by Emerson Rose
“Stella’s having Braxton Hicks contractions. He’s checking to make sure she’s not actually in labor.”
“Oh no, now? But, we can’t get out, where will she deliver?”
“We don’t even know if it’s labor. I could be way off base. I’ve never seen a woman in labor before.”
“You spend a lot of time with her. If you think she’s in pain, she probably is. I don’t think labor is that hard to spot.” No sooner do those words leave her lips when we hear Stella scream.
Both of us sprint through the house to find Stella on the floor next to her desk in a puddle of water panting through a real contraction. Cannon is standing next to his dad, who is kneeling at her side, frowning, and gripping Ash’s shoulder.
“That’s no Braxton Hicks contraction. Her water broke, she’s having the baby,” Allison says quietly to me.
Ash looks up panic stricken. “I don’t think we have time for a doctor. She says she needs to push.”
“I’ll call her doctor and put her on the speaker to help you.” I cross the room to her desk and dial the OB’s phone number I’ve had memorized for months. “Allison, grab her a pillow and ask Olivia for a garbage bag to put under her and some blankets.”
“Which one is Olivia?”
“Petite blonde. She should be in the kitchen.”
A receptionist answers the phone. “I need you to get Dr. Jamison on the phone immediately, it’s an emergency.”
“If it’s an emergency, sir, you need to hang up and call 911 right away.”
“This is Ashton Pride’s personal assistant, and his wife is in labor about to deliver her baby on the floor of her office. The ranch is snowed in. No ambulance can make it in. Put the doctor on the phone now.”
“Hold just a moment, please.”
Stella is panting and blowing, Allison is tucking a pillow under her head, and Ash is taking her pants off. This is happening. I motion to Allison to take Cannon with her to the kitchen to find Olivia. On their way out, several members of her crew meet her at the door asking if everything is all right. She doesn’t stop to explain but waves to follow her.
Someone picks up the phone line. “This is Dr. Jamison, can I help you?”
“Yes, Stella Pride is in labor at home, and we need your help to deliver the baby, there isn’t time to get her to a hospital. I’m putting you on speaker.” I press the speaker button, and the doctor begins asking Ash questions. He only answers one before Stella grabs his arm digging her nails into his flesh and screams, “It’s coming!”
Ash is paralyzed with fear, and since there is no one else around, I take a deep breath, round the desk, and kneel down between her legs. I’m nervous as hell, but I can listen and comprehend the physician’s orders, which is a lot more than Ash can do right now.
Stella looks at me with wild eyes and says in a demonic voice, “Get it out of me.”
Allison is at my side shoving the bag under Stella’s hips and laying a blanket on top of her. Dr. Jamison asks, “Can you see the baby’s head.”
“Yes.”
“Good, good. Now can you tell if the baby is facing the floor or the ceiling?”
The floor or the ceiling—hell, I don’t know. All I see is a lot of bloody black hair.
“The floor,” Allison answers, and I tilt my head to the side trying to figure out how she knows this.
“Good, all right. Stella, when you feel the urge to push, take a deep breath and bear down like you’re having a bowel movement, okay? Push as hard as you can while I count to ten.”
“Did you hear that?” I ask, and Stella nods squeezing her eyes shut tight. She takes a deep breath as the doctor instructed. Allison and Ash help her sit up a little, and she pushes until the doctor reaches ten. She flops down onto the pillow panting and looking more miserable than a human being should look.
“The head looked like it came out a lot more that time,” I inform the doctor.
“All right, that means she’s close, just a few more pushes, Stella. You’re doing great.” I’m concentrating on the infant’s head so hard that I don’t notice Cannon standing next to me. He must have come back with Allison and Olivia.
“You gonna get Lydia outta there, Ridge?” he asks, and I glance over at him. He’s just standing there all calm and blasé holding a fuzzy pink blanket like he wants me to hurry up and hand over his baby sister.
“We’re trying,” I tell him, and Stella announces she’s ready to push again. She repeats this process three more times before the baby is born. I listen to the doctor tell me to clear the nasal passages and mouth with a blanket as best as we can and put the baby on Stella’s chest. The rest is a big fat blur.
Ash and Stella are crying. Cannon is bouncing on the balls of his feet welcoming his baby sister, Lydia, who is indeed a girl. And Allison is looking at me with her mouth hanging open and tears in her eyes.
“You just… I can’t believe… Ridge, you delivered a baby,” she says reverently.
I sit back on my ass with my knees bent and my bloody hands hanging down between them. “Stella did, not me.”
“But you helped,” she says wrapping her arms around my neck and rewarding me with a kiss.
“Ridge, thank you, man. I froze. I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t been here.”
“Just trying to keep things running smoothly like always,” I joke. Delivering babies is not in my job description, and I pray I’ll never have to do it again.
“How did this happen so fast? I thought first babies were supposed to take a long time,” Allison asks.
“I started having contractions yesterday, but I didn’t believe that they were real. I didn’t want to be one of those women who cries wolf.”
“No, you wanted to be one of those women who cries ‘Ash, the baby’s coming!’” Ash scolds playfully.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would happen like that. Thank you, Ridge. Sorry if we scared you.”
“You’re welcome. Next time how about we rent a hotel room near the hospital two weeks before your due date?”
“Next time? I don’t ever want to do that again.”
“Can I hold her? I got her blankie,” Cannon asks.
“Not just yet, buddy. We have to do a few things and clean her up. How about you go with Ridge and help him call for the helicopter.
“Helicopter? Yes!” he yells, and baby Lydia responds with a squawk.
Everyone smiles. That baby girl will be able to sleep through a hurricane soon enough living with Cannon.
Outside the office, Cannon races to the stairs, and Allison and I stop in the kitchen so I can wash up.
“I think you need to change your clothes, too,” Allison says pointing at my bloody shirt and slacks. “I need to get the helicopter here first. They need to go to the hospital.” She nods, and I feel her staring at me. When my hands have been scrubbed clean three times, I dry them, and we make our way upstairs to my office where Cannon is sitting in my chair behind my desk waiting.
“Hey, Cannon, why don’t we go and get Stella’s suitcase while Ridge calls for the helicopter.”
“Okay, can I ride in the helicopter, too?” he asks getting out of my chair and looking up at me with hopeful eyes. “I’ll have to ask your dad. Allison, her suitcase is in the coat closet in the foyer along with Ash’s.”
“Sure, come on let’s go,” she says to Cannon reaching for his hand. I make the call and sit down at my desk. I can feel the adrenaline leaving my body, and I’m exhausted. I delivered a baby, what the hell?
Leaning my head back against the cool leather of my chair, I call Ash and tell him the helicopter will be here in twenty minutes to take them to the hospital. “Oh, and Ash, Cannon is asking if he’s going with you. What do you want me to tell him?”
“What’s the pilot say?”
“He says it’s fine. The four of you won’t exceed the weight limit.”
“Great, tell him yes then. Crap, he’s going to need a bag packed, though.”
“Already done, it’s in his bedroom. Stella did it last week.”
“Awesome, you two have it all covered, don’t you?”
“We aim to please, boss.”
“Don’t call me that, Ridge. You’re my friend, and after today, you’re my best friend in the world. And the only friend who will ever see that much of my wife.”
“Agreed.”
Downstairs, Allison is in the foyer with Cannon who is telling three housekeepers and two groundskeepers about his baby sister’s birth. Allison sees me and wanders over.
“I’ve never seen a kid that excited about having a little sister.”
“Me either. How are they doing?”
“Good, I just checked on them.”
“The chopper will be here soon. We should go watch for it.”
“Where is it going to land?”
“Ash has a helipad on the roof.”
She swats at me. “Stop it, no way.”
“I’m not kidding. He uses it a lot. Silversage is in the middle of nowhere. If there’s an emergency, it’s the fastest way in or out. He probably wouldn’t mind arranging to have you and your crew flown to the airport so you can get home sooner. I don’t think he’s going to have time to finish the photo shoot for a while now that the baby’s here.”
Her face hardens, and she stares at me crossing her arms over her chest. “Ridge Noble, are you trying to get rid of me?”
“Hell, no. But you have responsibilities at home, and if you can’t do what you came to do, then I thought you’d want to get back.”
“You’re probably right. I hate the thought of leaving you. I don’t suppose you’ve come up with a plan for us, have you?”
“No, I had a couple of things to do, you know, reports, meetings, delivering a baby.” She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “I did speak to Ash about it, though, before all the excitement.”
“Really? What did he say?”
“He suggested the long-distance route until we know each other better.”
She swallows hard and steps forward to kiss me but stops when she catches sight of my bloody clothes. “I think he’s right about that. You should change out of those clothes.” The abrupt change of subject doesn’t go unnoticed.
“As soon as they’re on their way to the hospital, I will.”
An hour later, I’m in the shower, and even though I invited her to join me, Allison is sitting on top of my vanity with her legs crossed under her. She’s been quiet since I mentioned having the chopper take her to the airport. I didn’t mean to upset her, and now I’m not sure what to do to fix it.
I hear a click that sounds like a camera and turn around to find Allison aiming her big lens in my direction. “What are you doing?”
“Taking your picture, so I don’t forget what you look like naked.” She continues to snap photos. Every picture she takes makes me more nervous. The damage she could do with those pictures could be devastating.
The paranoid part of me who was dragged through the dirt by the press wants to rip the camera from her hands and smash it on the floor. The other part wants to trust this woman and give her a hundred pictures of myself, so she will never forget me.
“Do you think you’ll forget what I look like?” I ask.
“Not entirely, and it depends on how often I see you, but yes, it’s possible.”
“I will never forget a single part of you.” I hear her hop down off the vanity and walk toward the shower still clicking away taking shot after shot of my backside. She stops and places her hand on the outside of the glass wall separating us. I put mine against hers on the inside. “Do you feel it? Please tell me it’s not all in my head, Ridge. Whatever this is between us is special. It’s not just physical, although that part happens to be spectacular. The energy around us is… it’s big. And I don’t know what to do with all these feelings and emotions. It’s too much too soon.” Her voice cracks, and I can’t stand having this glass between us.
I drop my hand and open the shower door. Without a word, I point at the bench next to the shower, and she puts her camera down. Dripping wet, I undress her slowly kissing every part of her skin as it’s being exposed and lead her back into the shower with me.
With her face in my hands, I kiss her softly. “Maybe all those feelings and emotions are telling you something. Maybe too much too soon means ‘destiny’ or ‘meant to be?’ I’ve never felt quite like this before, either, but I think we should try to figure it out together. And if that means a long-distance relationship, so be it. It’s only distance. I can fly to see you, you can come to see me, we can talk on the phone, and we will be fine. That’s why I wasn’t concerned about sending you home early on the helicopter. I’m not trying to get rid of you. I just don’t want to keep you from your life. Before you go, we will sit down and schedule out times to visit and call so we have a plan.”
She wraps her arms around my neck and presses her cheek against my chest. “Thank you.”
“Anything for you, angel,” I say kissing the top of her head. She has no idea the lengths I’ll go to for the people I care about, but she’s about to find out.
Twelve
Allison
Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder
It’s nine o’clock in the morning, and I’m packed and ready to go home. Ash just called to inform Ridge that both Stella and Lydia are doing wonderfully. The doctor said things couldn’t have gone better under the circumstances, and that Ridge might have a future in obstetrics to which he said hell no.
We sat down last night and went over our schedules planning visits and Skype dates as well as rescheduling the photo shoot with Ash. Now we have an hour until the helicopter takes us to the airport, and I’ll be home with David before dinnertime.
So much has happened over the last three days, it will be hard going back to the daily grind of my life without Ridge. He’s flying me out in two weeks—two long, torturous weeks. At least I have something to look forward to, and like he so eloquently put it, there’s always sexting.
“Don’t sulk, you look sexy when you sulk,” he says coming up behind me where I’m sitting on the couch. I have my suitcase at my feet, and I’m idly fiddling with my camera while I sulk, and yes I admit I’m sulking. I drop my head back, and he takes full advantage of my position kissing and nipping my neck and earlobe. He moans and nuzzles into my hair. “Now I have a problem only you can solve.”
I smile knowing what his problem is. “We have an hour,” I whisper.
“I wouldn’t want to mess up that pretty mouth of yours. You look beautiful today,” he breathes in my ear sliding his hands down to my breasts where he circles my hardening nipples over the satin of my blouse.
I reach up and pull him down by his tie so he can kiss the mouth he’s so worried about messing up. When I’m positive there is no trace of lipstick left on my lips, I release his tie. “Lipstick can be reapplied. I’m leaving you alone for two weeks, come around here and let me give you something to tide you over.”
“How can I say no to that?”
“You can’t.” He rounds the masculine gray couch, and I sit up on my knees and grab his belt when he’s within reach. I can’t get him exposed fast enough, and my fingers fumble with the zipper until he takes over. He isn’t wearing briefs, or boxers, nothing when he pulls out his glorious cock from his pants.
“You’re not wearing underwear?” I say looking up into his cool gray eyes.
He shrugs. “I was hopeful, I guess.”
I smirk and slide my hands around to his ass to pull him closer, and since he’s going commando, I push his pants off his hips and let them fall. Without averting my eyes, I take him in my mouth and watch his face contort with desire as I cup his sack and suck his long cock to the back of my throat.
“Oh God, angel, that feels fucking amazing,” he moans, and his head falls back when I find a rhythm he likes. His hands are in my hair guiding his length in and out of my mouth until I feel him swell and twitch.
I let go of his balls and use my hand to stroke him while he fucks my mouth, and that’s all it takes… he’s gone. He yells my name and thrusts one last time coming hard at the back of my throat. I swallow every bit of it knowing that I will be taking a part of him home with me to New York.
I let him slip from my mouth, and he hauls me up from the couch to kiss me long and hard, so I won’t forget how it feels. “You’re unbelievable. You know that? I’m going to take you on a tropical vacation to a deserted island where we can make love wherever we want whenever we want.”
“You are, are you? How long is this vacation going to be?”
“Two weeks, no a month. Can you get a month off from your job?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s going to be a no. Two weeks, however, that might be doable.” I smile knowing we are just dreaming out loud. He can’t possibly be away from the ranch for two weeks, especially now that the baby is here. And I only have a week’s worth of paid vacation per year—no way can I take another off with no pay.
“Two weeks it is then. I’ll start making plans, send me your availability when you get home.”
“You’re serious?”
“Yes, aren’t you?”
“Well, of course, I’d love to go away with you for two weeks, but I only have one week of paid vacation per year and what would David do for two weeks without me?”
“I’ll pay for your second week off if you can get it, and maybe it won’t be a deserted island, and we can take David with us. He can bring a friend to keep him entertained while I entertain you,” he says waggling his eyebrows up and down. I laugh at his absurdness.
“I can’t let you pay me for an extra week off. That’s expensive, and bringing David and another kid? That’s even more money, no way.”
He lowers me down onto the couch to pull up his pants and then he sits next to me. “Angel, I’ve been working for Ash, who happens to be one of the richest men in the United States, for five years with no living expenses. If you want to go on vacation for a year, I can afford it. Don’t worry about the money. Send me your schedule, and I’ll plan it.”
