Page 3 of Fatal Love
Zeb was a friend who was becoming more and more of a staple around the SFI headquarters.
Cal passed a semi truck and screwed up his face. “Zeb’s kinda old fashioned, don’t you think?”
“It gives a nice solidness to the name.”
“That man’s ego is already so big, when you name our kid after him, we’ll never hear the end of it. Why don’t you make him a godfather or something? We might get some free babysitting out of him that way.”
Beatrice had the feeling finding babysitters wouldn’t be a problem. Between the Rock Stars and their girlfriends, everyone was already signing up for babysitting duty.
“Sloan, ourdaughter, doesn’t want Zebulon for a middle name, anyway,” Cal teased. “You better come up with something more feminine.”
She playfully smacked him on the arm. “If it is a girl, you’re in trouble. She will wrap you around her finger and you’ll be toast. You’ll give her anything she wants.”
He leaned over and dropped a quick kiss on her nose. “I think I’d like that.”
Beatrice smiled at him, but he’d already turned back to the road. Her heart felt all tingly and warm. Probably because the contractions had raised her heart rate and blood pressure, but maybe because of something more.
“You’re going to be a good dad,” she said to him. “No matter what sex our child is.”
“You’re going to be an awesome mom too.” A grin crossed his features as he sped around a car in their way. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I’m going to like being a dad.”
Beatrice knew the feeling. Her logical mind told her that, given her past, she was destined to be a bad mother. She’d had a rough childhood; her mother had suffered from mental problems and committed suicide when Beatrice was a teen. Her father had never been in the picture. She didn’t even know who he was. Odds of overcoming her past conditioning and sense of betrayal were low; Beatrice knew statistics doomed her to repeat the mistakes her parents had made.
But she didn’t feel that way. Her heart, silly muscle that it was, seemed to know different. She wanted this baby—and maybe a few siblings for him—and she was smart and determined enough to create whatever future she wanted for her family.
“I’m looking forward to having children,” she admitted, rubbing her giant stomach. “Our little family is about to be complete.”
GETTING HIS PREGNANT,in-labor wife into the house was harder than Cal anticipated.
Mostly because she was stubborn and didn’t want help.
“Just give me…a second,” Beatrice said, half bent over, and half crouched because she couldn’t actually bend from the waist as she gripped the side mirror of his Land Cruiser. Her cheeks puffed in and out with her breath.
Cal held onto her, one hand on her elbow, the other wrapped around the back of her nonexistent waist. “Hunter and I can carry you inside.”
“Over…my dead…body,” she huffed.
Hunter and Maria drew up at the curb, Hunter throwing his Tundra truck into park and bailing out before the midwife even had her seatbelt unbuckled. “How’s she doing?” he said, chugging up to them in the driveway.
“Fine,” Beatrice ground out, although it was pretty obvious she wasn’t from her bent posture, locked jaw, and the way her knuckles were as white as the new landscaping rock around the tree in their front yard, glistening under the partial moon.
“Let me help you.” Hunter peeled her fingers off the mirror.
With one man on each side holding her steady, Beatrice took a baby step forward. Stopped. Took another small step.
If they continued at this pace, she might have the kid right here in the driveway.
“Let us carry you,” Cal insisted again.
The contraction must have passed. Either that, or his words angered her enough she forgot she was in pain. Her back straightened and she glared at him. “I can walk.”
“Of course you can,” Trace said, shooting Cal a wink behind her back. “But you need to conserve your energy for pushing.”
She took a deep breath, seeming to center herself. Her gaze landed on their front door. “I’m okay now. I just needed to wait for that last contraction to pass.”
Maria finally caught up with them. “Walking is good for her. Gravity will help bring the baby down faster.”
Faster? Cal helped Beatrice take another step, this one a bit bigger than the last two. “I’d prefer my baby girl doesn’t come until we’re inside.”
