Page 8 of Unexpected Delivery

“I did,” she says, sounding a little dazed. “They said they would send someone out, but there’s a big crash…” She white knuckles the steering wheel. “I should have told them I think I’m in labor. I was going to, but my phone died. I didn’t have any signal at my cabin, and?—”

“Holy shit,” I whisper, suddenly feeling like my face must resemble Hael’s.

“Has your water broken?” Morris asks, reaching around her to unclip her seat belt. “How long have you been stuck here?”

“No, and not long, maybe a contraction or two. Okay, I think this one makes number three.”

“Do you plan to get your ass up here, Hayes?” Morris snaps.

Fuck.

He knows I was a combat medic, and, as such, fully trained in delivering babies. You see some crazy shit during natural disaster deployments, so it’s part of the readiness course. I’ve just never had to use that knowledge…it’s all theoretical.

“Whoa, I thought I was seeing double for a second, but I didn’t hit my head…” She laughs awkwardly.

“Jesus.” Morris lifts her out of the car, like she weighs nothing, and glances at Hael. “Call someone and get her car towed to the shop.”

“Would one of you mind grabbing my hospital bag out of the back seat?” she asks as Morris stomps her toward the truck.

“I’ve got it,” I call back, meeting my twin’s eyes. “Holy fucking shit.”

“Yeah,” he says, looking a little dazed. “She’s really pretty. Did you catch a whiff of her scent? Damn.”

The urge to punch that stupid look off his face washes over me from nowhere, and I clench my fists to keep from following through. I need him to join the land of the living and actually help right now.

“Call someone from the shop and tell them to get her car as soon as it’s safe to bring the tow truck out,” I remind him, climbing into the driver’s seat to shut off her car. Her purse lies open on the passenger seat, and I snag it too.

What the hell is going on?

She’s pregnant and tried to drive herself to the hospital in the middle of a snowstormalone.Even if she had no cell service, she’s super pregnant.

Where is her baby’s father?

Chapter Five

Arbor

Morris helps me into the back of the huge truck, and I push up on the seat with my hands as pain envelops my lower half.

Oh, fuck.

Why can’t the whole lightning shooting in your vagina thing be a myth?

God.

I feel so stupid.

Knowing bad weather was on the way, there’s every possibility I should have checked into a hotel in town. Except, I’m supposed to have close to two weeks left until my due date. I understand it’s not an exact science, but wasting money on a hotel room seemed frivolous.

What if another storm kept popping up and popping up? I can’t afford weeks of hotel costs when I have a free place to live.

“Is there someone I should call?” Morris asks, sliding in at my side.

My stomach drops.

There’s not.

My lip wobbles, and I shake my head. “No.”

---