Babies and Badges. Laura Altom Marie

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СКАЧАТЬ he said, eyes welling at the miracle unfolding before him. “Because a truckload of TNT couldn’t tear me away from this spot. Push, darlin’, push!”

      “I’m trying!”

      “Try harder!”

      “I am—arrrrgggghhhhh!”

      “Oh my God, I’m holding its head. Just a little more. A little mooorre. Got it. Oh my God,” he said laughing through his tears. “It’s a girl. You had a beautiful baby girl, Cassie!”

      With his pinkie finger, he cleared the baby’s mouth, and when the tiny, redheaded dream cut loose with a wail every bit as powerful as one of her momma’s, with his spare hand he managed to spread a towel across Cassie’s tummy before presenting her with her child—cord and all, which he planned on letting the paramedics cut.

      Cassie’s fiery hair hung in damp tendrils, and her complexion was misty with sweat, but never, in all of his days, had Noah seen a more beautiful, downright mesmerizing sight.

      Then that gorgeous face of hers once again scrunched with pain.

      “What’s wrong?” he asked. “The baby’s here.”

      “A-another one,” she said with more pants. “Twins. Oh God, help me, please help me,” she said, writhing her head from side to side, still clutching her baby girl. “Noooo, something’s not right. It hurts—oh, it hurts!”

      Heart hammering, Noah looked between her legs and not since seven years earlier on the night of that accident had he experienced such terror. Instead of a head, he saw a toe.

      Sweet, merciful Heaven, why?

      Okay, Noah…think.

      Growing up in rural Arkansas, he had a lot of friends who’d lived on farms. He’d seen breech births with cattle—even a horse, but…

      Okay, only difference is size. Sort of.

      “It hurts, Noah! It hurts…” Cassie’s agonized cries turned to racking sobs.

      No. Not again.

      Please Lord, don’t let this be another night like that one on Blue Springs Road. I couldn’t bear it. It wouldn’t be right. That woman hadn’t deserved to die, and You wouldn’t let me save her. Just like Cassie, she’d had kids—a family.

      Sure, Noah’s friends had told him a hundred times over he hadn’t been to blame, but by God, he’d been the one on the scene and he’d been the one holding her when she’d asked him to tell her husband and kids she loved them.

      Too many times in his life, he’d been unable to fix things. It happened over and over in his job, then there’d been the messy breakup with Kelsey. Way before that, his folks’ crappy marriage—or for that matter, his own. Not a damned one of those situations had he been able to fix. But this one…

      With a light shake of his head, he told himself no. This wasn’t going to be a replay of that night.

      No one was taking this woman and her babies from him—not even almighty God Himself!

      Fumbling across Cassie’s still rounded belly, he felt the baby’s head, and said, “I’m not gonna lie. This is probably—well, hell, there’s no probably about it—this is gonna hurt real bad, and I’m sorry, but there’s no other way.”

      Teeth gritted, she nodded, but her fire was gone, and her cries had faded to whimpers.

      “Stay with me,” he said, squeezing his eyes shut, frantically trying to remember that cheesy emergency labor video he and the guys laughingly winced their way through. Teeth gritted, he said a hundred more prayers in his head, then felt for one tiny foot, then the other, and gently tugged the baby by his or her ankles.

      “Please don’t let my baby die!”

      “Nobody’s dying here,” he said. “Push!”

      “I can’t! I’m so tired.”

      “Push, dammit! Nobody’s dying on my watch! I’m responsible for you—all of you. You hear me? Nobody’s dyin’ today! Now push!”

      “I caaaaaan’t!”

      “That’s it! I’ve got this little princess’s behind. Come on, Cassie, give me all you got!”

      Thankfully, she did, and he rotated the infant’s trunk to get one arm. Another slight rotation earned him another.

      “Come on, Cass! You’re almost there!”

      “Arrrrggghhh!” In one last superhuman effort, she pushed and the baby’s head popped out.

      Noah trembled so hard he feared dropping the second baby girl, but he held tight, reaching for another towel that he could hardly see through his tears.

      He cleared the baby’s mouth, and when she cried, he cried and started shaking all the harder. “You had another girl, darlin’. You did it.”

      Clutching both babies close, Cassie cast him a luminous smile before saying, “We did it. Thank you.”

      Bracing himself against the truck’s frame, Noah shook his head and smiled.

      Hot damn, what a rush.

      Chapter Two

      Cassie Tremont opened her eyes just enough to see hazy morning sun silhouetting one of the most handsome, kind and concerned faces she’d ever seen.

      Noah.

      Her savior. Her babies’ savior.

      Fast asleep in an orange vinyl guest chair he’d pulled to the head of her hospital bed. If only she’d come across a guy like him before meeting Tom, maybe her life would’ve turned out differently.

      Maybe she’d even still believe in happy endings, because she wouldn’t have had her dreams twice shattered by grim-faced company representatives standing at her front door. What were the odds of first, Tri-Comm reps telling her when she’d been just eight years old that her father had died of a heart attack while on the corporate jet. Sorry. We’re so sorry. Then later, years later, Jubilee Cruise Lines reps telling her that not only had Tom, her husband, died, but he’d died on holiday with another woman. A woman who’d claimed to also be his wife! We can only imagine your pain.

      Tom hadn’t even been in the right country. He’d told Cassie he was on a business trip to London. In reality, he’d been on a Caribbean cruise when he and his legal wife—a woman named Felicity—died in a freak diving accident.

      The day Cassie had found out she was carrying twins, she’d been so happy—they’d been so happy. Tom had held her hand during the ultrasound, kissing the tips of her fingers, telling her she looked beautiful and was going to make the best mom in the world. His loving touch combined with the fierce love she already felt for the tiny miracles growing deep within her had made her teary with joy.

      Even though the doctor warned Cassie that multiple СКАЧАТЬ