The Firefighter Who Rescues Me

Chapter 25 ♚ His Job

Nothing on this planet could stop me from pacing up and down on the night before the legal wedding.

Playing with the triplets until their bed time hadn't spent any of my nervous energy. Margaret had made some chamomile tea I suspected had caffeine. Mami attempted to keep me still for a few minutes after convincing me to try on the wedding dress for some final adjustments, but all it had accomplished was that my twitching had got me poked by the pins.

When all that had failed, Gabe had tried to physically restrain me. Kindly, of course. He settled me on the sofa beside him, an arm bracketed around me as much for comfort as to weigh me down. It struck me that it was something Carlos would've probably done too, and while I'd lost him years ago, thanks to Cata I had found a new brother.

Papi saw the whole thing, perched on the armchair where Margaret typically sat. He narrowed his eyes at me and said, "Eso es que no te quieres casar."

No, I just didn't want to get married in these circumstances. Pace and I deciding to marry after getting pregnant had been our decision, hasty and crazy, but one we had reached together. All of these conditions and the rush weren't.

"No, papi." I sighed. "No es eso."

"Y entonces qué?"

"Es un cambio grande," Cata said, guessing at something that might have been bothering me without me realizing. "Bueno, dos cambios grandes... si es que solo vas a tener un bebé."

The side eye she sent to her husband made me smile, but that only lasted a second. While Gabe was distracted, I jumped to my feet and paced again.

What I truly yearned for was my to-be-husband. I wished we were in his bed, curled up together under the warm blankets, which wasn't possible not just because he had a shift tonight but also because under papi's strict supervision there could be none of that.

I took a deep breath, reminding myself in a few days I'd legally be Mrs. Leblanc and papi and co. would be back in Florida. No one would be able to stop me if I wanted to cuddle up with my man.

Words I never thought I'd think, but here we were.

I flopped back on the sofa, not even caring I wrinkled the pretty dress I was supposed to wear tomorrow. It was simple, a white sheath dress with an outer layer of lace, long sleeves and a skirt that reached just past the knees. It made both of my parents happy and frankly, me too, because I looked damn fine in it and it was warm.

A buzzing sound came from the kitchen. My phone was on the coffee table before me and I picked it up, but the screen was blank.

"Oh, it's probably mine," Margaret said, putting her laptop on the coffee table and going to get her phone.

Bless her, not only for housing an unruly family of Latinos but also for not complaining about the mess we made, or all the Spanish floating about the air.

"What?" she screamed into the phone and immediately all our heads turned to her. Margaret's face was pale. "Right now?"

"What's going on?" I asked. Her expression shriveled up even more.

"Okay, I'll try to keep her calm." Which sounded like entirely the wrong thing to say when she'd just screamed and was looking at me like she wanted to cry.

"Margaret," I warned her.

Her shoulders drooped as she cut off the call. "That was Lena Lee and, um. I need you to stay calm."

I jumped to my feet and Cata followed not a second later.

"It's the arena," the woman said.

Oh, thank God. I thought something had happened to Pace.