Chapter
One
“Laird! The baby can’t be coming now!” his sister, Mhairi, wailed. “It’s Valentine’s Day, and Jason is stuck on the other side of Vail Pass!”
“He was putting on chains when he called. He’ll be here.” He eased Mhairi out of his big pickup truck, careful not to let her slip. The parking lot was icy, even if someone had cleared the walk and laid down ash on it.
She was huge and actively giving birth right now.
The birthing center was lit up with pink and red fairy lights surrounding the windows, happy-looking Valentine’s hearts with names scribbled in them all on the windows. It was nauseating.
Still, it was welcoming, he supposed. Even if it was way more like a house than the sterile hospital that he would much prefer his sister be giving birth in right now.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Mhairi? This seems…specious.”
Mhairi looked at him. “This is the highest-rated birthing center on the Western Slope. Donotfuck with me.”
“That is Jason’s job. I just think maybe we should go to a hospital.”
She whacked him hard on the arm. “Just get me into the damn birthing center, you asshole!”
The door to the birthing center opened, and he got a smile from the mousy little guy standing there. “Mhairi, happy Valentine’s Day. Come on in. How’s it going?”
“How do you think it’s going? She’s having a baby, and her husband isn’t here. This is…just like a big house. How can this place possibly be clean?”
Laird just didn’t understand. There were paper hearts plastered everywhere, wallpaper and soft couches, and this was not an appropriate place to have a baby.
It was not a hospital.
“Laird, I swear to God, by all I hold holy, I’m going to beat you to death with your own arm.”
Mr. Mousy smiled, the expression pure milquetoast. “Mhairi, it sounds like you’re having some pain. How about we get you all set up in a room, and maybe you can get in the tub? That’ll really help.”
In a tub. Oh God. He was gonna barf.
“Yes. Please. And don’t mind my jerk of a brother, Devon. He’s a fireman and an EMT, and he thinks he knows better than me. The pregnant lady.”
“Devon” just kept on smiling serenely. “Once I get you settled I’ll be happy to talk to him about the center and about my qualifications.” Devon took Mhairi’s arm and led her inside, where it was warm but not hot, and the reception center, he had to admit, was spotless, if…cottagecore.
“You’re so good to me. I can’t believe that my husband is not here. He’s stuck in Denver and there’s this fucking snowstorm and I don’t?—”
Devon nodded to her as she rattled on, listening—atleast it seemed like it—and then Devon smiled. “No matter what, we’re going to make this the best experience we can, given the circumstances. And at the end, you’re going to have a beautiful little girl, and that’s the important part.”
Laird thought the most important parts were the whole “no germs” part and the having Mhairi’s husband there so that he didn’t have to watch his sister’s inside parts.
Because, although he had delivered a baby, it was not his favorite thing on earth.
She sniffled. “I believe you, and Jason has chains on his truck, and he’s coming home. Carefully.”
“Well, there you go. This will be your room.” Devon turned to raise an eyebrow at him. “Would you like to inspect it, er…”
“Laird,” he forced out from between gritted teeth.
Devon arched one eyebrow and then smiled, the look blissful, and it kind of made him want to just punch the little bastard. He didn’t need this. “Well, come on in. I’m giving you the pink room.”
“Is it because she’s having a girl?” Because that was backward as fuck.
“No, it’s because it has the best tub, and I don’t have anyone else in today, so you don’t have to worry about the blue or the green room.” That was a “humor the lunatic” voice. He knew it well. His partner on the bus, Nick, used it a lot.
