FORTY-NINE
BLAIR
Baby is entirely too big and needs to get out!
In a surprising turn of events, Bailey starts to hover.
I’m all for having her around, because I’m a huge fan of how she doesn’t mind me being a little moody right now, and because she reminds me a lot of Colt without Colt’s incessant worrying—which has only gotten worse as the days pass—but it still surprises me given what she’s hinted at about her past.
Yesterday, we mostly just stayed in the cabin and watched movies and gorged on snacks, but that just led to me having gas pains off and on today.
Today, she offered to walk around the ranch with me to see if that would move things along. There’s snow on the ground, but I try to ignore my anxiety, telling myself it’s okay because at least there isn’t any falling from the sky.
Unfortunately, the universe decides that my newfound phobia is funny, and snow does indeed start falling from the sky.
At first, I try my best to play it cool, but Bailey’s probably just as observant as I am, so she leads me into the barn I had my last panic attack in to take cover. Tradition and all that .
“What are you doing here?” she asks, stopping short before I can even follow her inside.
I gently push at her back to try and get her to at least move forward enough that I can get in and sit down as she yells at whoever’s ticked her off now.
My stomach is killing me for eating that entire quart of ice cream last night.
“One of the mares has some sort of lameness. Your brother called me out.”
“Which one?” she asks through gritted teeth that make me think one of the Whittaker sons is really in for the lecture of his life tonight.
Cartwright, as Colt called him at the bar, looks at Bailey like she’s insane, but he finds it cute. “Chesney.”
Bailey huffs. “No, which brother? ”
“Oh,” he says with a grin that gives me the feeling he’d known what she meant the first time. “Maddox, of course.”
I let out a sigh of relief as the pain in my stomach finally goes away. When I look up, Cartwright’s looking at me with uncertainty in his eyes. He passes Bailey to come over, sticking his hand out. “I’m Chase.”
“Blair,” I offer in return, feeling like I should definitely know who this is, but I don’t. I remember him from Quitter’s, but that’s about it.
“She’s Colt’s girl,” Bailey feels the need to tell him, smacking his hand away from mine. “So keep your hands to yourself.”
Chase snorts. “What if I want my hands somewhere else, honey?” he coos, reaching out for her instead. My lip curls. I’m not sure I should be here for this.
She takes a step back again.
“I told you to stop calling me that!” she seethes.
“Do you guys want me to leave?”
“No,” they say in unison, Bailey’s voice firm and irritated while Chase’s sounds more amused than anything else.
“You used to love it when I called you honey, honey.”
Bailey gives him a sarcastic smile. “I used to love a lot of things five years ago, Chase. ”
I pull out my phone to check the weather app. Surely, the snow will stop soon, right? I want to go back home and lie in bed for a bit. Or try to go to the bathroom, maybe. I’m not feeling the greatest and I think that might help.
My phone hits the hay-covered floor as another pain takes over and I grab my stomach, screwing my eyes shut while I promise to anyone listening that I will never, ever eat so much dairy in one night ever again. Chase and Bailey’s bickering fades to background noise.
It passes after a minute or so, and I’m about to stand up to interrupt Bailey and let her know I’m going home, but when I open my eyes, I realize they’ve stopped arguing and are both looking at me with wide eyes instead.
“What?”
“You’re in labor,” Bailey whispers, face pale.
I snort. “I wish. I’m so tired of being pregnant, it’s ridiculous. But no, I think the ice cream from last night has finally caught up to me.”
Chase’s eyes dart between mine and my stomach before looking over at Bailey.
“Call Colt,” he says as he walks over. “You had another pain like this about five minutes ago, when you and Bailey first walked into the barn, didn’t you? And it lasted just about the same amount of time?”
“Yeah, but I’ve been having them all day. If this was labor, I think it’d be a lot worse than this.”
“Oh, it will be,” he agrees. “But I’m almost 98% sure it’s labor. Can you stand up? Regardless of what it is, I think we need to get Colt here.”
I hear Bailey on the phone with him in the background.
“Bailey, leave him alone, he’s going to get all worried over nothing.”
Neither of them listens to me. I take a step toward Bailey and promptly pee my pants… I think? Bailey gasps and I look down, watching the fabric of my pants darken. What the hell was that ?
Actually, I think I know what the hell it was, but I’m really, really scared that my suspicions may be correct. If my water just broke, that meant…
“No,” I’m quick to say, but Bailey’s hanging up the phone and rushing over to pull me into a hug that I don’t want, because I feel wet and gross and… sweaty? It’s snowing, I don’t know why I’d feel sweaty.
“Text Colt and tell him to bring her a change of clothes.”
“He’s already on his way, he’s not going to stop by their house.”
“The hospital bag,” I’m coherent enough to say. Everything’s happening very, very fast all of a sudden and yet no one is as concerned as I am that it’s snowing.
“He said he’s been keeping it in his truck.”
That didn’t really make sense, considering some of the things we needed to pack were sort of last minute, like charging cords and toothbrushes and such, but I didn’t press. I had bigger issues to worry about. It’s snowing .
Colt pulls up to the barn in a moment of déjà vu, pushing inside with the most simultaneously worried and excited face. I hate to be the one to let him down, but, “I’m not going anywhere. It’s snowing.”
His face falls slightly.
“Baby, we have to go to the hospital. Your water just broke. The baby’s coming.”
“It’s snowing,” I insist, my bottom lip wobbling as reality starts to hit me. Every bad thing that’s ever happened to me, happened on a day it was raining. Snow is just rain adjacent. Being in a car while it’s coming down is a recipe for disaster, just like it was for my parents.
Colt sighs, reaching up to hold my face in his hands.
“Listen to me, Blair. Nothing bad is going to happen. We have to get to the hospital. It’s barely snowing. The roads are safe. The sooner we leave, the more time I have to get you there and the slower I can drive. ”
I’m about to argue with him further when another pain hits. Now that I know they’re contractions, I’m not sure how I ever mistook them for gas pain. Colt tries to pull me toward the truck, but I keep my feet planted, my nails digging into his jacket.
“Just give her a minute. It won’t last long,” I hear Chase telling him.
After the pain passes, I can open my eyes and breathe again and Colt’s worried face is the first thing I see.
“Blair, please don’t fight me on this. Please let me get you to the hospital. If we stay here, there’s a much larger chance something can go wrong.”
“He’s a vet,” I say, pointing at Chase and offering him a view of my vagina as though I didn’t just meet him.
“And you’re not a cow, a horse, a pig, or a goat, so I wouldn’t be much help, I fear,” Chase interjects.
My throat feels thick as I look back at Colt.
“It’s snowing,” I tell him one more time, voice breaking because we both know how this is going to end up.
“I know it is, pretty girl,” he says, pushing my hair out of my face. “But you’re so brave. Chase and Bailey will ride with us. More eyes on the road means more safety, right?”
If Chase or Bailey feels like this is a ridiculous request, neither of them says it. Finally, with a sniffle, I nod.
“Okay.”