“Amen,” Ellis agreed. “Is Jose ok? Why’s she in hospital?”
“Baby decided today was its day, and she went into labor while we were at Tabby’s. I took them there in the cruiser and got a call just as they got settled, so I had to leave.”
“I’ll go back with you in case they need anything and you’re called away again,” Ellis offered, shocking me.
Ellis was a great guy. He did all my ink and was one of the most talented artists I knew. He was fun around the guys and had a great personality, but he also held himself back unless he wanted to open up. It was strange, and I hadn’t been sure how to take him when I’d first met him, but over the last three years we’d grown closer and closer, and now I got it. He wasn’t scarred by his past or traumatized by something, he was just watchful until he got to know you.
He also wasn’t assertive with women. I’d known his ex and whenever she’d kicked up a stink, he’d just nod his head and switch off so she’d calm down. Then again, all you had to do was breathe around that one and she’d kick off, so that might explain things and also why she was his ex. Ellis was too mellow and laid back for people who acted like that, but he’d definitely given the relationship all he could until he just couldn’t take it anymore.
“I gotta head back to Lindee,” Hurst told us, sounding disappointed that he wasn’t getting to come. “We’ve got a delivery coming and I need to be there for it. Will you let me know how Jose and the baby go?”
“Absolutely.”
Saying our goodbyes, we all walked over to our respective cars, Ellis deciding to lead the way to the hospital while Hurst went in the opposite direction to where his home was.
I’ll hold my hands up now, I grinned the whole way. I’d managed to get Tabby to go on a date with me and now I was going back to check on her. It was almost domesticated… if you took out the whole arresting her, putting her in a cell until she said yes, her hating my guts, and her sister having a baby stuff. And why that should make me so happy, I didn’t know, but I was just going to go with it.
Parking up, I walked through the entrance of the ER not waiting for Ellis to catch me up, and entered straight into the war zone these places become. It didn’t matter what city or country you were in, injuries and illnesses happened and the world never had enough doctors or nurses to deal with it all at once.
Of course, everyone knew you when you were the sheriff too, so you couldn’t ever go in and not get someone wanting your time. It didn’t mean I couldn’t wish that it would happen that way today though.
“Sheriff,” a voice called behind me, and I only just managed to bite my tongue and not snap at them to fuck off.
Instead, I turned around and smiled. “I’m just on my way to see someone.”
“But…”
Carrying on without stopping, I waved over my shoulder and walked up to the bank of elevators, just stopping myself from pumping my fist in the air when the door opened as I got there. Luck was on my side because no one was waiting to get on it too, so I hit the floor I needed and leaned back against the wall.
After stopping at the desk to find out what room Tabby’s sister was in, I made my way down to it and walked in to see that Jose had done it, and was holding a tiny baby in her arms. I took a quick look to see if I could make out what gender the baby was, but it was in a hospital blanket and had a blue and pink striped hat on its head.
It didn’t feel right to refer to the baby as ‘it’ to its mother, so I kept my greeting neutral. “Congratulations, Ms. Harrison.”
“Hey, Sheriff.” Jose looked exhausted. I wasn’t an expert at giving birth, but I figured if I’d had to do what she had, I’d be out cold. Or crying and holding my crotch.
She’d only given me a quick look and had then returned to looking down at the baby, and I watched her expression soften from exhaustion to love. “I can’t believe I’m holding her finally. In some ways, it feels like I carried her inside me for years, and in others it feels like I only found out yesterday that she existed.”
Clearing my throat, I crossed my arms over my chest and rocked back on my heels. I was a man, and men didn’t typically know what to say at moments like this because we were too busy wondering if the mother was going to cut our dicks off because of what they’d just gone through. I didn’t have that worry because I hadn’t been the other person who’d made the baby with her – and apparently that asshole Larry wasn’t worried about it seeing as how he wasn’t here – but still. What if she projected the dick chopping from him onto me?