Chapter 13
13
B ree started to ask where Kade was when her OB told her it was time to push. “How? This is fast.”
“Your baby is coming,” Dr. Rosa Perez said, her voice calm. “You made it here in time, but this little one is done waiting.”
Grabbing both knees, Bree pushed through the next contraction. There’d been no time for the epidural she’d planned on having. As it turned out, babies made their own plans.
Puuuuuush . Puuuuush . Puuuuuush .
“Here comes the head,” Dr. Perez said. “You’re doing great. Keep pushing.”
Bree wasn’t sure she had anything left, considering the pain had been relentless. Digging deep, she repeated the nurse’s instructions several times before her baby appeared.
“Would you like to meet your daughter?” Dr. Perez asked.
“A girl?” Bree asked, tears pricking the backs of her eyes. She’d only cared about having a healthy child. Nothing was more important. So, she hadn’t let herself get attached to having a boy or girl.
And yet…
“Yes,” she said before the baby was wrapped and placed on her chest. This little angel was perfect.
The doctor finished in a matter of minutes as Bree noticed the little girl’s breathing was unsteady. Was that normal?
She summoned a nurse to come closer and take a look. The nurse almost immediately took the little bundle. “We’re going to check her weight and other vitals.”
“Is she okay?” Bree asked as panic mounted.
“We’ll do a full exam and return her as soon as possible,” the nurse said. The name sewn onto her scrubs was Michelle.
Bree took note of the fact Michelle had dodged a direct answer to her question. “Someone drove me here. A man.”
“I’ll check on him,” Dr. Perez said after announcing she’d finished.
Bree’s legs were out of the stirrups now, and the rest of the bed appeared to support her legs.
“Let’s get you to your room first, where you’ll be more comfortable,” Dr. Perez said.
“What about my baby?” Bree asked as more of that panic gripped her.
“Michelle is going to take her to NICU so she can be warmed up,” Dr. Perez said after a quick huddle with the nurse. “Does baby have a name?”
“No, not yet,” Bree said. She’d been planning to wait until she could run ideas past Zeke. A little voice reminded her that she’d been dragging her feet for a totally different reason. She’d been desperate to tell Kade that he was going to be a father. Bree could let other people assume Zeke was the father of her child, but she couldn’t outright lie to the baby and had been holding off because she’d been hoping to write Kade’s name on the birth certificate instead of Zeke’s, despite his protests.
She’d left their last conversation with, I’ll think about it and let you know.
Zeke! An ache formed in her chest. Her best friend would have loved to have been by her side while she’d delivered her daughter.
Dr. Perez pulled up a stool and sat next to Bree. The doctor smiled. “Your daughter is seven pounds, seven ounces. Congratulations, Bree.”
“Thank you,” she said, waiting for the “but” because there always seemed to be one after good news.
“The nurses are taking her to NICU because she needs more time to regulate her breathing,” Dr. Perez said. Her bedside manner always had a calming effect on Bree. Not this time. Not while a team of nurses surrounded her minutes-old baby.
“Will she be okay?” The words rushed out of Bree’s mouth.
“There’s every reason to believe she will,” Dr. Perez reassured. “This hospital has an amazing unit.”
An orderly knocked on the door before entering. He motioned for Dr. Perez to meet him.
“I’ll be right back,” she said before standing up and meeting him halfway across the room.
The two whispered. The orderly stepped out. The doctor returned.
“There’s a man by the name of Kade Sturgess demanding to see you.”
“Yes,” Bree said, wondering where he’d been. “Did someone stop him?”
The doctor nodded. “We’re under orders to restrict all visitors except law enforcement while you’re on the floor unless they have your express permission.”
Travis must have arranged it. She appreciated the idea in a broader sense, just not when it came to excluding Kade from the birth of his daughter. He must not have admitted to being the father of her baby, or he should have gotten a free pass to enter.
Everyone believed Zeke was the father. She hadn’t corrected the rumor because she’d been so unsure telling Kade was the right thing to do.
“Please, let Kade in,” Bree said.
Dr. Perez nodded before disappearing into the hallway along with the NICU team and her baby. Bree had to fight every instinct inside her not to force herself out of the bed to follow her daughter.
A second later, Kade came rushing in. His forehead creased with concern. Worry lines bracketed his mouth—a mouth that had imprinted her.
“Are you okay?” he immediately asked.
“Yes.”
When he took her hand to comfort her, warmth spread through her.
“They took her to NICU,” she said.
“Her?” He glanced around. Was he checking to see if anyone was in earshot? Was he embarrassed to admit to being the father?
Bree took her hand back. For a split second, Kade looked devastated. He seemed to mentally shake it off.
“We have a daughter,” she supplied.
“Why did they take her?” he asked, his voice laced with emotion.
“She’s having trouble breathing on her own,” she said, folding her arms over her chest to create a barrier between Kade and her heart. It was a little too easy to let her emotions run wild when he was this close and looking this concerned.
“She’ll be okay,” he reassured in a voice that said he was trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to persuade her. And then came, “She has to be.” Those whispered words were spoken with a rare vulnerability.
“Hold onto the belief,” he said.
“What about Rinty?” she asked.
“He’s safe and I’m here now.”
Bree shouldn’t let herself find comfort in those words, in him. Comfort was a slippery slope when it came to Kade. Comfort made her want to believe their situation wasn’t complicated.
But it was.
“I’m sorry that I let you down,” Kade said to Bree as more of that guilt tried to consume him. “I should’ve been in this room with you.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” she said. He wasn’t so willing to let himself off the hook for abandoning her in a time of need. “The hospital had instructions not to let anyone near me.”
The image of the man in scrubs hovering around her door while Kade was forced to wait in the hall stamped his thoughts. Was the man a hospital employee? Or had the Reaper slipped in by stealing scrubs? If the man had been inside Bree’s home like she believed, would he have been able to enter someone else’s in order to take work clothes?
Bree wasn’t getting out of Kade’s sight. The baby was safe as long as she was away from her mother. Could he convince Bree to leave the hospital without their daughter? Daughter. He tried to let that word sink in.
Before he could find the words to begin the other conversation, the orderly from earlier entered the room.
“I’m here to take you to your recovery room,” he said.
Kade stood up, ready to argue if the man said he was taking Bree alone.
The orderly must’ve been a mind reader because he quickly added, “You’re welcome to come, too.”
Kade nodded. Was there ever another option? No.
He followed the worker as he wheeled Bree into a semi-private room with two beds. The second was empty. More requests by Travis? Either way, Kade was grateful for the privacy. It would be easier to watch over Bree without the distraction of visitors for another patient.
“Word on the street is that you’re being released soon,” the orderly said as he helped her onto the other bed.
“What?” Bree asked. Her stern gaze said, Not without my daughter.
A daughter.
Kade’s heart practically melted. And yet, he couldn’t allow himself to think too much about the baby while Bree’s life was still in danger. Last he checked, the Reaper was still on the loose. His pattern was to punish the ones who got away. Was he here, studying Bree? Studying the environment? Biding his time until he could sneak into her room and prove he could do what he wanted? That no one, not even the law, could stop him?
Arrogance. Would it be this bastard’s downfall?
Once Bree was settled into bed and the hospital worker was gone, Kade said, “I know you don’t want to leave her here, but it might be safer for now.” There was no use mincing words. The same thought would likely have crossed Bree’s mind anyway.
“How can I do that?” she asked with a determined set to her chin. “How can I abandon my newborn baby?”
“What if I promise to get you back to the hospital every day to check on her for as long as she’s admitted?”
“I don’t know.” She wrung her hands together. “What if he comes for her to get back at me?”
“All my family is in town to sort out the inheritance mess. I could get my siblings to take shifts at the hospital to keep watch,” he said. “He wouldn’t get past them.”
“Would they do that for me?” she asked.
It dawned on him what she was saying beneath the words. “I haven’t told anyone she’s mine since everyone believes she’s Zeke’s and I didn’t know how you felt about spreading the truth right now. They would do it for him.”
“Oh,” she said. “Right.”
“I’m not against the idea of spreading the news about who the real father is, except with everything that’s happened, I just…”
“Thought it might be better for Zeke’s memory if we didn’t make any announcements anytime soon,” she said, finishing his sentence for him.
“That’s right.”
Bree pinched the bridge of her nose. Stress wasn’t good for her. Kade wanted to be able to ease her tension. He wanted to be the one to put a smile on her face. He wanted to be the one to…
Never mind. This wasn’t the time to let his brain go down the path of how desirable she was or how much his broken heart believed those pieces might just find a perfect fit with hers. She belonged to Zeke. He would repeat those words like a mantra until they were burned in his memory.
Zeke couldn’t have known the baby was Kade’s. His buddy wouldn’t keep a deception like that one.
“Think you can get some rest?” he asked Bree, figuring she needed to keep up her strength if she was going to be released.
“How can I with my daughter in NICU?” she asked, working her fingers into a knot.
“Would it make you feel any better if I could assure you that…” He didn’t know his own daughter’s name. Score another point for being a failure as a father. “What did you decide to call her?”
“Assure me of what?” Bree skipped right over the last question.
“That my family will guard the little girl as one of their own,” he said.
Bree sat there for a long moment without saying a word. She untwisted her fingers and smoothed the comforter with the flat of her palms. “Okay.” The look she gave left no doubt Bree would be an amazing mother.
He stood up and moved to the window. His sister was at work, so he texted her before putting a message in the family group chat. Much to his surprise, Conrad had added a name to the group. Beau.
Kade wasn’t sure he wanted that man to know about family business, but it was already done. Removing him now would cause a scene. Was there any chance Beau actually wanted to get to know his siblings? Or was he simply his father’s son?
Where Kade took great pride in being nothing like his father, he wasn’t so certain Beau held the same belief. Conrad trusted the man. Could Kade? Could he put him on a short leash instead? Keep an eye on Beau? The saying, Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, came to mind.
He shook off the reverie, focusing on setting up a guard for Bree’s daughter. His daughter, he corrected. Being a parent would take some getting used to. Once they put this ordeal behind them, they needed a sit-down conversation about what the future would look like.
Again, the question as to whether Kade could consider staying in Saddle Junction for the long haul surfaced. Was it even possible?
Because when he let his guard down, being with Bree made him feel dangerously close to finding home .
He fired off a message in the group chat asking for the favor. Wouldn’t you know Beau was the first to respond? He’d take a shift first if no one else wanted it. Was he jumping in to be kind? To get to know his siblings and prove he had pure intentions? Or was he volunteering so he could keep his enemies closer?
Time would tell.
He gave the message a thumbs up as others chimed in, setting a schedule that worked for them after a little back and forth. When all the time slots were filled for the next week, Kade glanced up at Bree.
She was studying him a little too intently for his liking.
“What is it?” he asked, ready for another shoe to drop.
“She doesn’t have a name yet,” Bree said quietly.
“Why not?”
“Because I wanted her father to help decide.”
Those words cracked more of the protective gear around his heart. The hardened shell splintered just enough to let peeks of light in.
Damn.
They were about to name their daughter.