The Blush Factor by Deborah Bladon
Chapter Forty-Eight
Matthew
“Faith is in there with her,”I try to reassure my brother. “She’ll help her, Rome.”
He grabs hold of the front of my sweater. “Bianca must be terrified, Matt. I wish to fuck I was in there with them.”
I wish for the same thing, but I’m here in the corridor waiting with my brother while the woman I love is helping the woman he loves who happens to be in labor.
I took the stairs to get up to Roman’s apartment the second he called me, telling me had a sinking feeling that Bianca was trapped in the elevator.
She’d gone out to get chocolate, and when she didn’t return in fifteen minutes, he set out to find her.
He made it as far as the corridor with the twins in tow. That’s when he ran into the manager of the building. He was on his way to tell Rome that maintenance had spoken to Faith twice.
She’s trapped with Bianca.
They are alone together.
I tried to call Faith, but it rang straight to voicemail. I admit I was pissed at first because I wanted to hear her voice. I wanted her to tell me that she was all right and that Bianca was hanging in there.
Moments after that, we were alerted to the fact that when maintenance reached out to Faith via the emergency phone in the elevator, she cut the conversation short because she was on the line with 9-1-1.
She’s smart, and compassionate and if anyone can help Bianca, it’s my Faith.
I glance back to the open door of Rome’s apartment. Callum is with the girls. I called him to get his ass down here, and he appeared within minutes.
He was only a few blocks away in a meeting, but he sprinted here and up the eighteen flights of stairs in a time that would put both Roman and I to shame.
“How long does it take to fix a fucking elevator?”
I grab hold of my brother’s shoulders and stare at him. “Take a breath, Rome. You need to calm the hell down before something happens to you.”
“I’m good.” He pats my cheek. “Tell me again that Faith can handle this.”
“She can,” I say with certainty. “She’s going to keep Bianca comfortable until the elevator is fixed. Then, EMS will take her to the hospital. Your son will be born in one of those plush delivery rooms you want to surprise your wife with.”
“How the fuck do you know I arranged that?”
“Bianca told me.” I laugh. “The hospital called to confirm it. They called her, Rome.”
“Dammit.” He manages a chuckle. “I can’t pull anything over on that woman.”
A collective gasp comes from the maintenance crew when the light above the elevator illuminates.
One guy calls out, “They’re on the move. First stop is going to be three floors down.”
I’m on Roman’s tail as he heads for the stairway.
We take them two at a time with a few maintenance guys behind us.
As soon as the stairway door flies open on my floor, the elevator dings its arrival.
Roman is there first. I race to get beside him, and we hear it before we see it.
The soft wail of the newest Hawthorne fills the air as the elevator doors slide open, and we see Bianca clinging tightly to a baby boy wrapped in a pillowcase with Faith by her side.
* * *
“Penn Hawthorne.”I kiss the little guy’s head. “Jesus, Rome, mom is going to lose it when she hears his name.”
My brother glances at me as he cradles his newborn son in his arms. “I’m telling her, Matt. She’s on her way to New York now. You let me tell her that I gave my son her maiden name.”
It’s a touching tribute to a woman who sacrificed everything for us.
Our mother has taken life by the horns now that she’s retired, but for the first sixty years of her life, her four children and their happiness and well-being were the only things that mattered to her.
“I’ll keep my mouth shut,” I promise him. “How’s your beautiful wife?”
“Happy.” He rubs his nose over the baby’s cheek. “Grateful. She’s asleep.”
I look toward the closed door of Bianca’s hospital room.
She was brought here via ambulance with Roman by her side. I followed in an Uber because Rome wanted me here. Faith stayed behind to shower and change. She promised Bianca she’d get here as soon as she could, but it’s not soon enough for me.
We’ve been here for almost an hour, and there’s no sign of her.
“The woman you love delivered my boy,” Romans whispers with tears in his eyes. “She’s incredible, Matt.”
“She’s my hero.”
“Mine too.” He laughs. “Well, Bianca is the hero of the day, but Faith clocks in at a close second.”
In his world, but for me, Faith is the one who helped my sister-in-law deliver a baby in a busted elevator. That makes her a superhero to me.
It’s going to be a story for the ages when Penn gets older.
His aunt helped his mom during his delivery.
His aunt.
I want that.
I want Faith to be next to me forever as this family grows, as our family grows. I want a family with her. I want to make that dream a reality for her too.
My phone chimes.
It has to be the clinic. Carolyn’s holding things down, but I told her if her hands get too full that I wanted her to reach out.
I tug the phone from my back pocket as my brother drones on to his son about the Mets.
I read the text message on the screen and then kiss my brother’s forehead before doing the same to Penn.
“What’s that for?” Roman laughs.
“I need to go.” I jerk a thumb down the corridor. “There’s a place I need to be.”
“It can’t wait?”
“Hell, no,” I call back to him as I take off to get to the woman I love.
