The Truest Thing (Hart's Boardwalk 4)

“And Ivy is having dinner with her parents and Jeff tonight.” Bailey ran a nervous hand through her hair. “It’s a big deal and I didn’t want to interrupt that, but more than that, if I tell Ivy, she’ll tell Iris and Iris will turn up and …” Bailey shrugged, looking uncertain. “Jess doesn’t seem like she wants a lot of people crowding in.”

“Good call,” Jack assured her.

“Jack.”

He glanced over his shoulder as Coop strode down the corridor, looking more than a little concerned. Jack hurried to meet him, and to his shock, Cooper embraced him, thumping his hand on his back.

“You okay?” Jack’s voice was gruff.

Cooper’s face strained with anxiety, his eyes alarmingly bright.

Fuck.

“They took her away.”

“Away? What the hell for?” Jack could feel their friends surrounding them.

Cooper took a step to the side to address them all. He looked ready to throw up. “Baby went into distress. Something about late decelerations in his heart rate. Late returns to the baseline heart rate after a contraction. Long story short, Baby isn’t getting enough oxygen. They took Jess into surgery.”

“Emergency C-section?” Em stepped forward to grasp Coop’s hand.

He squeezed it tight and nodded.

“She’ll be okay, Jack,” Emery assured him, sounding pretty certain. “It’s the best thing for Jess and your boy.”

Something about her reassurance seemed to break Coop, and he turned away from them, one hand covering his face while his other held on to Em’s.

Emotion choked Jack, seeing his friend so worried and vulnerable. He placed a hand on Coop’s shoulder and squeezed.

“Can I get you anything, bud?”

Coop shook his head. His voice hoarse, he replied, “Just don’t go anywhere.”

Jack’s was equally so. “Never, Coop.”

“Mr. Lawson.”

Every single one of them jerked around to stare at the doctor smiling at Cooper.

Cooper shot out of the uncomfortable waiting room chair. “Are they okay?”

The doctor grinned. “Both mother and baby are in very good health. Would you like to meet your son?”

Relief and joy flooded Jack as he watched Cooper hang his head with probably the same feelings times five million. A sob burst out of Cat, who’d been sitting next to Coop for the last hour. It seemed to surprise the heck out of Dahlia and Em, but Jack had known Cat her entire life and knew she was a big softie under that cool-as-cucumber facade.

Joey moved from Em (his second-favorite person in the world) to go to his mom.

“I’ll be back,” Coop threw over his shoulder as he followed the doctor.

A hand slipped into Jack’s and he turned to look at Em, who’d moved to the seat beside him. She smiled, her eyes bright with happiness.

And Jack was done.

He was done with all the bullshit games, trying to stealth seduce the woman he loved into agreeing to make what was between them real and permanent. When Emery gave birth to their baby, Jack wanted to kiss her breathless in gratitude for giving him the best gift in the world.

He wanted to do that knowing they were going home together with their child.

Raising their child together in the same house, day in, day out.