Dani

The morning of the party, I woke up with a tightness in my belly and a general uncomfortableness, but I refused to say anything to Austin, because he’d just freak out and overreact. The same thing happened with Archer, and Austin had rushed me to the hospital three times (in less than a week) before the doctor said not to come back unless my contractions were less than five-minutes apart. I thought my man’s head would explode... or he’d kill the doctor, so I’d had to keep my pain to myself for several weeks and it wasn’t easy.

“Baby, you ready?”

I took a deep breath, and called out, “Yep!”

I ran my hands over my stomach and took another couple of deep breaths before heading down the hall and into the foyer. Austin grinned, holding my coat and helping me into it. Once it was over my shoulders, he placed his hands gently on my belly, leaned down, and kissed me, before standing with a frown. “You’re rock hard, baby.”

“Am I?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You in pain?”

“No.” It wasn’t a lie. I wasn’t in pain right at that second.

“We should call the doctor.”

I smiled, reaching up to stroke his cheek. “Honey, I’m fine. The baby’s fine. I promise, I’ll take it slow and let other people do the work, okay?”

He continued to study me.

“I’m dying to meet Gator and see all the kids. Don’t make me miss it by rushing me to the hospital. It’ll just end up being nothing, and a total waste of time.”

“Dani—”

“I promise if I feel pain, I’ll tell you.”

“Dad, we need to go,” Cash said.

“I know, bud.” Austin sighed, but gave me a reluctant nod. “One twinge and I wanna know about it.”

“Deal,” I said.

He kissed me again, then we headed downstairs and piled into the truck.

Arriving at the compound, I waddled inside while Austin and the boys grabbed all of the food.

“Dani!” Kim called, rushing to me and pulling me in for a gentle hug. “How are you?”

“The same as I was yesterday when you ‘were in the neighborhood’ and dropped by to check on me.”

She giggled as she guided me to an oversized chair and forced me to sit down. “Macey and Dallas are coming later, so maybe Macey can check you over.”

Macey was a registered nurse and just happened to be Payton’s bestie.

“Honey, I’m fine,” I insisted.

“Awesome,” Kim retorted. “She’ll be able to confirm that.”

“God, lady, you’re worse than my husband.”

She grinned. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

I rolled my eyes, but sank lower in the well-worn chair.

“I’ll get you some cider.”

“Thanks,” I said, just as Austin made his way to me.

He hugged Kim as she passed, then closed the distance between us, leaning down to kiss me gently. “You good?”

“I’m good, honey.”

“Prez said Doc’s here, so I’m gonna go find him.”

Doc was the president of the Savannah Chapter, and had flown in to join in on the festivities. I’d met him a couple of times over the past few years and I really liked him. One day, I hoped I’d actually make it to Savannah and meet the rest of the guys there... the clubhouse sounded insane and I was dying to see it.

Doc and Hatch had been buddies for a while, and Doc had apparently brought his Sgt. At Arms, Alamo, with him. They were only here for a couple of days, so I had a feeling more might be going on. If there was, however, it would be considered club business, so it was none of mine.

“Okay, honey.”

He kissed me again and then headed toward the kitchen.

“Is Santa coming now?” Jagger asked as he made a run for me.

I held my arms out and scooped him onto my lap. “Soon, baby.”

“Jagger,” Kim admonished gently, returning with some warm cider for me. “Aunty can’t have you climbing all over her, baby.”

“He’s fine,” I countered. “I always need some Jagger love.”

He grinned big and kissed my cheek, but still climbed off my lap and joined my kids who were checking out the presents under the tree. I took the cider from Kim and she sat on the sofa next to my chair. “Did you see Doc?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. I was mobbed by all the single ladies trying to get to him.”

“He’s pretty sexy.” I chuckled. “You didn’t hear that from me, though.”

“Of course not... even though I agree.” She glanced around the room, then leaned in and whispered, “Just wait until you see Alamo, though. Lord-eeee, the man is fine.”

Before I could comment, the man walked in the room. I knew it was Alamo; A, because I’d never met him before, and, B, because he walked in with Doc and the room seemed to quiet. Mostly because all female eyes were on the newcomers.

Kim wasn’t kidding about Alamo. He was all lean muscle, dark hair, longish on top, and a beard that rivaled Hatch’s. When he smiled, his blue eyes lit up and I swore I heard a chorus of female sighs echo through the room.

“Where’s this Gator guy?” I asked Kim.

“He’s changing. He’s playing Santa.”

“Oh, that’s sweet.” I frowned. “Wait, is he using the suit he stole?”

Kim giggled. “Yep. Duke didn’t want it back.”

“I don’t blame him.”

Because Gator had been staying at the homeless shelter, Crow had made the decision to open up the compound for the kids staying there, so they would be arriving in less than an hour, would be fed and each kid would get a gift from “Santa.” I couldn’t wait.

And neither could the kids.

The next three hours were spent laughing and eating, along with watching the little kids fawn over Santa. Well, the ones that weren’t screaming in fear, that is.

Gator was amazing. I knew he’d had a rough go of it over the last year, but he was born to be around kids. He loved it and they loved him. He looked like Sam Elliott and Tom Selleck had a love child, and he was gorgeous.

“How are you feeling?” Kim asked me, and I smiled up at her.

“I feel good,” I lied.

She frowned just as a sharp pain rolled through my belly.

“Dani?”

I swallowed. “Get Austin. My water just broke.”

“Holy shit,” she whispered, then turned and bellowed, “Booker! Dani’s havin’ your baby.”

“I hadn’t planned on this being a group thing, Kimmie,” I grumbled.

Austin rushed toward me, Doc behind him. “Baby?”

“My water broke,” I said.

Doc leaned over me. “Do you mind if I feel your belly?”

I shook my head and he checked me over just as Macey walked up with a stethoscope. Doc took it and listened, then smiled. “Let’s get this mama to the hospital.”

Austin helped me up and I groaned.

“What, baby?”

“I’m not going to make it to the hospital,” I rasped. “This little girl is coming now.”

“Get her up to your room, Booker,” Macey said. “We’ll call an ambulance while we try to keep the baby inside.”

“No, you don’t understand,” I countered, grabbing for Austin. “She’s coming. Right now.”

Austin swept me up into his arms and carried me to the bunk room which was on the first floor. Doc, Macey, and Kim followed, and I bent over in pain when Austin set me on my feet.

“Let’s get her out of those wet clothes,” Doc said. “We called for an ambulance, but it’s gonna take a little while for it to get here.”

Macey pulled a comforter off one of the beds and doubled it over to throw on the sofa while Austin helped me out of my wet bottoms.

Easing me down onto the sofa, Macey covered me with a sheet while Doc washed his hands and donned gloves. While he got me into a good position, Macey washed her hands and grabbed gloves so that she could assist.

“I can see the head,” Doc said, and smiled up at me. “You ready to have this baby?”

I reached for Austin. “Are the kids okay?”

“Payton and Maisie have the kids under control, and Cass and Darien are covering clean-up, so you just worry about you and the baby,” Kim said. “Okay?”

Austin smiled at my best friend. “Thanks, babe.”

I groaned as a contraction hit and then my body decided it was time to push. It took about twelve minutes and four pushes to deliver our baby girl and I cried the second I had her in my arms.

“Ohmigod, she’s perfect,” I whispered as I counted her fingers and toes and kissed her forehead. Glancing up at Austin, he gave me his nod of approval, so I focused back on our daughter. “Daisy May Carver, welcome to the world, sweet girl.”

“Oh my god, that’s so cute!” Kim said, and clapped her hands.

Austin didn’t speak as he leaned down to kiss Daisy, then me, just as the EMTs arrived. As I was loaded onto a gurney, Daisy and I were wrapped in a blanket together and wheeled through the great room where our family congratulated us as we passed by.

“We’ve got the kids covered,” Kim said. “We’ll bring them by later.”

“Thanks, honey.”

I let tears fall as we were loaded into the ambulance and driven to where we’d ultimately be told how textbook and perfect the delivery had gone, and how lucky I was to have such a skilled medical team so close. Lucky didn’t even begin to cover it.

My world was filled with perfection and pure joy.