He pulled me tight against his chest. “I’m okay, baby. It’s over. It’s finally all over.” He released a shaky breath.
I started to turn toward the bodies on the floor, but Liam framed my face before I could. “Don’t look at them, Molls. They’re dead—you have to trust me. You don’t want to see them.”
He turned me away and guided me out a side door to his Jeep. Down the road, Jace’s truck barreled toward us.
“How did you guys find me? He crushed my phone before we even pulled away from the restaurant.”
“We tracked your location from your earbuds in your purse,” Liam said. “I went to the bathroom and realized you were gone. I checked the restaurant cameras—that’s how I saw him take you out the back.”
Jace and Colt jumped out of the truck and ran toward us.
“You found her.” Jace pulled me into a hug.
“It was my dad,” Liam said, hanging back a step. “He was the one targeting Molly. He didn’t want her getting the secret trust fund I apparently have. That’s why he had her kidnapped. He was going to kill her. I shot him before he could. He’s dead—and so are the idiots he hired.”
Colt and Jace looked around in disbelief. This had started as stalking, but it ended in full-blown attempted murder. Too bad the man behind it would never stand trial. Hell was a better place for him anyway.
Something warm trickled down my leg, dragging my attention from the guys as they pieced everything together.
My leggings were soaked. For one terrifying second, I thought I’d been shot. Then more liquid spilled down my thighs, and I knew.
“Liam.” I cut through the conversation. “My water just broke.”
Chapter 34 – Liam
Molly’s delivery was nothing short of chaotic. By the time we made it to the hospital in Great Falls, she was already eight centimeters dilated. When the doctor informed her it was too late for an epidural, I genuinely thought she was going to rip his head off.
She barely made it through check-in and into the delivery room before it was time to push.
I held her hand through every contraction, just like I promised I would. I did whatever I could to ease the pain—ran my hands through her hair, rubbed her back, whispered encouragement—anything that might help. I had never seen someone so strong or so brave in my life.
After only a few pushes, at 12:02 a.m. on an early Sunday morning, our son was born.
Everyone agreed he looked just like me, which terrified me slightly if I’m being honest. I hoped he grew up to have more of my good qualities than my bad ones.
Holding him for the first time was an experience I will never be able to explain. It was like the world around me stopped spinning, the world only focusedon this tiny baby that could easily fit in the palm of my hands.
Watching them lay him on Molly’s chest was just as emotional. The second they did, something shifted in her. She went straight into mom mode—checking him over, holding him close, whispering to him like she was already promising to protect him for the rest of his life.
And I knew she would.
Once he finally arrived, it felt like I could breathe again. He was healthy. Molly was healthy.
For the first time in what felt like forever, everything was right in the world again.
Now, instead of a sterile hospital room, I was standing on the back porch of Molly and my house, holding our son close to my chest as he napped.
Molly was inside, finally getting a much-deserved nap after being up every few hours last night nursing the chunky boy.
I walked down the porch steps slowly, careful not to make too much movement and wake him. I learned pretty quickly that a tired baby is a cranky baby.
The early spring sun warmed my back as I wandered around the yard, showing the little nugget pressed against my chest his new home—his forever home.
“This,” I whispered, nodding toward the coop, “is where your momma’s chickens sleep at night. I haveno idea why she loves those wild animals so much, but we keep them around because she says so.”
I shifted him slightly and looked toward the greenhouse. “And that’s where your momma keeps her garden. She’s pretty good at it. Grows a mean tomato and cabbage. One day you’ll get to eat them… just not anytime soon.”
I glanced down at him with a small grin. “Everything you need right now is currently sitting in your momma’s chest. I’m eagerly waiting to get access to that again someday—but I guess I can share for now.”
