Hard Days Night (The Firsts Book 8) (34 page)

Shani, his baby girl, the daughter he’d wanted for centuries, here and in
their arms now, the perfect representation of a dream finally coming to fruition
.  The
fates would have their way
, he thought. 

He just wished
…

No, there was no point in wishing.
  Making a wish after the fact never made a difference, and it was
way
past the fact now that the passionate detective was gone.  He was healing, but he still had mornings when he came to his bed and tears would gently slip free as he remembered how it felt to hold her in his arms.  He knew, in time, even those memories would fade and lose the ability to hurt. 

He figured that the reason that he was so obsessed with her was that he never had a chance to close the relationship.  He never had a chance to see if she was the one who might
belong with him forever. The memory he kept of her, it wasn’t her, but what it represented, the lost possibility. 
He hoped
.

H
e’d learned to embrace his joys, which were all around him right now.  Life was as it should be.  He was as happy as he thought he would ever be.  He was sure that a mate was not in his future. It was okay, he had a lovely family and there were plenty of willing young women for companionship.  Not that he’d availed himself lately.

“It’s all good,” he said out loud to himself, as he walked back up to the buffet to fill his plate and grab some of the pastries still left for Eras.  The boy liked his pastries.

As he sat to have his meal, he admitted that he was okay.  Eillia had once commented that first blood vampires who lived these many centuries learned early that change
and loss were immutable.  And she was right. 
Just another
day in the life
, Ahmose thought.

Yet when a new young vampire with long tawny hair walked across the garden, his mind returned to Mal.  How long, he wondered,
before he stopped seeing her everywhere?

ON NORTH CAICOS ISLAND

“Stop
it, I can’t take the pain in my side!”

Mal was laughing too hard, and with her enormous size, and everything be
low her breasts and above her thighs compressed, the stitch in her side hurt like a mother.

“Jack, I cannot listen to one more asinine small-town-soldier-goes-to-war story.  You had to be the goofiest soldier in the
Middle East.”

Jack lifted a bottle of rum and poured a small amount into a glass. 
“Goofy, yes.  Lethal, oh, hell, yes, as long as I remembered to put the cartridges in the rifle.”

Mal couldn’t tell him how funny that was to an L.A. police officer.  He knew her as sweet, uncomplicated Bridget Copper, a
painter of abstract seaside landscapes.   Her hands curved over her enormous belly.  “This baby is actually pushing against my stomach with her hands and feet.  I think she’s just going to come through the skin.”

Jack laughed
, got up, dropped to his knees at Mal’s feet and hugged her tummy.  “Shhhh.  It’s okay, little girl.  Your mommy won’t seem as crazy when you get out here.”

“You’re a mean man, Jack,” Mal said with a laugh and finished off her lemonade.

“Chicken is ready,” called Erin from the doorway.  “Jack, why don’t you help me carry everything out and we’ll eat there on the terrace.”

Jack stood stiffly.  “On duty to service my women,” he said and saluted.

Mal grinned as he walked away and up the steps to take a big tray from Erin.  Mal had fallen for the handsome, silly man who had practically moved in with her and Erin these past few months of her pregnancy, he was there so often.  He and Erin had been a godsend for her and the baby.  The child had grown so quickly, and even though she knew she had three more months to go, a woman in town last week told her she looked like she was full term.

Erin
was taking her in to a local OB-GYN to check out the pregnancy this week.  She would use her vampire abilities to intercept any blood tests and wipe the doctor’s memory so that there was no chance that a first blood baby’s medical information would be recorded and perhaps assessed as different.  Mal was anxious to make sure everything was all right. 
She just felt so large for six months!

Erin followed Jack down the steps, carrying a cooler filled with ice and alcohol, which she and Jack would drink while Mal watched longingly.  Erin was certain the alcohol wasn’t a problem for a first blood child, but Mal refused to consider it. 
Smiling, she watched as Mal tried to get off her bench and Jack dropped the tray quickly to help her up.

These last few months with Jack and Mal had been some of the best of her life.  Erin’s relationships rarely lasted
very long, the one with Kai had been the deepest she’d ever known, until now.  The camaraderie, the laughing, the connections, were all so strong in such a short time between her unexpected houseguest, herself, and the displaced ex-marine, it was as if she had, for the first time in her life, family.  As the days passed, they meant more and more to her.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake!”
Mal yelled as Jack lifted her from the chair with a hand wrapped firmly around each shoulder.  “How many babies am I having?”

Jack was, of course, unaware of
Mal’s supernatural connection with her unborn child, so he was ready with advice for a normal human pregnancy.  “There’s only one heartbeat, right?  What did your doctor say?”

He didn’t know that she hadn’t seen one yet, but Erin had been insistent it wasn’t necessary.  She’d only agreed to take Mal to see the doctor in town for
Mal’s peace of mind since the pregnancy seemed so accelerated.  While Mal trusted Erin, because they had become close these past weeks together, she was still married to the idea that a doctor was necessary when a woman was with child.

Upright again, Mal thanked Jack and noticed that he wasn’t in a hurry to take his hands from her.  She knew he was falling for her.  And if she let herself, she could fall for him as easily.  He was handsome, loving, humorous, and, most importantly, human. 
So sexy that, even in her current condition, Mal often watched him working, the muscles flexing beneath sun-warmed skin, and wanted to take a bite out of him. 

But it wasn’t the time. She had no idea what to expect from this child, or what her life would be like.  All she knew was that she loved living her
e with Erin, safe and happy, and that she wanted to bring her father to the island sometime soon when she was ready.  More than anything, right now, Mal’s mind was on family, by blood or not.

Jack pulled her forward, doing a little jig.  “Dance with me, Bridge,” he said, and continued to entice her with the silliest, funniest, dance moves she’d ever seen.

Nodding, her feet moving to the music that Erin had just started, a fast beat that had her tapping out beats, trying desperately not to look as awkward as Jack.  Truly, the guy could
not
dance.

Mal started to execute a turn when something stabbed her in the belly.  She doubled over as Jack grabbed her and swung her into his arms.  The pain thrust deeply and she gasped.  Erin was there immediately and laid a hand on
Mal’s arm.

“Is it the ch
ild?”

“It may be, but I’m not ready.  It’s too soon,” Mal finally got out as Jack crossed the threshold of the house and laid her on the wide sofa.

“Erin, call the doctor and let him know I’m bringing her into the clinic.”  Jack sat beside Mal, his hand on her forehead. “What can I do?”  He asked Mal.

“I really don’t know.  But it’s too soon,
isn’t it? I’m only six months along.  Jack, she has to be all right.”

Jack brushed
Mal’s damp hair off her forehead.  “It’ll be okay.  Your beautiful baby girl is fine, I promise.  We need to get you to the clinic just as a precaution.”

He turned towards the house.  “Erin?  Did you reach the doctor?”

Erin came out of the house with her keys.  “No, but let’s go on in.  I’ll drive, you take care of Bridget.”

Jack easily lifted Mal
and set her gently in the back of Erin’s bright green dune buggy.  It was one of six vehicles she kept in a large garage behind the beach house.

“I’ll take it easy, Jack, but hold on to her.”

He did, too, his hands supportive, but careful around her stiff body. 

His eyes roamed over
Mal’s face, her expression a mixture of pain and worry that broke his heart.  He wondered how this had happened.  Eight years ago, when his marriage had ended badly, he’d promised himself that he was never going to fall in love again.  Yet here he was, this woman who showed up in his life carrying another man’s child had stolen his heart.  He’d fallen, hard, and didn’t expect it to go much better this time.  Not one man in his family had ever had a long term relationship.  His volatile relationship with his ex was more than enough for him for a lifetime. 
Until now
.

Mal clutched his arm with both of her hands.  “
Don’t let me go, Jack.”

He pulled her closer and held her against his chest.  She was shaking.  Fuck, all he wanted to do was take the pain for her and
make sure that her baby was going to be okay.

He couldn’t do either.

Erin parked right in front of the clinic that served as the primary medical care for this area of the island.  She hurried in and found a young nurse right away.

“I have a pregnant woman who is having abdominal pain at 6 months.  Can I bring her in here?”

The girl nodded.

Erin rushed back out.  “Jack, bring her in.”

“Come on, sweetheart.  We’ll get this taken care of.”

Jack carried Mal through the doors and into a room the nurse motioned towards.

“Dr. Eimar will be here in a moment.  Can you get into this gown?”

Mal nodded and tried to stand, but another wave of pain pushed her back into the bed.  Erin swept into the room.

“Jack, wait outside.”

“But…” Jack started to say, but Erin took his face into her hands and repeated the command.  He nodded and turned without question.

Mal, the wave of pain already subsiding, smiled.  “Do you know how many women would
love
to have that skill?”

Erin smiled back.  “I do. I have used it myself on various men so many times through the years it is impossible to count.  It’s just so much easier than putting up with bullshit, right? 
Now, sweetie.”

Erin sat on the edge of the bed and touched
Mal’s arm, sent a calming compulsion, and plumped up a pillow beneath her head.  “Better?”

With a big sigh, nodding, Mal said
with relief, “Yeah.”

“Good, let’s get you into that hospital gown so he can check you over.”

Mal was happy to give control over to Erin now.  She was trying not to think the worse, that this baby girl she already loved and wanted so badly might not make it.

After Erin slipped the gown over
Mal’s arms and turned her to tie it, she turned Mal back around to look at her.  “It’s going to be okay, my friend.  I’ll stay with you and make sure that we control things.  If something from my world happens, they won’t know what they’re seeing.  I can erase inconvenient memories.  Jack’s another matter.  He’s going to be tough to keep away.”

“I want him with me, Erin.  You two are my lifelines.
”

Another pain struck and Mal doubled over, but when Erin placed a hand on her back, the pain lessened considerably.

“You haven’t had any other pain before this?”

“No.  Everything has been textbook perfect.  Well, other than the fact that I’m carrying the child of man from an ancient vampire race.”

Erin smiled.  “Yeah.  I can’t wait to meet her.”

“Erin, since the pain began, she’s been silent.  That’s why I’m terrified.”

“First bloods are incredibly powerful and durable. I can’t imagine that their offspring are any different.  Trust in her, Mal.”

“Mal?”

Jack stood at the curtains, his eyes on
Mal, then Erin.

“Nickname.
  An old one.  Jack, come on back in, our girl is asking for you.”

Moments later he was at
Mal’s side when the doctor finally showed.

Dr. Eimar, a
fit, tall dark-toned man that reminded Mal a little bit of her baby’s father, took a long look at Mal’s belly.

“I’d say someone is going to deliver a baby by tomorrow,” he commented as he pulled on a pair of latex gloves.

“I’m only six months along, doctor,” Mal said quickly.

He looked puzzled,
then slipped the gown up to examine her.  “You certainly look full term. Who is your doctor?”