sign of being tired, much less leaving. Caroline and Jane were with Savannah, and his daughter was in bed upstairs. Six-year-old Maggie had tried to stay awake but fell asleep in his arms around ten.
Laredo had been with Savannah from the first, but returned to the living room periodically to make his reports. Grady watched his brother-in-law with interest. Laredo was so pale he looked in danger of passing out.
“I had no idea it would be like this,” Laredo mumbled, ramming all ten fingers through his hair.
“That it’d take this long?” Grady asked.
Laredo vigorously shook his head. “No—that I’d feel this scared, this nervous. Savannah and I must’ve read ten books about pregnancy and birth, and I thought I was ready. Hell, man, I’ve been around horses and cattle all my life, but this is nothing like I expected.”
Those books were the very ones Grady and Caroline were reading now. His wife was two months pregnant. Grady had been walking on air from the moment she’d told him. He’d thought about the baby a lot, his excitement building as he watched his own sister’s pregnancy progress. He and Caroline had told only a few people, since she was months from showing.
To Grady, his wife had never looked more beautiful. Maggie was pleased and excited at the prospect of becoming a big sister. What Grady hadn’t considered was this strange emotion Laredo exhibited.
Fear.
He hadn’t thought of his child’s birth as a frightening event. He’d imagined himself a proud father, holding his infant son or daughter. He enjoyed the prospect of people making a fuss and giving their opinions on which parent the baby resembled. Friends would come to visit and it would be a time of celebration and joy.
But tonight Laredo had destroyed his illusions. In his imaginings, Grady had glossed over the actual birth. Until now. Beyond any doubt, he knew that when it was Caroline’s time to deliver their child, he’d be as bad as Laredo. Pacing, worrying, wondering. Praying.
“I’m going back in there,” Laredo announced as though he couldn’t bear to be away from Savannah a moment longer.
Grady stood, slapped his friend on the back to encourage him, then sank into his seat again.
“We’re going to be just like him, you know,” Cal said.
Grady nodded in agreement. “Worse, probably.”
Cal grinned. “When’s Caroline due?”
“The end of October.”
“You two certainly didn’t waste any time, did you?” Cal teased.
“Nope.” Their wedding had been the last week of October, and Caroline was pregnant by the first week of January. They’d hoped it would happen quickly, seeing as Grady was already well into his thirties and Maggie was going on seven. It made sense to start their family early.
As the wind howled, Cal looked out the window. “Why is it babies are always born during a storm?”
“It probably has something to do with barometric pressure.”
Cal scratched his head. “You think so?”
The hell if Grady knew, but it sounded good. The phone pealed in the kitchen and the two men stared at each other.
“It’s probably Glen and Ellie again,” Cal said.
Cal’s brother and his wife lived in town and would have been with them, Grady suspected, if not for the storm.
Grady answered the phone. “Nothing yet,” he said, instead of his usual greeting.
“Why didn’t anyone phone me?” Dovie Boyd Hennessey demanded. Dovie and Savannah had been close since the death of Savannah’s mother, Barbara, seven years earlier. Dovie owned and operated the antique shop, which sold everything from old scarves and jewelry to valuable china cups and saucers, all arranged around antique furnishings. The women in town loved to shop at Dovie’s; she was universally admired and treasured by the town.
“Savannah’s in labor and I only now find out,” Dovie said, as though she’d missed the social event of the year.
“Who told you?” Grady asked. The women in Promise had a communication system the CIA could envy.
“Frank, naturally,” Dovie told him. “I guess he talked to Laredo earlier this evening. He just got home.” She paused for breath. “Has the baby come yet?”
“Nope, and according to Jane, it could be hours before the blessed event.”
“How’s Savannah?”
“Better than Laredo,” Grady said.
Dovie’s soft laugh drifted over the line. “Give her my love?”
“Of course.”
“And call me the minute you hear, understand? I don’t care what time of day or night it is.”
“You got it,” he said on the tail end of a yawn.
“Don’t let me down, Grady.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he assured her.
By the time he returned to the living room, Cal had picked up a magazine and was flipping through the pages.
“You read that one an hour ago,” Grady reminded him.
“So I did.”
A few minutes later Caroline came into the room, and Grady leaped to his feet. “Sit down,” he urged his wife. “You look exhausted.” She should have been in bed hours ago, but he knew better than to suggest it. Caroline was as stubborn as they came, but then so was he. They understood each other, and he could appreciate her need to be with her best friend.
“It won’t be long now,” she told him as she slid her arms around his waist. “The baby’s crowned.”
Grady nodded. “Wonderful. How’s Savannah?”
“She’s doing well.”
“And Laredo?”
“He’s holding Savannah’s hand and helping her with her breathing.” Grady sat down, pulling Caroline onto his lap. She pressed her head against his shoulder, and he kissed her temple.
Grady glanced in Cal’s direction and found he’d folded his arms and shut his eyes. Caroline’s eyes were closed, too, and Grady decided to rest his own. Just for a few minutes, he told himself.
An infant’s cry shattered the silence. Grady jerked awake and Caroline jumped to her feet and shook her head. “Oh, my goodness!” she gasped.
Grady hadn’t a clue how long they’d been out. Cal straightened and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.
“The kid’s got one hell of a pair of lungs.”
A few minutes later the bedroom door opened
