Chapter Thirty-One

Christian was nothing if not practical. This was NOT the right time to tell Letty about her supposedly-dead husband coming back to life. He helped her finish getting dressed, pausing as each (so far still light) contraction hit, then walked her carefully down to the car and drove to the emergency room, thanking himself for having had the foresight to map out the exact route and location the night before. The emergency room personnel had taken one look and rushed them, Letty by now in a wheelchair, up to the Labor and Delivery department, where they were immediately settled into a private room to let nature take its course.

And there they waited, Letty pacing back and forth, unable to sit still, let alone lie on the exam table. "I must have been going through the early stages of labor all night, without even realizing it," she panted in between contractions. "That's why I was so restless – but I was too exhausted, and it was too stealthy, to wake up." Christian wisely said nothing.

Nor did he say anything about Javier. He couldn't. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how ludicrous the whole thing was. What did he have for proof? Only a phone call, that he could only report on. He did have that picture of Javier and the other guy – he took out his phone and peeked stealthily at the pic while her back was turned: yes, it was still there, still real – but really, what did it really prove? He resolved to wait, and concentrated on keeping Letty company, doing whatever he could to ease her way. Ice cubes to suck on (all she was allowed to consume), a sympathetic ear to listen, and an arm to lean on while slowly walking the hall seemed to be the extent so far.

His resolve was tested when an hour later, his phone rang again. Excusing himself, he went out into the hall to take it. It was Javier.

"Where are you? I'm at the hotel. Did you tell her?"

"I..." Suddenly, the idea of how to proceed crystallized. It wasn't ideal, but... He was staring out the window at the end of the hall from Letty's room, standing several floors up; a couple of blocks away he spotted a multi-story public parking garage; the open top, which he could see clearly, was mostly empty of cars. "Hang on," he told Javier, and switching to his phone's map, quickly found the garage and pinned it, then texted the location back to the other man. "I need you to meet me here, top floor – it's a parking garage. We need to talk first. How soon can you get there?"

"What?" When Christian asked, Javier verified that he had gotten the map, but... "Christian, what the hell is going on?"

"I just need to meet you, first."

"Christian... are you setting me up?"

"What? No!" Realizing how odd he sounded, and remembering Javier's history with betrayal, he explained, trying to keep his voice down so it wouldn't carry. "I just need to see you in person, first, and make absolutely certain this is real, that you are real, and who you say you are, before I bring you to Letty. Please, Javier... I swear on Letty's life – on her heart, I am not setting you up. Nobody else will be there, I swear it. I'm sure you understand. I can't just... break her heart all over again, by telling her this, and then it turning out to be not true. You understand, don't you?"

It took Javier a moment, but then he decided to trust Christian once again. "Yeah... okay... I understand." He checked the map again. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

Now Christian had to face the tiger. He walked back into the room, just as Hannah, the nurse who had been assigned to Letty as her primary caregiver for the duration, finished checking on her progress, measuring the dilation of her cervix. "Three centimeters!"

"Out of how many?" Letty asked, a little plaintively.

"Ten, I'm afraid. You have a little ways to go, yet."

"How long might it be?" Christian asked.

Hannah, a pretty, thirty-something woman of color with long, well-tended braids, gave him a sympathetic look. "At least two hours, probably more," she admitted, and left the room to fetch more ice cubes.

Christian took a deep breath, and went to the exam table, helping Letty sit up again. "Letty, do you trust me?"

"What?"

"Do you trust me?"

What the hell is this? she thought. I'm the one who should be asking things like that. "Of course, I trust you."

"Because there's something I have to do right now. I swear, it is very important, and I'll be back in less than an hour. I promise."

She gaped at him, completely unbelieving what she was hearing. "Important? More important than this?" She gestured to her distended belly.

"Yes. Well, at least as important, but I have to do it right now. I will be back, in plenty of time. I'm sorry, but I've got to go." Kissing her swiftly on one cheek, he turned on his heel and went out the door before she could protest again, passing a startled Nurse Hannah in the doorway.

The two women gaped at each other in disbelief. "Men!" was Letty's supremely disgusted – and hurt – comment. She would never have believed Christian, of all people, would abandon her like this, just when she needed him most – or at least, that's how she felt.

"Yup," Hannah agreed, coming to put the ice on the table. "But don't worry, sugar. I'm right here. I'll stay with you till he gets back."

Parked now at the top of the garage, it was Christian's turn to pace, unable to sit still. After only a few minutes, though, a battered green car appeared at the opening, paused noticeably as the driver looked all around, and then drove to park right next to his own car. A man climbed out, and Christian gasped. "Javier?" He laughed, as Javier walked towards him, a smile peeking through his beard. "I don't believe it! It really... is... you!" All his doubts had been swept away; this was, undoubtedly, Letty's lost husband.

As Javier reached Letty's friend, he impulsively reached out and pulled the man into a bear hug, tears unexpectedly stinging his eyes. How often in his life had he gotten a glad, friendly reception like that? Almost never.

After a moment, pounding on each other's back, they dropped their arms and stepped back, beaming at each other. Javier's smile wavered first, desperate worry bleeding through. "Where's Letty? Please, Christian. How is she?"

"She's fine, she's okay. I'll take you to her. She's right over there, at the hospital," Christian hooked a thumb over his shoulder at the massive building two blocks away.

Big mistake. "Hospital?" Javier pounced, instantly horrified. "Why?"

Christian threw up placating hands. "It's okay, she's fine." Realizing suddenly anew what he'd gotten himself into, he spluttered. "Oh, god. I shouldn't be the one telling you this, she should!"

"Telling me what?" Javier was near to panicking.

"Take a breath," Christian told him, putting one hand on Javier's shoulder. "Javier, your wife, right now, is in the hospital – "

"You said that!"

" – having your baby."

Javier froze, blinking. "What?" he gasped out finally.

Christian laughed at him. "Having your baby. She didn't even know she was pregnant, the night you disappeared. She went into labor this morning."

Involuntarily taking a step back, Javier fought to process what he'd just heard. "A baby? … My baby?"

"Yes," Christian couldn't stop laughing at him with every word.

"Oh my god." Gasping for breath, Javier suddenly doubled over, leaning against Christian's car. He was looking around as if he suddenly didn't recognize pavement, cars, sky even. "A baby?" he repeated, completely astounded.

"Javier." Managing to stop laughing, Christian repeated it even louder, more commanding. "Javier!"

"What?" He finally looked back at Christian, who pointed at his vehicle.

"Get. In. The. Car. You can have a heart attack on the way to the hospital."

"Yeah. Good idea," Javier agreed, brows furrowed in concentration, then managed to stand upright, walk around to the other side, and get in the passenger seat, still gaping around with the funniest, most stereotypically stunned New Father expression Christian had ever seen in real life. He turned suddenly back to the driver again. "A baby?"

"Yes!" Christian was laughing again.

"Boy or girl?" he remembered to ask suddenly.

Christian gave him a direct grin. "A girl."

"Una niña..." he murmured out the windshield, then suddenly smiled wistfully. "And she's going to be as beautiful as her mother." Then he grimaced. "As long as she doesn't get my nose," he added, turning to Christian with a wry expression. Christian absolutely cracked up at that.

Suddenly Javier turned panicky again. "Wait!" He took a breath, and made himself ask. "Is she going to want to see me? Or has she moved on? Forgotten me?"

Christian braked to a stop at a light, and turned a compassionate face to his friend. "No," he said simply, remembering Letty's recent – was it only a few weeks ago? – admission of just that. "She hasn't gotten over you, not one tiny bit. She'll want to see you, right now."

"You'd better go in first and break it to her, like we said. Or... should we wait until after the baby's born?"

"Are you kidding? She'd kill both of us!" Realizing what he'd said, and to whom, he grimaced an apology to Javier.

Javier just laughed.