Secret Santa (6 page)

Santa pulled back from the kiss and nuzzled
his lips against her ear. "That should get his attention. Good
luck. Pierce has never known a good thing until it jumps up and
bites him. But, I guarantee he'll notice you now."

She felt her mouth form a smile as she
realized that Santa just gave her the best gift ever. But the
Pierce project may take a while. She was a woman after all, so she
grabbed Santa's neck and pulled him back to her lips for another
searing kiss.

"Merry Christmas Santa," she said as he put
her back on her feet.

"Best gift I could ever receive," Santa
replied, looking directly at Pierce as he did. He saw Pierce's
stern set of his jaw and how he looked Tammy over again and knew
his business was done here. He had just one more person to see
before he left.

Paige licked her lips and ate another
chocolate cupcake. Her stomach revolted for a minute, but gave way
to the sweet sugary confection. Okay, so maybe eating six in a row
was a bit too much, but they were just so good!

She and her husband Cole had been talking to
Keeneston's two deputies, Dinky and Noodle along with their dates
when she had spotted the cupcakes. Her baby kicked and she had to
take a deep breath through another stupid Braxton Hicks contraction
before trampling over people to get to the dessert table. She had
been suffering from these false labor pains since the end of her
second trimester and now she just ignored them. She'd been so
freaked out the first time she had one that they'd rushed to the
ER. Now they didn't even get in her way, especially when she had
her sights set on cupcakes.

"Honey, let's go get something to drink.
Those stupid contractions are starting again and it always helps to
walk around some."

Her husband smiled down at her and gave her
belly a gentle rub before they excused themselves from the happy
group.

"Who do you think Santa Claus is?" Cole
asked as he filled her glass with non-spiked fruit punch.

"I don't know. Probably just someone the
Roses hired for fun. I haven't seen John Wolfe around, so it could
be him." Paige took a sip of the punch and tried to relax some. The
way Santa laughed reminded her of John, the town's very jolly
gossipmonger.

"I sure hope not!" Cole laughed.

"What? Why not?"

"Because Santa just kissed Tammy in a very
inappropriate way and the way she's grinning I sure hope it wasn't
an almost 70 year old potbellied man that put that grin on her face
or she'll be devastated."

"You're right! How did I miss that?" she
chuckled.

"Well, it looks like we may be able to find
out soon enough, because here comes Santa Claus." Cole started to
whistle the familiar Christmas tune as they watched Santa make his
way towards them.

Paige smacked him and shifted her weight
from one foot to another. The false labor pain was gone, but now
she was just achy. But there was no way she'd say anything to Cade.
No way. Not after the lecture he'd given her about staying off her
feet yesterday. When he went into the office this morning she might
have taken advantage of his absence by washing Chuck and changing
the sheets on the bed, and maybe, just maybe she might have gone
for a long refreshing walk with Chuck through the park. Now she was
paying for it. Her ankles were swollen, her back and hips ached,
and she was so sore she couldn't get comfortable. However, there
was a high probability of her shooting her husband if he said, "I
told you so", so she was keeping her mouth closed.

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!" Santa
bellowed.

"Merry Christmas, Santa." Paige said with a
smile. She tried to see past the beard and bushy eyebrows, but
couldn't tell who it was.

"Well, look at what we have here. Merry
Christmas, Paige." Santa leaned forward and brushed his lips and
furry beard against her cheek.

Paige felt odd. There was something nagging
her. She didn't know who he was, but she was positive she knew
Santa Claus. It was the way he said her name. For just a split
second it sounded familiar.

"I can see who has been naughty and who has
been nice."

Paige laughed as Santa narrowed his white
bushy brows at Cole and then turned back to Paige. Cole immediately
straightened to his full height of slightly over six feet and
narrowed his own eyes. He unconsciously put his hand on his waist
where he normally had his service pistol strapped. Men... she shook
her head and turned back to Santa just in time to see him put his
bag on the floor and get down on his knees. What the hell was he
doing?

Paige considered crashing the small punch
glass over Santa's head, but then he put his hands on her tummy and
beamed up at her. Whoever this person was it seemed to mean a lot
to him to feel her baby.

"So, what do you want for Christmas?" Santa
asked her as he placed his hand on the top of her massive
belly.

"Having a baby would be great," she laughed.
"Do you think you can arrange that?"

Santa grinned and leaned closer to her
belly. "Hello little boy or girl. Santa's here and he really wants
to meet you. I'm pretty sure your Mommy and Daddy do too. So, if I
promise you a really cool gift, will you come out and meet us?"

Paige laughed and heard a pop. Did she spill
her drink because something warm just hit the leg of her pants? She
looked down and saw Santa falling backwards. The front of his red
velvet jacket wet. Then she felt it, the water running down her
legs like a water balloon had just popped followed by intense
pain.

"Dammit Santa! My water broke!" she yelled
at her belly. She couldn't stop looking at her belly as she gripped
Cole with all she had during the contraction.

Cole panicked. He was enough of a man to
admit that. He froze. He couldn't remember what to do.

"Cole! Hospital, call the hospital!" Paige
said once the contraction subsided somewhat.

"Oh my god, Paige. I'm so sorry. I didn't
mean to do it." Santa pleaded as he nimbly leapt up and grabbed her
other arm as he peeled off his wet jacket and attached padding to
expose a tanned and taunt chest and abs. There were a couple of
scars, one in particular that Paige focused on. It was a tiny blue
circle, like one got when shot with a BB gun.

"Cy! I thought you weren't going to make
it!" Paige cried.

Cy was more than a brother to her, he was
her best friend. He was the closest in age to her and they had done
everything together, including shooting each other with BBs. But
she hadn't heard from him in two months. When they had talked, he
said that he wasn't able to make it home for Christmas and would
miss the birth of her child.

"Of course I'm here. I wouldn't miss
becoming an uncle for anything." He didn't tell her that he had to
leave tomorrow night for work. He had actually planned on coming as
Santa and then leaving, knowing his family would ask endless
questions if he stayed for Christmas morning only to leave by
dinner.

She squeezed Cole's hand again and blew out
a breath as another contraction hit her hard and fast.

"Okay, let me through. Excuse me please,
doctor coming through." Emma Francis said as she forced her way
through the growing crowd of onlookers. She took in the scene and
reached for her purse and pulled out her phone. Cole still had the
deer-in-the-headlights look and a damn sexy Santa had the nicest
hazel saucer eyes, not to mention the smoking hot bod. They were
going to be useless.

"Noodle. Get my bag out of the car." She
smiled as she watched him run out the door. No panicky eyes there.
Yup, she got herself a good man. "How far apart are the
contractions?" she asked Paige.

"I don't know. But, close, very close."

"Breathe," she told her absently as she
dialed 9-1-1. "Dr. Francis here. I have a woman in the final stage
of labor. I need an ambulance immediately to Southern Charms on
Main Street in Keeneston. What do you mean you can't get an
ambulance here because of the snowstorm? That many calls, really?
Breathe, Paige. Fine, then send one ASAP." Emma hit the off button
and rolled up her sleeves, it was time to get to work.

Kenna walked to the window and looked out.
It was snowing hard, but there were only a couple of inches on the
ground. Being from New York she'd call this a dusting. However,
she'd learned that in the South this was a massive storm. She was
sure the local weather reporters were ecstatic. She could hear them
now, "Storm of the Century Slams Kentucky."

"Okay, well, this isn't bad weather for me,
so why don't we put her in my car and I'll drive her to the
hospital?" Kenna asked as she looked around for her purse.

"I'm afraid that that is no longer an
option. Paige, how long have you been having contractions?" Emma
asked her.

"I didn't know they were contractions. I had
Braxton Hicks contractions for so long that I just ignored them.
Then when I got sore and achy I thought it was from doing some
things I guess I shouldn't have yesterday." Paige shrugged, "so I
guess about 8 hours or so."

"That's what I thought. We won't have time
to take you to the hospital. What's upstairs?"

"My old apartment. Bed, couch, kitchen,
ahhh!" Paige trailed off as another contraction washed over
her.

"Let's go boys." Emma ordered.

They looked back at her with blank faces.
Men.

"Someone needs to help her up those
stairs."

"We got this!" Dani said as she and Kenna
came to their friend's side and pushed Cole and Cy out of the way.
"Come on Paige. Let's get you upstairs. We'll cover as much as we
can in between contractions. Move!"

As Kenna wrapped her arm around her friend,
the front door banged open. An out-of-breath John Wolfe lumbered
through the door dressed as Santa Claus. Unlike Cy, his large round
stomach and bushy eyebrows were the real deal.

"I heard Paige was in labor and got here as
soon as I could," he panted. John looked up at Cy. "I thought I was
supposed to be Santa Claus?"

Kenna felt her mouth start to open, but she
decided to close it. There were no words to describe John's innate
ability to know everything in town. Wire taps or alien mindreading
were the only things she could think of to describe it. Although,
Kenna couldn't decide what she was more surprised about—the fact
that John didn't know Cy was going to be here or that John didn't
show up five minutes ago to inform Paige she was about to go into
labor.

Paige grunted and Kenna turned her attention
back to her. Kenna and Dani had their arms around Paige as they
made it up three stairs before the next contraction stopped her. By
the time they got upstairs, Annie and the Roses had found her room
and laid towels down on her old bed.

"Thank you. Will someone whip my husband
into shape? Give him the bourbon Cade got for Christmas, whatever
it takes to get that stupid look off his face," Paige managed to
say after the next contraction.

"You got it." Miss Daisy hurried out the
room.

Chapter Ten

Dani was so worried she thought she'd lose
her lunch, but she just helped her friend onto the bed and held
Paige's hand with Annie and Kenna as Dr. Francis examined her.
Envy, joy, sadness, and elation rolled over her. She and Kenna made
sure Paige was all set and then quietly snuck out as the room
filled with people. If Paige needed them, they would just be
downstairs. She figured the Roses and Paige's family had everything
under control. Annie was there to keep order. Besides, she just
didn't think she could take watching a baby being born knowing she
might not have one of her own. The pressure was just too much on
her right now. With one last look she closed the door and headed
downstairs.

"The head's down. You're going to have a
baby by Christmas." Emma announced.

"Cole was turning in circles saying
something about a bag and a focal point. Then he walked out the
door. I sent Cy after him, but I brought reinforcements." Miss
Daisy said as Marcy, Cade, and Ahmed hurried in.

Annie watched as Marcy rushed to her
daughter's side and in smooth, quiet words started Lamaze with her.
After six kids it probably came as second nature. She sure hoped
Marcy was there when she went into labor. Cade came and stood next
to her.

"How are you doing?" he whispered to
her.

"Good," she replied. "Poor Paige. I want to
be heavily medicated when my time comes."

"You on drugs? That could be fun."

"I need to go to the bathroom. The kid's on
my bladder again. I'll get a cool cloth for Paige and be right
back."

"You're a brother and to-be-uncle, get up
there and support your sister." Emma barked pointing to where she
wanted Cade to stand. "You? What are you doing here?" she asked
Ahmed.

"I have years of field experience, I thought
I could assist if you need." Ahmed answered in a cool professional
voice.

"You've delivered a baby before?" Emma
looked over the man standing before her. He looked very strong. He
had applied some gel to control the slight wave in his neatly
trimmed black hair. But it was his cold, serious, almost black eyes
that sent a shiver through Emma. She thought a baby might jump back
inside out of fear at this dangerous looking man if he delivered a
baby.

"No, but I've set broken bones, amputated,
and done other surgeries with little more than a knife."

"Let's see what you're made of then, hot
shot." Emma smiled. This was going to be fun. She thrived on chaos
and this was chaos in its purest form. She looked up from where she
was spreading out the tools Noodle had just brought in before
sneaking out again to see Annie come out of the bathroom. "Annie?
What's the matter? You don't look good."

Ahmed ran to her side along with Cade to
steady her as she swayed. "I don't know. The baby is just on my
bladder and the pressure is really bothering me."