That evening Dare made his specialty, stir-fried chicken with white rice, and he and Erin sat down to a quiet meal alone. They finished off with a cup of herbal tea for Erin and black coffee for Dare. Then, for the first time since they’d met, he told her about his musical family. He talked about his dad, a country and western singer who had moved to Michigan with his young wife, where they’d performed in nightclubs across the city.
As teenagers Dare and his two brothers often joined their parents on stage. Later, one of his brothers went on to a musical career while the other became a psychiatrist. Dare chose the field of engineering.
“But the entrepreneurial spirit won out, I see.” Erin lifted her teacup to him.
Dare nodded. “Never even got the chance to use my engineering degree, but who’s complaining?”
They were both having a laugh at that when Dare’s cell phone began to buzz. He peered at the screen. “My broker. Calling me now? Weird.” He took the call and was on the phone less than two minutes when he hung up. He was all smiles.
“Did you just win the lottery?” Erin asked cheekily. A man like Dare probably never wasted his time or his money on such slim odds.
“Better. That was my insurance broker. He said they'll be going out tomorrow to assess the property damage at that new resort I bought. It's likely they’ll cover up to eighty percent of the damage.”
“But why not one hundred percent?”
“That would be the ideal but there’s that pesky little thing called the deductible they have to take out first." He shrugged. “But the good thing is, Dennis went to look at the place and the bulk of the wind damage was to those villas I was planning to bulldoze anyway. They were too hollow to stand up to the hurricane.”
“A blessing in disguise,” she murmured.
“You got that right.” Then he gave her a naughty look. “To celebrate I’ll grant you one wish, anything you want.”
“A massage,” she said with delight. “I want you to massage me from head to toe. Carrying this weight around is hard on the back and the legs.”
He put on a disappointed look. “Nothing else? Just a massage?”
“Yes, Dare,” she said, rolling her eyes, “just a massage. We’ve had enough fun for a while, don’t you think?”
He didn’t press after that. Erin had been more than generous in that department, considering her condition. He would give her a well-deserved break. He gathered the cups and teapot onto the tray. “Be right back,” he said and headed for the kitchen.
Dare had just deposited the tray onto the marble countertop when he heard a yell. It was Erin and she was shouting his name. He jogged back to the sitting room to see what the fuss was about.
What Dare saw made his blood run cold. Erin had collapsed onto the floor. She was clutching her stomach and moaning.
He rushed over to kneel by her side. “What’s wrong?’
“Cramps,” she gasped, her brow beaded with perspiration. She gritted her teeth and clutched his hand with a strength that rivaled a weight lifter. “I think…I’m going into labor.”
“Labor?” he all but shouted. “You’re nowhere near due yet.”
“Tell that to the baby,” she half-laughed half-groaned, then she was clutching his shoulders with both hands, shivering with the pain that shot through her body.
“We’re going to the hospital,” he said and lifted her into his arms.
“I’m not dressed,” she gasped. “My bag. It’s not packed.”
“Forget all that, Erin. We have to go now.” His heart pounded so hard it hurt. What the hell was going on? Erin hadn’t even hit her seventh month yet. How could she be having contractions? He placed her in the back seat where she could have more room to stretch out then he jumped into the Jaguar and speed off to the same hospital he’d visited just hours before.
As soon as they rushed into the emergency room Erin was wheeled off to a private room where the doctor on duty did an assessment. That was when they realized that Erin had been spotting.
“What does it mean?” she asked, her eyes wide as she clung to Dare’s hand. “Am I going to lose my baby?”
The doctor patted her hand. “We’ll run some tests then we’ll see what’s going on.” He waved his hand to a waiting orderly. “Ultrasound department,” he said and the man came forward at once to take Erin away in her wheelchair.
Dare was right behind him. “I’m coming, too,” he said. There was no way he was going to allow them to take Erin out of his sight. But there was something weighing on his mind, something he just could not shake. As he followed the men he cleared his throat. “Doctor,” he said, “if she…exerted herself, could that cause her to lose the baby?”
“These things can happen,” the doctor said with a nod. “But what kind of exertion are you speaking of?”
“Exertion of the…sexual kind.” Dare could not believe he was feeling embarrassed to speak to the doctor about something as normal as sex between two married people.
"That shouldn’t be a problem as long as you’re careful,” the doctor replied. “Now if she had other kinds of exertion that’s a whole different matter. Did she do anything out of the ordinary? Lift anything heavy, perhaps?”
Dare’s heart gave a jolt. How could he have forgotten? “Yes,” he said as a feeling of guilt washed over him. “Me.”
“You?” The doctor looked at him as if he’d gone mad.
“I was knocked unconscious during the hurricane,” Dare told him. “She rolled me onto a bedcover and dragged me out of a bedroom and down a hallway.”
“Down a…” The look the doctor gave him was one of incredulity. “She didn’t.”
“I’m sorry to say, she did.” Dare’s voice was quiet, his thoughts far away. This was his fault. If anything happened to Erin or the baby he would never forgive himself. “And she didn’t complain of any pains at the time?”