Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 124341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124341 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
“Don’t be offended if she doesn’t give you much of a greeting,” Ms. Hastings said before she stepped back and closed the door behind him.
What did that mean?
He stood in the quiet foyer, uncertain. Afraid. His heart quickened again, pounding in his chest, his ears. He moved forward as if in a dream. As if he’d walked back in time to that misty forest, creeping through the trees, nervous, yet a thrill of excitement trilling through him. He was about to see her.
Movement out a back window caught his attention. He saw three or four people sitting on the patio at a table, playing cards as Ms. Hastings had said. He recognized the sheriff. What are they doing out there? And why isn’t Autumn with them?
The soft sound of music hit his ears, something slow and sweet. Violins, he thought, a piano. It rose, triumphant, and then dipped into melancholy as he moved forward over the wooden floors, through the dimly lit house.
He barely took in the surroundings, only that there were rugs and throw pillows, cascading plants, and artwork on the walls. She’d made it beautiful. Her home. And though he wanted to stop and look around, he wanted to see her more.
Something was happening in that back room, and he didn’t know what, only that he both wanted to run toward it and away.
As he approached the doorway where the flickering light came from, he heard a moan of pain, the splash of water. He smelled the scent of lavender. His heart jumped, fear spiking, breath stalling as he put his palm on the door and pushed it open. For a moment, he simply stood there, trying to make sense of the scene before him as he caught his breath. His feet began moving before he’d directed them to. Toward her.
Autumn. Autumn. Autumn.
His heart rejoiced at the sight of her even as confusion gripped him in a vise.
She was lying in a large tub of water at the end of the bed, and there was a woman kneeling next to her, her back to Sam.
He approached slowly, his gaze roaming Autumn, moving from her hair to her closed eyes to the black bra she was wearing to…
Her hugely pregnant belly.
The kneeling woman was murmuring something to her, something soft and reassuring. Autumn’s eyes opened, meeting Sam’s. Widening. Her lips fell open, and she let out a small sound of shock, which morphed into a grimace and a grunt of pain as she leaned forward, putting her hand on her swollen stomach.
The woman next to Autumn looked behind her, spotting Sam. Autumn lay back, blowing out several breaths and reaching out to Sam. He all but ran to her, going to his knees on the other side of the tub and taking her hand.
“Oh, Sam.” She started to cry, tears tracking down her flushed cheeks. “You’re here. You made it.”
“I’ll give you two a moment,” the woman said, standing and offering Sam a gentle smile. “She has a little bit of time before the real work begins.”
Autumn gripped his hand, the tears continuing to fall as she whispered his name again and again. He leaned forward, using his other hand to touch her cheek. “Autumn. You’re…” He looked helplessly at her stomach, eyes widening when he saw it moving with the life within.
She let out a small, strangled laugh. “The word you’re looking for is pregnant,” she said, the laughing melting into a grimace as she shut her eyes and breathed through another contraction. “You’re going to see your baby born, Sam,” she said once the pain had passed. “You’re here,” she repeated as though she was still convincing herself it was real.
Dizziness overcame him. The room spun, and he stood, a sound of distress falling from his lips as he gripped his head. This was… He stumbled back. He had the vision of Autumn’s wide, watchful eyes just before he turned and hurried from the room, bursting out the door and all but plastering his body to the first empty wall he came upon. Someone moved past him, back into the room. The birthing room. Autumn’s giving birth. He was pretty sure it was the woman who’d left them alone. The nurse or the midwife or whoever she was.
Oh Christ Almighty.
How did he come to terms with this?
You’re going to see your baby born.
His baby?
Wait…he couldn’t…except apparently, he had. They had. He pressed harder against the wall, bringing his hands up and gripping his head. Someone clapped him on the shoulder, and he startled, his arms dropping.
Bill stood there, looking at him solemnly. “I don’t suppose this is what you expected to return to,” he stated.
Sam couldn’t yet form words. The sound that came from his chest spoke of his confusion and distress and something much different lurking just under those two emotions, but one Sam couldn’t quite identify just yet over the buzz of shock.