entire Reed Security staff, holding a baby.
“Does she seriously not know what today is?” Sinner asked.
I glared at him. “Get your ass out there and make sure she gets back for our wedding in time.”
Sinner quickly stood and ran out the door. I bounced my little girl in my arms and then looked at my staff that all were grinning like fools.
“Uh, where were we?”
“You were telling us about the new company policies,” Derek choked out a laugh.
“Right, well..”
I tried to concentrate on what I was saying, but Caitlin was pulling at my face, causing a bunch of snickering from the group.
“Lola, would you mind?”
She snorted and leaned back in her seat. “Why? Because I have a vagina? Not likely. The baby train doesn’t run through this station.”
“Florrie?”
“I’m allergic,” she deadpanned.
“Jesus Christ,” Chris McKay muttered. The most deadly looking man on the team stood up and walked over to me, taking Caitlin from my arms and cradling her against his large body. For the first time since I’d known him, he actually looked..happy?
I wasn’t the only one to notice it. Every single person in the room was stunned into silence by the sight of their teammate holding my little girl. When he finally noticed everyone staring at him, his look turned lethal.
“What the fuck are you looking at? Haven’t you ever seen a man holding a baby before? Bunch of fucking neanderthals,” he muttered as he took his seat again.
“Alright, let’s finish this meeting so I can get home and get ready for my wedding.”
“Hey, he’s got the hair stylist coming over soon, so we need to get him on the road,” Chance joked. The guys laughed at my expense and I took it good naturedly.
“Anyway, as I was saying before Maggie ran in here,-”
“Boss man, I just got a call from Cash!” Becky yelled as she ran in the room. All the guys stood at her insistent tone, ready to gear up. “He’s got a team a half hour from here taking fire. They need backup ASAP!”
“What are we looking at?”
After Becky filled us in on the pertinent details, it was obvious we were all heading out. Becky took Caitlin, promising to take care of her and have her at the wedding for us. We quickly geared up and hit the road, speeding toward the firefight that was already in progress.
“Derek, get on the phone with Maggie and tell her I may be a few minutes late.”
“Why don’t you call her? She’s going to be pissed if it comes from me.”
“Because she can’t yell at me if I’m not on the phone,” I quipped.
We were out in the middle of the country, thank God. We didn’t have to worry about civilians getting in the way. In the distance, an explosion lit the sky.
“Get us over there, Hunter!”
“She’s not answering, Cap.”
“We tried,” I shrugged, not worried too much at the moment. Minutes later, we were rolling up on a shit storm that would definitely delay me getting to the wedding in time. Cars were on fire and gunfire was coming from behind the burning wreckage. Coming from across the road were about ten vehicles that were firing everything they had.
“Ice, you copy?”
“Yeah, Cap.”
“Get around to the other end of this and cut off any means of escape.”
“Ten-four.”
“Chance and Alec, take your teams and come at them from the back. You’re going to do a little off roading.”
“Fuck yeah!” Chance said into the mic. He was a fucking cowboy, always looking for the next crazy ass thing to do that would most likely get him killed.
Hunter skidded to a stop by the cars that were currently under attack. Dodging bullets, Derek, Lola, Hunter, and I made our way over to Cash’s team that were pinned down. Hunter tossed his goody bag of weapons on the ground and unzipped it, pulling out grenades and semi automatics for all of us.
“Red! What the fuck did you get yourself into?” I yelled as I approached Cash’s team. He was currently reloading his gun and grinned at me.
“Eh, you know.
Just another day at the office, but I think we have something of yours that you might want back.”
“What’s that?”
He nodded over to another burning car that Freckles was currently squatted behind and shooting at the enemy.
“What the fuck?” I ran over to her and spun her around, pulling her to the ground at the same time. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Oh, hey Cap! I was on my way to that meeting, but I got a call from Keith that what I needed was already out here. Sinner and I just happened to run across my story. How lucky is that?”
“Just fucking peachy.” I turned to Sinner and glared. “What the hell were you thinking? She doesn’t even have any gear on.”
“There wasn’t exactly time to stop and get suited up, Cap.”
“The car is on fire!”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” He said it as if it was an apology, but I knew it wasn’t. “Don’t worry, I’m sure insurance will cover it.”
“It’s our personal car. I don’t think our insurance covers car bombings!” I fired off a clip, taking out several men and then ducked back down to reload.
“Really? It should. Cap, you’re the owner of a security company. You should have thought that one through,” Sinner said and then spun back around and fired at the other vehicles.
He pulled something from his bag and handed it to Maggie. “Let ‘er rip, Maggie. Take those fuckers out.”
Maggie pulled the pin and launched it where Sinner pointed.
“What the fuck, Sinner? Seriously?”
“What? It’s her wedding day. Let her have some fun.”
“I would like her to actually get to the wedding,” I said impatiently.
“Then you should do more shooting and less yapping. Come on, Cap. You can’t tell me this isn’t a great way to start your wedding day? Fun, excitement, and you get to shoot people. What more could you ask for? Am I not the most awesome best man ever?”
“You’re not the best man,” I said, firing off a few more rounds.
Cap_A Reed Security Romance Page 25