Page 153 of The Moments You Were Mine

We’d barely hit the ground after the jump with the teens, repacked the parachutes, and started a debrief when my phone had started jangling.

Lauren hadn’t sounded frantic. She’d been perfectly calm, but knowing Fallon had been in the far field, checking on the goddamn cows, when her water broke was enough to make me more agitated than I’d ever been.

“I told her to stay close to the resort today, but did she listen?” I asked.

Sweeney grinned at me. “Did you really expect her to?”

No. I loved her for that independent, defiant nature. For the endless energy that meant she could work hard all day and then spend hours tangled with me in the sheets at night.

Back in July, when I’d made Fallon mine, I hadn’t thought I could love her more, hadn’t thought I could love anyone more, but I’d been wrong. Every day, the love I felt for her, Theo, and the little girl inside Fallon seemed to expand until it was spinning out endlessly, until I’d finally realized it would never stop growing. I’d always love them more today than I had the day before. More with this very breath than I had the last.

Sweeney turned the corner, and the hospital finally came into view.

The truck hadn’t even stopped before I leaped out, running at full speed for the entrance. I knew the way to the maternity ward like the back of my hand. I’d done enough reconnaissance missions to make sure I could get us here in record time.

At the outer doors of the ward, I pushed the intercom and tried to keep my voice calm as I asked to be let in. The nurse at the desk directed me to a room, and I jogged in just as a gasp of pain escaped my wife.

She was in a hospital gown, brows furrowed, sweat beading on her forehead, braids askew, cheeks flushed, and she’d never looked more beautiful—another thing that seemed to grow everysecond of every day.

“What’s wrong?” I demanded, all but pushing Maisey aside to take Fallon’s hand.

Maisey chuckled, noting something down on her tablet. “Nothing, idiot. She’s in labor.”

I turned to see Lauren in the corner of the room, pacing. Her stride was smooth these days. If you didn’t know she had one mechanical leg, you’d never be able to tell by how she moved. She did everything with the same powerful movements as her daughter.

A moment later, Fallon relaxed, the anguish disappearing from her face, and a small grin took hold. “So. How did the flight go?”

I chuckled. “Damnit, Ducky. Don’t make small talk. I’m mad at you.”

“I knew you would be,” she said. “Everything is fine. She’s fine. I’m fine. You’re here. That’s all that matters.”

“Where’s Theo?”

“With Teddy.”

“Why were you in the goddamn far field with the cows?” I demanded.

“Because she’s the most stubborn person I’ve ever known,” Lauren said, approaching the bed. “More stubborn than even her father—and that’s saying something.”

“Oh God, here we go again,” Fallon said, hunching over, pain coating her face, and grabbing my hand and strangling it.

“Has the doctor been in? What happened to the epidural?” I snapped.

“The doctor’s been in and out, and she’s had an epidural,” Maisey said calmly.

“And she’s still in this much pain?” I croaked. Fallon had an enormously high pain tolerance. I’d seen it firsthand. Broken fingers. Cracked heads. Emotional distress. She rarely even blinked through half of it.

“If you can’t stay calm, you’ll be asked to leave,” Maisey said with a wink.

“Like hell am I leaving.” I focused on Fallon, watched her breathe through the worst of the contraction, and then my entirebeing eased as her face relaxed again.

“Ducky,” my voice broke. I hated seeing her this way, hated there was nothing I could do to ease it or make it go faster or to skip time till the worst was over.

But she wasn’t alone. I’d promised her never again, and I’d keep that promise today just as I did every single day of our lives.

? ? ?

Hours later, I was still in awe of Fallon, women in general, and the sweet little girl wrapped up in my arms as I sat on the bed next to my wife. When the nurse had come in with the baby, she’d given her to me instead of waking up Fallon, who was asleep with her head on my shoulder.