"We'll be here for her." Harper knew that they all would, just as they'd been for her. And her sister, Winnie, and her asshole husband could go straight to hell.
The wedding went off without a single mishap. Grady had looked so handsome standing up there with his brothers that she paused as she made her way out of the front room. Kurt had volunteered to give her away … she had no one else, and when he said her name softly she had looked up at him.
"They're a family. I mean, I know that, but they're really a good family." Kurt said that they were hers now. "Will you be mine as well, Kurt? I know that we've only just met, but will you be my...I guess my brother?"
"I am older than that by a considerable amount, Harper, but I would be honored to call you my sister." He kissed her hand and she smiled at him. "Now, let's get you wed and a McCade so that your baby has a strong name too."
At the reception, Harper felt the first cramp in her back and let out a long breath when it seemed to make her woozy. Grady was there beside her as they greeted his friends as they congratulated them. When a second cramp took her breath away, she found herself being lifted up and carried away at a dizzying speed. She looked up at Grady when he put her on a bed.
"I hurt." He took her hand in his and kissed it, softly like he had when they were wed. "Grady, we have guests downstairs. This isn't a good time for me to be-"
The pain was horrific. She screamed with it. And when she looked at Grady again, she noticed that he was as white as the dress she had on. Something was wrong, something with the baby.
"Harper, look at me." She tried to scream again, but the pain was in waves now. "Harper McCade, look at me."
The voice, the authority in it, had her turning to Kenton. She told him she hurt and he said that it was natural in child birth.
"No, you said I had two weeks. You said I wouldn't go for two weeks. I'm holding you to that, Kenton … you said I'd have plenty of time." He laughed and she grabbed a handful of his hair. "I don't think you want to laugh right now."
He peeled her fingers off his hair and told her to be calm. She was pretty sure that when she got up she was going to murder him, and she told him that … loudly, she was pretty sure.
"Harper, you need to calm down, you're hurting the baby." She looked at Grady, at his calm face. "Just breathe in and out for me, and that'll help Kenton with his exam."
"Yes, he'll tell me that it's only false labor, right?" Grady told her to breathe … he even did it with her. "I feel better now. Thank you for taking me away. I feel just horrible that I had to embarrass you, today of all days."
"You'd never embarrass me. Kenton did once. He thought it would be funny to dress up as Mom and come to my parent-teacher meeting. It didn't go over that well." Another pain took her, but with Grady there telling her to breathe and to talk to, she got through it better this time. "Mom was fit to be tied. I don't know whether she beat him or not, but she was really pissed for a year at him."
"Mom was pissed at you too, if I remember." Grady told Kenton to shut up. "I'll tell you later, Harper, it's funny. Right now, let's have a baby, shall we?"
"What happened to the two weeks?" He laughed again and she decided that she hated him a great deal. Then another pain took her and she had to work hard at keeping herself from screaming again. She had a feeling that she was scaring Grady.
The pain was overwhelming at times, and not so bad others. Kenton asked her if she wanted something for pain, and she thought maybe she'd asked him about how it would affect the baby. If he told her she had no idea, but a few minutes later she wasn't hurting and she closed her eyes. Grady said her name twice and she had to pry her eyes open to look at him.
"You're doing fine, Harper. Kenton said it won't be long now." She nodded, or thought she did, then ice was shoved in her mouth. It was like cheesecake with cherries on it and the best beer she'd ever drank at the same time.
"Is he all right?" Grady told her they were both doing fine, and again that it wouldn't be long now. "We didn't talk about names. I never thought of one either, to be honest, and I've had a lot longer to think about it."
"What about your parents? Your father's name?" She said that he'd not hung around much after she was born. "All right. Is there someone you admire? Perhaps a very good friend?"