A Must for Christmas: A Darling Cove Novella

by Deborah Garland

  If he pulled away, he’d be admitting that he failed. So he took an extra moment. In those seconds with her close to him, the rest of the room and even the world fell away. The voices circling around him, the buzzing and dinging of machines, all faded into a dull hum.

  After pressing harder against her, he pulled away and sniffed. “Okay. Seriously, you’re scaring me. Faith. Wake up.” He sucked in a breath. “I need you. I can’t do this alone. Don’t you dare make me do this alone.” He’d been quietly unsupportive about her wanting to be a working mother. Was this his punishment? It was hard to breathe at the idea that those babies would have no mother. “Faith, you have to wake up and see the boys. Our boys. They’re…” He stifled a hard sob. “So amazing. But they need their mom.”

  Greg needed her too. More than he ever imagined.

  Chapter 5

  4:28 AM

  Martin handed Baby A to Skye, who held him tight against her chest. “You’re gonna make a great mom, you.”

  His middle child managed the wiggly boy who felt almost as big as his granddaughter, Ellie. Not surprising. Greg had always been big. Taller than most boys growing up, and he bulked up in his thirties, making him formidable.

  “Dad, how’s Greg doing?” she asked and shifted the baby to her other arm.

  “He puts on a good game face, that brother of yours.” Martin touched the top of Baby A’s head. “But he’s being strong for Faith. Those two have such a strong bond from their history. She’ll come back to him.”

  “What’s her condition exactly?” Edward joined the conversation. There was no second-string in the Mallory family.

  Martin snuck a look at Madeline who nodded, since she’d been told as well. “A neurologist took a look at her. She lost a lot of blood during the delivery, and they had to patch up a few tears that caused more bleeding. There’s no evidence of anything else. So…we have to wait.”

  “Do you think it was a good idea to give Greg that book?” Skye asked Gwen, who knew Faith better than anyone, considering they were best friends growing up.

  “I can’t imagine there are any secrets between those two after so many years.” Gwen looked at Baby B, whose little body was in the incubator tangled up in wires and hoses. “But she’d not kept a journal like that in a long time. Even when she was in Iraq. I asked her.”

  “My Faith has been known to keep her secrets.” Madeline ran her index finger along Baby B’s bare arm through the access port. Her voice got small and shaky when she said, “If there was something wrong though, why wouldn’t she tell me?”

  “Madeline, you just lost your husband.” Martin reasoned. “You’ve been going through so much.” While the fiery pain of losing a spouse eases, he remembered what the initial blow felt like.

  “That’s no excuse.” Madeline put her hands on her hips and paced the room. “There’s so much more at stake now.” She pointed to the two babies.

  “Wait.” Andrew stood, holding his sleeping daughter. “Do we think Faith wasn’t…happy?”

  All eyes went to Gwen, whose jaw dropped open. “She and Greg were…disagreeing about her job.”

  “What about it?” Martin asked.

  “Your caveman son probably told her to quit it,” Skye quipped.

  Martin held his tongue. That’s exactly what he would expect his son to say. For Pete’s sake, even Martin knew those days were over. But did Greg?

  “Well, did he?” Edward held his sleeping son, whose head cradled against his shoulder. Julian was now as much a part of the family as any of these babies.

  “I doubt it,” Gwen answered. “We live a few blocks away. I would have heard the screaming.”

  As Martin’s eyes drifted again to his infant grandsons, he knew Faith was the only woman he could ever imagine Greg having any of this with. “The first year of marriage is an adjustment. Especially for you guys. You were all in your thirties, independent and set in your ways.”

  “And convinced he shouldn’t fall for a co-worker.” Gwen kissed Andrew’s cheek then touched her baby.

  “And convinced I wouldn’t want a woman who couldn’t have kids.” Edward placed his lips against Skye’s left temple. “The fact that you did get pregnant was just sprinkles on the icing on the cake, my girl.”

  Martin was impressed Edward didn’t look the least put off spending his wedding night in a hospital. He and Andrew, although wildly different, were the exact kind of men he wanted for his daughters.

  He ached with happiness, but the picture wasn’t complete if Greg and Faith weren’t part of the scenery.

  Touching Julian’s back with the same affection as the newborns, Martin said to Edward, “Why don’t you and Skye head home and get ready for your honeymoon? It’ll be dawn soon.”

  Skye looked at Edward who nodded. “We talked, and we’re postponing our trip into Manhattan.”

  “You don’t have to do that.” Gwen looked guilty. “If anything happens, you can be here within an hour.”

  “Do you have any idea how crazy your sister would be if we got a call like that and then had to drive for an hour?” Edward asked wryly.

  Gwen nodded. “I didn’t think of that.” She leaned into Skye. “That’s one protective man you got there.”

  “I know. I thought I’d hate it, considering how Greg and Dad had smothered me.”

  Edward’s fierce commitment and loyalty was what made him welcome to the Mallory family. Faith had started that trend years ago.

  “How are my favorite newborns doing?” The nurse came in with an aide in tow.

  “He’s done with the bottle,” Skye answered, handing Baby A to the nurse after she placed a gentle kiss on his nose.

  “When do you expect he can come out?” Gwen touched Baby B through the access port.

  “We’re monitoring him by the hour. For now, I want to get them both with their mama for a while.” The nurse snuggled Baby A. The aide prepared Baby B for transport.

  Andrew pulled Gwen in for a hug. “Are you okay, my love?”

  She nodded but emotion crumpled her smile. “Faith wanted this so badly. All of this. I should know. I listened to her for years talk about how much she wanted Greg.”

  Martin’s beloved departed wife, Elizabeth, had given him tidbits of conversations she’d overheard between Gwen and Faith when they had talked about Greg years and years ago. At times, Martin wanted to smack his son upside the head.

  It was hard for Greg to be in a hospital and not think of his mother. Seeing Faith lie in a bed, her eyes closed, there was no way not to draw a parallel. A conversation he’d had with her, one of the many that hadn’t surfaced in a long time, came screaming at him. All these buried memories being dredged up were making his head pound. It proved once again how tangled up Faith had been in the hardest moments of his past.

  He remembered walking up his stairs one afternoon, quietly so he wouldn’t wake his mother; she’d been so sick by then. But she called out to him, Gregory, in a frail voice that stung his nerves. He hurried to see what she needed and for a moment relaxed when all she asked was that he sit with her. It made him bite his lower lip; he wanted to savor every moment, but the idea she wanted that too…

  After a few moments, she had reminded him she was still a strong-willed woman. He may have been twenty-three, but so long as Elizabeth Mallory was alive, she still called the shots. She was very direct and strong when she told him to consider taking little Faith out on a date.

  Except Faith hadn’t been so little at that point. She was eighteen, filled out and stunning. He did all he could back then not to consider her. She was his sister’s best friend. Certainly, there were rules against that. Or did that only apply to brothers with little sisters? It felt like a double-standard.

  Despite his mother’s request, he hadn’t been entirely sure if Faith still wanted him. Two years earlier she had tracked him down in his cop car and asked him, quite adorably, to take her virginity. But he’d been so panic stricken since she was only sixteen, he hit the gas and
brought her to the police station to hand her over to her father.

  He’d told his mother when the time was right, he’d give it a try, then leaned down to kiss her hand. He remembered his mother’s comment when she touched his face. Just use that smile of yours. Got you plenty of other girls. Never had a small laugh felt so good, and it closed a gap that bothered him for many years. His mother understood him.

  Sometimes, Greg wished he’d kept a journal. He took a shaky breath, looking at the pink bag. As a cop he feared little. Earlier in the year he’d been attacked by four men. Years earlier, he’d been hit by a maniac who stole a car, twisted an ankle running after someone, and even made the mistake of jumping into the Long Island Sound when someone’s kayak tipped over, only to be practically dragged under himself.

  Nothing hurt as much as Faith leaving him, though. There’d been no greater joy, by contrast, when he got her back. Except, maybe the sons she’d given him. The stakes were a lot higher now. Before only his heart could break.

  Now there were two little souls he was responsible for, a house with a mortgage, and a wife to take care of. Losing Faith now would destroy him. No. He looked back at the bag. There was no way woes of unhappiness to the point Faith would leave him were in between the pages of that book.

  So why was it hidden?

  Greg looked back at Faith, trying to answer that question for her. “Why, Babe?” he whispered.

  No response. There was nothing technically wrong with her, she just needed more rest, and he could accept that. After seeing his sons and holding Baby A, he couldn’t believe she’d been lugging those two around in her body. The strength that must have taken.

  Unlike other women he’d known who hated being pregnant, hated being big, Faith, who had to manage double the weight, double the stretch marks, not only took it in stride, but genuinely loved her body during those months. So did he. Too much. It had ignited passions and desires he didn’t even know he had in him.

  Greg wasn’t as delusional as perhaps his family thought he was. He knew his position about what he wanted for a wife and the mother of his children was dated. It was one thing for a young woman who’d never been in the workforce to immediately have children and stay at home to raise them, compared to a woman who’d been independent, travelled the world, worked long hours, and felt accomplished to all of a sudden be handed baby bottles and diapers and told, Now, this is your job.

  Still, to completely shut off his gut instincts, which got him through twenty years on the police force and a year working with the Feds in New York City, ignoring reflexes that saved his ass so many times, felt dangerous. The nagging, stinging worry pulled at him, especially when thinking of that conversation with his mother. While she’d counted her last days on this earth, she should have been selfish with her time. No. She was still worried about her family. And meddled right up until the end.

  Greg choked on a concern. If Faith kept up her professional life with all it demanded of her, would she, perfectly healthy and strong, be present enough to notice one of her sons had a crush on a girl who wasn’t liking him back? Or the daughter he hoped they would have next, to figure out she’s not eating?

  “Damn it,” he cursed to himself and laughed. For him to think of these things that hadn’t even happened yet, meant that he himself, would probably recognize those behaviors.

  He and Faith had to be a team. His father had been tremendously present in his life. He may have been in and out of the house, working all kinds of police shifts, but when his father was home, he was home. There. Even at times when he’d made an emotional arrest and could have brought all that baggage into the house with him.

  Greg needed to believe in himself more.

  He ran his fingers along her hair, hoping the strands sent some kind of signal to her brain that he was there. Greg felt strongly he’d always been there for Faith. He retired from the police force to be with her in London. It was Faith who wanted to come home when she’d found out they were having twins. As much as she had belly-ached about that overnight executive producer position, she was dying to go back. Even Lily, her assistant producer, changed back to nights to be with Faith.

  Lily…

  Greg looked at Faith again, wondering if she’d spoken to Lily about any of this. He grinned to himself. Once a cop, always a cop, looking for a corroborating witness.

  “Hey Daddy.” A nurse carrying a bundle stepped up to the bed, stopping him from digging that card Lily gave him out of his wallet. “We have some babies who want to say hello.” Behind her, an aide wheeled in the incubator. “Your pretty blonde sister fed this handsome boy. He’s cleaned up and needs some hugs.”

  Greg had been afraid he’d have trouble telling the babies apart. But even if Baby B wasn’t in the incubator, he already knew the lines of their little faces.

  “There’s someone here who wants to give you a hand.” The aide came up behind him.

  Holding Baby A with one arm and putting his free hand inside the access port to touch Baby B, he said, “Sure, my dad can come in.”

  “It’s me, Gregory.” Faith’s mother stood a few feet away, holding her chest. “Please don’t be mad. I just have to see my daughter.” Her eyes swept across Faith’s motionless body.

  Greg handed Baby A back to the nurse. Shit, Madeline was going to fall apart. He didn’t want the woman to collapse and hit the floor because he couldn’t catch her.

  “She’s okay, Madeline.” Greg brought her to the bed. “She’s just resting. The doctor said, she’ll wake up when she’s ready.”

  “Oh. My Faith.” She sniffed and touched the pale hand peeking out of the blanket. “It’s so chilly. Is she cold?”

  “No. There’s a heater under the blanket. Her skin is a little cool because her heartrate is lower than usual.” All the things he had to be convinced of earlier sounded legitimate now. He just hoped Madeline bought it.

  “I’m here, Faith. You rest.” She leaned across the bed and kissed her daughter gently on the forehead.

  Despite being motionless, Faith didn’t look sick. The doctors had said she was fine. They had to have faith that their Faith would wake up when she was ready.

  Madeline moved to the incubator and placed her hand on the plastic dome. “How long will he be in this thing?”

  Greg took Baby A back from the nurse. “I don’t know. His weight needs to come up a bit. Let’s consider this a blessing for being born a month early.”

  “I always pictured this.” Madeline’s face bent into a weary smile. “I always knew it would be you, Gregory. I couldn’t imagine my Faith having this with any other man. No other man deserved her.”

  “I never wanted this with anyone else.” Greg’s voice strained with the emotion he was still getting comfortable showing to anyone other than his father and Faith. This ordeal was testing him.

  He glanced at the babies, one then the other. Babies were miracles. But those two… His sons were the Christmas miracle that almost never happened.

  “Now—” Madeline cleared her throat, sounding like she was about to scold him. “What’s this business about these children not having names?”

  “We were caught by surprise.” He exhaled. “We hadn’t decided, yet.”

  “I see.” She looked down into the incubator as she touched and stroked Baby B’s legs. “Your mother and I talked about the two of you quite often, you know.”

  “Really?” He knew the Copelands and his parents had been close. With Gwen and Faith being best friends and his dad and Mr. Copeland both police officers, it made sense.

  “I confessed to Elizabeth that my Faith had a crush on you. The way your mother’s eyes lit up,” Madeline purred. “She wanted you two together, Gregory. I hope you know that.”

  “I did know that. But with everything that was happening…” He put his head down.

  He believed in some kind of life after death and that his mother hopefully had seen he and Faith finally found each other. But he also believed that when it exploded
horribly and he spent the next ten years lonely, sleeping with all the wrong women, his mother was watching that shit-show too.

  A few months ago, he got his Faith back. In more ways than one.

  He looked at his sons, the grandsons his mother would never meet. It made him sigh heavily, but life was for the living.

  When the babies were taken away for their naps, Madeline spent a few minutes with Faith, saying her prayers. He gave her some privacy and left the recovery area.

  In the months since Greg and Faith had returned from London, Madeline had done all a woman could do to be a mother to him. She had large shoes to fill, but she was off to a fantastic start.

  Chapter 6

  2:10 PM

  The Mallory’s were getting restless. They’d all gone home, rested up and returned, ready for more action. They wanted to see Faith. All of them.

  Greg had dozed off for a few hours in that chair, but he felt fractured. He rubbed his eyes while getting permission to parade a gaggle of people into an area of the hospital that had been quiet and somber.

  Greg was still shocked by how his family exploded in less than one year. It seemed like yesterday his father had his shit-fit because his grown kids hadn’t found life partners. They were a sorry bunch, divorced, left at the altar, and dumped on Facebook.

  Then just like that, Greg and his sisters had all fallen like dominoes. First Gwen found Andrew. Then, at their engagement photoshoot, in walked Faith. Faith, whom he’d not spoken to since the day she left him. Finally, Edward had been in the right place at a horrible time and saved Skye’s life when she’d been trapped in a fire.

  It all seemed too orchestrated to be mere coincidences. His mother’s doing from the great beyond, he suspected. There they all were now. Married and happy. Greg just needed to get over this damn hump.