Agent Blevins touched his ear. “She’s in the car, sir. Agent Perkins will deliver her to the hospital shortly.”

Trenton seemed satisfied and put his phone away before approaching the nurse’s station. A woman with big green eyes and a platinum blond bob led us to the waiting room, even though most of us knew where it was already. Travis and Abby’s third child would be the sixth Maddox grandbaby born in Eakins. We were very familiar with the maternity ward.

“In here,” the nurse said. “Snacks and drink machines are out and around the corner.” She gestured to the hall and to her right. “Someone will be in to update you as soon as they know something.”

“The baby is early, but he’ll be all right, right?” I asked.

The nurse smiled. “Our entire staff is waiting and ready to make sure he’s given the best care possible.”

I turned to my family. “I guess he heard Stella was coming and couldn’t wait to meet her,” I said with a contrived smile. No one responded except for Shepley, who simply patted my leg. For James and Jessica’s sake, I tried not to show any worry. Abby’s due date was still seven weeks away, and even though the delivery might go smoothly, we wouldn’t know how the baby was doing until after he was born. It was enough of a hint that the adults were so quiet, very different from the giddy excitement the other times our family had spent time in that room.

The nurse returned with blankets and pillows. “These are if the kids want to rest for a bit. Abby’s water broke. They’ve done an ultrasound, and the doctor has evaluated the baby. He feels that to avoid the risk of infection and complications for both mom and baby, he will let the labor proceed.”

“Can I see her?” I asked, trying to keep my voice level.

The nurse thought about it for half a second and then nodded. “Of course.”

I kissed Shepley quickly on the lips and waved to the kids. He switched off the light, and Trenton and Olive began making pallets on the couches. The kids whined before crawling in.

“Mommy!” Emerson cried.

“I’ll be right down the hall,” I said. “Daddy will tuck you in, and I’ll sit with you when I get back.”

“When will you be back?” Eli asked, pouting. He was trying not to cry.

“Soon. Before you fall asleep. Snuggle with your brother until then.”

Eli turned his back to me, hooking his arm over Emerson. Shepley sat next to Ezra and winked at me before I left them to follow the nurse to Abby’s room.

The hard soles of my shoes echoed in the hallway, the warm color of the wallpapered walls a contrast to the cold, white tile floors. Generic pictures of mother and babies, traditional families with infomercial smiles, lined the walls, selling their brand of normality. Most people would go home dealing with a colicky baby, or postpartum depression, or the struggles of a broken family. Abuse, drugs, insecurity, poverty, fear. First-time moms left this place every day, going home with the vision we see in every diaper commercial of a mother rocking her sleeping infant in an immaculate nursery. Within a month, those same moms would be begging their baby in the wee hours of the morning to sleep, answering the door with vomit on her shirt, and choosing whether to shower or eat, clean, or sleep. I wondered how many four-member families actually left the maternity ward financially stable and emotionally whole because our baby was coming into the world greeted by two great parents who were crazy in love and a large, loving extended family yet still needed the protection of federal agents. What was normal, anyway?

I paused in the middle of the hall, the circumstances finally coming together. Abby’s father, Mick, was tangled with the Vegas mafia. She’d had more than one run-in with them to keep him alive. My intuition told me Mick was involved, but I couldn’t figure out what Thomas had to do with it. Why would they go after him?

The nurse stopped in front of a door and flattened one hand on the wood, the other on the handle. “Everything all right?” she asked, pausing when she realized I wasn’t right behind her.

“Yes,” I said, joining her outside the door.

Just as she began to push the door open, another nurse yanked on it from the inside, nearly running into us.

“I was just bringing her sister in to—”

“I’m sorry,” the nurse said. “No visitors at this time. NICU will be standing by. She’s having the baby tonight.” She shouldered past us, and I peeked in as the door slowly closed. Several more nurses were working feverishly around Abby, but I couldn’t see her. I caught just a glimpse of Travis, looking over his shoulder at me with fear in his eyes.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

TAYLOR

THE MOMENT THE WHEELS OF THE PLANE touched down at O’Hare in Chicago, I switched my phone off the airplane mode and watched as the messages filled my lock screen. Before we’d taken off, Dad said everyone was at the hospital with Travis and Abby. According to the messages, the baby still hadn’t arrived, but Abby was close.

I scrolled down the partial messages before stopping at one and tapping the screen. It was a group message for Tyler, Falyn, Ellie, and me from Shepley.

A federal agent will be at baggage claim to bring you all to the hospital. He’ll have a van, plate number 978 GOV. DO NOT get a ride with anyone else. Not even a cab. Will explain later.

I frowned and looked back at my brother, holding up my phone. He was a few rows back but nodded, knowing what I meant. I tilted my phone to show Falyn, who was sitting across the aisle from Hollis and me with Hadley. She leaned over, squinting her eyes. She’d needed glasses for at least two years but refused.

“Can you see it?” I asked.

“Yes, I can see it,” she snapped back, confusing my need for her be informed with a dig.

“Baby,” I began, but she was already looking out the window, hugging Hadley to her side.

I sat back, resting my head against the headrest.

“She’s just tired,” Hollis said.

I patted his knee without making eye contact. We were all tired. It made me sad to hear Hollis trying to make excuses for why we didn’t listen to each other anymore. Somewhere along the way, we started hearing insults instead of questions. I sighed. I didn’t know how to fix it.

The seat belt sign turned off, and a ding sounded over the PA system. Hollis jumped up, opening the bin and handing Hadley her carry-on to her before getting Falyn’s and mine. He made me prouder every day. Moving to Colorado Springs had made him into a little man, trying to take care of everyone.

I hugged him to me, kissed his head, and then gestured to his sister. “I just got a text from Uncle Shep. Aunt Abby is having her baby, so they sent a driver. Don’t run off. Both of you stay where I can see you.”

They nodded.

“I mean it,” I continued. “It’s important. You can’t even go to the bathroom alone.”

“What’s going on, Dad?” Hollis asked. “Does it have to do with Uncle Tommy?”

“Yes, but we don’t know what.”

They nodded again, trading glances.

We moved in a slow line down the aisle and out of the fuselage, staying in one unit with Tyler’s family up the Jetway and into the terminal. I could tell Tyler was on edge, looking around with his family’s bags either on his back, over his shoulders, or being pulled by a handle. Ellie was holding their sleeping son, keeping his head steady on her shoulder.