by Lisa Carter
Charlie rushed forward and took hold of Honey’s other arm. “What’s going on?”
Evy rolled her eyes. “What does it look like is going on? Tea and crumpets with the queen? She’s having a baby, Charlie.”
Charlie dropped Honey’s arm like it was radioactive. “She can’t be having a baby. Her due date isn’t till...” His gaze darted to Honey, who was breathing in through her nose and exhaling through her pursed lips.
“Till November...” Honey wheezed.
Evy shrugged. “Babies come when they come. Baby Kole is only a few weeks early. So deal, Deputy Pruitt.” She scanned the yard. “Have you seen Sawyer?”
Charlie helped Evy steer Honey toward the parked cars. “He’s on the fence line in the pasture.”
“We need to get him here.” Evy bit her lip. “Fast.”
“Right.”
Propping Honey against the hood of the patrol car, he rounded the engine and poked his head through the driver’s side window. He pressed the horn—three short blasts followed by three long bursts plus three short jabs.
Evy smiled at him through the windshield. “Great thinking, Deputy. SOS.”
“Figured it’d be right up the alley of an ex-Coastie like Sawyer.”
Honey bit back a low moan. “Whatever works.”
Sawyer raced across the meadow. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?”
“It’s okay,” Evy called as he joined them.
Honey groaned as another contraction gripped her.
Sawyer’s eyes went wide. “The baby?” Honey clung to his arm and Evy’s for support.
“It’s okay, Sawyer.” Evy rubbed Honey’s shoulder. “Baby Kole has decided to make an early appearance.”
“Honey, sweetheart?” Sawyer’s voice choked. “It doesn’t look okay to me. Something’s wrong.”
Evy shook her head. “I’m no doctor, but it appears everything is proceeding normally. We need to get her to the hospital ASAP.’’
“Normally?” Sawyer’s voice rose an octave. “It doesn’t look like everything is normal. She’s in pain.”
Evy ignored him. “Do you have your bag packed for the hospital, Honey? Did you leave it at the inn?”
Honey clutched her abdomen. “In...the...truck...”
“Always prepared. Although I’d expect no less from the wife of an ex-Coastie.” Evy rubbed small circles on the small of Honey’s back. “Ready to welcome Baby Kole to the world?”
Sawyer raked his hand over his head. “This can’t be happening.”
Charlie had gone pale.
Wimps, the both of them. Good thing God had given women the privilege and responsibility of bringing new life into His world.
Evy sniffed. “Oh, it’s happening, brother dear. Happening right now.” She glanced toward Sawyer’s truck. “Can you drive?”
“Uh...uh...” Sawyer lifted his shaking hands and stared at them. As if he’d never noticed his appendages before.
Evy blew out an exasperated breath. No help from that quarter. “Fine. Here’s the plan, then. We’ll stretch Honey out in the backseat of Charlie’s cruiser—”
Charlie went rigid. “Hold on there!”
Sawyer straightened. “Wait a minute—”
“I’ll ride shotgun in the front seat. You can help Honey in the back.” Her eyes darted to Sawyer’s stunned features. “On second thought, you ride shotgun. I’ll help Honey.”
Charlie’s jaw jutted. “Why my car?”
Her gaze cut to him. “That way you can turn on the siren and step on the gas. We’ll get her to the hospital faster.”
“But...but—”
Evy tightened her lips. “No buts, Deputy Pruitt.”
Charlie sagged against the cruiser. “Suppose she delivers on my upholstery?”
Sawyer winced. “Sorry, man. I hear you.”
Honey planted her hands on her hips. “Really, guys?”
Evy peered over the top of her glasses at the men. “Seriously?”
Charlie shuffled. “We have to clean our own patrol vehicles, you know.”
Evy tossed her hair, whiplashing Charlie in the face with her ponytail. “Get a grip, the both of you. Help me get Honey inside this car right now, and let’s get on the road.”
Charlie swallowed hard. Sawyer gulped.
She tapped her wristwatch with her finger. “Time’s wasting. Or would you gentlemen—and I’m using that term with a great deal of irony—rather deliver the baby yourselves on the side of Highway 13?”
At that, total panic creased both men’s faces. They fell into each other in their haste to open the car door.
Evy helped Honey fold into the backseat. She scooted in after Honey.
“Useless.” Evy shook her head. “Worse than useless.”
She draped the seat belt over Honey’s protruding belly and clicked it in place. “Don’t want anything to happen to mom and baby en route.”
Charlie and Sawyer remained where she’d left them.
“Well, don’t just stand there.” She gestured. “Get in and drive.”
The guys shook themselves, breaking free of their paralysis. Sawyer jumped into the front passenger seat. Charlie threw himself into the driver’s side. He cranked the ignition. He raced the motor.
Honey flinched and grabbed for her stomach.
“Breathe, Honey...” Evy laced her fingers in Honey’s hand. “Hang on to me and breathe.”
“Hee-hee-hee...” Honey panted.
“That’s right,” Evy encouraged. “Ha-ha-ha...”
Sawyer turned around in the seat and reached for Honey. Charlie’s chest heaved as he put the car into Drive. Neither of them looked so good.
“Don’t you dare faint on me, Sawyer Kole,” Evy hissed. “Some Coastie you are.”
“Ex-Coastie,” Sawyer whispered between gritted teeth. “Right now I’m a husband.” His gaze locked onto Evy’s. “A grateful brother and a soon-to-be dad.”
Charlie veered toward the road, churning gravel and sending a cloud of dust in their wake.
Evy patted Sawyer’s arm slung across the seat. “You’re going to be a wonderful dad.”
Some of the fear receded from his eyes. “You think so?”
Evy smiled. “I know so.”
Charlie gunned the engine as they passed underneath the arch of the crossbars where the farm ended and the road began. Hitting the pavement, the vehicle lurched. Evy felt the bottom of her stomach drop weightless as the car went airborne for a second.
Honey gasped. Sawyer jerked around and gripped the armrest as the car fell to earth with a jolt.
Charlie’s mouth twisted. “Sorry...”
“Get us there quick, but get us there alive, dude...” Sawyer shuddered.
“Take a breath, guys.” Evy widened her eyes. “Like this—ha-ha-ha...”
Charlie’s incredulous gaze found hers in the rearview mirror.
“I’m serious.” She hummed a few bars from Bonanza. “Time to cowboy up, Deputy Pruitt.”
On Seaside Road, Charlie hit the siren. The fallow fields and white farmhouses flew by on either side. On Highway 13, he wove expertly through the Sunday afternoon traffic.
Fortunately, they were going in the opposite direction from the ’come here traffic headed for the bridge after a weekend on the Shore. Charlie grabbed the mic on the console and called in their ETA to the hospital.
The contractions were closer and more wrenching when Charlie barreled into the Emergency Room entrance at the hospital. The nurses and orderlies were waiting as he pulled to a screeching halt under the portico.
Evy scrambled out first, giving the staff access to Honey. They placed her in a wheelchair and headed toward the interior.
Honey snagged Evy’s hand. “Thank you,
Evy. For everything.”
Evy squeezed her hand before letting go.
Sawyer paused at the sliding doors. “Evy?”
Evy touched his shoulder. “Go on. You’ll be fine.”
A strange look crossed Sawyer’s face. “Don’t you go anywhere, you hear?”
“I wouldn’t miss this for the world, big bro.”
Sawyer swung to Charlie. “And thanks, Pruitt. For everything.”
Charlie shrugged. “No problem. ‘Serve and Protect’ is my middle name.”
That brought a smile to Sawyer’s rugged features. “Take good care of my sister.”
“Always, Kole. Goes without saying.”
Sawyer disappeared inside.
Charlie scrubbed the back of his neck. “Got to move the cruiser. Ride with me to the parking lot?”
“Sure.” Evy climbed into the passenger seat.
Palming the wheel, he headed toward the parking garage. “Just how bad is the state of my upholstery?”
She punched his biceps. Hard.
“Ow...” He massaged his muscle. “Just kidding. A little.”
He steered into a vacant spot and parked. “You did great, Evy Shaw.” He made a motion at the empty space between them.
With a smile, she slid over and inserted her arm in the crook of his elbow. “All in all, you didn’t do so badly yourself, Charles Everett Pruitt.”
“Don’t forget the Third part.”
She made sure he saw her roll her eyes. “SuperDeputy to the rescue.”
He laughed. “More like librarian to the rescue. You seem remarkably knowledgeable for someone who’s spent a lifetime with her nose in a book.”
She play-slapped his biceps again.
He inched back, hands raised off the wheel in surrender. “Okay. Okay. A librarian with her very cute nose stuck in a book.” And he tweaked the tip of her nose.
“The library in Miami hosted Red Cross training.” She fluttered her lashes. “I couldn’t help but train, too.”
A wry smile lifted the corners of his eyes. “Red Cross certification. Five languages. The surprises keep coming. What can’t you do, Evy Jane Shaw?”
Without stopping to think, she leaned closer. Probably because she didn’t stop to think, her lips parted. His eyes darkened. He tilted his head. His breath fanned her cheek.
But then she sat back. “Rain check? I’m about to become an aunt.”
He smiled. “Here’s hoping it rains very soon.”
A nurse directed them to the waiting room. Charlie dialed the numbers, but it was Evy who called Honey’s father, Seth Duer. Then her sister Amelia. Followed by her other sister, Caroline.
“Better let the reverend know and the hens, too. Sawyer will appreciate the posthospital meals.” Charlie grinned. “I know I did.”
Evy hit a number on speed dial. “There’s a much more efficient way to spread the word.”
Charlie arched his eyebrow. “The Kiptohanock grapevine?”
“You got it.” She held the phone to her ear. “Mrs. Davenport?”
Thirty minutes later, the waiting room was standing room only. When the Duer clan arrived, Evy rose from her chair. She knotted her fingers.
For the first time she quavered, dreading the inevitable confrontation. Should she leave? Neither Caroline or Amelia was her biggest fan. Would being here mar the occasion for the family? But she’d promised Sawyer she’d stay.
Charlie stood with her. “You have as much right to be here as any of them,” he whispered. “I’ve got your back, Shaw.” And shoulder to shoulder with him, Evy took strength from his strength.
But the Duers—as only the Duers could—surprised Evy. Amelia and Caroline approached, arms outstretched.
Blinking rapidly, Evy was enfolded in their warm Duer embrace. “You—you heard?”
Seth shook Charlie’s hand and hooked his arm around Evy. “In my book, any sister of Sawyer’s is family.” His bristly gray mustache lifted as he grinned.
“I’m sorry I didn’t reveal the truth of my real identity before. I wasn’t trying to be deceitful. But I didn’t want to intrude.” She took a ragged breath. “I was afraid.”
Caroline clasped Evy in her arms. “Believe me, I understand.”
Her big brown eyes—so like Honey’s—ping-ponged between the other members of her family. “But all that matters is that you’re here, and we’re about to become aunts.” She squealed in a way highly uncharacteristic of the sophisticated aquatic veterinarian Evy had hitherto known.
Amelia—the tough-as-nails former tomboy—clasped her hands under her chin and bounced in her flats. “Our baby sister is having a baby.”
Caroline latched on to Amelia, who latched on to Evy, and together they jumped up and down. Evy was glad she’d worn her Keds today.
Seth chuckled. “You girls.”
Charlie smiled. “Women...”
Seth crossed his arms across his flannel shirt. “Can’t live with ’em. Don’t want to ever live without ’em.”
Blushing, Evy pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. The Duers plopped into adjacent chairs.
Catching her eye, Charlie winked. Hooking one thumb in his gun belt, he tipped an imaginary hat in the air with his other hand.
“A white hat suits you, Charles Pruitt,” she said.
He rolled his tongue in his cheek. “Why, thank ya kindly, little missy.”
She laughed at his attempt at a Western drawl. He was a good guy. The best. Her heart thrummed in her chest. Her good guy?
It was with a great deal of applause that Sawyer ventured into the waiting room later to announce the birth of Daisy Marian Kole. Marian, after Honey’s deceased mother.
And Daisy, after Sawyer and Evy’s mother. Sawyer’s eyes locked onto Evy’s. Her eyes moistened.
Two by two, the nurses allowed visitors into Honey’s room. When it was Evy’s turn, she hung back in the doorframe, allowing Caroline to surge ahead. Propped against the pillows, Honey glowed.
Swaddled in Honey’s arms, Evy’s niece was all fair skin, rosebud lips and—
Evy’s breath hitched at Daisy’s patch of white-blond hair standing on its short ends. Sawyer flashed Evy a grin.
Honey smiled at Evy. “Another towhead. Like her Aunt Evy.” She motioned Evy forward. “And I for one couldn’t be more thrilled.”
When Evy held her niece for the first time, something melted in her heart.
Charlie departed soon after with Sawyer to retrieve Sawyer’s truck from Keller’s farm and officially clock out from his shift. Seth left to tag team with Amelia’s husband, Braeden, and Caroline’s husband, Weston, on kid duty with Max, Izzie and Patrick—who was no longer the youngest in the ever-expanding Duer clan.
Evy headed down the hall to the vending machine to allow the sisters some private time. Charlie had asked her to wait for him until he changed out of his uniform and returned to the hospital. He’d said he had something he needed to talk over with her.
Perusing the snack options, she hummed the opening bars to Bonanza. And for good measure threw in the theme songs for Star Trek and Big Valley.
She inserted the coins into the slot. And watched the bag of Doritos drop. She wondered what he wanted to discuss. She smiled. Maybe just an excuse for him to claim the rain check she’d given him earlier.
Bending, she reached inside the flap door and extracted the bag of corn chips. Without a cloud in the sky, a rain check sounded like fun. Tingles like ladybugs frolicked across her arms as another thought suddenly occurred to her.
Perhaps he wanted to tell Evy something important.
Evy plodded toward the maternity ward again. Her Keds made slapping noises against the tile. She tore open the bag.
Something important like...? Like how s
he’d opened new worlds for him. The world of literature...
And the world of love. Evy stopped as pleasurable thoughts flitted across her mind.
Outside Honey’s room, she detected the sound of raised voices. With an odd sensation of déjà vu, she hesitated. But Charlie’s name halted Evy in her tracks.
“Back at the farm, I thought Charlie had already...” Honey sighed. “Oh, no.”
Amelia cleared her throat. “We owe it to Charlie to let him be the one to tell Evy the truth.”
Evy trembled. What truth?
Caroline’s cultured voice rose. “We were crazy to think this could remain a secret. Truth has a way of coming out.”
What secret?
“I’m ashamed of being part of this conspiracy.” Amelia’s voice rasped. “We should’ve never asked him to spy on the librarian.”
Evy crushed the bag in her hand. Blinding pain ripped through her. Charlie had befriended her, joined the book club, made her believe she was important to him, special, so he could...
Just so he could unmask her identity?
Her breath came in rapid pants. How could she have been so gullible? So naive?
A sudden longing washed over her. For the sanctuary of library walls. For her parents. For the soothing, certain comfort of her books. For everything right and true she’d believed in.
Like Charlie?
She had to get out of here. Before they discovered she’d overheard. Evy pushed away from the wall. Her sneakers squeaked against the floor.
“Did you hear that noise?” Honey’s voice lifted. “Is someone out there?”
Evy ran for the elevator. She couldn’t bear their pity, the truth of her stupidity in their eyes. Her stupidity in believing someone like Deputy Pruitt could actually be interested in a bookworm librarian like her.
Had she bored him senseless? She jogged past the gurneys cluttering the corridor.
She jabbed the elevator button and squeezed her eyes shut. How he must have clenched his teeth as she’d forced him to read one dreary classic after another.
Or worse, maybe he’d laughed at her wide-eyed wonder. At how easy it was to deceive her. To trick her into revealing parts of herself she’d never admitted to anyone before—not even to herself.
She tapped her foot against the linoleum, waiting for the doors to open. He probably laughed himself silly at her pathetic eagerness, mooning over him like a schoolgirl. She was nothing but an inexperienced simpleton.
