His labor was long and, by the end, he had little left to give.
Sometime after noon, the baby was born. And almost the second we put the newborn on his chest, his phone rang. The doctor had finally returned his call.
Here in Autumn Hills, we had a birthing center attached to the healer’s office. No human doctors. But our healer tended to humans just the same.
And, for the most part, we ran on donations and relied on what people could pay based on their income. Some could pay nothing. Others set up payment plans. As a doula, I helped the healer but when it was time for birthing, I took the lead.
“What? We have patients this afternoon.”
“No, we don’t. Mrs. Dale called to cancel. Her gout is acting up. She rescheduled for next week.”
I sighed. My life was small. Work. Home. Cooking good food. Reading. Being cozy in my home. Living as slowly and intentionally as possible. But, sometimes, home was lonely. My wolf had been pressuring me to find my alpha, but when living in a small town, finding my mate wasn’t easy. Travelers passed through, but few stopped.
They didn’t intend to stay in the town with a motel, a diner, and not much else.
“I’ll go home if you do,” I told him, thinking I’d won. Tyrus was as hard a worker as I was, but he had a mate to go home to. He only left this place when work was done.
He held up his keys and his wallet. He’d gotten them from his locker. “My phone is on, forwarding the calls from here to my cell. Aren’t you tired?”
He spoke directly to my wrung-out muscles and my exhausted bones, it seemed. They ached at his question. “I am.”
“There you go. Go home. Get some rest. Eat something amazing and come back tomorrow fresh. We might be able to get a full night’s sleep if we’re lucky.”
“Okay. I give up.”
I grabbed my things and headed out, watching Tyrus’ truck leave the parking lot in a hurry. We had some caregivers at the facility to look after the omega, and we were both only ten minutes away from the center if we were needed.
Tyrus was lucky to have found his omega Patrick. They already had two little ones and had another on the way.
That life seemed so out of reach for me sometimes.
The mate. The family. The babies. I wanted it all. My family told me I would find my mate if I moved, but this town needed me. People came from counties and towns over to have a natural birth away from a hospital—humans and shifters alike. Plus, we provided the service regardless of insurance or income.
My important work was rooted in Autumn Hills.
At home, I picked up the kettle, a cup of chamomile tea just the ticket. But when I went to the sink to fill it up, all that came from the tap was a god-awful clacking and rattling sound. It reverberated through the wall behind the sink and resounded through the kitchen.
Fuck.
I called Kael, our local hardware store owner and handyman, who promised to be over within the next half hour.It took ten minutes for him to arrive, carrying his huge metal toolbox. He was always there for everyone in this town.
Once I explained what was going on, he went to work.
He ducked under the sink. Went to the well pump. Came back. Under the sink again. I watched him test all kinds of things before he sighed and shook his head. This wasn’t going to be good news.
“The pump is out. Haven’t seen one like that in years.”
“Please tell me you have a replacement in your store.”
His mouth pursed. “Not the one you need. I’m gonna have to replace the whole thing.”
I scrubbed my hands down my face. The exhaustion was growing and screaming at me to handle it. Now this? “What are you saying, Kael?”
“I can go tomorrow and get one from Davis, but it’s a two-hour drive in each direction. Which I don’t mind but, until I can get there and fix all this, you won’t have running water.”
No tea. Not a lot of cooking. No shower. I had a thing about taking a shower before I went to bed. If I didn’t, there was no sleep to be had. It was my unspoken rule. A creature of habit.
“Okay. Thank you, Kael. I appreciate anything you can do.”
