Baby by Midnight?
Page 19
“Winning that event tomorrow would definitely have given my career a jumpstart and there’s no question it would have helped me get the S-J’s breeding program going sooner rather than later. But today it suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks—those things will happen, anyway. I’m already fairly well-known on the cutting horse circuit. The S-J has never had the kind of breeding stock I intend to have, but it has a solid-gold reputation in other areas of ranching, thanks to Matt. Success may be slower coming, Annie, but it’ll come. The important thing is I’ll be here at the very second our son takes his first breath. I nearly missed that moment, for all the wrong reasons. I nearly lost you, the love of my life, by trying so hard to prove I was a man who deserved loving. I know I don’t deserve you, Annie. Or this baby we’re having. But I’m gonna be grateful for you both until my last breath.”
“Oh, Alex,” she said, blinking back the sweet tears of a happy heart. “You deserve so much more than you want to believe. I’m sorry I didn’t put enough faith in you. I should have. It was selfish of me to expect you to do all the giving. And if you honestly don’t want to live here, I’ll move with you. We’re a family now.”
“Move?” He looked around the cozy living room. “After I’ve just got this place spiffed up? I don’t think so.”
Annie kissed him again. “I meant move to Texas or some other state. But if you’re happy here, so am I. In fact, I’m so happy I might as well be rolling in it.”
“You’d never get up,” he pointed out realistically. “But since we’ve decided to start our married life in this little house, what do you think about adding on a room or two, in case Sam doesn’t like being an only child?”
“Sam had better get born first, before he goes insisting we build onto the house.”
Alex reached for her hand and helped her lever up from the depths of the sofa cushions. “I know you’re probably wondering what I’m going to fix you for supper, but try to keep your mind on me for a few more minutes, okay?”
She smiled, loving his take-charge, responsible attitude. Was it new? Or had she only now noticed? “Pizza,” she said. “We’ll order pizza and eat it in bed.”
“You’re not listening, Doc. We’re going to walk—well, you can waddle, if you’d rather—out to this four-wheel-drive vehicle I rented at the airport and we’re going to drive over to see Reverend Whitehead and find out what we have to do to get married tonight. Then we’re—”
“No, we’re not.” Annie decided to make things easy. “Not tonight, anyway. You’re going to run me a nice, warm bubble bath and then you’re going to get in the tub with me. If you’ll fit, that is. Then we’re going to get into bed with the pizza you’ve ordered and talk about whether we want to name our son Samuel Hoyt Thatcher McIntyre or Hoyt Alexander McIntyre Thatcher.”
Alex cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. “Trust me, woman. I have your best interests at heart. We’ll stop for pizza on the way to the reverend’s and we’ll have that bubble bath once we find out exactly how soon we can pull off a wedding. And his name will be Samuel Sundance McIntyre or, if he prefers, just ‘The Kid.”’
Annie smiled and deferred. “All right,” she said. “If that’s what you want, that’s what we’ll do.
But they didn’t. They went to the hospital instead.
Epilogue
Annie was sorry she’d eaten that pizza yesterday.
She was sorry she’d been in labor almost thirty hours.
She was doubly sorry that she’d ever had sex.
Alex leaned over her and wiped her face. “How’re you doing?” he whispered, helpfully.
She seized the opportunity and grabbed his ear. “This hurts,” she told him. “Don’t let anyone kid you. It hurts a lot.”
“I’d trade places with you in a heartbeat if I could, Annie.”
“Don’t think I wouldn’t let you, either.” She sighed, catching her breath between the rolling contractions. “Where’s Dr. Elizabeth? Can’t she do something to hurry this baby along?”
“I think your doctor has her hands full. I haven’t seen her in quite a while, come to think of it. Of course, we’ve got at least three women in labor right now. There may be more before the night’s over. Last I heard, Dr. Dave had called old Doc Wilson in to help, and another doctor is supposed to be on his way to Bison City from Sheridan.” Alex brushed the damp hair back from her temple and smiled. “Anybody might think you McIntyre women concocted this whole First Baby of Bison City contest so you could all go right down to the wipe.”
“Not me.” Annie declared her intentions quite firmly. “I’m having this baby as soon as—” Another contraction momentarily disabled her train of thought, and the only way she got through it was because Alex let her mutilate his hand in a lethal grip. When it passed, he wiped her face again and told her soothing things about tomorrow. Things like it would all be over tomorrow, and tomorrow she could have chocolate and pizza. Well, maybe a bite of each. Since she’d be breast-feeding, she’d want to be careful what she ate, of course.
“I can’t wait until tomorrow,” she interrupted his litany. “I can’t wait until some stupid clock chimes midnight. I can’t wait another minute for this to be over, do you understand?”
He nodded, kept his hold on her hand. “I do, sweetheart, I do. And believe me, I don’t care if this baby is the Millennium Baby or the last—I mean first—baby to arrive.”
There was a clatter outside in the hallway and somebody yelled, “I think she’s in labor!” But when Alex would have gone to investigate, Annie stopped him cold. “You’re with me, Sundance,” she said. “Even if the whole pregnant population of Bison City goes into labor, you are not to leave me for a second. Okay?”
“I’ve traveled the country waiting to hear you say those words, Annie.” He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “I’m here for the rest of my life.”
“Alex?” Willie came to the door. “Somebody sent you a telegram. Want it?”
“Sure, I guess.” But Annie had a clench on his hand, and she wasn’t about to let go. “Uh,” he told Willie. “Why don’t you read it to me.”
There was the rattle of paper, then Willie’s voice. “Okay, it says, ‘Kodiak Blue wins with me in saddle. Stop. What the hell. Stop. He deserved it. Stop. Benny.’ That’s it.” Willie folded the paper. “Got it?”
“Oh, yeah.” Alex’s smile had to be wider than Texas.
Annie hadn’t thought she’d ever smile again, but suddenly she couldn’t stop. “I heard. Congratulations, Alex. You picked a winner in Koby.”
“I’m the luckiest son-of-a-gun you ever want to meet. Now, let’s you and I get serious about having this baby.”
“You think I haven’t been serious for the past million and a half hours?”
“Just a little humor, okay? I’m with you, Annie. Just a little while longer and you’ll be holding our son.”
Another contraction built and rippled over her with excruciating discomfort. “This is the last time I’m having a baby in a small-town hospital with limited resources,” she said as she rode it out. “Next time we’re forgetting this natural childbirth stuff and stocking up on anesthetics, okay?”
“Okay,” he agreed, then asked. “So you think we’ll be doing this again next year? You know, just in case the millennium doesn’t actually start until January 1, 2001?”
Too exhausted to sock him in the jaw as he surely deserved for that comment, Annie glanced at the clock: 11:48.
“Alex,” she said, feeling the shift in her body.
“I’m here, Annie. Hold my hand.”
“If he’s still not here at midnight, promise you’ll just shoot me.”
Alex grinned and kissed her again. “I promise,” he said. “Baby by midnight or we’re outta here.”
ISBN : 978-1-4592-5036-9
BABY BY MIDNIGHT?
Copyright © 1999 by Karen Toller Whittenburg.
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