The Return of Bowie Bravo. Christine Rimmer

far apart are your contractions?”

       As Mina said the operative word, another one hit—worse than the first one. It started at the top of Glory’s stomach and it moved downward, a deep, clutching, hard pain, gathering and pressing as it moved. She groaned and almost hit her forehead on the counter as she doubled over with the force of it.

       “Glory! Glory, you still there?” Mina called from the other end of the line.

       Bowie took the phone and growled into it. “She’s having a contraction. A strong one. You need to get Brett here right away…” Mina said something. He made a low sound. “Who am I? Bowie… That’s right, Mina. Bowie Bravo… Yeah. Right. I’m back in town. Surprise, surprise. Now don’t you be messin’ with me. Get my brother over here and get him here right now.…”

       Glory tuned out the rest. She was too busy riding that contraction all the way to hell and back and swearing a blue streak as she went.

       She didn’t normally have a filthy mouth, but there was something about giving birth. It brought out every bad word she’d ever heard and some she couldn’t believe she knew.

       When that one finally passed, Bowie had already hung up. He reported, “Mina will call them and tell them. They’ll get in touch.”

       Her hair was already damp with sweat. Ugh. She swiped it back off her clammy forehead. “When, damn it?”

       “She said she’d call them right away.”

       “Okay. Great.” With care, pressing a hand to her back, she straightened up.

       He looked down at the phone he held and then up at her. “Do you want to…go to your bedroom, get a little more comfortable?”

       Oh, God. Having her baby. With only Bowie to help. “Bet you wish you’d picked another day to make your big appearance, huh?”

       He stared at her for what seemed like a very long time. And then he said, “Well, I’m here. And I’ll do what I can. Now, answer the question. You want to lie down or something?”

       “Uh, no. Not right this minute.” She bent at the waist and rested her head on the counter again. It was cool and smooth and felt good against her cheek. “I’ll just stay here for now, wait for Brett to call, beat my head against the counter when the next contraction hits.”

       He looked stricken. “Don’t even joke about it.”

       “Right.” She blew out a hard breath through puffed cheeks. “Sorry.”

       He held up the phone. “How about your mom? Should I call her?”

       Her mom. Good idea. Rose Dellazola knew a lot about having kids. She’d had nine of her own and been there at the births of every one of her grandchildren. “Yeah, please. It’s number two on the auto dial—and Bowie?”

       “Yeah?”

       “Tell her if she brings Aunt Stella, I will personally kill both of them.” Her maiden aunt, who lived with her mamma and her dad, was extremely devout. At births, Stella Baldovino spouted scripture and counted off the rosary—like she did pretty much everywhere she went.

       He started to dial.

       “Wait.” Her cheek still pressed to the cool polished surface of the counter, she held out her hand. “I can do it.”

       He regarded her doubtfully. “Glory…”

       She fisted her hand and pounded the pretty blue-speckled black granite that Matteo had ordered installed for her birthday last year. “Give me the phone. Now.”

       He handed it over. She braced up on her elbows and punched the right number. It rang three times and then the answering machine picked up.

       “Hello,” her mother’s recorded voice chirped. “Dellazola residence. We do want to talk to you. Please leave a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.”

       Terrific. Her mom, her dad, her great-grandpa and Aunt Stella all lived in that house together. And they all had to choose today not to be home. Where had they gone in a blizzard?

       She didn’t even care to know. “Mom,” she told the machine. “I’m having the baby. And I mean right now. When you get this, get over here to my house. I need you—and do not bring Aunt Stella. I mean that. Just don’t.” She turned the phone off and felt the next contraction coming on. “Bowie?” she moaned.

       “Right here.”

       She cast a quick glance at the kitchen clock. It was ten after ten. “Watch the clock. The second hand. Starting now. Time this contraction…”

       “Gotcha.”

       Glory started screaming. Bowie moved in close again. He held her up and he watched the clock. She heard herself swearing. Really bad words. Terrible words. It didn’t make the pain any less, but she swore anyway.

       When it faded, at last, she asked him, “Well?”

       “Fifty-four seconds.”

       “Great,” she said, for lack of any other reasonable response. She noted the time. “There’s a pencil and paper in that little desk on the other side of the table. And a Timex watch with a second hand. Get them now.” He didn’t say a word. Just went over there and got what she’d asked for. She instructed, “Write down the time that contraction started and how long it lasted.”

       “Got it.” He wrote on the paper.

       “Do that every time I have one. Can you handle that?”

       “Will do.” He put on the watch and stuck the paper and pencil in a back pocket. “How about a cell phone? Your mom got one? We could try it. Or maybe Angie or Brett has one?”

       She shook her head. “My mom never bothered to get one. Angie has one, but they still don’t work here in the Flat. The canyon walls block the signal. You have to go up to the heliport to get any bars.”

       “Is there someone else we should call?”

       She thought of her three sisters who still lived in town: Tris, Clarice and Dani. She loved them all dearly, but she didn’t see how having them there was going to help her much. She wanted Angie. And Brett. And failing them, her mother.

       He said, “My mom?”

       Chastity. Yeah. Chastity had been good to Glory over the years. They were friends. And she was definitely the best choice given the options. “Call her.”

       He did. “Not answering,” he said after a minute.

       Glory said a word so bad that it would have dropped her aunt Stella in a dead faint. “Where is everybody? They’re always underfoot until the moment you need them.”

       Bowie left a message. “Mom, it’s Bowie. I’m at Glory’s house. Her baby’s coming—fast. And there’s no one to help. If you get this, she needs you to come over here right away.” He hung up.

       Glory shut her eyes and whispered prayerfully, “Please, Brett. Angie. Call me, get over here.…”

       The phone rang as if on cue. She held out her hand. Bowie frowned again but he passed it to her. “Angie?” she cried. “Angie, oh God, I’m so glad you—”

       “Don’t be alarmed,” said a pleasant recorded voice. “Your credit remains excellent. I’m Amy from Credit Card Services and I’m calling to tell you—” Muttering yet another unacceptable word, Glory hung up.

       “What?” Bowie demanded, looking slightly freaked.

       “Robo-call.” She passed the phone back to him. “Call Mina again, please. See what the holdup is.” She sighed and laid her head back on the counter as he called the clinic.

       When he hung up, he said, “Mina tried to reach Brett and Angie. Twice. It looks like the phone’s out at Redonda’s house. She got dead air