Mommy Midwife by Cassie Miles Read Free Book Online Page B

corners of her mouth. “My sister.”
    “Answer it.”
    She talked for half a minute. Her frown deepened.
    Thrusting the phone toward him, she said, “It’s my dad.”
    Reluctantly, Troy took the call. His relationship with Olivia had progressed more in the past forty-five minutes than it had in eight months. They were enjoying each other’s company, growing accustomed to each other.
    He was pretty sure that talking to Richard Laughton would change the situation.

Chapter Five
    Olivia glared at the closed bedroom door where Troy had retreated for his conversation with her father. Apparently, he needed privacy to discuss how the two of them would handle the potential threat to her life. Heaven forbid that she be consulted.
    For most of her life, she’d been proving to her parents that she was an independent woman who was fully capable of managing her own life. Sometimes, Mom got it. But Dad? No way. He still tried to hold her hand when they crossed the street. No doubt, he and Troy would come up with a plan to swaddle her in bubble wrap and lock her away in a fortress until the bad guys were gone.
    Not that she blamed them for being protective. She would, of course, do anything necessary to keep herself and the baby safe. But she couldn’t let her dad and Troy take over her life, especially not when it came to how she would deliver this baby. This was her area of expertise, and she’d spent a significant chunk of time imagining what it would be like when she was in labor. Her hope was to bring this child into the world in the most natural way possible. The atmosphere would be serene, filled with light and love.
    From behind the bedroom door, she heard Troy laughing. The sound grated on her ears. Were they swapping spy stories? Telling secret agent jokes? Exchanging passwords? Though she told herself that it was a good thing for them to get along with each other, she had serious misgivings. If they partnered up, these two could get into all kinds of trouble.
    As she cleared the dinner plates off the table onto the room service cart, she thought about Troy’s announcement that he was becoming a trainer at Camp Lejeune. His rationale for leaving the front lines of action made sense. It was a life change— his life. But what did it mean? What were the further implications? He hadn’t actually said that he was going to buy a house near Camp Lejeune and settle down with her and the baby.
    In fact, he hadn’t proposed since she’d seen him. She didn’t think he’d changed his mind about getting married. After all, one of his phone messages said, “Marry me.” But he hadn’t pushed. Was it possible that he’d finally taken the hint? And why did that make her feel somewhat bereft?
    With their room service dinner cleaned up, she eyeballed the sofa and the huge television screen. If she sat, she might not get up again; maneuvering her weight had become something of an issue. Probably she should skip the sit-down and just crawl into bed. After her long, exhausting day with the triplets, she ought to sleep as soundly as a hibernating grizzly. But she didn’t feel tired.
    She rested her hands on her belly and felt the baby move. Looking down at the bulge, she asked, “Should I go to bed?”
    The kicks were an indecipherable Morse code that she interpreted to mean that the baby wanted her to stay awake for a while. She needed to think about how much danger she was in and about seeing her parents tomorrow and about Troy.
    Their dinner conversation had been strangely stimulating. Even with the wire-rimmed glasses, he looked like a man of action—tall and strong with a square, masculine jaw and deep-set, dark eyes that were constantly alert. As they’d talked, he’d allowed her a glimpse of another side to his personality. He’d been a history major in college. He read scholarly books. He was smart and sexy. Who knew?
    She went through the door into the corner room with the hot tub. Two of the walls were paneled, and the