Page 39 of Derecho

Nothing bad was going to happen.

I didn’t need to get up.

I didn’t need to flip the switch.

“How many times do you need me to do the light? I can tell that once wasn’t the right number.”

Fuck.

“It’s fine. Just go back to bed. Don’t need you going into labor ‘cause you helped me out with a charley horse and flipping a light on and off.”

“First of all, that’s not how labor works. Second, I just got your muscles to relax, so you will be lying there until you go to sleep and I’m going to make sure of it. So, tell me how many times is the right number for the light so we can both get some rest. It’s not a big deal. I just want to do it right for you.”

She was wrong. It was a very big deal.

“Six. But my shrink would say you shouldn’t be helping me with my compulsions. That it only reinforces them.”

“I don’t think they like being called that,” she sassed back at me. “And, well…Sloane isn’t here right now, and you deserve to have a good night’s sleep. I won’t do it again. Deal?”

I waited, truly at a loss for words over what had just happened between us in the last ten minutes. Finally, I got my head out of my ass and answered, “Deal.”

“Grumpy man. That wasn’t so hard, was it?” She smiled, and I swear my heart skipped a beat. Christ, I needed to get a grip. It wasn’t like she’d say yes to spending the night in here so I could watch after her instead of having to get up and peek in on her like a creep. No. Asking her to stay in here was a creep move, too.

“Lach?”

“Huh?” Shit. She’d clearly asked me a question and was waiting for an answer, only I didn’t have a fucking clue what she asked or how to respond.

Lainey sighed. “Do I start over, or does the first count?”

“Start over.”

She nodded, padding back to the bathroom. The light came on for a second, and then plunged us back into darkness. Lainey did that five more times, without comment. Without telling me there was something wrong with my brain. Without making me feel like a problem to be fixed.

And when she came to the end of the counting, my brain was finally quiet.

“Goodnight, Lachlan. Sweet dreams.”

“Night, Trouble.”

Lainey

“I’m so happy I was able to get that appointment for you.” Birdie smiled as we got back into the car. “I know what Dr. Witten said feels scary, but it’s good that he caught it early. It might just be something that ends up being nothing, but it’s better to be on top of things. Probably just all the stress with everything happening so quickly…I can come help you take your blood pressure, if you want.”

Birdie was rambling as I clicked the seat belt under my belly and let my head rest against the seat. Yeah, I was scared. Dr. Witten said it was probably just white-coat syndrome or nerves as I got closer to my due date, but I was sent out of the office with directions to monitor my blood pressure this week and report immediately to Labor and Delivery if I had any of the symptoms that were listed on the print out he gave me.

“Every day?”

Her smile wavered. “Well, yeah. I mean, we both are right on the ranch, and it’s no problem to scoop Juniper up and trek over to see you at Lach’s place.”

There was a question in her voice. I heard it loud and clear. It was the same one she’d wanted to ask the day after I left Greg.

“No, that’s okay. Can we just stop at the pharmacy before we head back out to the ranch? I’ll grab a blood pressure machine there.”

“A machine won’t be as effective in tracking your blood pressure as I could be.”

I glared at my phone, trying not to shoot my annoyance at my sister. It wasn’t her fault I was in this position. And I knew she would give anything for it to be her who was the pregnant lady in this car. Honestly, I probably would, too.

I pulled out my phone, smiling at the message waiting for me from Lachlan.