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He’d wanted to give Capri his whole world. Hot, cold and everything in between, she was the sun in his barren existence.
“Hi,” Jade Harper said when he walked in to the flower shop. Jade was Capri’s trusted associate. Seagal liked the green-eyed brunette, understood why Capri trusted her with her livelihood.
But he wasn’t here to trust anyone.
“How’ve you been, Jade?”
“Fine.” She pushed a huge floral arrangement toward him. “Take this to Capri, please. It’s from the Boo in the Night Society. Isn’t it gorgeous?”
He stared at the pink and blue blossoms spilling from a big crystal vase. “Yes, it is.”
“And this one, too, please.” She waved at a silvery tabletop Christmas tree laden with tiny paper presents and a golden star in front of him. “This is from the Christmastown committee. They wanted to thank her for doing such a good job with Christmastown.” Jade smiled at him. “I have a few more orders in the back, but I haven’t made them up yet.”
Seagal held up a hand. “Take your time. There’s only so much room in my truck. I guess you have no one to do your deliveries?” He hadn’t thought about it before, but it made sense. Usually Jade did them in the white van that had Bridesmaids Bouquet Floral Shop lettered on the side in big scrolling hot-pink letters.
He’d done a few deliveries for Capri. That’s why the whole smuggling thing was bugging him. Capri kept an obsessive eye on her prized presentations. “You ever notice anyone hanging around here, Jade?”
“Customers.” Jade looked at him. “Lots of customers. It happens at Christmas. Will you tell Capri she needs to hire another seasonal worker? Kelly said she’d come by to help, but I’m worried about the wedding we have booked, and all the Christmas orders, too.” Jade smiled. “I know you’re about to have twins. I hate to put another worry on the two of you. And congratulations on the babies, Seagal. I heard about it from Jack.”
“He gets around.” Seagal sighed. “I’ll tell Capri, although she’s on strict bed rest. I don’t know who she could interview in a hurry.”
“I’m working late every night, too,” Jade said. “I won’t let her down.”
He glanced around the shop, looking for anything out of place. “You don’t ever get anybody in here who’s not a customer?”
“Nope. Everybody needs something this time of year. The shop is booming.” The phone rang, and Jade went to pick it up. “Tell Capri hello for me.”
Nodding, he picked up the two arrangements, heading to his truck.
“Is love in the air?” someone asked him, and he put the arrangements in the truck bed before he turned to face Justin Morant.
“Hey,” Seagal said, surprised to see the rodeo champ in Bridesmaids Creek. He pounded Justin on the back with enthusiasm. “What are you doing back in town?”
“It’s the holidays,” Justin said, “and I’ll be leaving again as fast as I can.”
Seagal laughed. “I remember feeling that way.”
Justin raised a brow. “Something change around here?”
“No.” Seagal secured the arrangements and dusted off his hands. “It’s still small-town, gossip-at-the-speed-of-light, sweet Bridesmaids Creek. I just missed it.”
Justin eyed the flowers in the truck. “Looks like you missed something. Maybe not the town as much as your wife.”
“You’re probably right. Say hello to your folks for me, Justin. It’s good to see you.” He went to get into the truck, then a thought hit him. “If you’ve got five minutes to help me out, Capri’s on complete bed rest, and Jade Harper’s watching the shop for her. She had a ton of orders today and could use a deliveryman.”
And a strong male, in case anything strange happened.
Justin shrugged. “Be happy to help any way I can. Heard about the twins. Congratulations.”
“Who’d you hear it from?”
Justin grinned. “Everybody I’ve run into. Say hi to Capri for me. You sure were lucky when you roped that one.”
Seagal got into his truck and pulled away.
Yeah. He’d gotten very lucky.
But then his luck had run out.
* * *
“I’M SUSPICIOUS,” Capri told Kelly after Seagal left. “He’s being far too attentive.”
Kelly smiled and handed Capri a cup of hot tea. “He’s going to be a father. Anyway, you know Seagal has always been good with detail. It’s probably what moved him up so fast in the force.”
“There’s something else going on here,” Capri said. “You don’t know him like I do. Seagal never gets this focused unless there’s a case.”
“Isn’t it possible you’re his only case?” Kelly sipped at her own cup of steamy hot tea in a floral teacup. “This blackberry currant tea is fabulous.”
Capri shook her head. “It’s probably the pregnancy making me a little paranoid. Hormones going wild.” She put a hand on her stomach. “I think I’m having a bronc buster and a cheerleader.”
“Active, huh?” Kelly laughed. “Tell me again why you and Seagal decided to call it quits?”
Capri put her cup down. “I never got comfortable in the marriage, and I don’t think he did, either. I always felt like he still cared for Daisy, and Seagal said I didn’t trust him, and that bothered him.” She thought about it, remembering. It was still pretty painful. “Daisy called the house even after we were married, always on some pretext of needing something from Seagal. She claimed they were just friends, but I knew she still cared about him. Not that I was surprised. Seagal said she hadn’t wanted to break up—he did. I just happened to be the first date he had.”
“But why did you marry him if you were so worried?” Kelly asked.
“I wanted him,” Capri said softly. “I wanted to believe that all the late nights wouldn’t make me crazy. He wanted to get promoted and moved to a different division, then got into the Rangers. I was busy taking over the flower shop. We grew apart.”
“Not too apart to make babies,” Kelly said, her tone gleeful. “When you found out you were pregnant, you should have realized then that Seagal was never going to let you go through with the divorce.”
“I didn’t want to tell him for just that reason.” The memory upset Capri, which the babies seemed to notice. Inside her, they felt as if they were rolling, tumbling, fighting for space. A sudden cramp shot across her abdomen, pinching and slicing. She closed her eyes against the pain, waiting for it to pass. “Darn my brother Beau,” she said after a moment. “He ratted me out.”
Kelly laughed. “Good for Beau.”
“I’ll take care of him later.” Capri leaned back against the pillow. “I know Seagal too well. There’s a reason he’s back in town, and it isn’t all about these babies. He claims it’s about the drugs in the floral arrangements, but I think there’s something else. He takes a lot of phone calls when he thinks I don’t notice, and his phone must get a hundred texts an hour.” She sighed, wishing the cramp would pass, and forced a smile at Kelly. “Intuition. It’s kind of a wife thing, I guess.”
“But you’re not worried about Daisy anymore now, are you?”
“No.” Capri shook her head. “I think she moved on to Jack, just like you said.”
“I know,” Kelly said, “and it makes me want to pinch her head off.”
Capri smiled. “I remember that emotion.”
“So, what are you going to do now? You’re not really going to go through with the divorce, are you?”
Capri could barely focus on her friend’s question. The pain was getting worse; it was harder to hold back a groan.
Something was different; she knew it. “Kelly,” she said, forcing her voice above a whisper but having to push against the pain, “having never experienced pregnancy I’m no expert, but I think these babies want to be here in time for Christmas.”
Chapter Five
Seagal figured he’d set a new record for speed by the time he got to the hospital. He sprinted inside, leaving Jack at the curb to park the cruiser.
Capri looked pale, tired and in pain when he jogged into the room the nurse led him to. “I thought I told you to stay still,” he said to his wife, trying to make light of the situation to calm his heart, which was trying to beat out of his chest.
“I listened,” Capri said. “Funny how your children didn’t. Maybe a case of like father, like babies.”
He glanced at the doctor. “What’s happening?”
Dr. Blankenship finished looking over the charts he held. “You’re about to meet your children, Seagal.”
Seagal’s gaze locked on his wife. He’d never wanted to hold her and comfort her so badly. “This is it, lady. There’s no turning back now. We’re going to be parents.”
Capri gave him a very slight smile. He could tell she was really hurting. “There was no turning back when I first met you, Seagal,” she said, then groaned and closed her eyes.
Nurses hustled Capri onto a gurney. He followed helplessly, not sure what to do. His heart thundered. No one seemed to care whether he went in to the big room that looked like an operating room, and then suddenly, a nurse helped him into something she called a birth coach’s shirt. She showed him where to wash and made him put sterile covers on his shoes.
“Are you all right?” the elderly nurse asked him.
He was pretty sure he’d know her if she’d take off her mask, but at the moment his brain was short-circuiting. “I’m fine. Is she going to be all right?”
“Your wife is going to be fine.”
The nurse left him, and Seagal hung at the back of the huge room, watching everything. He didn’t want to get in the way of the medical personnel; he felt so useless. Was he supposed to take pictures? He and Capri hadn’t discussed his role.
Someone nudged him over to Capri’s side, and told him to talk to her in soothing tones.
He wasn’t usually a soothing presence for Capri. But once upon a time, he had known just the right words to say to her.
“Hey, babe.”
Capri’s eyes were huge in her face. He could hardly bear to see her like this. Taking her hand in his, he said, “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known.”
She made little short puffing breaths, and then suddenly she relaxed.
“A local anesthetic,” the doctor explained.
They were awfully busy under the green sheet. Capri had told him he wasn’t to approach the sheet in any way, so he remained by her side, letting her squeeze his fingers bloodless. He welcomed the pain; it wasn’t nearly what she was going through.
“Seagal,” Capri suddenly said, startling him.
“Yes?” He leaned close to hear her.
“Mrs. Penny called.”
He blinked. “Can we talk to her later? I know she’s one of our town’s revered grapevines, but—”
Capri squeezed his fingers to shush him. She was so pale he sent a worried glance the doctor’s way. Dr. Blankenship seemed busy with whatever he was doing under the green sheet thing, so Seagal looked back at Capri.
“Okay,” he said, “was there something special on her mind?”
“She said you’re sniffing around my flower shop.” Capri’s gaze was on him, accusing. “Do you think somebody close to me may be involved?”
He was on the ropes here—he could hear it in her voice. “I can’t say, honey.”
“You didn’t tell me,” Capri said.
“Keep soothing her, Mr. West. We need to keep Mom calm,” a nurse said, glancing at a monitor.
He leaned close to his wife. “Let’s talk about this later.”
“I need to know,” she said, her gaze on him, haunted.
“I don’t know what you want me to say,” Seagal said, “I’m simply following orders.”
Capri’s eyes widened. Belatedly, Seagal remembered that the night of their worst argument, he’d said the same thing. It had effectively ended their marriage.
“Capri,” he said, “no one knows exactly who is involved. But this I do know. I’m about to be a dad. All I want to do is take care of you and my children.”
“That’s better,” the nurse said, her tone approving. “Whatever you’re saying, keep saying it. We need to keep your blood pressure down, Mrs. West.”
“Snow,” Capri said, and the nurse glanced at her. “My name is Snow.”
“Now wait,” Seagal said, his voice low so the nurses and doctor couldn’t hear. His blood pressure felt as if he needed someone to say soothing things to him. “You’re still Mrs. Seagal West for another two weeks.”
She closed her eyes.
“You’re doing fine,” the nurse said. “The doctor is almost finished prepping you, and then it will be time to meet your new babies.”
Capri released his fingers. He tried to catch her fingers back but she put her hand under the covers. So he stood beside her, staring down at her pale face, wishing he knew what to tell her to make her happy, to keep her his forever.
“Okay, Capri,” Dr. Blankenship said. “I’m about to make an incision. You’ll only notice some tugging sensations. If you notice anything more than that, let me know, all right?”
Capri nodded. Seagal felt all the blood rush from his head.
“Get Dad a chair,” Dr. Blankenship barked, and the elderly nurse led him over to the side.
“Breathe,” the nurse commanded. “Doc’s done this a thousand times. Capri’s in the best possible hands.”
Wasn’t he supposed to be a fearless, tough guy?
Then why was the very idea of his wife being in pain making him weak as a kitten?
“I’m failing at being a birth coach,” he told the nurse.
“We keep this chair in here for dads,” the nurse said, her tone kindly. “You’ll feel stronger in a bit. Don’t worry. Your wife is in good hands.”
