************
Hours later found everyone gathered at the Parker residence. Jake and Alex had gone by Cherry Jameson's apartment and she agreed to testify to the illegal activities she knew about Brunell. Prostitution, drug trafficking and illegal arms sales. She surprised everyone by producing the six kilos of cocaine she was stashing for him.
"So...I had a UC op going on right under my nose," Captain George stated unbelievingly. "Damn...what did you say your name is?"
"Shay."
"I'm very sorry for what happened to you," George said sorrowfully.
"What did happen, anyway?" Frankie asked from her position reclining on the couch.
Shay's eyes clouded with unshed tears and was never so thankful when Frank pulled her off the arm of the chair she was perched on and onto his lap. She laid her head wearily on his shoulder and did not answer Frankie's question.
"Frank? I mean...those comments Brunell made at his house...." Alex said softly.
Frank hugged Shay to him all the while stroking her hair. "Brunell attacked Shay last night...but from what she's told me...she got the better of the bastard," he added, kissing her forehead softly.
Shay hiccupped and a hand flew to her mouth. "Ohmygod...I'm going to be sick again."
The occupants of the room never had a chance to comment before Frank was headed toward the half-bath off the kitchen with Shay held firmly in the cradle of his arms.
All eyes questioned them silently when they retuned to the den and Frank sat back down in the chair he had fled. He refused to let loose of Shay, even though she tried to move from his chair. "Stay put," he said, sitting her firmly on his lap. "I'm never letting go of you."
A pale and ill Shay laughed tiredly. "Well, that's just going to be fun when we stop at the rest areas on the way home and you go in the ladies room with me."
Frank chuckled. "Well, okay...maybe I'll let you go once in a while."
"Shay?" Frankie questioned with a twinkle in her eye. "You got something to tell us? Like maybe we'll be seeing another baby Donovan in a few months?"
Frank shifted enough to look into his wife's face, but knew her answer from the sad look she carried.
"No, Frankie-girl. I've had my regular monthly...no indications of any kind."
"Oh," she replied. "I'm sorry, sis...it's just..."
Shay smiled weakly. "It's okay...really. I think it's just nerves. It...the ah...brought back a lot of bad memories."
Frankie's hand shifted out of Jake's hand to her stomach. Her eyes narrowed just a breath as she felt a tiny twinge in the small of her back. She closed her eyes and breathed deep for a moment, hoping it would pass and was just another leftover of the false labor.
Jake moved to stand behind the chair the Donovan's occupied. He placed a tender hand on Shay's head and when she looked up, he said, "I'm so sorry, Shay. Can you ever forgive me?"
Shay reached up and curled her fingers in his hand. "Uncle Jake...there's nothing to forgive. I love you."
Another twinge hit Frankie, a little more insistently this time. She sucked in a soft breath, her lower lip pinched between her teeth. This one had to pass too.... didn't it?
"I love you, too, Shay. No more...okay. No more."
"Trust me...no one will force her to do this again," Frank assured, glaring at Deirdre. She had flown down immediately after receiving the call from Frank that Brunell had been arrested.
Suddenly Frankie sucked in a ragged breath as what felt like a right hook hit her in the small of her back... "ow..." she whimpered. Immediately she grabbed blindly for anyone's hand she could. Deirdre was closest and put her hand in the young woman's. Frankie squeaked and Deirdre had to bite back a yelp as the woman's iron grip nearly crushed her hand.
"Frankie?" Jake asked in a panic, kneeling beside her.
"Ooohhhhh Jake... I think.... we might.... ooowwww.... ambulance... hospital... baby... NOW!"
"Frankie? You sure?" Alex asked as Frank dialed 911.
"Alex... " Frankie grabbed Alex by the front of her blouse and yanked her down nose to nose. "Get... me... " she hissed at a sharp contraction radiating across the small of her back around her belly. When it subsided, she opened her grey eyes and snarled. "Get me to a hospital NOW or YOU get to deliver this baby!"
************
Frank was pacing the hallway. Every now and then Cody and Katie would try and get him to sit down. But, with Shay seeing one of the emergency room doctors and Jake and Frankie in the delivery room, his mind was on anything but relaxing.
"For the love of God Frank, sit down!" Deirdre sighed in exasperation. "You're going to wear me out!"
"I can't help it Deirdre. Francesca is like a little sister to me and this hasn't been an easy time for her you know. Add to that my wife isn't feeling well at all. So, forgive me if I'm less than worried about how exhausted you are."
Deirdre sighed and left Frank to pace the hallway. She stopped at the nurse's station and asked for some information. "Yes, Mrs. Shaw? I'm part of the group here waiting to hear how she's doing."
"Ma'am, you'll have to wait until the doctor comes out. I can't give that information to anyone but her immediate family. And, seeing as her husband is in with her.." The nurse gave her a shrug and wandered off to do her rounds. Deirdre sighed and put her head in her hands. Some things weren't so simple anymore.
--
While Frank was upstairs, Shay was in the ER exam room waiting to hear what the doctor had to say about her illness and vomiting spells. No way she could be pregnant, she'd gotten her period earlier. Maybe she'd gotten a stomach virus along the way. Maybe the incident with Brunell's attack had set her mental balance off and this was the result.
"Mrs. Donovan?" the doctor that came in had the most delicious accent. When she'd first met him, she had to do a double take. He was a dead ringer for her husband. She'd heard the nurse say that he was from Greece and newly arrived to the hospital.
"Yes? Do you know what's wrong with me?"
"Yes Ma'am, I do." He smiled compassionately and settled down on the edge of the bed to tell her.
--
"That is IT!"
Jake ignored Frankie's snarl. For someone who had been the sweetest thing for the last eight and a half months, his wife had all of a sudden turned into the Wicked Bitch of The West. Shay had warned him that giving birth would change his loving and sweet wife into a raging ogre.
"Mrs. Shaw, push when the doctor tells you, not when you have a contraction," the nurse warned her again. "You're only making this worse on you and the baby."
"Then YOU have the fucking babe an' let me go back te being the Private Investigator!" Frankie snarled out in that thick Irish accent. "I'm tired, I'm sweaty, I'm as huge as a whale and I GOD DAMNED HURT! You GET tha' doctor in here and you GET this baby delivered!"
"Francesca... baby calm down. They're doing the best they can... URK!" He winced as Frankie grabbed him by the throat and pulled him down to face her.
"You e'er touch me again and there will be no more babies!" she hissed. But her tirade was cut off by another contraction. Frankie squealed in pain and Jake was right there with her. The doctor and the nurses came to the decision that this was it.
"Push Frankie! One more and your baby will be here. Did you want a boy or a girl Daddy?"
"Doesn't matter... just so long as it's healthy and Frankie doesn't kill me." Jake grinned.
"Oh knock it off!!" Frankie snarled in mid-push. "It's a god damned baby and...." she growled out the rest of her tirade, he knees up under her armpits and her secrets exposed to the world as little baby Shaw came squalling and screaming into the world.
"Congratulations Mom and Dad, you've got a little girl!"
Frankie fell back onto the bed with a groan. Jake paid no attention to the tears on his cheeks as he leaned over to kiss his wife. She smiled weakly and grabbed him by the shirt again to pull his nose down to touch hers. "Next time," she whispered, "YOU get to have the baby. Now, go tell Uncle Frank and the others so he'll stop worrying."
Jake nodded and waited long enough to see his daughter and hold her. When Jessica Katalina Shaw had been taken off to the nursery and Frankie off to her own room, Jake made his way out to the waiting room. By then, Shay had come up from the Emergency Room and joined Frank, Cody, Katie, Alex and Deirdre. "It's a girl!"
************
Epilogue to follow...stay tuned!!!