Saving Sara (Alaska Blizzard Book 5) Read online

“He’s so little,” Aaron said. “Is he okay?”

  “So far, so good.” She put him with the others. “And holy crap, she’s having another one.”

  “Jesus.” Aaron sank onto the floor beside her again, watching the miracle of birth for…the sixteenth time in the last four or five hours. They were all exhausted and he’d lost track of time, but he wouldn’t have missed this for the world. And damn if it wasn’t that much better because he was sharing it with Sara. This was what she loved and though he figured it wasn’t quite as big of a deal to him as it was to her, he couldn’t deny he’d enjoyed it too.

  “You should go to bed,” she said to him. “You have practice tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, I know, but I don’t want to miss it. This was…so cool.”

  She smiled up at him. “I know, right? It never gets old. And trust me, I’ve watched a lot of puppies come into the world.”

  They watched Mama clean up the babies and the birthing area and finally settle down, her babies all around her.

  “I think,” Sara said quietly, “that’s our cue to get some rest and leave them alone. Hopefully, Dr. Harjo will come in the morning to take them with him. We can’t have this many puppies running around the apartment.”

  He shook his head. “No, definitely not.”

  Their eyes met as he helped her up and he had to fight off the urge to kiss her.

  “I, uh, this was amazing,” he said quietly. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Thank you for letting me experience something so beautiful.”

  “Thanks for staying for the whole thing. I don’t know if all the puppies are going to make it, but it means a lot to me that you were with me.”

  “That’s what friends do, right?” He squeezed her shoulder and reached for her crutches, handing them to her.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow,” was all she said.

  Dr. Harjo came first thing in the morning and took Mama and her puppies. He said they’d done a great job with them and Sara talked to him for a while, but now he was gone and it was too quiet. Even Merlin had been subdued, and she puttered around the apartment for a while, trying to decide what to do with herself. Though her leg bothered her some when she overdid it, she was feeling a lot better and boredom had begun to set in harder than before.

  Her phone rang in the afternoon and she was glad to see Dani’s name on the screen.

  “Hey, are you home?”

  “Yeah.” Dani still sounded tired. “Sergei said he’d come get you if you wanted to come over? I could use some company and he’s going to work out.”

  “Sure. I’ll be ready.” Sara hung up and got her things together. She waited for Sergei downstairs and hugged him when he got out of his truck to help her.

  “Hey, Sara.” He looked tired too.

  “How are you?” she asked once they were on the road.

  “Tired. Sad. Worried about Dani. She feels like she did something wrong, even though the doctors told her over and over that it’s just bad luck. Something obviously went wrong with the pregnancy and the body expelled it.”

  “She thinks she’s letting you down,” Sara said.

  He sighed. “I feel like such a shit for all the months of nagging her to start trying. I mean, I do want more kids, but that was all in fun, poking at her because we agreed to give it a year after we got married before we started working on it. I know how important her job is and I never meant to put pressure on her.”

  “I think she knows that. She knows the difference between pressure and teasing.”

  “But now look.”

  “Maybe you should be the one spending the afternoon with her and not me,” she said slowly.

  He shook his head. “No, she needs girlfriend time. We essentially spent the last forty-eight hours together, dealing with everything, and we both need a break from all things related to miscarriage, a little normal. She probably wants to talk about your dates with that doctor and hear funny stories about Merlin. Seriously.”

  “Okay. I can do that. But make sure you guys don’t let this fester, because she sounded more worried about you than herself.”

  “I know. I just… I don’t think I know anyone who’s had a miscarriage, like another guy who’s been through it with his wife. Other than Jake, and that was different because they had a genetic thing going on.”

  “Yeah, but they didn’t know that the first time, so he might be exactly the right person to talk to.”

  “You’re right. Thanks.”

  He helped her out of the truck when they got to Kane and Hailey’s and she hobbled up the steps and into the house. Dani was rocking Kelsey and Amy rocked Hank as Sergei placed a soft kiss on his wife’s forehead, whispered something in her ear that made her smile, and then left again.

  “Hey.” Sara quietly sank down next to her and watched as Kelsey drifted off.

  Amy got both twins up in their rooms and then disappeared, leaving Dani and Sara alone.

  “So guess what Aaron and I did last night?” Sara opted to start with levity.

  Dani arched a brow. “Please, please, tell me you two finally got together.”

  Sara giggled. “Not even close. But we found a dog in the parking garage and we helped her give birth to sixteen puppies.”

  “Sixteen?” Dani blinked at her. “Is that possible?”

  “I think the world record is twenty-four, and they probably won’t all make it, but as of this morning they were all alive.”

  “Wow. That must’ve been so cool.”

  “I thought Aaron would freak but he was fascinated. He sat there with me the whole time. I kept telling him to go to bed, but he wouldn’t. It was pretty amazing.”

  “And then you two went to bed…separately?”

  “Well, yeah. You know I’m dating Troy, and Aaron just isn’t interested in me that way.”

  “He’s being dumb. Even the guys see it. Sergei said he’s gun-shy after his disaster of a marriage and then that whole thing with Jake’s ex-wife.”

  “Whatever it is, he’s not interested in me. Not beyond besties. I hate it, but it’s probably for the best, because I can’t pine away for him forever.”

  “But Troy is kinda boring, right?”

  Sara sighed. “Yeah. I keep trying. We’re going to dinner tomorrow night and I’m going to put on something sexy, in spite of the cast and the weather. See if that sparks something.”

  “You’re going to sleep with him?” Dani looked surprised.

  “I don’t know about that, but I want to feel attractive, sexy. We’ve only kissed once, so I don’t know if it’s that he doesn’t like me enough or there’s just no chemistry or what.”

  “It’s because you’re in love with someone else,” Dani said simply. “It’s obvious to everyone but you and Aaron. You two are a mess.”

  “You’re not helping.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, was I supposed to help you make a mistake with this Troy guy?” Dani snickered and they laughed.

  Finally, after a few minutes, Sara reached for Dani’s hand. “So, how are you? I mean, really.”

  “I’m sad and disappointed and scared.”

  “Scared? Why scared?”

  “Because what if there’s something wrong with me and I can’t have kids?”

  “Don’t go there. Really. It happens. You know that.”

  “We have a big family and a huge network of other wives and girlfriends and I don’t know anyone other than Jake’s ex who ever had one. If it happens to twenty percent of all women, how come I don’t know anyone other than the couple with the genetic disorder?”

  Sara frowned. “Well, you probably do, but out of all those people you’re thinking about, you may not know those details. Not everyone talks about it. Not everyone even knows when it happens. I did some reading and it turns out that a big percentage of that twenty percent have miscarriages without even realizing they’re pregnant. They just think it’s an extra-heavy period.”

  “That’s what happened with us—we didn’t know I
was pregnant—so I know all this is in my head, but my heart doesn’t believe it.”

  “I’m sorry, sweetie.” Sara hugged her. “Are you going to see Dr. Deaton soon?”

  “Tomorrow. She said she’d see me today, but I needed a day to think and adjust and all that.”

  “Did you need surgery or anything?”

  “No. It was early on, only about five weeks, so the doctor in Dallas felt pretty confident everything is okay. Dr. Deaton will make sure, but the other doctor said we should wait a few weeks before we try again.”

  “Are you going to?”

  “Going to what?”

  “Wait the full three weeks or whatever?”

  Dani nodded. “Absolutely. If Dr. Deaton says the same thing, we’ll wait. I don’t want to do anything that might risk another miscarriage. Besides, I’m not feeling all that sexy right now. I’m sore and tired.”

  “You and Sergei should spend some time alone, you know? Just the two of you.”

  “Yeah, well, the house won’t be ready for at least another month and Niko is going to attack us the minute he gets home from school, so I’m not sure we’ll have much time like that.”

  “Put him to bed early?”

  Dani smiled. “We’ll see.”

  Sara hugged her again. “Well, I’m here if you want to talk or cry or whatever.”

  “Let’s watch a movie with explosions and shit. That’s my favorite distraction.”

  “Avengers?”

  “Hell yeah.” They grinned at each other and Sara grabbed the remote. She hated what had happened to Dani, but she was grateful she was able to be there for her friend.

  16

  Aaron couldn’t wait to get home from practice and see how Sara and the puppies were doing. Watching those puppies come into the world had been amazing, and seeing Sara be so involved showed him firsthand her love for veterinary medicine. He had no doubt she would become a vet one day, even if she had to apply to vet school a hundred times. Somehow, someway, she would find the path to her dreams. And maybe, if he was lucky, she’d let him help her. He didn’t know what he could do about veterinary school, but he’d begun to see how good they were together in general since she’d moved in. Except she was dating someone else now.

  He stepped inside and nearly gaped at her as she turned from where she was filling Merlin’s food dish. She was wearing a tiny black dress that showed off her gorgeous body and one very long, shapely leg. Her cleavage peeked out from a low neckline and whatever she had on her lips made them sparkle invitingly.

  Holy fucking shit. She was sex on legs and going out with someone else tonight. How the fuck had he let this happen?

  “You okay?” she asked, grinning at him. “It’s not like you’ve never seen me in a dress before.”

  “No, but…wow. I mean, you look beautiful. Really.” He put down his bag and absently scratched the top of Merlin’s head.

  “Thank you. Hopefully, Troy will think so too.”

  He wasn’t sure if he scowled or not, but he really wanted to. “Where, uh, are you going?”

  “I don’t know. He said dinner, and we usually go to nice places.”

  “How come?”

  “Huh?”

  “How come you always go to nice places? Don’t you ever just hang out and talk or go for a walk or whatever?”

  “He’s not really the go-for-a-walk type. He’s kind of high-maintenance.”

  He paused. “You, uh, like that kind of thing?”

  “I don’t know.” She shrugged. “We’re still getting to know each other.”

  “You’ve been going out for a couple of weeks now,” he said. “Don’t you know if you like him or not?”

  “I tend to like all the wrong guys,” she said, meeting his gaze directly. “So this time I’m going slow and giving him a chance, despite the high-maintenance stuff. My ex-fiancé was an athlete who liked to drink beer and watch movies at home every night and you see how that worked out for me. Maybe a little high-maintenance will be fun. Maybe I need some high-maintenance in my life since I’m usually low-maintenance myself.”

  He didn’t know what to say to that so he just nodded. “I guess. By the way, where are Mama and the puppies?”

  “Dr. Harjo took them home with him.”

  “Oh.” He was disappointed and wasn’t sure why.

  “We don’t have room for them, you know? Anyway, there’s some of that stew you like in the freezer. You can just warm it up in the microwave. I fed Merlin, so he’ll probably be ready for bed since it’s dark out.”

  “Okay.” It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her not to go, but he didn’t know how, and technically, he had no right, so he stomped down the hall to his room to change.

  When he came out, she was gone and he felt like a jerk. He should have told her to have fun, to be careful. Something. Anything other than walking away, which was also what he’d done last night when he should have kissed her. It was going to be a long night and he might go crazy if he just sat here. Maybe he needed to find a date too.

  Impulsively, he called Miika. “Hey, man. You want to go get a beer?”

  “Okay.” Miika was a man of few words.

  “I’ll call Logan too.”

  They decided where to meet and Aaron grabbed his jacket and keys and took off.

  Miika, Logan, and the team’s back-up goalie, Donovan Legori, were already there when Aaron got to the bar and he sat at the table with them.

  “What’s shakin’?” he asked, waving down the waitress and ordering a beer.

  “Shaking?” Miika repeated in confusion.

  “Just an expression for ‘how are you?’ or something like that,” Aaron explained.

  “I have sad,” Miika announced.

  The other three men at the table all turned to look at him in surprise. He was usually the happy-go-lucky, if not a little silly, guy in the group and Aaron had no idea what could be making Miika not just sad, but willing to say it out loud to his buddies since that wasn’t a guy thing at all.

  “What happened?” Logan asked after a moment of awkward silence.

  “I have girl in Finland,” he said. “The end.”

  “I thought you were single?” Aaron asked in confusion.

  “We have…” He muttered something in Finnish, picked up his phone and typed. “Deal,” he finally said. “We have deal. She date, I date, we decide later. She decide now.”

  Logan grimaced. “Long-distance relationships are hard.”

  “I’m sorry, my friend,” Donovan said quietly. “I feel your pain. My wife and I just filed for divorce.”

  “Oh, hell,” Aaron said. “I wondered why you were out tonight. You’ve never come drinking with us before.”

  “I was married.” Donovan took a pull from his longneck. “Now I’m not.”

  “You wanna talk about it?” Aaron asked.

  “There’s not much to talk about. She hates being married to a pro hockey player. She hates how much I travel. And she really fucking hates Alaska.”

  Aaron grimaced. “What did she think life was going to be like married to a hockey player? A fun gig in New York City for ten years?”

  “She’s one of six kids, and she misses her parents, her sisters and brothers, her friends back in Buffalo, everything. And honestly, we shouldn’t have gotten married.” Donovan took another long drink, draining his beer and motioning to the waitress to bring him another. “I thought it would prove to her I was committed, but all it did was delay the inevitable. Thank god I got her to sign a prenup.”

  No one said anything for a while. Then Logan grinned. “First one to pick up a girl tonight doesn’t have to pay for his drinks—or the lucky lady’s.”

  Miikka frowned. “What?”

  Aaron typed the phrase into a translation app on his phone and showed him.

  Miikka scowled. He typed something into his own app and said, “This is unfair. How do I meet women without speaking English?”

  Logan shrugged. “Tell them yo
u play for the Blizzard. They’ll be way too busy trying to get in your pants to worry about talking.”

  Miikka hesitated but then nodded, turning to check out the possibilities.

  They did this kind of thing often and it was always in fun. Though the younger guys on the team hooked up when they were on the road, it was almost never when they played a harmless game like this at their favorite bar at home. The guys Aaron hung out with tended to be pretty mellow, good-hearted men who took hockey seriously and liked to have fun. They were all cognizant of their behavior in public, though. Picking up random women in bars could go wrong in a lot of different ways, so they usually stuck to buying a few drinks and occasionally getting a phone number that was almost never used.

  Tonight, there was a group of ladies sitting at a table together, and they’d been making eye contact for the last few minutes, so someone was bound to get lucky, but Aaron realized he simply wasn’t interested. The only woman he’d been thinking about for months was out on a date with someone else tonight, so he was probably going to wind up buying drinks for one of his buddies and his new lady friend.

  Miikka was the first one out of his chair, much to everyone’s surprise, and he ambled over to the table with a friendly smile.

  “He just bought a round for the whole table,” Logan stage-whispered, cracking up.

  “That’s one way to distract them from the lack of language skills,” Donovan chuckled.

  “He’s working it too,” Aaron added. “I guess we’re buying drinks for the whole table because he just asked the blonde to dance.”

  “Color me impressed,” Logan said, shaking his head.

  Miikka brushed past them and winked, his hand resting at the small of the woman’s back.

  “Well, he might have been first, but that doesn’t mean I can’t dance with one of the others.” Logan was on his feet heading over to the table and a minute later he was dancing too.

  “There are four more ladies at the table,” Donovan said. “You in?”

  Aaron pondered the idea but ultimately shook his head. “Nah. I’m good.”

  “You hittin’ it with Sara?” Donovan asked casually, not really looking at him.