Page 26 of Before You Can Blink (Rust Canyon #4)

I ran to the tack room, grabbed the handheld radio, and pressed the side button to transmit my message. “Wade? Wade, can you hear me?” I lifted my thumb and prayed he had his transceiver on him wherever he was on the property.

Static crackled a split second before his voice came through the speaker. “Yeah, Boss. What’s up?”

The relief that surged at his reply was drowned out by a raw, animalistic scream that had me rushing back to Daisy’s side. Swallowing roughly, I spoke to Wade, “We need help out at the barn.”

“Jesus. That’s not Daisy hollerin’ in the background, is it? ”

I dragged my free hand down my face. “Yeah. I need you to ring up Doc Stevens, tell him we need him to get out here quick as he can. Have Caroline grab Aspen from the cabin and then bring the truck around. We’ve gotta get Daisy moved, but it’s not gonna be on foot at this point. You got all that?”

“Got it,” Wade confirmed. “I’m on my way.”

Loud whinnies rang out as hoofs beat on stall doors in response to the sharp cries that seemed to be on an endless loop.

The horses were sufficiently spooked and my nerves were shot to hell, but neither of those held a candle to what my panting, shaking, sweaty mess of a wife was going through.

My heart twisted as the feeling of helplessness settled deep in my bones.

“Jett.” My name came out on one of her many ragged exhales. “Need you to take down my underwear.”

My brain short-circuited at the request. It didn’t make any sense.

Until it did.

I shook my head firmly. “No, no, no, Daze. We’re not doing this here. We’re just sitting tight until Wade gives us a lift to the cabin, where Doc Stevens is gonna meet us.”

“Can’t wait that long.”

“You have to!” I practically shouted.

Mind racing, I began to pace.

All of this was happening too fast.

I wasn’t equipped to handle this on my own.

What if I fucked it all up? Hurt Daisy or the baby? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.

And where the hell was Wade? Shouldn’t he be here by now?

Through gritted teeth, Daisy forced out, “I need to push.” Her head fell back against the haybale. “Ahhhhhh! ”

Her gut-wrenching scream had me falling to my knees. Any hope I had that maybe she was being dramatic vanished when her skirt rode up as I peeled the soaked panties down her legs to reveal what was definitely the top of a head beginning to emerge from between them.

Holy shit, this was happening.

Pulse pounding in my ears, I peeked up at Daisy. “Um . . .”

Panting heavily, she asked, “What?”

I grabbed her trembling hand and brought it between her legs, letting her feel that our baby was right there, ready to be born.

Daisy’s eyes widened. “Oh my God.”

Gripping her bare knee, I offered her the same words of reassurance she often said to me. “It’s not ideal being out here just you and me, but we’re gonna make it work. Because we always do, don’t we, Daze?”

Weakly, she nodded, and I watched as some of that fire she usually kept contained flickered in her gaze, and a look of pure determination set in on her face.

“That’s my girl.”

A deep groan rumbled up from her chest, and she muttered, “Pressure,” before loud grunts fell freely from her parted lips, and I watched on as that visible peek of our baby’s head grew larger.

There wasn’t much more I could do. The hard part fell to Daisy when it came to bringing our child into this world.

Though I couldn’t physically aid her in this task, I made sure to offer as much emotional support as possible, chanting phrases like, you’re doing so great , you’re so strong, and you’re almost there .

As her body stretched to accommodate what appeared to be the widest part of the baby’s head, she hissed, “It burns.”

“I know. But you have to keep pushing through it. That’s the only way to make it stop. ”

With her trembling from head to toe, I could see the visible strain of the effort necessary to push through the pain.

“Head’s all the way out,” I declared, letting her know she was right at the finish line, as my hands extended to cradle the tiny skull that was nearly the size of my palm. “Just a little more, and we’ll have a baby.”

Harsh exhales sounded as Daisy tried to catch her breath between the contraction that had just passed and the next one, which would hopefully also be the last. When her muscles tensed once more, I poured all my concentration into not dropping the slippery little sucker when it slid from her warmth, and she sagged in relief against the haybale at her back.

The soul-crushing weight lifted off my chest at the shrill cry that came from the baby in my arms. Without hesitation, I handed him over to Daisy, remarking, “Guess your intuition was right.”

“Huh?” Her eyes were glazed over, unfocused. Most likely, she’d been running on pure adrenaline, and now her brain was struggling to process our extremely fast unassisted home birth, in a barn of all places.

That thought had a chuckle floating past my lips. We really came full circle on this pregnancy with it beginning and ending in this damn barn.

“It’s a boy, Daze,” I announced. “Just like you said it would be.” I pulled the T-shirt that hung from my back pocket to cover his back and keep him warm while we waited for help to arrive.

“A boy.” She finally peeked down at the infant resting atop her chest. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and a soft smile touched her lips when she lifted her gaze to meet mine. “I know we decided on Alan if it was a boy, but I was thinking maybe we could go with Tripp instead. After Murph.”

My breathing hitched, and my heart swelled at my wife’s incredibly thoughtful suggestion. I couldn’t think of a better way of honoring my fallen friend than by naming our son after him.

Voice thick, I nodded. “Tripp. Yeah, I like that. ”

Shifting so that I sat by her side, I curled one arm around her back while the other came to rest over the little life we’d created.

Holding two of the three pieces of my heart close, I kissed Daisy’s lips.

Then I sent up a silent prayer to my boy’s new guardian angel, asking that he look out for him, just as he had always done for me.

I knew Murph wouldn’t let me down.