prologue
may
the contractions began late that night, and they began hard.
marly awoke from a restless sleep, a pained gasp on her lips as her rounded stomach tightened painfully. imperatively.
she reached for cade, to awaken him, to warn him, but he was already there, his blue eyes filling with panic as he flipped on the bedside lamp and stared back at her.
“oh shit.” she had never heard that particular tone of voice from him before. marly blinked at him in surprise, torn between laughter and concern as his wide eyes went to the rippling motions of the contraction that seized her heavily pregnant abdomen.
“now, cade,” she tried to soothe him as she scooted to the end of the bed,
“don’t panic.”
“fuck. sam! brock!” marly was certain his demented scream rocked the upper level of the house.
damn. they were all going to panic on her now. she did not need this.
“dammit, marly, where are you going?” before she could throw her legs over the side of the mattress cade was moving to her, his hands trembling as he gripped her arm to keep her in the bed.
“cade august, i refuse to have this child at home,” she snapped, staring at him like the lunatic he was. “i need to get dressed. for that matter, so do you. i need the hospital.”
marly hadn’t thought he could have gotten paler. but he did. in an instant his swarthy complexion went snow white as he swallowed tightly.
“oh shit,” he seemed to wheeze.
the door burst open and sam, brock, and their wives rushed into the room.
sam had a gun and a hard-on. brock was just sporting the hard-on.
thankfully, sarah and heather had thought to drag on robes.
marly closed her eyes helplessly. they still hadn’t completely managed to still the terror that had gripped them during the months she, sarah and heather had been stalked. annie still haunted them all.
“heather was so right last year,” she sighed. “only you guys would still have a hard-on, no matter the situation,” she moaned as she shook her head in resignation.
another contraction seized her body, tightening her abdomen and rippling the flesh convulsively.
“oh hell. she’s in labor,” sam seemed to choke then as both he and brock paled alarmingly.
“i don’t want to have this baby here,” she moaned, more than worried at the suddenly horrified faces of the men staring at her, as though she were some sort of aberration. “sarah. heather. do something, please.”
thankfully, they did. marly wasn’t certain how they managed to get everyone dressed, including herself, and into the vehicles heading for the hospital. she was just thankful they had.
the contractions were coming faster than doc had told her they would starting off, and though she fought to hide her fear from cade, she couldn’t hide it from herself.
she sat in the back seat of the mercedes, cade’s arms wrapped around her, doing the lamaze breathing and feeling like a panting dog as she tried to relax through the rapidly building pain. god, she was so thankful she opted for drugs for the delivery. this was not comfortable. not comfortable at all.
“babe, you doing okay?” sam glanced back as he sped through the night, his worried face reflected in the dim interior lights.
“watch the damned road, sam,” cade snapped as he held marly close to his chest, his gentle hands stroking her distended abdomen as it contracted harshly.
“i’m watching the road.” he turned back quickly as heather’s softly whispered reminder of the upcoming curves of the road added to cade’s order.
“i love you, marly,” cade whispered at her ear as another contraction gripped her stomach.
“fifteen minutes apart, marly.” heather timed her. “sam, honey, you’d better pick up some speed.”
he picked up speed. marly closed her eyes instead of watching the night pass by at a rate that came close to terrifying.
* * * * *
the contractions were less than five minutes apart by the time they reached the hospital. thanks to heather’s call, nurses, orderlies, and marly’s no-nonsense obstetrician were waiting at the ambulance entrance when they pulled in. for marly, life had turned into a minute-by-minute count between contractions as she tried to relax against the overwhelming pain of the labor. it had also turned into a kaleidoscope of memories.
as though her life were flashing before her eyes, marly saw the impacting moments of her years with cade, from the day she had arrived on his doorstep until now.
how he had taken her, a gawky, awkward child, and dressed her in the finest clothes, given her everything a child could have wished for. he had showered her with all the love, security and praise that he himself had lacked in his life. brock and sam had followed suit. throughout her teenage years they had raised and protected her, sheltered her, and by turns had overseen each adventure in her life. had overseen them, and had eventually become the adventure. and now here they were yet again. the three of them, faces pale, voices hoarse, as the nurses worked around her.
between contractions, preparation and the smooth transition from pain to woozy comfort, she watched the three men. they stood silently across the room, their gazes shadowed and worried, flickering with fear. but cade looked tortured.
“i’m okay,” she whispered, smiling for him as the pain receded. “we’re both going to be fine.”
he moved to her, careful to stay out of the way of the nurses until he could stand beside the hospital bed. then he laid his head beside hers, his hands tangling in her long hair as he held her to him, his body convulsing with a hard shudder.
“i know,” he whispered bleakly, his voice so haunted with pain it broke her heart. “everything’s fine. i know that.”
but she could hear his fears. fears that had only grown as the pregnancy progressed.
“he’ll be as gorgeous as his daddy. and just as strong,” she whispered, well aware of the fact that the child could be no one’s but cade’s. she had made certain of it.
she had given each of them the illusion that they would be as much a part of the baby as cade was, to keep that bond alive for them. but privately, she had ensured no other fathered the baby but cade. he was her soul.
everything that mattered in this world to her.
as his hands tightened in her hair, his body trembling with emotion, marly feared the changes that would soon come crashing into his life. she wanted her husband happy. whole. the nightmares were gone, but she knew his fears still lingered. the fear of losing her. of being alone, deep inside, once again. and she swore to herself in that moment, for cade, for their baby, she had to make him face the final demon that haunted him. him, brock, and sam.