Gabe (In the Company of Snipers, #8)(20)

Next time, we adopt.

“There you go, Judy. Now slow your breathing. Good job. Good girl,” the nurse crooned.

“I’m not a good girl and I’m thirsty,” Judy snarled before she relaxed into the pillow at the end of an extra hard contraction. And just like that she was her old self again. She turned pleasantly to Harley with a small smile. “I need an ice chip, honey. Could you please... get... a tiny one... for me? Hurry.”

He scrambled for the plastic cup of ice on her side table and spooned a single chip out, intent on redeeming himself. By the time he got it halfway to her prehensile lips, she grabbed his fingers again, twisting and clenching and, oh, hell. The ice chip sailed. Damned woman had the grip of ten men. Something cracked. Felt like fingers. His.

“Ow. Ow. Ow! Not so hard,” he whimpered, trying real hard not to make as much noise as she did.

The contraction eased off. She relaxed her grip. Closed her eyes. Took a deep breath.

He rescued his fingers.

“Big baby.” She shoved his hand away. “You wanna trade places?”

He kept his lips zipped. She had that shut-up-and-go-to-hell look in her eye again.

“I’m having a baby here, and... and I want a divorce, and I want you to get a different job, and I want... VALIUM!”

He held his breath. The beautiful, sexy woman he’d fallen in love with had turned into a raging schizophrenic on her way to the divorce court, with or without him. And this two-headed beast would now be responsible for the welfare of his innocent children? To what—eat them alive? How much longer could having a baby take? Is this what woman had been doing for thousands of years? What was God thinking?


She relaxed with a panting sigh, and even though she’d tied her thick red hair behind her head, tendrils curliqued the edges of her sweaty forehead and temples. He didn’t tell her that, though. Instead, he wiped her face very carefully with a damp cloth, steered clear of her clutching hands, and kept his big mouth closed.

The obstetrician finally showed up, another woman with a no nonsense demeanor and eyes like daggers. Dr. Hehrsmann was embroidered on the left breast of her scrubs. Oh, yeah. That name sounds familiar.

“Nice to finally meet you, Mr. Mortimer,” she said with a definite monotone, judgmental New York kinda accent that made him feel as if he should go to confession and apologize for being a man.

He ignored the barb. “Hey, umm, is this normal, Doctor? Is all this pain and craziness normal for a woman in labor, or is—”

“ARGHHH!” Judy jerked his knuckles to her teeth.

And he forgot his question. She bit him. Hard.

The doctor was too busy to answer, or maybe she didn’t like him much, either. Whatever her reason for ignoring him was, she pushed the sterile sheeting off Judy’s legs and positioned herself on a stool at the bottom of the birthing bed while he extracted his knuckles from his dear, sweet wife’s incisors. The nurse handed the doctor a giant pair of ice tongs, or at least that’s what they looked like.

“No. I won’t need those right now.” Dr. Hehrsmann rubbed Judy’s huge belly in a slow circular motion. “How are you doing?”

“Just great. I’ve got a rapid heartbeat, my blood pressure’s spiking sky-high, and a freaking smart car’s coming out my ass! How do you think I’m doing?” Her sweet melodic voice evolved into the rumbling baritone of one of Satan’s minions.

Harley zipped his lips tighter. He wasn’t stepping into that bear trap again. No way. Let the doctor find out for herself how much fun this particular patient was. Any second now, his darling wife’s head might start spinning around, as nasty as she sounded. At least she had a grip on his full hand right now instead of just fingers. He stiffened his spine. She had to be in a powerful heap of pain to have gone all Freddy Krueger on him. If Judy could do this, so could he.

“Then let’s push, shall we?” the doctor asked in the same steady voice. “Come on, Judy. Tuck your chin to your chest. You know how to do it. That’s good. Lean forward and—one, two, push.”

Harley helped her lean forward. This part he knew. He’d actually attended that class.

Judy clenched his hand with a fierce grip, snorted and pushed with everything she had. He squeezed his eyes along with her, contorting his face at the same time. The contraction passed, but Judy trembled, and in that split second—everything changed.

Her heartbeat pounded in the sweaty fingers tucked inside his hand. She couldn’t seem to let him go, though. The little gold hoop earrings rattled against her neck. Her feet shook in the stirrups. He got it now.

She wasn’t mad at him. Well, yeah, maybe she was, but mostly she was just a scared little mama, afraid something might happen to her babies. And yeah, delivering them hurt, and... and he’d been a freaking dumb ass, left her alone when she needed him most. With all the stuff going on with Alex and Kelsey, he’d neglected his number one priority: her.

He reached an arm around her shoulders, for the first time overwhelmed with what they had done, and what they were doing. They could get through this—together.

Repentance replaced the pain in his fingers. He pressed her fingers to his lips. Everything else fell away. She needed him now most of all.

“I’m right here, darlin’,” he murmured. “I’m sorry I’m so thoughtless and dumb. I promise. I’m not leaving. I love you, Judy Mortimer. Can you forgive me?”