Page 14 of Some Like It Hot

“You might be having this baby sooner than later.”

Alicia opened her eyes. “I’mnotin labor. I’m just tired.”

Ho-kay.

“You sure you don’t want to go to a hospital? I could drive home, get my truck—”

“I’m waiting for Darryl. He’ll be here.”

Larke didn’t want to say it, but— “Darryl is in jail, Alicia, and—”

“I know!” She gripped Larke’s arm. Sighed. “I know. Listen. Darryl isn’t perfect, but I love him. And he’s trying. He got a new job—has been on the road a lot to provide for us, and…”

She closed her eyes. “He said he’d be here when I have this baby. I believe him.” She opened her eyes. “I have ten days.”

No, probably not, but if she wasn’t having contractions...

“Is your CB working?”

Alicia waved her over to the radio unit, and Larke checked it, calling in to her dad. He was still waiting for the reinforcements to arrive at Sky King ranch.

Larke hung up and considered Alicia.

Walked over to the window. The smoke had turned the horizon a deep umber as the sun fought for presence. Gray hazed the mountains, and even from here, the smell of burning timber laced the air.

“I see the fire,” Alicia said from the sofa, as if reading her mind. “It’s too far away. It won’t reach me.”

Larke tightened her lips into a grim line, imagining the flame lengths, the heat, the roar. She turned, folding her arms over her body. “You call me the minute you even get a cramp, you hear me?”

Alicia grinned. “You’re such a worrywart.”

“Alicia—this is your first baby. You don’t know. Things can go south, fast—”

“It’s not my first, and Idoknow.”

Oh.

Alicia ran her hands over her belly. “Darryl and I lost a baby a couple years ago. Miscarriage. Four months.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I should have told you. But I’m looking ahead, not behind. I can’t spend my life worrying about what could happen. Sure, bad things happen—it doesn’t mean they have to hold us hostage.” She pushed herself up to a sitting position. “I promise to call you if I go into real labor.”

Larke closed her medical case and carried it out to the four-wheeler. Strapped it on and turned back to the dark, inflamed sky.

Bad things happen—it doesn’t mean they have to hold us hostage.

Yeah, well, sometimes bad things happened. And hostage or not, no one escaped.

Three

Trouble came in threes.

They were down by two.

And Riley’s instincts told him that they were headed for catastrophe.

Maybe he was simply overreacting. After all, he thought he was going to get lucky with Larke last night and…