Secretly Married Read online

  His dark gaze went from her to Annie. “Found her yet?”

  Annie shook her head and relayed what Alonso had said.

  Delaney tugged at her lower lip. “I’m worried about the ‘fly away’ comment.” She looked at Annie. “Has Caitlin exhibited any signs of harming herself or the baby?” Just because she hadn’t seen any didn’t mean that it wasn’t occurring.

  “No. She’s been increasingly emotional the farther along she gets, but I didn’t think it was out of the ordinary, given her situation. She’s not due for another six weeks or so.” She pressed her hand to her mouth for a moment. “This is my fault. I should have seen something sooner.”

  “Don’t do that, Annie,” Sam spoke finally. “If anybody understands her, it’d be you. Sit tight. Delaney and I will go look for her. She hasn’t left Turnabout. We’ll find her.”

  His calm words obviously reassured Annie, though they set off alarms all throughout Delaney. But there was no thought on her part of refusing to help. So she squeezed Annie’s hand reassuringly and followed Sam out to his truck.

  But once they’d driven over half the island, searched out every cranny where Sam thought Caitlin might be bird-watching, his words of assurance had worn thin.

  “Alonso’s probably sending us on some damn goose chase,” Sam muttered. “He and Caitlin are sitting back somewhere having a laugh at us.”

  “Alonso wouldn’t do that.” Delaney scanned the landscape.

  “End of the road.” Sam’s voice was bland. They had come to the end of the road. Literally. His truck bounced over the uneven terrain. “Only thing out this way is Luis’s Point.”

  “That’s the place your father mentioned.”

  “It’s the cliff Luis Castillo jumped from a million years ago. Because his fiancée betrayed him with his best friend, Henry Fielding. It’s supposedly the start of the Turnabout curse.” He shook his head, looking disgusted. “The Point’s been a popular place lately. That’s where Teddy and Vern Haggerty were brawling when I got this.” He gestured at his bruised cheekbone. It had begun turning interesting shades of green and yellow.

  “Take us there.”

  “Laney—”

  “Please, Sam.” Delaney closed her hand over his arm. “Alonso wouldn’t lie about Caitlin. She’s pregnant and he wouldn’t—”

  “Ah, hell. There she is.” Sand and gravel spewed beneath the tires when Sam veered.

  “Where? I don’t see anything.” Only boulders and scrub and the ocean far beyond it.

  “Trust me.” The truck fishtailed to a stop. Delaney got out, following Sam as he made his way to the edge of the cliff. She scrambled between bushes that caught at the soft fabric of the knit shorts she wore. Her feet in the tennis shoes Sam had procured slid over rocks and around boulders.

  Then she stopped short and sucked in her shock.

  Caitlin was there. Below the edge of the cliff, perched on a sort of shelf that protruded out over the ocean.

  Dizziness pushed in on her.

  Tires squealing.

  Falling.

  Keep it together, Laney.

  She focused. “How did you even spot her?”

  “You have to talk to her,” he said. “Get her off the shelf. Or at least get her to move back so I can grab her.”

  “Sam, I don’t—” Her throat went tight, choking off the words.

  He folded his hands over hers. “Look at me.” He squeezed tighter, until she did as he bade. And his eyes looked into hers, seeming to will her roiling stomach to quiet. “You’re not going over the edge,” he said calmly. “You’re going to keep Caitlin safe. This is what you do, right? You help kids. You always have.” He leaned over her, his voice soft. Steady. “There’s plenty of space on the ledge. It’s wider than the deck on my house, and you’ve been out there and been just fine.”

  She shook her head. “You should do this.”

  “I’m the law. She hates me.” As he spoke, Sam led her along the cliff, closer to the point above Caitlin. “I’ll be right above you.”

  Sam was right. She knew it. She forced herself to let go of his hand, steadying herself as she made her way down the incline to the shelf where Caitlin stood poised.

  “Caitlin.” She didn’t want to startle the girl, even though Caitlin had to have heard her noisy descent. “Hey, there. Seeing any unusual birds?”

  “Only seagulls.” The girl’s words were barely audible.

  Delaney pointed at a small object in the sky. It dipped toward the water then shot up again, a miracle against gravity. “They really are pretty to watch, aren’t they? Even if they are just seagulls.”

  Caitlin bowed her head over her swollen abdomen, cradling her arms against herself. “I can’t do this.”

  “Okay.” Delaney inched forward another half foot.

  Caitlin’s head lifted, she frowned. “Don’t come any closer. I’ll jump, I swear it.”

  “Okay.” Delaney didn’t dare look up at Sam. She just glanced around at the uneven rocks. “I’m gonna sit down here, though. Right here. For a few minutes. The, um, the height makes me a little dizzy. Then I’ll leave you alone. Okay?” There was no need to playact. The drop from the cliff was staggering. No matter what Sam said, being on this cliff was considerably different from sitting behind the safety rail on his deck.

  She cautiously lowered herself to the ground, and felt a little more secure once she did.

  “I don’t want him here.”

  Because Sam represented the law. As in the cop who’d gotten her—a minor—pregnant. Delaney couldn’t even let herself think about that particular situation at the moment. So she went for lightness. “Who? Sam? I don’t want him here, either.” She didn’t need to look up to know he was there. Alert. “He’s annoying that way, I’m afraid. Ignore him. He won’t mind. Doesn’t faze him.” Too bad she couldn’t seem to follow her own advice.

  Caitlin’s reddened gaze slid Delaney’s way. “You’re married to him.”

  “Yes.” Delaney planted the heels of her shoes more firmly on the rocks, hoping they’d provide enough of a break to keep her from sliding any closer to the edge. “As it turns out. Annie’s been looking for you everywhere. Everyone’s worried about you. Alonso. Mary. All of them.”

  Caitlin made an odd sound, her young face so skeptical it made Delaney hurt inside. “Alonso doesn’t even hardly know me.”

  “He knows enough to think you’re nice. He wouldn’t have helped you with the math, otherwise. Believe me.” She smiled a little, hoping the girl would relax.

  Caitlin sucked in the corner of her lip, her forehead crinkling. “Nice. Right. I should’a got rid of it a long time ago.” She pressed her palm to her pregnant belly.

  “But you didn’t.” Delaney kept her voice gentle, but matter-of-fact as she followed the girl’s lead. “Have you talked with anyone about your options?”

  Caitlin hesitated. “Annie. Dr. Weathers.”

  Delaney knew that, of course. But she wanted to keep Caitlin talking. She wanted to know what Caitlin wasn’t saying, because that was undoubtedly more important than what she had. “But it’s hard to decide what’s right, isn’t it.”

  “I don’t wanna be a mom!” Caitlin looked miserable. She rocked back and forth on the balls of her swollen feet. Restless. Her hands went from her abdomen to the small of her back, pressing through her pale yellow dress.

  “Do you think you have to be?”

  “My mom had kids,” Caitlin mumbled, “every year another one. And now they’re all gone.” She winced, swearing under her breath. Casting a look up at Sam, as if afraid he’d break out his cuffs because she’d cursed.

  “You don’t have to decide anything right now, Caitlin.”

  “Yes, I do!”

  Delaney folded her hands together to keep from reaching out for the girl. “Why?”

  Caitlin rocked. Back and forth. Then she finally shot Delaney a look. “Because I think I’m in labor.”

  They both heard Sam’s muffled oat
h.

  Their perch on the cliff shrank by mammoth proportions. Delaney forced her voice to remain calm. “Are you having contractions?”

  The girl didn’t answer. She looked out over the roiling water far below.

  “Caitlin.” Delaney pushed to her feet. They were several feet from the edge of the cliff. Yards. She relaxed her throat, drawing in a slow breath. Her vision wasn’t pinpointing. She was needed. “Caitlin? For how long now?”

  “Since yesterday. I thought it was just my back hurting.”

  Yesterday. Good Lord. Delaney slowly stepped closer to the girl. Sam was right above them. Silent but steady. A rock of a different sort. “You’re not going to jump, Caitlin. You don’t want to. If you did, you wouldn’t have told Alonso anything. You don’t have to decide anything right now about your future or the baby’s future. The only thing you need to do right now is let Sam and me help you off this cliff.”

  “Oh, God,” Caitlin looked down at herself, her face wrinkling. “What—”

  Delaney stared, too. For only a moment, though. She’d have time to panic later. “Your water broke.” She kept her voice matter-of-fact. It wasn’t easy. “Come on, Caitlin, give me your hand. That baby wants to be born. Soon. So let’s get you somewhere a little more comfortable than this piece of granite.”

  Caitlin hunched forward, perilously close to the drop-off. “It hurts.”

  Delaney cast a look up at Sam and felt a little calmer. He was above Caitlin on the other side of her. “I know, Caitlin. Just take one step back toward me. Give me your hand. We’ll help you the rest of the way.”

  Only, Caitlin cried out, pitching forward onto her knees.

  Delaney darted to her, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. The girl felt rigid. She was bracing herself against the pain. Delaney slid her hand into Caitlin’s, her mouth close to the girl’s ear. “Don’t fight it, baby. Just ride it out. Breathe with me. It’ll pass in a minute. Breathe. That’s it. Good girl.”

  Caitlin exhaled roughly. She shuddered.

  “Sam—” Delaney turned around to look for him, but he was already beside them.

  Murmuring quietly to Caitlin, he slipped his hands under her and picked her right up.

  Delaney held her breath, closed her eyes for a brief second. So close to the edge. Too close. The sound of water overwhelmed her. Birds crying, waves crashing, hot sunlight, salty air.

  “Laney.”

  She started. Looked at Sam. His dark eyes were steady, meeting hers. Panic receded.

  “Go first,” he said. Caitlin huddled against him—testament to her pain that she accepted his help—her limbs painfully slender in contrast to her swollen abdomen.

  “No.” Delaney shook her head, turning to face the abbreviated climb. “I’m okay. I’ll follow you. Go.”

  He didn’t wait around to argue. Rocks crunched beneath his boots, a small showering avalanche of shifting footholds. Delaney focused on his back, following, pressing her palm against the small of his back when he hesitated.

  “Contraction,” he said.

  No two people had ever felt, so acutely, someone else’s pain. Delaney’s fingers curled into the fabric of Sam’s shirt. His body heat blazed.

  “Okay,” Caitlin said an eternity later. Her voice was faint. Breathless.

  The trio moved upward. More quickly as Sam neared more level ground. Then his long strides ate up the distance to his truck.

  Delaney ran alongside. Caitlin cried out again. Barely a break between contractions. Sam caught her gaze. She swallowed, and instead of opening the passenger door to his truck, she went to the back and dragged open the tailgate. Thank goodness it was an SUV. The cargo area was carpeted and would be somewhat softer.

  “There’s a first-aid kit under the driver’s seat.” He settled Caitlin while Delaney ran around to retrieve it.

  She clambered over the seats and handed it to him. He set it down beside Caitlin where it looked woefully insubstantial. “Can’t you call Dr. Hugo?”

  “He’s off-island for a few days. There’s a blanket in the backseat.”

  Delaney grabbed it. Reached over the seat to hand it to him, as well. “Off-island! When are his few days done?”

  “I can’t have the baby.” Caitlin’s voice was strangled. “It’s too early!”

  “Sure you can,” Sam said easily. “You’re young, you’re healthy and you’ll feel a helluva lot better when you’re through.”

  Delaney bit her lip, catching the very definite roll of Caitlin’s eyes. But it was cut off by another contraction that had her curling forward, her lips parted over a hissing pant. What seemed an eternity later, her head fell back again. “I need a doctor,” she wailed.

  “Delaney is a doctor.”

  Delaney’s jaw loosened. But she swallowed her protest when Caitlin looked up at her with painful relief. “Right. I’m a doctor.” The fact that she’d never once delivered a baby—something Sam knew good and well—was a moot point. She got out of the truck and hurried around to the back. For Caitlin’s sake, she’d stay calm even if it killed her.

  But later she might well do in Sam.

  Praying that this would go as smoothly as Sam’s attitude suggested, she helped Caitlin get as comfortable as possible. There wasn’t much time for preparations. Shaking with tension, she pawed through the first-aid kit. There was a silver-colored emergency blanket folded into a ridiculously small square. She ripped open the packet and spread it out atop the blanket. She’d barely managed to pull on the packet of sterile gloves before Caitlin hunched forward in one continuous contraction.

  Sam abruptly suggested driving them to town, but Delaney shook her head. “The baby’s crowning.” Her voice was high—nearly as panicked as Caitlin’s had been. Then Caitlin turned the air blue with curses, and the baby slid into Delaney’s shaking hands.

  She stared into the little scrunched-up face for a moment. Some long-ago teaching had her tilting the baby’s head slightly lower than his feet. He was so tiny. So vulnerable. So perfect as his face pinkened and his little mouth parted.

  He wailed.

  “What about the cord?” Sam’s voice broke her trance. His hands rifled through the first aid kit.

  Delaney huffed the hair out of her eyes. The umbilical cord was still pulsing. “Find something to tie the cord—two places.”

  “Is it a boy like Dr. Hugo said?” Caitlin pushed herself weakly up on her elbows.

  “Yes.”

  She collapsed back once more. “Is he supposed to cry like that?”

  “He’s fine, Caitlin.” Delaney hoped. “He’s beautiful.”

  “There’s nothing in here to tie it with,” Sam pushed aside the kit, his own face looking pale.

  Delaney smoothed her hands over the baby, calming. “Your shoelace,” she said.

  Sam quickly untied his boot and dragged the long leather lacing from it. “It should be cleaner,” he muttered. “When do we do this? Where?”

  The cord had stopped pulsing. “Now. Four inches from the baby,” she murmured for his ears only. “A few inches above that. Cut between.”

  His fingers worked fast. Nimbly. The first-aid kit might not be equipped for childbirth, but it did have an adequate pair of scissors. As soon as he cut the cord, he dropped the scissors on the silvery sheet and grabbed a corner of the blanket that was still clean and ripped it clean away.

  Emotions tangled inside her as—between the two of them—they wrapped the baby in the torn blanket.

  Delaney caught Sam’s gaze on her. Her throat tightened. She settled the squalling baby in his arms and hastily turned her attention back to tending Caitlin. But she was excruciatingly aware of Sam holding the infant.

  He’d married her because she’d been pregnant, but she’d never doubted that he hadn’t wanted the baby.

  It was her he hadn’t wanted.

  “Let me hold him.” Caitlin’s voice was tired. Young. Scared.

  Sam handed over the baby to Caitlin, settling him on her chest because
the girl was exhausted. He stayed close, yet managed not to hover. An uncommon skill.

  Delaney looked away, concentrating on cleaning up as best she could. This was the Sam who was the most dangerous.

  The kind Sam. The gentle Sam.

  “We should get them both some medical attention,” she said, when she was sure her voice would work.

  “I’ll check with Sara. She might know when her dad is getting back. Otherwise, I’ll get a chopper here to take them to the mainland.”

  “You prob’ly wish Annie and Logan woulda done that sooner.” Caitlin peered down at the baby.

  “And miss this?” Delaney shook her head and climbed in beside the teen so Sam could drive them back to town. “Not a chance.”

  Caitlin’s lips twitched. Then her faint smile died and she looked away.

  The truck rocked as Sam slowly drove back toward the road. Delaney put out a hand to help Caitlin hold the baby steady, and she saw the tears leaking from the girl’s closed eyes. “You don’t have to decide anything until you’re ready, Caitlin,” she assured gently. “And you’re not alone in this.”

  “My mom’s dead.”

  Delaney smoothed back Caitlin’s tangle of damp hair. “I wasn’t talking about your mom.”

  Caitlin didn’t reply. Sam made it to the road, and the ride smoothed considerably. In minutes, he’d pulled up outside a colorful house with a sign hanging from the eve that said Doctor. “Wait here,” he said as he got out of the truck.

  Caitlin finally opened her eyes, glancing up at Delaney. “What? He thinks we’re gonna go surfing or something?”

  Delaney smiled faintly. But her gaze was on Sam as he strode up the porch steps and ducked to avoid a dangling wind chime.

  He looked back, and Delaney quickly averted her gaze. But her heart raced, all the same.

  Was there ever a bigger fool than she was?

  To have fallen in love with her own husband all over again?

  Chapter 15

  “How do you think she’ll do?”

  Delaney hesitated at Sam’s question. They’d just watched the helicopter take off into the sunset from the cleared space outside of Castillo House. It carried Caitlin, the baby and Betty Weathers, who’d jumped at the chance of leaving the island.