“What do you mean?”
“You could stay.”
And that’s what I did.
26
DICE
Seven Months Later
Igroaned when my phone rang in the middle of the night. “Hello,” I answered sleepily.
“Hello. Is this Mr. Fox?”
“Yes,” I said and sat up in bed, feeling much more alert. No one called me Mr. Fox.
“This is Jodi. I’m a social worker at Hillsdale General Hospital. I’m calling to let you know Tawny Marshall is in labor.”
“Okay, okay,” I stammered. “Is everything okay?”
“As of right now, everything’s fine,” she assured me.
“What does that mean? As of right now?”
“Things can quickly change with labor and delivery, but everything is going according to plan at the moment,” she clarified.
“Oh, okay. Well, it will take me a little while to get there, but I’m on my way,” I told her. “Please call me if anything changes between now and then.”
I ended the call and reached over to wake Daphne, but she was already awake. “That was the hospital. Tawny’s in labor.”
She jumped out of bed and screamed in delight while doing an awkward little dance. “Sorry! I know we’ve been trying to keep a lid on our excitement in case things don’t work out, but I had to get that out of my system.” She exhaled heavily and closed her eyes while making a cleansing motion with her hand. After nodding once, she opened her eyes. “Composure regained. Let’s go.”
While I rushed around the house like a madman, she was calmly gathering her things while frequently tapping the screen of her phone. I was about to ask her what she was doing when the doorbell rang.
“That’s Ember,” she said.
“What?”
“She’s here to get Diablo.”
“Oh, right,” I said and hurried to the door.
Ember laughed when she saw me. “Daphne was right. You are frazzled.”
“I’m not frazzled. This is a normal response. She’s the one who’s unnaturally calm.”
“Because I have a plan,” Daphne said and placed a kiss on my cheek. She handed me my keys, phone, and coffee before she picked up her bag and her own coffee.
“Ready?” Ember asked.
“Ready,” Daphne said.
I followed her out the door and into Ember’s SUV before I realized something wasn’t right. “What are we doing? And where’s Diablo?”
“We’re taking you to the helipad. Shaker’s going to fly you to the hospital. We’ll get Diablo on our way back,” Dash said.
“You fuckers better not leave without me!” Ink shouted as he ran across his yard, halfway dressed. He practically fell into the backseat. “Please tell me someone has coffee.”