Checkmate

Chapter 35

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Haley, Jason’s wife and the cutest little thing she’d ever seen, said, again, as she pushed her glasses back up her nose and shot another nervous look around the dark parking lot.

“Relax,” Rory said as she continued to search through Connor’s rather impressive collection of tools that he had stored in the truck bed’s huge toolbox. “Aunt Megan just had the seventh set of desserts put out. We’ve got a good twenty minutes before they’re done eating.”

“Actually, we should have thirty,” Zoe said, Trevor’s wife and one of the most entertaining women that she’d ever met, said as she risked a glance from their crouched position in the back of Connor’s truck.

“You didn’t put out any of your baked goods, did you?” Rory asked, trying to mask the fear in her voice as she shot Zoe a look only to find the woman rolling her eyes.

“I’m not allowed to bake while I’m pregnant,” she muttered, lovingly rubbing her very large stomach as she gave up crouching and carefully dropped to a sitting position with Haley’s help.

“Trevor’s afraid of the babies getting food poisoning,” Haley explained, shooting Zoe an apologetic smile and a shrug when the woman gasped in outrage.

“My baking isn’t that bad!” Zoe argued.

“Sweetie,” Rory said, pausing in her search to reach over and give Zoe’s hand a quick squeeze, “there isn’t a Bradford alive that will willingly touch your baked goods.”

“I overheard Jason and Trevor telling everyone that you baked my cupcakes so that they wouldn’t have to share,” Haley added softly as she took Zoe’s other hand into hers. “Not one single Bradford will touch them. In fact, they actually demanded that everything the guys claimed that you baked be taken away and given its own section.”

“Oh,” Zoe mumbled, her shoulders sagging in defeat. “That would explain why Bradfords kept blocking me from going to the table overflowing with cupcakes, cookies and brownies and telling me that they weren’t good for the babies. I thought they were just afraid of the babies getting fat.”

“Nope, Bradfords don’t get fat,” Rory said with a shrug as she once again turned her attention back to the task at hand.

“Lucky bastards,” Zoe muttered and she couldn’t help but agree.

Bradfords could eat whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted and never had to worry about getting fat. The same could be said for any of the James that had Bradford blood. Rory didn’t mention to Zoe that she’d also been blessed with that little problem, minus the insane appetite, because it would upset the very hormonal woman who was constantly struggling with her weight. The only time Zoe didn’t worry about gaining weight was when she was pregnant, which was understandable since she was pregnant with Bradford twins and it was actually a chore to eat enough to keep her unborn babies satisfied.

“He’s gotta have one in here,” Rory mumbled to herself as she carefully sorted through Connor’s impressive assortment of tools. She’d already picked out a few that she was going to steal later, but none of them would do for what she needed right now.

“Maybe you should wait until next week,” Haley said, sounding nervous, which was a tad insulting. “Your doctor’s appointment is on Tuesday. Maybe you should leave it up to him to cut your cast off.”

“I know how to handle a saw, Haley,” Rory said, sighing in exasperation.

“On wood!” Haley snapped. “It’s different from using a saw to cut something off your arm without taking the arm with it!”

“It will be fine,” Rory said dismissively as she continued her search.

“Um, I kind of have to agree with Haley on this one,” Zoe said, shifting uncomfortably and making her wonder how exactly they were going to get the eight month pregnant woman off the back of the truck. Getting her up here had been a miracle. She really didn’t see getting her off going well. Nope, not well at all.

“It’s not a big deal,” Rory said, hoping they’d just drop it.

“If it’s not a big deal, then why are we sneaking around to do it?” Haley asked.

“We’re not sneaking around,” Rory said, carefully moving the large circular saw to the side in hopes that she’d be able to find something smaller and more manageable.

“Then what would you call sending us text messages, asking us to sneak off with you when it’s dark and wait until the men are distracted to meet you at Connor’s truck and to keep our mouths shut?” Zoe mused, making her lips twitch.

“Female bonding?” Rory suggested, grinning when Zoe and Haley glared at her.

“Over power tools?” Haley asked, laughing.

“Exactly.”

“I’d rather bond over cupcakes,” Zoe mumbled, rubbing her stomach and Rory could sympathize with the women. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like to carry Bradford twins. Trevor let it slip that it cost twice Jason’s monthly food budget to feed Zoe while she was pregnant. That was frightening, because during the week that Jason stayed with them, he must have gone through-

“Ah ha! I found it!” she said, pulling a rather beautiful handheld skill saw with what looked like a fresh blade out of the toolbox. It would be perfect just as long as she got the angle just right and the saw didn’t shake too much.

“I-I really don’t think this is such a good idea,” Haley mumbled nervously as Zoe nodded in agreement.

She opened her mouth to point out once again that she knew what she was doing when two large arms suddenly wrapped around her from behind and yanked her clean from the truck, making her drop the saw and all three of them scream a bit hysterically. Before she could put up much of a fight, she found herself pulled tightly against a body that under normal circumstances she would have loved to touch, but the jackass had scared the living hell out of her and for that he would have to pay.

Unfortunately for her, he had her in a pretty good hold, but she wasn’t worried because she knew that her cousins had her back. They would kick his ass and make him pay for scaring them. She didn’t even bother to bite back the smug smile that played with her lips at the thought of the three of them kicking Connor’s ass and bringing him to heel. He more than deserved it and it would suit him right to get his ass kicked by the three of them.

Any minute now her cousins would come to her defense, she told herself as she waited for the ass whooping to begin. When a minute passed and she didn’t see any movement in the back of Connor’s truck she started to wonder what was holding up her rescue.

“A little help here would be nice!” she snapped, ignoring Connor’s rich chuckle as it teased her senses.

“Um,” she heard Zoe clear her throat and she tried to make the woman out, but it was too dark now to make out much of anything but a few shadows, “about that. I can’t really move. In fact, I think I’m stuck here so you might be on your own for a few minutes.”

She’d prefer Zoe’s help since the woman knew how to kick some ass, but that was okay. She still had Haley and even though Haley wouldn’t be her first choice in a fight, the woman always had her friends’ backs so she knew that she was all-

“If someone could help me find my glasses I would be more than happy to kick some ass for you, but I seem to have dropped them when Connor scared the hell out of me and I can’t see a thing,” Haley explained and Rory knew that this battle was over and that Connor won.

She really hated it when she lost to him.

Connor chuckled as he pressed a kiss against her nape and let her go, making sure that she didn’t stumble. “If I help you find your glasses would you promise not to kick my ass?” Connor asked, sounding deeply amused and making her smile, damn it.

Haley let out a long put out sigh before she grudgingly said, “Fine. I won’t kick your ass.”

“I really appreciate that,” Connor said, laughing as he climbed onto the back of the truck from the sounds of it.

“As you should,” Haley said with a sniff.

Feeling like an idiot just standing there, she quickly climbed back into the truck, thankful for the dim moonlight that stopped her from stepping on someone, and carefully joined the search. Zoe did her best to stay out of everyone’s way, only making a sound when she thought someone might step on her. Five minutes later, Haley had her glasses back and decided to commit the ultimate betrayal.

She ratted on Rory’s ass.

“She was going to cut her cast off with a saw!” Haley said, smartly moving behind Connor, who she really couldn’t see that well, but was guessing wasn’t happy with the news.

“Was she now?” Connor asked, sounding thoughtful seconds before a small flashlight was turned on. When the beam of light landed on the toolbox that she may have broken into, she may have made a move to make a run for it. Before she could manage to turn around, Connor had her good hand in his, effectively holding her prisoner.

Haley on the other hand did manage to make a run for it.

Traitor.

“Um, if someone could help me up and off the truck, I’d really like to make my escape now,” Zoe said softly, probably wishing like hell that she could have made her escape when Haley did. Not that she could blame her friends for ditching her ass. She really couldn’t. She just wished that she could join them and get away from Connor before he flipped out on her for doing something that he probably thought was stupid.

“I’ll help you down in a minute, Zoe,” Connor said, before his attention shifted right back to her. “Don’t move,” he warned as he released her.

For a moment she considered her chances of making a clean escape and although they were pretty good, she couldn’t just leave Zoe here. So with a sigh, she nodded and didn’t move, wondering, hell hoping, that Connor would at least wait until he helped Zoe down and the woman had a chance to waddle away before he laid into her.

“Could you hold this light and keep it pointed on the toolbox?” Connor asked Zoe.

A bit curious, she watched as Connor reorganized his tools while searching through them. When he managed to pull out a smaller skill saw with an even sharper looking blade, she had to smile. He’d bitched a few times over the last couple of weeks about allowing some quack that specialized in runny noses go near her arm with a saw. He was so damn overprotective of her and she loved that about him.

“Do you trust me?” Connor asked, closing the lid on the toolbox as he double checked the saw’s battery and blade. If it had been anyone else, even her brothers who she loved and knew would never hurt her on purpose, she would have said no. But, this was Connor. The man that she loved and the man that she was just starting to realize would never do anything to hurt her. So to answer his question, she placed her arm on top of the toolbox.

Connor leaned in and kissed her. “That’s my girl.”

“Just be quick. I want to go swimming,” Rory said, hoping to do a little more than that actually.

All summer they’d been restricted in their activities because of her arm and tonight, tonight she wanted to go skinny dipping with Connor. She hadn’t come to the reunion with that in mind, but when she’d been out walking a little while ago, trying to get over the way her father had been treating her, she stumbled upon a secluded little area not too far away with the perfect spot for a small fire and plenty of privacy. It would definitely be the perfect spot for a little skinny dipping and making love to Connor. As soon as they got rid of the cast, she planned on doing just that.

“I don’t think that I can watch this,” Zoe mumbled, her voice shaking, but thankfully her hold on the flashlight didn’t waver.

“Are you ready?” Connor asked, giving her one last chance to back out.

“No!” was Zoe’s answer, but she trusted her guy so with one nod, Connor turned on the saw and touched the blade to her cast.

She watched him work and was impressed by his focus and handling of the saw. He kept his cut straight and even, his hands steady. In a matter of seconds he was done, the saw was off and she was pretty sure that Zoe was mumbling something and hyperventilating a tad bit, but she was too excited to finally have this damn cast off to really pay attention.

“How does it feel?” he asked, once the cast was ripped off her arm.

“It feels good,” she said, sighing with relief to finally be able to move her hand and arm without that cast getting in the way.

“Um, actually it kind of hurts,” Zoe said, drawing their attention just as she leaned in to kiss Connor.

“What hurts?” Connor asked, looking like he wasn’t about to give up that kiss when Zoe’s next words stopped them both dead in their tracks.

“The contractions. My water breaking didn’t feel great either, but the contractions definitely hurt,” Zoe said as Rory moved past Connor and took the flashlight from Zoe, careful not to flash the light in her friend’s eyes and when she saw Zoe practicing her breathing exercises, she knew that the night just got interesting, mostly because they were a good hour away from the hospital.

“Your water broke?” Connor asked, fidgeting and for the first time in his life, not looking all that confident. Not that she could blame him since all she wanted to do at the moment was start screaming for help and give into panic.

“If your water broke then why didn’t you say anything?” Connor demanded, truly looking at a loss at what to do next. Give the man a saw and he was cool, give the man a woman in labor and he shattered.

“Because I didn’t want you cutting off her arm, you jackass!” Zoe cried out, her words ending in a scream as she grabbed onto Connor’s arm and squeezed. Rory could tell by the strain on his face that it hurt, but he took it.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“You should be!” Zoe snapped. “You scared the hell out of me and now I’m about to give birth to two Bradfords out in the middle of nowhere with no drugs! Do you have any idea how big a Bradford’s head is? Huh? Do you?” Zoe demanded, between panting. Rory would have offered Zoe her hand to squeeze, but her broken arm just healed and she really wasn’t eager to have it broken again.

“I’m going to call for an ambulance,” Connor said, pulling his phone out of his pocket just as company arrived.

“What the hell is going on?” Trevor demanded, climbing onto the truck. He went to put his arms around Zoe, but stumbled back as the small woman suddenly turned the most vicious glare that she’d ever seen on the man.

“You!” Zoe said accusingly as her eyes narrowed to slits on her husband.

For a moment Trevor simply sat there, looking at his wife until finally he sighed and gestured to Connor. “Do you have any rope?”

“Rope?” Connor repeated as Rory asked, “What the hell do you need rope for? She’s in labor!”

“It’s to stop her from trying to rip my balls off,” Trevor said with a fond smile for his wife, who looked like she wanted to do just that.

Definitely the most interesting family reunion, she thought an hour later when the ambulance finally showed up just as the twins arrived and she decided against telling Connor that she was “late.”