Sedona and I look out the window to find Dori at another driver’s window, lecturing them about honking their horn. “Imagine you were trying to get across a highway and people were honking their horns at you.” Then she looks over and her eyes widen. She scurries over and opens the front passenger door. “Ethel, meet me at the hospital!”
I glance back, and sure enough, Ethel is driving Dori’s Cadillac one car back. She gives her friend a thumbs-up, then Austin weaves by the ducks, dodging the oncoming traffic.
Dori peers in the back. “How are you, sweetie?”
Sedona’s busy breathing, her legs clamped together.
“She won’t let me check,” I say, hoping Dori can persuade Sedona.
“Oh no. Switch spots.” Dori unbuckles herself.
Austin’s arm goes out like the mom safety bar across Dori’s chest. “I’m almost there. You hanging in there?” he asks Sedona.
“So this must be a shock to you, Jamison.” Dori settles back down in her seat.
“I’m good, but the contractions are so close. Where did you say Holly is?” Sedona’s head falls to the window.
“Yer okay with this?” I ask Dori.
“I think it’s great,” Dori says. “Sweet actually.”
I nod a few times. I know I’m missing something. I finally snap, needing to know exactly what’s going on. “Come on. Is Austin seriously the father?” I whisper to Sedona.
Her head falls from side to side and she grips her stomach again. “How much longer?”
“We’re here!” Austin says.
The Jeep’s tires squeal around the corner and he slams on his brakes in front of the emergency room entrance.
Dori steps out of the Jeep and I head out on my side, but Austin grabs Sedona before I can, helping her around the back. He tosses me the keys. “Park my Jeep.”
I grab them in the air and Dori pats me on the back. “Austin has to be there for the birth.”
I watch the three of them walk into the emergency room and all I can concentrate on is everything I missed. The last eighteen months weighs on my shoulders. I ruined it all. She’s made a whole life for herself without me in it. I know they’re messing with me about her child being Austin’s baby, which means she wants to shut me out completely.
I round the front of Austin’s Jeep and remember how many times I wanted to drive this thing back in high school. I honestly can’t believe he still owns it. He’s taken really good care of it. After I pull into the parking lot, I sit for a moment and decide I’ll leave the keys at the nurses’ station and take an Uber back to the hotel. I might be a part of Palmer’s future, but I’m clearly not going to be a part of Sedona’s.
I’m crossing the pedestrian walkway when a car whizzes by, parking in a nearby spot.
Holly’s out of her car in a flash. “Hey, Jamison.” She waves and goes in.
Why is she in such a hurry?
Then, as if someone made an announcement over the Lake Starlight PA system, all the Baileys arrive in a parade of cars. Phoenix is the first one out of her car, and she flips me off behind Maverick’s back as they head into the hospital.
My footsteps slow, and by the time I’m inside, Kingston’s already at the nurses’ station. Stella’s coming down another hallway in her white doctor coat.
Ethel pops up beside me without warning, putting her arm through mine. “Escort me to the waiting area.”
It’s the last thing I want to do, but I do as she asks. “Sure.”
We walk into the waiting room and she sits down. Some daytime talk show is playing on the TV in the empty room.
“Can I leave Austin’s keys with you?” I ask, holding them out. “I’m going to head out.”
She stares at the keys in my hand before patting the chair next to her. “You need to sit down.”
“I shouldn’t be here.”
“Damn right you shouldn’t!” Brooklyn’s voice fills the entire room.
“Let’s calm down,” Wyatt says.
“See?” I say to Ethel.
She pats the chair again. “I’m under strict orders to keep you here.”
“By whom?” Brooklyn asks, taking off Lance’s coat and letting him go check out the books and blocks.
“Who do you think? Your grandmother.”
Brooklyn crosses her arms. “I have no idea why Grandma Dori keeps allowing him to linger around. He left Sedona high and dry.”
Wyatt blows out a breath and takes off his suit jacket, heading to where the kids are playing with Lance.
One by one, each Bailey finds their way to the waiting room after finding out that they’re not allowed into the delivery room. Stella comes in for a second to say hi. She tells Kingston to let her know what happens, but she has patients to get back to. She’s now working in the medical offices attached to the hospital. Thank God for Buzz Wheel or I wouldn’t know any of this. They kiss, and when she leaves, Kingston stalks over next to me, picks up a magazine, and hums “Beat It” by Michael Jackson.
I’m about to leave when Austin walks into the waiting room. His eyes find mine first out of everyone, and my gut plummets to the floor below. Something is wrong.
“She’s having an emergency C-section,” he says to the room. “The doctor says it’s okay, but the baby is in distress.”
Kingston stands. “Shouldn’t you be with her?”
“Only one person can go in. Holly’s going to stay with her.” Austin flops down in a chair and buries his head in his hands.
As the family surrounds him, I stalk out of the room, unable to show my real emotions around a family who hates me. I’m almost through the sliding doors, needing some fresh air, when Dori grabs my sleeve and leads me into a small room. She flips the lock but thankfully turns on the lights. This is not the scenario I imagined when I pictured a woman pulling me into a hidden room.
“Listen to me. The whole ballgame just changed. If you want Sedona back, you better straighten up and fly right. This is your time to prove to this family how much you love her and can’t live without her.”
“I don’t understand. Tell me, whose baby is it? Where is he? Why is Holly the one in there holding her hand?”
Her eyebrows scrunch together. “Seriously? You haven’t figured it out? I thought you were an honor student in high school?”
“I am. I was. I’ve asked a zillion times and no one will answer me.”
She taps her finger to my temple. “Come on, Jamison. Use that brain of yours. There’s been no father mentioned and there’s no one here you don’t know. Austin drove her to the hospital and Holly is the one in the operating room with her. Figure it out.”
I think it all over. Them saying Austin is the father. I thought it was a joke. I know Austin and Holly had a hard time conceiving Easton…
Something must show in my eye because Dori nods, confirming what I’m thinking is correct. “She’s carrying Austin and Holly’s baby?”
“Bingo. You should play Words with Friends, it keeps the mind sharp.” She taps her temple and pulls her phone from her purse.
I lean against the wall, processing the information, my breathing labored from the thought of losing her. The one woman I’ve loved my entire adult life is going to have surgery, and because of my own jackass moves, I’m not the one in there with her. All the what-ifs stack up in my brain and topple over, but with that comes a realization.