Page 118 of Tides That Bind

“What decisions?”

I slow when I get to the bridge overpassing Seal’s Bay, but she doesn’t answer.

“Harper?”

It’s hard to drag my eyes from the windshield, but I want to. Because I have a sinking suspicion that these decisions involve a move.

That doesn’t include me.

Not worth wasting your energy,I tell myself.Nate will only leave California under duress or military order.

Harper begins breathing funny, and rocks side to side in her seat.

“We’re almost there. You’re not having that baby in the car.”

She begins to pant. “Just hurry, please.”

I squeeze the steering wheel, focusing on the road, hoping the bright red light of the Emergency Room sign cuts through the rain enough for me to not miss it.

It doesn’t. I miss it.

“Riley!” Harper slams her head against the seat.

“I’m doing my best here.” I don’t know if there’s another entrance this way. It’s only when I see an ambulance turn that I follow. I’m saved by the skin of my teeth like always. “Look, no worries, we’re here.”

But now that we’re here, I’m not sure what to do. I pull up to themain doors after Harper tells me she needs to go up to labor and delivery on the fourth floor.

Do I drop her off? Do I park and wait in the lobby?

“Let me help you.” I throw the car into Park and battle the wind to get my door open. The rain beats my face as I get out, running around to the passenger side. I don’t know if it’s ever poured this hard in Oceanside. “Come on.”

I get Harper’s door open but it takes a second for her to turn, to swing her legs out.

She can’t go anywhere on her own. She can’t do this on her own.

“Wait,” I tell her. “Don’t get out yet.”

I rush into the lobby. “I need one of these,” I tell a woman standing at a desk to the side as I take a wheelchair and push it outside, yelling to Harper. “Come on.”

Taking my hand, she uses it for leverage to get out of the car and into the chair as I rush to push her out of the rain. There are elevators on both sides of the lobby. “Which one for labor and delivery?” I ask the same woman I took the wheelchair from.

It’s Harper who answers through clenched teeth. “That one.” She points to the right and it’s only when I get close that I see the obvious sign. But I can’t focus for shit to read right now.

After pushing the button seven times, the door opens and I wheel Harper in.

“Sir?”

I stick my hand out, blocking the sensor from shutting the elevator doors. There’s a security guard.

“Your car.”

Even out of just the corner of my eye, I see the fear that sweeps across Harper’s face. It’s a look that tells me she thinks she’s about to do every part of this alone.

But she’s always been a know-it-all.

“Key’s in the ignition. Give it to the valet, would you?” I look down at Harper and nod. “We’re kind of having a baby.”

“Shit day,”Finn’s voice sounds from behind me. “Nothing to catch.”

---