LITMIR.BIZ

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stared. “It’s too early! The babies have to be too small.”

      Panic and guilt bloomed inside him, ugly and dark, and he rose, restless with all the emotions teeming inside him. She shouldn’t have been outside where she risked falling. He told her she didn’t have to go out to the bus to pick up the children. The stop was only a few hundred yards from the front door. They could walk up themselves, he told her, but she insisted on doing it every day. Said she needed the fresh air and the exercise.

      Now look where they were.

      “We’re monitoring her condition and I’ve been in consultation with the best ob-gyn in the valley. We’ve given her some medication to stop her contractions and put the brakes on. It’s been less than an hour, but so far it seems to be working.”

      He sat back down, relief coursing through him. “Okay. Okay. That’s good. Isn’t it?”

      “It’s still too early to tell. We have to keep her overnight up on the obstetrics floor to continue monitoring fetal activity.”

      “Sounds wise.”

      She paused for a long moment and he tried to sort through her silence for whatever else she might not be telling him.

      “There’s a chance she might have to stay longer. I just want to make you aware of the possibility. She’s a complicated case—multiple births are always a little tricky. Add in an ankle injury that’s going to make it tough for her to get around at home and possible premature labor, and her chances of needing hospital bed rest go up. I’m consulting with the ob-gyn but that’s one of the options hanging out there.”

      Hospital bed rest. Damn. Could things get more complicated?

      “Okay. Thank you for letting me know.”

      She glanced at the children, then back at him. “You’re all welcome to go back and talk to your sister. I think she’s feeling pretty alone right now.”

      He nodded and rose again. “Thanks. Kids. We can go back now.”

      “But, Dad! This one is almost over!” Jazmyn exclaimed. “Can’t we wait ten more minutes to see the end?”

      He fought the urge to roll his eyes. First she didn’t want to watch the show; now she didn’t want to leave until she saw the end.

      That just about summed up their life together. She was never happy with anything he did. If he made pancakes for breakfast, she insisted she wanted French toast. If he tried, in his fumbling way, to put her hair in pigtails, she told him she wanted a ponytail that day.

      It was driving him crazy—and he had a feeling that was part of the reason both women he had hired to help him had lasted only a few weeks.

      The doc gave him a sympathetic look. “If you’d like, I can stay with the children for a few minutes until the show is over while you have a moment alone with your sister.”

      Her thoughtfulness surprised him. In his experience, physicians weren’t usually so solicitous. “It’s just a TV show. She can catch it online later. I’m sure you have other patients to attend to.”

      “Right this moment, no. You actually caught us on a slow night. I’ve got to answer a few emails, which I can easily do out here while you talk to your sister for a few minutes.”

      He hated needing help. It was the toughest thing about being a single father, but in this case, he decided it would be stupid to argue.

      “Thanks. The minute the show is over, you can send them back.”

      “No problem. I’ll buzz you back. She’s in room two.”

      She swiped her name badge across the door and he walked back into the emergency department. He found the room quickly. Inside, he found his baby sister looking pale and frightened, hooked up to a whole bunch of monitors.

      He hurried over and kissed her cheek. “How are things?”

      “I’ve been better.” She shifted positions on the bed to try for a more comfortable spot, something that couldn’t be easy given her advanced condition. “Did you talk to Devin?”

      “Briefly.”

      “So she told you the ankle isn’t broken.”

      “Yes. And that you’re in premature labor.”

      “The beginning stages, anyway. So far the contractions have stopped.”

      “What happens if they start again?” He didn’t even want to think about it.

      “I’ll probably be transferred to a bigger hospital in Boise with a higher level obstetrics department and larger newborn intensive care unit. Even if they don’t start again, I’ll likely be put on strict bed rest from now to the end of the pregnancy.”

      “Are the babies okay?”

      Her mouth quivered a little. “They seem to be. They’re not in distress or anything, at least for now.”

      “That’s the important thing. That you’re all okay.”

      Her eyes filled up with tears and her hands scrunched up the edge of the blanket. “Their lungs aren’t fully developed yet. They’re still so tiny. If they’re born now, there’s a chance they’ll have to be on ventilators and might even have brain damage. Premature babies have all kinds of complications.”

      “Don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet.”

      “I should have known I would screw this up, too.”

      He reached for her hand and gripped it in his, helpless and worried.

      “You need to call Sean and let him know what’s going on.”

      Tricia’s mouth trembled slightly until she straightened it into a thin line. “No. Absolutely not.”

      “Trish.”

      “No. Don’t go all big-brother protective and call him. Stay out of it. He made his wishes perfectly clear. He never wanted to be a father. He doesn’t want these babies and he doesn’t want me. If you call him, I’ll never forgive you. I mean it.”

      Cole wanted to tear his hair out—or his brother-in-law’s, at any rate. What he really wanted was the chance to take the man to some secluded canyon and beat the shit out of him for whatever he had done to devastate Tricia enough to walk away from their life together in California.

      As tempting as it was to jump in his truck and drive from Idaho to California, violence wasn’t always the solution. Cole would just end up in prison, which wouldn’t help anyone.

      Arguing with Tricia only served to make her dig her heels in harder, something she was very good at.

      He sighed. “I’m only going to say this one more time, and then I’ll let it drop. These are Sean’s kids, too. However mad you might be at him, I believe he has the right to know what’s going on with the three of you.”

      “Lecture duly noted,” she said, refusing to meet his gaze. Feeling like an ass at the tremble in her voice, he squeezed her fingers.

      “You’ll be okay, kiddo, and so will those little lima beans in there. I have a good feeling about this.”

      She sniffled a little and gave him a watery half smile. “Devin is admitting me. I guess she probably told you that.”

      “Do you trust this doc? You said you know her from way back, but is that the most important thing here? I’ve been in my share of emergency rooms when I was on the circuit and I do know you have the right to be transferred by ambulance to a bigger hospital in Boise if you want another opinion, maybe from somebody who’s watched a little more water pass under the bridge.”

      Tricia shook her head. “I don’t want anybody else. I know she’s young but I trust Devin. In fact, I’m going to ask her if she’ll deliver my twins when the

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