Fox (Stone Cold Fox Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  “Okay. Thanks, Dr. Morrow. We’ll see you soon.”

  After three hours of monitoring and two examinations by Dr. Morrow, we sat inside one of the triage rooms in the maternity ward waiting for the doctor to come back in and talk to us.

  Ivy lay in the hospital bed, her body finally relaxed and her contractions slowed to a complete stop.

  The doctor stepped inside, Ivy’s chart in her hands.

  “How are you feeling, Ivy?” she asked.

  “A lot better.”

  Dr. Morrow stepped over to the contraction and fetal heart monitor and scanned the pages upon pages of recordings.

  “Well, it looks like the medicine stopped your contractions, and both babies are doing just fine,” she updated. “When you got here, you weren’t dilated at all, but on my last check, you were a little over one centimeter. So, it’s very apparent you were definitely having preterm labor. Luckily, we were able to stop it.”

  “Preterm labor?” I asked, and Dr. Morrow nodded.

  “Yes,” she answered and set Ivy’s chart down on the table to give me her full attention. “This is very common in a twins pregnancy, and to be honest, I expected this to happen.”

  “So what do we do now?” Ivy asked.

  “Well, now, you have to stay on bed rest until you deliver.”

  “Bed rest?” Ivy asked, and her lips turned down in a little frown.

  “Yes, you’re going to have to stay off your feet as much as possible and let this guy right here do most things for you,” the doctor said and smiled over at me. “But the good news is that you don’t have to stay here to do that. You can still be in the comfort of your own home.”

  Ivy sighed. “Well, I guess that’s better than nothing, huh?”

  “Yeah.” Dr. Morrow smiled. “It’s better than having to live in the hospital for the next few months. Trust me, I have to sleep here when I’m on call, and it’s no beach resort vacation.”

  Both Ivy and Dr. Morrow laughed.

  But I couldn’t find the energy to join in.

  As I sat there, listening to Ivy talk to Dr. Morrow about her bed rest restrictions, I couldn’t stop my mind from drifting to worrisome territories.

  It was like, all at once, it hit me.

  Sitting right there, on that hospital bed, was my entire life.

  Ivy. My babies. My whole fucking world.

  I offered up a silent prayer.

  God, please let everything go okay. Please keep Ivy and the babies safe. Please let the rest of this pregnancy go smoothly.

  October 28th, 2016

  While Levi finished building the second crib, I sat in the cozy, cushioned cream rocking chair with my feet—more like swollen sausages—resting on the matching ottoman.

  He’d been hard at work all day, and all I could do was sit back and watch.

  I hated it.

  “This would be a lot easier if I could actually help get the nursery ready.”

  Levi glanced over his shoulder and grinned. “Bed rest, baby. Doctor’s orders.”

  “God.” I sighed, a deep cavernous breath out of my lungs. “I’m so fucking tired of being on bed rest.”

  “It’s not too much longer,” he said, and I wanted to smack him.

  It was irrational, sure. But I was a hormonal as hell woman who was eight months pregnant with twins. Surely, that gave me grounds to be insane and unreasonable sometimes.

  Unfortunately, he was on the opposite end of the room, and per doctor’s orders, I was supposed to keep my ass seated and my feet up.

  Not too much longer? Per Dr. Morrow, if I was a good patient and kept myself on bed rest and the babies continued to grow and develop like they should, I might be able to reach the thirty-eight-week mark before I delivered.

  That was nearly a month away.

  You’d think bed rest would be this glorious thing where you just got to sit around and be lazy and let everyone else wait on you hand and foot, but the glitz and glam of the slothful situation lost its shine about seven days in.

  It was at that point that I quickly realized I had been served a house-arrest—wait, no a bed-arrest sentence.

  A girl could only watch so many episodes of The Office, play so many games of Words with Friends, and surf the internet for so many hours in the day. Day after fucking day.

  I was bored.

  And slowly developing a chronic condition of cabin fever.

  I wanted to go for a walk on the beach.

  I wanted to go shopping for baby clothes.

  I wanted to nest and help get the nursery ready.

  I wanted to do every-fucking-thing but sit on my ever-growing ass and watch the world move around me.

  Levi put the last screw into the crib and slid it over beside the other one.

  All white wood and smooth edges, together, they looked amazing.

  “What do you think?” he asked, and I smiled like a mother who couldn’t wait to meet her babies.

  “Perfect.”

  “And what about the armoire?” he questioned and nodded toward the wall by the door.

  “Also perfect.”

  His smile was so full of pride it nearly made my heart burst.

  God, this man, he was my rock.

  While I’d been on bed rest and completely unable to help with anything, he’d been working his ass off to get our house, especially the nursery, together before the babies were born.

  I’d tried to hire people, but Levi had outright refused. “This is my house, dammit,” he’d said. “And I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay some assholes to come in here and do work I’m more than capable of doing.”

  Obviously, I hadn’t planned on hiring assholes, just, you know, regular guys, but it didn’t matter.

  Levi was a determined, stubborn, persistent, prideful kind of man, and when he set his mind to something, that was pretty much the end of it.

  Over the past few weeks, I’d watched him paint nearly every room in our house. Refinish the hardwood floors in the living room. And build and assemble every piece of furniture in this room.

  And that was just the shit I could remember off the top of my head.

  “You did good, baby,” I said and smiled at him from my lazy spot on the rocking chair.

  “I did, didn’t I?” he questioned and shot a cocky wink in my direction.

  I just laughed, and he proceeded to move on to the next task, hanging the paintings I’d had Mariah purchase from a little boutique baby shop in LA. The instant I’d spotted these adorable little framed paintings of baby animals while browsing through Petit Tresor’s online inventory, I had to have them.

  Bunnies and lambs and fawns, they were so sweet and so freaking perfect for the soft, cream tones I’d picked out.

  “You want all of these paintings on this wall?” Levi asked and I nodded.

  The instant he hung up the first one, a picture of two baby bunnies with their noses pressed together, I squealed from the cuteness.

  “Oh my God, they are so perfect I might cry!”

  Before I could stop myself, tears ran down my cheeks in a rush of happy, hormonal, pregnant as fuck emotions.

  Good Lord, I can literally cry at anything these days.

  “You okay over there?” he asked once his blue gaze met mine.

  “Yeah…I’m just…so happy…” I sniffed and swiped at my tears.

  He set down his hammer and nails and walked over to me with a soft smile etched across his full lips. Kneeling down beside me, Levi reached up and brushed a few rogue tears away from my cheeks. “You’re so beautiful, Ivy.”

  A raspy laugh jumped straight out of my lungs. “I’m a mess,” I said through the thick emotion sitting inside my throat. “I cry at everything. Even baby bunny pictures. It’s pathetic.”

  He grinned. “You’re pregnant. Beautiful as fuck and pregnant.”

  “More like pregnant as fuck.”

  “That too.”

  “It’s all your fault,” I said, and he raised his brow.
/>
  “All my fault?”

  “Yep,” I said and patted the top of my rounded belly with both hands. “You are the one who knocked me up.”

  He reached up and placed his hand over both of mine. “I’m so fucking glad I did.”

  I snorted and playfully shoved at his shoulder. “Yeah, that’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one who has to grow two humans inside of you.”

  Levi smirked and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. “You’re doing such a good job, baby,” he whispered against my lips. “I know it’s hard. I know you’re tired and frustrated and ready to not be on bed rest anymore, but just know, these babies are so lucky. They literally have the best mom in the entire world.”

  “You really think that?”

  “I know that.”

  “Are you scared?” I asked. “Like, are you getting nervous about anything?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not scared, just worried,” he said and kissed the top of my nose. “I just want everything to go okay. I want you to be okay. I want the babies to be okay. I guess, if I’m scared about anything, it’s the delivery.”

  “I’m a little scared too,” I whispered. “About the delivery. About being a good mom. About having two newborns at the same time.”

  “You’re the strongest woman I know with the biggest fucking heart. You’ve got this, Ivy,” he said. “That, I’m certain of.”

  He rubbed his hand across my belly, and then leaned down to place his ear against the rounded edge of my stomach. His eyes stared up at me and shone with so much adoration it urged that familiar thickness into my throat.

  “How are our babies today?” he asked and I shrugged.

  “Just doing their normal hiccup song and jumping on my bladder dance.”

  “So, good?”

  I nodded. “Definitely good.”

  “We need to name them,” he whispered.

  “I know.”

  “But it’s pretty hard to name them when you refuse to let us find out what we’re having.”

  “Oh God, not this again.” I sighed and laughed and shoved at his shoulder. He lifted his head off my belly and just smirked down at me, before hopping to his feet and going back to the other side of the room to finish hanging the paintings.

  “Well, you know I’m not wrong here,” he said over his shoulder. “It’d be easier to figure out names if we knew what we’re having.”

  “We just need to have some boys’ and girls’ names ready. And then, once they’re born, I think we’ll instantly know what to name them.”

  We’d been discussing baby names over the past few months.

  It was a constant back-and-forth.

  I’d love a name, but Levi hated it.

  He’d think he’d found the perfect name, and I’d shoot him down because it was the same name of someone I knew—and didn’t like—in high school or an ex-boyfriend or some other random reason that generally made him want to pull his hair out.

  “Wyatt and Jack?”

  “Nope.”

  “Hannah and Annie?”

  Camilla had picked out the names of her kids when she was six years old, but they’d always been under lock and key like a state secret. Every time I tried to think of a name, I got a little sad I’d never managed to weasel the secret out of her.

  But I guess that had been the whole point. She hadn’t wanted me stealing them anyway.

  “No.”

  “Ben and James?”

  “It makes me think of Ben and Jerry.”

  “The ice cream?”

  “Yep. And now, after you finish up in here, we need to go get some ice cream.”

  “You mean, I need to go get some ice cream.”

  “I’d go with you, baby, but doctor’s orders, remember?” I teased him. “Plus, I’m not the one who brought up ice cream. You did.”

  “Pretty sure I never once said ice cream.”

  “That’s not what I heard.”

  He laughed. “So, since you’re already thinking about ice cream, I guess this means we’re at a standstill with baby names?”

  I shrugged. “It’s all your fault, buddy.”

  Levi shook his head and held a nail to the wall. “Woman, I swear to God, you might be the death of me before this pregnancy is done.”

  “Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” I disagreed on a giggle. “You love me.”

  “That’s true.”

  “And you want to get me ice cream.”

  Levi laughed. “Can you at least let me finish hanging these?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  He smirked at me over his shoulder. “So kind of you.”

  That was me, the kindest woman in the whole wide world.

  Well, maybe not. But Levi Fox made one thing clear—even with all the tragedy we’d faced, I was still one of the luckiest.

  November 28th, 2016

  “Oh my God,” Ivy groaned, and I startled awake.

  “Seriously?” she muttered to herself, bringing me further out from under the haze of peaceful dreams.

  Quickly, I opened my eyes, and the soft glow of the early morning sun filtered in through the large windows of our bedroom.

  “Everything okay, baby?” I asked and turned on my side to find her staring up at the ceiling, her brow pinched in frustration.

  “No,” she said and turned her irritated green gaze toward me. “Everything is not okay, Levi. I’m pretty sure I just sleep-peed.”

  “Sleep-peed?”

  “Yes.” She sighed a cavernous sigh and shut her eyes briefly. “Sleep-peed. As in, I just peed all over myself while I was sleeping.”

  It was moments like these that I realized just how much I loved Ivy.

  She would always be the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on.

  Even thirty-seven weeks pregnant with a belly so swollen it nearly tipped her over whenever she stood up.

  And even when she was frustrated and bristling because she’d pissed all over our bed in the middle of the night.

  Still, in my eyes, she was everything.

  She searched my face, and her gaze turned to a glare. “Don’t even think about laughing right now.”

  It took every inch of willpower inside my body not to smile or chuckle or show any signs of amusement on my end.

  “I’m not,” I said and sat up in bed. “And are you sure you peed, sweetheart?”

  “I’m pretty sure. I mean, what else could it be?” she said, but it wasn’t really a question. “Can you just help me out of bed so I can get out of these wet clothes and take a freaking shower?”

  “Hold on,” I said and decided to check the situation out myself. As I lifted the sheets, her eyes grew wide in shock, but I ignored it. My gut instinct told me this wasn’t pee.

  “W-what are you doing, you crazy bastard?” she questioned. “There’s no need for you to see anything going on down there.”

  “Ivy,” I coaxed. “Just let me check something real quick,” I said as I moved down between her legs. Her pajama pants were soaked through, and I leaned forward to smell.

  And just as I suspected, it definitely was not pee.

  “Oh my God! Are you smelling my pee? That’s so gross, Levi!”

  “Pretty sure I’ve licked and kissed and fucked every inch of your body. So, smelling your piss is a non-issue for me.” I grinned up at her. “And it’s not piss, baby. I’m pretty sure your water broke.”

  Her eyes grew as wide as saucers. “What?” she questioned, downright shock consuming every inch of her face. But a few moments after, she moved both hands to her belly, and her mouth turned to a firm line.

  “Are you having contractions?”

  She shrugged, but when I placed both of my hands on her belly, I knew by the tightness of her abdominal muscles that she was.

  “We need to call Dr. Morrow, Ivy,” I said, and I couldn’t stop my smile from consuming my face. “It looks like we’re going to have our babies today.”

  “Our babies?” she asked, and her eyes turned
shiny with emotion. “We’re going to have our babies today?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, sweetheart. I think today is the day we finally get to meet them.”

  She covered her mouth with her hand, and instantly, tears started to stream down her cheeks.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked and moved back up the bed to place both of my hands on her cheeks. “Why are you crying?”

  “It just kind of hit me all at once.” Her voice shook, and she swallowed against the thick emotions. “I’m going to be a mom. I’m going to have two tiny humans to take care of. Two little people who will need me and rely on me, and I just don’t want to fuck anything up.”

  Her words hit me straight in the chest, and I smiled. “You won’t fuck anything up, Ivy,” I said, and she frowned.

  “How do you know that?” she whispered. “What if I’m a bad mom?”

  “That’s impossible,” I said and kissed her lips softly. “You are the strongest woman I’ve ever known, and I know without any doubts or uncertainties that you will be the very best mom to our babies.”

  “You think so?” she questioned, and her voice sounded so small it nearly made me cry.

  “I know so, baby. Plus, you have nothing to be worried or scared about. You’re not in this alone. I’m here, with you, every step of the way.” I placed one last kiss to her lips before I moved off the bed. “Now, let’s get you out of bed and into the shower, and I’ll give Dr. Morrow a call to let her know what’s going on.”

  “Oh my God,” she whispered as I helped her to her feet. “I can’t believe we’re going to have our babies today.”

  “Best day ever.”

  “Yeah,” she muttered and rolled her eyes. “That’s easy for you to say. You don’t have to push two humans out of your body.”

  I smirked down at her as I helped her into the bathroom. “There’s my favorite feisty woman. I was wondering when she’d come back and give me hell.”

  Ivy laughed, and I turned on the shower.

  But before I left the room to call the doctor, she grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

  “I love you,” she said.

  “I love you too.”

  She slipped out of her soiled clothes and tossed them into the hamper. And just before she stepped underneath the warm spray of water, she said, “Now, go call the doctor and let her know I want one of those fucking epidurals as soon as I step foot into that hospital. I’m all for natural births and shit, but dear God, I refuse to try that route with two freaking human beings flying out of my body.”