Page 7 of Be Mine Forever

“Am I?” Kerris bit her lip and swallowed before asking the question Cam was afraid he already knew the answer to. “Delivering, I mean? It’s early. Isn’t there any way we can delay this? Bed rest? Hang me upside down or something?”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Bennett. These babies are coming today.”

“Will they be okay?” Kerris’s voice dropped to a frightened whisper.

Cam reached over and squeezed her hand. She looked up at him and squeezed back but couldn’t muster a smile. She tightened the soft line of her mouth, shut her eyes, and drew a sharp breath in through her nose. Cam knew what was coming. Ever since he’d found her on the kitchen floor, the pain had come and subsided with ominous regularity.

“It’s not uncommon for twins to come early.” Doogie slipped his hands into the slits of his white coat. “And even though it’s early, they are viable.”

Cam’s phone rang, and he stepped away from the bed to answer it as soon as he saw Walsh’s name flash on-screen.

“Hey, Bennett.”

“Cam, no!” Kerris whispered, her eyes begging even as she tried to control the pain squeezing her from the inside out.

“Cam, I’m going crazy here.” Walsh’s voice pulled tight and snapped on the other end. “Was Kerris home? It’s been hours since we talked.”

“Walsh, man.” Cam glanced at Kerris, knowing she didn’t want Walsh to worry but knowing he couldn’t keep this from him. “Kerris is in labor.”

A full five seconds of deafening silence before Walsh spoke. Panic threaded between his words.

“No, she can’t be. It’s…it’s too early. Maybe just Braxton Hicks, or false labor?”

“We’re at the hospital, and the twins are coming soon.”

“I’m not there. How the hell am I halfway around the world when my kids are being born? God, I’m my dad.”

“The hell you are.”

Kerris made a strangled, subdued sound, her head turned into the pillow, the sheet clenched in her fist.

“I need to speak to Kerris,” Walsh said.

“Uh…she’s kind of in the middle of a contraction.”

“Contraction.” Walsh’s voice spiked, stretching beyond panic and into another stratosphere. “She’s in pain?”

“That’s generally a part of labor, so yeah.”

“Cam, don’t joke about this. Is she okay?”

Another muffled moan from the bed.

“No, but I don’t think she wants you to hear how much it hurts.”

“Fuck that. FaceTime me.”

“FaceTime? Dude.”

“Just do it.”

Cam did it.

He walked over to the bed and angled the phone so Walsh could see Kerris.

“Kerris.” Walsh had scrubbed his voice clean of the panic. No anxiety. Perfectly even and soothing. “Baby, I’m right here.”

Kerris opened her eyes, zoning in on Walsh’s image on the phone.

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