Page 68 of Unnatural (Men and Monsters #2)

The small house was quiet, the surrounding street still other than the whispering leaves and the hush of the summertime breeze.

Sam stood in front of the tree near the white picket fence, taking it in, gathering his nerve.

He inhaled a breath of rose-scented air.

Somewhere there was a bush nearby, though he couldn’t see it from where he stood in the gloomy dusk.

Sam looked up at the full moon. It’d been his final sign. He’d seen it on the calendar, only a week away, and known it was time to head to Autumn. They’d met under it once, and so they would again.

A wispy light flickered through the window, just beyond a gauzy curtain. A candle? The glimpse of light called to him like a tiny beacon, and he pushed off the tree, moving toward the gate.

“Stop right there.”

Sam froze, his eyes moving to the side as the barrel of a shotgun poked through the trees. His heart slowed, then picked up speed. Ba-boom, ba-boom. Autumn. He started to turn, his muscles primed to grab the gun, to jerk the person holding it from the cover of foliage, to—

“Oh geez, is that you, Sam?”

His breath released in a gush, his muscles unclenching as the person holding the weapon stepped from the cover of the trees. It was an old woman, and she grinned.

“Aren’t you supposed to be some sort of trained assassin?” she asked, lowering the weapon.

A trained assassin? He supposed he was. Though he’d hoped to put that training far behind him. “Do you know me?”

“’Course I know you. You’re all she talks about. Kinda sick of hearing about you, truth be told.” But her grin widened, and she gave him a once-over before she slapped her denim-clad knee. “A trained assassin, and I woulda had ya!” She laughed, and Sam let out a self-deprecating chuckle.

“I wasn’t exactly expecting a sharpshooter to be waiting here in the bushes,” he muttered. And I was distracted. Autumn’s within a few feet of me right this second.

“Yeah, I suppose not.” She glanced toward the house. “I’m Ms. Hastings, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Hastings. But, ah, what are you doing out here?” Sudden worry jolted him. “Has there been some kind of trouble?”

“No, no. But a few of us are sitting out back playing cards, and I saw your shadow looming around the corner of the house. Autumn’s taken care of all of us in one way or another. And it was important she feel extra safe tonight.”

“Tonight? Why? What’s wrong?” His muscles tightened again as he primed himself to sprint toward the house. Toward Autumn.

“No need to be alarmed,” Ms. Hastings said. But her gaze slid away. “I suppose you should go in. She’ll be glad to see you. Here, I’ll walk you to the door.”

No need to be alarmed? What was going on?

They made it to the blue front door, and Ms. Hastings turned the knob, letting the door swing open.

Sam hesitated, his nerve endings twisting in a different way than they had when he’d first walked up toward Autumn’s house, the one he’d dropped her off at so long ago in that old red truck.

“Don’t be offended if she doesn’t give you much of a greeting,” Ms. Hastings said before she stepped back and closed the door behind him.

What did that mean?

He stood in the quiet foyer, uncertain. Afraid.

His heart quickened again, pounding in his chest, his ears.

He moved forward as if in a dream. As if he’d walked back in time to that misty forest, creeping through the trees, nervous, yet a thrill of excitement trilling through him. He was about to see her.

Movement out a back window caught his attention. He saw three or four people sitting on the patio at a table, playing cards as Ms. Hastings had said. He recognized the sheriff. What are they doing out there? And why isn’t Autumn with them?

The soft sound of music hit his ears, something slow and sweet. Violins, he thought, a piano. It rose, triumphant, and then dipped into melancholy as he moved forward over the wooden floors, through the dimly lit house.

He barely took in the surroundings, only that there were rugs and throw pillows, cascading plants, and artwork on the walls. She’d made it beautiful. Her home. And though he wanted to stop and look around, he wanted to see her more.

Something was happening in that back room, and he didn’t know what, only that he both wanted to run toward it and away.

As he approached the doorway where the flickering light came from, he heard a moan of pain, the splash of water.

He smelled the scent of lavender. His heart jumped, fear spiking, breath stalling as he put his palm on the door and pushed it open.

For a moment, he simply stood there, trying to make sense of the scene before him as he caught his breath.

His feet began moving before he’d directed them to. Toward her.

Autumn. Autumn. Autumn.

His heart rejoiced at the sight of her even as confusion gripped him in a vise.

She was lying in a large tub of water at the end of the bed, and there was a woman kneeling next to her, her back to Sam.

He approached slowly, his gaze roaming Autumn, moving from her hair to her closed eyes to the black bra she was wearing to…

Her hugely pregnant belly.

The kneeling woman was murmuring something to her, something soft and reassuring.

Autumn’s eyes opened, meeting Sam’s. Widening.

Her lips fell open, and she let out a small sound of shock, which morphed into a grimace and a grunt of pain as she leaned forward, putting her hand on her swollen stomach.

The woman next to Autumn looked behind her, spotting Sam. Autumn lay back, blowing out several breaths and reaching out to Sam. He all but ran to her, going to his knees on the other side of the tub and taking her hand.

“Oh, Sam.” She started to cry, tears tracking down her flushed cheeks. “You’re here. You made it.”

“I’ll give you two a moment,” the woman said, standing and offering Sam a gentle smile. “She has a little bit of time before the real work begins.”

Autumn gripped his hand, the tears continuing to fall as she whispered his name again and again. He leaned forward, using his other hand to touch her cheek. “Autumn. You’re…” He looked helplessly at her stomach, eyes widening when he saw it moving with the life within.

She let out a small, strangled laugh. “The word you’re looking for is pregnant,” she said, the laughing melting into a grimace as she shut her eyes and breathed through another contraction.

“You’re going to see your baby born, Sam,” she said once the pain had passed.

“You’re here,” she repeated as though she was still convincing herself it was real.

Dizziness overcame him. The room spun, and he stood, a sound of distress falling from his lips as he gripped his head.

This was… He stumbled back. He had the vision of Autumn’s wide, watchful eyes just before he turned and hurried from the room, bursting out the door and all but plastering his body to the first empty wall he came upon.

Someone moved past him, back into the room.

The birthing room. Autumn’s giving birth.

He was pretty sure it was the woman who’d left them alone.

The nurse or the midwife or whoever she was.

Oh Christ Almighty.

How did he come to terms with this?

You’re going to see your baby born.

His baby?

Wait…he couldn’t…except apparently, he had. They had. He pressed harder against the wall, bringing his hands up and gripping his head. Someone clapped him on the shoulder, and he startled, his arms dropping.

Bill stood there, looking at him solemnly. “I don’t suppose this is what you expected to return to,” he stated.

Sam couldn’t yet form words. The sound that came from his chest spoke of his confusion and distress and something much different lurking just under those two emotions, but one Sam couldn’t quite identify just yet over the buzz of shock.

Bill nodded as if the sound he’d made told him all he needed to know.

“Yeah,” he said, and though he nodded somewhat gravely, his lips tipped at the corners.

“This is it, Sam. The end of one journey and the start of another. Take a minute. Let it settle. This is where you choose to go away again or accept the miracle you’ve been given.

Miracles don’t always come in the form of a gentle, guiding light.

Sometimes miracles zap you right on your ass.

I know a thing or two about that, believe me.

” His smile grew as Sam simply stared. “Anyway, it’s your choice, no one else’s.

If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen drinking and waiting to become a grandpa. ” With that, he walked away, whistling.

Sam exhaled, taking that minute that Bill suggested. Letting it settle, though that might take longer than a minute. That might very well take a lifetime. All these months, Autumn was pregnant. And now she was giving birth. You don’t have a lifetime, Sam. Get it together.

He pushed off the wall, rushing back into the dim, herb-scented room.

“You need to be in a hospital,” he declared, standing over the tub Autumn was immersed in.

She opened her eyes and gazed at him with such calm in her expression. She reached her hand out, and he took it and then fell to his knees beside her once again.

“No, Sam, no hospital.”

The older woman on the other side of the tub assisting Autumn smiled at Sam as well.

“Hi, Sam,” she said. “I’m Jackie. I’ve heard a lot about you, and I’m glad you’re here.

Autumn has had a low-risk pregnancy and is right where she wants to be.

Birth is rarely a medical emergency and I have every confidence that Autumn won’t require either equipment or medication.

Birth is the most beautiful, natural thing a woman’s body ever does. ”