Page 54 of Renewal After Dark

“She said she’s not taking any chances, and she doesn’t want you to do anything but sit tight and wait.”

“Did she sound worried?”

“Not particularly.”

Victoria might not have been particularly worried, but Adam was. His brows were furrowed, and his mouth set in an expression that told her he, too, was trying not to panic.

They heard the door downstairs open.

“There’s my mom. She was already in town, so she said she’d be right over.” He brought Liam to Abby. “Give Mommy a kiss before you go with Grammy to play with the kids.”

“Kids.”

Abby smiled as she kissed and hugged her little boy. “Have the best time and be good for Grammy.”

“Good.”

“He’s becoming a regular parrot,” Adam said.

“He sure is.”

Adam lifted him into his arms. “Be right back.”

“I’ll be here.”

She heard him go down the stairs. She heard him talking to his mother. And she heard the urgent tone of his voice as he asked his mom to be gone with Liam before the ambulance arrived to take Abby. “I think it might scare him.”

“Of course, honey,” Linda said. “Please give Abby all our love and let me know what’s going on as soon as you can.”

“I will. Thanks for coming running.”

“Always happy to have some time with my pal.”

“Pal,” Liam said.

Abby smiled and then grimaced as the sharpest pain yet took her breath away. Suddenly, she was deeply grateful for Victoria’s overabundance of caution.

Adam came charging up the stairs. “How’re you doing, hon?”

“About the same.” He didn’t need to know the pain had gotten worse.

“Ambulance should be here any second.”

Just as he said that, they heard the siren in the distance.

“I’ll go let them in.”

Five minutes later, paramedics came storming up the stairs, following Adam’s direction to their bedroom.

One of them was Adam’s sister Mallory.

“Hey, honey, what’s going on?” Mallory asked as she hooked Abby to a blood pressure cuff.

“A pain that’s been getting more intense by the hour.”

She pressed a stethoscope to Abby’s chest and then to her belly. “Hearing lots of strong heartbeats in there. Let’s get you to the clinic and see what’s going on.”

Though she’d felt the babies moving all night, Abby was relieved to hear their heartbeats were strong, although Mallory probably couldn’t tell if that meant they were all healthy. Victoria would be able to further evaluate her at the clinic.

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