Chapter11
Heal This Rift
Dash’s POV
I was surprised I hadn’t been asked to leave my spot in front of Serenity since I’d been parked here for going on six days now. Zinnie wouldn’t respond to my texts or calls, so I was hoping she’d hear that I was out front and ask me to talk. She had good reason to know how stubborn I was.
Her phone call to me had been like watching someone try to whisk a tablecloth out from under a fully set Thanksgiving table…and everything went crashing to the ground. She’d been throwing words like divorce, involuntary commitment and hate at me with the speed of a major league
pitcher, so fast I couldn’t keep up.
All I knew was it sounded like I was about to lose my wife permanently, so I called in a colleague to cover the rest of my shift for me, told my boss I had an out–of–town family emergency and would
be gone for a week, then headed for the commune.
They wouldn’t let me in, but I refused to leave. Some older woman named Moonpie was trying to give me a blue stone, and I wanted to yell at her that all I wanted was my wife.
It seemed like the sixth day was going to be the same as the previous five days, with me being ignored, but I was wrong. An older woman in a golf cart stopped right in front of the gate and
beckoned to me.
“Leave your car. I’m taking you to your wife.”
Dread unfurled inside of me. “Is Zinnie OK?”
“She’s fine. Wants to see you. You gonna stand there jawing at me or come with?”
“I’ll come with.”
She opened the gate so I could enter, then she closed it right back up. I got into the seat beside her
and she took off like a bat out of hell.
“Is it the baby?” I asked.
She didn’t respond.
“Is she in labor?”
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“She’s not in labor, but what would it matter? She’s having a girl and you don’t want a girl.”
“Of course it matters! I do want a girl — I’m fine either way.”
“Strange way of showing it, telling her you wanted to knock up her sister to get a boy.”
The words it was a joke almost came out of my mouth automatically, but I closed it just in time,
pretty sure this woman would have pushed me out of the cart. I always thought hippies had a
calm, serene vibe, but this woman seemed like she knew several different ways to kill a man.
“But Zinnie’s OK?”
“Already answered that.”
“I’m worried about her. She’s overdue and under a lot of stress.”
“Hmmph. Wonder why that is.”
“I didn’t send her mother and sister out here.”
I knew I was coming across as defensive, but this woman knew way too much and was blaming me for something I hadn’t done.
“Those two need to meet my shotgun that I have filled with rock salt.”
We pulled up in front of a cottage, but it didn’t look like the same one I’d found Zinnia’s car parked next to.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“The midwifery clinic.”
“Oh, hell no,” I said. “My wife isn’t giving birth anywhere but a hospital.”
Especially not in a little log cabin that looked so rustic I’d be surprised if it had indoor plumbing. “You sure about that, Douche? Zinnie might have something to say about that.”
I knew she was baiting me with the wrong name, so I ignored it. No way was I trusting my wife and baby to anything less than a fully equipped, state–of–the–art hospital with actual medical personnel. On this point, Zinnie would have to give in because I wasn’t going to risk her safety and the baby’s. She might have been charmed by the hippies, but I wanted her to be somewhere that could handle things properly if something went sideways during her delivery.
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“Is this where she’s been coming for her checkups?” I tried to keep the disdain from my voice, but I was appalled.
“Yep. We have a great team here. They deliver my cows and goats and then come here to deliver babies. Very versatile crew. Don’t know any doctor that can deliver both baby lambs and baby humans. And just last week they figured out that hand washing in between cases helped lower infections. Imagine that!”
I was relatively sure she was mocking me, but getting Zinnie the hell out of here had just popped to number one on my short–term goals. No way was she giving birth on the commune where the so–called midwives probably had no training and spent most of their time getting high. I’d seen some births go bad in my clinical rotation, and the thought of Zinnie needing medical attention and not being able to get it — I closed my eyes against that horrible thought and pushed it away.
No wonder her mother had been threatening to drag her out of this place. I might be forced to do that, too, if Zinnie refused to listen to reason. Knowing she was past due, I needed to work fast. After her appointment today, I’d try to reason with her.
The older woman was out of the cart, and I followed her up the steps and into the cabin. Inside, it was open and airy, and I was glad to see it appeared clean. That was something.
The older woman pointed at a door. “She’s in there.”
Walking to the door, I knocked on it and was told to come in. Zinnie was sitting up in a bed. With a baby, swaddled in a pink blanket, in her arms.
Zinnie was holding a baby.
Zinnie was holding our baby.
She’d had our baby, She’d given birth without me. I’d been right down the road, and she hadn’t allowed me to be here when she gave birth to our first child. I could feel my temper rising, and I struggled to control it. I stood five feet away from my wife and child, trying to rein in the fury that surged through me for so many reasons.
Chapter11
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.