Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Grace dragged her suitcase behind her into the house and dropped her keys on the table in the foyer.
She was finally home. The flight back had been smooth and without incident.
She ignored the gazillion texts and messages that her family had been leaving for her, popping off a single text to Aunt Betty that she was fine and to spread the word.
Grace was too tired to deal with visitors.
Her bed was calling and she planned to sleep like a baby for the remainder of her time off.
A week later, when the wine was gone, and her books were read, she was standing at her office window staring at Sam’s dark office across the street.
She hadn’t heard from him. She didn’t even know if he’d returned or if they’d found any complications.
Heck, she didn’t even have a way to get ahold of his family to find out how he was doing.
An empty feeling settled into the pit of her stomach.
The phone on her desk rang, pulling her from her thoughts. She answered it.
“This is Grace.”
“Tell me you learned all of his secrets,” Grace’s best friend, Chloe, cooed into the phone.
“Hardly, but I’m pretty sure I learned everything not to do on a wedding date if that helps.”
“So, how was it? How was he? Minus the whole getting shot thing and murder plot?”
“Someone in my family has a big mouth.”
“Of course they do. I might have run into your aunt, and she spilled the beans. I’m surprised you didn’t call me.”
“Sorry. I’ve been busy.” Busy doing nothing but avoiding having to answer questions that she still hadn’t figured out.
Chloe laughed. “Do you still think he’s awful?”
“The worst, if you mean as in a sexy, good-looking guy that has an exceptional personality, along with stamina.”
“Men with stamina are keepers,” Quinn said as she entered the office, holding her palm over her pregnant belly.
“Listen, Chloe. I’ve got to go. Quinn is eavesdropping again.”
“No problem. I’ll just be here, trying to figure out how in the hell I’m going to pay my bills and save my company.”
“I’ll help you figure it out, but I’ve got to go. Quinn is making a weird scrunching face while holding her belly.”
“Oww.” Quinn let out an earth-shattering screech and took several Lamaze-type breaths. “Fuck me,” she said between pants. “Get my ass to a hospital before this child splits me in two.”
Grace slammed down the office phone, took Quinn by the arm, and led her out of the office. “Don’t be breaking your water all over my office. Find a cork and plug that sucker up.”
Grace called out through the office to anyone in hearing distance. “Someone find my sisters and tell them Quinn’s cuss marathon has begun and to call Collin. He had a hand in making her this way. It’s only fair he should have to deal with the repercussions.”
“Fuck you. Owwww.” She screamed again as the elevator doors opened.
“Just breathe, Quinn.”
“Bite me.” Quinn held on to the elevator railing as they descended, and Grace fired off a group text to Collin and the entire family, not trusting that anyone heard her demands over Quinn’s outburst of pain.
The elevator dinged, and Cara stood outside the door, a puddle of water at her feet as she held her stomach. This was not happening. Not both sisters at once. Was this karma or payback? “Not you too?”
Cara nodded and started breathing in quick short bursts.
The security guard’s eyes bulged as he hurried to the front door, holding it open for them to pass.
Grace unlocked her car and eased both sisters in before climbing behind the wheel and peeling off down the street. There was no way in hell they were having these babies all over her leather seats.
“We’re not going to make it,” Quinn screamed. “I need drugs. God, someone give me drugs.”
“Keep your legs crossed and just breathe, Quinn,” Grace demanded.
“If you say that one more time, so help me…”
“Here, squeeze my hand,” Cara offered, and the panting continued. Grace started doing it with them, all the way to the hospital, to appease them and stall the next contraction.
“We’re here.” Grace skidded to a halt outside the hospital’s ER.
She ran inside and yelled for help before returning to help both sisters out of the car.
When they were settled in wheelchairs and being hauled away, Grace moved her car into a parking spot before sending another text that Cara was also in labor and that they were all at the hospital.
God help the hospital staff when all the Thatcher’s and their spouses converged.
Aunt Betty alone was enough to scare off doctors, but throw in a hit man, an ex-FBI agent, and a high-strung Highlander, and the nurses would either be drooling at how good looking the guys were, or would be ready to throw them out when they realized that the Thatcher husbands, combined, had the patience of a toddler being told no while dangling candy in front of him.
Shit was about to get real. Their temperaments were already combustible and explosive. Hide the oxygen tanks and sharp objects. This was going down like the Hindenburg.
Grace stood outside the hospital and debated running away instead of going inside. They knew she was here. There was no escape, no way to play ignorant. Grace walked inside and followed the signs to the maternity ward.
“Cockanoodlemonkeylovingsonofamother.”
Grace smiled, hearing Quinn’s cussing from down the hall. The new obscenities she was screaming would never be added to dictionaries. She was going to have to record this for future blackmail. Grace stopped at the nurses’ desk.
“Which rooms are the Thatcher sisters in?”
“202 and 203.”
Great. Right next to each other. “Thanks.”
Grace went back and forth from Quinn’s room to Cara’s, trying her best to give her sisters moral support until Collin and Coop arrived to take over.
When she pulled out her phone, to record the moment with her video, she had to dodge water bottles and sharp objects that were being thrown at her head.
Within thirty minutes, Grace was drained of energy, minus feeling in some of her fingers, and had a possible busted eardrum, thanks to a contraction hitting Quinn while Grace was near the bed.
Collin and Coop showed up, passing Grace in the hall. “They’re both at six centimeters. Keep the sharp objects out of reach and take some earplugs. You’re going to need them,” she said, wiping the sweat from her brow. “You two owe me…big….huge.”
Collin lifted Grace into a hug and swung her around. “That I do, lass.”
“Put me down and go deal with Quinn. God knows the nurses need you in there as a new target.”
“Coop, Cara’s in the room next door. I’m going to get a coffee and collapse.”
“Thanks, Grace.” Coop kissed her cheek in passing.
Sam leaned against the limo door outside the hospital and debated going inside after just missing Grace as she was leaving her office building with her two very pregnant sisters holding their bellies and doing that crazy Lamaze breathing.
He knew exactly where Grace was headed, and the joy and panic that would consume her.
“Are you just going to stand there all day, Sam, or are you going to go upstairs to get a glimpse at how your life is about to change?” a woman said from behind him.
Sam turned to find an older woman with orange spiked hair grinning at him. The shirt she wore read, “Great Aunts are Hot.”
“Excuse me? I’m sorry, do I know you?”
“You can call me Aunt Betty. That’s what Grace calls me.”
“Oh.” He nodded slowly in understanding. She was the woman who had foretold their danger at the wedding. “Right. You’re the Aunt Betty with the visions.”
“One and the same. There’s no need to thank me. Maybe just make an altar with my picture as the centerpiece.” She entwined their arms together before glancing at the limo driver. “He’ll be down in ten with company, so park it, good looking.”
“I should probably just leave,” he said as she started dragging him inside.
“Nonsense. She’s waited long enough to hear from you. You’re about to lose your window of opportunity, and we both know you don’t want that.”
“I’m sure she’s busy,” Sam said, digging in his heels to make Betty stop.
“Listen, sonny. You have free will, but she does too, and her will is almost ready to knock yours on its ass. So, suck it up and be the man she thinks you are. You promised her a date, and you’re the dating king, so give her one that she’ll compare all others against.”
“See, now that I can do,” Sam said, straightening his shirt. “Thanks.” He’d turned to walk away when Betty grabbed his arm, stopping his retreat.
“Oh, and one more thing.”
Sam raised his brow.
“Don’t order any wine or champagne. She can’t drink.”
Sam crossed his arms over his chest. “Why can’t she drink?”
“Because you knocked her up.”
“She said she was on the pill.”
“She’s one of the two-percenters. Congratulations, dad; you’re having a girl. I expect her to be named after me.”
Sam’s mouth parted, and he stood frozen in place as he watched the crazy woman walk away. Sarah’s deceit with the condom had screwed them both. “Fuck me,” he said to himself, earning him some horrendous stares from women entering the hospital.
“She already did,” Betty hollered out.
Sam spun on his heels, intent on heading back to the car while letting Betty’s words consume his thoughts.
His mind raced, trying to figure out exactly how he was supposed to process that news.
It wasn’t as if he’d never wanted to get married or have kids, but a baby with Grace, after everything they’d been through?
And she didn’t even know it yet. Maybe Betty was mistaken.
Maybe it was a ruse to get him off his ass where Grace was concerned.
Would she even believe him if he told her, or would she think the baby was the only reason he wanted to be with her?
Sam shook his head and slowed to a stop. He glanced back at the hospital entrances and spun around. He’d never walk away and leave her to deal with this on her own. He’d headed back for the hospital door when he spotted Betty leaning against a post watching him. He stomped toward her.
“I’ve only known her a week. What the hell am I supposed to do with that information?”
“You knew the minute she entered your office.” Betty rested her palm over Sam’s heart. “And you know her in here.”
“And Grace? If she knows that you told me about the baby, she’ll think that is the only reason I’m with her.”
“She’s already fallen for you, Stone. So, man up.”
He let her words sink in as he stepped around her and headed into the hospital.
“Second floor. Just follow the smell of coffee,” she hollered out.
Sam got on the elevator and rode it up to the second floor.
With each passing floor, his determination grew.
He could do this. He could convince her.
Sam stepped off the elevator and pulled out his phone.
Ducking into one of the empty hospital rooms, he made a call to his attorney and ordered the paperwork to be ready by the time he arrived.
Sam stepped out of the room, and the aroma of coffee drifted to his nose making him smile. He turned in the same direction and followed as it got stronger. He found Grace in an alcove behind the nurses’ station pouring a cup of coffee.
“I’m not sure that’s good for the baby.”
Grace raised her brow and slowly put the coffee pot back. She lifted the black coffee to her lips. “Good thing it’s not my boobs those screamers will be dining on.”
“Yet,” he amended. “How are your sisters?”
“Better.” Grace grinned. “The drugs kicked in, and the babies are beautiful and loud, just like their mommas.” Grace set her coffee down and led him toward the nursery. “How did you know I was here?”
“I saw you leave your office with your sisters. Call it a gut feeling.” He turned to look at the babies in the soundproof nursery.
Baby Menzies had a head full of red hair and was swaddled in a pink blanket covered with elephants.
“Wow. Quinn is going to have a handful.” He glanced to the only blonde baby swaddled in a pink blanket.
“Wow, they both had girls. They’re both going to have their hands full. ”
“I know. Isn’t it great?” Grace smiled and gestured to the bandage peeking out from beneath his shirt. “You look better. I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Not quite,” he said and stepped toward her. He cupped her cheek and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “I need your help.”
“Again? So soon?” she asked, pulling his lips back to hers. She kissed him again, only this time in a proper hello-I’ve-missed-the-shit-out-of-you kiss.
“Yeah, I’ll explain on the way, but I need you to come with me.”
“Where to?” Her brows dipped.
“Answer me one thing first.”
She raised her brow in question.
“Do I still give you those butterflies when you see me from across the room?”
Grace’s lips twitched into a smile, but she didn’t answer.
“Do you crave my touch?”
No answer, just a twinkle in her eyes.
He repeated her wish list from the first day she’d walked into his office.
“I’m tall with dark hair and successful.
Not to mention secure enough within myself to date an attractive, successful woman.
I’m good in bed, passionate, romantic. I have a muscular body, and I’m smart. I think I qualify for your wish list.”
“You left out adventurous and open-minded with my career choice.”
“I think we both know that I believe in you, and I’m open to adventure.”
“Your point?” she asked, as if unsure where he was headed with his questioning.
“You saved my life. You saved my brother from a loveless marriage, and his life too. You’re beautiful and stunning and amazing, and I can’t help you find a date. Not when I want to keep you for myself.”
She smiled up at him and patted his chest. “I already told you I’d date you.”
He shook his head. “It’s more complicated than that.”
“I don’t understand,” she said, dropping her hand from his chest.
He picked it back up and held it over his heart. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course.” She smiled.
“Good. We have some things to iron out. Come with me.”