Page 108 of Fatal Attraction

“WHAT?” Mom and I bellowed at the same time.

“Ho-how is that possible?” my mother asked before I could. “She’s barely been in here 2 hours!”

“All pregnancies are different, ma’am. I don’t know what else to say except that it appears these babies are far more eager to arrive than any of us anticipated.”

“How-how far am I?” I didn’t want to do this so soon without Spike and Phoenix in the room.

“You’re 7cm dilated.”

My lips parted. “7?”

“Are the dads here?”

I shook my head. “No. They’re in court.”

“Reach out to them if possible. At the rate this is going, I suspect you’ll be pushing within the—” Something hard crashing into the door had me, Mom, and Dr. Scanlon jumping out of our skin.

“Charlotte!”

The door jarred open, and like two panting dogs dying from thirst, Phoenix and Spike came storming inside the room. Two suitcases were tightfisted in Spike’s hands, and Phoenix had the straps to a pink and blue diaper bag thrown over his shoulder. The bags rested against each hip, and his fingertips were wrapped tightly around the tops of the two brand new car seats we’d purchased a few months ago.

“What did we miss?” Phoenix asked through a heaving breath.

“You’re just in time,” said the doctor. “Charlotte is 7cm dilated.”

“7?” Spike’s eyes rounded. “But she just—”

“All pregnancies are different,” she calmly repeated. “As I was just telling Charlotte, I suspect she’ll be pushing within the next hour. I’d like to also remind everyone that only two people can be in the room when it’s time for Charlotte to push. There are four of you here, so I’m leaving it up for you to discuss who stays and leaves.”

“Thank you, Doc.” Phoenix placed one of the car seats down and graciously shook her hand. “Spike and I will be in the room with Charlotte.”

Mom opened her mouth to protest, but I shot her a nasty look and sternly shook my head. While they may have been her grandbabies, like it or not, they were our kids, and she was not going to fight with us over who stayed and who had to wait outside the room.

“Fine,” she sighed out, placing the magazine down and grabbing her purse. “Your father didn’t make any stops for food on our way in, so I’m going to head down to the cafeteria for a bit. Would you like me to bring you something back for later, after the babies are born?”

“That’s fine, Mom. Thank you. Could you do me a huge favor and grab me some ice chips on your way back?”

“I got it right here, pumpkin,” Dad announced as he entered the room, grinning until his eyes rolled slightly to the side as my mother departed. “And oh, you have another visitor.”

Dad placed my ice chips on the table, and then my eyes widened when Carter unexpectedly came strolling in, smiling ear to ear with his arms spread wide.

“You son a of a bitch.” Spike placed the suitcases down and hauled Carter in for a tremendous hug. Phoenix finished getting the diaper bags and car seats neatly situated against the wall and claimed a hug for himself.

“How the hell have you been, man? How’s the new job and house?”

Carter had moved out about six months ago, after finally receiving word from the real estate company that there was a client interested in buying his old home. Instead of sticking around in Seaview Pines, he’d relocated about an hour away to a city I couldn’t quite remember off the top of my head. Thanks to all the years he’d served in the military, Carter landed quite an impressive job working as a Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst.

“Amazing,” he replied when they parted. “The house, the job, everything is great. I honestly couldn’t be happier.”

“How did you know where to find us?” I asked when it was my turn to hug him.

“I came into town for Perry’s trial,” he said, sighing with a look that had my brows shooting up to my hairline. “When I got to the courthouse, nobody was there except for Harley and that new attorney who’d taken Ben’s place. Harley told me you were in labor, so I came straight here.”

“Wait…what?” I asked in confusion. “The trial never happened?”

Now it was Spike and Phoenix’s turn to sigh.

“No, baby, it didn’t. The reason Harley called us to the judge’s chambers is because Perry’s dead. He committed suicide last night.”

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