Page 326 of Wild Card 13

It was barely anything.

It was everything.

Across the lawn, Bea stood carefully from her chair. One hand braced on the arm of the chair. The other was pressed low against her belly. Her face was composed.

Alois was at her side in two strides.

Lo noticed next. Her fork lowered. Ezra followed her gaze. Freya, who had been sitting on a blanket with Nora, rose to her feet.

Bea inhaled through her nose. Then her composure cracked. A sound tore out of her, low and startled and full of pain, and every person on that lawn froze.

Alois put one hand at her back and the other on her arm. “Beatriz.”

“I’m fine,” she grumbled immediately.

No one believed her.

Another contraction hit before anyone could pretend to.

Bea bent forward with a sharp cry, fingers digging into Alois’s forearm.

The entire Frosthawks organization discovered, in that moment, that chaos had a hierarchy.

At the top was Alois Müller. He did not raise his voice, panic, or look around for instructions. He became terrifyingly calm. “Ezra,” he barked.

Ezra was already moving. “Keys?”

“My SUV. Hospital bag is in the back. Second bag behind the driver’s seat. Folder in the glove compartment.”

Of course Alois had brought a hospital bag to an informal lake day because Bea was thirty-nine weeks pregnant and he trusted luck about as much as he trusted opposing forwards near his goalie.

Lo was beside Bea now, one hand on her shoulder. “Darling, breathe for me.”

“I am breathing,” Bea snapped, then gasped as another pain hit. “I am doing an excellent job breathing.”

“You are,” Lo said, voice trembling only at the edges. “You are doing beautifully.”

“I hate this.”

“You’re allowed,” Lo cooed, stroking her hair gently. “But it’s happening. Bea, you’re having a baby.”

Alois lowered his face close to Bea’s. His voice changed. Not softer exactly. More private. Like every other sound in the world had been dismissed. “We go now.”

Bea nodded once, jaw clenched.

Freya stepped closer, practical and steady. “Do you need?—”

“I have it,” Alois said.

Freya stopped, assessed him, then nodded. “Okay. Need me to call her doc?”

“Already called. Three minutes ago.”

I had not even seen him take out his phone.

Ty leaned toward me. “He scares me in new ways every year.”

“Same.”