Fix You (20 page)

             
He started to say something else, but footsteps came up the back steps and he glanced away from her. Jo came in, taking no notice of the room, eyes coming straight to Jess. “Ellie doesn’t feel good. I’m sending her home.”

             
All Jess’s nerves snapped to attention. “What’s wrong with her?”

             
Jo’s expression was laced with nervous tension. “I think she’s going into labor, but she doesn’t want to go straight to the hospital. She wants to go home and get her bag and call Jordie - ”

             
“Go with her,” Jess said. “I’ll stay with the kids. She shouldn’t be driving; take her wherever she needs to go and call me when you know something.”

             
Jo bobbed a nod and ducked out. Jess watched the empty threshold a long moment, reminding herself that they’d all given birth – it was an inevitable, natural thing. But Jo had looked like she felt – like Ellie’s health issues could prove to be a complication.

             
“You look worried,” Chris observed.

             
“I am. A little bit, anyway. Ellie wasn’t sure she’d ever have kids and…” she let it hang.

             
It was silent a beat. “I’m gonna go check out the places in the dining room you thought were dry rot.”

             
She nodded, grateful he didn’t offer an empty assurance, and went outside to watch the kids.

**

              “What?” Jess asked, face feeling numb, as she registered what her sister had just told her.

             
It was five-fifteen; Chris was packing up his truck just a few yards away as she sat on the edge of the sandbox with the kids. Ellie’s labor had progressed more rapidly than any of them had thought; she’d gone from uncomfortable to prostrate in under an hour. Baby number one was here; baby number two was turned sideways in the womb. Ellie was losing blood, and had been rushed to an emergency C-section.

             
“It’s…” Jo’s voice was breathy and shaky. “It’s not looking great, Jess,” she said just above a whisper.

             
Jess put on her big sister voice, even though she was quivering inside. “Are you with Jordie?”

             
“Yes. He’s…”

             
“Is Tam there yet?”

             
“He just got here. He called from the parking deck.”

             
“Okay, I…” She had to be there.

If something happened…she had to be there.

But the kids…

A shadow fell across her and she glanced up to see Chris with his hands on his hips, a concerned frown tugging his eyebrows together. “Ellie?” he asked, and when she nodded, his frown deepened.

“Jordie needs you,” Jess said into the phone. “You and Tam stay with him. I’ll call you when I figure what I’m gonna do.”

“Okay.”

She disconnected and bit down hard on the inside of her cheek, racking her brain for a solution. All of her usual babysitters lived in Buckhead. The family would all be bound for the hospital. She could call Dylan…

No
. She dashed that idea immediately. It wasn’t just Tyler, but Willa she had to worry about, too.

“The second baby was
transverse – sideways,” she explained. “They’re having to do an emergency C-section.”

His forehead was a maze of creases. “Is she
gonna be alright?”

“I…I
dunno.” She swallowed hard. “I would go up there, but - ”

“I’ll watch the kids.”

Jess blinked; she tilted her head back on her neck and stared at him, at the worry etched in his hard face, and tried to understand why he would offer such a thing. “What?”

“You go to the hospital. I can stay here with them.”

“Why?” she blurted before she could stop herself.

“Because somehow, I’ve turn
ed into the family contractor - ”

“You -
”

“And I like Ellie. You should go.”

“But…” It just seemed so wrong to leave her son and niece with him. What kind of perpetual bachelor offered such a thing? Could she trust him? “Don’t you have someplace to be?”

“No.” His expression was very serious.

“You don’t know anything about kids.”

“I have a niece,” he said, and shocked her. “I can sit and watch cartoons with the best of ‘
em. Trust me.”

“But…” S
he wet her dry lips, still not able to comprehend this sudden act of pure kindness. “I’m not even nice to you,” she said, wincing.

He twitched a grin. “You can make it up to me.” When she didn’t move, his features softened. “Like I said; I’m the family contractor these days. I like all of you guys. Go do what you
gotta do and I’ll watch out for them.”

Jess looked at her son – who was gazing at Chris with something like hero worship – and at oblivious Willa, who was drawing aimless patterns in the sand. Then she looked at Chris and asked herself if she could trust the man with her child, with her sister’s child. Yes, she knew without any real question. Even if he got under her skin, that was a personal issue – this she could trust him with.

She leapt to her feet and dusted sand off the seat of her jeans. “There’s food in the cottage. Call me if you need to. I’ll call and give you an update.”

He nodded.

“Chris? I’ll owe you one.”

He quirked another small, distracted grin. “Yeah, you will.”

14

             
J
o had never seen her brother like this. She’d seen him depressed, hopeless, panicked, and anguished, but he’d always hidden those emotions beneath a veneer of calm. Today, his elbows braced on his knees, hands clasped together beneath his hanging head, he shook all over. And when he lifted his head to look at her, the emotion swimming in his blue-green eyes was guilt. From the moment the nurses had shoved him out of the delivery room and into her waiting hands, it had been guilt that she’d felt twisting Jordan; her twin-like sensitivity to him made her all too aware that the waves crashing through him weren’t what anyone would have expected from him in this situation.

             
She sat beside Tam on a hard plastic chair, across from Jordan, both of them watching him, trying to soothe when he gave them the chance.

             
“This happens all the time,” Jo said, and his head snatched up, his gaze acid as it fell over her. She pressed on: “Babies are upside-down and backward and turned the wrong way all the time. A C-section is so run of the mill…she’ll be fine. The docs see this all the time.”

             
“Shut up,” he told her, and stared across the waiting room, presenting them with his unsteady profile.

             
Jo wet her lips and tried again. “Do you wanna go see Jane while we wait? She’ll be in the nursery and - ”

             
“
No
.”

             
Tam touched her hand in silent censure and she sighed. He tipped his head and she nodded, got to her feet and paced away from them a few strides, feigning interest in the news up on the wall-mounted TV.

             
“She’s just trying to help,” Tam said in an undertone.

             
Jo waited, straining to hear Jordan’s answer. Right before the whole rest of her family came around the corner and stampeded toward them, she heard: “I’ve been
awful
to her. I’ve been awful and now she’s dying.”

**

              When Jess arrived, Jordan was leaning up against the wall and it looked like Mike and Tam on either side of him was all that kept him on his feet. Jo sat in a tight knot with their mother, Delta and Ellie’s friend Paige, Randy pacing behind their chairs, and that was where Jess went.

             
“No word?” she asked, and Jo’s expression was tight.

             
“Lizzy’s out. Ellie’s still on the table.”

             
Beth’s composure was wavering, her eyes slick with tears. “She’s hemorrhaging, they said.”

             
“God,” Jess breathed, knees feeling unsteady. “Do they think it’s because of - ”

             
“They don’t know,” Paige cut in, sniffling into the back of her black sleeve. “Her doc didn’t think her abnormal cell growth would impact her pregnancy, not ‘cause she’s so young, but…” She wiped her nose.

             
Jess’s palms itched and she rubbed them against the thighs of her jeans. She didn’t like to be idle anyway, but when stressed, she
had
to launch into action. She was incapable of wallowing. “What can I do?” she asked, and the eyes that turned toward her were understanding, but not helpful. “Chris stayed with the kids. I feel like I should help somehow.”

             
Jo’s brows lifted at the mention of Chris, but she didn’t comment on him. “You could go to the nursery and check how the babies are doing.”

             
Beth shook her head. “Jordie won’t go see them.”

             
Jess’s heart squeezed as she looked across the room toward her little brother. If she woke –
when
she woke – Ellie would be worried about her babies. Jordan was devastated over his mate. “Okay,” she said, not sure how long she could stay here and look at her brother’s tortured expression.

             
“I’ll come,” Paige said, surging to her feet. Her blue eyes were red-rimmed, her eye liner dripping down her cheeks in black, raccoon streaks. She looked in need of a distraction.

             
They walked up to the nursery, neither speaking because there wasn’t anything they could say; Ellie’s best friend was a strange girl, but she was blunt, too, and not one for false platitudes, for which Jess had an appreciation.

             
There were admirers pressed to the nursery window and Jess linked arms with Paige, the two of them forcing their way up to get a glimpse.

             
“Hey - ” someone protested.

             
Jess scanned the bundles and found two wrapped in pink, side-by-side, red-faced, squalling and newborn.
Baby Walker 1
and
Baby Walker 2
their bassinets were labeled.

             
“Jane and Lizzy,” Paige breathed, and then she started to cry.

**

              Chris’s niece – Ben’s daughter – was only three, and he’d fudged his uncle experience to Jess. He didn’t get to see Clara very often, but he’d spent enough time around the kids of clients to feel comfortable with all kids in general. Especially if they were old enough to walk and talk and watch TV. Especially if, like Tyler, they were car obsessed and were content to watch a classic car auction.

             
The girl, though – Willa – he had no clue what to do with. “Is she supposed to play with those?” he asked as she dove fists-first into a tub of what looked like Lincoln Logs.

             
Tyler was curled up on the love seat that was the mate to the black leather sofa where Chris sat, his small head propped on the arm. He nodded. “Yeah. She likes boy toys.”

             
“She won’t swallow those?”

             
“No.”

             
As he watched, Willa began making a crude attempt at building something . “What are you making?” he asked her, and her little dark head snatched up, blue eyes wide and a little unsure about this stranger who was sitting with her.

             
“House,” she finally said. “Big house.”

             
Why am I here?
He asked himself for the hundredth time since Jess had left. It was almost dark, the sky a deep navy streaked with great sweeps of pink beyond the cottage’s windows. Off the clock, totally out of his element, he was babysitting, and why? Yes, he was worried about Ellie Walker. But it was Jessica Walker he’d been helping when he’d made his offer to stay with the kids.
Sad
, he scolded himself.
You’re so sad, man
.

             
The crunch of gravel and the purr of an engine out in the drive pulled him out of his thoughts, giving him hope that Ellie and her babies were fine and that the girls were home. He got to his feet.

             
“Mama’s home,” Tyler predicted, and rolled his head so he had a view of the door.

             
“Probably.” Chris intended to meet them at the door and headed that way. “I bet she - ” The car in the drive – the one he glimpsed through the shroud of twilight on the other side of the window – was a silver coupe. And the dark figure striding toward the main house was definitely male and neither of the Walker sisters.

             
Chris turned to Tyler. “Watch her,” he said of Willa, “and I’ll be right back, okay? Stay inside.”

             
Tyler’s eyes were now alert with curiosity, but he nodded.

             
Chris slipped out and shut the door behind him, gave his eyes a moment to adjust to the melting shadows of near-darkness outside on the driveway. The owner of the silver Infiniti – and he’d realized who it was by this point – had been unsuccessful at the main house and was coming back toward the cottage, his long strides quick with agitation, his shoulders tense. Jessica’s husband had a wealthy, tightass look about him.

             
His head lifted when he was ten strides away and he pulled up short when he saw Chris standing with his hands in his pockets. He gathered his wits a second. Chris couldn’t make out his expression, but the voice was disgusted. “Where’s Jessica?”

             
“Out,” Chris said with a shrug. “And no, I dunno when she’ll be back.”

             
“Go get her sister then. She can tell Jessica I took Tyler for the night.”

             
Had their roles been reversed, Chris would have kicked the ever loving shit out of anyone who’d been brave enough to deny him access to his kid. But, had the roles in fact been reversed, he wouldn’t have dropped Jess the way this bastard had. And no way in hell was he letting one of his two charges get carried off while he was responsible, even if the abductor was the kid’s father.

             
“She’s not here either,” Chris told him.

             
The beat of silence that passed was bristling as Dylan chewed over what that meant. “Did she,” he said with a snarl, “leave Tyler with
you
?”

             
“It was an emergency.”

             
“That dumb bitch left our child with some asshole she’s
sleeping with
?” He coughed a laugh.

             
“Actually, I’m her contractor,” Chris said mildly.

             
“Oh, sure. Her ‘contractor’ who just
loves
watching little boys. What kinda sick pervert - ”

             
Chris took a great lunging step toward him and decked him. Hard. Right in the breakable bones of his cheek. The
thud
was satisfying as hell. The guy deserved it on so many levels: he was a cheating son of a bitch; he was a cheating son of a bitch who’d brought his new girlfriend to his ex’s house; he thought being an asshole would get him somewhere; and now, he’d suggested Chris was some kind of pedophile. Dylan was lucky he got away with just one hit, though it became apparent he couldn’t have taken more than that.

             
He staggered back, went down to one knee. He swore and clutched at his face, all his posh, rich boy swag demolished with one punch.

             
In a level, emotionless voice, Chris said, “It’s not my place to get between someone and his kid, but I told Jess I’d watch Tyler, and while he’s on my watch, he’s not going anywhere.”

             
Dylan surged back to his feet, unsteady. “You can’t - ”

             
“I’ll hit you again. Do you want that? ‘Cause I swear, if you try to go inside there, I’ll lay you out cold.”

             
Jessica’s husband, it turned out, was only brave when it came to threatening women. “Tell the bitch,” he hissed through his teeth, “to expect a call from my lawyer.”

             
“I’m sure she’ll be terrified.”

**

              Jordan was not a praying man, but as the minutes ticked by, he bargained everything away, hoping God was listening. The last thing he’d said to Ellie that morning had been,
“What’s for dinner? If you’re cooking.”
And he hadn’t spoken to her until he’d met her here with Jo, and by that time her pretty face had been ashen and her spine had been curled as she struggled with the pain ripping through her. It had all happened so fast – Jane had been there, been whisked away, and then Ellie’s eyes had rolled back in her head…

             
He studied the tile beneath his feet and tuned out everything his brothers were trying to tell him.
Please
, he said in his head over and over.
Please, please, please
. He’d been alternately cold and cruel, demanding and livid over the past few weeks, asking her why she kept withdrawing from him all the while he was pushing her back. He’d been moodier than a child, and instead of consoling what had been the reoccurrence of her deep-seated sense of inadequacy, he’d been an asshole. And now there was a very good chance she wasn’t going to survive. And the last thing he’d said to her hadn’t been how very, very much he loved her.

             
In a desperate attempt to stop the spiral into black depression, his mind sparked with indignant outrage. This was all her fault. She’d wanted children; she’d been the one with the health risks; she’d knowingly disregarded those risks and tumbled both of them into parenthood before they were ready. And why? For babies? For babies they didn’t even
know
? Who hadn’t even existed before? And those babies she’d wanted for no damn reason were going to be the death of her?

             
“Let’s go see them,”
Jo had urged, curling her small fingers around his.
“Let’s go see your girls.”