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“Cecelia, what is it?” Brady’s voice was laced with fear. One of his hands held me tight to him while the other anxiously tilted my face up to his.
But then I started to laugh, my body shaking with the effort of it. Finally, I managed to slow my heaving laughter, pressing my hands tight to Brady’s body. Taking a slow, rattling breath, I looked up into his wide, dark eyes. “My water broke.”
His face couldn’t have been more perfect. His gaze dropped slowly to stare all the way down my body to where the floor-length gown pooled. If I hadn’t been literally dripping onto the floor, I would’ve taken even more time to savor this perfectly composed man falling to pieces right in front of me.
“Do you need to go to the hospital?”
“That’s typically where people go to have babies.”
“But it’s so early.”
“Not really. And he had the good sense to wait until after the wedding.” I shrugged a shoulder as Brady glanced around at the rapidly clearing reception. “Well, mostly.”
“I can’t believe this.”
I grimaced as a tight, pulling cramp wrapped around my body. Brady’s face went white. “Can you get Ashlyn please? I need to let her know what’s going on.”
“Stay here,” Brady said in a rush, jogging off across the room in his tuxedo.
I grunted again as another tight, cramping contraction burned across my middle. I gritted my teeth, leaning against the table. “No problem,” I said to no one in particular.
“Cici,” a low, deep voice said from the side of me.
I glanced up to catch a pair of midnight-blue eyes watching me curiously. Sharp, cleanshaven cheekbones with perfectly bowed lips and chocolate-brown hair.
The pretty Macklen. Tanner. “Nice to see you again,” I said with a hushed, quick voice. My body was feeling more and more tense as I braced myself.
“I can’t help but notice you and Brady seem to be in a bit of distress.” His perusal of my form was quick, professional. He was a surgeon, my worried brain quickly reminded me.
“Brady more than me.”
“I wouldn’t count on that.”
“What are you saying?” I leaned harder on the table, feeling the black linens bunch under my fingers. “Okay, so maybe you’re right.”
“You’ve had two, maybe three contractions since I came over. That’s very quickly progressing labor. How far along are you?” He held a hand out, resting it carefully on my shoulder as if to steady me. His bedside manor seeped into my flesh, calming my now-racing heart a fraction.
“Right at thirty-six weeks.”
“Ah, no problem there, then. We should probably be going though.” Tanner’s gaze was sweeping the venue, searching out somebody or something. I almost asked him when another pain gripped my midsection, making my knees weak.
Careful, strong hands held me tightly. “Yes, you’re going now. I don’t think you want this baby born on a dance floor, do you?”
The pain subsided enough that I could look up into Tanner’s face. I gritted my teeth in something close to a smile. “No, not really. But damn, can you imagine the story I would get to tell him?”
“God, you remind me of Ashlyn,” Tanner said, shaking his mahogany head. “Brady’s coming back. Let’s get you going.” His thick arms slipped under my elbow to hold me as Brady came to a halt beside us.
“I’m blocked in, but Emma can take us,” Brady said, his face still tight with worry.
I didn’t stop my hand when it itched to reach out and soothe his face. I hated seeing him like this.
“It’s going to be okay, Brady.”
“I would feel much better if I knew what was coming.”
Tanner’s exasperation was clear in his voice. “Well, I can tell you exactly what’s coming if you like, but let’s do it in the car. Things are moving along pretty quickly.”
I nodded to Brady, holding on to his arm with one hand and Tanner’s with the other. Ashlyn and Liam hustled alongside us for a moment, gushing words of excitement and good luck. Most of the words were Ashlyn’s, but I appreciated Liam’s smiling face all the more.
