Baby and The Beast

“I’m really scared, Michael.”

Without thinking, he brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it lightly. “I know.”

“The baby’s a month early.”

“The baby is going to be perfect.” Never in his life had he felt so humbled—or so helpless. “We’re going to do this together. Okay?”

“Okay.” Her eyes drifted closed and her breathing slowed. “Distract me. Tell me something.”

“Anything.”

“Tell me about that day.”

“What day, Bella?”

“When…when you first came to town. When you came to Fielding.” She squeezed his hand. “The day you left that horrible place.”

Michael hesitated. He’d disclosed the practicalities of his past to Bella and her father, but the details had been off-limits to everyone, including himself. The nightmare of the night he’d run away and the salvation he’d run to was something he’d vowed never to revisit. But right now, for Bella, he knew he’d recall both. He’d do anything to ease her mind and her fears.

His throat was dry as dust as he spoke. “I left Youngstown School at two o’clock on a Monday morning with fifty cents in my pocket and only the clothes on my back. I walked for about fifteen miles until I was too tired to go on. So I sat on the side of the road with my thumb out and waited.”

Michael glanced down at her, saw that she was a little more relaxed than she’d been a moment ago and continued. “It was summer and hot—I’d sweated right through my T-shirt. And I remember being surprised that someone had actually stopped to pick me up.”

Bella smiled and said softly, “With that sweaty T-shirt, I’ll bet it was a girl, right?”

He chuckled. “It was a woman in her seventies.”

“Seventy or seven—” her face tightened and she sucked in a breath “—teen?”

“Don’t talk, Bella,” he whispered. “Just breathe.”

She whimpered, writhing on the bed, clutching his hand as another contraction clamped her body. The power of it shocked him. “Everything’s all right. You’re going to be fine. You’re going to be a mother soon.”

At that, she opened her eyes and looked up at him. He felt his heart squeeze as an expression of pure pleasure radiated from her eyes.

“I can do this,” she said, biting her lip.

He nodded. “Of course you can.”

Within seconds, the storm cloud passed over her face and she let out a sigh. “So…the…woman picked you up, and…and then what?”

He wiped her face with the cool cloth. “I’d bought a bruised banana from the gas station and it was all I’d had for breakfast, so I was starving. The woman had these homemade biscuits in her air-conditioned car, and the smell nearly drove me insane. I remember she told me to take as many as I wanted.” He smiled as he began to massage her shoulder with his free hand. “I ate the whole lot and felt guilty as hell. But she said she didn’t mind.”

“Is that when you knew?” Bella whispered.

“Knew what?”

“That your luck was about to change?”

He thought about that for a moment. Luck wasn’t a word in his vocabulary—he’d never really believed in the concept of luck. But then again… “I think I knew that my luck had changed the moment I stepped foot in the Fielding dime store and those kids were calling me—” his throat almost closed “—a cripple and peg leg.”

Only the sounds of their breathing and the crackle of the fire could be heard until Bella whispered, “And then I came by with my water gun.”

Memories burned in his mind. “You sure did. Shot those boys dead center.”

A weary laugh escaped her. “They all looked like they’d just wet their pants.”

Michael smiled, remembering the look of horror on those cruel young faces—and the triumph on little Bella’s as she’d held her water pistol aloft like a .57 magnum. Maybe she was right. Was it actually possible that luck existed and that it had reached him? “That was a good day.”

“Yeah.” The look she sent him was soul-searching. “I’m really glad you’re here.”

It was as if someone had shot an arrow through his chest, jabbing his heart. Bella was counting on him to deliver this baby safely and into her arms. He wasn’t going to let her down. His life was built on conquering challenges. Tonight, he was moving from high-tech to human whether he liked it or not.

He watched as her face contorted with pain once again, then listened as she groaned and whimpered. He didn’t know much, but he did know they were getting close.

The baby was coming soon.

And he hoped to God he could make both the child and its mother proud tonight.

Night faded into dawn.

The pain was almost unimaginable, and all the control that Isabella had willed herself to possess had faded away. She felt close to collapse. But she refused to give up or give in.