Romancing the Holidays: Twelve Christmas Romances - Benefits Breast Cancer Research
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He nodded and pulled it out. In the flickering light, his expression moved from concern to helplessness. Brady walked to the bar and refilled water bowls for the donkeys. Funny. In the strained silence of the bar, their soft snuffling noises and subtle barn scent almost soothed Annie’s nerves.
You can do this, she coached herself, sending the vibes to Gabe and Julia as well. She mentally flipped back through her textbooks, her labs, the dozen deliveries she’d observed at the hospital in Bluffet Edge. Yet, against her will, panic began to beat at the edges of her sanity. Those women had doctors, nurses, midwives, doulas, all assisting in a facility with power, equipment, and medicine at their fingertips. She was a thirty-two-year-old nursing student who’d spent most of her adult life waiting tables. She’d just failed a major exam. Maybe her father had been right. Maybe she wasn’t cut out to be a nurse. She fell back on her heels and stared at her fists, balled up in her lap.
“Hey,” Julia said.
Annie looked up.
“I’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.” Her face grimaced with another contraction, and Annie turned to Gabe.
“Start timing.”
“I’m ten days from full-term,” Julia said in a strained voice. “I haven’t had a single problem the whole nine months.” She reached for Gabe’s hand and puffed out a few breaths. “If I have to deliver this baby in a bar in a middle of a snowstorm, there are worse places. And worse people to be with.”
Gabe nodded in agreement. “She’s right.”
Annie rubbed her hands together, conscious of the chill in the air. No more doubt. You can do this. “We need power,” she said over her shoulder. “Any chance of getting gas for that generator?” She stroked Julia’s arms and legs, hoping to soothe her and the baby that seemed so eager to join them.
Finn didn’t answer. “Closest gas station is down near the hotel. I’m not sure they’ll be open.” He reached for his coat. “I can call, though. I’ve got a couple of cans in the back if they are.”
“I can go,” Brady offered. He stood by the donkeys, a small flashlight dangling from his hand.
“No,” Julia said before Annie could answer. “I don’t want anyone going out in that weather on account of me.” She squeezed Annie’s hand, and then dropped it to grip the arm of the chair. For a few moments, they all sat in silence.
“I’m calling the Med Center,” Finn said. “Mick can’t be the only one on call tonight. Maybe they can send someone here.”
“Good idea.” Annie got up and fetched a washcloth from the stack of linens behind the bar. She wet it and wrung it out. She lay the cool cloth on the back of Julia’s neck and pulled her damp hair out of the way.
“Thank you,” Julia said. Her eyes closed. “That feels good.” Her breathing released before another contraction swept over her. This one lasted longer, and she panted at the end of it. At last, it seemed to subside, and she relaxed into the chair again.
“How long since the last one?” Annie asked Gabe.
He glanced at his phone. “Three minutes and forty-two seconds.” He tapped the phone and restarted the timer.
Annie steeled her nerves. They’re less than five minutes apart. At this point in a normal pregnancy, Julia would likely be in a hospital bed, hooked up to a fetal monitor with a doctor checking her dilation. At the very least, she’d be at some kind of medical facility with trained professionals ready to take care of her, not a bartender and a community college student flailing around by candlelight.
Annie ran a hand over her own forehead, dripping with perspiration. “Do you think you can walk?” she asked.
Julia planted both palms on the chair and bit her bottom lip. “I can try.”
“Is your rental apartment upstairs still furnished?” Annie asked Finn.
He looked up from his phone. “Yeah. It’ll be dark as hell, though.”
“We could take candles with us. And the flashlights.” She hated the idea of fire anywhere near a woman in labor, but what choice did they have?
Finn nodded. “Okay.” He lifted a finger as someone answered on the other end of the line. “Yes, it’s Finn Cavallo down at the Great White. I have a woman here in labor and…” He turned away, and Annie didn’t hear the rest of the conversation.
Julia moaned and sank back into the chair. “I can’t. I don’t think… I’m sorry. I can’t climb a flight of stairs. I can’t even get up.” This time, she didn’t try to control the cry that came with her contraction. Gabe continued to stroke his wife’s arm.
“The only other ambulance is headed down past Blakely College,” Finn said when he hung up. “If we can get her to the Med Center, though, they’ll be ready for her.”
Gabe looked at his phone, and then mouthed Three minutes and ten seconds to Annie. She blew out a long breath. She didn’t see any way of getting Julia into a vehicle and then risking slippery roads to drive to the Med Center.
“They’re getting closer together,” Julia said through clenched teeth. “And I feel…” She reached down. For the first time, Annie saw panic in the woman’s expression.
“Are you crowning?” Annie asked. The baby’s head is there. At that possibility, something clicked inside her. You can do this. You have to. There’s no one else. She stood and positioned herself in front of Julia, arms out straight. “We’re going to get you lying down.” She looked at Finn. “Do you have towels, tablecloths, anything to make this floor a little more comfortable?”
Finn gaped. “Is she really going to –”
“Possibly. And if so, we’re going to help her.” Annie bowed her head and said a quick prayer. How she wished for Mick to walk through the door that very moment. She needed him, and not just his medical expertise. She needed his encouragement. His support. She needed to look up, see his smile, and know that no matter what, he’d be there for her.
I do love him, she thought suddenly. And not like a brother. Mick was her rock, her heart, her history, and her memories and everything good, right, and reliable. Beyond that, he was also sexy as hell and had the ability to turn her wet with the briefest touch. She could no more think of life without him in it than she could draw a breath. Yet she’d let him leave the Great White without telling him any of that, and without realizing any of that herself.
Julia moaned again, and Annie’s attention snapped back to the bar. Please help me do this. Please help me get through this. Her palms grew slick with sweat, and she tried to think positive thoughts. Women had babies all the time, in more challenging circumstances than these. Right? Childbirth was one of time’s oldest miracles.
Gabe’s earlier words echoed in her mind. It’s a holiday miracle; that’s how we like to think of it…
Annie looked at the falling snow, the dying candles, the helpless men, and Julia’s pale, frightened face. At that moment, they were going to need all the miracles they could get.
CHAPTER 10
“We’ll get to the girls in the car first,” one Bluffet Edge medic said to Mick. “You’ll handle the SUV?”
Mick nodded and hurried over. The driver’s side door of the SUV had collapsed inward, which meant he’d have to perform triage from inside. Awkwardly, he pulled open the door and climbed into the back seat.
“Are you hurt?” he asked the middle-aged woman behind the wheel. She pressed her lips together but shook her head. The airbags hadn’t gone off, and he didn’t see any obvious injuries to either her or the man beside her, though the man’s eyes fluttered closed every few seconds. Mick reached over to take the woman’s pulse. Other than her pale skin, she appeared alert and uninjured.
“I don’t think so.” She brushed the hair from her eyes. “Just really shook up.”
“That’s normal.” He took her blood pressure and examined her eyes. Nothing suspicious. He took a closer look at the man lying in the passenger seat, read the alert bracelet around his wrist, and pulled out a packet of glucose tablets. Diabetic shock setting in. “How long has he been like this?”
“A few minutes.
He’s usually good about monitoring his sugar levels, but with the storm, we haven’t eaten since lunch. We were trying to get off the highway to find a place for dinner.” Her eyes filled and she reached over and took the man’s hand. Matching gold wedding bands stood out on their white skin. “Our wedding anniversary is tomorrow,” she added in a whisper. “Twenty-three years.”
“Well, early congratulations to you both,” Mick said in a calm voice.
Twenty-three years with the same person. Wow. It might have sounded absurd to some of his still-unmarried friends, yet on that dark night, Mick clung to the thought with an ache in his chest. What might he and Annie accomplish in that amount of time together? Careers? Marriage? Children? The wind whipped in through the ajar door of the SUV, and his thoughts splintered. Never mind. Doesn’t matter. Annie didn’t want any of that with him. She didn’t want to risk their friendship, and he supposed some part of him couldn’t blame her.
He swallowed away a hard lump in his throat and focused on the couple. “I better get your husband ready to put on his dancing shoes tomorrow to celebrate, right?”
The woman gave him a small smile. Mick bent over the man. “Hi there,” he said. The man’s eyes fluttered open. “My name’s Mick. I’m a paramedic. I’m going to get your blood sugar levels regulated.”
The man nodded as Mick checked his vital signs. “You have anything to drink in here?
The woman passed over a bottle of water. Mick handed it to the man, who tipped his head back and swallowed the tablets. His lips moved as if to say something, but Mick put a hand on his leg. “Take a rest. No talking. I’m going to monitor you for a while right here, and then once you’re stabilized, I want to take you both to the hospital in Bluffet Edge. Just to double-check everything.” He pulled out his phone and saw two missed calls from Annie. His heart thumped, but he didn’t call her back. They could talk later.
“Thank you,” the woman said. Tears slid down her cheeks. “Thank you so much for being here.”
Mick patted her shoulder. “You’re both going to be fine.”
She wiped away tears and took the man’s hand tightly in hers again.
“Stay right where you are for now. I’ll go check with the other ambulance crew and send someone over in a minute.” Mick pushed open the door. At once, frigid air rushed inside the SUV. He closed it tightly behind him, bent his head against the wind, and trudged through the snow. Despite his heavy boots, the tops of his woolen socks were soaked clear through. For a minute, he thought about calling Annie just to make sure she was all right. Without any power at the bar, the temperature would be dropping in the Great White. He stuck his hand into his pocket and palmed his phone, trying to imagine the conversation.
Hey, how’s it going? Everything okay out there in the storm?
Sure, except I can’t stop thinking about kissing you and the way you feel in my arms.
Yeah, right. He’d sound like a heartsick idiot. Mick left his phone where it was and made his way over to the police chief. The other paramedics remained clustered around the red car.
“One male, hypoglycemic, and one female, appears uninjured,” Mick said. “I’d like to send them up to St. Grace’s in Bluffet Edge to be checked out.”
The chief nodded, snow stuck in his eyelashes and beard. “The truck driver’s conscious, but he’s cut up on his face and hands pretty bad.” He gestured at the small red car. “And we got two teenage girls inside that one, one of ‘em unconscious. Thank God, they had their seatbelts on. Probably need to cut ‘em out.”
“Shit.” Mick stared above him, hoping for a glimmer of starlight, something to indicate the storm might be clearing. Instead, all he saw was darkness.
“Yup,” the chief agreed. “Gonna be a hell of a night.”
Mick made two calls on his radio, got the couple from the SUV on their way to Bluffet Edge, and then bent his head into the wind to assist with the rescue of the teens. For only a moment, did he wonder what might be happening back in town. You’ve got one job to do right now, he told himself. Focus on that. He slammed his thick gloves together and shook the snow from his head. He’d help get everyone safely out of this mess, finish his shift, then head home and crash.
Annie, his feelings, and everything else could wait until morning.
* * * * *
“How is she?” Finn whispered as Annie scooped a few ice cubes into a glass.
“She’s okay.” Annie lowered her voice too, as if somehow Julia didn’t know she was about to give birth. “I don’t know how long it will be.” Her gut told her they had less than an hour before the baby made its appearance. She glanced at her phone, still lying on the bar. Mick hadn’t returned her calls, and she supposed she couldn’t blame him. She hadn’t left a message; she hadn’t wanted to bother him in the middle of an emergency call. He had no way of knowing how badly she wanted him here.
So when the front door flung open and a snow-covered figure stepped inside, she almost dropped the glass and scattered ice everywhere. He came back. He’s here. Relief coursed through her. Somehow, he’d sensed her need and driven back in the snow to be with them.
But it wasn’t Mick. As the man unwound a scarf from his neck, Annie blinked in surprise. “Lucas?”
Without a word, he set a bright orange can on the floor.
“Thanks,” Finn said gruffly. “Appreciate it.”
Annie’s head swung back around. “What’s going on here?”
Finn walked over and picked up the can. “I texted him and asked if there was any way he could get to a gas station for us. I might have thrown an apology in there too.” He walked through the door to the back room without another word.
Annie rolled her eyes. “You two.”
“He’s a stubborn ass,” Lucas said as he took off his coat and draped it over a chair. His cheeks and nose shined red from the cold.
“And you aren’t?”
Lucas didn’t answer. Instead, he walked over to Gabe “How’s she feeling? How far apart are the contractions?”
“Less than two minutes,” Gabe answered.
Suddenly, Annie recalled that although he hadn’t worked at the station since getting married, Lucas had been a volunteer firefighter for years after high school. Plus, he’d stood at his own wife’s bedside for the delivery of their baby last year. He’ll know what to do. He can help. She hurried over with the ice.
“I don’t think it’s going to be very long,” she said with a glance at Julia’s white, strained face.
Lucas nodded as the growl of the generator started up from the back. A moment later, the overhead lights in the bar flashed on. Annie blinked, along with the donkeys, who’d just curled up for a nap. “Oh, thank God.”
Julia grabbed her belly and moaned.
“I’m going upstairs,” Lucas said. “Finn said he has a couple mattresses up there. Better than her lying on this floor.”
“Thank you.” Annie laid a hand on Julia’s arm as he disappeared through a door leading to the second-floor apartments. “What were you saying earlier? That there are worse places to have a baby?” She squeezed Julia’s arm in comfort and smiled at Gabe. “There are also much worse people to have at your side. Finn and Lucas are two of the most solid guys in town.” The third, their best friend and Annie’s soul mate, was the most solid of all, but she couldn’t say that out loud. She could only wish with all her might that Mick would return to the Great White soon.
“Plus you’re a nurse,” Julia said through shallow breaths.
“Almost.” She stared into the night and crossed her fingers like a child. They’d seen one plow truck drive by ages ago, but the snow hadn’t let up. She wondered where Mick was and how serious the accident had ended up.
Moments later, Finn and Lucas shoved their way through the back door carrying a twin mattress and an armful of blankets. Annie turned her back on the storm. She couldn’t look outside any longer. Certainly, she couldn’t imagine where Mick might be or if he might be thinking of her.
/> “Let’s get you comfortable,” Annie said as the men arranged the mattress on the floor and helped Julia to her back. The next time she saw Mick, she’d tell him exactly how she felt, no matter how much it scared her. She loved him. She hoped he loved her. Everything else, any complications that might come from crossing the line from friendship into something more, they could work out.
With that, Annie shut off the roaring inside her brain, which insisted on worrying and wondering what was taking him so long to return her calls.
CHAPTER 11
Almost an hour later, unable to feel his face or his fingers, Mick closed the back door of his rescue truck and returned to the driver’s seat. A few minutes earlier, the teenager in the passenger seat of the red sports car had been loaded onto a helicopter with two broken legs and head injuries. The driver, with only a possible concussion and a fractured wrist, lay in the back of Mick’s vehicle.
Diana Rogers, he noted from the ID in her wallet. Age nineteen, from Brighton, Massachusetts. She was conscious and lucid, both good signs. Up front, as he waited for the engine to warm and the windshield to fully clear, he made notes and called in his status to the Lindsey Point Medical Center. “Any other calls?” he asked the dispatcher. With another two hours left in his shift, he crossed his fingers for nothing but fender benders the local cops could handle.
“Nothing urgent,” the dispatcher returned.
“Ten-four.” Mick checked on his passenger once more, then eased onto the road. A plow truck had passed a while ago, but snow had started to cover the pavement again. Enough already. Mother Nature has pretty much guaranteed us a white Christmas.
He swung a wide circle around the two abandoned vehicles. Todd’s Towing had pulled up a few minutes ago, with the driver waiting for them all to clear out. Mick lifted a hand in greeting, and his eyes flicked to the red car, still lying on its roof like a helpless insect.
...let someone become a priority... read part of a bright blue bumper sticker on its backside. He couldn’t make out the rest of the words, upside down and obscured by snow, but that sounded like a good motto. He’d spent most of his adult life doing that, making sure other people were taken care of and tended to before himself. It seemed like the good thing, the Christian thing, to do. You need to make yourself a priority, his mother sometimes told him, but how could he do that when so many people in the world had less than he did?