Jack still couldn’t understand why her obstetrician had said she could try delivering naturally. All the strain on her heart had to be bad. But no, he’d even asked Marcus to check with Rebecca’s team and the advice was sound in her circumstances. Beth had agreed with the advice, and here she was in the hospital with Steve and Jack could do nothing to help her. He pulled into the hospital parking lot at exactly the same time as Josh, and the two men walked with purpose to the delivery suites. They didn’t talk until they joined Donna and Neil, who were already there.

“How is she?” Josh asked urgently.

“She’s had an epidural, and she’s gotten to three centimeters already,” Donna said. She didn’t sound fearful, she was relaxed and composed, but Jack knew his mom well enough that she was hiding what she really felt. Small tells gave her away, such as the way she gripped Neil’s hand so tightly that it probably hurt, or the way she couldn’t look Jack or Josh in the eyes.

“Is Emily okay?” Josh asked.

“Eden is at home with her.”

“What can we do?” Even though Jack was fully aware he could do fuck-all to help, he had to at least try.

“Coffee, Jack. I think your mom could use some,” Neil said softly.

Jack nodded. He could do that. He had change in his pocket. He could get coffee because it gave him purpose. Signs told him which way to go to find the coffee shop, which sounded a damn sight better than coffee from a cheap machine. Getting to the quiet area, he saw there was no one manning it and abruptly he recalled how early it was, which explained why the place was all closed up. He peered at the sign and saw it opened at six am. He had five minutes to kill, deciding that checking his emails was a good use of his time. He flicked unseeing through a couple spam mails, a request from a ranch in south Texas to send two representatives up for training, and a PDF bill from his feed supplier. Seeing those didn’t fill the five minutes, but by that time at least the shutters were up to reveal the biggest, baddest coffee machine he’d ever seen.

Unfortunately, it also had an equally big sticker on the front of it announcing it was awaiting repair.

In the end he was given four coffees from the less impressive machine in the corner, probably not much better than the vending ones. Still, it was black, hot, and full of caffeine. He didn’t know how long Beth would be in labor, and anything to keep him occupied was a win. He could be the chief coffee finder.

When he got back to Donna, she advised that nothing had changed, and they sat quietly with very little talking for a long time. Jack lost himself in thoughts about Beth and Josh and just how close they all were.

“You remember when Beth was born?” Josh asked suddenly. Obviously Josh had been thinking on the same lines as Jack.

“Yeah,” Jack said immediately. He’d been eleven, Josh was thirteen, or near as, damn it. Everything had changed when their squalling sister had arrived at the D. Even at eleven, Jack had the impression Beth was a result of his parents making up after their constant fighting. He wasn’t stupid. He could see that his dad hadn’t been interested in Beth. Not so him and his brother. They doted on her, especially when it was discovered she was ill. She was twenty-four now, a wife and a mother, but he and Josh would forever be the big brothers who watched over her.

“You remember when she was sick all over your saddle?”

Jack huffed a laugh. “Only ’cause you fed her an entire package of cookies and she was allergic. Took me ages to get that saddle clean. What about her first boyfriend, he was what, fourteen? We went all Van Damme on his ass.”

This time it was Josh’s turn to laugh. “We scared the shit out of him.”

“Only because you told him I was a cowboy with a gun, and I would hunt him down if he hurt Beth.”

“Well, you were a cowboy with a gun,” Donna interjected. “And I bet you would have hunted him down if he upset Beth.”

Jack quirked a smile. “I sure would.”

“Hell, you married a man to save her life,” Riley’s voice came from behind them and held laughter. Jack was never happier to see his husband, especially considering Riley had a tray of Starbucks and Hayley held a box of doughnuts. Jack had no worries about Hayley hearing the soft teasing remark. She knew all about how her daddy had met Pappa. It was never a secret, they’d just played down the whole blackmail thing—they’d explain that later should they need to.

Riley leaned down and kissed Jack.

“Was worth it,” Jack said with a grin.

Riley shook Josh’s hand, then Neil’s, and finally he gathered Donna up in one of the patented Riley hugs. She burrowed into the hug and clung to him fiercely, another tell that she was looking for support.

“I got doughnuts,” Hayley announced.

“Have,” Riley, Jack, and Josh all corrected her.

She pouted and rolled her eyes, which Jack thought still remained cute even though she was twelve. “Whatever,” she said and thrust the doughnuts out to Neil. Then she proceeded to hug Josh and her Gramma, then Neil while at the same time relieving him of one of the sugared goodies.

Jack ate two and drank real coffee and finally felt more human.

The door to the delivery suite opened, and a woman in scrubs popped her head out. Jack and Josh immediately stood.

“Beth is asking for her mom,” the midwife said softly. Donna passed her coffee to Neil and took a moment to straighten her shirt and jeans before inhaling and nodding. “Nothing to worry about,” the midwife added. Jack exchanged glances with Riley. Didn’t matter what the midwife said, Jack would still worry.

Riley did his bit by keeping the conversation flowing, talking about the twins and Max and oil and what Sandra looked like without her makeup and pearls at six am this morning. Jack simply listened and was never happier than when Hayley sat next to him and leaned against his arm—her presence was another distraction.

At nine thirty the door opened again. This time Donna came out and she was grinning from ear to ear.

“A boy, six pounds, eleven ounces. They’re both doing well. We can go in to see her in a while.”

Jack hugged everyone and when they were finally allowed into the delivery room, he was stunned at how beautiful Beth looked, at peace with a tiny scrap of a baby in her arms and Steve next to her, the proud daddy.

Neil had a decent camera on his phone and took enough photos to chart every one of the baby’s first few minutes with her family.

Jack pressed a kiss to Beth’s forehead then to the baby’s.

“Hey, Zachary Murray,” he said gently.

“We changed our minds,” Beth said as she looked at a grinning Steve. “My family is everything to me and Steve said we should name our son Campbell, to keep the family name.”

Donna smiled through tears and Jack was choked. His dad may well have been an idiot, but Donna had loved him and his family name meant something to him.

“His middle name is Jay,” Steve said proudly. “After Jack and Josh, his uncles.”

Jack didn’t know what to do with himself. He was overcome with emotion, and Josh looked as wrecked as he felt.

“Cam for short,” Beth added.

“Then welcome, Campbell Jay Murray, Cam for short,” Donna whispered softly. “Welcome to the family.”

Chapter 3

Riley opened his eyes to bright sunshine, and his immediate emotion, well the one after his brain kicked into action, was panic. He couldn’t understand why. Beth was okay; she’d gone home yesterday from hospital and Cam was a good baby who seemed to do little else but eat and sleep. So why was he panicked?

He looked at the clock. Eight am and there was no noise from the twins. Jack was in bed with him—he could feel the weight of his husband against him.

Dread skewered him, and he jumped out of bed in an instant and was at the twin’s door in seconds. He stubbed his toe on the doorjamb, but even that didn’t stop him from stumbling into the room.