Page 45 of The Hunted Wife

Epilogue

Christmas Eve

The ranch was decorated for Christmas. Adam brought in a beautiful, tall spruce tree and they all decorated it with the ornaments from their childhood. This occasion was the first time they celebrated the holiday since their parents had died.

Millie couldn’t help much as she was very, very pregnant and due any day.

Adam fussed over her constantly, barely letting her go to the bathroom by herself.

For her part, Millie rolled her eyes and let her husband do what he needed to do. She thought agreeing was the best way to keep the peace.

His brothers teased him constantly about being worse than any security guard where she was concerned. Benjamin was the worst of them, managing to get under Adam’s skin on more than one occasion.

Millie still did most of the cooking. She had a brother or two to help with the prep so she could put her feet up, but the actual cooking of the meals fell on her shoulders.

The family sat down to Christmas Eve dinner of turkey and all the fixings. They would have prime rib for Christmas dinner itself. Millie already set the roast marinating in the refrigerator. She quietly leaned over toward her husband and whispered. “Adam. We have a problem. My water just broke.”

Adam stood so fast his chair toppled backwards. “What?! Now?!”

She nodded. “Just now. I don’t think we have to?—”

“Okay, let’s get you to the hospital.”

Suddenly chaos erupted as all the brothers tried to get close to Millie and help her from the table at once.

Benjamin let out a shrill whistle. “Everyone, stand back and let Adam do his thing. We’ve practiced for this event. Adam will get her to the truck. I’ll follow him with her overnight bag. Christopher will follow with the baby’s bag. The rest of you will clean up from dinner, packing the food away so it doesn’t spoil. Millie won’t be cooking for a while, and we might as well save as much as possible of her good food before we have to rely on ourselves again.”

“Wait.” Millie looked up at Adam. “I need my coat, and so do you.”

He set her on her feet. “Right. Coats.”

Everett came running into the kitchen carrying both of their coats. “Here. Put these on so you don’t freeze to death.”

Adam picked Millie up like she weighed no more than a feather pillow. “Daniel, go open the truck doors so I can get Millie in without having to put her down.” He started toward the door.

Once Adam had her situated in the truck to his satisfaction, he shut the door and hurried around to the driver’s side.

Benjamin waited for him there. “We’ll all be down in a bit, but I don’t want you to wait.”

“I wasn’t going to. I need to get her to the hospital now. With the roads the way they are the trip will take an hour at least.”

“Okay, get going and be safe.” He shut Adam’s door.

The truck was still cold but would heat up soon enough.

Despite the heavy coat she wore, Millie shivered. “Ah…doggonit that hurts.”

“Should I start timing the contractions?”

“Probably a good idea.”

He looked at his watch. “Okay, I’m timing them.”

They drove for another few miles.

Millie grabbed her stomach and began her breathing exercises. When the pain passed, she relaxed back into the seat. “Dang it all. Why does this have to hurt so much? I think if we have more children that you should birth them.”

Adam chuckled and looked at his watch. “Just under five minutes. We are still in good shape to reach the hospital in plenty of time.”