Page 24 of Blast from the Past

“We’ll be there in thirty minutes at the most,” Mercy replies. “We had an issue…”

“What issue? Was there another threat?” I love her even more for being worried about the woman I love.

“I’ll tell you later,” Mercy cuts in. “Has the baby been born?”

“Not yet.”

“Okay. We’ll be there soon.”

****

Mercy West

Both Shane and I shower and dress quickly and in silence. The past six hours have already taken so much out of us, and now we have to deal with this. But for the first time today it seems like things might finally be looking up. I know he is excited about the baby even if it wasn’t exactly part of his plan. And weirdly, I’m excited too. To go on this journey intoparenthood with him.

We arrive at the hospital just under thirty minutes later to find Karmen and Wesley sitting in the waiting room. Both look as tired as we feel.

“Has the baby been born?” I ask the moment I lay eyes on them.

“Yes,” Karmen says with tears in her eyes. “A boy.”

“A boy,” Shane says softly beside me, his words coated in disbelief. “I have a son.”

“Seven pounds, three ounces,” Wesley says proudly.

“Can we see him yet?’ Shane asks.

“You can. But there’s something else,” Wesley says, making his way toward his brother. “Charlotte…” He clears his throat. “She didn’t make it, Shane. There was a bleed, and they couldn’t stop it.”

I watch him pale and lead him to a seat. I know she was a one-night stand and they were never in love or anything like that. But still. She is the mother of his child and now she is gone. I don’t know what I am supposed to feel at this moment, but I do know I am sad.

Sad for a little boy who will never get to know his mother. Sad for her family who have lost her. Just sad overall.

Jacob Wilson and a man I recognize as his father walk into the waiting area. Both of their eyes are bloodshot from the crying and my heart breaks all over for them.

“Shane,” Jacob’s father says, his voice breaking.

Shane stands and embraces the older man, murmuring in his ear. For long moments no one moves or says a thing. We all wait to see what will happen next.

“Come and meet your son,” Jacob says to Shane once his father releases him.

The older man falls into a seat as Shane wraps his hand around mine and we follow Jacob down a bright white hallway tomeet our son.

Chapter Fourteen

Four Months Later

Shane Blake

I am bone-tired when I finally get home. I spent the last ten hours working on a contract for a new client who is buying the biggest farm in the area. It doesn’t help that our son, Gibson, has been teething and awake at all hours of the night.

My shoulders and back hurt from the hours in front of my computer, and I want nothing more than to fall face-first onto my bed and sleep for the next week.

Opening the bedroom door, I take in the form of the only woman I have ever loved lying beneath just a sheet. It has slipped down her body and exposed the naked curve of her hip and her full lush ass to my gaze. I swear a minute ago I didn’t think it was possible but suddenly I have energy.

Zeus is sleeping at the end of the bed and lifts his head to glare at me. Since the shooting last month, he is never far from her. He sleeps inside now on the bed with us. He’s her hero and protector and I couldn’t be prouder.

Slowly, he climbs off the bed to lie on the big purple pillow that Mercy insisted I buy for him the day before we picked him up from the vet to bring him home. Turning on his side, he sighs loudly before going back to sleep, the rumble of his snore filling the quiet room.

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