Текст книги "Forever too far "

Автор книги: Abbi Glines

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

Three months later...

 

     I was a southern girl. That much was obvious. While I loved our time in New York I was glad to be back home where I could find sweet iced tea when I wanted it. Rush had missed Rosemary too. I could tell. We had unpacked and then taken all the clothes and toys we’d bought for the baby, who we still had not named, and put them in the nursery.  It had been fun to hang up his clothes in the closet and fold his blankets and line up all his little shoes. We had gone a little overboard with the purchasing of clothing.

     Grant had stopped by to take Rush away for some guy time on the golf course shortly after our arrival so I decided to go do some visiting.  There was nothing to eat here and I was starving. Going to see if Jimmy was at the club working and getting something to eat would kill two birds with one stone. I grabbed my keys and headed outside to my car... or SUV... or whatever it was. I hadn’t driven it yet. Rush had it sitting in the driveway waiting on me when we got home.

     All I knew was that it was the Mercedes Benz idea of a utility vehicle. I was just glad he hadn’t gotten me a minivan. Apparently, this one was one of the safest cars on the road. He gave me a very long sales pitch on it then told me if I didn’t like it I could take it back and get what I wanted.

     It was a Mercedes, for crying out loud. I wasn’t going to snub my nose at that. Of course I was happy with it. I just needed to figure out how to drive it. I looked down at the key he’d left me. There were directions he’d given me. I was supposed to just stick this thing that was most definitely NOT a key in my purse and carry it with me. When I touched the door handle it would automatically unlock as long as the key was on my body. Then I had to put my foot on the brake and press the “on” button by the steering wheel to crank the car. Everything else should be easy enough. Yeah right.

     I did as I was told and climbed into the car which isn’t easy when your stomach is enormous. After buckling, I managed to crank the car without the key which was all kinds of weird. I didn’t even try to touch the stuff on the dash. It looked like something in an airplane. I understood none of it. I opened my purse and took my gun out then slipped it under my seat. I hadn’t been carrying it with me since I was always with Rush. But now that I had my own car again and I would be out by myself, and soon with my baby, I wanted to know there was some protection hidden somewhere. Once the baby was bigger I was going to have to find some other place to keep it. I didn’t want it anywhere he could touch it. That was something I needed to talk to Rush about.

     Getting to the club was easy enough. The car turned off with one push of the button and I locked the doors with the thing Rush referred to as a key and headed inside.

     Just as I was headed to the dining room, Jimmy walked out of the kitchen and his eyes met mine. A slow smile spread across his face. “Look at you, hot momma. You can even make a pregnant stomach the size of a beach ball look sexy. Go inside that kitchen and wait on me. I’ll be right back,” Jimmy said with a nod of his head. He was only carrying two glasses of water so he just had a quick delivery.

     I opened the kitchen door and stepped inside. Several of the cooks called out greetings and I waved to them and tried to remember as many names as I could.

     “Please tell me you’re back in Rosemary for good now. No more running around the world. I’ve missed you,” Jimmy whined, pulling me into a hug.

     “No plans to go anywhere anytime soon,” I assured him.

     “God, Blaire your stomach is huge. When is this baby coming out?” Jimmy asked and started rubbing my stomach. “You can’t stay in there forever, little guy. It’s time you come on out. Your momma isn’t that big; she can’t take much more.”

     The kitchen door swung open and I lifted my eyes to see a new face. She had dark brown hair and excellent bone structure. She was watching Jimmy talk to my stomach with a curious smile.

     “Hello,” I said and her eyes flicked from my stomach to meet my eyes. She had gorgeous eyes as well. Where had Woods found this one and had he hired her because of her looks? Because knowing Woods he had noticed.

     “Hello,” she replied with a thick southern drawl that surprised me. The girl wasn’t from Rosemary.

     Jimmy stood back up and beamed at the girl. He liked her. That was a good sign. “Glad you’re back, girl. Yesterday went to shit without you,” he told her then glanced back at me. “Della, this is Blaire. She’s my BFF who ran off and left me for another man. One I can’t blame her for because he is one hot piece of ass. Blaire, this is Della. She may or may not be boinking the boss.”

     I couldn’t keep the grin off my face. Yep, Woods had noticed her.

     “Jimmy!” I said when her face turned beet red and realized she’d been scolding him too. I liked this girl. I just might have new friend material here.

     “Woods right? That boss?” I asked, grinning because I knew there was no way she was messing around with Woods’ dad.

     “Of course, Woods. The girl has taste. She ain’t gonna boink the old man,” Jimmy replied with a roll of his eyes.

     “Would you stop saying ‘boink’?” she asked, still blushing. I needed to ease her embarrassment because Jimmy was only making it worse.

     “Jimmy shouldn’t have told me that but since he did, can I say, Woods is a great guy. If you are in fact… um… boinking him then you picked a good one.”

     “Thanks,” she said, biting back a smile. I really hoped Woods had a thing for her. I had a feeling Bethy would love her too.

      “If I don’t have this baby this week maybe we can get together and have lunch,” I suggested. I would call Bethy and have her come too. She glanced down at my stomach and I could see that she thought it was highly unlikely that I was going to make it out the door without having this baby, much less until next week. She was probably right.

     “Okay. That sounds good,” she replied.

     I couldn’t wait to tell Rush. Maybe we should invite her and Woods over for dinner one night. That would be fun.

     “Della Sloane.” An angry growl broke into my thoughts and I jerked my gaze from her to the police officer standing in the doorway.

     “Yes, sir,” she replied. I watched as her face went white and I glanced around for any sign of Woods. Where was he when you needed him? He had always been barging in at the wrong time when I worked here. Now would be a good time to barge in.

     “You need to come with me, Miss Sloane,” the officer barked as he held open the door waiting on Della to walk out of it. “Miss Sloane, if you don’t come willingly I will have to go against Mr. Kerrington’s wishes and arrest you right here on the club’s grounds.”

     What did he just say? Arrest? Mr. Kerrington? Woods wouldn’t do this. If he had he would have at least shown up and been a part of it. Besides, I was a good people reader and so was Jimmy. We both liked Della. Something was wrong.

     “What are you arresting her for? I sure as hell don’t believe Woods knows about this,” Jimmy demanded as he stood in front of Della as if to protect her. I loved him even more for that. She looked like she was about to faint.

     “Mr. Kerrington does know. He is who sent me in here to escort a Della Sloane out of the building and then arrest her once I had her in the parking lot. However, if she doesn’t come willingly I will arrest her and anyone who stands in my way.”

     Woods didn’t know. I didn’t believe him. Something was off.

     “It’s okay, Jimmy,” she said and stepped around him. I watched helplessly as she walked out the door.

      “You gotta find Woods,” Jimmy said, looking back at me.  “I don’t believe that. I think there’s more to this and I think all fingers point at the old man.”

     I nodded. I agreed. “I don’t have Woods’ number in my phone. It bugged Rush so I took it out,” I admitted, looking up at Jimmy sheepishly.

     Jimmy shook his head and grinned then took my phone from my hands and punched in Woods’ number. “Call him. If he doesn’t answer go hunt him down. I can’t help. I now have no help this shift and I gotta get my ass in gear.”

     I nodded and headed out the door to watch as Della was put in the cop car with way more force than was necessary.

     Woods’ phone went straight to voicemail. I tried it again but again just voicemail. Running down the hall, or more like waddling quickly, I went to his office and knocked but nothing. I tried opening it but it was locked tightly. Crap.

     I hurried outside as I dialed Rush’s phone. He would know what to do and Woods could very likely be with him. Just as my foot hit the stone walkway I felt a cramp followed by a gush of water between my legs. I froze.

     My water had just broken.

RUSH

 

    “You look good for a married guy,” Grant teased as I walked back to the cart to get my putter.

     “Of course I do. I’m married to Blaire. I’m the luckiest bastard on the planet,” I replied, not taking his bait. He wanted to get me fired up because Grant thought me getting angry was funny.

     “Blaire is smoking hot. Even nine months pregnant,” he drawled, leaning back and propping his legs up on the dash of the cart.

     “If you are wanting a fucking broken nose then keep it up, bro,” I snarled, glaring back at him.

     He began laughing and I knew he’d gotten what he wanted. I rolled my eyes. My phone started vibrating and ringing in my pocket. That was Blaire’s ring. I dropped my club and reached into my pocket to get the phone. She didn’t call me randomly. If she was calling then she needed me. I started walking to the cart waiting on her to answer.

     “Hey,” I said the moment she answered. She took a deep breath and I threw the cart in reverse and started speeding toward the clubhouse.

     “My water just broke,” she said trying to sound calm.

     “I’m on my way. Stay right there. Don’t move. Don’t drive. Just wait on me.”

     “I’m in the clubhouse parking lot. I was coming to find you when it happened,” I replied.

     “I’m almost there, baby, hang on. Less than a minute, I swear,” I assured her.

     She made a grunting noise then took a few deep breaths. “Okay,” she replied then hung up.

     “Shit,” I growled and wished to God the stupid cart went faster.

     “I’m gathering that she’s in labor,” Grant replied from the seat beside me.

     “Yeah,” I snapped. Not wanting to talk. I just needed to get to her faster.

     “I guess that means you don’t care that you just left your putter back there,” Grant replied.

     “Fuck no, I don’t care about the damn putter.”

      Grant crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay, just checking.”

     “I need you to take my phone. Get Abe’s number out of it and call him.”

      Grant grabbed my phone and did as I asked while I slammed the cart into park and took off running across the grass to the parking lot.

     Blaire was standing beside the Mercedes I’d bought her with one hand on the car and one hand on her stomach. She looked more relaxed than I imagined.

     “That was quick.” She smiled at me when her eyes met mine.

     “Are you okay?” I asked, wrapping my arm around her and walking her over to the passenger side.

     “I’m okay now. The cramping has eased up. But Rush, I shouldn’t get in this car. It’s brand new and I have... well... I’m wet,” she said, stumbling over her words.

     “I don’t give a rat’s ass about this car. Get in. I’m taking you to the hospital.”

     She let me help her in the car although I could see the reluctance on her face. She didn’t want to mess up her new car. I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I swear I’ll have it completely detailed inside before you get out of the hospital,” I assured her before closing the door.

     I ran around the front of the car and Grant was standing there with a nervous expression. “She okay?”

     “She’s in labor,” I stated the obvious and jerked the driver’s door open.

     “I called Abe. What else can I do?”

     “Call Dean. He’ll want to know,” I told him before closing the car door. I didn’t let myself think about the fact I wouldn’t be calling my mom or sister. There was no point. I couldn’t trust them around Blaire.

     “Do you think maybe you should call your mom? Or do you think she would rather not know?”

     I glanced over at her as I pulled out onto the road and sped to Destin where the nearest hospital was located. “I don’t want them being a part of this. They don’t deserve it,” I replied, then reached over and squeezed her hand. “This is our family now. Mine and yours. We decide who we let in it.”

     Blaire nodded and laid her head back on the headrest. I could tell she was having some pain from the scrunched look on her face even though she was keeping quiet about it.

     “How can I help?” I asked, anxious to do something to make this stop.

     “Drive,” she replied with a tight smile.

     She squeezed my hand and let out a deep sigh of relief. “That one’s over. They aren’t very long or close together so we are good on time,” she sounded breathless.

     She squeezed down on my hand again. “Rush!”

     I almost swerved off the road. “What baby? Are you okay?” My heart was slamming against my chest.

     “I forgot about Della. You have to call Woods. He needs to know that the cops came and got Della.”

     Who the fuck was Della? Was she hallucinating? “Baby, I don’t know a Della,” I replied carefully in case this hallucinating thing could make her crazy. I hadn’t read about this in any of those books she’d kept by the bed.

     “Della is who Woods is dating. Jimmy thinks they’re boinking. She was really sweet and I liked her. She looked so scared. Woods needs to help her.”

     She had been at the club to visit Jimmy. That’s why she was there. Not because she had been in labor. This was making sense now. “Grant has my phone. Where’s yours?” If this didn’t mean so much to her I wouldn’t be worried about Woods’ love life and his so-called girlfriend being hauled in by the cops. Because that shit didn’t sound promising and I didn’t want Blaire around someone dangerous. But she didn’t need anymore stress so I’d do whatever I could to make her feel better.

     “He isn’t answering his phone. It goes straight to voicemail. Who else can we call?” she asked.

     I reached for her phone and dialed Grant.

     “I called Dean and he’s grabbing the next flight out,” was Grant’s greeting.

     “Thanks. Listen, Woods isn’t answering his phone. Call his dad. Tell him that Della,” I paused and looked at Blaire who nodded that I’d gotten the name right, “Della was arrested and she needs help.”

   “FUCK! When was Della arrested? What the hell happened?” Grant roared in my ear. Guess he knew who Della was.

     “I don’t know. My wife is in labor. Just call his dad. He can find him. I gotta go.”

     “I’ll tell him,” Grant replied and I hung up.

     “Woods’ Dad will know how to reach him,” I assured Blaire. She was frowning.

     “I don’t know about that but maybe I misunderstood.” She stopped talking and squeezed my hand again. Another contraction.

BLAIRE

     I was scared of needles. I’d decided months ago that I wouldn’t be getting a long needle stuck down my back. At the moment, I was thinking that might have been a bad decision. Because I felt like my insides were being sliced open.

    It didn’t help that every time I needed to scream Rush completely freaked out. He needed to calm the fuck down.  I had to scream to deal with this. Never again would I moan over menstrual cramps. Those were a walk in the park compared to this.

     Another wave hit me and I grabbed handfuls of the sheets and let out another cry of pain. The last time the nurse checked I was seven centimeters dilated. I needed to get to ten, dammit.

     “Do I need to go get the nurse? Can I get you some ice? Do you want to squeeze my hand?” Rush kept asking me questions. I knew he meant well but at the moment I didn’t care. I reached up and grabbed his tee shirt and jerked his face down to mine.

     “Be glad I don’t have my gun because right now I’m considering the different ways I can get you to shut up. Let me scream and back off,” I snapped at him and grabbed my stomach as another contraction hit.

     “Time to check you again,” the bubbly nurse with bright red hair pulled back in pigtails said as she all but bounced into the room. She needed to be glad I didn’t have my gun too. Because she’d be next on my list.

     I closed my eyes hoping I didn’t have a contraction while she was down there because I might kick her in the face.

     “Oh! We’re sitting on ten and ready to roll. Let me get the doctor in here. Don’t push,” she told me yet again. I’d been told not to push for the past hour. All my body wanted to do was push. The doctor needed to hurry his ass up.

     Rush was being abnormally silent. I glanced up at him and his face reminded me of a little boy’s at the moment. He looked scared and nervous. I felt bad for yelling at him but the feeling didn’t last when another contraction hit me and this time it was worse. I hadn’t realized it could get worse.

     The balding doctor walked in and beamed at me like this was a good thing. “Time to get that little guy out of there and into the world.” He sounded as jolly as my nurse. Bastard.

    “You can either come down here and watch, as long as you aren’t queasy or you can stay up there with her while she pushes,” the doctor told Rush.

     Rush stepped up to my head and reached down and took my hand in his. “I’ll stay with her,” he said and squeezed my hand gently.

     The encouragement made me want to cry. He’d been trying so hard to make things easier on me and I had threatened to shoot him. I was an awful wife. I sniffed and he was instantly beside me. “Don’t cry. It’s okay. You can do this,” he said, looking determined and ready to go into battle.

    “I was mean. I’m sorry,” I choked out.

     He grinned and kissed my head. “You’re in a helluva lot of pain and if it makes you feel better to hit me I’d let you at me.”

     I wanted to kiss him but then another contraction hit me.

     “Push!” the doctor ordered and I did as I was told.

     Several curse words and pushes later I heard the most beautiful sound in the world. A cry. My baby’s cry.

RUSH

 

     He was perfect. I counted all ten toes and fingers while Blaire kissed each one. He was also so damn tiny. I hadn’t realized babies were so little.

     “We have to decide on a name now,” Blaire said, looking up at me after she finally managed to get our son to latch on and nurse.

     We had thrown around several ideas over the past three months but nothing had seemed right. Blaire had said it was hard to name someone you’d never seen so we agreed to wait until he was born to name him.

     “I know. We’ve seen him now. We need to give him a name. What are you thinking?” I asked her hoping to God she didn’t suggest Abraham Dean again. I loved my dad but I wasn’t naming my kid after him.

   “I think he looks like a Colton,” she said, smiling down at him. I wasn’t a fan of that name.

     “You still against River?” I asked.

     She smiled up at me. “I want to put Rush in his name but if we name him River we can’t. River Rush or Rush River sounds silly.”

     I’d forgotten she was trying to use my name too. I wasn’t going to argue with her. I liked the idea of my son having my name. “What about Cash? Cash Rush!” I teased and she bit down on her lip to keep from giggling and scaring him.

     “What about Nathan we could call him Nate?” she asked. He stopped sucking and let go to look up at her as if she’d called his name. I guess we’d come to a decision.

     “Nathan Rush Finlay has a good ring to it,” I agreed.

     She beamed up at me happily and bent her head down to kiss his nose. “Hello Nate. Welcome to the world.”

     I wanted to hold him but he looked like he had decided to go to sleep instead of socializing. Blaire lifted him up and laid him on her shoulder and patted his back softly. I stood there and watched in amazement. This was mine. My family. And they were perfect.

     When Blaire was satisfied with her attempt at burping him she wrapped him up tightly in his blanket and looked over at me. “It’s your turn, Daddy. I need to rest. My eyes feel heavy.”

     I reached for him and took my son from his mother’s arms. Holding him up close against my chest I inhaled his sweet baby smell. “Come on little guy. Let’s go get comfortable over there and see if we can’t find some basketball to watch on television.”

     Nate slept contentedly in my arms and Blaire had gone to sleep pretty quickly after she handed him over to me. I could stay in this room with these two like this forever. Just having them close to me and knowing they were safe made everything okay.

    A soft knock at the door broke into my thoughts. I turned to see the door ease open and several blue balloons enter before I saw Bethy’s head behind them. She’d stayed out as long as she could.

    “Okay, Dad, I realize you’re enjoying yourself but you have to share. Both grandfathers are in the waiting room waiting patiently,” she whispered after glancing over to see Blaire sleeping.

     “I don’t want to disturb Blaire. She’s exhausted. I’ll bring the baby to the nursery window. Have everyone meet me there.”

     Bethy looked over at the baby longingly. I knew she wanted to hold him but I wasn’t ready yet. I wasn’t so sure she wouldn’t drop him. I wasn’t so sure I could trust anyone to hold him. Snuggling him closer against me I wondered how the hell I was supposed to just let people come to my house and hold my kid.

     “The nurse said y’all named him Nathan Rush. I like it,” she said.

     “We’re gonna call him Nate.”

     She nodded and then headed back out to tell everyone where to go. I didn’t mind showing them Nate through the safety of a window but I wasn’t going to let them all breathe on him and touch him. Too many germs.  He was too little for that shit. He needed some more meat on him before he had to deal with germs.

     I stepped into the nursery and checked in with a nurse. I explained that I was there to show the baby to family members through the glass. When she turned and saw Dean standing at the window her mouth dropped open.

     “Ohmygod. The Finlay baby is related to Dean Finlay? Slacker Demon’s Dean Finlay?”

     I nodded. “Yeah. It’s his grandson and I really need to show Nate here to his grandfather.”

     She hurried to make a path for me and followed me to the window so she could gape at my dad. Dean, however, was completely focused on Nate. He held up his thumb and winked at me. Abe had tears in his eyes and nodded his head. Grant was right there beside my dad grinning at Nate. Bethy was was gushing over my boy and Jace was nodding his head in agreement.

     Jimmy pushed his way through the crowd to get a look at him and put his hand on his hips and beamed at Nate. Then he looked at me and gave me the nod of approval. This was our extended family. We might not have siblings or mothers here with us but we had people who loved us and who would love Nate.

     “Do you think I could get Dean’s autograph?” the nurse asked from beside me.

     “Go on out there and ask him. You’re catching him in a really good mood,” I told her before turning and taking Nate back to his momma.