Free The Proposal by Katie Ashley

to let go, she used her other hand to dig her phone out of her purse.
She thrust it over at Aidan. “Call Casey,” she murmured.
    Keeping one hand on the wheel, he used his other to scroll
through Emma’s contacts. He braced himself for the wrath to come as his finger
pressed dial. Casey answered on the third ring. “Hey Hot Mama, sorry I haven’t
had a chance to call you back yet,” she said without a hello.
    “Um, this is Aidan.”
    A long pause came on the line. “What the hell are
you doing with Em’s phone? Please don’t tell me you’ve done something truly
insane to try to get her back? Because if you have, I will make sure that you
go to jail for a long, long time where a very large and hairy man can make you
his bitch!” she shrieked loud enough for even Emma to hear.
    “Casey, listen to me. I haven’t kidnapped Emma.
We’re on our way to the ER at Wellstar.”
    Casey gasped. “Oh God, what’s wrong?”
    Aidan glanced over at Emma whose eyes were once again
pinched closed while her jaw was clenched in pain. “She’s having some
contractions.”
    “She’s not bleeding is she?”
    “No, just the contractions.”
    Aidan heard who he assumed was Nate talking in the
background. “It sounds like a good sign that she isn’t bleeding. Nate thinks it
might just be Braxton Hicks, but we’ll be there just as soon as we can.”
    “Okay. Can you call Connor, too?”
    Emma’s eyes flew open, and she looked at him in
shock. Aidan figured she was amazed that he didn’t have to be told to do everything,
and he could actually be considerate of her feelings.
    “Yeah, sure.”
    “Bye.”
    Casey merely hung up, so Aidan cut the call off.
“Anyone else you want me to call? Virginia?”
    Emma shook her head. “I don’t want to worry Grammy
yet in case it is something like Braxton Hicks.”
    “Okay, if you’re sure.”
    They made the rest of the drive in tense silence.
After screeching into the hospital parking lot, Aidan wheeled up to the curb at
the emergency room and killed the engine. When he got out and started over to
Emma’s side, a security guard hustled over. “Sir, you can’t park there.”
    “Look, my…” he trailed off when he realized he
didn’t know what to call Emma. She certainly wasn’t his wife and their
relationship status didn’t qualify as girlfriend either. “ She’s ,” he finally
emphasized, “having early contractions, so I’m getting her inside. If you don’t
like it, then tow my fucking car!”
    The security guard held up his hands. “Sorry sir.
Once you get registered, please come out and move the car. A nice Mercedes like
that will get knocked to hell at the impound lot.”
    Aidan growled with frustration as he held his hand
out to Emma. “Fine. But I’m not coming back out here until I know both she and
my kid are okay!” With his free hand, he dug a hundred out of his wallet. “Watch
it for me, okay?”
    The guard looked left and right before he hastily
snatched the money. “Yes, sir.”
    Turning his attention back to Emma, he helped her
out of the car. She grimaced as she stepped onto her feet. “Lean on me,” Aidan
instructed as she took a tentative step onto the curb.
    With one arm wrapped around her waist, Aidan led
Emma through the mechanized double doors and into the ER lobby. She gripped his
hand tighter and from the expression on her face, he could tell the pain was
worse. “Just a little further, Em,” he said.
    At the registration desk, he eased her down into a
chair. When the clerk didn’t come up immediately, he banged his fist on the
desk. “Excuse me, but she might be in preterm labor here!”
    The receptionist nodded to a nurse. “We’ll go ahead
and take her on back.”
    “Thank you,” Aidan said.
    A nurse came out of the doors with a wheelchair.
Aidan helped Emma to her feet and then helped her over to sit down in the
wheelchair. When he started to go back with them, the receptionist called to him.
“You can’t go back until we