“No, I can make it,” she replied.
He wrapped his arm around her waist to steady her. “Stay Beau,” he called over his shoulder. Beau whined, but reluctantly, he sat down in the foyer. When they started out the door, Emma froze. “My purse.”
“I’ll get it.” He whirled around and went to snatch it from its place on the floor. He then returned to Emma’s side to help her out of the door and down the porch steps. “You want to take your car since it’s closer? I can move mine.”
She shook her head. “No, no, yours is fine.”
“How’s the pain?”
“Intense,” she panted.
“Are you bleeding or do you think your water broke?”
“No, it’s just the contractions.”
A tiny flicker of relief filled him. “It’s going to be okay, Em. We’ll get you to the hospital, and whatever it is, they’ll fix it.”
His heart shattered when she stared up at him with eyes pooling with tears. “I hope so.”
“Have faith.”
He opened the car door and eased her down onto the seat. As soon as he shut her door, he sprinted over to the driver’s side. He climbed inside and cranked up. After pealing out into the street, he glanced over at Emma.
Her eyes were closed and her brows furrowed while she bit down on her lip. Taking one of his hands off the steering wheel he grabbed up one of hers. Her eyes flew open, and she stared over at him. “I’m here for you, Emma.”
“Thank you…I’m glad.” She squeezed his hand tight. Refusing 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 f**king 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.