Neil held her tighter, his fingers around her arm.
A doctor came closer. She looked Heather in the eye and smiled. “Hey there, Heather. You’re in the hospital.”
“What happened?”
Neil slid around to her other side when the doctor glanced at him.
Heather smiled when she saw him and lifted her hand to grab his. Blessed angels. “The plane…”
“Yeah. You hit your head.”
“You shot that guy.”
“I did.”
“Shayla?”
“She’s fine. She’s in the waiting room with everyone else.”
Heather groaned. “Why would everyone come just because I fell?”
Neil chuckled. “To be honest, they’re not here for you. Raeann is in labor.”
She smiled again and brought his hand to her cheek. “Oh thank God. I hate attention.”
He laughed. “You’re going to get a lot of attention, baby, but right now it’s all about Raeann.”
Another doctor stepped into the room. “Oh good. You’re awake.” The man was tall and skinny with dark skin and warm eyes.
Heather reached up to touch her head. “Did I need stitches?”
“Nope. You’re probably going to have a nasty headache for a few days, but there was no blood. Mild concussion. You had very low blood sugar which is probably why it was hard for you to come around. Did you eat breakfast before you went to work?”
She shook her head, though it looked like it pained her to do so. “No. I would have eaten something after takeoff.”
The doctor patted her thigh. “You can’t do that anymore. Your body needs more calories to support the fetus.”
Neil froze.
Heather gasped. “The…what?”
The doctor frowned, glancing back and forth between the two of them. “I’m sorry.” He flipped through the chart. “It says here you’re pregnant. Did you not know?”
Heather’s head slowly moved back and forth.
Neil’s mouth went dry. “Pregnant? Is…” He swallowed. “Is the baby okay?” He threaded his fingers with Heather’s. His heart raced.
“The baby’s fine.” The doctor smiled. “I’ll send someone in to do an ultrasound in a few minutes. I’d say based on your hCG levels you’re about eight weeks along.”
“But…?” Heather squeezed her eyes closed.
The doctor turned to the rest of the medical staff. “Let’s give them a few minutes.”
Everyone cleared the room and Neil moved to sit on the edge of the bed, still gripping Heather’s hand while cupping the side of her face now. He hoped she wasn’t disappointed because he couldn’t keep from grinning.
“Oh my God,” she said. “But the shot…”
“When did you last get one, baby?”
She swallowed. “I don’t know. My… Shit, my calendar.”
He chuckled. “You were wondering what sorts of things you might have forgotten to do without your calendar. I guess we found out.”
“I can’t have a baby,” she declared, eyes widening.
“Sure you can. Women do it all the time. Raeann’s doing it right now.”
“But…”
He smiled as he leaned over and kissed her. “But what?”
“I’m not ready. We’re not even married. I haven’t told you how much I love you.” She was panicking.
He gave her another slow smile. “No one is ever ready for babies. They come anyway. We can get married anytime you want. And I think you just did tell me you love me. Besides, I already knew you did.”
A tear fell. “I’m a horrible person. Why haven’t I told you how much I love you? What if I had died today and you never knew?”
He kissed her again and wiped the tears from her cheek. “You’re not a horrible person. I’ve known you loved me for a long time, baby. It was just difficult for you to say. You were scared. I understood that. You’ve had every right to be scared.”
He hovered close to her face. “I love you so much it hurts, Heather. And I’m here. I’ll always be here. For you and for this baby. You are my life. I know you haven’t had the stability you deserve for the first quarter of your life, but you do now. And you will for the rest of your life. It’s hard to believe that, but like I’ve told you before, I’m a patient man. I will spend every day proving to you that you’re entitled to happiness. Some day you will believe it and I’ll be there.”
She reached for him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close. “I love you.”
“I love you too, baby.”
There was a soft knock on the door behind them and then it opened. A woman was pushing a cart into the room. “Hi. I’m Dolores. I’m here to do your ultrasound.”
“Oh, God.” Heather squeezed Neil’s hand. “She’s for real.”
Neil chuckled. “Yep.”
Dolores set up her equipment and then came to the opposite side of the bed from Neil.
Heather was still wearing her uniform, though someone had removed her jacket and shoes. They were on a chair across the room.
“Can you untuck your shirt for me, darling?”
Neil reached over to pull Heather’s blouse out from inside her skirt and pushed it up to her chest. “How does this work? It’s not going to hurt her, is it?”
Dolores chuckled. “Goodness no. Not a bit. I’m going to put a little lubricant on this transducer so that it will slide easily over your stomach. You won’t feel any discomfort at all.”
Neil was probably gripping Heather’s hand too tight, but he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t breathe right as he watched Dolores set the transducer on Heather’s stomach and start moving it around.
The monitor in front of them was impossible to understand, but finally, Dolores held the transducer steady in one spot, and Neil heard the distinct sound of a heartbeat.
His own heart nearly leaped out of his chest.
“There.” Dolores pointed to a blip on the monitor. “There’s your baby. Heartbeat is strong. Everything is right on target for eight weeks.”
“Oh my God,” Heather whispered. She glanced at Neil. She was grinning now, tears falling down her cheeks again. “We’re having a baby.”
“It looks like it.”
“I didn’t even know. How did I not know for two whole months?”
Dolores finished up and wiped off Heather’s stomach. “It’s not that unusual. Some women have strong symptoms. Others don’t. Consider yourself lucky. I spent my first twelve weeks hovering over the toilet.” She chuckled as she gathered up her equipment and then handed Neil a printout. “Your first baby picture.”
Neil’s hands shook as he stared at it. “When other people have shown me these things, I’ve thought they were crazy.” He pressed it to his chest. “I’m putting it on the fridge.”
Heather laughed, her hand coming to her belly. “I can’t believe it.”
Dolores left quietly.
Heather’s face grew serious. “We’re having a baby.” Her lip trembled.
“It would seem that way.”
“Are you mad?”
“Hell, no. I would jump up and down fist-pumping if it wouldn’t freak you out. I’m trying to control my emotions so you can catch up.”
She smiled. “I’m trying. I’m shocked.” She rubbed her arms. “I forgot the shot.”
“Yeah.” He sat back down on the edge of the bed, grinning like a lunatic. “I’m so happy.”
She nodded slowly, her smile becoming more real. “Can I do this?”
“Yep. You’re not doing it alone.” He kissed her, and then kissed her again, and again, and all over her face and around to her ear. “We’ve got this.”
Epilogue
Six months later…
* * *
“Surprise!”
Heather gasped as she stood just inside the kitchen, dumbfounded to find her house filled with people. She’d wondered why all the lights were off when she pulled into the garage. She’d expected Neil to be co
oking dinner. Instead, it had appeared he wasn’t even home, which made no sense because his car was in the garage.
She flattened her hand over her heart as she looked around the room. It looked like every one of her friends and family was there, spilling from the kitchen into the living room.
Neil came to her first, wrapping an arm around her waist. He kissed her temple while he slid his other hand to her enormous belly. She still had four weeks left, but she felt like a whale. “Are you surprised, baby?” he murmured.
“Very.” She set her purse on the counter as she took in the decorations. Judging by the blue and pink streamers all over the house, this was a baby shower. “How did you pull this off?”
Neil kissed her again. “I didn’t do much. Most of it was your mom in coordination with all your friends.”
Heather found her mom in the crowd and reached out a hand toward her.
Her mother came to her, smiling but flushed. She wrapped her arms around Heather and hugged her tight. This was something new between them. The hugging. Heather couldn’t remember her mother hugging her very often when she’d been little, but now she did all the time.
There’d been a lot of changes lately. For one, though her mother had visited Dallas a few times in the past six months, she had finally come for good two weeks ago. She was staying with Heather and Neil but looking for a place of her own.
Heather and her mother had a long way to go, but they’d been repairing their relationship, and things were looking good. They’d even gone to counseling together.
Neil’s family was there too. His mother grinned widely as she came to Neil’s side and pulled him out of the way. “Let me get a hug.” Linda was a godsend. She had helped Heather navigate this pregnancy more than anyone.
Heather suspected Linda was worried that Amy and Renee would never have kids, so she intended to dote on this firstborn grandchild like he or she was a prince or princess. They hadn’t found out the gender.
Heather didn’t think Linda needed to worry. She’d seen the way Renee sometimes looked at her longingly and then would lean in toward Amy and whisper. There was a good chance the two of them were planning to start a family themselves.
Heather’s mom and Linda released her to start putting out food for the party while Heather, with Neil by her side, made her way through the guests. Destiny and Trent were there. Destiny was also pregnant and looked radiant.
Libby and Jason hugged both of them. Christa and Mack were next. Bex and Bracken looked tired. Not surprising with one little one at home and one on the way. Raeann was still nursing, so she looked as exhausted as Bex.
Jake and Shayla were Heather and Neil’s closest friends in the group, probably because of what they’d gone through together. Shayla hugged Heather for a long time. “You’ve got this,” she whispered. “How was your last day at work?”
Heather hadn’t flown since the incident. She’d gone through counseling with the airline, but her psychiatrist thought it best that she be moved to a desk job for the duration. With four weeks left in her pregnancy, today had been her last day. “Honestly, it was perfect. By the end of my shift, I was so done.”
Neil wrapped his arms around her from behind, his fingers threading with hers under her enormous breasts. He toyed with the ring he’d put on her finger five months ago.
For a while, they’d gone around and around about her not working. She’d worked every day of her life from the moment she left home almost a decade ago. The thought of not being able to support herself had been difficult to overcome. She’d never wanted to rely on a man. It made her nervous.
Neil had been a godsend every step of the way. He’d never pushed her. He’d simply given her options. After seeing her friends with their kids over the last several months, she’d begun to envy their lives.
In the last few weeks as her last day at work had approached, she’d grown more attached to the giant lump protruding from her belly. A small human. Her own flesh and blood. Neil’s too. Now, she couldn’t imagine leaving the baby with someone else so she could assert her independence and go back to work.
It wasn’t necessary. Neil wasn’t going to leave her. She was never going to experience the kind of poverty she’d experienced growing up again. Her baby was going to be loved by not just two parents but a village of other friends and family.
Sometimes Heather still had moments when she stared out a window and wondered if she could really have it all, but those episodes were fewer and farther between. She could have it all. She already did have it all.
All she had to do was look at Neil’s face to be reminded that she was loved beyond measure and their child would be too. This was the entire package.
Neil rocked her from side to side, his lips on her ear. “We’re a team, baby. I love you.”
“I love you too.” She twisted her neck to meet his lips. She did love him. More than she’d ever expected to love another human being. She finally trusted that the floor was not going to fall out from under her.
She rubbed her hands over her belly, Neil’s hands on top of hers. The bond she felt was already strong. She couldn’t imagine how much stronger it would be when she finally held the baby in her arms.
Heather could do this. She could have this baby and raise it in a loving home where no one shouted and toys got left on the floor. This baby’s father would get up in the night for bottles and rocking and singing silly little songs.
Neil was going to be an amazing dad. He climbed into bed every night and set his lips on Heather’s huge belly, kissing her and talking to the baby. He told this baby he loved it so often the baby was probably tired of hearing it already.
Heather smiled at the thought. She turned in Neil’s arms and wrapped her arms around his neck, ignoring all the noise around them. “We’ve got this.”
“We sure do.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” He kissed her deeply, neither of them caring that everyone was watching them with warm happy smiles.
Author’s Note
I hope you enjoyed the sixth book in the Open Skies series. If you’re wondering about Destiny and Trent’s story, you can read about them in Destiny’s Delta from Delta Team Three in Susan Stoker’s world.
Delta Team Three (Special Forces: Operation Alpha):
Destiny’s Delta
Open Skies:
Layover
Redeye
Nonstop
Standby
Takeoff
Jetway
Also by Becca Jameson
The Wanderers:
Sanctuary
Refuge
Harbor
* * *
Surrender:
Raising Lucy
Teaching Abby
Leaving Roman
Choosing Kellen
Pleasing Josie
Honoring Hudson
Nurturing Britney
Charming Colton
Convincing Leah
Surrender Box Set One
Surrender Box Set Two
Surrender Box Set Three
* * *
Open Skies:
Layover
Redeye
Nonstop
Standby
Takeoff
Jetway
Open Skies Box Set One
Open Skies Box Set Two
* * *
Shadow SEALs:
Shadow in the Desert
* * *
Delta Team Three (Special Forces: Operation Alpha):
Destiny’s Delta
* * *
Canyon Springs:
Caleb’s Mate
Hunter’s Mate
* * *
Corked and Tapped:
Volume One: Friday Night
Volume Two: Company Party
Volume Three: The Holidays
* * *
Project DEEP:
Reviving Emily
Reviving Trish
Reviving Dade
&
nbsp; Reviving Zeke
Reviving Graham
Reviving Bianca
Reviving Olivia
Project DEEP Box Set One
Project DEEP Box Set Two
* * *
SEALs in Paradise:
Hot SEAL, Red Wine
Hot SEAL, Australian Nights
Hot SEAL, Cold Feet
Hot SEAL, April’s Fool
* * *
Dark Falls:
Dark Nightmares
* * *
Club Zodiac:
Training Sasha
Obeying Rowen
Collaring Brooke
Mastering Rayne
Trusting Aaron
Claiming London
Sharing Charlotte
Taming Rex
Tempting Elizabeth
Club Zodiac Box Set One
Club Zodiac Box Set Two
Club Zodiac Box Set Three
* * *
The Art of Kink:
Pose
Paint
Sculpt
* * *
Arcadian Bears:
Grizzly Mountain
Grizzly Beginning
Grizzly Secret
Grizzly Promise
Grizzly Survival
Grizzly Perfection
Arcadian Bears Box Set One
Arcadian Bears Box Set Two
* * *
Sleeper SEALs:
Saving Zola
* * *
Spring Training:
Catching Zia
Catching Lily
Catching Ava
Spring Training Box Set
* * *
The Underground series:
Jetway Page 18
