by K. C. Crowne
Elle looked at Leah who shrugged. Finally, she sighed. “He told Jeremiah that he was thinking of taking you out, seeing if he could make it work.”
A lump formed in my throat. None of that had happened. He never even mentioned this to me, and I wondered why. “I guess he changed his mind, because we’re not together.”
“I’m sorry, girlie,” Elle said, coming over to my side and giving me a big hug.
“It’s fine,” I lied. “Let’s just enjoy the party.”
“Yes, let’s,” Piper said. “I need somewhere to put the cake down.”
“I’ve got it,” Abe said from the doorway.
I wasn’t sure how long he’d been there or how much he’d heard. Did it matter? He came into the room silently, carrying a small table that he placed next to the bed.
“Here, let me take those,” he said, taking the gifts from Elle and Josie, placing them within reach of me on the bed.
He didn’t dare look me in the eye. He had to have heard some of the conversation, I assumed. I so badly wanted to ask him about it, but not here.
No, not in the middle of the amazing party my friends had thrown me, but later.
Definitely later.
Abe excused himself, and I focused on my girls instead.
Ooo000ooo
“Did you have fun?” Abe asked me at dinner.
I was sitting at the table across from him, pushing some carrots around on the plate. I’ve been ravenous lately, which the doctor said was normal. But sitting there, across from him, I couldn’t stop thinking about what Elle had said. I was hoping he’d bring it up - but he hadn’t.
“Yes, it was very sweet of them.” I bit my lip and looked up at him. He wasn’t stupid, he could tell from my tone of voice and my facial expression that something was wrong. Before he could ask, I went straight for it. “You heard what Elle said, right? What her husband had told her?”
Abe looked away from me but nodded.
“Was any of it true?”
“Felicity, I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“I just want the truth. Did you ever think about us being together at some point?”
After a second, he looked back up at me, met my gaze and I knew he was speaking the truth when he said, “Yes.”
“Then what happened? What changed your mind?”
“Well, I saw you with Levi at the bar right after I had the conversation with Jeremiah, and--”
“And I explained it to you, didn’t I? We’re just friends, he’s marrying someone else. There’s nothing between us.”
“I know.”
“Do you not believe me?” I asked, leaning back in the chair to get a better look at him. His brows were furrowed, and he was frowning, his jaw clenched tightly.
“That’s not it at all. I do believe you, it’s just--”
“What? What is it then?”
“Felicity, it has nothing to do with you. My reaction, my intense jealousy, it made me realize that I might always struggle to trust you. And that’s not your fault, it’s mine. It’s something I have to deal with.”
“I see,” I said. I was prepared to take my meal back into my room, just to avoid the way he was looking at me. I saw the way he looked at me, sometimes it even felt like he loved me. But I couldn’t change his mind.
I couldn’t change him.
He would either work through his issues or he wouldn’t.
“I need to get a nursery set up in my place too, for the nights the babies stay with me.”
Abe didn’t answer me. Typical. Things get too complicated and he shuts down.
Well, two could play at that game. I picked up my plate and without another word, I walked toward my room. Koda followed me, he always did. He rarely left my side anymore.
He was more devoted to me than Abe was, and it killed me inside.
But there was nothing I could do about it.
Abe
“What do you mean they upped the asking price?” I sighed. I was in my office, between patients, so I didn’t have a whole lot of time to talk. Since giving over my office at home to the nursery, I tried to conduct most of my business relating to my surprise here at work. “Alright, then we up the offer, like I said before.”
Apparently, I was in a bidding war for the barn property. Another party was interested, and they were going all-in as well. We were already coming up on a quarter of a million for a property that needed a lot of work in little old Liberty. I had a feeling that it had a lot to do with the lithium found in the soil. While our mayor, Jeremiah’s wife, Elle, had tried to put a stop to the developers trying to buy up the land, private property was another story. And this one was right outside city limits too, which meant Elle had no jurisdiction over it anyway.
I hung up with Steve, confident we’d win the bidding war. I had more than enough money to compete for this place. After everything I’d put Felicity through, I owed it to her. She deserved this and I’d stop at nothing to give it to her.
I was also heading over after I left the clinic to meet with contractors at the diner. They’d been doing work, in secret, and I wanted to make sure it was still on schedule to be completed shortly after the babies were born.
We were coming up on seven months, which meant at this point, the babies could come at any time. Felicity was completely bedridden now, one reason I could do most of this work without her knowing. Allison and Gavin were helping me and sworn to secrecy, of course.
My phone rang and I assumed it was Steve calling me back. I picked up without even checking the number.
“Hey, what is it now?”
An unfamiliar voice answered back. “Is this Abel Hammond?”
“Yes, may I ask who’s calling?”
“Are you trying to purchase the Camden property?”
The Camden’s were the owners of the barn.
“Again, may I ask who’s calling?”
“Answer the question.”
My professional etiquette only went so far. I sat up straighter in my chair and checked the number. It was a blocked number. Interesting.
“Yes, I am actually. I’m assuming you are the other person trying to buy it?”
“You need to back off it. Do you hear me? I’ve been working on getting the sellers to sell for over a year, the property is mine.”
“The property isn’t yours until they sell it to you. I’m not stupid, I know how these things work. And you can’t intimidate me with your threats. I might not be a property developer, but I have money and power too.”
I was about to hang up the phone when he said, “You’re making a big mistake.”
“I don’t take kindly to threats. Goodbye.”
I hung up the phone before he could say anything else. I was seething mad, but I pushed all thoughts of the phone call into the back of my mind. Checking the time, I had a few more minutes before my next patient, so I called Felicity to check on her.
“Hey,” she said, answering the phone on the second ring. “Can you please tell Rosa that I don’t need to be waited on hand and foot?”
I chuckled. Felicity thought the hired help was overkill, but with her being this far along, I didn’t want to take any chances. I didn’t want to leave her alone.
“Why don’t you tell her?”
“I’ve tried, and she insists that you made it clear that I deserve the best treatment, at all times. Nicole has backed off some, but Rosa is-- excuse me, Rosa is asking me something. One second.”
She covered the phone with her hand and I heard their muffled voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying to one another.
Felicity came back on the line. “Are you expecting someone?”
“No, why?”
“Rosa says a black SUV just pulled into the driveway and they’re just sitting there.”
My hackles were raised. I was out of my chair in a second and headed for the door. I had no idea who it might be, but no, I wasn’t expecting anyone.
I didn’t want to stress
Felicity out, so I told her. “Don’t answer the door. I’ll be right there. Probably just someone lost and at the wrong address, it’s easy to do in the mountains with all these side roads.”
“Yeah, probably,” Felicity said, brushing it off.
“Where’s Rosa?”
“She went back to the foyer to keep an eye on things,” she said. “Wait, what was that?”
Her voice went from calm to nearly shrieking in a matter of seconds.
“What was what?”
I hurried out of the office and climbed into my car. I put her on Bluetooth as I started the car and backed up.
“It sounded like a gunshot.”
My heart raced.
“Felicity, lock your door. Do you hear me?”
“Okay,” she said, her voice cracking.
A loud burst of sound caused me to jump and scream out, “Felicity? Are you there?”
“Oh God, Abe…”
“Felicity?”
I was on the main road, speeding toward home. It would take me at least fifteen minutes. I knew I needed to call 9-1-1, but I didn’t want to hang up with Felicity either. I needed her to talk to me.
Her voice came out from the other end at last. “Abe, there’s someone-- he’s got Rosa. He wants to talk to you.”
A man’s voice came through the phone. “Get here immediately, or we will kill her. Call the cops, and we’ll kill her before they even get into the house.”
The line went dead.
My heart stopped. I felt like I couldn’t breathe for a second. I was driving on auto-pilot, speeding down the road now. Call the cops and they’d kill her. I had no other choice then, I had to get to her right away.
Felicity
“Please don’t hurt us,” I begged. I was crumpled to the ground with the nurse’s assistant, Nicole. Rosa was still standing near the doorway, the masked gunmen holding a gun to her head. Koda was locked in Abe’s room barking furiously and scratching at the door. My insides felt like I was on the verge of exploding. Cramping hit me hard and fast, starting in the back and taking me to my knees.
I’d never experienced pain like that before, and it scared the shit out of me. I was thirty-four weeks now, and the doctor’s had told me that the babies could come at any time - but of all times, why now?
Nicole was holding my hand. “Breathe, Felicity. We can get through this.”
“I don’t think this is another Braxton-Hicks,” I cried out. The contractions had stopped, giving me a second to breathe. “That was much stronger.”
Nicole nodded. We both knew that the stress could have pushed me into labor. Tears welled in my eyes. “Please don’t let the babies come like this.”
Rosa spoke up. “She needs to see a doctor. She’s going into labor.”
The masked man laughed, a maniacal sound that send a shiver down my spine.
“Do you think I give a fuck?”
“Do you really want to cause the death of three babies?” Rosa asked, speaking calmer than I ever would have expected, considering she was at gunpoint.
The man didn’t answer. That was enough of an answer as any.
“Then let me go to her,” Rosa said. “At least let me help her.”
I didn’t think there was any way in hell that the man would allow that. I stared at Rosa, pleading with my eyes to just be careful to not push things. I didn’t want anything to happen to her.
A gush of water took me by surprise, covering the floor underneath me. “Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.” That’s all I could say as the realization hit me. This was it. This wasn’t some Braxton-Hicks. It was the real deal.
I was in labor. And we were being held hostage by a masked gunman.
“Let me go to her,” Rosa said. “If something happens to her and those babies, I can promise you, Abe will not work with you. You need to keep her and his babies alive if you want him to give you what you want.”
I had no idea what the man wanted. I didn’t think Rosa did either, unless they’d said something at the door when they broke in. Maybe it was a wild guess. It was a risk.
And it worked.
The man let Rosa go, pushing her toward me.
“Help her. But if anyone does anything suspicious, I will kill all of you. Don’t think I won’t.”
Rosa nodded and hurried over to me, dropping to the floor.
“Can we get her back in bed at least?” Rosa asked.
“Move slowly,” the man said.
Rosa and Nicole helped me to my feet. They were both average sized women, but Rosa had more muscles than I gave her credit for. Years of nursing probably meant she lifted and moved a lot of people. They were able to help me over to the bed and get me laying down, comfortable.
Nicole was at my side, reminding me to breathe. Holding my hand.
I closed my eyes and tried not to think about the masked gunman in my doorway. Abe would be here soon. I heard the man tell him to get here. Abe would know what to do. He’d save us.
Rose was talking to Nicole, using medical speak that made no sense to me. They might as well have been speaking a foreign language for all I knew. They spoke quietly, and Rosa moved around me with ease.
The babies were coming, whether we were ready or not. And I knew enough from my doctors that triplets should not be born naturally. They’d need to be delivered via c-section or there was a chance that they - or I - could die.
Stop it, Felicity. Calm down. The more you think about these things, the more stressed you become.
A wave of nausea washed over me as another contraction hit, hard. My body twisted and contorted as the pain ripped me open. I screamed as both Nicole and Rosa tried to comfort me.
There was no comforting me in the throes of a contraction though. I knew what was at stake. I knew what the situation was. I needed to get to the hospital, and I needed to go fast.
But I didn’t think the asshole with the gun would allow that to happen.
The pain subsided and I fell back onto the bed, tears staining my cheeks.
“You’re okay, Mama,” Nicole said softly.
I was anything but okay.
“You’re going to be okay,” Rosa said softly.
I wanted to believe her, but how could I?
Even if Abe got here, what would happen next? We needed to act fast.
A phone rang. The gunman took the call, stepping into the corner, but still keeping an eye on us and his gun raised. He spoke in muffled tones, but I could still make out what he was saying.
“He’s on his way,” the man said. “His wife is in labor. What should I do?”
I couldn’t hear what the other person was saying, but the masked man said, “Uh huh. Yes, of course. We do nothing until we get the property. Got it.”
It all clicked, right then and there. This was Chester Garrison’s doing. Just like the damage to my property. I had no idea that man could stoop so low, but apparently he could.
“Tell them I will sign over the diner, here and now. Abe can’t sign over the rights to it, only I can. It’s in my name. I’ll do it if you let us live and allow me to go to the hospital right away.”
The man held the phone from his ear and chuckled. “You think this is about the diner?”
“Of course it is, you said you wouldn’t let us go until you got the property. I am willing to sign it over, for free. It’s yours.”
The man got back on the phone and I thought, for a second, that we could strike a deal. The man hung up, putting the phone in his front pocket and coming back over to me.
“Ready to strike a deal?” I asked.
I’d do anything for my babies. Anything. I’d give up everything to give them a chance at life.
The man sneered at me from behind his mask. “This isn’t about the diner. It’s so much bigger than that, and only Abe can give us what we want. So stop trying to make deals, it won’t do you any good.”
My blood ran cold. I had no idea what this was about. I trusted Abe to do whatever he needed to do, but it hi
t me right then and there that this was much bigger than anything I understood.
Abe
Many people underestimated me. I was a doctor, yes, but I was more than a doctor. I was also a hunter, a lumberjack. I grew up in these mountains and I knew my property like the back of my hand. I had a security system set up at the house, and I pulled over to the side of the road and checked in from my phone.
The front entry was blocked with a black SUV. There was someone out front, pacing the porch. There was no way I’d go in that way, announcing my arrival to whoever was inside the house. I didn’t have cameras in all the rooms, only the main entryway and some of the hallways. It was clear. They’d been in Felicity’s room the last time I talked to her, and from the cameras, I didn’t see movement in any other part of the house. I’d have to take my chances, but I was betting they were secluded in Felicity’s room.
I knew there was a road to the back of my house, one that wasn’t on any maps. It would be a rough trip, but I could do it. I had chains on my tires and my truck was built for mountain roads.
I’d have to walk some of it, and I needed to be fast.
I turned down the road and drove for a few minutes before stopping. I didn’t want to get too close. I climbed out of the car and walked to the trunk, where I kept my hunting rifle. I’d never taken it out from my last hunting trip with Jeremiah. I grabbed the rifle and all the ammo I could load into my pockets.
I walked through the trees and headed toward my house.
These bastards thought they could threaten me. They thought I’d be a pushover, that they could scare me. I didn’t just live in an ivory tower. There was a reason I worked in Africa, hiking to some of the most remote tribes of the world. I knew I could handle the terrain, the challenge of it.
And I could handle this.
These guys had no fucking clue who they were messing with, but I was about to show them.
I saw my house in the distance, between the thick trees. I knew they wouldn’t be able to see me, not now. I’d hide in the trees for most of my walk. Felicity’s windows faced the south side of the house, while the front of the house was on the east side.