Stolen Moments (And Then Came Love Book 2) (24 page)

Arianna nodded. She pulled out a business card from her purse and scrawled her number on the back of it. “Give me a call, we’ll get to know each other.”.”

Marcus kissed Asri on the cheek and waved to Kurt. “I’ll see you all later.”

Arianna turned to Asri. “Can you send Mina home when they’re done talking?”

She nodded. “Thank you for coming. We were worried about Mina.”

“I know.” Arianna hugged her. “I need to go back to the cabin and try to process this day.”

“It has been a long day for everyone.” Kurt drank down a glass of water, having swallowed the pill that had been a bone of contention a few minutes earlier.

Trevor shook Sig’s hand. “Thank you for looking out for Mina.

“My pleasure. You two have a good night.”

“Night all.” Arianna turned and headed for the door with Trevor following.

*****

Arianna walked into the cabin and let out a heavy breath.

Trevor wrapped his arms around her. “Did you want to do anything with our alone time?”

“I need to call my sister.”

“Are you trying to tell me you want to be alone?”

“At least for a little while. I need some time. So much stuff has happened today my head is spinning.”

“I can understand that.” Trevor kissed her cheek. “If you need anything, come and find me.”

Arianna kissed him back. “Thank you for being so supportive.”

“Part of my job.” He winked.

She chuckled and then headed up the stairs to their room.

Arianna walked into the bedroom and closed the door behind her. She leaned against the door and slid down it. What a day. She pulled out her cell phone and stared at it as she realized she was about to call the girl she had been taking care of for the last month, who now seemed to be her sister.

She let out a sigh and dialed Candace’s number.

“Hello?”

“How are you doing?”

“Good. I’m having fun with Marissa and Star is doing wonderful as well.”

“Great.” Arianna stared across the room. “Can I ask you a stupid question?”

“I guess.”

“What are your parent’s names?”

“My Mom is Juliet Ellington and my Dad is Dustin, but I don’t know his last name, because we don’t see each other often. He’s married to a nice lady named Greta though. Sometimes, I wish she could be my Mom instead of my actual Mom.”

“Do you have any siblings?”

“I have a sister, but I’ve never met her. My mother said she ran away before I was born and has never been back. I thought when we moved to Indiana it was to look for her, but since we’ve still not seen her, I guess not.” Candace paused. “Why do you ask?”

“My mother’s name is Juliet and my father’s name is Dustin and I have a sister I’ve never met, because I was pregnant with Mina and my mother kicked me out.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying you’re my sister. I’m saying, I didn’t even know until today, because I saw my father for the first time in fifteen years today.”

“Oh my God! Are you serious?” Candace squealed.

“Yep, you’re my little sister. Dad showed me a picture of you today.” Arianna smiled. Candace was taking the news well. She picked at the lint on the bed.

“This is incredible! Who would have thought I would end up living with my sister? I wonder if Mom knows? She’s always acted so worried about you. Like she wants to find you and stuff, but she said she never could.”

Arianna scoffed. “Mom did the same thing to you, she did to me. The moment she found out I was pregnant I was out on the streets. I saw her around a couple times after, after you were born, but never saw you. She wanted nothing to do with me when I saw her.”

“Awful. How did we end up with such a shitastic mother?”

Arianna leaned her head against the door. “Luck of the draw, I guess. Who would have thought we’d both end up pregnant at fifteen?”

“It’s pretty ironic.” Candace paused. “I’m excited to be your sister.”

“Technically, you’re Mina’s aunt.”

“Weird.” Candace laughed. “She’s the same age as I am.”

Arianna traced a line on the bed frame next to her. All hand carved, she could see the tool marks. “Dad said Mom’s childhood was pretty rough. She had two parents who worked all the time and didn’t care about her. I guess she learned to be distant from them.”

“You figure you’d want to be the opposite of your parents. I don’t want to be anything like Mom.”

“Me neither.” Arianna smiled. “Have you thought about me being the guardian to the baby? I want you to be able to go to Stanford in the fall and not have to worry about if your baby is taken care of.”

“I don’t want to give him up, Ari.”

“You don’t have too. I’ll take guardianship until you’re ready to be a mother to him. Get out of this program, get your degrees and a job and then you can take care of him. You’ll always be in his life. I’ll bring him to visit you in California and when you’re home you can be his mother.”

“What if I take something closer?”

“Where are you thinking?” Arianna cocked her head. What was her sister thinking?

“Purdue offered me a place in their program. They’re a great school and I’d be a lot closer. I could even be home every weekend and may sometimes during the week as well.”

Purdue was only about an hour away from Bryton. “It would be a lot easier.”

“And I’d still get a great education, but I wouldn’t be all the way across the country.”

“I think it’s a great idea.” Arianna nodded. This could work.

“So we’re doing it then?” Candace asked. “You’re going to raise my baby until I get my feet under me?”

“Yep.”

“Thank you, Ari. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

“What are sisters for?” A sister! A real, sister. This must be what it felt like to have a family. A tear pooled in the corner of her eye. It would be something to get used to.

Candace choked and cried. “Sorry, these hormones are getting the best of me. I swear I spent five hours today cleaning.”

“How are you feeling?”

“All right. I have some pain in my back, but Marissa’s keeping a close eye on me.”

Arianna calculated in her head. Thirty-four weeks, way to early early. “Good, call me if anything gets worse, you’re too early to give birth.”

“I know.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow and check on you.” She made a mental note to text Marissa.

“Good night.”

“Night sis.”

Candace giggled before she hung up the phone.

Arianna stared at her phone. How was that possible? Her sister was super excited to have a family who cared. She was too, but she was hesitant. Oh to have the resilience of youth.

Chapter Twenty

May 20th

A knock on the door woke Arianna. She blinked a couple times and sat up.

“Ari?” Trevor called.

“I’m awake.”

Trevor opened the door and stuck his head inside. “Since you haven’t eaten since last night, I was thinking about breakfast.”

“That’s an odd way of putting things.” Arianna chuckled. “You’ve got this Jedi like logic thing going on. It was almost Yoda-esque.”

Trevor smirked, leaned against the wall, and folded his arms over his chest. “Was that some kind of insult, because I prefer the Sith side in the game.”

“But the Sith have all these things called feelings and emotions. Whereas the Jedi are all logical and anti-feelings and emotions.” Arianna sat up and smiled at him. “You fall more into the logical.”

“Jedis can’t be in relationships.”

“Exactly.” Arianna got up and walked over to the dresser. She grabbed her bra off the top of the dresser and turned around. “The feelings and emotions may be there, but they can’t show them.”

“Hence the reason I’m on the Sith side, because I have feelings and emotions?”

“You do?” Arianna teased. “So then logically speaking, why haven’t you kissed me yet?”

“Because maybe I was waiting for an invitation?”

She winked. “See more like a Jedi, a Sith would not wait for an invitation.”

Trevor stalked across the room, cupped the back of her neck, and pulled her in for a long, deep kiss. He rested his forehead against hers.

“I think I spoke your language.” She ran her finger up his chest.

“It was kind of turn on.”

“So, for example’s sake, if I were interested in a night of wild, passionate sex, I should spend the day talking nerd to you?”

Trevor pursed his lips and tried to stop the chuckle, but it came out anyway. “It could work.”

“Well, I’ll go logical then and say if you’re hungry and interested in breakfast, you should let me get dressed.”

Trevor pulled her closer. “Logically speaking, what I’m hungry for has nothing to do with food or getting dressed.”

Arianna took a step backwards and pulled off her tank top. “Maybe –”

The door burst open and Mina appeared. “Mom.”

Arianna’s face reddened.

Trevor pulled her against his chest, blocking her daughter’s view.

“Um – can you give me a minute, dear?” Arianna buried her face in Trevor’s chest.

“Sure.” Mina walked toward the door. She spun around and her mouth gaped open. “Mom! Ew –gross. If you’re going to have sex at least lock the door so no one walks in on you.” She shuddered and headed out the door, slamming it behind her.

Arianna laughed. “I think I’m going to die of embarrassment.”

“She didn’t see anything.” Trevor chuckled. “It could have been worse. We both could have been naked.”

“Oh God.” Arianna covered her eyes. “Okay, I’m glad they’re all leaving tonight.”

“Me too.” Trevor pulled her close again. “I’m looking forward to having you all to myself.”

Arianna pushed against his chest. “Get out of here, so I can get dressed.”

Trevor motioned to his pants. “You get embarrassed, so you want to do the same thing to me?”

Arianna grabbed her clothes and headed to the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

*****

Arianna leaned on the railing of the pier and looked out over the lake.

Trevor came up behind her and kissed her neck. “Everything all right?”

She nodded and turned around in his arms. “Are you sure you want to go back to work on Thursday?”

Trevor laughed. “Sitting around doing nothing is boring. I’m ready to be a productive citizen again.”

She let out a sigh and rested her head against his chest. “I’ll miss our lunches.”

“Who said we still can’t take them?” Trevor lifted her chin. “We both have lunch breaks we can make plans to meet, every day if you want too.”

“Will you be working weekends?”

“Some.”

She blew out a breath. “It’s going to limit our time together, especially once the baby gets here.”

“We’ll work it out, babe. Don’t worry about it. Two jobs seems to be the norm for most couples these days.”

“Are you going to be able to take time off once the baby’s born?”

“I’m starting Thursday, Ari. I’m not going to be able to take time off.”

She nodded. Her phone rang. “It’s Marissa.” She glanced at him and then answered the phone. “Hey, Marissa, what’s going on?”

“You may want to come home. Candace started premature labor. I had her lay on her side for an hour and drink a couple glasses of water and it stopped, but I’m not sure how long it’s going to last.”

“Shit.” Arianna turned to look at Trevor. “Is she still having contractions?”

“No, they’ve stopped for the moment, but we were talking real contractions about every ten minutes apart. I’m afraid she’s going to deliver any day.”

“She’s only thirty-four weeks along, she’s way too early.”

“The baby’s only measuring at about three and a half pounds. I’m trying to get her to eat more, but she’s feeling like crap.”

“All right, we’ll head home as soon as we can.”

“Sorry to cut your trip short.”

“It’s all right.” She looked at Trevor. “This is more important.” She clicked off the phone and shoved it in her pocket.

“What’s going on?” Trevor frowned.

“We need to pack up and go. Candace started premature labor. Marissa got it to stop, but we still need to head home.”

Trevor nodded. “I’ll call Mick and get everything figured out. It was you and me staying anyway.”

“I’m going to pack.” Arianna headed into the house. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and headed upstairs. She dialed Greta’s number.

“Well hello, Honey, good to hear from you.”

“Candace went into premature labor. They’ve stopped it, but we’re going to head home today.”

“I’ll get Dustin and we’ll tag along if you have room on the plane.”

“I’m sure we do.” Arianna let out a heavy breath and paused.

“Something bothering you, honey? You sound like you need to talk.”

“Trevor’s starting his job on Thursday. He said he wouldn’t have any time off when the baby’s born. If the baby is born prematurely, what am I going to do without him?”

Greta took a deep breath. “Well, honey, you’ll do what most of us do when their partner is at work. Muddle through. You’ve muddled through before. This time you’ve got something you didn’t have.”

Arianna dropped a shirt into her suitcase and leaned against the dresser. “What?”

“You’ll have help. I’ll pack a bag and stay for a bit. If it takes you longer to get settled ... well, you got plenty of family here willing to lend hands to help, arms to hold, and shoulders to cry on.”

“I don’t understand why it had to be now?” She stared at the ceiling and then turned to finish packing her clothes. “This is the time I need him the most and he’s not going to be there.”

“Stolen moments. Sometimes you have to steal from the clock a bit. A quick hug on your way out the door. A cup of coffee in the wee hours of the morning, after you’ve calmed a colicky baby. Maybe sometimes even a scrawled ‘I love you’ note taped to the fridge. Those are stolen moments, honey. And you’ll find they save a heart as much or more than a dozen roses or a diamond ring.”

Arianna lifted her head.

Trevor stood in the doorway.

Tears filled her eyes. “I love him so much,” she whispered to Greta. She was terrified of losing him when he went back to work. What would happen to those few and far between stolen moments they already had.

“Steal a moment and tell him honey.”

“I have to go.” She clicked off the phone and ran across the room to him.

He wrapped his arms around her. “What’s wrong?”

“I love you, Trevor.”

“I love you too. Who were you talking too and why are you so upset?”

“Greta. Can she and Dad fit on the plane with us?”

“Of course.” Trevor lifted her chin. “But why are you so upset?”

“Because we have a long road ahead of us and I don’t know how we’re going to make it through.”

Trevor smiled and kissed her lips. “We’ll make it through. It may be hard, but we’ll make it through.” He brushed her hair out of her face. “And we’ll have help. I can’t see Greta abandoning you. My family will be there to offer whatever help they can.”

“And you’ll be at work.” She looked down at her hands.

“So will you. You’re not giving up your job either. And remember, it’s still Candace’s baby. She needs to be a part of the baby’s life as well. You’re going to have so much help you’re going to be kicking people out before the end of it.”

“I don’t know …”

“Have you met my mother?”

Arianna laughed. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Let me help you pack and we’ll head to the airport.”

*****

Arianna paced back and forth her office.

Marissa came around the corner. “Where’s Candace?”

She shook her head. “I thought she was coming with you.”

“No, she told me she was coming with you.”

“Shit.”

Arianna picked up her cell and called Candace’s number.

“Hello?” A young man answered the phone.

“Where in the hell is Candace?”

“We’re at the hospital. They say she’s in labor.”

“Which hospital?”

“Bryton. We got here.”

Marissa’s on-call cell rang. “It’s the ER.

“Candace is there,” Arianna said. “I’m her OB and her sister, I’ll be there shortly.”

“It’s her.” Marissa shook her head. “They’re trying to stop labor.”

“A young man answered her phone. Sounds like we may be meeting the father.”

“It’s about time. I’m heading over there.”

“I’m with you.” Arianna dialed Trevor’s number.

“Hey, baby.”

“Get to the hospital and let Greta and Dad know Candace is in labor.”

“I’ll be there soon. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Marissa glanced at her as they hurried down the corridor. “Sounds like things are pretty serious.”

“We haven’t talked about long term, but I’d say it is serious.”

“I’m happy for you.” Marissa smiled.

They burst through the doors of the E.R. and the nurses pointed to the first room.

Arianna stepped through the curtain.

“It hurts.” Candace moaned. “It hurts so much.”

She took Candace’s hand. “It will be all right, you have to breath.”

“I don’t think I can.” Candace cried. “Make it stop, Ari, please make it stop.”

Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes. Professional, she had to stay professional.

“You be there for her. I’ll do the exam.”

“It’s so much different when you’re dealing with family.” Arianna brushed the hair out of Candace’s face.

The nurse stepped in the room. “We’re having problems starting an IV, she’s moving around too much.”

“Let’s get her down to labor and delivery, we’ll take it from there.” Marissa looked up at Arianna. “I don’t think we’re going to stop this one.”

Arianna grabbed the hospital phone and called the on-call nurse in labor and delivery. “Be on standby. We’re coming down with a patient. Thirty-four weeks, we need NICU and PICU on standby. We’ll need magnesium sulfate and ampicillin.”

“Steroids?”

“No. She’s at thirty-four weeks so it won’t help with lung development. We’ll be down shortly.” She hung up the phone.

A young man stepped into the room.

Arianna pointed at him. “You, are you the father of this baby?”

Marissa turned around and her eyes widened. “Keegan?”

“Hi, Aunt Marissa.” He looked down at his feet.

Arianna shook her head. “Your nephew is the father of my sister’s baby?”

Keegan nodded and looked at Marissa. “You’re not going to tell Mom and Dad are you?”

“What do you expect to randomly hide a baby in your room or were you going to let your fifteen-year-old girlfriend raise him herself?” Marissa fumed.

“I —”

Marissa drew a line in the air with her hands. “I don’t want to hear it.” She turned to the nurse. “Get them down to labor and delivery. I need to call my sister.”

Arianna’s phone chirped. She checked the text message. It was from Trevor.

We’re here, but they won’t let us know what’s going on?

I’ll be out in a minute. She’s being moved to labor and delivery. Arianna glanced at Marissa. “Trevor’s in the waiting room. I’m going to meet him out there and bring him down to the waiting room.”