92 Pacific Boulevard - Debbie Macomber [105]
“Teri and the babies will be fine,” Christie whispered. “My sister’s a trouper.”
Apparently James had nothing to add and after a moment she leaned her head against his shoulder. Then his arm slipped all the way around her…
After another thirty or forty minutes, Bobby raced back into the waiting room, flapping his arms like a bird about to take flight. “Three boys!” he cried. “Perfect, small…but alive. They’re being put in a preemie machine…Teri’s fine.”
“Names?” Christie managed to ask as she leaped to her feet. Her sight had blurred with tears.
“Names, names…Oh, yes, names. Robbie, for me, Jimmy for James and Christopher for Christie.” Grinning, he hurried back to rejoin his wife and three sons.
Instinctively Christie turned to James. At the same time he turned toward her and then, without even knowing who moved first, they were in each other’s arms, clinging hard.
“I knew everything would be all right,” Christie said with a sob. The truth was, she hadn’t known and had been frantic with worry.
“A little boy named after me,” James whispered into her hair. It seemed almost more than he could take in.
“And me.” Christie felt the same way. She’d never dreamed her sister would do something like this. Teri was close to their brother, Johnny, and Christie had assumed that if she was going to name any of the triplets after a family member, it would be him.
“And Bobby, too,” James said.
Bobby was elated. He wasn’t one to openly display his feelings, but he did now. The love and joy in his face was enough to reduce Christie to another embarrassing rush of tears. She wiped them from her cheeks, using both hands, as James continued to hold her.
“A boy named Jimmy.” His voice was awed.
They still clung to each other and neither seemed willing to let go first. Christie rested her head against James’s chest. She heard the strong, even beat of his heart. James had come back—to Teri and Bobby, to her. He wasn’t like the other men in her life.
Just when Christie was about to speak, they were interrupted.
“Christie?”
James released her and Christie turned to see Rachel Peyton, Teri’s friend from the salon.
“Did Teri have the babies?” Rachel asked eagerly.
Christie broke into a wide grin. “Three boys. Bobby came to tell us a few minutes ago.”
“Are they…?”
“Small but perfect,” Christie said. “I don’t know the exact weights. Bobby was too excited to give us any more details.”
“They’re early.”
“How’d you find out Teri was in labor?” she asked, curious to learn who had contacted Rachel.
“I phoned her,” James said. “Teri asked me to.”
As if her legs were no longer able to support her, Rachel staggered to a chair and sat down.
Christie crouched beside her. “Are you okay?”
Rachel pressed her hand to her heart. “I…I thought I was going to pass out.”
Teri’s friend looked ill. When she closed her eyes, Christie glanced at James, who nodded, obviously aware of what she meant. He left and came back a few minutes later with a nurse.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Rachel insisted, although she seemed anything but fine.
The nurse escorted her into an examining room, and once again James and Christie were alone.
“I feel like I’ve worked an eight-hour shift,” Christie said, suddenly exhausted.
“I do, too.” His smile held her gaze.
“I…I should probably go home and make a few phone calls.” But Christie didn’t want to leave.
James put his arm around her waist. “Don’t go.”
Indecision kept her silent.
“Not yet,” he cajoled. “Stay a bit longer.”
“I would like to see the babies,” she murmured. That was true, but it wasn’t the only reason she felt inclined to linger.
“Little Jimmy.”
“Little Christopher,” Christie said, grinning wildly.
James brought her even closer to his side.
They walked down the corridor like that, and after a long sigh, Christie looked up at James. “If you ever leave me again, I’ll…I don’t know what I’ll do, but I guarantee you it won’t be pleasant. Furthermore