Wild Heart's Haven by Lacy Williams

Author:Lacy Williams [Williams, Lacy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lacy Williams Books LLC

Owen was worried, though he tried not to let on. Rachel seemed afraid enough for the both of them.

She'd gone quiet between each pain. That worried him more than anything.

The pains had grown closer together, more consistent, as he held her in his arms and rode as fast as he dared—which wasn't very fast at all.

He'd jostled her once, and that seemed to bring on a pain bad enough that she'd cried out. He was trying not to do it again, but it was necessary to adjust his seat on the horse occasionally.

Water.

They needed water, and shelter for the night.

He'd given up on finding the eastbound wagons the moment he'd figured out she was laboring. What mattered now was finding a place they could bed down for the night, making her as comfortable as he could.

Her back tensed. He'd been holding her long enough to know that a pain was coming on. He worked at making his body as loose and relaxed as he could even though he felt as tense as a piece of leather stretched too tight—ready to snap.

He felt her every muscle lock up.

"Breathe, Rach," he said, his chin brushing her temple when he ducked his head slightly.

She was drawing tight, panicky breaths. They weren’t helping.

"I can't breathe," she whispered jaggedly. "I think—" pant, pant, "—I'm dying."

"You're not dying," he murmured, pressing his jaw into the crown of her head as he rejected the thought. "I'm right here, and I'm gonna help you."

He just needed a bit of water. A small creek. An isolated spring. A pond that had caught some of the last rainfall. Anything.

August had said the eastbound train had been following alongside a creek, but they should've run into it by now. His sense of direction was too good to have gotten turned around. Maybe the creek had ended?

He'd have given anything to be back in camp with Maddie assisting. He didn't know anything about human childbirth. He'd watched animals when he'd had occasion. A dog they'd had when he was eight had whelped puppies. Cattle.

This was different.

And Rachel was already as prickly as a cactus.

He prayed for mercy. It was going to be up to him to be gentle.

She needed it.

"We're going to stop soon," he said as one labor pain seemed to roll into another. She gritted her teeth and pressed her face into his chest. He thought he felt her sob.

And then she was shaking and crying in earnest, big sobs that she couldn't seem to control.

She arched, another pain coming, breaths shuddering. Her lips had gone pale. She was getting too worked up. He needed her calm.

"Tell me how you met your Evan," he murmured.

His words seemed to cut through her terror-induced hysterics. She was still in pain, though, because she answered through gritted teeth. "I can't—" she panted another two breaths. "You tell me," pant, pant, "why you never married before."

She wanted him to talk? All right.

"There was a girl once," he said. "When I was fifteen. I thought she was the prettiest thing I’d ever seen.

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