Mischief and Mistletoe (7 page)

“You have a couple years yet left to hit that mark.”

Russell laughed. “Yeah that’s never going to happen and I’m okay with it.”

Ty frowned. “You don’t know. It could happen.”

“You’re missing the point
, man. It doesn’t matter if it does or doesn’t. I’m happy. I’m married to a woman that is the complete opposite of what my dream girl was growing up and I adore every damn thing about her.”

“Everything?”

“Everything. Even the things that drive me insane I love. How crazy is that?”

Ty grinned. He knew exactly what his friend was talking about, because he felt the exact same way. “Not crazy at all.”

“I’m telling you, man, in another life, we must have done something right.”

“Must have.”

“Okay,” Charlotte said as she entered the room. “No more cocoa for you two. You’re getting all sappy.”

“Stop pretending as if you don’t like it.” Ty reached and took her hand and pulled her down into his lap.

“I like it. I like it so much I want to hear it from the beginning. Tell me how much you love me.”

“I love you.”

Charlotte wrapped her arms around his neck. “Show me.”

“Gladly.” He moved
toward her as she moved toward him. They met somewhere in the middle and shared a deep yet tender kiss. Ty tried to bring everything he felt for her into the kiss to show her what it was she meant to him. Love was just four letters. The word alone wasn’t strong enough, bold enough to tell her everything that was in his heart, so he did it the only way he knew how, by touching, by caressing her, by…loving her.

She moaned into his mouth as he moved his hand to her bottom and pulled her closer to him. He wanted to take her right here, in front of the tree so he could see the lights reflect against her skin as he stroked in and out of her body. He wanted
—

A loud wolf whistle brought not only their kiss to an end but the moment as well. With a disgruntled groan, Ty tore himself away from his wife’s all
-to-tempting lips to stare at Tamara who was fanning herself with her hand.

“Don’t stop on my account. Things were just getting interesting.” Tamara teased. “Hell
, let me waddle my ass over there so I can get a good seat.”

“Don’t start
, woman,” Ty growled playfully.

“No way am I missing this. If I would have known you two were going to put the ho
in
ho, ho, ho
this year I would have saved some of that popcorn to eat while I watched.”

“Russell, control your woman.”

His friend looked from him to his wife then back at Ty. “Have you met my wife?”

Tamara laughed but the sound was quickly turned into one of surprise. “
Ohhh.”

Russell went to his feet. “What’s wrong?”

“Either I just peed myself or my water just broke.” Everyone’s gaze immediately went to the floor where a puddle was beginning to build.

Charlotte jumped to her feet and went to her friend’s side. “I don’t think that’s pee.”

“Then that would explain the contractions.”

“Contractions
!” Everyone yelled at once.

“I thought it was false labor. I guess I was wrong.” Tamara gripped her belly and groaned. “Well
, fuck.”

Ty couldn’t have said it better himself.

Chapter Four

Despite everyone losing their shit around her, Tamara refused to panic. This was labor, not a walk at night through a gated community in Florida. She could so do this. Unfortunately from the looks of her near and dear, two of whom were pacing in front of her in the most annoying and dizzying of manners, she might very well be doing this all by herself.

At least there was Charlotte. Granted she was as freaked out as the guys were
, but was handling it so much better. Charlotte went right into work mode and powered through her stress and helped Tamara get out of her soaked pants, then moved right to phone tree duty to contact the midwife Tamara had been seeing. The guys on the other hand had barely managed to clean up her little spill without freaking out.

Leaving
Tamara the simple job of keeping track of her contractions, now that she knew what they actually were. During Lamaze class this had been designated a Russell job, but he was in no position mentally to be responsible enough for this task. He was too busy following her around the room and staring at her as if she were a bug under a microscope. The most amusing part about it was, where Tweedledum was, Tweedledee wasn’t far behind. One would think Ty hadn’t gone through this already but he seemed as lost as Russell. They were seriously matching her pass for pass. If she stopped, they stopped, sometimes one running into the other, but if she started up again, they would literally trip over each other to be behind her. For what, she had no idea, but they were there…just in case the baby shot out of the back of her head or something.
Yep…her two heroes.

It would be sad if it w
asn’t so funny.

“Babe
,” Russell said, suddenly at her side. “Was that another contraction? Your breathing changed and you stopped moving.”

It took everything in Tamara
not to roll her eyes. Heaven forbid she stop moving. “No. That was me breathing.”

“Are you sure?” Ty’s asked. “Because
your breathing definitely changed.”

Russell nodded. “Yes definitely.”

Tamara gave in and rolled her eyes while praying for divine intervention. “I think I know what a contraction is.”

“
Okay.” Russell nodded in a satisfied manner. “I just want to make sure you remember to breathe. In and out. In and out.”

Tamara cocked her head to the side
and stared at her husband in wonder. “You do realize I know how to breathe, right?”

“
Don’t get irritated with me. The Lamaze coach sai—”

“I was there
,” she snapped. “You don’t need to recap it for me, but like I said, that wasn’t even a contraction. That was just me giving you proof of life.”

“Well
, keep doing that. But slower. Like this.” Russell demonstrated in the most dramatic manner that Tamara could not resist laughing.

In the midst of laughter another contraction hit, cutting her off midstream. Cl
enching, Tamara placed one hand on her stomach and the other on the back of the couch. She rose on her tiptoes and rocked back and forth, trying to work through the contraction while doing her best to breathe calmly and steadily. It was painful, not bad-period-cramp pain, like her lying, stupid Lamaze coach had said, but more like someone-was-stabbing-her-over-and-over-in-her-side-and-back painful, and it seemed like it was taking forever for it to end. But just when she thought she couldn’t handle another second of it, the pain thankfully subsided. She let out a deep breath when it was over much in the way Russell had just mimed only seconds earlier, which caused her to laugh again.

“What is so damn funny?”

“You.” She knew from the length the contractions were coming that she would have a few minutes before the next one hit and wanted to put the time to the best use. Grabbing Russell’s hand, she pulled him to her then wrapped her arms around his waist. “Everything is going to be okay. This is natural. Women have been having babies for thousands of years.”

“In the hospital.”

“Well, technically no.”

“Do you really think I give a fuck about technicalities right now when you should be in a hospital?”

“Sweetie, we weren’t ever going to be in a hospital. Even if it wasn’t snowing.” She’d purposely chosen a midwife because she wanted a more natural, personal experience.

“A birthing center is like a hospital. They have medical stuff there and Juniper has degrees and licenses and a stethoscope and…stuff.”
His face got redder and his eyes grew wider with every word. “Lots of stuff. She’s done this before. That’s why we’re paying her money…because she’s done this before.”

“I think you’re the one who needs to breathe before you have a stroke. In and out,” she mocking
ly mimicked his earlier movements. “In and out.”

“Not everything is a joke
, Tamara.”

“It can be if you say it right.”

Russell laid his forehead against hers and sighed. “How are you so calm?”

“Because you’re not.” She laughed. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

“You can’t make a promise like that. No matter how much I wish you could.”

Tamara wanted to reassure him but before she could think of something witty or soothing the pressure began to build again.

Crap, that wasn’t good
. This one was coming on faster than the one before it. Grimacing she pulled away from Russell and reached for the couch once more to use it as an anchor to bounce through the pain. Russell began to breathe again but this time not in the annoying manner he did before, but more in time with her own, which allowed her to anchor herself and focus her energy. When it ended, she brightened once more. “I’m thinking we’re beginning to get the hang of it.”

“I’d rather we’d get the hang of an emergency room.”

“I’d rather we were pushing it out of your penis instead of my vagina, but we don’t always get what we want.”

“Oh hell no.”

Tamara bit her bottom lip to quit from grinning at the disgusted look on his handsome face.

“Okay,” Charlotte said as she came back into the room. From the overly happy look on her face Tamara knew the shit was about to hit the fan. “Do you want to hear the really bad news, the bad news or the let’s look for the silver
-lining news?”

Tamara groaned. Normally she liked being right but she would have been okay if she was wrong in this instant.

“All of it,” Russell growled.

“I called 9
-1-1 and your midwife. Neither had good things to say. Apparently the
not really a storm
has turned out to be a big fucking storm. There are several electrical poles down, which has resulted in some parts of town losing electricity. The roads that are clear are packed and the ones that are empty of cars are filled with snow. The emergency room is completely filled, not that that matters though because at this present point they have no means of getting out here to get her. But there is an upside to that.”

“How is that even possible?” Russell said, speaking the exact words Tamara was thinking.

“Because both the 9-1-1 operator and the midwife said the best place for Tamara to be is exactly where she is. Indoors, in a house with heat, lights and running water.” Charlotte smiled sympathetically at Tamara. “The operator did say though that they will be sending an available unit as soon as possible, but she did state they would be doing the calls not in order of who called first, but by severity level. Consider this triage.”

Tamara rubbed her ha
nd on her stomach and let out a nervous breath. “Oh well, better to have the baby at home than in the backseat of a car in the middle of a snowstorm.”

Charlotte nodded. “Exactly.”

“Fine,” Russell said stubbornly. “And what about Juniper? Is she going to try to get to the birthing center and prep it for when we do get there?”

“She’s stuck at home like the rest of us, so even if you went to the birthing center she wouldn’t be there. But she said they
’re already working on her road so as soon as it’s clear she’s going to come to where you are, be it the hospital or this house.”

Some good news was better than none at all.
Sure this wasn’t part of her birthing plan but it was something. “Wonderful.”

“Exactly
.” Charlotte grinned. “Juniper said if you go into active labor before she or the ambulance arrive, then we’re to call her back and she’ll walk us through it as best she can.”

“Walk us through it!” Russell had that stroke look on his face again.

“But she’s going to get here as soon as she can and she promised to keep calling to check on you.” Charlotte held up the paper she’d been writing on with a nervous smile. “And she gave me a list of things we should gather in case they can’t be here in time.”

Russell frowned.
“A list for what?”

“Things to have so we can
deliver the baby at home.”

“Oh hell no.” Russell threw up his hands and stormed from the room.

Tamara shared an “oh fuck” look with Charlotte before following behind him to the front door where, to her surprise, he was pulling his coat out of the closet. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to go shovel the cars out and drive you to the hospital myself.”

“Are you going to shovel all the way up to the hospital? Because it’s just not these back roads that are snowed in.”

“If I have to
.”

“Do I need to explain to you in small words how that’s not going to work for me.”

“I have to do something!” he yelled. “I can’t just sit in here boiling water.”

“Then don’t. Hold my hand instead. Tell me I’m doing great. Rub my back. Curse and spit and rail against the man. Do one of a million things that don’t involve you walking out their door.”
Tamara closed her eyes for a brief moment and prayed for the strength to go on. “Be in this moment with me right now. I got this. Okay? But that doesn’t mean I still don’t need you in here with me. I need— Fuck! Another contraction.”

Russell dropped his coat and rushed to her side. Tamara grabbed hold of his shoulders and held on for dear life. This one was harder than the last one or the one before that
, and despite her epic speech and promise of bravery, Tamara was beginning to feel scared. A matter that wasn’t helped by images of Russell shoveling his life away.

When the pain subsided, she pulled back and looked at him, ready to go in again. “I need—”

“Shh…” Russell placed his fingers on her lips. “You win. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not sure if that was a real contraction or a fake one, either way you got me. I’m here.”

“It was real, but I’ll keep the option to fake one on hand in case you flip out on me again.”

“You don’t fight fair.”

“All’s fair in love and war…”

“And labor apparently.”

“Exactly.” Tamara let go of Russell and placed her hand on her stomach. “I think I want to try laboring in the tub for a bit because this is really beginning to hurt.”

Russell paled a bit but he didn’t waver. “I’ll get that started.”

“And
I’ll get the men up. Between the five of us we should be able to make a little leeway so it will be easier for the ambulance to get here. I can also call Ressingler,” Ty said, referring to a neighboring rancher. “He’s got a tractor and I’m sure we can get him to clear the street down to the main road for us.”

“And while you’re in the tub, I’m going to get the stuff on the list together,” Charlotte glanced warily over at Russell. “To have just in case.”

Tamara didn’t believe for a second anyone was going to get here in time, but if Russell needed a “just in case”, to help him deal with it, she was more than happy to play. “I like it. Nothing wrong with being overly prepared.”

“You guys realize I do know you’re playing me, right?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Charlotte asked innocently.

“Yep
.” Ty came up behind Charlotte and placed his hand around her waist. “They are totally playing you.”

“I would never…” Tamara let the sentence trail off. No point in continuing a lie no one was buying anyway. “I’m going to go upstairs now. But before I do, I would like to point one thing out.”

“What?” Russell asked.

“If I hadn’t come over this afternoon like I did, we would be doing this at home. Alone.” Tamara had been waiting awhile to throw that little factoid into the mix, but from the look of irritation on Russell’s face she was beginning to
think maybe that was something she should have kept to herself. Nervous, she glanced over at her friend who was shaking her head. “Too soon?”

“Yes.” Charlotte frowned and shook her head at what Tamara could only surmise was her boldness. “Way too soon.”

Tamara took one look at her husband’s face then fled the room. It had been said time after time that she didn’t know when to shut up, but no one could ever accuse her of not knowing when to run away. Tamara was many things, but stupid wasn’t one of them.

Of course since she was a billion
-years pregnant and in active labor, she barely got ten feet before her husband caught her, but when he did, he didn’t toss her over his lap as he had been known to do in the past, instead he just pulled her in close to him and held her tight for a few seconds. When he pulled away, she could see the worry clouding his eyes.