When the Bough Breaks (Rose Gardner Investigations #6) - Denise Grover Swank Page 0,112
pressure off her cord, but I’d really like to deliver her with the next contraction, okay?”
I nodded. “Okay.”
I closed my eyes, wondering how I’d fallen into this nightmare, then realizing full well how. It was my own doing, but the fact I’d found and saved Ashely and Mikey helped ease my guilt. I only hoped Joe saw it that way too.
“I’m sorry, Joe.”
“Shh,” he said softly. “You focus on delivering our baby.”
“Another one’s comin’,” I said, bracing myself up on my elbows again.
“A nice gentle push,” Dermot said. “I’m working with her head now, tryin’ to flex it.” He sounded distracted as he pulled her body upward. “Big strong push, Rose. A really big one.”
I pushed with all my might and I felt her come free.
“You did it, Rose,” Joe said in awe. “You did it.”
Dermot cradled her and rubbed her chest and thumped her feet.
“Why isn’t she cryin’?” Joe asked, starting to panic.
“Dermot?” I called out.
“Give me a second.” He pulled a bulb syringe from his bag and suctioned her nose and mouth, then turned her over, her chest on his hand, and smacked her butt. “What’s her name?”
“We haven’t picked one yet,” Joe said.
She let out a weak cry.
“Come on, baby,” Dermot said, giving her a gentle shake. “You can do better than that.”
She released a loud wail, and a huge smile spread across Dermot’s face. “That’s better.” He grabbed my sweater and wrapped it around her, then gently placed her on my chest. “Rose, meet your daughter. Baby, meet the best mother you could ever hope to find.”
I stared down at her face. Her eyes were closed as she wailed, full strength now. Her cheeks were pink, and she had a dainty nose. Her head was sparsely covered in fine dark hair. I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect baby. I couldn’t believe she was mine.
I glanced up at Joe and smiled. No. Ours.
“She’s perfect, Rose,” Joe said in awe, still supporting my back.
I nodded, crying, studying her again. I couldn’t believe I’d grown this miracle inside me. “She is.”
“We still need to pick a name,” Joe said.
I glanced up at him. “I like Hope.”
Lord knew we needed more of it.
He smiled down at me. “I love it. How about Hope Violet Gardner?”
“No,” I said. “Hope Violet Simmons.”
His eyes lit up.
“I love you, Joe. You’re this baby’s father. She needs to have your name.”
“It doesn’t matter if she has my name or not. She’s my daughter no matter what.”
“I want to go home, Joe. Take me and your daughter home.”
He gave me a soft kiss on the lips, happiness radiating from his eyes. “Gladly.”
Chapter 30
But I couldn’t go home, not right away.
Joe called an ambulance to take me and Hope to the hospital to be checked over. He wanted to wait in the clearing for the EMTs to come, but I insisted on going back to check on the kids. After he took off his jacket and wrapped it around my waist, he carried me over the creek, baby Hope cradled in my arms, and Dermot walked beside us to make sure we didn’t fall. I insisted on walking part of the way to give Joe’s back a break, but the first time I slowed down to catch my breath, he picked me up and carried us the rest of the way.
Ashley and Mikey were inside the truck, and they rushed out to greet us when we emerged from the trees. Mikey threw his arms around Dermot’s legs, and Dermot picked him up and held him.
But what I found conspicuously absent were the two dead bodies of Dermot’s men. There was no sign of violence at all. Dermot said he’d called for backup. Was it to look for me or just to clean up the mess?
“Aunt Rose,” Ashley said. “Did you have your baby?”
“I did.”
Joe set us down on top of the concrete picnic table, and Ashley scrambled onto the seat to look at the baby cradled in my arms.
“Ashley,” I said, my voice breaking. “Meet your new cousin, Hope Violet Simmons.”
She looked up at me with wide eyes. “That’s my mommy’s name.”
“That’s right,” Joe said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“I want to see,” Mikey said, wiggling from Dermot’s grasp, then running over and scrambling onto the table and throwing his arms around my neck, Ashley next to him as Joe wrapped an arm around my back. Baby Hope was looking up at us, and I knew this was the moment from my vision.