Roll the Dice (9 page)

Being a birth coach hadn’t seemed so bad when she’d promised months ago.
She couldn't refuse with Debbie’s pleading eyes full of tears and need. She’d
tried to talk her into doing this with Cory, to strengthen their relationship,
but Debbie had broken down and begged.

“He can’t see the bitch I can be—not yet, Aurora. He has no idea that
I’ve got this hard woman inside of me. The pain will drag her out of hiding I
just know it. You gotta be there with me. You’ve already seen her and you still
like me.”

“Who says?” Aurora had teased. She hated to let down the one person she
considered as her best friend. On the other hand, being in the hospital room
while they delivered her baby…? It wasn’t listed anywhere in the BFF manual.

The one Lamaze class she’d agreed to attend had been tough enough.
Sitting in the same room with all those expectant mothers—glowing, chattering,
unconsciously bragging.

On top of that, Rhondo’s case ate away at her more than any other in her
career. Most days it was all she thought about. Other files were worked on and
the tasks got done as a matter of course, but every spare minute and all her
resources had gone into finding that one monster. The person she hated above
all. The man who’d attacked someone she loved.

Now Kai had entered her life with a blast—literally. He’d shot her for
God’s sake and she still had the hots for him. How could she let that happen?
He was one mixed up dude, had his own demons, and she didn’t need this added
burden.
 

Especially now! Life had smoothed out for her.
 
Old patterns had changed, and carrying her past hurts around had
become passé. Working hard on her inner battles, she’d begun to think that
maybe one day, she could live a normal life.

In the wee hours of the morning, the hospital’s waiting room was empty
except for him the prowling expectant father whose style of verbalizing had
deteriorated to grunted exclamations. Kai sat back in the uncomfortable chair
with his head propped in his hands and his ankle balanced on the opposite knee.
Unconsciously he rubbed his gut and tried to settle more comfortably. Poor
Cory! He’d never seen his friend so messed up.

Always immaculate, the man wore his suits, dress shirts and matching
ties with a flair that bordered on neurotic. Tonight, his wrinkled shirt hung
loose. The creases in his pants proof he’d grabbed the first pair closest when
he’d dressed earlier. And wearing dress shoes without socks had to be a new
low. The guy was screwed up royally.

Thinking screwed up—he had no room to talk. Still didn’t know if he
should be feeling relieved or pissed at missing out on making love to with the
most beautiful woman he’d ever known. One who turned him into a dithering idiot
whenever her sapphire beauties connected with his hungry gaze. He wished he
could get stinking drunk and just forget about everything.

He switched legs, crossing his left over and hoped the discomfort in his
nuts would soon ease. He hadn’t felt this way in years. Must have been the
dancing! They’d danced most of the evening, having fun and making each other
crazy.

Then later her off-hand invitation to come up to her apartment had been
so typical of the hard-assed woman he’d gotten to know that he hadn't been able
to refuse. Realizing he should have thanked her then sped away and saved
himself this hassle didn't help whatsoever.
 
He guessed it was that ornery chip on her shoulder he felt attracted to.
It would warn off most guys, but he loved challenges.

Though he had to admit, if they’d carried on into her bedroom, he’d
never have been able to walk away. It wasn’t hard to see that hooking up once
with her wouldn’t have been enough for any man. Guess the phone call had saved
him from making the biggest mistake of his life.

Remembering back to when he’d followed her into her kitchen, the décor
had registered, big time. This chick wasn’t a party girl at all. Her kitchen
spoke volumes about the little miss homemaker she hid inside. Herb plants had
decorated her windowsill and bottles of fancy oils her counter. He’d spotted a
bread-maker in the corner and scads of recipe books tucked away on a shelf.

The woman who lived there expected a lot more than he could ever
provide. Right now his future held little that could be considered positive. He
had a date with a killer, and he fully intended that only one of them would
walk away. So getting involved in anyone’s life would be a huge mistake. He
should thank his lucky stars they’d been interrupted.

Who was he trying to kid? His body still ached and rubbing his stomach
didn't come close to settling the knots. He hadn’t gotten so worked up in
years, and to be left unfulfilled sucked big time.

Most of his life he’d been lucky with the opposite sex. Women tended to
throw themselves at him and it wasn’t because he looked for the attention.
Truth be told, most times he could care less.

Sure, when he’d been a rookie, living the life of a cool dude had its
moments, but that grew old over the years. Once his tomcatting days stopped,
he’d become particular and tended to be more monogamous. Things had been just
fine until Rhondo wrecked his world and blasted his carefree life into
smithereens. No more fun and games. And absolutely no more women, especially
Aurora.

His sister getting attacked shouldn’t have happened. That kind of crap
only happened to other people. Ones he’d sworn to protect. But not to his
happy, well adjusted, secure family. Not to him…

“What the hell is taking so long?” Cory stalked over and threw himself
into the chair next to Kai’s. “It’s been hours.”

“Hey, cool your engines. Far as I know this could take a lot longer.
It’s her first baby, isn’t it? For some women, it takes days.”

Seeing his friend’s face change from red and bothered to white and
terrified made him wished he’d run his thoughts through his brain first before
voicing them.

“Hey man, chill! She’s healthy and young. And they have the best of the
best in this hospital. Plus Aurora’s in there with her. What could go wrong?”

“For chrissake! Stop telling me to breathe. I’d be dead if I wasn’t
breathing. ” The fiery-faced, crazy woman lunged towards Aurora and puffed in
her face. “See!”

“Calm down, Debbie. You know what I meant. You need to breathe like they
showed you in Lamaze class. It relaxes your stomach muscles.” Aurora wished
she’d paid more attention when the redheaded termagant of a teacher had drilled
them in their roles. “In through your mouth and then puff it out…or some bloody
thing like that. Hell, you should have been paying more attention. I’m not the
one having the baby.”

“Sure, now you’re blaming me for getting pregnant. Like you’ve never
gotten caught for screwing up? Screwing up, that’s funny.” Her laughter sounded
close to hysteria and Aurora knew she had to calm her.

“Hey, that’s not what I meant and you know it. It wasn’t your fault.”

“You’re right. It was Cory’s fault. He had to try and make me feel
better. Sure—take away the bad memories and replace them with good ones. How
the hell could I have fallen for his bullshit?”

“Because it wasn’t! You know he was sincere, that he’d loved you for
years. And you loved him.”

“If he loved me so much, why didn’t he use a condom? The bastard!” She
screamed the last two words, her face contorting almost beyond recognition.

The older nurse, who’d been in and out of the delivery room, returned
and set a bowl of cool water and a clean cloth down next to where Aurora leaned
over the bed. On the same tray lay a dish of ice chips. “Listen darling, Let
the contraction happen. Stop fighting. Go with it.”
 
Her voice rang with authority from being in hundreds of
deliveries.

“You go—” Debbie’s muffled words couldn’t be heard from behind Aurora’s
hand.

“She’s not herself, nurse. Truly, she’s normally a levelheaded
sweetheart but having a baby doesn’t seem to agree with her much.

The nurse chuckled and said. “You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been told
to do to myself since I began working the maternity ward. I don’t take it
personally. You can let her go.”

Aurora had eased the pressure almost immediately, and with her eyebrow
raised, she spoke to the sweating, flushed woman on the bed. “You gonna settle
down?”

“Bite me!” Debbie’s tone had lessened and her eyes had shifted from
hysterical to merely pain filled.

Another contraction began that took all of her concentration and most of
the fight out of her. This time she let Aurora wipe the sweat from her face and
neck. She even turned her cheek into the gentle hand as if seeking reassurance.
Without any hesitation, Aurora smoothed her hair back from her forehead and
caressed her. You’re doing great, Deb.”

“Never thought I’d be a mom. This should be happening to you, not me.
You’re the one who’s always going ga-ga over the kids at the centre. Hell you
go nuts when there’s a family dispute involving children. Not me. I’m the career
woman.”

“Yeah, yeah! A real professional.”

“I mean it! I never cared if I had kids, never exactly wanted them.”

“So why’d you keep this one? You had good reason not to go through with
the pregnancy.”

“Hell if I know. On the chance it’s Cory’s baby and I couldn’t hurt
anything that belongs to him, I guess….arrgg shut up and help me…”

The contraction lasted longer than the others and Aurora could see her
friend losing strength with each episode. She seemed to slip into a dazed
semi-conscious state that worried Aurora.

Whispering in a harsh voice, she questioned the nurse who’d stayed in
the background, fiddling around with her charts.

“Why isn’t the kid coming out? She’s really tired, Nurse.”

“Last time I checked, she still had a way to go. She’s doing just fine,
my dear. It’s not an easy process for lots of young women, but they make it
through, trust me.”

Aurora kept wiping Debbie’s forehead, trying to cool her down and make
her more comfortable. She held her hand and fed her ice chips from time to time
when her eyes opened, foggy and disoriented.

Half an hour passed before she panicked. “Why isn’t she having more
contractions? They’ve stopped.” Stomach tensed and with a headache clamouring,
she turned to the nurse. “What’s wrong?”

Just then Debbie thrust into a half-sitting position as if whatever in
her tummy had pulled on chords like a puppet. “I have to push. Help me, the
baby’s coming. This is it.”

Within moments, the nurse had rung for Dr. Montgomery and set up a
delivery kit. Aurora stayed near Debbie’s head to help support her when she
bore down, and the others nonchalantly took their places.
  

“Three hard birth-pushes later; the baby entered the world with a
boisterous cry. The doctor took care of the umbilical cord, then passed the
child to the waiting nurse. Quickly, she cleaned and enshrouded him in a
blue-sided blanket. Then while Aurora looked on in amazement, the satisfied
caregiver thrust him into Debbie’s waiting arms. Both women surveyed the
wizened little male while tears rained down their faces.

“He’s gorgeous, Deb, such a handsome baby.” Wrinkly, red-faced and
complaining loudly, Aurora knew she'd never seen anything more beautiful.

Lips quivering, Debbie looked into Aurora’s eyes with a warning glint in
her own. “Get Cory for me, okay? It’s time he met
his
son.”

The next morning, Cory paced around his office—behind the chair Aurora
sat in and past where Kai leaned against the wall. A business card he held in
his hand was being flicked back and forth on his palm.

“You didn’t get anything from the clinic. No one talked to our man
Rhondo, or had an appointment with him. Did you show them his mug shot?”

“Yes! We all but begged.
 
Not one
person had anything to say. They wanted to help us, but you can’t get what
isn’t there.” Aurora used Cory’s own favourite phrase back on him.

“Have you gone through the case files to see if any of his victims
worked there? Or any other links to the place?”

“Nothing! I checked.” Again Aurora answered.

A knock on the door had everyone turning to see Detective Hampton enter.
The big Irish officer, working follow-up on the case, wore an expression of
puzzlement. “Just found something. Not sure if it’s applicable. It says here
that the clinic had a break-in last month. But it was almost a week before the
day we figured Rhondo arrived back in town.”

Kai leaned forward, his face lit up with interest “What date?