Page 49 of A Ranger for Christmas

His heart skipped a beat. “Damn it, Marisa, how long has this been going on?”

When the spasm passed, she released a relieved sigh. “A few hours. I was hoping to get my notes finished before we went to Dad’s for Christmas dinner.”

He muttered an oath. “We’re not going to dinner. We’re going to the hospital.”

She looked up at him and instead of arguing nodded. “Their Christmas presents and yours are in my car. I haven’t wrapped any of them.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll send someone for your car and the presents later.”

She smiled at him. “Okay.”

If he wasn’t so damn worried about her and the baby, he’d have made a joke about her agreeing so easily. But jokes were the last thing on his mind.

Behind the wheel he gunned the engine, cut through evening traffic, and had them at the hospital emergency room entrance in fifteen minutes. She gripped her belly as he came around to her side of the car. He could feel his own heart constricting as he stared at his wife, whom he loved more than anything in this world.

He spotted an orderly and ordered a wheelchair. The man hustled inside and returned moments later. Lucas helped Marisa from the car into the chair.

The next five hours became a blur of doctors, nurses, and more and more contractions. It was close to midnight when they wheeled Marisa into the delivery room. At her side Lucas did his best to look unworried as he reminded her to breathe and not push.

Not long after arriving in the delivery room, the action sped into overdrive. The doctor arrived and on her fifth push Marisa delivered their son. Jacob Alexander Cooper, eight pounds, one ounce, arrived in the world wailing and carrying on like a bronco rider.

When the nurse laid Jacob in Lucas’s arms, he figured he’d never seen such a beautiful sight. He knelt close to Marisa so she could see the baby. Smiling, she studied the baby up close, taking inventory. “He’s perfect,” she said.

He kissed her. “You did a real fine job, Mrs. Cooper.”

She glanced at the clock and then smiled at him. “He’s officially a Christmas baby,” she said.

“And the best damn present I ever will get.”