Edge Of Fear (Arrow's Edge MC Book 4)
Page 24
The plan is to get this paperwork ready and I’m keeping my fingers crossed it’ll be enough of an incentive for her to get on board with the temporary move to the compound. Although, I can’t really blame her for digging her heels in, she’s already had to deal with a Christmas that didn’t turn out exactly as she’d hoped.
“She’s home. Bed rest.”
“Well, that sucks, but we’re gonna need her John Hancock as well.”
“I know, but I was hoping I can take it with me. I’ll get her to sign it and can bring it back.”
“Sure. That’ll work. Just remember I told you I’m gonna have a hard time getting a judge to sign off on it if you don’t have room for the kid. How’s the house coming along?”
I give her an update and my promise that as soon as I can get Sophia out from underfoot, I should have it move-in ready at the latest by mid-February.
Twenty minutes later, I walk out of the office with the paperwork I hope is going to do the trick.
I already know I have my brothers’ support, and last weekend we sat down with Ravi. Not gonna lie, it wasn’t just Sophia tearing up that time. The kid was afraid to believe us at first, which killed me, but we were eventually able to assure him we were serious.
Now I can show him how serious. Transferring guardianship from the Arrow’s Edge MC to us is only the first step, but it’s a big one. Once the house is done and our family is complete, we’ll set the wheels in motion to make it permanent.
When I get home, Van appears to give me a quick sniff before he heads back for the couch. That’s where he’s spent most of his time with Sophia, lying on the floor at her feet with his eye on the door.
I kick off my boots and tiptoe in; I don’t want to wake her up if she’s sleeping. Sophia is lying on her side—wrapped around the body pillow Lisa got her—her eyes on me.
“I thought you were sleeping.”
I sit by her feet and rub her leg.
“I was, but I heard you come in. What is that?”
She points at the manila envelope where I dropped it on the coffee table and I grab it. Figures she’d zoom in on that.
“I stopped by to see Mel.”
Her eyes grow big as she pulls herself up to a sitting position.
“Mel?”
“Yeah, guardianship papers were ready for our signatures. Mine’s already on there, it just needs yours.”
She smiles big and holds out her hand but I pull the envelope from her reach.
“Let me sign it.”
“Not so fast.” Her face instantly looks mutinous. “There’s a catch. She says no judge will sign off on it if we don’t have an appropriate space to offer him. Which means this house needs to get done.” I point at the temporary wall we’ve had to put up between the addition and the A-frame when winter struck. “And we both know what that means.”
She falls back on the couch, her forearm covering her eyes.
“I hate this,” she mumbles, her voice wobbly.
I lean down and pull up her sweater to kiss her stomach.
“I know you do, Fee. We don’t really have a choice. If I could take over growing those babies for you I would, but what I can do is get this house ready for all of us. It’ll just be for a few weeks. Maybe a month.”
More like six weeks, but I’m not going to push it.
“You’ll have Lisa and Brick around when I’m working, and you’ll see Ravi after school every day.” She wipes her eyes with her sleeve and struggles to get upright, so I give her a hand. “Think about it,” I add. “You won’t have to eat my cooking attempts anymore.”
“Fine,” she grumbles through a faint grin. “Get me a pen.”
When she’s signed the papers, I tuck them back in the envelope and move to the other side of her so I can pull her back against my front. She drops her head back on my shoulder.
“After these two are out and Ravi is ours, no more babies. I’m done.”
I bend down and kiss the tender skin at the base of her neck.
“Okay, babe.”
She tilts her head up and glares at me.
“I mean it.”
I smile and drop a kiss on her lips. Not the right time to bring it up, but now that I’ve had a taste I wouldn’t mind a big family.
But that’s a discussion for another time.
“I know, Fee.”
Sophia
February.
“Do you have to go? I’m bored out of my mind.”
He bends over the bed and presses a kiss to my pouting mouth.
“Baby, I’ll be a few hours, that’s all. I’ve gotta get those rooms painted, but Ravi and Elan are helping so it shouldn’t take us too long.”
I snort before wincing a little when the babies move. I rub a soothing hand over my now impressively distended stomach.
Six weeks to go. I can do this.
“Can I get you anything to eat before I go?”
“No. I’m fine.”
For once I don’t feel like eating. A little too late, I’m already as big as a house. With my luck I’ll never get this baby weight off.
“Call me if you need me.”
One last kiss and he takes off, leaving me in bed with just a big-screen TV and Van for company.
I grab the remote and click on Netflix. I have three more seasons of Homeland to watch, that’ll keep me busy for another day or two and then I’ll have to find something new again.
But first I need to pee.
I’m barely through the second episode of the day when I need to pee again. I pause the show and swing my legs over the side of the mattress, just as the door opens and Mel Morgan pokes her head in.
“Are you decent?”
“Yeah, come in. What are you doing here?”
I try to scoot back in bed but it feels like my bladder is going to burst.
“I come bearing good—”
“Hold that thought,” I interrupt her and ease off the bed. “I need to use the bathroom.”
The moment my feet hit the floor and I stand up I feel a trickle down my leg.
Wonderful.
I do a quick shuffle toward the bathroom, hoping she doesn’t notice I peed myself when a large gush leaves me standing in a puddle on the threshold.
“Oh shit…”
“Right.” Mel immediately jumps into action and squeezes past me in the bathroom, pulling towels off the rack and dumping one at my feet. “Back up on the bed with you. Right now.”
She leads me to the bed and puts the other towel on the mattress before helping me lift my feet up. Then she hands me my phone.
“Call your doctor, tell him your water broke, ask him if he wants you to go to the hospital on your own or call an ambulance. I’m gonna grab Lisa.”
Then she’s gone and I’m trying not to have a panic attack.
I’m not an idiot, I know twins can come early, but this is six weeks early. That can’t be good.
I dial and am quickly put through to Dr. Cairns, who tells me to get myself to Mercy right away and try to stay as horizontal as I can. I’m just hanging up with him when Mel storms in, followed by Lisa and Paco, of all people.
“He told me to get to the hospital but stay as horizontal as I can.”
Lisa starts opening dresser drawers and pulling out clean clothes, and Mel turns to Paco tossing him a set of keys he deftly catches.
“Pull my vehicle up to the front door and find someone who can help you carry her out.”
“Tse. We need to call Tse.”
“First we get you cleaned up and out of here,” Lisa says, heading into the bathroom.
She comes back with a couple of pads and a washcloth.
I feel oddly comforted with these two women who clearly know what they’re doing, when I can barely remember to breathe.
“You’ll be fine,” Lisa assures me as they help me get into clean clothes. “Those babies too. Don’t you worry.”
Mel is on the phone talking in a low voice. When she hangs up, she tur
ns to me.
“Tse will meet us there.”
“Wait. What were you about to tell me? Earlier?”
She grins at me.
“The judge signed off on your petition for guardianship. Congrats, it’s a boy,” she jokes.
Ravi is ours and these babies are intent on arriving the same day. Emotions well up and spill over.
I’m still crying when Paco and Brick walk in a few minutes later to help me to the car.
Lisa kisses my cheek when I’m deposited on the back seat of Mel’s SUV.
“Brick and me gotta take care of a few things here, but we won’t be far behind you. You’ll be fine, honey.”
To my surprise, Paco jumps in the driver’s seat, earning a dirty look from Mel.
“It’s my car, I drive my car.”
“Get in, Mel,” he grumbles.
“I will, as soon as you get out,” she argues.
I groan when I’m overwhelmed by a surge of pressure low in my belly.
“Fuck, you’re a pain in my ass. This woman needs to get to the hospital or she’s having those babies in your goddamn back seat.”
“Pressure, Mel,” I manage to get out.
“Shit. Don’t you dare push, Sophia.” She hops in the passenger seat. “Drive!” she yells at Paco, who takes off like a bat out of hell.
I can’t remember the drive. All I know is I’m huffing like a madwoman, trying to keep from pushing, while feeling like the guy from Alien when that creature clawed its way out of his body. Except I have two aliens.
Paco barely comes to a stop in front of Mercy when the back door is yanked open and Tse sticks his head inside, taking one look at me. Then he reaches in and lifts me out. I cling on to his neck helplessly, unable to control my body’s actions.
“I’ve got you, Fee.”
Four hours later Tse pushes my wheelchair into the NICU where Wyatt and Ella De León are being monitored for a day or two.
They’re so tiny.
Wyatt came barreling out less than thirty minutes after we arrived here, and Ella followed seven minutes later.
Tse hasn’t been able to stop smiling.
Tse
Ravi comes running outside the moment we pull up to the house. Behind him Blossom stands in the doorway.
Sophia opted to stay at the hospital these last few days until the babies could come home, while Ravi and I scrambled to get the house in order.
I would’ve liked a few days with just my family at home, but I wasn’t going to turn Sophia’s parents away when they showed up unannounced yesterday.
Blossom makes a beeline for her daughter, while Ravi helps me take the babies out of the car.
“Can I carry her inside?” he asks, holding Ella’s baby seat.
“Okay, but remember, precious cargo, kid.”
He grins at me, “I know,” and leads the way inside.
Duff takes Wyatt’s carrier from my hands in the doorway and I turn around to wait for Sophia. Blossom goes ahead and I fold my woman in my arms on the doorstep. She lifts her face and smiles tiredly as I gently kiss her lips.
“A full house, a full life, and a full heart. You gave me everything, Fee.”
==THE END==
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost I’d like to thank my readers. Both my loyal followers who eagerly await each new release, and those for whom this was the first book of mine they tried. I thank you all for taking the time to read my words. It’s a humbling feeling that never gets old.
I especially want to thank the members of my fabulous Barks & Bites reader group. These folks lift me up, cheer me on, and support me on a day-to-day basis.
My group is very welcoming, so if you enjoy my books and would like to join, we’d love to have you: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FreyasBarksandBites/
Next I have a veritable laundry list of amazing people without whom there would be no books. Writing is only part of what it takes to bring a story to you, the rest of the work is done by my amazing friends: Karen Hrdlicka, Joanne Thompson, Deb Blake, Pam Buchanan, Petra Gleason, Krystal Weiss, Debra Presley, Drue Hoffman, CP Smith, and my agent Stephanie Phillips of SBR Media.
Finally, I have to mention my husband who is probably the most tolerant person I know. He puts up with a lot when I’m in the writing zone, and given that’s where I spend most my time, he deserves a best-husband award. He couldn’t name you even one of my book titles, but he picks up the groceries, does the laundry, keeps the house clean, and runs every errand, just so I can focus on writing the next one.
I can’t imagine another partner who would be as quietly supportive as he is.
Love you all.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
USA Today bestselling author Freya Barker loves writing about ordinary people with extraordinary stories.
Driven to make her books about ‘real’ people; she creates characters who are perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy, but just as deserving of romance, thrills and chills in their lives.
Recipient of the ReadFREE.ly 2019 Best Book We’ve Read All Year Award for “Covering Ollie, the 2015 RomCon “Reader’s Choice” Award for Best First Book, “Slim To None”, Finalist for the 2017 Kindle Book Award with “From Dust”, and Finalist for the 2020 Kindle Book Award with “When Hope Ends”, Freya continues to add to her rapidly growing collection of published novels as she spins story after story with an endless supply of bruised and dented characters, vying for attention!
www.freyabarker.com
ALSO BY FREYA BARKER
For all available books click HERE!
STANDALONE BOOKS:
WHEN HOPE ENDS
VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCE
BONUS KISSES
PASS SERIES:
HIT&RUN
LIFE&LIMB
LOCK&LOAD
LOST&FOUND (coming July 2021)
ARROW’S EDGE SERIES:
EDGE OF REASON
EDGE OF DARKNESS
EDGE OF TOMORROW
EDGE OF FEAR
ON CALL SERIES (Operation Alpha):
BURNING FOR AUTUMN
COVERING OLLIE
TRACKING TAHLULA
ABSOLVING BLUE
REVEALING ANNIE
DISSECTING MEREDITH
ROCK POINT SERIES:
KEEPING 6
CABIN 12
HWY 550
10-CODE
NORTHERN LIGHTS COLLECTION:
A CHANGE IN TIDE
A CHANGE OF VIEW
A CHANGE OF PACE
SNAPSHOT SERIES:
SHUTTER SPEED
FREEZE FRAME
IDEAL IMAGE
PORTLAND, ME, NOVELS:
FROM DUST
CRUEL WATER
THROUGH FIRE
STILL AIR
LULLAY: A CHRISTMAS NOVELLA
CEDAR TREE SERIES:
SLIM TO NONE
HUNDRED TO ONE
AGAINST ME
CLEAN LINES
UPPER HAND
LIKE ARROWS
HEAD START