The Baby's Guardian (17 page)

“I want to get married,” he blurted out, and winced at his abrupt tone. Sheez. He’d negotiated hostage standoffs that hadn’t given him this much trouble.

“Let me try that again,” Shaw corrected. “Will you marry me?”

He braced himself for another of her shocked looks, maybe even some hesitation, but her hug got harder, and she found his mouth with hers.

“Yes,” she said, a split second before she kissed him.

Yes.

That part registered in Shaw’s brain, but the kiss even managed to fog that up a little.

“That was a yes?” he questioned, pulling back just a little.

He kept his mouth right over hers so he could take in her taste with each breath. It was a taste he knew he would want for the rest of his life.

“A definite yes.” But now, she hesitated. “I have a condition, though.”

He thought maybe his heart stopped. She couldn’t back out. He wouldn’t let her. Sabrina was his.

“What?” he asked cautiously. He was willing to agree to anything.

“Marry me before the baby comes. I want us to be a real family.”

He hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath until it swooshed out of him. “Deal. The wedding before the baby. But the last condition isn’t really a condition.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. That was the easiest question he’d ever had to answer. “Because we’re already a family.”

And to prove it, Shaw kissed her so that neither of them would ever forget it.

Two Weeks Later

Sabrina clamped her teeth over her bottom lip to stop herself from screaming. She’d read all the books about the pain management. She’d prepared herself.

Or so she’d thought.

But nothing could have prepared her for this.

“It’s okay,” Shaw told her. But his strained voice and expression didn’t exactly convey that all was okay.

He looked scared spitless.

Sabrina wasn’t scared. She was in too much pain to feel anything but the contractions that had hold of her stomach. Mercy. It was relentless.

“Push,” Dr. Nicholson instructed.

The delivery bed was angled high enough so that Sabrina could see the doctor, but Dr. Nicholson had her attention focused on the birth.

Sabrina pushed, and dug her shoes into the stirrups so she could bear down. The ivory peep-toe heels looked absurd against the metal stirrups. For that matter, she probably looked absurd since she was still wearing her lacy cream-colored wedding dress.

Shaw still had on his tux, even though the tie was off and God knew where. It’d been a crazy, frantic ride from the church to the hospital. Things hadn’t settled down after their arrival, either. Once Dr. Nicholson checked Sabrina, she had her rushed to the delivery room.

There’d been no time for prep. No time to change into a hospital gown.

No time for anything but the pain.

“Okay, stop pushing,” the doctor told her. “We need to wait for the next contraction, but it won’t be long.”

No doubt. The contractions were only seconds apart, and Sabrina barely had time to catch her breath in between them.

“I’m sorry,” Shaw said, shaking his head.

He was right next to her, gripping her left hand. A position he’d taken the instant they’d been ushered into the delivery room.

“Sorry for what?” Sabrina asked while she fought with her breath.

“I didn’t know you’d hurt this much.” Well, he certainly wasn’t the calm, collected police captain now. His nerves were right there on the surface. “I’m so sorry. I wish I could do something. Anything.”

“You’ve done enough,” she joked.

Even though Sabrina had no idea how she managed to attempt humor. This didn’t feel funny.

She had to bite her lip again to stop herself from yelling. Or cursing. Sheez, how did women go through this multiple times?

“Push,” the doctor ordered.

Unlike Shaw, Dr. Nicholson sounded totally in control. And looked it, too. It made Sabrina glad that they
had mended fences after Gavin’s arrest. She wouldn’t have wanted another doctor for this because Dr. Nicholson had been there with her from the beginning.

Thankfully, Shaw had mended his own fences with Officer Newell, and everything was back to normal at headquarters.

Sabrina pressed her peep-toes against the stirrups again and pushed as hard as she could. The pain was blinding, and she used every bit of her energy to fight to maintain the push that the doctor had ordered.

“You’re doing great, Sabrina,” Dr. Nicholson told her. “Keep it up.”

Sabrina cursed in spite of her attempts not to. She wasn’t doing great. She was hurting!

But just like that, the pain stopped. Something inside her seemed to give way. The pressure was gone. The contraction ended.

And then Sabrina heard the cry.

It was a sound that touched every part of her body, and she looked in stunned amazement as Dr. Nicholson lifted the baby so she could see.

“It’s a boy,” the doctor announced.

A boy.

She and Shaw had a son.

“Well, despite being two weeks early, he has healthy lungs,” Dr. Nicholson added over the baby’s loud cries. “Have you guys picked out a name?”

She and Shaw had chosen the names Elizabeth Sabrina Tolbert for a girl or Jacob Shaw Tolbert for a boy.

So, this was Jacob.

But Sabrina couldn’t speak. She looked at Shaw, who seemed as dumbfounded as she was.

“Okay, you can tell me the name later. Captain Dad, it’s time to cut the umbilical cord.” Dr. Nicholson put the baby on Sabrina’s stomach and handed Shaw the scissors.

Shaw took the scissors. Sabrina saw that part, but then she zoomed in on that tiny precious crying face. It was wrinkled and red, but it was the most beautiful face she’d ever seen.

Jacob Shaw Tolbert had his daddy’s dark hair. Shaw’s chin and mouth, too. But Sabrina could see the shape of her own eyes in him.

The love was instant. Powerful. Unconditional. And it became complete when the doctor wrapped Jacob in a blanket and put him in her arms.

“Are you still in pain?” Shaw asked. He kissed her cheek. Her forehead. And then he kissed the baby. The nervous flurry of kisses continued.

Sabrina definitely wasn’t hurting. In fact, had there been pain? She was no longer sure. Her body was humming now, and she felt higher than the moon and stars.

She smiled. “No pain,” she assured him.

Because Shaw still looked terrified, she leaned over and kissed him on the mouth.

He kissed her right back.

“I need to borrow this little guy for a second so I can weigh him,” the attending nurse said. She took the baby and placed him on a table not too far from the delivery bed.

The doctor finished up with Sabrina and pulled off
her gloves. “You did great. All three of you. I’ll arrange to have you taken to a private room, but from the looks of things, you won’t have to stay more than a day.”

“Thank you,” Sabrina and Shaw said in unison.

“For everything,” Sabrina added.

The doctor smiled, nodded, and Sabrina saw her blink away some happy tears.

“He’s six pounds, fourteen ounces,” the nurse relayed. “Twenty-one inches long. And he just peed on me.” The nurse laughed.

So did Shaw and Sabrina.

Every little detail was amazing. So were his cries. And the little foot kicks. The hand flails. Even the peeing incident.

Sabrina remembered to count the fingers and toes.

Everything was there.

Everything was perfect.

“Your baby’s birthday is September ninth,” the nurse continued. “And the delivery time was 1:36 p.m.”

Shaw smiled, and Sabrina knew why. Their son had been born on his parents’ wedding day, less than an hour after they’d said, “I Do.”

“We made it,” Sabrina whispered.

“We made it,” Shaw whispered back. “I love you, Sabrina Tolbert.”

“Good. Because I love you, too, Shaw Tolbert.”

And there was no doubt in her mind about that. He was her hot cop now, and he always would be.

Shaw sneaked in another kiss and then moved back slightly so the nurse could place the baby back in Sabrina’s arms. But she moved, too, maneuvering Jacob between them so that Shaw was holding him, as well.

Just like that, the baby stopped crying.

Jacob blinked. And he looked at her. His tiny forehead scrunched up, as if he might want to accuse her of something. Then, he looked at Shaw and gave him the same look before his face relaxed. He didn’t smile. He just looked at them and seemed to say, “Okay, what’s next?”

Shaw laughed, and Sabrina smiled through her own happy tears, which were streaming down her cheeks.

So, this was what a miracle felt like.

Now she knew.

And these miracles were hers for a lifetime.