And I knew I’d made an enemy out of Joslin first and foremost.
There wouldn’t be any turning back from that.
Dean, however, looked oddly happy.
Like he hadn’t wanted to have children with her. Nor her to have any children with anyone else.
Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep.
I glanced at Michael as he pulled his pager out of his pocket.
“Gotta go,” he muttered, looking at the readout. “Nikki, come on. Let’s go.”
We left within seconds, and I was so happy I could scream.
“I cannot believe,” I said, plugging my seatbelt in, “that she asked you that.”
Michael snorted. “She always wanted kids. And I think Dean was in the process of telling me he didn’t want kids either, when you burst through the door like a hot fire poker was shoved up your ass.”
I winced.
“That sounds painful,” I admitted.
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve no doubt that it would be, though.”
He pulled out of his parents’ subdivision, flipping the lights on that I hadn’t realized were there.
“Wow,” I said, looking up at the flashing lights that were mounted to his rearview mirror. “Does it make sounds, too?”
He hit a button on his steering wheel, and the sound of a loud air horn, followed by the distinct buuuurp-burrrp most police cars used filled the night air.
Surprisingly, people moved out of our way fairly quickly.
“You can take my truck back to your house,” he muttered. “I’ll get someone to drop me off at my place.”
I blinked.
“You’re not coming back over?”
Was that a whine I detected in my voice?
Yuck, I hated whining.
“No, there’s no telling when I’ll be back,” he told me as he pulled into the station.
Then, without another word, he disappeared, leaving the truck running, and me surprised and a little bit hurt.
He’d always come to my house after his calls before. Why was this time any different?
Had what I said been out of line?
Surely not. But hell, what did I know?
Chapter 14
Show me your kitties.
-T-shirt
Nikki
“Where are you?” Michael asked.
I looked at the doctor’s office where I was currently waiting for my appointment and lied through my teeth.
“I’m at the store. Do you need anything?” I asked sweetly.
He grunted. “No. I was just hoping you were home so you could bring me my spare pistol. Something is wrong with mine and I guess I need to take it in to get it fixed.”
“No, I’m not there. I’m sorry,” I told him honestly.
“Damn. I can’t get away. I’m about to go into a meeting, and I have a SWAT seminar in Longview at twelve,” he sighed.
“I can bring it to Longview for you, as long as that’s okay. I have to go to the mall anyway,” I offered.
He made a sound of contentment. “That sounds good. What do you need at the mall?”
Pants because mine don’t fit anymore, was what I was thinking, but what I said was, “New pants. Mine have something defective with the button.”
Not totally a lie.
The defectiveness with the button came up because I couldn’t get the button to meet the hole that was designed for it.
I’d had to use a hair tie to hook the two together, and eventually Michael was going to notice that I could no longer button my pants.
I was going to buy myself some time, though, by buying some bigger jeans.
It’d been three weeks since I’d gone with Michael to pull his sister out of the mud.
Three weeks since I’d met his parents.
And three weeks since I’d finished school.
But I’d been busy.
I’d ‘graduated’ just two days ago, although it was just a formality.
I’d taken my certification test that was required in the State of Texas, and I was now a licensed certified midwife.
“Ms. Pena?” a young woman’s voice called, making me look up from the contemplation of my fingernails, which were sorely in need of a manicure.
Sadly, I knew that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
I didn’t have time.
And when I did have time, I’d rather nap.
This pregnancy that I wasn’t announcing was really draining the hell out of me.
I stood and walked over to the woman.
“Are you ready?” she asked with a smile.
I nodded. “Yep.”
I was.
There was no denying it anymore.
None.
If all my calculations were correct, I was well past the ‘I just missed my period’ stage.
Which was normally when women felt it safe to announce their pregnancy to the world.
Something that I hadn’t, nor wouldn’t, find the courage to do anytime soon.
“Alright, we’ll get your weight and blood pressure, then you’ll take that cup right there,” she indicated the cup on the counter. “And fill the cup up to the…”
“First line, yes I know. I’m a midwife,” I told her, smiling happily.
It never got old, saying that.
“Oh! I want to do that!” the woman crowed. “I’ve been thinking about it. Is it hard?”
I smiled. “It’s tough, yes. I think the ‘hardest’ part though, is waking up in the middle of the night when the women start giving birth. But I’m not going to go that route with the home births. I’ve already got a position lined up with Good Shepherd. I’ll be assisting the doctors there. I’ll be on twelve-hour shifts, ready to play catcher if the doctors cannot make it in time,” I told her.
Her eyes lit.
“I didn’t know they had that option,” she said, gesturing to the scale. “I’ll seriously have to look into it. I took this job because of the baby aspect. I just love meeting the little ones.”
I could relate.
Delivering babies never got old.
I’d helped deliver a baby in the parking lot of the ER.
The woman had pulled to a rocking stop in a big, jacked-up Chevy truck with her frantic husband at the wheel.
The husband had been white as a sheet, and I could see why the minute I opened the door to the truck and saw a baby practically on the verge of being born, staring at me from the woman’s vagina.
The baby was literally staring, too.
His head was in the sunny side up position, which meant the baby was coming into the world facing the sky rather than the ground like he was supposed to.
It also meant that it hurt a lot more.
Which the woman that’d been birthing the boy was letting us know with her eloquent play on words.
I’d lifted my arms just in time to catch the boy as the woman had given one valiant push.
The baby slid from the mother’s birth canal into my outstretched hands, and there’d been no looking back since.
“Okay, you can step down,” the woman said. “Sit here, please.”
After checking my blood pressure, and filling the dreaded plastic cup, she showed me to a room.
“I’m sure you know by now what this little gem is!” she said, holding up a Doppler.
I nodded, sat down, and lifted my shirt. “Sure do. Have at it.”
“You said you were twelve weeks, so that should be more than enough time for her to develop and allow us to hear the heartbeat.”
I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of the Doppler at work, amazed at how different it was from this end.
“Ahh,” the woman said. “There it is.”
I smiled, and tears filled my eyes, as I listened to mine and Michael’s baby for the very first time.
And I fell in love.
Hopelessly devoted to this little life inside of m
e.
“One forty-two. Perfect perfect!” she said. “Alright, my dear. My name’s Dalia if you need anything. The doctor should be in with you in about ten to fifteen minutes,” Dalia explained as she headed to the room’s door, and then closed it quietly behind her.
Well, at least I didn’t have to sit here naked while I waited.
This visit was late.
Most women usually went in when they were four to six weeks pregnant.
Seeing as I was twelve, I wouldn’t have to have the normal vaginal ultrasound. I could have the one that would run over the outside of my belly.
Which also meant I wouldn’t have to get naked.
I busied myself with a magazine on birthing a child, all the while I tried to tell myself to calm down and not freak out.
Freaking out had been a major part of my life as of late.
How did I tell Michael?
Would he be okay with it?
Would he ask me to abort it?
I knew one thing, though, and that was that this baby was mine, and I loved it already.
And if I had to give up my relationship with Michael because he couldn’t see past his fears, then I’d do it.
It’d be hard as hell, but I’d do it.
And I planned on telling him tonight after we had dinner with our families.
Maybe I’d pour a few drinks into him, too.
Maybe that would help him stay calm and help him realize that having a child wasn’t the end of the world.
The door to the room clicked open, and I looked up into the eyes of an older man in his mid to late sixties.
“Hello,” Dr. Anne said, offering his hand. “I’m Dr. Anne. It’s nice to meet you.”
I smiled at him and offered him my hand, too.
The moment my hand touched his, I felt a little zing of discomfort pulse down my arm, but I hid it with a smile. “Nice to meet you, too.”
He took a seat on that little rolling chair, and I was never more thankful that I wasn’t naked than right at this moment.
Because if this man would’ve been doing stuff between my legs, I might very well have screamed.
There wasn’t anything that I could put my finger on that made me so nervous and uncomfortable.
He was normal looking for the most part.
He did have a slight bald spot at the very top of his head, and he had too much of a leer in his smile.
But other than that, he was a normal man for his age.
There was nothing that truly stuck out about him, but I knew I wouldn’t be coming back to this doctor if I could help it.
The way this practice worked, though, was that I had to see all of the doctors in case of the event that my primary OB/GYN was busy with another patient or out of town.
I had to meet with them all, and this doctor, Dr. Anne, was the first one available.
So I’d taken the appointment, even though he wasn’t the doctor that I wanted to speak with.
Luckily, I wouldn’t have to take another appointment with him.
“Alright, well your pregnancy test came back positive, so you are indeed pregnant. Today we’ll be doing a sonogram on you to double-check the dates, but with what I heard about you being a midwife, I’m fairly positive that your calculations on your gestation are correct,” he grinned.
I hid my wince once again with a smile. “Yeah, I’m fairly positive myself.”
He nodded. “What does your husband do?”
Instead of telling him that I wasn’t married, I just smiled and told him, “He’s a police officer.”
Something in his eyes flared but was gone just as quickly as I saw it.
“Well, that’s nice, I bet y’all are excited,” he said, standing up and walking to the sink to wash his hands.
I leaned back and lifted my shirt when he came back to me, his hands moving to my belly.
He pressed into my abdomen, and I had to clench my core tightly when the movement made the state of my bladder go from bearable to Defcon One.
“Everything feels alright,” he said, moving back until he was standing at the sink. “I’ve written a prescription for prenatal vitamins, as well as some nausea meds if you feel that you’ll be needing some, since I read in your chart that you’ve been experiencing quite a bit of nausea and vomiting.”
I nodded, and he smiled, the leer tilting up just the corner of his lips once again.
“Alright,” he said, standing up and heading to the door. “If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call if need be. Do you know where the sonogram room is?”
I nodded, and he winked. “Alright little lady, you’re more than welcome to go! See you next month.”
I held my shiver in check until he’d closed the door, and I let out a breath of air.
Then an irrational rage swept through me.
If that bastard boyfriend of mine didn’t have to be so irrational about children, then I wouldn’t be freaking out right now alone. I’d have him holding me, telling me we’d never see that fucker again.
Because I knew damn well that Michael would’ve felt the same coming from him as I had.
I left the little room, waving at Dalia as I headed in the direction of the ultrasound room.
I found the room and immediately realized that I’d fucked up.
Because Memphis, the wife of another member of the SWAT team, was smiling brightly at me.
“I just knew it!” she crowed happily. “I knew it!”
I blinked.
“Knew what?” I asked carefully.
“When I saw your chart. I bet Michael’s so happy!” she cheered happily.
Wrong. Michael didn’t even know!
“Umm, Michael doesn’t know,” I told her softly.
Her eyes cleared of their happiness.
“What?” she asked.
I was sure that was a shock to her.
Downy, her husband, was a really good man who’d been over the moon at hearing that Memphis was pregnant.
She probably didn’t even realize that some men didn’t feel the same way that hers did.
“Yeah, I haven’t told him yet,” I informed her. “And I’m not sure I want to… or how to.”
She blinked. “But why? He’s Saint. He’s the baby whisperer. He loves children.”
Yeah, I could see this going really wrong. “Michael doesn’t want kids,” I finally said. “I don’t know how he’ll react to hearing that I’m pregnant, nor if he’d be happy about it. If I’m being honest, I’m fairly sure he’s going to flip out and leave me.”
“Oh, Nikki. I’m sorry,” she whispered forlornly.
I shrugged.
It was what it was.
I’d deal with everything else once it happened.
Tonight, though, I’d tell him. I didn’t want him finding out from a friend when it should be coming from his woman. At least I could give him that.
Chapter 15
Nobody cares about your problems. We’ve got enough shit of our own to deal with.
-Michael to a suspect
Michael
“Surprise!” I said, throwing the door to the restaurant that I’d rented for the night open, revealing all of our family and friends.
Nikki’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
“What… why… what…” she stuttered, flabbergasted.
I smiled.
“Congratulations on your certification, best friend,” Georgia said, wrapping her arms around Nikki and hugging her tightly.
“Oh, my God!” Nikki jumped up and down, then turned and barreled into me, knocking me off balance. “You are the best man ever.”
I huffed out a laugh and let her go when her parents made their way over to us.
“Mom, Dad!” she cried in happiness.
And that’s when I knew.
I did all this just to get that very smile on her face.
“You did good, suck up,” Ni
co said, slapping me on the back.
I snorted and turned, offering him my hand.
He took it and narrowed his eyes on me.
“I can see now that you’ll try to worm your way into my parents’ hearts. But it won’t work. I’m the favorite,” he deadpanned.
I blinked.
He was serious as far as I could tell.
Or maybe he was just that good at holding onto his composure.
“No, you’re not!” a young woman that looked a lot like Nikki, but who had yet to develop all the luscious curves, said. “I am!”
Nico glared at her. “What the fuck are you wearing, Nila?”
She looked down at the short skirt that clung to her toned thighs. “A skirt. What’s wrong with it?”
“Uh,” Nico said, slapping his head and looking to me for direction. “I know you have a sister. Does she dress like a harlot?”
I shook my head. “No. Not anymore, at least. She had a baby at sixteen, though.”
Nico’s eyes turned murderous. “You will not have a baby! And ruin your life! Pull your skirt down.”
“Our babies ruined your life?” Georgia asked with laughter filling her voice.
Nico’s ‘babies’ were now one-year-olds, but Nico still acted like they were born yesterday.
“Yeah, when was the last time we had se—” Georgia slapped her hand over Nico’s mouth before he could finish your sentence.
“… you will watch your mouth around our friends, you randy bastard,” Georgia hissed at her husband.
I cracked up and turned to Nila. “It’s nice to meet you, finally, Nila. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Nila smiled. “And I you. Although all that Nikki and I have spoken about is the fact that you can give it to her…”
“Not you, too!” Georgia kept right on hissing. “What is wrong with you Penas? Obviously, Nikki has the right way of it, finding a man to get her the hell out of this fucked up family.”
Nico laughed, as did Nila.
I, though, froze. Was she talking to Georgia about getting married?
I hadn’t actually thought much past the summer, but the thought of being with Nikki forever really made me happy.
Like, manic happy.
Which also worried me.
I didn’t want to marry her yet.
We needed time to get to know each other.
Code 11- KPD SWAT Box Set Page 135
