Close Range Christmas by Nicole Helm (best free ebook reader .txt) 📕

“If they can get here.” The 911 dispatchers had been apologetic, but had emphasized how long the response time might be due to weather and available emergency vehicles.

Still, help was coming. Even if she ended up having the baby here, help was on its way. For all of them.

She knew without a shadow of a doubt Anth was out there. Why would there be a fire if he wasn’t? And if he was out there, he wouldn’t be alone. He’d have backup. Wouldn’t he? Enough to outnumber all of them?

Especially while they were busy trying to save her horses. Dev’s horses.

“Breathe, Sarah,” Grandma Pauline said sternly.

“He’s out there. He has to be out there and they’re all...”

“Smart individuals who’ll do what they can to keep their loved ones safe. We have extra help on the way. You need to focus on you. Your contractions are getting closer and closer together. Let’s focus on this little Christmas baby.”

Sarah tried to nod. Regardless of what terror might befall them, she was in labor. Actual going-to-have-a-baby-in-a-house labor. No amount of danger, not even an act of God, was going to change or stop that.

“Did your mom have a doctor with her?” Sarah asked, trying to focus on baby-having and baby-having alone. Her son. She had to bring him into the world. Somehow.

“No, ma’am. It was February. A raging storm. Whiteout blizzard, or so she always told. She had my grandmothers with her and that was it. And look at me. Eighty years later, still kicking.”

Sarah wanted to smile but another contraction washed over her. She tried to picture it. Eighty years ago. Having a baby with only a mother’s guidance in the middle of a blizzard, knowing if something went wrong, that was it. For both of them.

She had help coming. An ambulance for her, fire department for the horses. But where was the police officer who was supposed to have been watching the road? She opened her mouth to say something about him, but there was a commotion in the kitchen and Brady and Liza burst into the living room.

“He blew something up over toward the Knight property,” Brady said, coming to kneel next to Grandma Pauline. “Most ran over there, but Liza told me about Sarah. I thought I should be here.”

“You got any of your EMT stuff?” Grandma demanded.

“I’ll go get it in a second. First, I want to check her out. What are the contractions like?”

“Painful. You’re not going to deliver my baby, Brady. That’s weird.”

He didn’t even acknowledge she’d spoken. “How far apart are they?”

“Five minutes,” Grandma Pauline said. “On the regular. Imagine it’ll get closer and quick.”

“Has your water broken?”

Sarah shook her head. “That’s good, right? It’s still going to take a long time if my water hasn’t broken. Right? You don’t have to deliver my baby. It’ll be fine. Have you even delivered a baby before?”

Brady offered what she supposed was meant to be a reassuring smile. “It’s definitely not a bad sign. As is the fact you’re lucid. I’ll go get my kit. It won’t help with labor per se, but we can get a blood pressure reading and start sterilizing.” Brady got to his feet.

“Wait, you didn’t answer my question.”

But Grandma Pauline waved him on. “Liza, you go with him. Then if the coast is clear you tell everyone fighting those fires to come home. The horses are safe—let the rest burn. Get all those boys inside. Now. If he’s out there lurking about, we all need to be together. Things and even houses can be replaced. People can’t.” Grandma gave Brady and Liza a stern stare. “Now.”

Sarah struggled to sit up. “I should help. I should—”

“Sorry. Your one and only job is labor,” Brady offered. “You sit tight. Let us handle things.” He and Liza rushed out the way they’d rushed in.

“He’s out there. He has to be out there.” Sarah sagged back onto the couch. She was going to hyperventilate if she didn’t calm down. She focused on her breathing. “Anth is out there. He could pick them off. He could—”

“There’s all sorts of things he could,” Grandma Pauline agreed. “There’s also all sorts of things your family can do to thwart him. We’ll have Liza bring them all back home, and Brady will get what he can to help you have a safe delivery. We’re survivors, Sarah Knight. Don’t you forget that.”

Sarah swallowed and tried to nod, keeping her hand in Grandma’s. Survivors. Yes. All of them were. Fighters, like she’d told Cecilia the other night. Things might be scary, they might look grim, but they’d all faced those things before.

And won. Survived. Lived and continued to love.

Yes, it would be okay. It would have to be okay. Even if everything burned. Even if Brady had to be the one to deliver her baby. They would survive. All of them.

With a pop, the lights went out. Grandma Pauline’s hand squeezed hers. “It’s all right, girl,” she whispered.

But Brady hadn’t returned and Sarah knew it definitely was not all right.

Especially when she felt the warm, wet trickle of her water breaking.

“SO, WHAT IS IT you want?” Dev managed to ask, though his teeth were chattering so hard it was a wonder he got any words out.

“We have an opportunity. You and me. The chance to do what Ace never could.” Anth spoke in much the same way Dev remembered Ace speaking. With a calm, determined fervor. If you didn’t know better, it was easy to get swept away in.

Too bad Dev knew much, much better. “L-live normal, s-sane lives?”

Anth snorted. “No. That ship sailed. That’s the kind of thing my mother tried to give me.” He scoffed. “Who wants normal? She tried to convince me to settle for so much less than I deserve. I had to hurt her. I had to show her. I was born for so much more. So were you, Dev.”

For someone who wanted to do what Ace never could, he sure sounded a lot like their