Page 19 of Zin and Celeste: A Fortis Family Christmas

Zack glanced down with a smirk. “I did mean it.”

They walked another two miles or so and were a mile out from the resort when Zack got an alert.

“Zack, how far out are you?”

Zin could hear the fear in his sister’s voice even as she tried to hide it, but he knew her too well.

“We’re a mile out, have a jeep meet us at the edge of the slope in twenty minutes.”

“Okay, and hurry because this baby isn’t waiting.”

“Understood.” Zack focused on him as he spoke to the others. “Let’s double-time it.”

Zack and Daniel practically ran with him strapped down to the board. All he could think about was Celeste and how much he loved her and their child. She never believed it, but she’d saved him. He didn’t know who he would be now if she hadn’t come into his life. “Hold on, Pixie, I’m coming.”

As they made the resort edge and the slope, he saw Smithy in the jeep. He jumped out and helped load him inside and was going to wait for the others when Zack waved him away.

“Go. Take him and K back to the cabin quickly. Jack has arranged for a helo to transport them all to the hospital as soon as it can land.”

Smithy was already in the jeep and pulling away before Zin could free himself and sit up properly with Kanan’s help.

“You’re gonna be a dad, man. How does it feel?”

Zin looked at Kanan’s smiling face and some of the tension eased and made way for excitement. “Fucking terrifying and wonderful.”

That feeling lasted until he got to the cabin and saw Roz and Nate waiting for him. Roz ran to K, throwing herself in his arms with a sob as Nate helped him inside.

“She’s in your room and you need to hurry.”

Zin made it through the door, ignoring his friends as he went towards his room and heard the most agonised scream. He stopped for just a second and looked at Nate, suddenly frightened that he couldn’t do this.

“Come on. She needs you.”

That was enough to get him moving. Ignoring the pain in his leg, he walked into the room and saw Celeste on the bed with Ava on one side and Lauren the other. She was drenched in sweat, and red in the face, and had never looked more beautiful.