Ride Out the Storm by Monette Michaels

Author:Monette Michaels [Michaels, Monette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Monette Draper
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Earlier, underground

"I should be up there with them," Callie grumbled.

Lucia sat with Callie and Tessa in the small eating nook in the main room of the multi-room, underground bunker. "What? Are you loco? You're at term. You could have the baby anytime."

"I might be pregnant," said Callie, a mulish look on her face and fire in her eyes, "but my eyesight is good. And my hands"—she raised both arms—"steady as always."

Not a single tremor that Lucia could see. But she couldn't say the same for herself and didn't raise her hands to check. This whole situation was bringing back her time under her uncle's thumb and the chaos during the escape from his Madera compound. She still woke up at night, heart racing and her throat dry with fear. She'd then turn to Anton, asleep at her side, and snuggle into him and let his scent and warmth lull her back to sleep.

"You may be a warrior-woman and cool under fire, but Lucia is right"—Tessa nudged Callie's arm—"so get over yourself. Besides, you'd be a distraction. Risto and the others would be worrying about you getting your perfect ass shot."

Lucia put in softly. "Your eyesight and shooting skills might not have been affected, but your ability to move quickly has been. I've noticed you aren't moving as easily as you did yesterday. Mi esposo is concerned enough as it is that he may end up delivering your baby. You and the baby getting shot would make him loco."

"You're both right." Callie sighed. "Chalk it up to temporary stupidity and my worry over Risto's fine ass being in the line of fire." Then she gasped and covered her abdomen.

The gesture didn't bother Lucia. She'd found herself making the same movement a lot since she'd become pregnant. She figured most pregnant women did it—an instinct of a sort.

But Callie's low groan and full body shudder that followed the gesture bothered Lucia a lot. Tessa, too.

"Callie?" Tessa placed a hand on Callie's upper back. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know." Callie looked at Tessa then at Lucia. "I've been having small contractions since before we came underground. But I've been having those for months off and on. My OB said they were Braxton-Hicks, and I shouldn't worry about them. But this," she rubbed her baby bump, "was different. Stronger. Harder. The contractions have also gotten closer together, more regular, and haven't gone away as the Braxton-Hicks ones usually do."

Lucia looked at Tessa whose concerned expression was probably a mirror image of her own, then said to Callie, "That sounds like active labor from what I've read. Contractions getting closer together and stronger."

And she'd read a lot, including some of Anton's medical texts, in preparation for her own eventual labor and delivery.

"Oh, shit." Callie hissed and stood up. "My water just broke. Either that or I peed my jeans." A stricken look on her face and tears in her eyes, Callie looked at them. "I made a mess. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, Callie," soothed Lucia. "Having babies isn't supposed to be neat.

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