She hadn’t had a contraction for thirty minutes and wasn’t very worried, but she understood Jack, Ethan, and Adam still needed the reassurance of someone laying hands on her.
Ethan stroked her baby bump, and Rose Marie responded with a tiny kick against his hand. He grinned and tears prickled her eyes at the glowing love in his blue gaze. It was a direct contrast to the ferocious anger all three of them had to fight to control as she’d told them about her experience. They’d all three looked ready to hunt the person responsible down and beat them to a pulp.
“Thanks for humoring us, Gracie. Maya probably would’ve come anyway, whether we’d asked or not, once she heard what happened.”
“I know. I just didn’t want her evening interrupted. It’s so soon for Richard and Boone to have to go out of town.”
“Kendall didn’t seem too worried about it,” Ethan said with a chuckle.
Grace giggled and said, “Well of course he didn’t. He gets all the ‘one-on-one’ he wants two nights in a row. He’s probably counting the hours till he’s got her alone.” Grace snorted, thinking how much Kendall reminded her of Jack. That man would be putting her over his shoulder and carrying her up to the bedroom before the other two were even fully out of the door.
She heard Adam’s voice and then a tap at the door. Slipping from the bed, Ethan opened the door and Maya Daire entered the room. Grace couldn’t help but feel happy she was there.
Ethan joined Adam in the hallway, and they closed the door, leaving her alone with Grace.
Grace raised a hand with a shrug from the comfort of her piled-up pillows and said, “Overprotective daddies-to-be. What are you gonna do?”
Maya sat on the bed and gently palpated Grace’s abdomen, smiling when Rose Marie kicked at her hand. She took Grace’s pulse as she gazed at her watch and asked a host of questions about other symptoms.
Maya looked around Grace’s mistress suite, as her men were fond of calling it, and said, “Grace, this is incredible! They did all this especially for you, didn’t they?”
“Yes. They started work shortly after I agreed to marry them, two years ago.” Grace looked around the palatial suite with fresh, appreciative eyes as she told Maya about it, pointing out the art they’d added in those years and the updates they’d recently completed in the bathroom.
When Grace had voiced the random thought that a water birth at home might be nice, the men had ripped out the perfectly lovely, big whirlpool tub in her bathroom and replaced it with an even larger one in an equally lovely shade of rosy pink. She hadn’t said that was something she definitely wanted to do, but they’d done it for her, just in case.
“I hope you’re working at Emma’s office by the time Rose Marie is ready to be born. It would be wonderful for you to be in attendance at her birth.”
“It would be my pleasure. I hope it works out. Dr. Guthrie seems like the kind of doctor I’d enjoy working for.”
“Not to mention gorgeous. I’ve tried to set her up on a date or two, but she keeps giving me excuses.”
“A doctor’s hours can be rough.”
“That’s one thing about Emma I admire. She manages her practice well and hasn’t let it completely take over her life. We even got her over for a barbeque recently. Nope, Juliana is the one in our group who tends to overwork. Miss Perfectionist. You’ll love her when you meet her this week.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Will is precious. Are Jack, Ethan, and Adam planning on being in attendance at Rose Marie’s birth as well?”
Grace grinned happily at the thought. “Yes. I asked them and they agreed. You should see them, Maya. I’ll come in and they’ll have ESPN on in the living room, drinking a beer and reading books on childbirth and baby care. Adam even picked one up for me on breastfeeding when I told them I wanted to nurse her.”
Maya chuckled, got comfortable on the bed, and they talked for a bit. It turned out that Grace’s men wanted to do more than just be there. They planned to be birth coaches as well.
Grace knew Adam was a little leery of the thought but swallowed his trepidation and was reading up on the subject of husband-coached childbirth as well. Ethan was focused on helping her with her relaxation exercises, and Jack was ready to play catcher when she was born.
With no other contractions occurring, Maya agreed that she should not curtail her activity, but just be careful in her car, which was thankfully undamaged. She needed to enjoy every moment she had behind the wheel of her little blue baby before her men installed her in the tank-like blue Escalade that had been delivered to the ranch the day before.