Conviction (Consolation Duet #2) (32 page)

I wait for someone to tell him to kiss the bride, but he takes a third ring in his hand that’s on a fine, gold chain. “Aarabelle,” he squats down as she sits in the sand. I clutch my throat and try to stop from sobbing. “I know I’m not your father, but I’ll be a daddy to you. Here’s a ring of my promise to you. I’ll protect you and kiss your knee, plus I promise to never be one of those jerk stepparents, because I’ll never see you as anything but my daughter.” He clasps the necklace around her neck. There’s no holding back. Tears fall relentlessly, and Reanell, Catherine, Ashton, and my mother are all weeping too. “Oh, and I’ll give you cake for breakfast and ice cream for lunch.”

Liam stands and looks at me. He tugs me flush against him. “Loving you is the greatest honor of my life. You gave me not only you, but two children to love.”

My hand rests against his beating heart. “You’ll never know how much I love you.” I sniffle and he once again wipes my eyes.

“Can I kiss my wife now?” he looks at Mark.

“Make it a good one,” Mark smirks. “By the power bestowed on me from the website of ordained dot com, I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

Liam wraps his arms tighter around my waist and dips me back. “You heard the reverend.”

His lips press against mine as he cradles me back. Our lips mold to one another as I kiss my husband. The man who I know I’ll spend the rest of my life with because we are a perfect match. He pulls me back up and then lifts Aarabelle. He kisses her cheek and she wraps her arms around him.

“I love you,” Liam tells us both.

“I yuv you,” Aara replies.

I glance at my family and friends around me and joy explodes from within. I’ve never been this happy or more sure of where I am. Sometimes you have to wade through the bad to find the good. Life isn’t easy, but with Liam by my side, I know I don’t have to carry it all on my own. Our love will heal us and lift us up.

“It’s time.” Natalie shakes me and I go to swat at her. Which then is followed by a slap on my back.

“Lee,” I groan. I’m exhausted. We had a bunch of dives and training things this week. I’ve gotten a total of maybe ten hours of sleep all week. “Not now.”

“No, wake up! It’s time. Like the baby is coming.”

What?

That wakes me up. I sit forward and look over as she looks unimpressed. “Okay, I’m awake now.”

“I already called Aaron. He’s on his way to get Aarabelle. I’m going to get my bag,” she explains slowly as if I’m the two-year-old. Although, at this moment I feel a little out of my element.

She’s going to have our son.

The last few months, Natalie’s had a few minor complications. Her fake contractions were pretty much nonstop. I became a little crazy over this and asked the doctor several times to make it stop. The biggest scare came a few weeks ago when she couldn’t feel him move. We had to go to the hospital for another ultrasound, which was great, but Lee was a mess. She cried for hours and begged him to move. I never felt more helpless.

“Okay, come on. We need to get the bag, get in the car . . .” I start to tick them off and another contraction must’ve hit because she grabs my shoulder and squeezes. “Shit!” I scream as her nails dig in.

“Aaron better get here soon or you’re going to be delivering our son.”

“The hell I am!” She’s lost her mind.

“Liam, get out of bed.”

Right.

Bag.

Car.

Hospital.

I can do this.

We have our bag and Aarabelle’s by the hall closet. I grab them and put them by the front door. I rush back upstairs and grab Aarabelle from her crib. She’s going to be a beast when I wake her. I swear she’s the cutest kid in the world, but she has horns. They come out when you interrupt her sleep.

I gently lift her and pray she doesn’t open her eyes. I somehow manage to keep her asleep and put her down on the couch. If she wakes up the next time, it’s on Aaron.

I hear a knock and open the door.

“Hey, man.”

“Hey,” I sound like I just ran a marathon. “Aara’s on the couch and that pink bag is hers.”

Aaron laughs and then stops. “I’m not waking her,” he says as it dawns on him he’ll get her wrath.

“All on you, bro.”

“Thanks,” he smirks. It was strained for the first few weeks after the wedding between all of us, but then Aaron met Rebecca, and that seems to have eased some of the tension. They’ve been together these last few months and he seems really happy.

After that, he didn’t look at Natalie and me as if we were hurting him all the time. He comes and gets Aarabelle regularly, and when he dropped her off last week while Natalie was out, we sat and had a beer.

It was odd but a step in the right direction.

“Liam!” Natalie yells out, and I take the stairs two at a time.

“I’m here.”

“Did you forget to grab me? I’m kind of the key piece here.” Her face scrunches and I rush over.

“Never. Plus, you’re kinda scary right now.”

“Uh huh.”

We get down the stairs. Aaron has Aarabelle in his arms as she shoots daggers at him. I laugh to myself because at least it’s not me.

Lee walks over to her and rubs her back. “Bye, my sweet girl. I’ll see you soon.” She kisses her and I see the tears welling in her eyes.

“Lee, you’ll see her as soon as we have the baby.”

“I know,” she says as she kisses the top of her head.

“I’ll bring her by when Liam calls,” Aaron explains. It’s weird that we can all be around each other so easily, but hey, I’ll take it. I think for Aara’s sake, we all try extra hard. And now that Becky’s around, I don’t have to watch him eye fuck my wife.

“Okay, car now before we don’t make it . . .” I nudge Lee and she nods.

I grab the towel and rush out to the car. I try to be discreet and not let her see what I’m doing. There’s not much chance she won’t catch me, but you can’t blame me for trying to protect the seats.

“Liam Dempsey!” she yells as she waddles behind me. She’s such a cute, little penguin. “I’ll cut you.”

“Oh, I love when you talk sweet to me,” I reply playfully.

“You left me back there. Your pregnant and having contractions wife . . .”

“No, I was preparing Robin so you’ll be comfortable.”

Her eyes narrow and she tilts her head. I’m screwed. I rush over and grab her arm and help her to the car. She sits down and I rush over to the other side. I can feel her hostility and I haven’t even gotten inside.

“You’re dead.”

“I figured.”

“Good . . . it’ll make it less awkward when I kill you.”

I grab her hand and kiss the top. Maybe I can soothe her by being swoony. “I love you so much, sweetheart. You’re going to make me the happiest man in the world today.”

“You’re still dead.”

Or not. She squeezes my hand with herculean strength and I try to pry it away, but she just grabs harder.

“I need my hand.”

She doesn’t say anything, but I can feel her eyes burning holes into the side of my face.

We arrive at the hospital and they bring her to the room. Once she’s connected to a bunch of monitors, I start making calls. I call my command to let them know, and I’m granted immediate baby leave. I’m half tempted to tell them to forget it since I’m apparently now married to the devil. Her face turns some funky color and she hates me.

“Liam.” Her voice is suddenly sweet, and I wonder what the hell is going on.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I want you to promise that whatever I say in the next few hours you will forget.”

“I can do that.”

“Okay, good. Because I hate you.” Her face turns bright red and all her muscles tense as the contraction hits. I look at the monitor in amazement.

“Wow, that’s a strong one!” I look at the lines going up and down.

“You’re a fucking genius!” she says through gritted teeth.

I look at her and smile. Which probably isn’t the smartest thing in the world, but she’s kinda busy and I enjoy playing with fire.

“I’m going to pretend you don’t want me to forget that.”

The contraction passes and the nurse comes in before she can reply. I make note to buy her something pretty for saving my ass.

“You’re almost nine centimeters. It’s too late for an epidural. I’m going to get the doctor. You’re going to have this baby very soon.” I suddenly feel faint.

I rush over to Lee’s side and grab her hand and kiss her forehead. “We’re going to have our son soon. You’re so perfect, sweetheart. So amazing and perfect.”

“Liam,” she says sounding exhausted. “I love you and I’m scared.”

“Why?”

“What if something goes wrong?”

“I’m right here. I’ll be by your side the whole time. You can do this,” I try to reassure her, but she’s been having dreams that there will be something wrong with the baby or the birth. I can’t really argue her insanity because they’re dreams and she threatens to kill me quite often.

I do like to drive her nuts. I’ll give her that.

“I don’t want anything to be wrong.” Her lower lip trembles.

My hands hold her face and I press my forehead to hers. “If something is wrong, we’ll handle it. Don’t worry until there’s something to worry about. I’ve got you.”

I don’t know how to help her and it kills me, but I know I have to keep it together.

She nods and sucks in a deep breath.

“Are we ready, Mrs. Dempsey?” A small thrill runs through me each time I hear someone call her that. It reminds me that this woman is mine now. That she chose me, and I somehow convinced her to marry me.

“If he’s ready to come out, then I guess we are.” I squeeze her hand and then she adds on. “With no drugs.”

“Drugs are overrated.” Her eyes flash with hostility, and I put my hands up in mock surrender. “Of course, I don’t know this . . .”

“Hate.”

“You love me.”

Natalie grunts and the doctor gives me a sympathetic look. Dr. Contreras checks her for what I don’t know. I mean, is it like a turkey that the little plastic thing pops? This whole checking her thing baffles me.

“Okay, Natalie. I need you to give me a push.”

She looks at me and they lift her legs. I don’t comment because I know it’ll end with me getting punched in the balls, so I just stay by her side. She groans and sweat breaks across her face, and I’m pretty sure my hand is now detached from my body. Where the hell does this hundred and twenty-five pound woman have this strength?

“Hand, hand, hand,” I say as it starts to turn purple.

Fucking hell.

“My vagina is on fire as I push your giant kid out. Suck it up,” Natalie says with a little too much happiness at my pain.

“Again,” the doctor orders.

I don’t even have a second before my fingers mash together as she squeezes them and pops a few out of joint. Well, not really, but it feels like it.

“The baby is crowning,” the doctor says.

“Crowning?” I ask.

“Come see.”

I head down as Natalie breathes and lays her head on the pillow. There are some things I can’t unsee, and this is one. I’m not queasy by nature, but I never can look at her pussy again and not think of this image. A giant, bald, nasty looking thing is stretching her, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to hurl.

Instead of freaking her out, I head back to her side. I’ll take the broken fingers before that shit.

“Is he coming?” Lee asks.

Still unable to form words, I nod and offer her my hand.

“Liam?”

How the hell do I explain how disturbed I am? I know I need to say something, so I just let it out. “Yup, it’s coming all right.”

“Just a few more pushes, Lee, and you’re right there.” The doctor saves my ass this time because I don’t know what I would’ve said if I had to go further than that. “Another contraction is coming.”

“Okay,” Lee says and then she pushes again. Her whole body is tight as she lets out a long cry.

“Do you want to see him?” the doctor asks. Is she high?

“No. I’m good.”

She smiles knowingly. “Okay. One more, Lee. One more push and he’ll be out,” Dr. Contreras tells her and I look at Lee once more.

This is the woman who’s going to bring my son into the world. The woman who gave me a family I could only dream of. We were meant to be and now we’ll have another child. A son who will bear my name. This perfect, gorgeous woman who I hope to knock up at least ten more times.