“Yesss!” The child peeped at him with those big dark eyes. “I big. I get candy!”
He tried and failed to follow her two-year-old logic. Was she making a case for another treat? Or talking about her stomach?
“If you ask your mommy first.”
Her face brightened. “Momma!” She scrambled off her chair.
Hell. Too late, he lumbered after her, stopping dead at the living room door. “Sorry,” he said, averting his gaze from the couch. “She got away from me.”
Mercy stood, stripping off latex gloves. “We’re pretty much done here. Everything looks good, but it’s definitely go time.”
“I want to wait for Zack,” Daanis said.
Mercy frowned. “You’re in active labor. It could be hours yet, but this isn’t your first. We don’t want you having this baby on the ferry.”
Bruno came in from the waiting ambulance. “All set?”
Anne reappeared from the kitchen. “I called your mom. She’s on the way.”
“Text her to meet us at the dock,” Mercy said.
“You show up at another emergency call, Annie, I’m gonna have to swear you in as a volunteer firefighter,” Bruno said as he hitched up his belt. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road.”
Daanis’s face wobbled. “Not without Zack.”
“Already raised him on the radio,” Bruno said. “He’s inbound now.”
“I’ll be with you all the way,” Mercy assured her. “The hospital in St. Ignace has already arranged transport on their side.”
Daanis gripped the arm of the couch. “Ow. Owow.”
“Breathe. That’s it,” Mercy said.
Shit. How did women do this?
Daanis released her clutch on the sofa. The EMT glanced at her watch. “Seventy-six seconds. That was a good one.”
Daanis’s eyes filled with tears. “I want Zack.”
Joe found himself sweating in sympathy.
But Anne was smiling, rubbing her friend’s knee. “Hey, everything’s going to be okay. You heard the chief. I bet you guys will be on the same ferry.” They exchanged a long glance. “Go have a baby,” Anne said gently. “I’ll stay with Rose.”
Daanis nodded.
Joe helped her heave herself from the couch, standing back as Rose kissed her mommy and her mommy’s tummy. Daanis cupped her daughter’s head, bending to kiss her hair. Their connection tugged at something deep inside Joe, something he didn’t let himself think about or miss.
“I love you so, so much,” Daanis said. She looked at Anne. “Loveyou.”
They hugged, awkwardly, fiercely, Rose between them. “Love you, too.”
They both were crying.
There was a lump in Joe’s own throat, and the tug in his chest became an ache. “Anybody can be replaced,” he’d said toAnne. Which was stupid. Cruel. A lie. There was no one like her.
Mercy assisted Daanis as she climbed clumsily into the ambulance. Joe carried out her bag, setting it carefully at her feet. There was nothing else he could do, nothing he could fix.
Anne picked up Rose. “Wave to Mommy. Say, ‘Love you!’ ”
