Page 45 of Air Of Mystery
He pulled the door open wider. “The security team called me. I helped get Angela into her sister’s car so they could head straight to the hospital.”
I stepped inside. “Oh, I didn’t know that. There were so many people fussing around her that I thought it best to wish her well, but to stay the hell out of the way.”
“That was smart,” he said, closing the door behind me.
“Hey,” I said and handed him one of the left-over flower arrangements. “These are for you.”
He took the flowers and smiled. “I’ve never had a woman give me flowers before. Thank you.” Charlie immediately placed the flowers on his coffee table.
I sat my purse aside on a chair, and Charlie offered me a glass of wine. I accepted and we sat together on the sofa as we chatted about the pandemonium that had ensued after Angela’s water broke.
Amanda, I told him, had been cool as a cucumber. She’d simply announced she would drive her sister to the hospital and went to pull her car around. Estella came out from behind the bar with a stack of clean towels, dropped some on the small puddle on the floor, and announced the rest were for Angela to sit on for the drive to the hospital. Meanwhile Arianna had grabbed her sister’s purse and taken Angela’s arm to help her, while Kenna took the other, and they’d guided her straight out a side door.
When Charlie had arrived on the run, he told me that he’d found that Angela was experiencing her first contraction. She had been standing between Kenna and Arianna and was panting. Arianna had been rubbing Angela’s back and speaking calmly to her.
“Once that labor pain passed,” he said, “I picked her up, carried her the rest of the way to Amanda’s car, and seat belted her in myself. Then I sent them off and called Ryder.”
“How’d Ryder handle the news?” I asked and took a sip of my wine.
“Pretty well. He laughed, and said that Gabriella had just texted him, and that he was walking out the door to go meet Angela at the hospital. Ryder told me that he’d already put theirbags in the trunk of his car last week. He promised to call later and let me know when the baby arrived.”
“I didn’t realize you two were friends.”
Charlie shrugged. “There’s something about the Daughters of Midnight. They sort of suck you right into the family, and suddenly you’ve got a whole battalion of people in your life—whether you were ready for it or not.”
“Ah. It certainly sounds like you had another quiet, stress-free day working security at the hotel,” I teased.
“It wasn’t that bad. We already had a plan in place in case Nicole had gone into labor while she was here—so I simply adapted it.”
“Did you call it Operation Stork?” I asked. “Please tell me you did.”
Charlie’s lips twitched. “Gabriella called it that. I think she was disappointed when Nicole went into labor at home on her day off.”
“Never hurts to have a plan, I suppose.”
“I’m simply happy that Angela didn’t deliverhere,” Charlie said, sipping his own wine.
“There’s that.” I chuckled. “My grandmother would’ve been thrilled. She used to midwife.”
“Oh god…” Charlie shuddered a bit over that news and set his glass aside. “Here’s hoping your sister’s wedding is not nearly as exciting.”
“To my knowledge none of the guests are expecting—or due in early November—so I think you should be safe.”
He chuckled over that comment and then I watched as his eyes changed.
“What?” I asked, placing my own glass on a side table.
“I like your dress. I didn’t get a chance to tell you before. Plus, I think I’ve only ever seen you in one twice before. Once at Cordelia’s wedding, and on the night when we were supposed to...” He trailed off and cleared his throat. “What’s printed on it? Are those apples?”
I scanned the pattern of the dress. “Oak leaves, apples, and pomegranates.”
“Do the leaves, apples and pomegranates have meanings like the flowers, too?” he wanted to know.
I nodded. “Oak leaves correspond to prosperity and healing. The pomegranate means fertility and abundance, while the apple symbolizes wisdom and mysteries; but others say it symbolizes temptation.”
He simply stared at me silently for a long, long moment.
Finally, I found my own voice. “Are you feelingtempted, Charlie?”
