Page 72 of Saved By the Mountain Man

I hoped she was right. She didn’t know what my family could be like. But I’d figured that if it was possible that things had gone so horribly wrong between me and Tanner and it had only been because of what he felt was the right thing to do to protect me, maybe there were misunderstandings between my mom and my sister and me, too.

After all, everyone deserved a second chance. No one understood that concept better than I did.

As we left the store, my heart felt lighter. The conversation with Laken had given me a lot to think about, but I knew Ineeded to focus on the future, on making sure that it was a positive one. These days, that was what mattered.

Tanner and I were building a life together, and our baby would be surrounded by love.

“Don’t worry,” Laken said reassuringly; she must have known how hard to chase the worry away. “You’ve got a whole town ready to help. And Tanner is completely smitten with you. He’ll make sure everything is perfect.”

I smiled, my cheeks flushing again. Would I ever get used to how great he was?

Probably not.

“He’s been amazing, hasn’t he? Building the house, getting everything ready. I can’t believe how much he’s done for us.”

“He loves you, Rae,” Laken said simply. “And that love is going to make all the difference.”

Just as we stepped outside into the cold winter air, I felt a sudden, sharp pain in my lower abdomen. I gasped, clutching my stomach, doubling over. “Laken… something’s wrong.”

She turned to me, frowning. “What is it?”

I leaned against the wall with one hand, the other hand on my belly, trying to breathe through the pain.

Another sharp pain shot through me, and I cried out.

“Oh, shit,” Laken said and dropped her shopping bags.

“I think… I think I’m having contractions,” I managed to say through the gasps and the pain.

Laken’s face paled. “Oh my God. Shit. Holy Moses. Okay, okay. Okay. We need to breathe.” She breathed in deeply and let it out again. “We’re going to be fine.”

“Laken!” I cried out when she seemed to be panicking more than I was.

“Sorry,” she said. “It’s just… the baby’s coming.”

“I know!” I sank to my knees, moaning loudly as my stomach contracted.

“We need to get you to the hospital. Can you walk?” Laken grabbed my arm and helped me up.

I nodded, but another contraction hit, this one even stronger than the last. I doubled over, trying to breathe through the pain, doing what the Lamaze videos I’d watched online had taught me.

My body racked with pain again.

“Laken…” I looked down, but I couldn’t see much over my belly. “It’s happening too fast. My water just broke.”

“What!? I thought it was just a thing in movies.”

If I didn’t have so much pain, I might have laughed, but my body was betraying me, doing things I knew nothing about, and I cried out again.

“I don’t know what to do,” she said. “I’m calling someone.”

She tried Tanner.

“Voice mail. Shit.”

She tried again.

“He’s hunting,” I said, hard breaths punctuating every word. “He’s out of range.”

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