Page 49 of Eye on the Ball
I shifted back to human—unlike some shifters, the magic of my shift pulled my clothes back with it, so I was fully dressed—and strode over to where he stood on the sidewalk clutching his phone.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Rose. The babies.” He froze, and I grabbed his shoulders.
“Alejandro! What about the babies?”
“They’re coming. Now.”
25
Tess
I took a deep breath and gave Rose a calm, reassuring smile. “Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do. Aunt Ruby, please put out a call on the town text loop for anybody with any experience delivering babies. I’ll call for the emergency ambulance service and tell them to send an OB who has experience with twins.”
Rose put her phone down and leaned forward, scrunching her face up. “Alejandro and Jack are on their way. Oh! Oh, no. It’s happening again. Oh! Owwww.”
Aunt Ruby sat next to her and held her hand while I called for the ambulance, and then I took Rose’s hand while my aunt put out the call to Dead End.
“Can I watch?” Shelley stared at Rose. “I saw piglets being born once.”
Rose moaned, long and loud.
Aunt Ruby pointed at Pickles with her free hand. “Shelley, take your puppy upstairs, please, and put her in her crate. Then run and get your uncle. No, you can’t watch. Let’s give Miss Rose her privacy, please.”
Shelley pouted, but only for a moment, and then she ran off to do what Aunt Ruby had asked.
“I’m … so … sorry,” Rose gasped out between pants. “So … inconvenient. Should … have … stayed … home.”
“Don’t you dare apologize,” Aunt Ruby told her. “We’re going to take care of you and those babies. Don’t you worry for one second.”
“Yep,” I grunted, which was all I could manage while Rose had a death grip on my hand.
Uncle Mike rushed into the kitchen, took in the scene at a glance, and pulled out his phone. “Midwife?”
“Not in town,” Aunt Ruby told him.
“Anybody else?”
“Not yet.”
“I’ll call Dr. Cahill.”
Rose brightened. “You … have a doctor in town … after all?”
“He’s our vet.”
“No … vet is delivering … my babies!” Rose started to stand and then moaned again. We could actually see her enormous belly contract beneath the pretty sundress she’d changed into for church.
“Can we move her to the guest room bed, so she’s at least more comfortable?” I didn’t mean to talk about Rose like she wasn’t here, but I wanted to know if it would even be possible to get her down the hall in this state.
“Yes! Please!” Rose gasped, so the three of us maneuvered her up and slowly down the hall to the ground floor guest room.
By the time we made it halfway down the hall, Alejandro and Jack came racing into the house. Alejandro put his arms around his wife, murmuring endearments and apologies, but I’d never seen his face so pale. He looked at us with wild eyes over the top of Rose’s blonde head.
“I called for a helicopter,” he said. “It’s going to land on the softball field, because the only pilot available isn’t comfortable landing in your yard or fields here. Since the ballpark is only a few minutes from here …”
Rose moaned and bent forward as much as she could over her belly. “I don’t want to ride in a helicopter! Especially with a newbie pilot!”