About That Kiss

by Cindy Miles

  “Why, thank you kindly,” Emily said, then peered out the windshield at the storm. “Wow, look at those palms,” she noted. “This storm is a whopper for sure. Came up kind of fast, too.”

  Sean also noticed the palm trees lining the narrow, two-lane island road swaying in the wind. The rain fell heavily now, slashing sideways. “It sure did,” she agreed, and lowered her speed to a crawl. It was difficult to see through the deluge, and lucky for them, the traffic was light to nil. Piper’s Cove was a hole-in-the-wall little township on the coast, and right now they were in the middle of nowhere...

  “Gosh, are you okay, Sean? I can hardly see a thing.”

  “Yeah.” Sean gripped the wheel tighter. “It’s pretty bad, huh?”

  “It’s a loo-loo,” Emily added, and Sean grinned. Emily had an unusual way of speaking. It was endearing.

  Sean really liked Emily. Liked her confidence. Her cheery disposition and her eagerness to please. She couldn’t imagine what it’d be like to see Emily angry. It may very well be a nonexistent trait.

  They’d driven ten miles at a snail’s pace, through the worst downpour Sean had ever seen, when the Jeep jerked, and she gripped the wheel even tighter.

  “Did I hit something?” she asked, trying to see out of the rearview mirror.

  “Oh, boy,” Emily said.

  “I’m sorry,” Sean said, and noticed the Jeep continued to be jerky to handle. “I’m going to pull over, Emily.”

  “Oh, boy,” Emily said again.

  Sean glanced at her as she pulled to the side of the road, with marsh and river on either side. She put the Jeep in Neutral and pulled the brake. Emily’s face had paled, and the perpetual grin was no longer on her face.

  “Emily, what’s wrong?” Sean asked.

  “Well,” Emily said, and her face had paled even more. “Well...”

  Sean blanched and noticed the way Emily was holding her belly. “Oh, Emily,” she breathed. “Tell me no.”

  “Oh, boy!” Emily said, and she gave a sheepish smile.

  Panic rose inside Sean. “Tell me you’re not having that baby. You’re two weeks away from your due date.”

  Emily shrugged then glanced at Sean. “Well—oh.” Her hands went to her stomach. “Well, there’s that.”

  Sean blinked. “Are you having this baby?”

  The sheepish grin widened. “I...think my water just broke.”

  “Okay, okay.” Sean tried to comfort Emily. This was not happening. They were not in the middle of some deserted island road with a squall surrounding them. “It’s okay, Emily. It’s your first baby. You won’t give birth for hours.”

  “Oh...boy!” Emily said a little louder.

  Sean breathed and undid her seat belt. She turned to Emily. “It’s going to be okay, do you hear me? Just...breathe. Breathe like you do in birthing classes, okay?”

  “Okay. There. It went away.”

  “I want to jump out and check the Jeep,” Sean said. “I think we may have a flat.”

  Emily nodded and breathed, and Sean braced herself, then threw open the door, slammed it shut and went to the rear driver’s side. In seconds, the pouring rain stung her skin and soaked her. Sure enough, the knobby tire was flat as a pancake. She didn’t bother looking at anything else. She opened the door, dived inside the Jeep then slammed the door shut.

  “It’s definitely flat,” Sean said. “I can change it,” Sean assured Emily. “It won’t take but a sec—”

  “I’m sorry,” Emily said. “What a predicament.”

  “Hey.” She grabbed Emily’s hand. “It’ll be fine, don’t you worry.” Beneath the surface, though, Sean fought panic. Despite Emily being two weeks out, Sean knew as well as anyone who’d had a baby that any and everything could happen. She didn’t want to convey her fear to Emily, though, so she took a deep, calming breath. Get it together, girl, she told herself. Get. It. Together. “Okay,” she said. “Just to be on the safe side, I’ll call 9-1-1, and then Matt.”

  Emily nodded, then leaned her head back against the seat’s headrest, closed her eyes, held her belly with both hands and breathed.

  Sean tapped her cell’s screen and then the numbers, and waited for someone to pick up. Finally, they did.

  “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” a man’s voice asked.

  “I have a pregnant mother and her water has broken,” Sean said calmly. “Her due date is in two weeks. We have a flat tire, and we’re stranded on an island road. In the rain. We, uh, need an ambulance. Please.”

  “What’s your location, ma’am?” the voice said.

  “Where are we?” she asked Emily, then tapped the speaker.

  “On Island Marsh Road, ten miles out of Piper’s Co—ove! Oh, boy,” Emily wailed. “Whoa!”

  “We’ll send a bus out right away, ma’am,” the dispatcher assured. “Until then, just set the phone down and keep me on the line. I’ll talk you through.”

  “Okay,” Sean agreed, and set the phone on the Jeep’s dash. Glancing in the backseat, she noticed a woven throw sitting on the seat and grabbed it. “Emily, where’s your cell?” Sean asked.

  “In my bag.”

  Sean found Emily’s cell, located Matt’s icon and tapped it. He answered right away.

  “Hey, gorgeous,” his gravelly voice said with affection. “What are you up to—”

  “Matt, it’s Sean,” she said. “Um, your wife is kind of in labor.”

  “What? Jesus!” he hollered. “I’ll be right home.”

  “Wait!” Sean said.

  “Ma’am, is everything okay?” the dispatcher asked over the phone’s speaker.

  “Peachy!” Emily called out. “Oh, I think another one’s coming.”

  “Who’s that?” Matt asked. His voice was now steely. Edgy.

  “We’re not in Cassabaw,” Sean said. “We’re ten miles south of Piper’s Cove, on Island Marsh Road. Emily’s water broke, Matt. I’ve called 9-1-1. EMS is on the way. We had a flat in the Jeep, and we’re on the side of the road. And it’s storming.”

  “Is that the father?” the dispatcher asked.

  “Yes,” Emily wailed. “Oh, boy!”

  “Put me on speaker,” Matt asked, and Sean did so. “Em? Hold on, baby,” he said. “I’m on my way.”

  “No!” Emily said. “Not in this weather. Meet us at the hospital. King’s Fer-rrry!” she wailed again as another pain gripped her.

  “Jesus Christ,” Matt muttered.

  Emily glanced at Sean once her pain passed. “What if I have to push?”

  “Don’t you dare!” Sean insisted.

  “What?” Matt hollered.

  “Sir, calm down,” the dispatcher announced.

  Meanwhile, the rain poured down, the humidity in the Jeep gathered and Sean had to swallow her concern. She’d given birth before. She could remain calm, for Emily’s sake. She looked at Emily. “Do you want something to drink?”

  Emily nodded. “I’ve a juice in my bag, thanks.”

  Sean found the bottle of juice, opened the top and handed it to Emily. She gave her a reassuring smile. “You’re going to be fine, Emily. Okay?”

  Emily nodded. “Thanks, Sean. Oh, boy, here comes another one.”

  “Em?” Matt said. “What’s happening?”

  “Ma’am, the bus will be there very shortly,” the dispatcher announced. “Can you do some distraction techniques?”

  “Distraction?” Matt hollered. “Christ, man!”

  “Sing,” Emily requested, her eyes closed. “Matthew, it’s not too bad, but would you sing with me? It’ll take my mind off of the fact that we’re stranded on the side of the road.”

  “Godalmighty,” Matt muttered, then cleared his throat. The sound of an engine turning over came through the speaker, th
en Matt cleared his throat again. “One, two now we’re off, dear.”

  Emily smiled and joined him. “Say, you pretty soft, dear.”

  “Whoa! Don’t hit the moon.

  “No, dear, not yet, but soon.

  “You for me. Oh gee! You’re a fly kid.

  “See I’m up in the air.

  “About you for fair,” they sang together.

  Then a pain gripped Emily, and she winced, breathed and flashed a faint grin at Sean before continuing.

  “Come, Josephine, in my flying machine.

  “Going up she goes! Up she goes!”

  “Whoa!” Emily exclaimed, and leaned forward, grasping her belly.

  Matt’s voice. The dispatcher’s voice. Everyone was talking in the Jeep, and the windows had fogged, the air inside clammy and damp, and Sean felt a little queasy from it all.

  Then Emily glanced at her and smiled, while Matt cursed, the dispatcher tried to calm him with meaningful words. Emily grasped Sean’s hand and squeezed.

  Sean held Emily’s pleading gaze. She smiled. “We got this, Mrs. Malone. You’re going to be fine.”

  Sirens sounded in the distance and grew louder, and with Matt yelling into the speaker, the dispatcher hollering back, Sean distracting Emily with anything she could think of. Baby names. The sweet little dress she’d found in a box of items from the 1930s, in the event the baby was a girl.

  By the time the ambulance pulled up, Emily had squeezed all circulation out of Sean’s hand and Matt was desperately hollering that he’d made it to King’s Ferry General and would they hurry the hell up and bring his wife. Sean grabbed the cell phones, bags, a packed diaper bag that Emily had smartly carried in her Jeep for the past two months. As the EMTs loaded Emily, who through it all still wore that lovely hat from the box she’d purchased, into the back of the ambulance, Sean grabbed one more item from the Jeep, then joined Emily for their trip to the hospital.

  And braced herself for a wild ride and more hand-squeezing.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  INDEED, IT WAS one crazy ride in the back of an ambulance, through a squall, with a wailing pregnant woman as she and her husband sang a century-old song together.

  Sean had decided that Matt was one sweetheart of a guy.

  Even though he liked to portray a tough guy.

  Emily hadn’t let go of Sean’s hand the entire ride to the hospital, and although she sang with Matt, her bright eyes had found Sean’s. It had all been quite...surreal for Sean. She remembered every second of her labor and birth with Willa. She knew Emily would long, long remember this day. The day she and Matt welcomed their baby into the world.

  When the bus pulled up beneath the Emergency Department entrance awning, Matt was there, his face slightly pale, a scowl affixed to his handsome features. Sean climbed out as the EMTs unloaded Emily’s stretcher, and Matt grasped Sean’s shoulders.

  His penetrating gaze bore into hers. “Thank you,” he said, and his voice cracked.

  Sean smiled at him. “Anytime. Now, go.”

  With a final squeeze of her shoulders, Matt did go, hurrying alongside his wife, their hands clasped. With Emily’s baby bag and purse slung over her shoulder, Sean made her way to the waiting area on the labor and delivery floor.

  She stood at the window in the vacant waiting room, watching the storm roll overhead. It had seemed to spring up out of nowhere, and then... She shook her head, continuing to stare at the bend of the trees in the parking lot below.

  Matt and Emily’s life was about to change. For the better.

  Their sweet little baby would soon be here.

  She prayed everything was okay.

  She stayed by the window, remembering the day she’d had Willa. What a long night and day that had been, but it had been worth every pain, every breath. She’d been completely alone, with only the nurses assigned to her that shift to keep her company. They had, and they’d been nice. But often, Sean had wondered what it would be like to have a loving husband there, by her side, at the arrival of their baby.

  Every single second since then, her precious daughter had brought her joy, and she’d been worth it all. When Sean looked deep inside and remembered that skinny, dirty little street kid she’d become, then everything after... It was hard to believe that person had, at one time, been her. Sean. Maybe Nathan was right. Maybe Sean had needed to experience life exactly the way she’d done it in order to get to where she was now. With Willa.

  With him.

  “Mama!”

  Sean whirled at the sound of her daughter’s voice.

  It was the sight before her that made her breath catch.

  Nathan stood in the doorway of the waiting room, Willa in his arms and hers wrapped tightly around his neck. The smile that lifted Nathan’s generous lips seared Sean’s heart, and Willa cupped her hands and spoke into Nathan’s ear. Something private. Quiet. Something secret, between the two of them.

  It was endearing, and it made Sean want to weep.

  Nathan crossed the room and gathered Sean in his arms, with Willa squished between the two of them.

  It felt...so real. So good.

  As if it was meant to be—had been meant to be all along.

  As if Nathan Malone was something she’d been waiting for her entire life.

  “You’re all wet, Mama,” Willa noted, “and your hair is sticking all up.” Willa giggled. “You look funny.”

  Sean poked her daughter’s belly, making her giggle further. “Well, thanks a lot, you,” she teased.

  “You,” Nathan said, and his green eyes swam with pride, “are something else.”

  Sean grinned at him. “Nah,” she argued. “I didn’t do anything. Emily,” she stated, “is a champion. A strong, strong girl.”

  “You kept her from delivering my niece or nephew on the side of a road in a storm,” Nathan argued. “I spoke to Matt. Briefly.” He grinned. “In between bouts of pretty decent swear words and his and Em’s song.”

  Sean laughed softly. “That was the absolute sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.” She met his gaze. “In. My. Life.”

  Nathan’s gaze searched hers, and he set Willa down, who ran over to the window to watch the storm. Nathan grasped Sean’s face with his hands and gave her a lingering kiss. Her heart immediately reacted, skipping a beat.

  “Whoa, now,” a gravelly voice grumbled from the doorway. “Quite enough of that business.”

  “King Jep!” Willa cried.

  Nathan and Sean turned to watch Jep, Owen, Eric and Reagan file into the waiting room. Eric walked up to Sean, a wide smile on his handsome face.

  His eyes twinkled as he handed her a small duffel bag. “Reagan fetched some clothes for you,” he said, covering his mouth as though trying not to laugh. “If they don’t match, don’t blame me.” He inclined his head toward Reagan. “She’s been known to wear different-colored shoes.”

  “Son,” Owen said, “you do realize if you keep up that teasing, Reagan will get even with you.”

  “Don’t worry,” Reagan defended herself, smiling. “He’ll pay for that.”

  “I can only hope,” Eric said.

  Reagan rolled her eyes. “Eric says you and I are close to the same size, so I grabbed what I thought would suit you best. I hope it’s okay.”

  “Yes, thank you so much. They’ll work fine. Willa, sit right there beside King Jep and behave while I go change.”

  “Yes, Mama,” Willa assured.

  Jep gave Sean a wink.

  A few moments later, Sean returned wearing dry clothes that did indeed match. A pair of long denim cutoff shorts, a blue spaghetti-strapped tank, a pair of blue sandals and a white cardigan sweater that she’d slipped on to ward off the chill of the hospital. She’d run her fingers through her damp hair, trying to
get it to lie down, and it had, somewhat.

  In the waiting room, Sean sat with the Malones, awaiting news from Matt. Nathan sat beside her, holding her hand, or draping an arm over her shoulders. Jep and Willa kept each other entertained, and Owen flipped through the daily newspaper. Eric and Reagan talked among themselves, too quiet for Sean to hear.

  How dumbfounded she was, to look back at how she used to stand on the outside of family—no matter how nice the foster families were—wishing she could really belong. Now she was part of it. Part of that sacred unit she’d always dreamed of. Before, she’d watch the interactions between foster parents and their own children, and wished she had that. The arguing. The love. The dinner table conversations. Now she did. She had it. It still amazed her.

  Soon, Matt swaggered into the room, wearing a green gown and surgical hat. The smile that pulled at his mouth illuminated his painfully handsome features, turning what might be a scowl or a frown into...sheer Malone beauty. That was the only way Sean could describe it.

  “Well, what do I have, boy?” Jep called out. “Don’t just stand there, grinning.”

  “We have Miss Rose Katherine Malone,” Matt said proudly, pulling his cell phone out and moving toward his family.

  Nathan leaped up and gave a quiet whoop! He pulled his brother into a fierce bear hug. Eric joined them, doing the same, and they all hovered over Matt’s phone, staring in awe at the newest Malone addition. Matt looked at Sean and grinned, ear to ear, and moved to her, showing her his new daughter.

  Behind her, Eric was describing the baby in detail to Reagan. It was so sweet, tears filled Sean’s eyes. For a moment, sadness slipped in. She’d been alone in her joy when Willa was born. At the time, she’d felt overcome by the addition to her one-woman family. Sean may have been alone, but Willa had the chance to be enveloped by the Malones. And to think, despite her lean welcome into this world, Willa had emerged a gracious, enthusiastic child, ready to engage with people. It left Sean dumbfounded, and full of love for her daughter.

  “She’s named Rose, after Reagan,” Matt said quietly. “And Katherine, after their mom, Katie,” he said. He leaned over and surprised Sean by kissing her on the cheek. “Em wants to see you as soon as she gets in her own room.”