Free Riding the Pause by Evelyn Adams Page B

tell us as soon as he can.”
    “Are Aunt Autumn and my new baby cousin going to be okay?” asked Abby, sounding small and frightened.
    “The doctors are doing everything they can to take care of them, baby,” said Travis, pressing a kiss to the top of his little girl’s head. “Aunt Autumn and the baby have the best doctors they can. You know why, right?”
    “Because Uncle Jude’s a doctor and he’ll make sure,” she said, sounding a little steadier.
    “Exactly,” said Travis.
    Rachel sat down between Abby and her sister and prayed Travis was right.
    It seemed like time had slowed to a standstill, but it couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes later when the elevator dinged and her mother came rushing out in a Shalimar scented cloud.
    “What happened, darling?” she asked, turning her focus to Summer.
    “She made Jude go out for dinner, and we were supposed to watch a movie,” said Summer.
    “And eat pizza,” said Abby.
    Summer gave her daughter a small smile. “And eat pizza. But she couldn’t settle. She couldn’t seem to get comfortable. I thought it was just because she was getting close to the end when nothing you do is comfortable.”
    Rachel’s mother nodded her understanding.
    “But then the pain started, and she doubled over. I called 911, but by the time they got there, she was in so much pain.” She glanced over at her daughter, clearly uncomfortable talking in front of her.
    Ian stepped out from behind her father and knelt in front of Abby. She hadn’t realized he was there, but she was so grateful to see him. There was something so still, steady and reassuring about him. Abby must have thought so too because when Ian stuck out his hand, she took it.
    “Why don’t you ask your momma and daddy if it would be okay if we explored while the grownups talk?”
    “Is it okay, Daddy?”
    Travis nodded and something passed wordlessly between him and Ian. Ian glanced over at her and then stood, still holding Abby’s hand.
    “We’ll be back,” he said to Travis and Summer, but Rachel knew from the tilt of his head and the way his soft hazel eyes held hers, that she was the one he was really talking to. “Can you show me how to work the elevator?”
    Abby lead him by the hand to the sliding doors and pressed the call button. Summer waited until she saw the door close on her daughter and Ian before she let out the sob she’d been holding inside.
    “Oh, darling,” said Rachel’s mother, squeezing past Travis to wrap her arms around Summer. “You must have been so scared. You’re not alone. We all love your sister. We’ll do everything we can to take care of her and the baby.”
    She didn’t promise everything would be okay and that more than anything told Rachel how scared her mother was. Her daddy stood next to Andrew and Adam, looking worried, gray and every one of his sixty-five years. In some ways, they felt charmed. They loved each other and their family kept growing, she thought, looking at the elevator door and thinking of Abby holding Ian’s hand. Yes, there’d been that thing with Summer’s ex and Travis had been injured but he made it home.
    Everyone always made it home.
    What if this was the time their luck didn’t hold out? She couldn’t imagine what it would do to her family if something happened to Autumn or the baby. She didn’t know how her brother would survive it. They would all be heartbroken. She loved Autumn like a sister, but it would destroy Jude. She reached for Taylor’s hand, needing the connection with her sister.
    “Has someone called Bailey and Blake?” she asked. She’d been so worried about getting to the hospital and making sure Momma and Daddy got there, she hadn’t taken time to call the missing Southerland siblings.
    “I did,” said Adam, looking up from his folded hands. “I called as soon as Jude went back and talked to Trace. He’s picking Bailey up at Seasons and bringing her home. Blake started packing while we were on the