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“Scared us a little, Zoe. How about we not do that again?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Just a little fainting.”
She dragged Ian down to meet her eyes by his hair. “If you tell my brothers, I will kill you.”
“You mean kiss me.” The color returned to Ian’s face. He touched his forehead to hers. “And don’t you fucking go anywhere. I need you. This baby needs you.”
She nodded. “I’m not. I swear, I’m okay. Just tired.”
Anna kept looking at the monitor beside the bed, but the frown lines around her eyes eased. “Okay, I need you to give me deep, even breaths and push.”
I closed my eyes against the savagery. Ivy wrapped her arms around me.
And we waited while Zoe pushed and pushed.
Suddenly, there was an almighty cry then the shriek of a baby and relieved laughter.
“There we go.” Ivy sighed and smiled up at me. “Perfect and howling like the very best baby ever.”
“He’s perfect.” Ian’s shocked and tear-filled eyes met mine for a moment before he turned back to his girl and his little one like they were his entire world. “You’re perfect, Magic.”
I backed out of the room. I needed air.
There was too much emotion and chaos in there. From laughter to tears, the voices were now bright and full of love.
Zoe’s brothers and father pushed by me to get in as I fought the tide of testosterone to get out. Guilt sat on my shoulders, but I still needed air.
“Rory?” She chased me out the door into the clearing. The rain had stopped. Sun was bleeding into the violent storm clouds racing out of the area to the next town. “You’re leaving at the best part. Isn’t he beautiful?” Her voice was filled with wonder and light. Much like the room full of people I’d had to escape. “I mean, I only got a little glimpse, but that part’s not for us. It’s for them.”
“I just need a minute.” All I could keep seeing was Zoe going limp. How wrong it could have gone. “That was a lot to take in. This isn’t my kind of scene.”
“Well, you better get used to it.” The teasing glint drained out of her voice. “It’s going to be your scene in about five months.” She pushed by me and hurried toward the copse of trees heavy with new baby apples.
Even the trees were ready to give birth, for God’s sake.
I quickly followed her. Christ, I’d stepped in it. Would I ever learn to shut my stupid mouth? “Ivy, wait.”
She was stalking away from me at an alarming rate.
I grabbed her hand and stopped her. “I’m just freaking out a little, all right? This is why I don’t let people in.” If I let them in, I could lose them.
I could lose her to some freak medical emergency.
She gripped the front of my shirt. “I know this whole letting people get closer to you thing is going to take some time to get used to, but he’s your best friend. You need to get back into that barn and congratulate him.”
“Of course I am. I just don’t want to.”
“Why the hell not?”
“You know why not.” I’d explained my past to her and I thought she’d understood.
“I get it. You had a friend betray you once. But hey, guess what? You did the same to me.”
“I did not.” My stomach bottomed out.
“You didn’t cheat, but you left. And to be honest, I didn’t know if you had a woman in every damn city from here to Los Angeles. We barely know one another.”
