Page 58 of The Glass Dolphin

As she exhaled, she looked down, but her belly was so big, she couldn’t see if she’d wet herself or not. Then, all at once, a stretching, slicing, agonizing pain tore from one side of her abdomen to the other.

She cried out, doubled over, and groaned.

“Kelli!” Shad cradled her face in his hands and forced her to look up at him.

“My water broke,” she said, the words laced with air, fear, and pain. “I’m going into labor.”

Shad held very still for one, two, three long beats of time. Then he jumped to his feet and frantically tapped on his phone. “I’ll get us a ride.”

“We have to get to the hospital,” she said, trying to get to her feet. Whole Soul sat right around the corner from the ferry station, and she’d walked the distance many times. Tonight, she wouldn’t be.

“A car is one minute away,” he said, and he grabbed her arm and helped her stand. “Lean on me. Tell me what to do.”

Kelli didn’t know what to do. “Get me to the hospital,” she said, and then she and Shad exited her office and headed for the front exit.

She had to walk by both classes to get out of the house, and the people closest to the doorways saw her lumber by. “Kelli,” someone called. “Are you okay?”

“I’m having the baby!” she yelled back.

“Her water broke,” Shad added.

That caused everyone to flood into the hallway and doorways, and they all called well wishes to her. Kelli’s eyes burned with tears, and not because she was wearing wet clothes and another contraction would steal her breath and shock her with pain at any moment.

But because her customers—her friends—were cheering her out of the building. Cheering her on as she had this baby.

In her wildest dreams, Kelli would’ve never put herself in this situation, and yet, she’d never felt so loved and so cared for. She waved to everyone as she reached the door, and thankfully, their car waited at the end of the sidewalk.

“Get us a ride on Diamond,” she panted as she went down the steps, her hand gripping the railing. They couldn’t normally schedule a RideShare at a ferry station during peak travel times, but Kelli knew Shad would find a way to make an exception.

In the car, he said, “My wife is in labor. How do I make sure we have a car to get us to the hospital the moment we arrive on Diamond?”

The RideShare driver turned around, took one look at Kelli, and said, “I’ll call right now, sir.” He called and drove, and Kelli leaned into Shad, both hands supporting her belly, as if she could keep her baby inside for just a little longer that way.

Shad pressed a kiss to her temple and whispered, “You are strong. You are brave. This is so exciting.”

Kelli grinned, because she wanted to be strong, and brave, and yes, she was extremely excited to meet their little girl. “And it’s not March fifteenth.”

ChapterTwenty-One

Robin didn’t carry anything with her as he navigated up to the maternity ward at the hospital. Kelli had not alerted anyone to her baby being born until this morning, and by the time Robin saw the little girl, she’d be twenty-four hours old.

Kelli would be fed and well-cared for, and Robin wouldn’t have wanted flowers or gifts brought in that she then had to cart home with her brand-new daughter.

She wasn’t surprised to find AJ and Asher in the waiting room outside the double-wide door that led back to the patient rooms. “Hey,” she said to her friend, and AJ rose from the couch where she held a toy for her almost two-year-old.

“Robin.” She smiled and stepped into Robin’s hug. “How are you?”

“Cold.” Robin enjoyed the embrace from AJ, and then she stepped back. “You’re here alone?”

“Alice, Laurel, Kristen, and Jean went down to the cafeteria.” AJ looked past Robin as if they’d come around the corner at any moment. “Eloise, Clara, and Julia are on their way from the inn on Sanctuary.” She smiled and focused on Robin again.

“Is she taking visitors?” Robin looked to the big door she’d have to be buzzed through.

“Yeah. Oh, they’re back.” AJ moved past Robin as if she were less important, and Robin’s eyes widened as she followed AJ’s movement toward the other women. Something pinched in her chest, and she wasn’t sure why.

She ran a wedding planning business, and she couldn’t come to everything—but AJ didn’t go to everything either.

“Did you see they’re hiring nurses here?” Jean asked. Robin had seen the signs on the way in, but she hadn’t paid them any attention. She wasn’t a nurse, and she didn’t know anyone in the field who didn’t already work here or at a doctor’s office.

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