Jaxi lifted her hand and displayed a pair of boots. “If you’re interested, I have an extra pair. I think they might fit you—you’re a six?”
Vicki nodded. Finding boots had become a nightmare. “How did you know?”
Joel snorted. “Jaxi knows everything. Didn’t you get the memo?”
“Smartass.” Jaxi held them forward. “Mary at the thrift shop mentioned it to me when I was in finding stuff for the girls. If the boots fit, take them.”
Vicki was torn. “But…”
Joel accepted the boots from Jaxi then pressed them against Vicki’s hands. “You need them to be safe when you ride. Don’t turn them down.”
“He’s right.” Jaxi nodded. “I’m surprised Joel didn’t ask sooner. It’s not safe to ride in your runners.”
She gave Joel such a dirty look Vicki felt guilty. “We haven’t been out riding yet. But thank you, I really appreciate it.”
Jaxi nodded, eyeing the two of them. “Well, I guess I’ll head back and rescue the girls from being spoiled rotten by Gramma.”
Vicki was watching her face, so she saw the moment happen. Jaxi’s eyes widened and her hand snapped to her belly, a gush of air exploding from her lips.
Joel stepped forward, reaching for his sister-in-law’s arm. “Jaxi, you okay?”
“Fuck.” Jaxi glanced down.
Vicki spotted the wetness darkening her maternity pants. “Oh shit.”
“I should have known today of all days, this would happen.” Jaxi blew out a slow breath. “Joel, go get Blake.”
Joel hauled out his phone, but Jaxi shook her head. “He drove to the southwest fields this morning.”
“Shit, no reception.” He kissed Jaxi on the forehead. “I’ll find him. You hang in there.”
“Hanging.” She grimaced and shifted her bulky stomach. “Send him straight to the hospital.”
Joel was nearly at the barn door. “Vicki, take care of her.”
Oh God. He was gone, and she was alone in the barn with a horse and a pregnant woman who didn’t like her much.
Jaxi squeezed out another groan. “Okay, honey, it’s all you and me now. You got a cell phone?”
Vicki nodded, stepping forward to offer an arm. “Call the ambulance?”
“Yes, but first, help me get to the bales over there.”
Jaxi gestured toward the middle of the barn, and Vicki’s throat closed. Her breathing sped up.
“Across from Sable’s…?” She fought her fear, forced herself to wrap an arm around Jaxi and move slowly toward their target. She ignored everything but the piled-up bales. “You planned on having the baby today?”
“Been having what I thought were Braxton Hicks all night. Guess I was wrong. I might have done this before, but nothing feels the same.” Jaxi sat gingerly. “If you can call the ambulance and maybe grab a couple blankets from the tack room—oooh, that one hurt.”
Jaxi grimaced, rubbing her hands slowly over her belly. Vicki wanted to help her, but couldn’t seem to focus on more than one task at a time.
First: Call ambulance.
Vicki pulled out her phone as Jaxi leaned back on the bale behind her, eyes closed, face tight with pain.
She couldn’t get the in-labour woman to make the call. Vicki punched in 911 as she kept an eye on Sable. The hairy beast stared at them, her head hanging out the front of the stall. Vicki swallowed past the bitter taste in her mouth and hurried to the back of the barn, sliding along the wall as far away from the horse as was humanly possible.
The very efficient person on the other end got their location, and then wanted Vicki to stay on the line.
Hell, no. “I’ll call you back.”
Hanging up on emergency services might not be kosher, but she could not keep talking. Only the fact she’d made it into the tack room had stopped another panic attack from setting in, and no one wanted to be on the phone with a shrieking maniac.
The slightly cooler air was calming, reassuring. Vicki dragged in deep breaths and willed her heart rate to slow. Like Joel had mentioned before, the scent of leather became a balm, returning her to the fun times and the caring he’d given her while they’d practiced with the saddle.
If she could have stayed hidden in that room forever, she would have. But Jaxi still sat alone in the barn, and there was no way Vicki could abandon her.
She screwed up her courage, nabbed the requested armload of blankets and hurried from the room.
Ignoring Sable was the only way to survive. Vicki stormed past her and laid a blanket on the open bale beside Jaxi. “I called the ambulance and thought of something else. What’s your mother-in-law’s number? She’ll have to direct the driver, and we should warn her so she’s not scared to death by an emergency vehicle arriving in the yard unannounced.”
Jaxi eased herself to vertical. “Damn, I’d forgotten that. Good idea.”
“Wait,” Vicki ordered. “Sorry, but you’ve got straw on your ass.”
She brushed it off before helping Jaxi back down onto the thick padding of the quilt she’d found.
“Trust me, I’ve had straw worse places.” Jaxi gave her the number, and a whirlwind of activity ensued. Vicki reassured Mrs. Coleman, arranged for the little girls to stay with her, then reconnected with emergency. She followed their directions, which mostly meant supporting Jaxi who didn’t seem to need much reassuring anymore.
“This baby has got to be a Coleman male.” In the slight calm post-contraction, Jaxi released the grip she was using to squeeze the bones in Vicki’s hand to pudding. “Stubborn, bad timing…he’s coming out the chute like I expect he’ll go on.”
Vicki wasn’t sure what to do, laugh or be overwhelmed by everything happening. “Boy or girl, healthy is all that matters.”
Only please, not until the ambulance gets here.
She thought that last part, proud she managed to not say it.
When the paramedics came rushing in the door, the sense of relief was nearly enough to take her to her knees. “I’ll call Joel. He might be in range again.”
“Tell Blake he’d better hurry. This kid is not taking his sweet time.” Jaxi smiled weakly around an emergency attendant. “Thanks for holding my hand.”
“No problem.”
The blur of motion continued, but it moved away from her. Others took her place in reassuring Jaxi, the paramedics helping her to the ambulance.
Vicki was left alone in the barn, and the sudden quiet echoed.
She took a deep breath, calming her heart before pulling out her phone. Nothing but Joel’s voice mail. He must be in that dead-air zone they’d mentioned.
“Joel? Jaxi’s headed for the hospital. Hope you find Blake in time.” She wasn’t sure what came next. “Um, call me when you get the news. Fingers crossed things go well.”
She hung up feeling incredibly—awkward?
Left out?
It wasn’t as if she and Jaxi were such bosom buddies that she should have jumped in the ambulance with her. Yet the sensation of being an outsider had never been clearer than at that moment.
For all the lovely gestures of borrowed boots, and passionate kisses, the Colemans had something she didn’t. That she got to experience a little of it on the sly—she wasn’t sure if her temporary involvement was a good thing or a bad thing.
Hope’s comment earlier in the week about real family stabbed like a blade. Seeing what family meant, but not truly being a part of it, made Vicki’s heart hurt more than when she’d never experienced the joy.
She plopped back down on the bale with the blankets and stared across at Sable’s stall. Just her and the horse left, and even the horse fit in better than she did.
She picked up the blankets and returned them to the tack room, shaking off the bits of straw carefully to avoid thinking things through.