Destiny Undone: The Complete Series Box Set (69 page)

“How you doing, Pep?” Gabe asked. He took my hand while Dr. Robert prodded and poked, checking the baby. Gabe looked a little uncomfortable standing by while another man stared and explored between my legs and I almost giggled, but somehow managed to control myself.

“Yes, indeed,” Dr. Robert smiled. “Tonight’s the night, all right. I’ll send the anesthetist in. He’s a great guy. We don’t want you hurting any more than you have to.”

I nodded and I just wanted it to be over. I was excited, scared and wanted to kiss Gabe and smack him all at the same time then after a few minutes, a tall man came in rolling a cart in front of him. He told me where to sit on the bed and how to hold onto Gabe and roll my back out ready for the numbing juice then we sat there for a few more minutes until Dr. Robert came back in.

I’d already been hooked up to drip and he checked it and pushed some buttons on the IV machine. “This’ll speed up the process. We don’t want that baby girl in there too much longer. Let me know if you feel any pain.”

“Sure will Doc, but I don’t think I will. I can’t feel anything!”

“That’s good to know. I’ll come back and check on you in a few minutes,” he said as he walked out of the room then I turned to Gabe.

“Are you ready for this, baby?”

“I am, lover. Are you?” he replied, and I could see his eyes were wet, like he was going to cry.

I sighed. “Yeah, I guess this is it. We’re about to become a family.”

“You are my family, Pepper and I love you more than anything in this world.” He pinched the spot between his eyes as he tried not to cry and I didn’t want to say anything about it. The moment was too tender—too emotional.

“Baby?”

“Yes honey?”

“I feel like I gotta poop, can you call the doctor—I mean… pressure Gabe, there’s a lot of pressure!”

Gabe ran to the door, “Doctor Robert? I think the baby is coming!”

“Good. Then let’s go scrub up,” Dr. Robert said, slapping Gabe on the back. “See you in a couple of minutes, Pepper.”

Dr. Robert and Gabe finally entered, both dressed in scrubs, and Gabe looked so cute in his doctor suit. He stood at my side and held my hand while Dr. Robert sat and scooted his chair across the floor towards my feet.

“Is everybody ready?” he asked, then two of the nurses circled the bed and another man held up a video camera. He recorded Gabe’s facial expressions, and my own, while perched over Dr. Robert’s shoulder. It might seem weird to some people that we’d opted for a professional videographer as part of our delivery, but what the heck? We only had one chance to capture the moment, and I wanted Gabe by my side.

I was already primed for the delivery—my huffing and puffing drowned out the music—and I squeezed Gabe’s hand until he had to pull back from the pain.

“Sorry,” I gasped, but Gabe just smiled and positioned his other hand in mine in a way that was less vulnerable to my death grip.

“Push, Pepper,” Dr. Robert directed. “She’s coming. She wants to come out. She just needs a boost from you. Come on.”

Gabe looked into my eyes and breathed along with me, helping me to regulate my breaths. This was going to be harder than I’d thought.

“Push!” Dr. Robert commanded.

“I’m trying!” I wailed.

“Come on, babe,” Gabe urged. “You can do this! A few good pushes and she’s out.”

I pushed as hard as I could, exhausting myself with each groan. I knew I had to keep at it, but it was the hardest thing I’d ever done.
Please, baby! Come out of there!

“Come on, Emily,” Gabe growled. “Come to Daddy. Daddy’s waiting for you.”

Something about Gabe’s words inspired me to take a deep breath and give it my all and I held those muscles tight until I felt the slight pressure of her slowly sliding out. Emily had obeyed Gabe, like a dutiful daughter, and out she came. I knew from that moment on…Emily was definitely a Daddy’s Girl!

Emily looked just like her daddy! Thank God he was such a hottie! He’d also been a huge help during the night. When Emily would fuss, he’d be right there, holding her in his big, strong arms and she’d look up into his face and calm right down—which was fine with me since I desperately wanted to catch up on the good night’s sleep I’d missed for months.

In addition to much-needed sleep, I wanted my old body back! I’d tried my best during the pregnancy to stay toned, but there wasn’t much I could do about my stomach. I was worried that I’d never be able to work off the weight—or worse—I’d have ugly stretch marks, and Gabe wouldn’t find me attractive anymore. He fooled me! He said my tiger stripes were the sexiest thing in the world and I should be proud that my body had actually given life—and sustained it!

I supposed that every woman who’d had a baby before had gone through the plethora of emotions about her body—but Gabe helped me get through it. And I swam and ate right, so it wasn’t too long before I was better than before—even with my ‘tiger stripes’!

Despite my vanity and worries, the first year after Emily’s birth was the best year of my life—our lives.

Her grandparents were happy, Gabe and I were happy, Mills, Aven, everyone. Everything had changed since we’d brought our little bundles of joy into the world. Dad and Charlotte would stop by two or three times a week, or I’d go over to their place. I felt like I had a real family at last, and Gabe always enjoyed their company, as well. Evangeline came by a little less frequently, but she was always pleasant and it seemed as if she’d completely shed the abrasive, selfish persona she’d cloaked herself in for so long. Maybe becoming a grandparent had done something to her? At any rate, she loved fussing over the baby for hours at a time.

Gabe had cut back on his hours at work shortly after Emily’s birth and he’d seriously thought about leaving Sea Lab for good—God knows we didn’t need the money. He’d said there weren’t any more challenges for him once the whale exhibit was up and running, and although he’d thought attendance might drop off not long after the exhibit opened—he was pleased and surprised that it had held steady.

Still, he’d mentioned to Kim in HR that he felt it might be time for him to move on and Kim knew that Amanda Pelt was retiring from the board, so once the word circulated among the board members that Gabe was looking to leave, they offered Amanda’s seat to him. Now he could put in fewer hours, had more say about the operation and—if I’m not mistaken—got a raise to boot!

Mills and Fallon bought a cute little house right on the beach about nine miles from us and Daddy and Fallon’s dad, Yassir, had chipped in together to make it happen. Fallon got his pilot’s license on the first try and Mills enrolled in college as a sophomore this year, so they’ve both been extremely busy with little Dougie and building their lives together.

The really neat thing was that Daddy had bought a plot of land adjoining Mills’ property and offered it to Gabe and me. He’d made it clear that it was our decision whether or not we wanted to live there and if we didn’t, Mills could always expand their acreage, or just leave it undeveloped as a buffer between them and their neighbors.

Gabe thought it was a great idea and he knew how much it would mean to me to live right next to Mills—Emily and Dougie could be best friends as well as cousins.

Gabe and I amused ourselves designing the house for a little while and construction began two months ago! Gabe’s been out at the site every day since to make sure everything’s being done the way it should be.

My life has worked out so much better than I could ever have imagined and the only thing that didn’t was my hope that Aven and Jonathan Church would live together happily ever after. They were an item for quite a while, and I knew Aven was smitten with him, but one day Jonathan had told her he thought things were getting too serious for his tastes, and he wasn’t ready to make a commitment. In fact, he said he wanted to spend less time together.

Aven was the kind of girl who wanted to settle down. She was a one-man woman, but the guys she’d fallen for over the years hadn’t seen things the same way that she had. At least Jonathan was upfront with her about it and didn’t go sneaking around her back with other women—so I guessed that was an improvement over the way he used to be. He’d made some changes for the better—but some things may never change for Jonathan.

Once a playboy—always a playboy.

“I’ve just put Emily to bed,” Gabe said as he stood in our bedroom doorway. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, just a pair of shorts that looked like they needed to come off. Having his days free had led to him developing an awesome tan. He just stood there, smiling, handsome and buff.

I sensed he was trying to tell me something. Something hot, very sexy and extremely naughty. I walked toward him, a big smile on my face. This was my life—our life.

And I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

— THE END —

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Destiny Undone!

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