Page 69 of Deny Me
“We’re getting the entourage ready now,” Charlotte said, giving Becky a smile as the girl straightened, rubbing a hand over her belly.
“I’m ready,” Becky said. “Where are the rest of the slowpokes?”
A laugh came through the phone. “See you there.”
Charlotte hung up and went to find Becky’s shoes. By the time they were on, Charlotte’s mom had arrived. “We’re having a baby!”
Another contraction hit Becky. “Can we skip to the ‘we’vehada baby’ part?” she groaned.
“You’re doing fantastic,” Charlotte told her. “Wait for this to pass and we’ll get you to the car.”
That’s exactly what they did. When Charlotte said they were preparing an entourage, she hadn’t realized how accurate that was. A line of three SUVs, all black with darkly tinted windows, waited in the driveway when they arrived. Mark and TC went into the first vehicle, Saint and Elliot into the third. Dain and King joined Charlotte, Becky, and her mom in the middle SUV.
“Why the caravan?” Kim asked Dain quietly as King helped Becky into the middle row of seats.
Dain kept his voice equally low, and Charlotte knew they were trying not to upset Becky. Security wasn’t a detail the young woman needed to worry over right now; she was doing the most important work, after all, bringing her baby into the world.
“In case someone starts following us,” he said. “Not likely, but we want to be ready for any eventuality. We’ll each peel off to go to a different hospital to confuse anyone who has eyes on us. The vehicles have all been searched, no tracking devices, no GPS hacks—they’re clean. Becky will be as safe as we can possibly make her. Elliot and Saint will meet us at the hospital after dropping off their vehicle so we will have the full force of the team protecting Becky while she’s there.”
“Thank you,” Charlotte said, choking up. That these men and women who hadn’t even known Becky two weeks ago considered issues Charlotte hadn’t even thought about, issues regarding Becky’s safety and the safety of her baby, filled her with gratitude.
“You are more than welcome,” Dain said, jerking his chin toward the SUV. “Hop in and we’ll go.”
There were no issues as they made their way to the hospital. Mark and TC exited the interstate at the regional hospital closest to the mansion, and Charlotte caught TC’s salute out the passenger-side window as they passed. The two men had kept mostly to the background, but she had spoken with them both several times and appreciated their intelligence and diligence. Saint and Elliot took the turn onto 285 a bit later. Dain drove through empty downtown streets before pulling into the maternity entrance for Women and Children’s Hospital a few miles north. An attendant exited the sliding doors with a wheelchair, and King came around to open the door to assist Becky out.
Susan met them at the entrance. “I’ve made special arrangements to have extra personnel present outside Becky’s room.” She turned to a burly man with a heavy gray beard standing beside her. “This is Tom Bautista, chief of security here.”
The man nodded in their direction.
Dain stepped forward to shake Bautista’s hand. “Dain Brannan. I head this motley crew. Let’s chat.”
The two men stepped aside as Susan escorted the rest of them down the hall. Charlotte’s mom filled out paperwork, and Charlotte held Becky’s hand through contractions until they were settled in a room and Susan shooed her out to check Becky’s progress. When she stepped into the hall, King was waiting.
“How’s she doing?” he asked, worried eyes scanning her face.
Charlotte smiled. “She’s strong.” Without thinking, she stepped close, laying her head against King’s broad chest as he took her hand. “My mom told me once, you do what you have to do, one step at a time, until you come out the other side.” She shuddered thinking of the dark days that had necessitated those words. This would be a happy occasion instead; she firmly believed that. “Becky’s taking it one step at a time. For someone with only sixteen years of life under her belt, she’s stronger than most of the people I’ve known.”
King dropped his head onto hers. “I think I’ve known someone stronger.”
Charlotte lifted up to look him in the eye. “Who?”
One side of his mouth tugged up. “You.” He smoothed some of the stray strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail back behind her ear. “Kim told you that when you lost the baby, didn’t she?”
His voice cracked on the wordbaby, and her heart broke in two. “She did.” Covering his hand, she pressed it against her cheek, absorbing the warmth of his skin into hers. “I wanted to die,” she said honestly. “You were gone. Our child was gone. And I didn’t want to live anymore. But I did, one day at a time, until I found a purpose, a reason to keep going.” She glanced over her shoulder at Becky’s door. “I’m very glad I did.”
King bent down until his lips brushed hers. “I am too.”
“Charlotte.”
Her mother’s voice had her jerking around like a guilty kid. King straightened behind her, but he didn’t let go. Instead he moved in to cradle her back, his arm coming around to settle against the flat of her stomach, holding her to him.
Her mom’s gaze dropped to that hand, raised to King’s face, then transferred to Charlotte. They stared at each other for a long moment, not truly a battle of wills, more like a searching, as if her mother needed to know something Charlotte couldn’t quite decipher.
Finally her mom spoke. “Susan says we can come in. Becky is dilated to six.”
“I’ll be there in a moment.”
Her mom’s lips tightened, but she went into Becky’s room without a word. Charlotte turned in King’s arms. “Looks like we’re having a baby tonight.”
