All summer, they’d been restricted in their activities because of her arm, and tonight, she wanted to go skinny-dipping with Connor. She didn’t come to the reunion with that in mind, but when she was out walking a little while ago, trying to get over the way her father had been treating her all day, she’d stumbled upon a secluded area not far away with the perfect spot for a small fire and plenty of privacy. It would definitely be the perfect spot for what she had in mind with Connor.
“I don’t think that I can watch this,” Zoe mumbled, her voice shaking, but thankfully her hold on the flashlight didn’t waver.
“Are you ready?” Connor asked, giving her one last chance to back out.
“No!” was Zoe’s answer, but she trusted her guy, so with one nod, Connor turned on the saw and touched the blade to her cast.
She watched him work and was impressed by his focus and handling of the saw. He kept his cut straight and even, his hands steady. In a matter of seconds, he was done, the saw was off and she was pretty sure that Zoe was mumbling something and hyperventilating a tad bit, but she was too excited to finally have this damn cast off to really care.
“How does it feel?” Connor asked once the cast was ripped off her arm.
“It feels good,” she said, sighing with relief to finally be able to move her hand and arm without that damn cast getting in the way.
“Um, actually, it kind of hurts,” Zoe said, drawing their attention just as she leaned in to kiss Connor.
“What hurts?” Connor asked, looking like he wasn’t about to give up that kiss when Zoe’s next words stopped them both dead in their tracks.
“The contractions. My water breaking didn’t exactly feel great either, but the contraction definitely hurt,” Zoe said as Rory moved past Connor and took the flashlight from Zoe, careful not to flash the light in her friend’s eyes and when she saw Zoe practicing her breathing exercises, she knew that their night just got interesting, mostly because they were a good hour away from the hospital.
“Your water broke?” Connor asked, fidgeting and for the first time in his life, not really looking all that confident. Not that she could blame him since all she wanted to do at the moment was start screaming for help and give in to the panic clawing at her.
“If your water broke, then why didn’t you say anything?” Connor demanded, truly looking at a loss at what to do next. Give the man a saw and he was calm, give the man a woman in labor and he shattered.
“Because I didn’t want you cutting off her arm, you jackass!” Zoe cried out, her words ending on a scream as she grabbed onto Connor’s arm and squeezed. Rory could tell by the strain on his face that it hurt, but he took it.
“Sorry,” Connor mumbled.
“You should be!” Zoe snapped. “You scared the hell out of me and now, I’m about to give birth to two Bradfords out in the middle of nowhere with no drugs! Do you have any idea how big a Bradford’s head is? Huh? Do you?” Zoe demanded, between panting. Rory would have offered Zoe her hand to squeeze, but her broken arm had just healed and she really wasn’t eager to get another cast.
“I’m going to call for an ambulance,” Connor said, pulling his phone out of his pocket just as company arrived.
“What the hell is going on?” Trevor demanded, climbing onto the truck. He went to put his arms around Zoe but stumbled back as the small woman suddenly turned the most vicious glare that Rory had ever seen on the man.
“You!” Zoe said accusingly as her eyes narrowed to slits on her husband.
For a moment, Trevor simply sat there, looking at his wife, until finally he sighed and gestured to Connor. “Do you have any rope?”
“Rope?” Connor repeated as Rory asked, “What the hell do you need rope for? She’s in labor!”
“It’s to stop her from trying to rip my balls off,” Trevor said with a fond smile for his wife, who looked like she really wanted to do just that.
Definitely the most interesting family reunion, Rory thought an hour later when the ambulance finally showed up just as the twins arrived and she decided against telling Connor that she was late.
Chapter 36
September
“What time is it?” Rory asked around a yawn as she rolled over onto her side so that she could face him as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
“A little after two,” Connor said softly, resisting the urge to go to her because he knew that if he did that, he would want more, need more from her and he couldn’t do that to her, not now.
“You’re just getting home?” she asked but made no move to get up or open her eyes this time. For the first time in months, Connor was thankful for the exhausting hours they put in every day. It was probably the only thing stopping Rory from asking a million questions that he didn’t want to answer.
“Go back to sleep, baby. We have to get up in a couple of hours,” Connor said, smiling for the first time in hours when Rory let out a whiny, little growl and flopped back over onto her stomach.
He walked into her bathroom and carefully closed the door behind him, wincing as pain shot through his battered hand. For the last couple of hours, he’d been able to ignore the pain, but now that he wasn’t busting his ass and taking all his frustration and anger out on two-by-fours and sheetrock, he was starting to feel all the damage he’d done to his hands. He held up his hands and cursed.
Shit!
