Claiming the Drakos Heir

She had to get it together for the baby. And for Apollo. He made a point of acting tough for her, but she could see in his eyes that he was afraid of this premature birth. He wasn’t the only one.

This was her fault. She shouldn’t have been lifting things yesterday. At the time, they hadn’t been that heavy. She hadn’t thought she was doing anything wrong. She’d just wanted to get the work over with so she could go home and rest.

She should have listened to Apollo when he’d told her to stop doing things. She should have gone to the mainland with everyone else. She should have been more prepared.

The regrets and—

Pain started again in her midsection, putting a halt to her rambling thoughts. The shortness between the contractions didn’t escape her attention. She grabbed her phone so she could start timing them.

As the pain increased, she used the skills she’d learned from the midwife on the island and the prenatal class. She desperately tried to recall everything they’d told her. She just never thought she would be having the baby here.

She knew at nine minutes apart, she would still have some time before the baby. They needed all the time they could get to get off this island and to the hospital on the mainland.

She’d truly thought she would have more time before going into labor. This was her first baby and everyone had assured her that first babies were notoriously late. This baby apparently didn’t want to be like everyone else, as it was coming a couple of weeks early—eager to put its stamp upon this world. And there was nothing and no one to stop it.

Now that the panic over the impending arrival of the baby was subsiding, she knew that she couldn’t just lie here. The storm wasn’t letting up—

Thunk!

Something heavy had hit the roof before rolling away. Popi glanced upward. She was relieved that there was no hole in the roof. The winds howled as greenery smacked the side of the bungalow. The storm wasn’t letting up. In fact, it was getting worse.

With the tiny kitten cowering in her arms, she said, “Don’t worry, Shadow. We’ll be okay.”

She had to get to the storm shutters on the windows and close them. The problem with that was they were on the outside of the bungalow. And she didn’t relish the idea of heading out into the storm. But with Apollo already off trying to reach the mainland, that only left her.

She placed the kitten in a pile of blankets. “Stay there. I’ll be back.”

And so she struggled to her feet and headed for the door. It was pitch-black out. Definitely not a good sign. And the thought of Apollo being out there, alone, worried her.

He just had to be safe. She prayed he would return to her unharmed. She didn’t know how she’d get through this without him.

He may have made mistakes in the past. And he may not have been there for his family when he should have been, but he wasn’t the same man her sister had told her about.

The old Apollo—she could imagine him heading for the door at the first sign of trouble. He wouldn’t have stayed with her, cooked for her and risked his life trying to get her help.

Maybe he wasn’t exactly doing all of this for her, but he was doing it for the baby. At last he was learning that being part of a family meant being there for the good and the not-so-good.

Nile would be proud of his brother. She was proud of Apollo. She just wished he’d hurry back. With each passing minute, her worry escalated.

* * *

The fierce wind and rain stung his face.

The night was pitch-black.

Apollo squinted, trying to see where he was going. He stumbled over a tree root but somehow managed to stay upright. With the power outage, there were no lights to mark the path.

Apollo refused to be stopped. Walking against the fierce winds made each step a challenge. But in his mind’s eye, he saw Popi’s face contorted in pain and he remembered his father’s mutterings that if they had gone to the hospital sooner, his mother might have lived. Apollo didn’t know if that was true or not, but he also knew getting help as soon as possible was most definitely in everyone’s best interest.

Thankfully he’d been down to the marina a number of times that day, hauling the overflow items that wouldn’t fit in the island’s warehouse. The extras were shipped to the mainland to be stored at another location. At the time, he hadn’t been thrilled about taking trip after trip to the dock, but now he was grateful that he was able to draw on those memories to navigate his way in the dark.