Always (Family Justice Book 1) (59 page)

Draegyn St. John. Entitled rich kid. Arrogant playboy. Fearsome warrior. He would curl up in a ball and die if anything happened to her. Or their baby.
If anything happened to either of them
… He shuddered and Stephanie wrapped her arm protectively about his back.

Alex was right. He had to trust the medical team taking care of his precious family.

“They want her to stay calm, and I’m going to tell the doctor that she needs to see you guys. It’ll help ease her anxiety.”

Calder started slightly then muttered, “I’ll stay back so it can be just you three.”

Drae trapped Calder’s eyes with a fierce look and snorted, “Fuck if you will. No, man. She’ll be thrilled to know you’re helping her mother.”

Stephanie’s grip around his back tightened as she put her head on his shoulder. She was family and technically, so was Calder. He’d known the man a long time, after all, and he was starting to suspect he was going to know him even better in the future.

It took a bit of wrangling and a shit ton of attitude to get the team working on Victoria to let him bring in visitors—but he got his way. The concession on his part was one short group visit instead of two or three short ones, which in the end turned out to be a brilliant move.

Victoria perked up the moment the foursome bustled into the room in a tangle of bodies, most trying to be the first one through the door, in a hilarious comedy routine straight out of
Scooby-Doo
. The long-haired surf stoner, the handsome guy, a beauty diva, and a curvy, brainy gal. All that was missing was Zeus to play the part of Scooby. He grinned, watching Victoria laugh at their antics.

And then it was half an hour of classic Family Justice shtick.

Stephanie had immediately joined Victoria on the raised bed, settling against the back and pulling her daughter to her with one arm. His wife sank into the motherly hug.

Meghan fluttered around making the birthing suite homier, having arrived with a handful of balloons, some flowers, and a bunch of other random shit hastily acquired from the gift shop. She acted as if absolutely nothing was amiss, telling jokes, and enthusiastically bringing her friend up to date on the progress of the yoga studio. She dropped off the bag of clothes so Victoria could change and rambled on about some fashion thing he knew nothing about. It was light, easy, normal.

Alex, for his part, did much of the same, giving his favorite assistant an affectionate greeting then instantly launching into vintage absentminded professor mode, bitching and whining about some tech-abomination Calder was responsible for. Which, in turn, got Calder in on the conversation to defend himself with an impressive display of self-deprecating humor. All while Victoria, who was the only other person in the room who had any fucking clue what the two were even talking about, got in a few choice verbal shots of her own.

Drae watched all this from his spot along the side wall, where he stood watching the entertaining tableau play out. He wished Cam, Lacey, and Dylan were there. Would make the circle complete.

Before long, it was time for everyone to clear out. The actual, fucking
second
Victoria realized they were leaving, he watched the happiness leave her expression. She loved them all—this strange blend of disparate people who make up their unusual family.

Going to her side, he stood close by while Stephanie reluctantly pried herself away. Stopping to cover her daughter’s face with a smattering of motherly kisses, she held her face between her hands and smiled reassuringly. “You’re in good hands baby girl. Mama’s gonna be right here, okay
shugah
?”

Drae wanted to kiss the woman for how awesomely she was handling all this.

Calder squeezed Victoria’s toe, which made her squeal, but also got the desired result, a winsome smile. “Mama’s got a new name, by the way,” he drawled with a wink. “Calling her
Duchess
. That’s good, don’t you think?”

When Victoria laughed, he had to as well. Duchess? Hm
mmm
. Oddly—it fits.

Then Alex did his Big Daddy thing. It was like getting a blessing from a holy man when he reassured both of them that everything was going to be fine and to just relax and let the marvels of modern medicine do its job.

Meghan rolled up the rear, dumping a big pile of gossips rags and women’s magazines on every subject or condition known to mankind onto the nightstand. She whispered conspiratorially to Victoria as she hugged her, letting his wife know she was also leaving behind a couple of trashy romances in case she wanted to read. Dad picked a winner with her.

With Victoria clutching his hand, she waved good-bye and thanked them all for being there. The moment the door shut behind the foursome, a nurse hurried in to take her blood pressure reading and see what her fluid intake, if any, had been.

Motherfucker if everything didn’t start going downhill from there.

“I WANT TO GO TO the hospital.”

Cameron sighed deeply and looked at her with a cautious expression. “What about Dylan?”

“He goes with, of course!”

“We might be there for a while, and I don’t know if babies are allowed.”

Lacey wanted to strangle him. Cutting him off before he came up with a half dozen more arguments against going, she crossed her arms and legs, started shaking her foot, and nailed him with a scathing look.

“Cameron Justice. You listen to me. That’s
your
brother and
my
sister at that hospital. We need to be there. As for Dylan, I know you weren’t paying attention when it was you and me there, but they’re in the obstetrics building in a private birthing suite. Little children are allowed and encouraged to be involved with the family. Don’t worry about our little man. He’ll be fine. We’ll pass him around when he’s awake, and he can snooze in the Pack ‘n Play. Give us a chance to break in some of this cool baby-on-the-go equipment we got.”

She had him over a barrel and could see him struggling with that fact in his expression. Doubling down on the foot shaking and cross expression, she waited for him to give in.

He surprised her, though, when he finally did.

“Thanks,” Cameron muttered. “I need to be there. Worried about Drae.”

She bolted from her chair and insinuated herself in his arms. “Aw, honey,” she cried with real concern. “If you felt that way, why didn’t you say something? What’s with all the foot-dragging?”

“Aw, fuck, I don’t know,” he groaned. “Some weird dad reflex, I think.”

Lacey shook her head and smiled. She covered his face with kisses. Cameron as a daddy was just the cutest damn thing she’d ever seen. They’d driven with Dylan in the car a couple of times. Mostly for pediatrician visits but that first time? With his miraculous infant son strapped like an astronaut into a car seat? He barely made it over twenty-five miles an hour.

“Sweetheart. That boy is a brawny little nugget. He’s under three months old by the hair of his chinny chin chin. And right now, he’s a breeze to lug around. In a couple of months when he’s all wiggly and getting ready to go mobile? Not so much.”

Cameron hugged her tight. Grabbed her ass, of course, in the process. “What would I do without you to reel me in, huh?”

“Oh…I think we both know the answer to that,” she laughed.

He kissed her sweetly and told her
thank you
again.

“Okay. I’ll text Alex and find out if anyone needs anything. You go figure out what we need to hang out at the hospital for a couple of hours. Let me know when Dylan’s able to take a road trip, and we’ll go join the rest of the family.”

SO MUCH EQUIPMENT HAD BEEN wheeled into the room that even with the balloons and flowers it really did seem quite clinical again. After a vitals check, they determined that she wasn’t taking in enough fluids. He hadn’t noticed, but once it was brought to his attention, he could have kicked himself. Victoria hadn’t asked for anything to drink and had been refusing when offered something. Or just taking a tiny sip then giving up. Why hadn’t he connected the dots?

Now, she was on an IV drip and strapped non-stop to a baby monitor, which only added to her discomfort. Medical personnel hovered nearby and every whispered conversation made her anxiety spike.

Drae blanked the sound coming from the fetal monitor. It was a skill and a habit he’d acquired when he’d been living in a country-sized battlefield. Consciously blocking extraneous noises and conversations—focusing on specific things. He simply ignored it.

But he could see it was making Victoria mental. All she could do was just lie there, stuck with an IV, attached to a blood pressure machine, and strapped to a monitor. The rhythmic sounds were the wrong soundtrack for her mood.

The hours crawled by—at one point she’d dozed off, and when the nurses came round, he pretty much told them if they woke her up they’d be dealing with him. Luckily, the lead nurse didn’t ruffle easily and had probably seen it all. She simply smiled, gave Victoria an intense visual inspection, touched him reassuringly on the arm, and drifted away.

THE LARGE OPEN WAITING ROOM on the birthing floor afforded Family Justice plenty of room to set up a command post. Alex had been speechless then overcome with laughter when Cam arrived looking like a Sherpa as he carried in the baby equipment. Lacey carried Dylan in a comfy looking baby sling that gave her a Madonna and Child look.

They set up a mini-nursery for Dylan with something called a Pack ‘n Play that had a changing station, storage bins, was a portable bassinette, and had a cushy napping lounger. The damn thing also played a variety of classical tunes or nature sounds. Alex knew all these details because Cam had launched into a fucking infomercial as he set it up and they all gathered round to watch and learn.

Once everyone was in one place, they sat around and discussed what was going on. But with no new information, they eventually drifted into two distinct groups—the ladies having a conclave over Dylan and his amazing baby-town, and the guys, sharking around the doorway with an eye on the hallway and nurse’s station.

“Alex, did you look this shit up and find out what’s probably going on back there?” Cam asked.

Bah.
Of course, he had. Even viewed a few birthing videos until he got too emotional to watch anymore and Meghan had forced him to shut the laptop and go to bed.

“Yeah. Pregnancy complication, man—what else can I say? I did, however, check out the hospital and everyone working obstetrics. These guys are first rate. I mean, just look around at this birthing center,” he told them as he waved his hand to make the point. “It’s small, yeah, but this isn’t exactly the big city. But it’s brand new and I found out from a little digging that when they started fundraising to build it, a bunch of wealthy patrons ponied up at least five times an ass-load of cash to make it happen. That says a lot.”

Cam snorted in amusement. “Well fuck, Big Daddy, that’s sure as shit comforting to know
after
we’ve already given birth here!” Calder laughed.

He just shrugged and laughed it off. “Dude—Lacey never had so much as had a headache when she was pregnant. We weren’t thinking in terms of high-risk events and shit like that with you guys.
This
is uncharted territory.”