Father Knows Death Part 26

Julianne did not look happy to see me. "Oh. You're here."

I sat down on the chair next to her hospital bed, exhausted, sweat dripping down my face. "I'm here."

She s.h.i.+fted on the bed. "Yes. You are."

"How are you?" I glanced anxiously at the IV taped to her hand and the monitors that beeped continuously.

She ignored my question. "You look . . . warm."

"It's hot out," I said. I closed my eyes. "Oh, and I was kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?"

"Well, not so much kidnapped as fooled."

"Fooled? You?" Julianne gripped the sides of the hospital bed. "That's hard to believe."

"Are you all right? Should I call for the nurse?"

She waved her hand in dismissal. "I'm fine. Tell me what happened. Distract me, dammit, so my body won't explode."

I explained what had happened after she'd left.

She took a deep breath. "I'm glad I saw Victor, then."

"Me, too." I stared at her for a long moment. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For leaving you," I said. "For letting you get here on the back of some motorcycle. For all of that."

She reached for my hand. "It's you being you."

"Well, maybe being me is a bit too much," I said, fanning myself with my hand. "I'm not sure I'm cut out for investigating anymore."

She smiled. "You'll change your mind."

"I'm serious, Jules," I said, shaking my head. "We're about to have a baby. I don't need to be doing this anymore. I'd rather be at home with the kids and help you with your practice and just be a dad and a husband."

She eyed me cautiously. "You get . . . restless."

"I know I do," I admitted. "So maybe you'll need to remind me of this moment."

She laughed softly. "I'll try, but I doubt it'll do anything."

"And in addition to being a c.r.a.ppy parent, I've also been a c.r.a.ppy dad. Speaking of which, where is our daughter?"

"Still with your parents," Julianne said. "They took her downstairs to the cafeteria to get something to eat. She said all of this waiting was making her hungry."

She paused and her face screwed up with concentration. She breathed deeply through her nose, and I knew a contraction was bowling her over. She expelled her breath slowly. "Your mom said they'd keep her down there until you told them it was okay to come back up."

"Okay," I said. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," she lied. "I feel better than you look, I think."

I was still having trouble catching my breath and I couldn't cool off. "I'm okay."

"You look pale," she said. "You need some water. I think the sun got to you."

"I'll get some," I said. "How close are you?"

She leaned back against the mountain of pillows behind her. "I don't know."

"What can I do?" I asked, feeling helpless. It was just like it had been with Carly. Julianne lying in a hospital bed, gritting her teeth and sweating, then screaming as she went into transition. As excited as I'd been about being so close to meeting our first child, I'd felt awful for putting her through that kind of pain.

On cue, she winced and squeezed my hand and I felt like the biggest jerk alive for getting her knocked up again. After a few seconds, she let go. "Soon. Kid's coming soon."

My head hurt and I felt a little dizzy. My throat was dry. But she wanted to be distracted. And we still had business to discuss.

"So. I made it here before the baby was born," I said.

Her expression returned to the one I'd seen when I first got there. "I realize that."

"You know what that means?"

"Yes." She sucked in a breath and squeezed her eyes shut. I glanced at the clock. Her contractions were less than three minutes apart. "I don't have to kill you."

I forged ahead with my distraction tactic. "It also means I get full naming rights."

She folded her arms across her chest and glared at me. "I just said that so you'd get here."

"We made a bet," I reminded her. "And I won. Fair and square."

"What if I don't like your choice?" she asked.

"You'll have to live with it," I said, wiping more sweat from my forehead. "Do you have water in here?"

"No," she said. "I'll buzz the nurse." She grabbed her little remote thing and pressed the b.u.t.ton. "Now you owe me."

"Owe you?" I was feeling a little disoriented.

"For getting you water," she answered. "So I'd like naming rights back." A whimper tore through her and she writhed in the bed, twisting and bucking.

"Jules," I said, alarmed. But my voice sounded hollow and she looked like I was seeing her through a tunnel.

"I'm fine," she snapped, her voice warbling in my ringing ears. "Water for naming rights. Even trade."

The dizziness picked up and I felt like the chair beneath me was on roller skates. I closed my eyes for a second and the chair seemed to slide faster.

"Deuce?" I heard Julianne say. "Are you all right?"

I tried to open my eyes, but they wouldn't open. "Uh . . . I'm . . . dizzy."

"Hang on," she said. "The nurse should be here any second."

"Okay," I said, steadying myself with my hand against the bed. "Okay. And, yeah, names . . . ."

"Deuce?" Julianne said, but her voice sounded far away. "Are you going to faint?"

I was about to tell her no, but then I fainted.

52.

"You fainted?" my father asked, then chuckled. "I forget. Were you the one having the baby?"

My parents were in the chairs next to the window in Julianne's hospital room. Carly was on one side of Julianne in the bed, I was on the other.

And Julianne was holding our brand new son.

"It was the heat," I said. "I was running around outside in the heat and didn't have enough to drink. Doctor said mild heat exhaustion."

"Oh, right," he said, making a face like he was impressed. "And you were fighting crime. Julianne, explain to me why you stay married to him again?"

Julianne smiled, but didn't take her eyes off our son. "Because I love him."

The nurse had arrived in the room as soon as I'd pa.s.sed out. She'd hauled me into a chair and gotten me some ice and some juice. I came to just as Julianne was fully dilated. They tried to get me to sit and rest, but I refused. I sucked down two gla.s.ses of apple juice, crunched on the ice, and rinsed my face off with cold water before the doctor had arrived and ordered Julianne to push.

Once the baby decided he wanted out, he'd wasted no time. Five minutes later, our son arrived, red faced and howling, and Julianne and I both cried along with him. The tiredness and light-headedness were gone. I felt wide-awake and clearheaded. And ecstatic. Because I was no longer the only one with testosterone in my family.

"When's he going to open his eyes?" Carly asked for the third time, staring at the tiny bundle cradled in Julianne's arms.

"Soon," Julianne promised, tucking the blanket in around his tiny chin. Then she reached over and touched Carly's cheek. "Soon."

"Cops came and arrested that clown you rode off with," my dad said. "Think they might've detained Susan Blamunski, too."

I wondered how Butch would handle that. Would he confess outright like he did to me or would he try to find a way to worm his way out of it? Either way, I was sure I'd have to end up talking to the police.

"And, after the shenanigans at the parade, I think we'll be declining that company's offer to drill on our property," my dad continued. "I don't think it's worth it."

"A lot of money," I reminded him. "They'll pay you a lot of money."

He shrugged. "Eh. We got a little money. I don't think I want all those yahoos digging around and squirting water everywhere. Sometimes, money isn't worth it."

After everything I'd learned in the previous few days, I had to agree with him.

"I have a question," my mother said.

"What?" I asked, apprehensive.

"Do we have a name?" she asked. "He's an hour old and I know names were not discussed publicly prior to his birth, but I'd like to think you might name that little boy soon."

Julianne s.h.i.+fted in the bed and handed him to me. "Deuce is naming him."

I'd forgotten how light newborns were. I cradled him to my chest like a football. He gurgled, his mouth a perfect O. His eyes squeezed shut tighter and his nose twitched and he was perfect.

I looked at Julianne. "Really?"

"Deal's a deal," she said, smiling.

"Oh dear Lord," my father muttered. "This should be good."

"Let's name him Victor!" Carly said.

I laughed at that and looked down at my son. "Andrew, for Mom's dad."

My mother held a hand up to her mouth, pleased.

"Charles, for Julianne's dad," I said.

Julianne's eyes were misty.

"And Eldrick, for you, Dad," I said.

He looked surprised and, for once, had nothing to say. This may have been one of the greatest accomplishments of my life-causing him to go speechless.

I looked at my son. "Andrew Charles Eldrick Winters."

"I like it," Julianne whispered.

"And we'll call him by his initials," I said.

I could see all of them thinking, working the letters in their heads, coming to the same conclusion at about the same time.

"Ace," Julianne said, closing her eyes and shaking her head. But she was smiling.

"Oh good Lord," my father said, rolling his eyes. "I knew you'd do something goofy."

"I think it's cute," my mother said.

"I like it," said Carly, grinning at me.

"Me, too," I said. I looked at Julianne. "How about you?"