Stinger (A Sign of Love Novel)(101)

"Grace, you met Dylan," Carson said, gesturing his head to where Dylan was standing and then turning to the taller man, "This is Leland McManus. He owns Trilogy."

"Hi, Leland. Nice to meet you," I said and he nodded and smiled back, saying, "It's nice to meet you too." He had the most piercing blue eyes I'd ever seen. I suddenly realized that I had seen him before. He was the man I had run past that day in Carson's office. That had been less than two weeks ago and yet it felt like a lifetime.

I turned to Dylan. "Hi, Dylan. Thanks for letting me use your SUV." I grinned.

He looked between me and Carson and his face broke into a big smile too. "No problem. I can see it worked out well."

"Yeah, you could say that," I said, smiling up at Carson. He smiled back, his eyes soft.

"Okay, lovebirds, we all get the picture. There wasn't a lot of skiing going on in Snowbird. Let's get down to business here," Josh said, joining us and rolling his eyes as he looked around.

Dylan coughed and Leland stifled a laugh. Carson furrowed his brow at Josh, but one side of his mouth quirked up.

A cell phone rang and Leland pulled it out of his pocket, answering, "Hello?"

He looked over at Josh and nodded. "Okay, he's on his way down."

He hung up the phone and looked at Josh. "Your services are required, Doc," he said.

Josh nodded. "Okay. Anyone want to assist me here?"

Leland held up his hands. "I've got a hotel to run."

Dylan held up his hands. "I've got computer programs running that need monitoring…"

Josh rolled his eyes again. "Grace?"

"I don't mind helping," I said, looking at Carson.

"No way you're going down there with him alone," Carson said, narrowing his eyes at Josh.

"I'm going down there to deliver a baby, Carson. I'll be kinda busy."

"You're never too busy to be inappropriate," Carson returned.

Josh pretended to think about that. "True," he finally grinned, looking proud.

"Uh, guys, it sounded kind of serious down there," Leland interrupted.

We hurried out of Leland's office and Carson took my hand as we all three rushed to the elevator. Josh put a key in and then pressed forty-five and we rode down a couple floors.

There was a guard just outside the elevator and he nodded at us when he saw Josh and Carson. "Sounds pretty intense in there," the guard offered.

"Intense situations are our specialty," Josh said, raising his eyebrows. The guard laughed.

We walked down a hallway and heard yelling just beyond a door to the right.

Josh took out a key and opened the door and we all three took in the scene in front of us.

**********

Carson



I had been in this room a hundred times over the last couple months but I tried to imagine what Grace was thinking now as I took in Maria lying on her side on the bed, hugging a pillow for dear life, and moaning loudly. Yoselin was putting a wet cloth on her forehead and Gisella sitting on the side of the bed rubbing her lower back.

The only other girls in the room were Deisy and Vanessa, both twelve. They were sitting huddled on the couch, watching a show on television, their eyes darting to Maria every few minutes. I looked over at Grace and motioned my head toward them. They were obviously scared.

All the women in the room were Venezuelan–the only ones we hadn't been able to get back home before Christmas, due to some problems getting their paperwork. But everything was in order now for them to fly out on the twenty-seventh. Looked like there would be one extra passenger.

Josh laid the First Aid kit he had brought on the bed, went straight to the bathroom to, I assumed, wash his hands, and I asked Yoselin how Maria was doing. Yoselin was the only one in the room who spoke English so she would need to translate.

"I've seen babies born, Mr. Carson. I think she's close."

I nodded. "Okay. Josh is going to check in just a second."

I looked up at Maria, eyes squeezed shut tight, moaning in pain. "Maria, we're here to help you deliver your baby. Everything's going to be fine." I felt like a jackass saying that. How the hell did I know everything was going to be fine? I didn't know a damn thing about delivering babies.

I turned to Grace, but she was already sitting on the couch with Deisy and Vanessa and they were smiling up at her as she doled out sticks of gum from her purse. Apparently there was no language barrier when it came to kids and gum.

Josh came out of the bathroom and got to work examining Maria. I moved to the side, ready to assist Josh if necessary, but not wanting to get in the way.

"She's ten," Josh said after a minute. "Baby is head down. Looks good. Let's do this! You with me Maria?" he asked.

She nodded her head, still grimacing.

Yoselin and Gisella both grabbed one of Maria's legs and she started to push. I went to the bathroom and got another cool cloth and a bunch of towels.

I returned to the room where Maria was now screaming during every push, the women counting in Spanish. I turned to Grace and she was leaning back on the couch, a girl in each arm, their faces pressed into her chest. I smiled at her and she gave me a weak smile in return.

Twenty minutes later, with one final scream, the sound of a baby's cry filled the room, and Maria collapsed back on the pillow.