Babies and Badges. Laura Altom Marie

a light shake of his head, he told himself no. This wasn’t going to be a replay of that night.

      No one was taking this woman and her babies from him—not even almighty God Himself!

      Fumbling across Cassie’s still rounded belly, he felt the baby’s head, and said, “I’m not gonna lie. This is probably—well, hell, there’s no probably about it—this is gonna hurt real bad, and I’m sorry, but there’s no other way.”

      Teeth gritted, she nodded, but her fire was gone, and her cries had faded to whimpers.

      “Stay with me,” he said, squeezing his eyes shut, frantically trying to remember that cheesy emergency labor video he and the guys laughingly winced their way through. Teeth gritted, he said a hundred more prayers in his head, then felt for one tiny foot, then the other, and gently tugged the baby by his or her ankles.

      “Please don’t let my baby die!”

      “Nobody’s dying here,” he said. “Push!”

      “I can’t! I’m so tired.”

      “Push, dammit! Nobody’s dying on my watch! I’m responsible for you—all of you. You hear me? Nobody’s dyin’ today! Now push!”

      “I caaaaaan’t!”

      “That’s it! I’ve got this little princess’s behind. Come on, Cassie, give me all you got!”

      Thankfully, she did, and he rotated the infant’s trunk to get one arm. Another slight rotation earned him another.

      “Come on, Cass! You’re almost there!”

      “Arrrrggghhh!” In one last superhuman effort, she pushed and the baby’s head popped out.

      Noah trembled so hard he feared dropping the second baby girl, but he held tight, reaching for another towel that he could hardly see through his tears.

      He cleared the baby’s mouth, and when she cried, he cried and started shaking all the harder. “You had another girl, darlin’. You did it.”

      Clutching both babies close, Cassie cast him a luminous smile before saying, “We did it. Thank you.”

      Bracing himself against the truck’s frame, Noah shook his head and smiled.

      Hot damn, what a rush.

      Chapter Two

      Cassie Tremont opened her eyes just enough to see hazy morning sun silhouetting one of the most handsome, kind and concerned faces she’d ever seen.

      Noah.

      Her savior. Her babies’ savior.

      Fast asleep in an orange vinyl guest chair he’d pulled to the head of her hospital bed. If only she’d come across a guy like him before meeting Tom, maybe her life would’ve turned out differently.

      Maybe she’d even still believe in happy endings, because she wouldn’t have had her dreams twice shattered by grim-faced company representatives standing at her front door. What were the odds of first, Tri-Comm reps telling her when she’d been just eight years old that her father had died of a heart attack while on the corporate jet. Sorry. We’re so sorry. Then later, years later, Jubilee Cruise Lines reps telling her that not only had Tom, her husband, died, but he’d died on holiday with another woman. A woman who’d claimed to also be his wife! We can only imagine your pain.

      Tom hadn’t even been in the right country. He’d told Cassie he was on a business trip to London. In reality, he’d been on a Caribbean cruise when he and his legal wife—a woman named Felicity—died in a freak diving accident.

      The day Cassie had found out she was carrying twins, she’d been so happy—they’d been so happy. Tom had held her hand during the ultrasound, kissing the tips of her fingers, telling her she looked beautiful and was going to make the best mom in the world. His loving touch combined with the fierce love she already felt for the tiny miracles growing deep within her had made her teary with joy.

      Even though the doctor warned Cassie that multiple births meant multiple risks, she hadn’t cared. The only thing that mattered was that she and her beloved husband would soon have not one baby to love, but two.

      She’d been twelve weeks pregnant when her world crashed around her. Tom’s death had been hard enough to take, but hearing that their whole life together had been a lie—that was almost worse than knowing he was dead.

      She’d been with Tom since college.

      The night of her twenty-first birthday, when she’d taken legal possession of the millions her father left, Tom had proposed. She’d been so dewy-eyed with adoration for him, she’d taken his words of love at face value.

      After all, why would he say he loved her if he didn’t?

      Little did she know, he’d been living a double life.

      With another wife.

      Another house, car and cat.

      How many times had she wished Tom were still alive? Not so she could hug him or kiss him or tell him how much she missed him, but so she could have the satisfaction of telling him how much she hated his guts!

      Since the day she’d discovered the depth of Tom’s deceptions, Cassie had immersed herself in the everyday running of her interior design firm. Her best friend and co-worker, Chloe, was constantly telling her to slow down, reminding her that she didn’t have to work.

      To which Cassie replied, no, she didn’t have to work. She needed to. For if she slowed for even one second to think about all the laughs Tom and this Felicity woman must’ve had at her expense, she’d surely go stark raving mad!

      For five idyllic years, she’d played house, while all that time Tom had been playing her for a fool!

      Looking back on the past months, and especially the past week, from the perspective one gained after an uncomfortably close brush with death, Cassie guessed she should’ve paid closer attention when her doctor told her not to go on a business trip so close to her due date.

      But since Tom’s death, Cassie prided herself on controlling everything.

      Guess in this case, Mother Nature got the last laugh.

      Eyeing Noah again, she yawned. Not because anything about him was remotely boring, but because something about just having him here with her in the room filled her with an uncharacteristic feeling of peace. One she hadn’t felt since the last time she’d fallen asleep in his arms.

      NOAH LOOKED UP when the door to Cassie’s room burst open and a nurse wheeled in a baby on a cart.

      “How’s our mommy doing?” the heavyset woman asked.

      “Still pretty out of it.”

      “That’s to be expected,” she said, making a clucking sound that matched the baby ducks splashed all over her yellow surgical scrubs. “She had a rough delivery, but she’ll be fine now.” Leaving the clear plastic bassinet with the baby near the sink, the nurse washed her hands before bustling over to the bed. “Ms. Tremont, I know you’re still tired, but your babies need breakfast. We’ve been in touch with your OB/GYN in Little Rock and she said you’re planning on breastfeeding?”

      Eyes closed, the weary patient nodded.

      “Okay, then, I’m sorry to do this, but you have to wake up.” The nurse lightly shook Cassie’s shoulder.

      “B-but…” Cass licked her dry lips, and Noah reached for the tube of Chapstick he’d bought her in the hospital gift shop, gliding some on. With the tip of her tongue, she traced his balmy line.

      Noah swallowed hard.

      How come Cassie merely licking her lips had resulted in immediate below-the-belt action?

      Sleep. Had to be lack of sleep.

      Only