by Rita Herron
She closed her eyes and concentrated on not panicking as she used the breathing techniques she’d been taught.
Not now, little guy. She rubbed the side of her belly. His tiny foot seemed to be lodged right beneath her ribs.
“Merry?”
“It’s nothing. Braxton-Hicks contractions, probably. False labor.” She let out her breath in a long whoosh. “There, it’s gone.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” She smiled reassuringly at him. “You don’t have to be scared of him, you know.”
Trevor’s gaze flickered down to her tummy then back to meet hers. “Scared?”
Merry heard the hitch in his voice and saw the darkness in his eyes. It made her want to cry.
She didn’t know what had happened to him, but she was certain it had to do with children or babies. She nodded. “I’m fine, and the little guy in here is happy as a clam. Babies are protected in the womb.”
She took his hand and placed it on her belly. His fingers stiffened and trembled, but he didn’t pull away.
After a few seconds his hand relaxed and she saw his mouth curve in a hesitant smile. He murmured, “I used to love to—”
A pain hit Merry square in the lower back. She cried out.
Trevor’s hand jerked away and he bolted up off the couch. He strode over and picked up the fireplace poker, jabbing it at the logs. Sparks flew and the fire crackled.
When the pain receded, Merry pushed herself up off the couch. “Excuse me for a moment.” She hurried into the bathroom. She’d made a big mistake, touching him. Inviting him to touch her. She hadn’t missed his hesitant smile or his soft words.
I used to love to— Love to what? He’d told her he was divorced and didn’t have children.
Didn’t have children. She closed the door and looked in the mirror, her eyes growing wide as the truth dawned.
Dear God. He must have lost a child.
“Oh, no,” she whispered silently as tears spilled down her cheeks. She held her hands against her mouth, trying to stop the sobs that built in her chest and escaped despite her efforts. Finally they subsided. She splashed water on her face.
“What are you doing to me, little guy?” she whispered, looking down at her tremendous tummy. “Mommy can’t afford to cry all the time. I’ll make a deal with you. You be good until the ice storm is over, and I’ll give you the biggest Christmas you ever saw.” Her whisper ended on a last hiccupping sob. “Okay?”
As if in answer, a deep cramp started in her back and tightened like a vise until it centered in the region of her uterus.
She looked up and saw the flare of apprehension in her eyes. This didn’t feel like false labor. Then she noticed the dampness flowing down her legs.
Relieved that Merry had left the room, Trevor flopped down onto the couch and rubbed the knotted muscles in the back of his neck. What a sucker he was. He’d let her coax him into feeling her baby. Her sweet smile and soft hands had made him forget his pain for a few moments.
He’d loved every moment of Lisa’s pregnancy. The little movements he could feel in his wife’s tummy. Lying with his ear pressed against her belly, listening to his unborn child.
Panic sliced through him. He couldn’t do this. He bolted up again and started pacing, grinding one fist into the other palm.
He couldn’t be responsible for another tiny life. He couldn’t wait helplessly in a bright, cold waiting room to hear—
A Doppler radar map on the TV caught his eye. The ice storm was sweeping across Atlanta, just as predicted, bringing below-freezing conditions with it. He winced at the breadth of the storm. There would be treacherous ice on the roads for days.
Apprehension swelled in his chest. Merry needed to be closer to town, to a hospital, in case she went into labor.
He looked at his watch. Amanda would be here in another hour or so. He debated whether to call her in early. If Merry started having her baby, he wasn’t sure he could deal with it.
THE OPULENT, darkly paneled bedroom glowed with golden lights that reflected off the mirrored ceiling. Lawrence Randolph stuffed a pillow under his head and shrugged off the soft lips kissing his shoulder. As the teasing mouth moved down to his chest and abdomen, he absently caressed silky hair with one hand and fumbled for the remote control with the other.
“That’s enough,” he groaned, his skin shivering as his bed partner’s hair brushed his thighs. “I want to check the weather.”
“It’s hot.” Big, dark eyes sent him a sultry look.
“Shh.” He turned up the sound. The ice storm was almost directly over Atlanta. He glanced at the clock. In another hour, the female detective would arrive at the safe house where his very pregnant sister-in-law was under police protection.
“Okay, hurry up and finish,” he ordered, dropping the remote and sinking back into the black satin sheets. “I’ve got to go out. Here’s some advice, my sweet. If you want a job done right—” he gasped as soft hands caressed him “—do it yourself.”
“Do you want to do this job yourself?” his bedmate purred.
Lawrence laughed and fisted his hands in the silky hair.
TREVOR SAT BACK on his heels, satisfied. The damp wood had crackled and sputtered, but it had finally caught. Bright yellow flames licked out around the massive back log. That fire would burn all night.
Trevor sent a worried glance toward the bathroom as he straightened. What was Merry doing in there? Had she gone into labor?
Panic tasted like bile in his throat. She’d been in there too long. Just as he started for the bathroom, his cell phone rang.
“Trevor, it’s Amanda. My sister is stuck in west Atlanta. She can’t get here to stay with my kids. The roads are already iced over. She says there are accidents and abandoned vehicles everywhere—”
Her voice deteriorated into static.
“Amanda?” Dread pooling in his stomach, Trevor glanced at the signal indicator on his phone. It was low.
“—phones and lights are out,” Amanda was saying. “Do you—electricity?”
“Yeah, for now.”
“What? You’re cutting out.” Amanda’s voice was shrill with frustration. He could hear a toddler crying in the background.
He grimaced, knowing what Amanda was about to say. He’d stay. It was his job. But how much longer could he bear being so close to Merry? When he’d felt the baby move inside her, then she’d held his hand against her belly and looked at him with those wide green eyes, all the churning emotions inside him had nearly shredded what was left of his heart. His nerves were raw from the scrape of memories and the sight of the beautiful mother-to-be.
“Trevor—”
“It’s okay. I’ll stay.”
“I’ll call the captain. Tell him—you’ll—with the witness overnight. Trev—owe you—”
“You sure do.”
“Trevor, are you okay—with her? With Christmas—you know—”
He grimaced. Entirely too many people knew too much about him. “Yeah, Amanda, I’m fine. Tuck the kids in and stay warm.”
Amanda said something, but her voice cut out completely and all he could hear was crackling static.
Trevor cut the connection, his mind consumed with Merry.
As he stepped over to the closed bathroom door, a loud boom shook the windows.
Automatically he whirled, going for his weapon.
The lights went out. No flicker, no other warning. Just black, solid darkness, punctuated only by the undulating glow of the fire.
Poised on the balls of his feet, ready for anything, he angled his head, listening. But no sound broke the darkness except the occasional popping spark from the fire.
Carefully, he relaxed. The boom must have been a transformer blowing. He holstered his gun and grabbed the flashlight he’d set on the hall table. Thumbing the switch, he reached for the bathroom doorknob.
“Merry?”
Nothing but silence greeted him. Fear slammed into his chest with the
impact of a bullet. “Merry.” He knocked on the door. “Answer me!”
He heard a soft whimper. The sound slashed his sore heart and he flashed back to the sight of Lisa, high from too much eggnog, slipping on a patch of ice, and him diving, too late, to break her fall.
He would not lose this baby!
He wrenched the doorknob and shoved the door open.
“Merry!”
For an instant Trevor was paralyzed as the beam from the flashlight spotlighted her pale, shocked face.
He forced himself to step closer and reach for her. As he touched her arm, her face crumpled and she put her hand over her mouth. “Oh, Trevor, I’m so scared.”
He swallowed the panic that lodged like bile in his throat. “It’s okay, Merry,” he croaked. “I think a transformer blew. The electricity’s out, but we’ve got a nice, warm fire. We’ll be fine.”
She shook her head, her emerald eyes swimming with tears, then gasped and cried out, bending over.
He caught her and pulled her to him, her small, tense body feeling light as a feather.
“Merry? Are you okay?” He’d only known her for a few hours, but he felt as if she’d been in his mind, in his heart, forever. He’d face anything, anyone, to protect her.
“Don’t be afraid,” he choked out, his own fear closing his throat.
Merry had learned all about the stages of labor in the classes she’d attended alone after her husband’s death. As usual, her family was either too busy or traveling.
Her water had broken. Although she knew it could still be hours before serious labor started, she didn’t think she had hours. The pains were becoming sharper, stronger and closer together.
She looked at Trevor’s harsh, even features. It hurt her to know what she was about to put him through.
She was about to have her baby here, with a man who would probably rather face an armed murderer than deliver a child.
She looked up at him.
He turned a sickly shade of gray as he read the truth in her face. The flashlight beam wavered.
“My water broke,” she panted. “I’m in labor.”
LAWRENCE TUCKED his chin into the collar of his down jacket as he started the Hummer and pulled out of the garage. He turned northeast, toward the suburban house where Merry was hidden, smiling at the thought of her huddling in that house with the female detective. Knowing Merry, she was probably nodding politely as the other woman droned on about bargain baby clothes and generic formula.
Lawrence shuddered with excitement. Merry wouldn’t have to worry about her baby or money after tonight.
In a few minutes Lawrence would have the inheritance that was rightfully his. Zach should never have let their father talk him into marrying. Father had come to Lawrence first with his plan for a union between the fast-growing Randolph hotel chain, and Ducharmes Boutiques, the most exclusive store in Atlanta.
How stupid of the old man! No way would Lawrence be saddled with some woman who would object to his lifestyle.
But Zach had been weak and easily influenced. Then, right after the wedding, Merry had gotten pregnant.
Lawrence pounded the steering wheel. Why couldn’t she have gotten on that damn helicopter like she was supposed to? A bout of morning sickness had spoiled Lawrence’s perfect plan to rid himself of Zach and Merry and her new baby in one fell swoop.
Then that incompetent Bonner had screwed up and gotten himself caught.
At least Lawrence had already taken care of half his problem. It amused him that the police were going to so much trouble to hide Merry from the wrong man.
Harry Bonner had been dead for hours.
And soon, Merry and her baby would be dead, too.
Chapter Four
I’m in labor.
The words reverberated in Trevor’s ears as he wrapped his arm around Merry and pulled her from the bathroom. The favor he’d agreed to do for a fellow detective had turned into his worst nightmare.
“Come with me. I need to check around, make sure this is just a power outage.”
Her slender shoulders trembled. From fear? From the pain? He didn’t know. Awkwardly he rubbed her back.
“I’ll pull a chair up to the fireplace, where you can be warm.” He grabbed a side chair and dragged it closer to the hearth.
“Trevor?” Her voice quivered. “I think I need to go to the hospital.”
Merry’s face swam in the firelight and, for an instant, Trevor saw the pale, frightened face of his ex-wife as she’d said the exact same words.
He did his best to shake off the memories. That had been four years ago, and the baby had been his child.
He had a sworn duty to protect Merry, but at least his heart wasn’t all tied up in this baby. He blinked and Merry’s face came back into focus.
Or its mother.
But if that was true, then why did his arms ache to hold her? And why, at the same time, did he have the urge to run as fast as he could away from her?
He swallowed. “We’ll go, just as soon as I make sure everything’s okay here.”
“Do you think the Widow Maker has found us?” she asked with a quaver.
He crouched in front of her and took her hands in his. Her fingers were icy cold. “No, I don’t. Merry, look at me. This is routine. Even if it were a hot, sunny, summer day, I’d check before I took you out of the safe house. Okay?”
She nodded, then caught her breath and panted as another contraction hit her.
Trevor clenched his jaw as Merry squeezed his hands. Her grip didn’t hurt, but something did. Deep inside him where he never went.
Finally her hands relaxed.
“All done?” he asked, trying to make his tone light.
She nodded. “I’m so sorry,” she said.
“What for? You’re doing the most natural thing in the world.” He smiled, hoping his face didn’t look as devastated as he felt. “You’re having a baby.”
As she caught her breath, Merry saw the raw pain in Trevor’s eyes. His smile was heart-wrenching. She wanted to ask him why babies and Christmas made him so sad, but she didn’t know how to start.
Trevor patted her hands and stood. “Stay here. I’m going to walk around the house, then start the truck. I’ll be back in five minutes.” He studied her. “You won’t—I mean, how far apart are the contractions?”
“About twenty minutes.”
The wrinkle on his forehead faded slightly. “That’s good, isn’t it?”
She nodded.
As he opened the front door and went out, a blast of icy air hit Merry. The cold bite invigorated her. Except for the contractions, she felt better than she had in months.
“Okay, little guy. I guess I’m ready. Just wait long enough for us to get to a hospital, okay?”
A loud crack split the air, then a tremendous thud shook the house.
“Oh, God, Trevor!”
Was that a gunshot? She pushed herself out of the chair as fast as she could and rushed to the front door. Flinging it open, she was struck for the first time by the magnitude of the ice storm.
The sky was heavy and dark, with no moon or stars visible. She was surrounded by the susurrus tinkle of sleet hitting trees and roofs and the ground. The falling ice felt like tiny blades pricking her skin.
“Trevor!” she shouted. She couldn’t tell what had made the noise. She put her hand on a porch column and prepared to step down onto the first step.
Suddenly, Trevor’s big body was right in front of her and his arms swooped her up as if she weren’t as heavy as a medium-size whale. Her feet didn’t touch the ground until she was back in the living room, his furious countenance filling her vision.
“What the hell are you doing? You don’t take a step without me beside you, especially outside. Do you understand?”
He was so angry, his voice shook.
“What was that noise?” Merry asked in an effort to diffuse his anger. “It sounded like a rifle shot.”
His blue eyes flashed. He gripp
ed her upper arms. “Do you understand that you don’t leave my side?”
“Yes. I understand. You don’t have to yell at me.”
He squeezed his eyes shut for a brief instant. “Right. I apologize.” Letting go of her arms, he took a step backward.
“The noise was a tree branch breaking—a big one. It fell under the weight of the ice. If we don’t leave now, we may not be able to get through.”