Care and Comfort (Secret Springs: Healing Hands #2)

Chapter 1

Chapter

One

“Laird! The baby can’t be coming now!” his sister, Mhairi, wailed. “It’s Valentine’s Day, and Jason is stuck on the other side of Vail Pass!”

“He was putting on chains when he called. He’ll be here.” He eased Mhairi out of his big pickup truck, careful not to let her slip. The parking lot was icy, even if someone had cleared the walk and laid down ash on it.

She was huge and actively giving birth right now.

The birthing center was lit up with pink and red fairy lights surrounding the windows, happy-looking Valentine’s hearts with names scribbled in them all on the windows. It was nauseating.

Still, it was welcoming, he supposed. Even if it was way more like a house than the sterile hospital that he would much prefer his sister be giving birth in right now.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Mhairi? This seems…specious.”

Mhairi looked at him. “This is the highest-rated birthing center on the Western Slope. Do not fuck with me.”

“That is Jason’s job. I just think maybe we should go to a hospital.”

She whacked him hard on the arm. “Just get me into the damn birthing center, you asshole!”

The door to the birthing center opened, and he got a smile from the mousy little guy standing there. “Mhairi, happy Valentine’s Day. Come on in. How’s it going?”

“How do you think it’s going? She’s having a baby, and her husband isn’t here. This is…just like a big house. How can this place possibly be clean?”

Laird just didn’t understand. There were paper hearts plastered everywhere, wallpaper and soft couches, and this was not an appropriate place to have a baby.

It was not a hospital.

“Laird, I swear to God, by all I hold holy, I’m going to beat you to death with your own arm.”

Mr. Mousy smiled, the expression pure milquetoast. “Mhairi, it sounds like you’re having some pain. How about we get you all set up in a room, and maybe you can get in the tub? That’ll really help.”

In a tub. Oh God. He was gonna barf.

“Yes. Please. And don’t mind my jerk of a brother, Devon. He’s a fireman and an EMT, and he thinks he knows better than me. The pregnant lady.”

“Devon” just kept on smiling serenely. “Once I get you settled I’ll be happy to talk to him about the center and about my qualifications.” Devon took Mhairi’s arm and led her inside, where it was warm but not hot, and the reception center, he had to admit, was spotless, if…cottagecore.

“You’re so good to me. I can’t believe that my husband is not here. He’s stuck in Denver and there’s this fucking snowstorm and I don’t—”

Devon nodded to her as she rattled on, listening—at least it seemed like it—and then Devon smiled. “No matter what, we’re going to make this the best experience we can, given the circumstances. And at the end, you’re going to have a beautiful little girl, and that’s the important part.”

Laird thought the most important parts were the whole “no germs” part and the having Mhairi’s husband there so that he didn’t have to watch his sister’s inside parts.

Because, although he had delivered a baby, it was not his favorite thing on earth.

She sniffled. “I believe you, and Jason has chains on his truck, and he’s coming home. Carefully.”

“Well, there you go. This will be your room.” Devon turned to raise an eyebrow at him. “Would you like to inspect it, er…”

“Laird,” he forced out from between gritted teeth.

Devon arched one eyebrow and then smiled, the look blissful, and it kind of made him want to just punch the little bastard. He didn’t need this. “Well, come on in. I’m giving you the pink room.”

“Is it because she’s having a girl?” Because that was backward as fuck.

“No, it’s because it has the best tub, and I don’t have anyone else in today, so you don’t have to worry about the blue or the green room.” That was a “humor the lunatic” voice. He knew it well. His partner on the bus, Nick, used it a lot.

What the fuck ever.

He looked around the room, and Laird had to admit it was clean and cozy.

There was a bed that was done up to hide that it was a hospital bed.

A weird-looking sofa with wedges and cutouts.

A huge ball, a chair that was just a C. Even a pink rope hanging from the ceiling.

The wallpaper had roses, there wasn’t a ton of medical equipment, and in the back of the room was a huge whirlpool bathtub.

In baby pink.

“You have a pink bathtub.”

Devon nodded. “I do.”

“Why do you have a pink bathtub?”

“Why the fuck do you care?” Mhairi snarled. “Can you make him go away? I just want to sit here for a minute and breathe.”

“I tell you what. Why don’t you sit here for a minute and breathe?

” Devon helped her sit on the weird sofa.

“Your brother and I can go out and talk for a second, and when we get back, I’ll check you out.

We’ll take all the baby’s vitals and everything, and then we’ll talk about getting in the tub.

Do you want me to start warming the water? Your brother and I won’t be long.”

“Please, I would love to have a bath—not hot, warm. Can I have some orange juice or pineapple juice or something?”

Devon’s eyes lit up. “I have pineapple orange. Would you like that?”

Mhairi began to cry. “You’re a miracle worker.”

Laird couldn’t believe this. She wasn’t serious. He’d come as soon as Mhairi had called. He’d dealt with tears and a hysterical sister, and he’d been on a three-day shift. He was exhausted.

Somehow, the weird midwife guy was the miracle worker.

It wasn’t fair, and it pissed him right the hell off.

“I’ll be right back, sweetie.” Devon gave him a look, the first one that he’d seen since he’d been there that wasn’t completely serene and annoying. He led him out of the birthing room, closing the door gently behind them.

Then the guy gave him a hard stare. “Look, I can understand that you’ve never been here before, you don’t really understand our methods, and you’re very suspicious.

It seems that you’re probably that way by nature.

But Mhairi needs to know that she’s in good hands, which she is.

And that whatever she wants is what goes.

So I’m going to need you to step back and let me do my job. ”

“She needs to be at a hospital. You have a pink bathtub.” Laird growled the words because he was absolutely going to lose his shit any minute. His eyes felt gritty, his whole body ached, and he was so tired that even his hair hurt. He didn’t have time for this bullshit.

“I also have a green one and a blue one.” Devon took a deep breath as if he was calming himself, even though his voice never went up. “I am a registered nurse. I am a certified midwife, and I have a graduate-level degree in midwife services. I believe Mhairi said you were a fireman and an EMT?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, wanting to growl some more, but instead he just took a deep breath himself and answered, “Yes, that is exactly what I am, and I can tell you that I don’t feel like this is a good situation for her to have her baby.”

“And what would be a good situation for you? An overcrowded hospital ward in Montrose? They do their best there, but they’re not exactly spacious.”

“I just don’t want her sitting around bleeding to death or something while some quack—”

Fire lit up Devon’s hazel eyes, the gold taking over from the green, and the man poked him right in the middle of his chest with a very sharp, pointy finger.

“I am not a quack. I have delivered hundreds of babies. People come from all over the state to give birth in my birthing center. How many babies have you delivered?”

“Three. I’ve delivered three, one of them in the back of a bus.”

“I’ve delivered three this week so far, so don’t mess with me.

If you cannot be decent, I’m not going to let you back in there with her, because she’s already upset, mostly at you.

But a lot of it is that her husband is not here yet.

You’re here to support her, not to make her feel worse.

” That finger hit his chest over and over again, boink boink boink.

Laird stared down at the guy who was damn near a head shorter than him and thought about just picking him up and shaking him.

But at the same time, Devon had a point. He was supposed to be here for Mhairi, not to be a grumpy bastard and make her experience giving birth to her first child a shitty one.

“Fine.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “But I’ll have my eye on you. You step out of line in any way that I feel is dangerous to her or the baby, and I’m whisking her ass out of here so fast that you won’t even be able to blink.”

“Perfect!” Serene man was back, and the finger was withdrawn from his chest. “Now, I’m going to go help her get undressed, and I’m going to check all of her vitals and the baby’s.

Then we’re going to get her in the tub, and you’re going to smile at her and say, ‘Yes, sister dear,’ to anything she asks of you. Do you understand?”

He let himself arch an eyebrow but he didn’t respond, and he didn’t shake the little bastard, either.

He was here for Mhairi, that was it.

Just here for Mhairi.

It was time to have a baby.