Chapter One
Monday, September 26, 2022
“I’m sure a lot of people wouldbe fond of hospitals if they were all like this,” Brantley Walker mused as he strolled down the long corridor toward the labor and delivery wing.Although he’d visited at least once a day for the past nine days, it still caught him off guard how nice this place was.
“Yeah?”Reese Tavoularis, the man Brantley had married nine short days ago, didn’t sound convinced.
“Shit.If you could be taken care of in a place likethis”—he gestured toward the nurse’s station, which held two child-size vases of fresh flowers, giving the sterile white space some life—“Why wouldn’t you?”
“You and I both know those flowers came from Wes.”
Brantley had figured as much.It made sense that Wesley Buchanan, grandfather-to-be, would ply the nurses in this wing with gifts simply because he could.Rumor was he’d catered in breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the staff in this wing at least four times in the past week.The man was generous like that.Not to mention, fucking loaded.
As they neared the door to JJ’s birthing suite, Brantley’s shoulders tensed.“I really hope she’s in a good mood.”
“I’m sure she’s not,” Reese said with a smirk.“But she wouldn’t be JJ otherwise.”
True.These days, his best friend, Jessica James, a.k.a.JJ, wasn’t known for her charming personality.He didn’t fault her for it, really, but it also didn’t make him look forward to these daily trips.Since he’d been through worse—in the Navy when he was buried under a building and nearly died—he opted to suck it up.She wouldn’t be in this hospital forever.
Taking a deep breath in, Brantley rapped his knuckles on the door with his exhale.There was no response right away, so they waited.He was about to knock again when he heard JJ say, “Get your asses in here already.”
Nope.No good mood today either.
Squaring his shoulders, he pressed the handle lever to open the door.He pushed it open slowly, revealing the enormous suite where JJ was riding out the last days of her pregnancy—however many there might be.
“Hey, Tesha,” JJ greeted, smiling down at their canine partner.These days, Tesha went along for the ride anytime they left the house.“I’m so gladyoucould make it.”
Brantley fought the urge to laugh but instead rolled his eyes.Passive-aggressive much?
“We brought you somethin’,” he told his best friend.
There was a barely-there hint of a smile on her face as she eyed the takeout bag Reese was carrying.
“It’s about time,” JJ grumbled, a dark storm cloud in the otherwise soothing gray room.
“Good mornin’ to you, too,” Reese told her as he walked the forty miles from the door to the bed to give her the breakfast they’d picked up on their way in.
And fine, maybe forty miles was a bit of a stretch, but the space was enormous.Large enough to hold a king-size bed, a long, glossy white dresser mounted to the wall, a bathtub that would hold at least four people, two wall-mounted televisions, two nightstands (on wheels to get them out of the way if needed), as well as a sitting area that was about the size of their living room.Oh, and there was also a private bathroom that put Brantley’s to shame.
At the moment, JJ was propped up in the big bed, half a dozen pillows keeping her in place, while the father-to-be, Sebastian Buchanan, a.k.a.Baz, was occupying the sitting area on the far side of the room, feet propped up, laptop resting on his thighs.Brantley got the feeling they didn’t move much from where they were and probably wouldn’t until the delivery.
“Do you share that thing with him?”Brantley asked, gesturing toward the bed and then over to Baz.
“Only when I have to.”She flashed a smile.
Brantley had to wonder which was more comfortable: the bed or the chocolate-brown leather recliners?If it were him, he would likely choose the chairs since they were positioned to face a fifty-five-inch television currently playing a news channel with the volume all the way down.
Brantley jerked his chin at Baz.“Mornin’.”
Baz’s smile looked forced, but he managed a subtle chin jerk in response.
“He’s in time out,” JJ announced.
“Time out?”Brantley barked a laugh.“For what?”
“You want to tell them?”JJ asked, sounding far too much like Brantley’s mother back when he’d been a wild and rambunctious kid and she spent most of her waking hours reprimanding him.No doubt he’d deserved it.He wasn’t sure the same could be said for Baz, though.
Baz inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly.“Because I went to the gift shop and forgot to pick her up a package of the little chocolate donuts,” he droned, his tone defeated.
