“Don’t exaggerate, Drew. I know you were super pissed at me for a long time. I hurt you. It was unforgivable.”
“It hurt. But it definitely wasn’t unforgivable. I’ve forgiven you already.”
“You have?” she said, softly.
His forgiveness was what she needed more than anything in the world. He leaned down to her and kissed her full on the lips. She let out a sigh as he pulled away. He had a soft smile on his face. His expression let her know he was telling the truth.
Relief washed over her. It was so intense to finally feel like she could be forgiven that she could barely take it. It was like the release of the guilt showed her exactly how much it had hurt all along. She let out a long breath, feeling herself deflate. Did she really deserve his forgiveness or his unconditional love? What could she do except accept it?
“What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.
“I still feel so guilty. Like I need to be punished for what I’ve done.”
“Oh, baby. Please, don’t.”
He took her in his arms under the heavy boughs of a Douglas fir, rubbing her back with his big hands. The feeling of his arms around her filled her with warmth. Eventually, she would have to accept that he’d forgiven her. She had to find a way to live with what she’d done and the time she’d stolen from them both.
“I’m trying. I’ll get there. We’ll both get there.”
“That’s right,” he said, smiling at her with honest affection.
The rain started to drip from the sky as the storm clouds started to move back in. She pulled the hood up on her raincoat and shuddered as the air began to chill.
“We better get back to the cabin,” Drew said, taking her hand.
They hurried back, as quickly as a pregnant woman could hurry down a muddy trail. They made it to the cabin just as the sky opened and began to pour buckets of water onto the already sodden ground. Quinn pulled off her raincoat and kicked off her boots, putting them by the door.
“Why don’t I go make some lunch,” Quinn said, walking into the kitchen.
Drew had been cooking for her since he’d arrived, and she wanted to return the favor. She might not be a top chef, but she could make a sandwich. Quinn pulled the sourdough out of the cabinet and grabbed everything she needed from the fridge. Turkey, tomato, lettuce, mustard and mayo. Her stomach grumbled. The walk had left her hungry but happy. She put the sandwiches together and arranged them on plates for Drew and herself, smiling as she carried them out to the dining room table.
Drew had started a fire in the hearth, making the cabin toasty warm. He rose from in front of the fireplace, smiling at her so sweetly it made her heart melt.
“I’ll get some lemonade,” Drew said.
Quinn slid into her chair and took a bite of her sandwich. She looked up as Drew passed her on the way to his seat. He put a glass of lemonade in front of her and placed his own across the table. Drew sat down and started eating. The two of them shared their meal, talking quietly about the future.
“We can make my spare room into the nursery,” Drew said.
“Are you going to be ready to have me and the baby in your house all of the sudden?” she asked.
“We’ll make it work.” He smiled up at her over his sandwich, making her feel more secure about the whole thing.
“I don’t remember your house very well.”
“I didn’t exactly give you a tour.”
“Where is the spare bedroom?” she asked.
“It’s down the hall from our room.”
“Our room?”
“Yes. Our room. Our house. Our child. Our life.”
“That sounds so good.”
“I like the sound of it too,” Drew said, standing from the table with his plate.
He took her empty plate too and carried them to the kitchen. When he came back out, he walked to the front door and grabbed his coat.
“I’m going to work on the satellite so we can watch TV,” he said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Quinn went to clean up the kitchen and was finished once Drew came back inside. He was soaked from the driving rain and hung his dripping coat on the coat rack.
“I think I fixed it,” he said, going to the bathroom. He came back out shirtless, rubbing a towel into his wet hair.
Quinn sat down on the old futon and picked up the remote to turn on the TV. This time, the reception was clear. Drew sat beside her and put his arm around her shoulder. She flipped through the channels until she landed on a romantic comedy she wanted to watch.
“Is this okay with you?” she asked, looking up at Drew.
“Yeah. I love rom coms.”
“Really?” she said, stifling a giggle.
“You want to watch it with me but think it’s funny that I want to watch it too?” he asked.
“Okay. Okay. You have a point.”
She couldn’t help smiling as the opening credits rolled. They watched the movie together, laughing and holding each other close. Being with Drew, doing something so normal and natural, felt wonderful. She couldn’t believe that she was going to get to have this in her life all the time now. Being pregnant had changed her. Quinn used to be a bit of a party girl, but now, all she wanted was some safety and security.
Drew was giving her all of that in spades. His forgiveness filled her with hope for the future. She rested her head against his chest and felt his strong arms enfold her as the warmth of the fire filled the room.
Quinn looked up at Drew’s face and put her palm to his cheek. He angled down to kiss her. When he pulled back with a smile on his lips, Quinn felt a sharp pain in her belly. She grabbed her stomach and groaned.
“What’s wrong?” Drew asked.
“I’m not sure,” she said, breathing through her teeth. “Maybe pre-labor contractions.”
“Pre-labor? I don’t like the sound of that.”
Just as the movie was coming to a close, wind whistled violently through the forest and smashed against the cabin. The picture on the television went blank and a loud crash sounded outside.
The pain in Quinn’s belly shot through her again and she groaned. She’d had contractions before, but nothing like this. Maybe it wasn’t a pre-labor contraction. Maybe it was the real thing. She moaned again and tried to stand up.
Drew helped her to her feet and a gush of fluid flowed from between her legs to the floor.
“No,” Quinn yelled.
“Did your water break?”
“Yes,” she groaned.
“We have to get you to the hospital,” he said, helping her into her shoes.
In the time they’d been watching TV, it had grown dark outside.
“Okay,” she managed through the pain.
He helped her walk gingerly out into the driving rain and into the front seat of his SUV. She groaned as the next contraction hit. Drew looked worried, but it barely registered. The pain and worry she felt was so intense, she didn’t know what she would have done without Drew.
Drew ran around the other side of the car and jumped inside, turning the car around in a quick motion. As they approached the river, Drew stopped. Quinn could barely see through the pain. She blinked, looking at the raging water.
“Where’s the bridge?” she gasped, barely about to speak.
“It’s been washed out by the river. It’s way over the banks. Fuck.”
“What are we going to do?” she groaned, panting into the pain.
“We have to go back to the cabin.”
Quinn felt panic rising inside her. There was no way out, and she was in hard labor now. Stuck out in the middle of nowhere, her baby was coming two weeks early.
“This can’t be happening,” Quinn protested.
Drew looked over at her, grasping her hand.
“Baby, it’s going to be okay. I’m here. I’ll take care of you. I swear it.”
She nodded vigorously. All she wanted was to believe him. There was nothing else to hold on to. Drew drove back to the cab
in and parked the SUV before running around to help her out of the car. She struggled up the steps into the cabin just as another contraction hit her.
She groaned, barely able to stay on her feet. Drew picked her up and carried her to the bedroom where he set her on the bed.
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
He took his phone out of his pocket, checking for a signal.
“There’s nothing. I can’t get a connection,” he said.
“Drew. Our baby,” she gasped, reaching up to him.
He took her hand and sat down beside her, kissing her sweaty forehead.
“Everything will be okay, Quinn. I learned about labor when I joined search and rescue.”
“You know how to deliver a baby?”
“Um. Yeah. I can do it,” he said, trying to reassure her.
Quinn was beside herself and barely in her right mind, but she could tell he was less sure of himself than he was letting on.
“Drew. I can’t. I can’t deliver like this. It’s too soon.”
“Baby, your water broke. The baby’s coming.”
16
Q uinn had a reason to be worried. Drew had never delivered a baby before. But there was no way to get her out of here before it came. He had to deliver the child. It was true that he’d learned a few things when he’d signed up for search and rescue. He knew enough about childbirth that he believed he could help more than hurt. Still, he wished that it didn’t have to happen this way. Quinn needed a hospital and a real doctor.
He helped her get comfortable in the bed and went to the kitchen to boil water. He’d need something sterile to cut the cord. He put the kettle on the stove and watched it for a few moments, trying to calm himself enough to be strong for Quinn. She needed him right now. He couldn’t show her how worried he was.
When the kettle whistled, he poured the boiling water into a bowl and dropped a pair of sharp steel scissors in the water.
With the sterile bowel in his hand, Drew hurried into the bathroom and found clean bath towels. He took everything into the bedroom where Quinn was groaning in pain on the bed. Seeing her this way hurt him deep inside. He could almost feel her pain.
“Quinn, I’m going to look to see how close the baby is, okay?”
“No. I don’t want you to see me like this.”
“Baby. I have to look at you. It’s the only way. Don’t worry. It would take more than childbirth to scare me off.”
He kissed her forehead and moved down to look between her legs. He could tell the baby would be here soon. He sucked a deep breath and let it out, getting into position to help her start pushing. A week ago, he never would have believed he’d be delivering his own child in the middle of a rainstorm.
“Quinn, I can see the baby’s head. I need you to start pushing when you feel the next contraction.”
Quinn groaned and panted, gripping the bedsheets until her knuckles were white. As the contraction started, Quinn started to push, letting out a long, low groan.
“That’s good, baby. You’re doing great.”
He could see the head crowning. This was it.
“Stop pushing now, Quinn.”
“I can’t.”
“You have to, baby. Wait.”
She screamed, and Drew started to help the baby move through.
“Okay, push,” he said.
She clenched her teeth and groaned. The baby’s head started to push through, and Drew was there to catch the child as it slid from his mother’s womb. He came out covered in goo, completely quiet.
Quinn started crying, reaching for the child. Drew put the baby on its stomach, and he started to pat him vigorously until the cub let out a mewling cry. Quinn reached down and took the baby in her arms, holding him against her chest as she cried. Drew cut the cord and tied it off with some string before he wrapped the baby with a clean towel.
“Oh my God, Drew. We did it.”
“You did good, baby,” he said, kissing her forehead.
“We did good,” she corrected. She looked up at him with those chocolate eyes that melted his heart.
“We did good,” he whispered.
He slid into the bed beside her and watched his son taking his first breaths.
“What do you want to call him?” Quinn asked, nuzzling into his shoulder.
“My father’s name was Maxwell. Everyone called him Max.”
“Max Bock. It’s perfect.”
Drew helped Quinn feed the baby for the first time, loving the glow in her eyes as she watched her child. He couldn’t help thinking about how much they needed to get to the hospital. The baby had been three weeks early. He was a thriving shifter child, but Quinn was a human. She needed to be tended to by a trained physician.
“I need to get you out of here.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to get across to a phone.”
“How?”
“I have my ways.”
He kissed her again and pulled a warm blanket over her and the baby. Before he left the house, he turned up the heat and stoked the fire. He went to put on his boots and coat and left the cabin. Drew had equipment that he kept in the SUV. The rain poured down on his raincoat hood, and he could barely see in the darkness.
After he jumped into the car, he turned it around and drove to the river. When he got there, he stopped the SUV but left the motor running and the lights on. He would need to be able to see. He went to the back of the car and pulled out a grappling gun.
Walking to the flooded river bank, he took aim at a tree across the river. It was hard to see through the rain. But he focused all his heightened senses on his aim and pulled the trigger. The spike sailed through the air, taking his cable with it. The metal spike sliced into the trunk of a strong tree and stuck hard. Drew pulled against the cable, testing its strength.
It was a solid hold. He took the other end and tied it to the winch on the front end of the SUV. With the cable tied off, Drew pulled a hook out of the back of the truck. He slung the hook over the cable and got ready to run.
With a running start, Drew sailed over the water and landed on his knees on the other side. Standing quickly, he threw off his clothes and jumped into bear form, not stopping when he hit the ground. He used every ounce of his bear’s strength and speed, sprinting down the wet road to the next house. The electricity and phones didn’t make it out to the cabin. The whole thing was powered by a gas generator. But the next house up the road should have a landline phone. He could finally get a hold of the rest of the crew and get his family to a hospital.
After a few miles, he could see a light coming from a driveway off in the distance. He turned onto the road and hurried up the gravel drive. When he came to the steps of the farm house, he shifted. It was driving rain, and he was naked. He’d terrify anyone who opened the door.
He hurried up onto the porch, pulled a flowery flag off the side of the house, and tied it around his waist. Drew let out a deep breath and knocked on the door, bouncing nervously on his heels. An old man came to the door and looked up at him skeptically.
“Sir, the bridge over the south fork went out, and my wife just had a baby. I need to use your phone.”
The old man lifted his bushy white eyebrows and opened the door for Drew to come inside.
“What is it, Henry?” an old woman’s voice came from the living room.
“This man says his bridge is out and his wife had a baby. Needs to use the phone.”
“Well, get it for him, Henry.”
The old man handed Drew the phone, looking up at him through those bushy brows. He quickly dialed Levi’s number and waited while it rang.
“Hello?” Levi’s voice came over the line.
“Levi, the bridge went out over to the cabin. You’ve got to come quick. Quinn had the baby. We need to get her to the hospital.”
“We’ll be right there,” Levi said.
Drew hung up the phone and thanked the couple. He hurried back into the n
ight and shifted, running on his bear’s feet until he made it back to the river. He took the hook across to the other shore and turned off the car. When he got inside the cabin, he was dripping wet and panting. He hurried into the bedroom and found Quinn slumbering with the baby sleeping on her chest. He breathed a sigh of relief and went to get himself cleaned up. By the time he was dressed, he could hear the sound of motors over the driving rain outside.
Drew looked through the front window of the cabin to find the whole crew with rescue vehicles on the other side of the river. He turned back to the bedroom and roused Quinn.
“Baby, the Rescue Bears are here to get us out of here,” he said.
“All right.”
He helped her up from the bed and wrapped her and the baby in warm clothes and blankets. He gingerly helped her out of the cabin to waiting EMTs. They hurried her and the baby across a makeshift bridge and put them in the back of an emergency vehicle. Drew got into the ambulance beside her as it started to turn around on the narrow road.
They made it back to town quickly and stopped in the emergency lane outside Fate Mountain General. The EMTs got Quinn and the baby out of the ambulance and hurried them in to be seen by doctors. Drew followed behind them, finally able to breathe right for the first time since Quinn went into labor.
He would have died if anything had happened to Quinn or the baby. Now they were safe and sound in a medical facility. He made it to the room where Quinn and Max were being examined. The doctors said they were both doing well but wanted to keep them for the rest of the night.
The nurses put Quinn and the baby into a room where they could rest for the night, and Drew sat beside her next to the bed.
“You did it, Drew. You got us out.”
“All in a day’s work for a Rescue Bear.”
He leaned down and kissed her full lips. The baby rested in a cradle on the other side of the bed, and Quinn slid down under the blankets.
“I’m so tired,” she whispered, turning over on her side.
“Rest now, baby. Tomorrow, we go home.”
17
Q uinn opened the front door of Drew’s house while Drew carried baby Max in his car seat behind her. She was anxious to get home and start their new life together. The journey home had been a long and winding one, but Quinn finally felt like she’d arrived. She flipped on the light inside the front door and found herself in the middle of a surprise party.