Ladd Haven (36 page)

The pain was incredible. Excruciating.
The phone tumbled from her grasp.

Is this what all women went
through
? It was horrible to think having a
baby meant this much pain—why would a woman ever do it
twice?

Baby
. Casey seized on the thought. She was having a baby. More
fluid collected beneath her, soaking into the bale of hay beneath
her. A fresh wave of fear flowed through her and she began to cry.
This wasn’t good. She glanced around the barn. This wasn’t good at
all!

Troy entered the barn and whipped his
gaze around the interior. Tractor, tools, hay bales, there was no
one here. With several long strides, he called out, “Casey? Casey,
are you here?”

Pausing, he thought he heard something.
Slowing his breath, he listened. His gaze narrowed. It sounded like
whimpering. His heart belted out several beats in rapid succession.
Taking a few steps, he surveyed the vicinity. Partially hidden
behind the mountain of bales, he thought he saw a dark head of
hair. Adrenaline kicked. “Casey?”

Over a lower bale, her face emerged.
Anxious blue eyes pleaded for him to come. Adrenaline charged him
forward. Warning flares fired in his chest, his skull as he ran
toward her. “Casey!”

“
Troy,” she cried, her voice
shaky and weak. “I think I’m having the baby.”

Blood on her dress. Alarm ripped a hole
in his chest. Questions fired through him. When did she get here?
How had he missed her? As he reached her side, all questions
evaporated. He dropped to a knee. “Does it hurt?”

She nodded. “It hurts a
lot.”

“
Okay. It’s okay,” he said,
brushing damp hair from her eyes. His mind raced through options.
Towels. Water. He needed something to clean her up. He needed
something to clean a baby. “Hold on a second.”

“
Troy?”

Her panicky tone split his gut, but if
he was going to help her, he needed supplies and he needed them
quick. “Stay put. I’ll be right back.”

Grabbing a stack of white towels from a
cleaning closet, he dashed to the wall and plucked an empty bucket
from a stack by the garbage cans. Next, he ran to a hose bib and
filled the bucket with water, all the while keeping an eye on
Casey. “One second,” he called out to her, controlled panic
streaming through his veins. “I’ll be there in one second.”
Wrenching the valve closed, he jumped to his feet, a sheet of water
drenching his jeans.

Eyeing the bucket and towels as he
neared, she asked, “What are you doing?”

“
I’m delivering a baby, what
do you think?”

She recoiled. “What—you can’t do
that!”

“
I sure can. If I can
deliver a foal I darn sure can deliver a human.”

“
Troy,” she sputtered. “My
mom is coming. I need to go to the hospital.”

Troy zapped her with a
dark-eyed gaze and Casey stilled. “Casey, you don’t have time to go
to the hospital. This baby is coming
now
.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“
Ohmigod, ohmigod,
ohmigod
.”

“
Shhh,” Troy hushed. “It’s
gonna be okay.” Breaking a nearby bale in half, he scattered chunks
of hay across the floor to make it more comfortable for her. Taking
her gently by the arms, he asked, “Can you move?” She nodded. “I
think it’ll be easier if you lie down.” He didn’t know why, but it
seemed more natural, like the mare who delivered Vegas. And didn’t
women lie down at the hospital?

They did. Casey needed to lie down, he
decided and he eased her to the ground.

Blue eyes became saucers. “Troy, I’m
scared.”

Troy felt the same. He was scared—for
her, for the baby—but he wasn’t about to let on. Casey needed him
to be calm. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“
But it’s too
early!”

Troy shook his head. “Don’t matter.
When a baby’s ready to come into the world, nothin’s’ gonna stop
her.” Her. His little girl. Swallowing hard, he gently lifted
Casey’s dress and winced at the sight of her blood-soaked panties.
“I need to remove your underwear, okay?”

Propped up on her elbows, she nodded,
her gaze intent on his. Troy lifted her hips, spread a towel
beneath her and removed her panties as delicately as he could. His
heart pitched at the sight of a dark hair poking out from between
Casey’s legs. The baby was coming all right—this minute! With a
wary eye to Casey, he said, “I need you to breathe.” He moistened
another towel with water and wiped his hands clean, forcing his
pulse to settle. “Push and breathe and go real easy,
okay?”

“
Okay,” she
whispered.

“
Atta girl. We can do this,”
Troy said almost as much for his benefit as for hers. He reached
for Casey’s hand and kissed it. “The baby will work her way out and
we’ll take it from there, okay?”

Casey nodded, then jerked her hand from
his, her face twisting in pain. She sucked in a few quick breaths
and sank deeper onto her elbows. Troy divided his attention between
Casey and the baby. He hated to see Casey in pain. Hated that their
baby was being born in a barn, but there was no other way. “Baby’s
gonna be fine—”

She cut him off with a guttural cry,
her fingers clawing at the ground.

“
That’s it, keep pushin’.”
He spoke over her awful grunting noises, assuring himself this was
normal. Everything was normal. Women made all kind of sounds when
they were in labor. “You got it. Keep breathing. In and
out...”

Casey shrieked at the top of her lungs,
more howl than cry. Troy checked the baby and noticed a dark-haired
bubble of a head emerge. “Okay, Casey, we’re gettin’ there.” He
reached down and placed his hands beneath the tiny head, forehead
skin brighter than a lobster. Casey tried to close her legs but he
wedged his body between them. “C’mon, Casey. We’re on the
homestretch. You can do this.”

“
I can’t! It
hurts!”

“
Keep pushing,” he said.
“You’ve got to keep pushing. The baby’s coming out right now.”
Casey dropped her head back, moaning and writhing like a dying
animal. Thoughts of Vegas’ birth flooded his mind. The foal had
been stuck for too long, stopped breathing. Clammy fear clamped
down on him. “Push!” Troy urged, afraid for his baby if Casey quit.
“You’ve got to push through it!”

“
It hurts.”

“
I know it does, Case, but
it’ll stop when the baby is out.” Troy felt her push but it was
weak, fatigued. She was dropping off. Giving up. “Do you have a
name picked out?” he asked, drawing her focus back to the moment.
“You said she was gonna be a girl. Do you know what you want to
call her?”

“
Cassidy,” she breathed out.
“I always wanted to be a Cassidy.”

Troy cradled the baby’s head in his
fingertips, supporting it as it protruded from Casey’s body. “I
like it.” He rallied a grin. “Sounds like a real
cowgirl.”

Casey rewarded him with a faint giggle
before her body arched and she wreathed in pain. “Troy, help
me!”

“
I’m here. It’s okay.”
Perspiration dripped from his nose, salting his lips. Whipping the
hair from his face, he concentrated on Casey. “I need you to
push—real hard, right now—I need you to push. Can you do that for
me?”

“
Yes.” Casey clutched at
clumps of hay on the ground and pushed hard.

“
Atta girl,” he said,
relieved the head was emerging. Gingerly supporting the newborn
with his finger pads, he could feel a little neck and shoulders.
They were like sticks. It was the weirdest feeling to know he was
touching a live baby—his baby—as it was being born. Completely
different than a foal. It was amazing, staggering.
Fragile.

Mindful of his hold, he focused on
Casey. “A few more and we’re done, okay? That’s it. A few more and
we’re home free.”

“
Uh-huh.” Panting, Casey’s
breathing was audible, strained. She lifted up to her elbows again,
like her interest had been re-ignited. Cheeks flushed, she looked
him straight in the eyes. “I can do this.”

Troy grinned. “You can do this.”
Closing her eyes, Casey grunted, her face wracked by a grimace.
“That’s right, push,” he urged, gently tugging the baby’s body as
she did so. Overcome by a rush of adrenaline, Troy knew they were
close. Holding the tiny human being as she entered a new world, he
was struck by how delicate she appeared. Red and squash-faced, her
bony limbs were stuck to her body. Casey pushed again and the baby
slid out entirely, her umbilical cord the only thing left to
connect her to her momma. “She’s out!” he declared
triumphantly.

Casey’s eyes shone. “She
is?”

“
Sure is,” he said, mindful
of the cord, the baby’s need to breathe. Should he spank the baby
like they did on television? Troy blanked. Cut the cord?
What was he supposed to do
?

Troy honed in on baby’s chest, looking
for signs of movement. He wiped the fluid from around the baby’s
nose and mouth.

“
Can I see the baby?” Casey
asked, lifting her body fully.

Troy held the baby up without thinking,
the sticky cord dangling against his forearms.

“
She’s so small...” Casey
marveled. Flashing a glance to Troy with renewed panic, she asked,
“Is she okay?”

“
I think so,” he replied,
noting the faintest rise and fall of her chest, more a flutter of
skin near the rib cage. Leaning an ear close, he listened. Was that
the baby’s breath sound he detected? Or was it his own?

Holding as still as he could, he
continued to listen. The baby convulsed in a tiny sneeze. Casey
laughed. Relief swept through him. “I think she’s okay!” he
announced happily.

“
Maybe she’s allergic to
hay.”

“
Hope not,” Troy said,
heartened by the love coursing in Casey’s eyes. “’Cause this here
girl is gonna learn how to ride before she walks.”

Casey looked to him. “Can I hold
her?”

“
Course you can,” he said.
Sliding his knees along the ground, he maneuvered his body next to
hers. He placed the baby in her outstretched hands.

As though fearful she’d break, Casey
cautiously took the infant from him, crossing her legs Indian-style
beneath her. As Casey gazed at the miniature figure, Troy tugged
the hem of her dress over her knees. “She’s beautiful.”

“
That she is. Most beautiful
creature I’ve ever seen.” Concerned with completing the task, he
wondered if he was supposed to cut the cord. It looked like it was
pulsating. Should he pull the placenta out? Horses allowed it to
release naturally. Peering at Casey, Troy decided to let nature
take its course. Childbirth was natural. What came next had to be
natural, too. Slightly unnerved by the mess of blood beneath Casey,
soaking through her dress, he wadded a towel and tucked it between
her legs.

“
Casey!”

Jarred by the interruption, Troy turned
on his hunches. Annie and Cal Foster rush into the barn, Miss
Delaney and Nick on their heels. “What happened?”

“
We had a baby,” Troy said,
prouder than he’d ever been in his whole life.

Casey’s mom stopped dead in her tracks.
“You had a baby?”

Cal grinned. “We have a
granddaughter!”

“
Sure do,” Troy replied.
“Most beautiful little thing you ever laid eyes on.”

Mrs. Foster rushed over, crouched
beside her daughter and locked onto the baby in Casey’s hands.
Slick from birth, skin wrinkly, the baby was making noises that
reminded Troy of a kitten. Casey smiled. “Say hi to your new
granddaughter.”

Mrs. Foster was speechless. The others
gathered around her, ogling over shoulder. Shock was the best word
to describe the women’s expressions. Pleasure covered the men. Troy
felt a healthy mix of both.

“
Ain’t she a
beauty?”

“
Troy, she’s the most
beautiful baby I’ve ever seen,” Nick responded.

Delaney followed suit, her gaze strung
tightly around Casey and the baby. “She’s amazing,
Troy.”

Cal grinned. “No different than
delivering a foal, huh?”

Troy laughed. “Well, now I wouldn’t go
sayin’ all that. This here was quite a bit different but we
managed.”

Nick grinned. “You did more than
manage. You saved the day.”

Casey was staring between her mother
and her baby. Eyes glistening, she was mesmerized between the two.
“What do you think?”

“
Are you okay?” Casey
nodded. Glancing to the wriggling baby in Casey’s hands, Mrs.
Foster started to cry. “Is the baby okay?”

“
I think so.”

“
Ambulance is on its way to
take you two to the hospital,” Cal informed them. “We called on our
way here.”

“
Good,” Delaney clipped.
“I’ll head over to the stables so they’ll know to direct them
here.”

“
How about we call down to
the hotel and get Malcolm to direct them back?” Nick
asked.

Delaney nodded. “Better
idea.”