by J. S. Scott
Dani walked into Mo's large office and waited while he shut and locked the door. Oh, this was definitely not good. She walked over the thick Persian rug and took a seat in a high-back brown leather chair near the fireplace. The warmth of the fire chased away some of the sense of impending trouble.
"I need to prepare you. Something has happened and I am afraid you will feel the brunt of it," Mo told her as he pulled up an ottoman. He took her hand in his after sitting down and gently looked at her. "My eldest brother's wife has had her fifth baby. It was a girl."
"I thought she wasn't due for another two months," Dani said as her brows drew together.
"She wasn't. It was an emergency. Dani, my brother has five girls and now his wife is unable to have any more children. From my understanding, they had to perform a hysterectomy in order to save her life. My other brother, Dirar, has been married for six years and still has no children. Do you understand what this means?"
Dani rolled it around in her head some and then felt her mouth open into a perfect O.
"It means that the royal Rahman line is completely dependent on me having a son."
Dani's stomach flipped and she shoved Mo away from her. She lunged for the gold-plated trashcan and promptly threw up.
Chapter Three
Paige Davies Parker cut the final string to the quilt she was making for her baby. She couldn't wait to give it to him or her. That was if he or she ever decided to make an appearance into the world.
Paige folded the lovely green and cream-colored quilt with a large P embroidered on it and put it under the white counter in her store. She placed her hands on her large belly and rubbed what she guessed was a foot as she looked around her shop. Cole had helped her decorate for Christmas. Huge red, green, and gold ribbons decorated the windows and mistletoe hung over the entrance to her shop, Southern Charms.
Her famous Derby hats sat in the back room mixed with some winter knit caps she tested out this winter. Gold handmade jewelry glowed against the green velvet table coverings she had set out for the holidays.
She looked up at Chuck, her large chocolate lab-doberman mix, as he sauntered down from the upstairs apartment. Although she and Cole had bought the house just a stone's throw away, she still kept the upstairs apartment to use while she was at work. She had turned some of the rooms into hat-making rooms, but the place also held a special place in her heart. It was where their baby had been conceived. Well, maybe. It could've been that time in the back of the truck under the stars, or out in the field one night, or, well that time at their house on the dining room table.
It didn't matter. Cole had the bar where he hung out with all his FBI buddies and she had her girly apartment with ribbons and feathers galore. The bell rang and Paige looked up to see her almost sister-in-law, Katelyn Jacks, walk in. Katelyn was set to marry one of her older brothers, Marshall. Paige didn’t know how Marshall was so lucky to nab the model-turned-veterinarian. At first it has seemed as if they hated each other, but a good dose of spiked Rose sister ice tea and gunfire brought them together. She’d never seen her brother so happy before.
"Hey! Oh my god, aren't you about to just burst?" Katelyn asked as she stared at her belly.
"Unfortunately, no I'm not. I saw the doctor yesterday and he said it was going to be at least 5 more days. You have no idea how I long to see my feet again," she laughed.
"It'll be here before you know it. Were you able to get my grandmother's hat done? I feel horrible asking for it while you're so pregnant," Katelyn said.
"Don't worry about it. It gave me something to do." Paige pulled out a big hatbox and opened it. "I think Mrs. Wyatt will love it."
Katelyn peered into the box and at the bright red hat with a dark green and gold ribbon tied into an intricate bow off to the side. Her grandmother would love it. Grandma Wyatt had raised Katelyn with all the love and eccentrics of the old, old, south. She loved long, flowing dresses and huge hats. The hat that Paige had made was perfect.
"It's perfect! I know she'll wear it for Christmas. I'm tempted to give it to her tomorrow so she can wear it to the party too. I don't know why you volunteered to have the party here, especially in your state!"
"When the Belles and the Keeneston Ladies approached me it was early Spring. I didn't count on being pregnant. But, it'll all work out. The Roses are riding herd over the Belles to make sure they get everything done so I don't have to lift a finger. They're coming in today at four to transform the place into a winter wonderland." Paige rolled her eyes. The Keeneston Belles were an invitation-only group of the most popular, pretty, and well-off girls in Keeneston whose primary goal was to marry quickly and into wealth. They snapped up every football star, every politician, and anyone with hopes of making it big. Once they married, they graduated into the Keeneston Ladies Group and quietly ran the all of the town’s social activities. The only people who liked the Belles were other Belles. They’ve become something of an annoyance recently—especially when it came to Paige's brothers. She didn’t see it, but the Belles had them as targets in their crosshairs.
"I think it sounds like a bad prom idea, but I don't have a say since I stepped down from the organizing committee. They are happy to ignore my ideas and use my shop,” Paige said with a shrug.
"Well, call me if you need anything. I'm going to go down to the sheriff's office to surprise Marshall. See you tomorrow!" Katelyn waved as she grabbed the hatbox and headed out the door.
The small bell over the door tinkled again and Paige looked up to see her husband walking in. He took off his black cowboy hat and hit it against his jeans-clad leg and then ran his other hand through his black hair. His silver eyes were shining with the cold and took in every detail about her in seconds.
"Why are you standing up? You should be sitting down."
Paige let out an exacerbated sigh and placed her hands on her hips in an act of defiance. She hated being told what to do.
"Fine, please sit down. I have to show you what I got the baby!" Cole shrugged out his jacket, exposing a Glock attached to his hip. His jeans accentuated his strong legs and his… phew, those pregnancy hormones were something else. Paige licked her lips and forced her eyes up to the onesie he was holding up.
"My Daddy Can Arrest Your Daddy," she read. Her husband had issues. His main one was his obsession with baby clothes. She had too many onesies to count.
"You like it?" he asked.
"My favorite one so far," she smiled. He was too cute when he got excited over the baby. "Now, come give me a kiss."
"Yes ma'am," he grinned a wicked little grin and eagerly complied.
"Aww, isn't that just so cute you want to vomit," a sharp voice said, interrupting their kiss.
"Oh, hi Karen. Sorry, I didn't see you come in. I just can't keep my hands off my wife. There's nothing sexier than seeing the woman you love carrying your child."
"Kandi! Jesus, my name is Kandi! And get this mutt away from me!" Chuck sniffed the feet of Paige’s archenemy and then shoved his nose up her skirt. "What is that smell?"
Cole took a sniff and coughed. Chuck had let one loose. It was the silent ones that were deadly. He watched as Kandi’s fake-tanned face turned a light shade of green. Her overly-teased blonde bimbo hair withered with the potent Chuck bomb.
"You better step outside. There's usually a follow up that's way worse. That was just a warning shot," Cole explained to her.
Kandi gasped for fresh air and stumbled for the front door. Her mascara started to run down her cheeks as one fake eyelash began to fall off.
"Merry Christmas Karla!" he called after her.
Paige smacked him on the shirt and then laughed. "You're going to run out of names soon." Her husband loved to torment the over-sexed and over-done Kandi by calling her the wrong name.
"Nah. We have that baby book over at the house. I just need to bring it over here. That was fun. Good boy Chuck. Come on, it's time to close shop and go home. I heard that having sex could bring on labor sooner. Wanna fin
d out if that is true?"
"You bet I do.”
Chapter Four
Marshall Davies had always loved Christmas. That was until he became sheriff. This was his first Christmas as sheriff of the small town he loved and now the holiday season was a curse. He hardly had time to sit down before someone else needed him.
Just this morning he broke up a fight at the middle school's Christmas concert when some parents were saving seats. Then there were the family arguments over the country ham being too salty or the turkey being too dry. And then there was Old Man Tabby... Mr. Tabernacle who loved wintertime for a completely different reason than most people. The second the snow hit the ground he was out trying to write Tabernacle in the snow- and not with a stick. All across town you'd see a yellow Tabe or Taber, and just this afternoon on his way back to the office from the middle school Christmas concert beatdown, he saw that Old Man Tabby set a new standard writing Taberna in the snow on the sidewalk on Maple Street.
Marshall pulled into his reserved space at the courthouse and walked into his version of a nightmare—the Keeneston Belles. They stood surrounding the front desk in perfect form-fitting clothes, pearls, French manicures, and pink cowboy boots. And right now they all looked pissed at Annie Blake Davies, a former DEA agent who had come to Keeneston to bust a drug ring targeting children and ended up staying and marrying his brother, Cade. Now she was his deputy, gatekeeper, and tough-as-nails Belle protector. She, on the other hand, looked like a cat toying with several fancy mice.
"Sheriff! I can't wait to tell you what the Belles want," Annie managed to tell him through her laughter. "They're here to meet with you about judging their charity pageant on the 26th." Annie gave up trying to hold in her laughter and Marshall watched nervously as Annie's nine-month due-at-any-second belly bounced.
"Be careful, will you? I don't want to deliver a baby and if you laugh any harder it's liable to pop out."
"Sheriff," Jasmine, the current president of the Belles purred. "It would be such an honor for you to be our judge at the beauty pageant. Henry Rooney and your brother Pierce already agreed to be judges. And John Wolfe just signed up, too. In fact, he recommended you. It is for charity after all." Jasmine pouted in a pose he was sure she practiced.
Annie slapped her hand against her desk as she laughed even harder at the fear in his eyes.
Katelyn walked the short way to the sheriff's office humming to herself. Her father was arriving for Christmas in just a few hours. She hadn't seen him since her engagement party and she was excited to reconnect further with him. Marshall's parents were coming over to Wyatt Estate for dinner with her father tonight. She had roasted a beautiful turkey for the event. The families were getting along better now that her father was taking time to actually get to know Katelyn as a person, not just the daughter he'd used when he needed to look good for a business deal. On the other hand, her mother hadn't even shown up to the engagement party. It hurt, but Marshall made her so happy and kept her so occupied at night that she just didn't think about it as much anymore.
She pushed open the door to the office and gasped. Marshall was pale and standing stock-still. Annie was bright red and crying.
"Oh god! Have you called an ambulance? Have you called Cade?"
"No, no!" Annie shouted. "I'm not in labor. My doctor said I wasn't due for another week. I just got the best laugh of my life. Mr. Macho War Hero just got talked into judging the Keeneston Belle Beauty Pageant. Oh god, it was too funny. His face, look at his face!" Annie started to laugh again and Katelyn looked at her husband. He looked shell-shocked. All six-foot plus of his muscled body stood frozen in place. His hazel eyes were slightly widened and had a faraway look to them.
"Come on honey. Let's get you home. I know women in bathing suits are so scary."
"You'll protect me from the Belles, won't you? Tell them we're getting married, make them believe it! The location is booked, the tuxes are ordered, and the honeymoon reserved..."
"Shh, it's okay honey. Yes, I'll protect you from the husband hunters. I'll make you a t-shirt with a picture of our wedding invitation on it if that will make you feel better. If that fails, just use your pepper spray," Katelyn said soothingly as she put her arm around her fiancé and guided him to the car. After all, he had had some traumatizing experiences with the Belles recently.
Katelyn and Marshall walked up the steps of their old farmhouse and opened the front door. They paused and knew right away that something was wrong. Bob, their rust-colored vizsla, wasn't dragging a huge stuffed animal in his mouth over to welcome them home. Ruffles, their white standard poodle, wasn't sliding on the floor in eagerness to bite at Marshall's pants.
"This isn't good," Marshall whispered.
"No, it's not. Did you put the child lock on the refrigerator?" Katelyn asked.
"Yes. Did you put the chocolate on the top shelf in the closet?”
"Yes," she answered as they walked down hall, the polished hardwood floor echoing their footsteps, as they headed toward the kitchen.
"Jesus H. Christ!" Marshall gasped as he came into the kitchen and saw the two dogs stretched out on the floor.
Katelyn fell to her knees in front of Bob, the closest one to her. His stomach was distended and he was lethargic. She palpated his stomach to see if he was bloated. Burp. Bob thumped his cropped tail and rose up to lick her.
"Eww. Bob!"
Bob thumped his tail against the floor and then burped again before standing up.
She slid over to Ruffles and found a blissful look on her face. She pressed on the extended stomach and heard a similar belch. "I think they overate, but I have no idea what they could've gotten into."
Marshall looked around the kitchen. There was nothing out of place. There were no crumbs on the floor. No scraps giving any indication of what they ate. He opened the childproof lock on the refrigerator and cursed.
"They ate the turkey you cooked." Marshall stared at the platter with nothing but bones left on it.
"How? The door was childproof locked!" Katelyn stood up and looked into the fridge. Nothing was out of place, but the large platter that held the twenty-pound turkey was empty.
"BOB!"
Chapter Five
Annie locked the office door and stepped outside to the parking lot. She looked around and didn't see her husband's Highlander so she leaned back against the door to wait for Cade to pick her up. She was way too big to fit behind the steering wheel and Cade had started driving her to work this last week.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of cold air. She had just finished her last day of work until the baby was born. Now she had nothing to do but worry. The job kept her concerns at bay, but now they assaulted her.
What if she turned out like her mother? Of course she never touched drugs like her mother had, but what if she was a horrible mother? She had no point of reference. After being labeled a "troubled child" she was placed in foster homes with what she would describe as less-than-stellar parenting. She was only now learning to cook for crying out loud. How was she going to take care of a baby? Marcy, her mother-in-law, was the only example she had and she would lean heavily on her for help.
Annie hated doing it though. She never asked for help—another side effect of raising oneself. Thank goodness she had Cade. He couldn’t wait to become a father. He came to every doctor appointment and helped pick out every piece of furniture, toy, and clothing for the baby. She took another deep breath and knew she could do it. Women had been doing it forever, right? And with Cade by her side she'd have the confidence to jump in with both feet. She may not be able to teach the baby how to cook, but she could teach the child how to shoot a gun and how to disarm a man when being attacked with a knife. You never knew when those things could come in handy.
She'd leave football up to Cade since he was the high school football coach and all, but she'd put her tips in at bedtime. Cade had done great this year. His team had just finished as the state runners-up a couple of weeks ago. Not
too shabby for a second year coach to have a State Championship and a State Runner Up title. The best part was that she still got to see the kids she’d come to know from the time she was undercover at the high school. Part of her job at the Sheriff Department was the drug counselor for the high school. She made sure to keep her eyes on the kids in situations like she had been in or those with the money to afford the big stuff. She got them involved in sports or some kind of extracurricular activity and found most of them turned away from drugs due to the lack of free time and the desire not to let the team down.
Annie smiled and waved as Cade pulled into the parking space in front of her. She watched as his long legs swung out the door. His sandy blonde hair had turned a shade darker during the winter, making him look even more like his brothers than normal.
"What are you doing standing? You should've waited for me inside, you could slip!"
"Cade, really? One can stand up, and dare I say, walk while pregnant."
Annie waited for him to meet her before she took another step though. Cade leaned down and rubbed her stomach as he touched his lips to hers in a gentle kiss.
"Come on, let's get home before your stubborn streak shows up."
Cade loved his wife. God, did he love her! But, stubborn and independent couldn't even begin to describe her. He'd only seen her cry twice, and once was when his brother Marshall took her off active duty and placed her behind the desk. She had been taking down criminals well into her second trimester. The DEA even borrowed her to go undercover at an OBGYN's office a couple of weeks ago. It was time for her to take a break. Cade knew it scared her. She'd never just taken a break before. But, he had set up a whole list of things for her to do… while she was sitting down.
He had files of his players to review to make sure nothing happened to them again. He even had some of the old players coming by to talk to her while she waited for the baby to come. Cade helped her into the SUV and grinned as she slowly maneuvered herself into the seat. She'd never been sexier to him as she was now.