Mistletoe Daddy Page 14

  But how could she, when he couldn’t even trust himself? He couldn’t ask that of her. It wasn’t right—not for her, not for her soon-to-be-born son and not even for himself.

  With every day that he spent with Vivian, his heart grew nearer and nearer to hers. The risk of hurting her scared him more than the unlikely possibility of a reward.

  The best thing for him to do—the right thing for all concerned—would be for him to step away from this kiss, this project and Vivian’s life.

  He’d get her through her grand opening and then that was it.

  “Vivian,” he murmured, his voice thick with emotion as he drew her away from him.

  Her cheeks splashed with pink as her eyelids slowly fluttered open.

  Oh, but she was beautiful.

  Nick wasn’t sure he could stand the pain that contracted like a sharp claw around his chest at the thought of not having her in his life anymore.

  She smiled up at him. A sound emerged from her throat that sounded like a contented purr.

  “I—you—” he stammered, dropping his arms and backing away from her.

  Nick threaded his fingers through the thick length of his hair. He could see his reflection in the mirror behind Vivian. He looked like a wild man, and it wasn’t just his tousled hair and the dark shadow of his beard.

  It was the sheer panic in his eyes.

  He swiveled on the heels of his boots, not wanting Vivian to see the truth of his feelings in his telltale gaze. Not now, when she was already under so much stress. Putting anything more on her shoulders couldn’t be good for her or for the baby.

  He’d allowed his emotions to get the better of him and he was ashamed that he’d led her on, to a place he had no right to go. Somehow, he’d have to make it right, let her down as gently and as painlessly as possible.

  She deserved better than what he could offer.

  “Nick?”

  The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. The way she said his name—

  He whirled around to find Vivian clutching the edge of the counter with one hand and her other over her expanded middle. She was half-doubled over and her expression was a mixture of fear and pain.

  Instantly, Nick was by her side, one arm around her waist and the other supporting her elbow.

  “What’s wrong? Is it the baby?”

  Vivian nodded and gulped in a sharp breath of air. “I think—”

  She cut off her sentence midthought as her brow lowered and she pinched her lips.

  Something was wrong. Vivian wasn’t due for a few weeks yet. He couldn’t remember exactly what she’d said, but he was positive her due date was after the first of the year.

  “Should I call 9-1-1?”

  She grabbed his wrist. “No. Call Dr. Delia.”

  “My truck is parked out back. I’ll take you straight to the doctor’s office and call Delia on the way.”

  He’d expected her to argue with him as she had the day she’d twisted her ankle in the shop. She’d been so adorably stubborn about it, completely refusing to admit she’d even been in pain, much less that she needed to go see the doctor.

  It was frighteningly telling that she merely gritted her teeth and nodded her acquiescence to his suggestion this time. She must really think something was wrong if she wasn’t putting up a fight over this.

  Continuing to support her at the small of her back and with a hand on her elbow, he gently propelled her toward the back door and then out to his truck, locking the door to the shop behind him.

  Three times on the short way out, they had to stop while a wave of pain racked through Vivian’s body.

  Was this normal? Contractions coming so suddenly, so hard and fast, with very little relief between them?

  Nick was no expert by any means of the word, but he’d always thought that the portrayal of labor and delivery in movies and television shows was unrealistic—sudden, sharp labor followed by a baby born within what appeared to be mere minutes.

  He seemed to recall, through the few experiences he’d had around pregnant women, that labor tended to be long and intensive, some lasting for days before the baby was born.

  That’s not what was happening here. It was more like the movies. Her labor wasn’t slow or gradual at all.

  Did that mean Vivian’s baby was going to be born momentarily? What if he couldn’t get her to the doctor’s office fast enough?

  Panic enveloped him as he opened the passenger side of his truck and scooped Vivian into his arms, gently depositing her into the seat and buckling her seat belt for her.

  She didn’t speak, not even to protest him hovering over her which, for a chatterbox like Vivian, worried Nick more than anything. She didn’t make a sound, other than an occasional soft groan. Not only did she not protest the way he was taking over the situation, but it appeared she was barely aware of what was going on at all. It was as if she’d completely withdrawn into herself. The only thing she seemed to be aware of was the rapidity and strength of her contractions.

  Nick slid behind the wheel and revved the engine. His every impulse was to gun the accelerator to equal the race of his pulse, but getting in an accident or being pulled over for speeding by one of Serendipity’s finest would only delay their arrival at the doctor’s office.

  As he drove, he pulled up the doctor’s emergency number on the truck’s console. Delia’s phone rang several times before she answered. With each consecutive unanswered ring, the noose around Nick’s heart grew tighter and tighter.

  At length she answered, the sound of a dozen people talking and laughing in the background. He felt bad about interrupting a family gathering or party, but his concern for Vivian came first.

  “Delia? It’s Nick. I’m sorry to bother you at home,” Nick said, wondering if his voice sounded as rattled to Delia’s ears as it did to his own.

  “It’s no problem. That’s what I’m here for. What’s up, Nick?” she asked cheerfully.

  “It’s Vivian. I’m pretty sure she’s in labor right now. I thought maybe I should be taking her to the hospital, but she insisted on seeing you instead. And as fast as this seems to be going, right now I’m not sure she would make it to the hospital before delivering if I tried to get her there.”

  “Hold on a second.” There was a pause while it sounded as if Delia was rummaging around a drawer, probably for a pen and paper.

  “How far apart are her contractions right now?”

  How far apart? What did that mean? It seemed to him that Vivian wasn’t getting any kind of break in contractions at all.

  “I’m...not sure? They seem really close together to me.”

  “Has her water broken?”

  Nick nearly slammed on the brakes as his stomach lurched. He was so not the right person to be taking care of Vivian in this emergency situation.

  Delia chuckled. “It’s okay, Nick. Put Viv on the line for me.”

  “I’m here,” Vivian said, her voice low and husky. “Nick’s got his truck console on speakerphone.”

  “Okay, great.”

  Nick appreciated Delia’s calm, collected and reassuring tone. “About how far apart are your contractions, hon?”

  “I haven’t timed them,” she said through a tight jaw. “They are coming pretty quickly, some right on top of each other. Maybe a minute or two apart, otherwise. I’m frightened that there’s something wrong with the baby.”

  “Let’s not borrow trouble. I do think, given the circumstances, that it would be best for you to meet me at my office, rather than trying to drive straight to the hospital.”

  “We’re already there,” Nick said, cutting the engine in front of the doctor’s office.

  “Great. I’ll be there in five.”

  Nick turned to assess Vivian. Her head was tipped back against th
e seat and her eyes were closed. But she looked as far from relaxed as it was possible to get. She groaned and rubbed at a spot on her stomach.

  “Should I be reminding you to breathe or something?” Nick had never felt as helpless as he did at that moment, seeing Vivian’s pale face in the moonlight, crumpled with anguish. If he could, he would take that pain away from her in an instant and bear it himself. As it was, he was totally and completely useless.

  Less than useless. Even thinking about the various elements of childbirth made him queasy and light-headed. He felt itchy all over, as if he were breaking out in hives. His next call was to Alexis, but unfortunately, she and Griff were out of town. He’d have to deal on his own.

  He breathed a sigh of relief when he caught sight of Delia’s headlights as she parked on the opposite side of the street. He had every confidence that Delia would be able to take things from here and, as an added benefit, she was married to one of the town’s paramedics, should it become necessary to transport Vivian and her baby to the hospital.

  Please, Lord, don’t let it be necessary.

  Nick helped Vivian out of the truck and Delia stepped to the other side of her, so they both supported her as they entered the doctor’s office. Delia led them straight to the examination room.

  “First things first,” Delia said in a no-nonsense voice as Nick helped Vivian lay back on the paper-covered medical bed. Delia lightly ran her hands across Vivian’s belly and then measured it with a tape. “You’re just the right size for thirty-six weeks and four days, so baby is growing just fine. Ideally, we’d like to keep him cooking for another week at least, but if he’s ready to make his debut then no worries. Let’s get you hooked up to the fetal monitor and find out what this little mister is up to.”

  Nick cleared his throat. “Should I leave?”

  Vivian clenched his hand in hers. “No. Please don’t.”

  Nick pressed his lips into a tight line to avoid showing all the emotions flooding through him. He met Delia’s gaze and raised his eyebrows.

  Delia smiled in reassurance. Evidently he wasn’t as good at hiding his emotions as he’d thought he was.

  “It’s fine for you to stay right now. In a few minutes I’ll have to send you out for a bit, but let’s get Vivian comfortable first.”

  Vivian sighed in relief until another contraction racked through her. Her manicured fingernails dug into Nick’s palm but he didn’t mind the pain. It gave him something to focus on other than fearing for Vivian and the baby.

  “First of all,” Delia said, addressing Vivian but with a glance at Nick, “I want to reassure you that I have delivered dozens of babies right here in Serendipity. And you’re far enough along that we should be okay without any special equipment beyond what we’ve got. So just in case it should become necessary and this little guy doesn’t want to wait to be born, we can handle it.”

  Maybe Delia could handle it. But that didn’t mean it would be as simple as she was making it sound. Nick could tell she was leaving stuff out—probably a lot of stuff. It unnerved him even further.

  “Can you give her something for the pain?”

  “We have options,” Delia started, but Vivian yanked on Nick’s arm and shook her head vigorously.

  “No drugs. They would affect my son. I’m doing this naturally.”

  Nick’s gaze flashed to Delia but she merely shrugged.

  “We can absolutely handle this exactly the way you’d like, Vivian. Let’s figure out how much time we have and then, if we’ve got enough of a window, we should avail ourselves of my husband’s services to get you to the hospital. You’ve had a completely normal pregnancy, so I don’t anticipate any problems with the birth, but at this point the little guy is three and a half weeks early and his lungs might need a little bit of help at first.”

  The doctor said it so offhandedly it sounded as if it were no real worry, but if it was possible, Vivian’s face went a shade paler. Nick’s own gut took a hit. Was the doctor saying Viv’s baby wouldn’t be able to breathe if he was born here in Serendipity tonight?

  Delia placed her hand on Vivian’s shoulder. “We won’t make any decisions until we have a better idea of what’s going on tonight, okay, Viv?”

  Vivian nodded and then gasped and held her breath as another contraction rocked her.

  “Don’t forget to breathe through it,” Delia reminded her as she attached a fetal monitor to Viv’s stomach. “Did you take a prenatal class to teach you how to breathe through your contractions?”

  Viv needed to take a class to learn how to breathe a certain way? Wow. There really was a lot Nick didn’t know about childbirth—and he was absolutely certain he did not want to learn about it just now.

  He was forgetting to breathe himself and was starting to feel a little light-headed, but there was no way he was going to budge from Viv’s side. Not as long as she needed him there.

  “Is Alexis your birthing coach?” Delia asked.

  What was a birthing coach? Nick pictured Alexis with a whistle around her neck shouting plays out of a book but he knew that couldn’t be quite right.

  “Yes, but she and Griff are out of town for the weekend.”

  “I see. Is there someone else you could call? I’ll be there for the birth, of course, either here or at the hospital, but it’s comforting to have someone else by your side to offer you support.”

  “I could call my mom,” Nick suggested. “I’m sure she’d be thrilled to help out.”

  There was an ulterior motive for Nick’s suggestion. If his mom was there, that would give him a good excuse to be there as well—even if it meant driving all the way out to the hospital. If he chauffeured his mom around, he would be there when Vivian’s son was born.

  And he really wanted to be there when Vivian’s son was born.

  “That’s a good idea,” Delia said. “What do you think, Viv? Would you like Nick to call Alice for you?”

  Vivian nodded and chuckled through her pain. “I suspect Alice will be able to help Nick, too. He looks a little green around the gills.”

  Nick made a face at her but by that time she was deep in the midst of another contraction and had once again retreated inside herself.

  “I’ll just step out and call my mom,” he said.

  “Good. That will give me the opportunity to examine Vivian. I’ll let you know when you can return to the room.”

  Nick breathed a sigh of relief when the door closed behind him and he was alone in the waiting room. He removed his hat and scrubbed a hand through his hair.

  How had everything gone so wrong so quickly? It was only days before the official grand opening of Tranquility—the name he’d seen on the flyers she’d made—and weeks before Baby G was supposed to be born. And now suddenly Vivian had started labor.

  Had he somehow caused her premature labor?

  He’d seen the stress and discouragement in her gaze when he’d met her back at the salon earlier that evening. She’d been convinced her grand opening was going to be a complete and utter failure. Which was an unfortunate and unexpected byproduct of a plan he’d worked up.

  If only she knew. The complete opposite was true. The whole town was coming out for Vivian’s big day. He’d worked hard to make sure it happened. He’d hoped to give her a nice surprise with his efforts.

  Instead, Vivian was lying in the room next to him strapped to a fetal monitor and very likely soon to give birth to her premature son.

  He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and speed-dialed his mother, who answered on the first ring.

  “What’s wrong, Nick?” she asked in lieu of “hello.”

  He hadn’t expected that, and her question completely threw him off his game. “What makes you think something is wrong?”

  “Because you never call me unless you need something.” She co
uched the accusation in a loving laugh. “So what is it this time? You don’t know how to boil artichokes? You just turned your white T-shirts pink?”

  “It’s Vivian,” he said, tossing his hat onto an end table and slumping into the nearest chair. “I’m pretty sure she’s in labor right now. And I think it’s all my fault.”

  Chapter Nine

  To Vivian’s relief, her contractions had slowed and become irregular, not to mention far less painful.

  “Everything looks fine,” Delia assured her. “False alarm this time. They are called Braxton Hicks contractions. Your body is practicing for the main event. Your baby will probably be born right on schedule.”

  “Practice contractions? I am going to hate to see what the real contractions feel like.”

  On one side of her, Nick squeezed her hand. On the other, Alice patted her shoulder reassuringly.

  “We women have toughed it out and delivered babies since the beginning of time,” Alice reminded her. “I know it seems impossible to imagine right now, but no matter how bad the labor pains are, once they put your sweet little baby boy in your arms, you’ll know he was worth every last contraction.”

  “But that won’t be for a few weeks yet,” Delia assured her with a smile.

  “And the funniest thing of all is that the good Lord gives us selective memories,” Alice continued. “Even the memory of the pain will be mostly forgotten. And it’s a good thing, too, or Nick would have been an only child.”

  Vivian glanced at Nick, expecting him to laugh and come back with a quip about the hassle of being raised with Jax and Slade, but to her surprise, he was frowning, his brow lowered over stormy blue eyes.

  “Could these—what did you call them? ‘Fake contractions?’ Could they have been brought on by stress?”

  Delia’s gaze widened. “Possibly, but it’s highly unlikely. Braxton Hicks are just a woman’s body preparing for the real thing. And as Vivian here can tell you, sometimes they can feel quite real and be every bit as painful as a true contraction, but they’re not really a sign that anything is wrong. Sometimes it’s nothing. Sometimes the baby is slightly out of position and the mom’s body is making some last-minute adjustments.”