Chapter 42
Sully
The guys and I are in the kitchen at the firehouse when the call comes in, followed by a flurry of pings hitting Gabe's and Kace's cell phones.
"Looks like this could be it," Gabe says, grinning at Kace. "You ready, Daddy?"
"Don't call me Daddy. It weirds me out," Kace counters, drawing chuckles from all of them and grinning from ear to ear as they rush toward the vehicles.
In minutes, we're inside Salt Air Media, and Sully grins at the sound of Lindsey firing off a list of protests and things that need to be done to some poor woman writing them down as fast as she can. Lindsey is a woman driven in all the right ways, and she's the perfect match for my friend.
"Thank goodness. Will you please get her out of here," Quinley, Lindsey's boss, says when she sees them. "I've been trying to send her home all morning."
I catch Kace's frown.
"Were you having contractions this morning when you left for work?" Kace asks Lindsey, giving her an incredulous stare.
"Maybe? But just teeny-tiny ones. I'm fine. These are Braxton-Hicks again. The hospital will laugh at me if I go again and it's a false alarm. It's no big deee—ahhhh." She breaks off, gasping.
I exchange a look with Gabe, who's just shaking his head. This isn't our first baby run, and there's a look women get when the contractions are the delivery-level kind.
Lindsey's got the look.
"You want me to do the honors?" I ask Kace, just to rile him because he saw the same expression as we did, and he's a little pale and shook. It's my way of getting his head back in the game.
"Touch her and die," he growls, moving toward her. He drops a kiss to Lindsey's lips before squatting down in front of the chair where she's sitting. "Okay, sweetheart, I need to see what we've got going on."
"Wait, what? What are you doing? There are people in here," she hisses at him. "You can't just— You can't mean to just— No! Kace," she says, batting at his hands when he touches the hem of her dress.
"Clear the room!" Gabe says. "Everybody out who isn't a first responder."
Lindsey's sitting in an office chair, and Kace turns it around so that her back is to us. "Sweetheart, I love you, and I've told you this over and over. I've delivered babies before."
"But it'll be weird. We'll be weird."
Gabe and I exchange a look, barely managing to hold our humor in check.
"How far apart are the contractions? Anyone been timing them?" Kace asks.
"They've been getting closer for the last hour, but she refused to let me call you until I put my foot down and did it anyway," Quinley says, standing one foot in and one out of the doorway.
"Because they're fake. They're not real. I'm perfectly fi— Oh. Oh, oooh, boy."
I can't stop my chuckle. "Kace's gonna delivery his own baby."
Kace isn't biologically the father, but he claimed Lindsey and her baby as his from the moment they arrived in town.
"What?" Lindsey asks, voice shrill despite her gritted teeth. "No! That can't happen. All you'll think of later is— No, Kace."
"Well, I'm not letting them do it," Kace grumbles, winking at his love to soften the news.
She's not amused, and it shows.
"This can't be happening," she says, hands over her face. "Take me home. I'll be fine."
Kace looks at us and orders us to turn around, even though Lindsey's facing him.
"Pierce is on the way, sweetheart. She'll be here soon."
I respect Kace trying to protect and comfort his girl when she's struggling with embarrassment and the fact that she's about to give birth at her freaking desk.
"Lindsey, do you need anything?" Quinley asks. "Otherwise, I'll be right outside."
"A sinkhole," Lindsey mutters. "A great big one. Right here, right now."
"Ah, honey, don't be embarrassed," I say to the wall. "Just another day in paradise."
"Keep your honeys to yourself," Kace grumps to me.
I can kind of see their reflections in a glass-framed photo on the wall and watch him do a quick assessment.
"Linds, you're okay," I hear him say.
"I told you. I told you they're…oooooh," she says, gasping the last part.
"Yeah, baby, you're okay," he says again, "but you're not going to make it to the hospital, sweetheart."
I must've released a chuckle because Gabe elbows me in the ribs.
"What? That's impossible. I have to be there. I have a plan. M-music. I don't have my bag. Or drugs. I want drugs, Kace. I can't do this without drugs!"
Pierce arrives with a gurney full of gear and shoots a confused look at us because we're nose-to-wall instead of helping.
"What's going on?" Pierce asks, hesitant but chipper. "Lindsey, you okay?"
Pierce quickly pulls on PPE because I hear the snap of gloves.
"No, no, can't say that I am," Lindsey says, her breathing ragged.
"Is that chair locked into place?"
"On it," I say, quickly moving behind Lindsey to lock the wheels before turning around again.
"Steady your breathing," Kace coaches. "Remember the classes."
"How far dilated?" Pierce asks, unfolding plastic-lined pads and other necessities from the kit.
"Ten," Kace says in no uncertain terms. "Baby's crowning."
I can't help myself. I glance over my shoulder and see Kace staring at Lindsey with hearts in his eyes and a grin on his face that can't be stopped. I feel a pang in my chest. Wistfulness? Envy? I'm not sure what it is, but it's there. And it's powerful.
"You're doing great, sweetheart. Pierce, we need to get her out of this chair. It won't be long now, Linds."
"It hurts," she whimpers, gasping for air. "There's so much pressure. This can't be happening. I want drugs. Why can't she wait for drugs?"
"Breathe, baby," Kace says. "You're doing great. Fantastic. Just keep breathing."
Once Pierce has the floor protectively covered and other items ready and at hand, Gabe and I turn around long enough to lock arms behind Lindsey's back and each grab a knee, lowering her to the floor.
Kace shifts quickly behind her, cradling her in his arms. He helps settle her against his chest for support with a blanket rolled under her hips to give the baby some arrival room.
Pierce is in delivery position and focused as she starts to shift Lindsey's dress up to do her own assessment. Gabe and I quickly avert our eyes and turn our backs once more.
"Ow, ow, ow! I want to push. I have to— Oh, I have to push!"
It doesn't take long. In a matter of minutes, Lindsey gives one last choked and gasping whimper, and the baby's cries fill the air. We give Pierce time to get Lindsey settled and turn when she gives the all clear.
I can't stop the grin that forms when I see the happy couple. There're tears and laughter, kisses and so much love. The room seems too small to hold it.
"Congratulations, Mom and Dad," Pierce says, and Gabe and I echo the sentiment.
Gabe claps me on the shoulder, smiling from ear to ear as we watch from a few feet away, giving the couple and their newborn privacy for a moment.
Poor Pierce is crying, too, but ignoring the tears rolling down her cheeks other than an occasional brush of her shoulder as she wipes them away, watching as Kace holds two of the most precious beings in his life and repeatedly tells them he loves them.
Kace is a big dude. Big hands, broad shoulders, long legs.
And right now he's blubbering like the baby he and Lindsey hold, and I can't even give him a hard time for it because the moment is just that special.
He will be the best dad Lindsey's kid could ever have.
Kace has a big heart and is especially protective of women and children. As every man should be but often isn't.
Gabe excuses himself to call Bronwyn and cheers ring out in the other room as Lindsey's office mates celebrate the good news.
Kace holds the baby while Pierce and I get Lindsey on the gurney and ready for transport.
While they get going, I put the office back to rights before Gabe and I head back to the station.
It's a fast hour until shift change, and I'm out the door the moment my time is up. I take my Harley, and as always, I find myself near the Pelican, drawn to it because I know she will be there.
The streets are quiet. It's midweek, and Valentine's Day to boot, but the island isn't as crowded as it is in summer.
I love this time of year, despite the cold nights, if only because things are quieter than the constant chaos and noise of tourist season. The island never truly sleeps. But right now it…breathes a little more softly. A little easier. Resetting itself.
My thoughts return to Kace and how he's a single dad who also took in his teenage niece to raise and now another man's baby. But those lucky kids will never be treated as anything other than his own.
As I park the bike and cut the motor, I think of my old man and his utter lack of love for his wife and the children he'd brought into the world. And then, as I often do, I think of a certain night years ago.
My steps falter on the way toward the bar as my sister’s image comes to mind.
Like a punch to my gut, I see her lying there helpless and broken and bleeding, and fury fills me.
I shake it off as best I can, dragging the cold night air into my lungs and comforting myself with the fact her ex took his own life which meant I wasn’t in prison because of it.
I hear a door open with a squeak of the hinges and turn to look as I approach the Pelican. Violet Greene is hauling something twice her size out to the dumpster, and I curse and make my way down the side street that's little more than a dark alley.
She startles and barely manages to stifle a scream as she whips round to face me with wide eyes. “Evening, sunshine."
Keep reading OUT OF THE ASHES, Sully and Violet's story and book three of the Hearts on Fire series.