down on a stool between the young mother’s legs.
Spence felt the heat rise in his face once more. He quickly glanced away. His gaze met Ally’s. The world shifted; for a moment, he felt as if she saw into his soul and beyond, way back to the years when he’d been angry with her for marrying Jack, for not waiting for him.
Regret and surprise slammed through him. Where had that thought come from? He’d never asked her to wait.
“Get on the other side and take Taylor’s hand,” Ally ordered in gentle tones. “We’ll help her breathe. She took Lamaze classes with Dr. Davis.”
Help her breathe? Classes?
Spence felt he’d landed in another world where they spoke the same language he did, but the words meant entirely different things. He went to where Ally had told him to stand, studiously keeping his eyes averted from what was happening at the other end of the raised hospital bed.
“Are you going to go by Davis or change to Winterhawk now that you’ve married Johnny?” his mother asked, peering over Ally’s shoulder.
“I’ve decided to stay with Davis in my professional life. It’s easier, since everyone in town knows me by that.” Claire leaned forward. “Okay, get ready.”
“Easy, easy,” Ally murmured to Taylor.
“Let’s hit it,” Claire said as if encouraging a football team to play its best.
“Push,” Maryanne said, doing things with spray bottles and towels.
Taylor groaned and pulled against his hand. Alarm spread through him at her expression. He couldn’t tell if it was one of intense pain or intense concentration. Sweat trickled down his spine. He stared at a kid running across the park lawn, his mother hot on his trail. The mother captured the spunky toddler and led him back to the bench where she’d been sitting.
“Pant,” Ally said and proceeded to do so.
She and Taylor panted in unison. Spence did, too, then realized what he was doing and tried to stop. He noted his mom also breathed with Taylor.
“Push!” Maryanne barked again as if the young mother had disobeyed a direct order.
Taylor pushed. Ally pushed. Rose pushed. And Spence pushed. They panted. Sweat collected on their foreheads.
“Okay, relax,” Claire said.
“Deep breaths,” Maryanne commanded. They breathed.
Ally was aware of Spence across the narrow bed from her, his head inches away as they leaned over Taylor and helped her with the birthing. As everyone in the room relaxed, she spared him a sympathetic glance. She didn’t recall ever seeing him blush, but now his face looked as if he had a good case of the measles. Her smile widened.
While they rested for the next big push, her thoughts turned introspective. She regretted that she would never be able to share this moment with her husband. She was barren. That was why she and Jack had been delighted when the chance came to adopt Taylor’s children.
Tears burned her eyes as she recalled that Jack hadn’t known they were having twins. He’d died shortly before Taylor had the checkup that revealed the two heartbeats. She took a careful breath and controlled her sorrow. This wasn’t the place for it.
Now was the time for joy. She and Taylor had discussed the situation. She still wanted the babies, even though there were two and she was alone now. Taylor still wanted her to have them. The nineteen-year-old college student felt the children needed the secure home that Ally could afford and she couldn’t. Both agreed Rose McBride would make a wonderful, doting grandmother, and Taylor could see the twins as often as her studies and workload would allow.
So it would all work out fine. She mentally crossed her fingers. She knew what happened to best-laid plans.
“Okay, here comes another one,” Dr. Davis said.
Ally concentrated on Taylor and her breathing. At her left shoulder, Rose breathed with them, and across the bed, Spence unconsciously did, too.
Maryanne directed them. “Keep pushing. Okay, it’s crowning.”
Ally looked to see what this meant. She gulped and swallowed hard as she saw the very top of a head appear, a ridge running down the middle where the skull plates slid past each other so the baby could squeeze out. Her heart contracted in a mixture of excitement and deep emotion.
She glanced at Spence. He looked uneasy but stoic. For a moment, she was flooded with tenderness toward him. That was odd, but she was glad Rose had, for whatever strange reason, insisted he join them. Welcoming a new generation into the world was a momentous event for a family.
“Okay, once more,” Claire said cheerfully. “You’re doing wonderfully, Taylor.”
“Thank you,” Taylor said politely.
Ally met Spence’s eyes and grinned. He gave her a searching glance. She sensed questions in him, but there wasn’t time to ask what they were. “The baby,” she said. “Here it comes.”
The entire head appeared. Claire efficiently cleared its nose and mouth. “One last big one, I think,” she murmured after they’d rested a bit.
“Ohh,” Ally and Rose and Taylor all chorused together when the baby was born, sliding smoothly into the doctor’s waiting hands with one more push.
“Is the little darling here already?” another nurse crooned, bustling into the room, a baby blanket in hand. “Ah, a sweetheart of a girl,” she said.
Ally recognized the woman as one of the pediatric nurses, Nell Hastings. A calm, gray-haired woman in her fifties, she took care of newborns with an ease that was guaranteed to soothe young parents. She dried the baby and wrapped her in another blanket, then proceeded to weigh and measure the child.
“Five pounds, seven ounces,” she announced. “A very nice size for twins.”
“No rest for the weary,” Claire said to Taylor with an encouraging smile. “Ready for number two?”
Taylor barely had time to say yes before the contraction started and didn’t let up. The team panted and pushed along with the mother. Nicholas came into the world as smoothly as his sister. He took one glance around the crowded room and howled. Startled, Hannah joined in.
“They’re here,” Ally said, tears starting in her eyes. “Taylor, they’re here.”
She and Taylor hugged and cried and kissed each other’s cheeks while the nurse put wristbands on the infants, then weighed and measured the second one. “This big fellow is six pounds. I’m impressed,” she told them.
Feeling a hand caressing her hair, Ally raised her head. Spence gave her an encouraging smile. His eyes looked a little misty, too.
“Oh, Spence, aren’t they the most beautiful babies you ever saw?” she said.
He nodded and continued to stroke her hair in the gentlest manner.
She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, all cautious thoughts fleeing in this moment of jubilation.
