J. Robb - Born In Death

“I saw my father when I went at her in the box. I felt him, and I felt what he’d done, wanted to do, with me.”

“She was a monster, as he was. But regardless, Winfield Chase was a grown man. He could have escaped her. He could have gotten help.”

“You don’t believe in help, or escape, when they’re done with you.”

“He wasn’t you, Eve. And you could never, no matter what, have been like Chase. You could never have made his choices.”

“No. I know that. And yeah, he had choices, we all do, but she limited them. She skewed them.”

“And that’s what your father would have done, was trying to do, to you.”

“He comes back, in my head, in my dreams. So I saw him in her. I saw him when I looked in her eyes, and I wanted her to pay. I wanted her to suffer and to pay and toknow why. Now she has paid. I don’t know if she understood why.”

“Did you want her dead?”

“No. No, because then it’s over, and that’s not payment enough.” She drew a breath, shaky, then another, stronger. “Whitney said it happened fast. They’re talking, and Chase just reached over, snapped her neck. He didn’t even try to resist afterward, just let them haul him away. They’ve got him on suicide watch.”

“Look at me, listen to me.” His tone was brisk and firm. He wouldn’t have it, wouldn’t have her carrying this load. “Can’t you see whatever you wanted, however you played this, it would have ended the same? She wouldn’t have been satisfied with a deal. She would still have tried to use him, he would still have killed her.”

“Maybe. Maybe.”

“Eve, you saw that child moments ago, that tiny new life that carries part of your name. There’s a beginning for you, and you helped bring it to be. It’s pure. We can’t be, you and I, and he won’t stay that way. But by doing what you did, by being what you are, you gave him his family.”

“So close it up where it belongs.” She closed her eyes, nodded. “You’re right, I know you’re right. I will.”

“ Dallas? Sorry.” Peabody stiffled a yawn. “Mavis is asking for you. Oh, and she’s up to seven. Some of us are heading down to get a bite to eat. We’re taking Leonardo, because the midwife said we’ve got time.”

“But – ”

“She said she’d really just like a little quiet time, with you.”

“Okay, okay. Wipe that relieved look off your face, ace,” she warned Roarke. “You’re still going to be there for liftoff.”

“God pity me.” But he rose, put his arms around her, brushed his lips over her brow. “Think of what’s been saved,” he murmured. “Think of the look on Tandy’s face when she held her son. There’s no place for the dark here.”

“Right again.” She held onto him one more moment. “Thanks.”

Eve thought Mavis was starting to show a little wear when she went back in. “Something happened.” Mavis pushed a little straighter in bed. “Tandy? The baby?”

“No, no, they’re fine. Something on the job.” Close it up, she reminded herself, and remember what’s begun. “It’s not important.”

“You don’t have to leave?”

“Mavis, I’m not going anywhere till you get this job done. How’re you doing? And are you sick of having people ask you that?”

“I’m pretty okay, and no. It’s kind of frosty, being the focus, you know? It’s not like when I’m performing. This is so real, like primal even, and I’m the only one who can do it. Can you just sit here, be with me?”

“At your beck.”

Because Mavis patted the bed, Eve sat on the side of it. “I wanted…Oh, here it comes again. Getting stronger. Shit, damn, fuck.”

“You gotta breathe. Where’s the focus thing?”

“You are, right now. I’m sick of looking at fucking sunshine.”

Mavis puffed, staring so hard into Eve’s eyes, Eve wondered she didn’t lance right through to her brain. Then she remembered one of the options from the class, and laid hands on Mavis’s belly, rubbing light circles on what now felt like a mound of concrete.

“Easing back, isn’t it? Yeah, it is,” Eve said with a glance toward the monitor. “Coming down, leveling off, good work. Blow it out.”

When she had, Mavis managed a grin. “You were paying attention in class.”

“I’ll remind you I’m a cop. We hear and see all. You know, they have drugs for this.”

“Yeah, and I’m thinking about it. It’s just I’ve never done anything like this before. I think I’m going to go a while longer first. Right now, I wanted the just-you-and-me time. Look.”

She held up her left hand, and Summerset’s ring glinted.

“Yeah, I’m happy for you.”

“Couple of old married ladies now. Who’d’ve thought it? Pretty soon, I’m going to be a mother. I want more than anything to be a good one.”

“Mavis, it’s in the bag.”

“There are so many ways to screw up. I used to be such a screw-up. But I came around, right?”

“Yeah, you did.”

“I wanted to say something to you, before everything changes again. Because I know this is going to change everything. A good change. An abso mag change, but still. Dallas, you’re the best person I know.”

“Are you sure you haven’t had drugs already?”

Mavis gave a watery laugh. “I mean it. Leonardo, he’s the sweetest, but you’re the best. You do what’s right, you do what matters, whatever it takes. You’re the first of my family, and you really started me on the road. I wouldn’t be here, wouldn’t be doing this except for you.”

“I think Leonardo had more to do with it.”

Mavis grinned, rubbed her belly. “Yeah, he had the fun part. I love you. We love you.” She took Eve’s hand, laid it on her belly. “I wanted to tell you.”

“Mavis, if I didn’t love you, I’d be a thousand miles from this room.”

“I know.” Now she hooted out a wicked laugh. “It’s kind of a kick to know. But you do what’s right. You do what matters, so you are so completely stuck. Oh, shit, damn, fuck, here comes another one.”

Two hours later, with a little something to take the leading edge off, Mavis was pronounced “ready to push.”

“All right, team.” Randa lifted the tent between Mavis’s legs. “Positions.”

“Why is this my position?” Eve demanded when she was maneuvered to the bottom of the bed.

“Mavis, I want you to take a long deep breath on the next contraction, hold it for the count of ten, and push. Dallas, give her resistance. Leonardo, on the resistance, pull. Roarke, on breathing.”

“It’s coming!”

“Get your breath, and go. Push! One, two…”

“Mag! You’re amazing,” Leonardo declared when the contraction passed. “You’re a miracle. Breathe slow now, sugarcake. You don’t want to hyperventilate.”

“I love you,” Mavis said with her eyes closed and her face slack. “But if you tell me how to breathe one more time, I’ll yank your tongue out of your mouth and strangle you with it. Here it comes again.”

During the next hour, Leonardo bathed Mavis’s face with cool cloths, gave her ice chips, hunched in shame when she snapped at his over-cheery encouragement.

For herself, Eve did her job and looked anywhere but at what was going on below.

“I think we should switch.” She narrowed her eyes at Roarke as Mavis sucked in for the next round.

“There’s no power in heaven or hell that could make me go down there.”

“That’s the way, Mavis,” Randa encouraged. “See, the head.”

Instinctively Roarke glanced at the mirror angled for Mavis. “Oh, God! My eyes.”

Pulling on the bright red strap Leonardo held, pushing strongly with her foot against Eve, Mavis let out a nearly inhuman growl, then plopped back and panted.