Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) - Karen Rose Page 0,241

were telling Joshua about the supplies they’d brought, so Liza leaned in close. “We’re here to get you out,” she whispered, then raised her voice. “I’d like to examine Magdalena. Can we give the patient some privacy?”

Tom and Molina instantly stepped from the room, as did everyone else except for Rebecca. Liza turned to her with a polite smile. “Are you a trained nurse, ma’am?”

“No. But I have children.”

“She’s barren,” Hayley spat. “Her children were birthed by other women. She wants to take my baby as soon as she’s born, and I won’t let her.”

Liza continued to smile even though she wanted to beat Rebecca to a bloody pulp. “There are so many supplies. Perhaps you can aid with distributing them.”

The woman shook her head. “I’m staying.”

Hayley screamed again with another contraction. When it was over, Liza pushed aside the curtain. “Tara, can you come back, please?”

Molina promptly returned. “Yes?”

“This woman is a danger to my patient. Can you remove her?”

Molina took the woman’s arm and forcibly removed her from the room. But Rebecca’s irate shouts grew abruptly quiet as the two headed for the entrance. Liza briefly wondered what Molina had said to shut her up.

Liza grinned. “Let’s have a baby, Hayley.”

Hayley’s eyes filled with new tears. “Say it again, please. My name.”

“Hayley,” Liza said gently and brushed Hayley’s damp hair from her face. “Now I’m going to have a look at your baby. We don’t have any equipment so I’m gonna have to go old school.”

“Have you delivered a baby before?” Hayley asked as she nervously watched Liza pull on a pair of gloves and sanitize her hands.

“I have. In a war zone, no less. A little village in Afghanistan.”

“You’re in the army?”

“I was until recently.”

“And the baby was okay?”

“Yes. The baby was breech and the mom was scared. Her husband saw us distributing food to the village and asked me to help. We had no medicine and no special equipment. The mother and baby were fine.”

“Who are you now?” Hayley whispered.

“Just a nursing assistant,” Liza told her, then leaned in again. “The other two are FBI. They’ve been looking for Eden for a very long time.”

“Thank God,” Hayley breathed. “Is Cameron okay?”

“Cameron is fine. Just worried about you. How far apart are your—”

Hayley screamed again, her stomach rippling from the contraction.

“That answers that question. Three minutes. Let me see how dilated you are. Oh!” she said a minute later. “I see the head. You’re about to meet your baby. I understand she’s a little girl?”

“Yes. Jellybean.”

Liza grinned. “All right, then. On the next contraction, I want you to push.”

She moaned at the next contraction, but pushed like a champ. The contraction passed, and Hayley panted in silence, readying for the next.

The curtain parted and Tamar returned. “Everyone is getting food. They are so happy.”

“And Graham?” Hayley asked.

“The lady, Tara? She’s taking care of him. He’s dehydrated and hungry, but she said that Liza should stay here and that she would handle it.”

“Tamar, can you sit behind Hayley? Help her remember to breathe during the contractions.”

Fifteen minutes and five giant pushes later, Liza held a beautiful baby girl with a pair of very strong lungs. Liza had to do some deep breathing of her own, but her eyes still filled and tears still fell. “She’s perfect,” she said to Hayley. “Beautiful. Ten fingers and toes.”

“Let me help you wash her,” Tamar said. From a box she retrieved a clean towel and filled a bowl with water and cleaned the baby with such tenderness that Liza cried some more.

“You’re almost done,” Liza told Hayley as Tamar put the baby in her mother’s arms. “One more giant push.”

She was dealing with the placenta when the curtain was ripped aside. Liza smelled the boy before she saw him. “Holy God,” she coughed. “What did you fall into?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll stay over here,” the boy said, his voice squeaky high and raspy at the same time. “God, Hayley. You did it. You really did it. She’s okay?”

Hayley looked up from her baby and smiled. “She’s perfect.”

The boy grinned, his face dirty and tear-streaked. “Hey there, Zit.”

Hayley shot him a mock glare. “One more time, Graham, and I swear.”

“Do you have a name picked out?” Liza asked.

“I have one in mind,” Hayley said. “I want to check with Cameron first.”

Liza sat back on her heels. “You could have done this without me, Hayley. This was as simple a delivery as they come. But I need to get you out of here, so I’m