David had dropped off Flossie too, the villa owners happy to welcome a canine guest. Abe had known Sarah would miss her pet if they were apart too long, and Flossie had settled right in, was currently curled up at Abe’s side on the sofa, as interested in the photos as he was.
“Abra is now set in stone,” Thea had said when she came by with the photos a couple of hours earlier. “My favorite headline so far is: ABRACADABRA, ROCK REunion !”
“Kill it,” Abe had ordered. “Kill it dead now.”
“Too late.”
Abe didn’t really mind the sobriquet. What the hell. He was with Sarah. What did he care?
“Abe.” Sarah’s voice was shaky.
He turned his head to look over the back of the sofa, got up at his first glimpse of her face. “What’s wrong?” She’d gone to the restroom after a quick look at the photos, had been excited to come back and look through them more slowly, but now her skin was pale, her hand on her abdomen.
“I think I just had a contraction.” She swallowed, her fingers trembling. “It’s too early.”
“Only by a couple of weeks,” he reassured her even as his own heart thumped. “You okay for me to drive you or should I call an ambulance?” Stay calm, Abe. Stay calm. “We’re not that far from the hospital you wanted to use if I put pedal to the metal.”
“You drive.” She winced, but it passed quickly. “I don’t think the baby’s in a rush.” Her voice held, but he heard the tremors beneath. “We should have plenty of time.”
Taking his cue from Sarah, Abe drove fast but not recklessly. No way in hell was he getting into a wreck; no way was he hurting Sarah or the baby. At first it all proceeded slowly with Sarah’s contractions quite far apart. He was beginning to calm down, thinking they’d have plenty of time to get her settled in at the hospital—hell, the doc might even send her home until the labor was more advanced. He’d read that some women were in labor for twenty-four hours or more.
All hell broke loose about twenty minutes—at normal speed—from the hospital, Sarah’s contractions suddenly coming far too close together for his peace of mind.
“Another one?” he asked when she gasped, his hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel.
Sarah breathed in and out in short bursts. “Y-yes.”
“We’re almost there, sweetheart.”
Sarah kept breathing jaggedly.
“Hey, yell at me, swear.” Abe didn’t dare take his eyes off the road. “I’m the one who put you in this position, right?”
“I-I… help—” The rest of her words were a scream.
Oh, Christ. “Should I stop?”
“Hospital. Doctors.”
Right, of course she’d want the hospital and the doctors. Abe increased his speed… and yeah, there was a cop behind him right that instant. “Fuck.” Pulling over, he rolled down the window and waited until the older man swaggered to the window, ready to tell him this was a goddamn emergency.
“License and regis—”
“I’m having a fucking baby!” Sarah screamed before Abe could speak. “Unless you want to deliver it, get me to a hospital. Now!”
The cop’s mouth fell open before he jerked out of his shock. “Follow me,” he said to Abe, then ran back to his squad car and pulled out, full sirens and lights going.
Abe fell in behind the police vehicle, grinned. “Hey, the peanut’s going to have one hell of a birth story.”
Sarah laughed, sounded surprised into it. “Don’t tell our baby I swore,” she said, her breath a throaty gasp. “I was ladylike. Got it?”
“Got it.” He focused on staying on the cop’s tail, following his path exactly as the vehicle cut a swath through LA traffic.
Screaming into the emergency department of the nearest hospital, Abe jumped out and got to Sarah’s side as medical personnel poured out. Sarah swiveled in the seat, legs hanging out… then gripped his hand, sheer terror on her face. “Abe, my water just broke. I think the baby’s coming.”
Abe didn’t even think about it. He just scooped her up and ran into the hospital, the nurses following. No fucking way was he allowing the news choppers overhead to get images of his wife and child in such a vulnerable moment. It was to the medical personnel’s credit that they raced past him to show him into a room.
He laid Sarah down on the bed.
She wouldn’t release his hand, and the pain ripping through her made her incapable of speaking. Abe was the one who explained that the baby was early by about two weeks. He also quietly mentioned the stillbirth to a nurse, made it clear Sarah and their baby were not to be separated unless it was a medical necessity.