One Drop of Golden Sun

Ch. 38 Truth, Lies, and Pavement Dirt

*Lokela

Ray needed a goddamn hero. He would be there for her, for her family. If his job was to support her and her sister, that was what he would do.

Using his most steady tone, he said, "Ray, call Russell. I'm sure you have him on speed dial. Have him come to the beach, now."

"Russell!" She smacked her head. A second later the phone was to her ear. "Hey, you need to come to the beach right now, we have a situation. I'm not panicking, and neither is Beth, but our calm demeanor isn't going to last much longer."

"Water," Beth gasped.

Did Lokela have a bottle of water she could have? He shot a glance at Zach, blinking dazed and confused on the sand. "Go get water at the ice-cream stand."

"What?" Zach asked.

"No, I lost my water, Ray, tell him." Beth motioned to the phone,

"Hey, Russell, Beth lost her water, and the baby is coming." She paused. "Yes, now." Pause. "What do you mean you're on the other side of town stuck in traffic? You weren't going to that store. Well, how do we get to the hospital? Call an ambulance?"

Beth shook her head. "St. Mary's. We have to go to St. Mary's."

"The clinic? That's on the other side of the island. We'd never make it. Russell, where are you exactly?"

Beth snatched the phone from her. "Sweet-heart, I need you to come because the baby is on the way now, and I don't want to give birth on the beach while tourists stick their cameras up my hoo-ha to instagram the baby's crowning, with my crazy sister, her drunk ex who cheated on her, and her roommate ex who thought it would be a good idea to end her virginity when she had a broken heart as the only people taking care of me while I birth our baby. Do you understand?" She listened for a second and then gave it back to Ray. "He's coming, but it will take a few minutes."

Ray hung up. "Not that you will actually give birth on the beach, but wouldn't you rather move to a grassy area just in case you need to lay down?"

"We have to go to St. Mary's."

"You are only four weeks early, Beth, that's barely premature. Surely the regular hospital—"

"My doctor said to get to the clinic if possible if anything went wrong."

"So, I call a taxi?"

All this time, Lokela had stood silently as the foundations of a fortress, making sure Beth didn't go anywhere or keel over. But now, he had solutions, he had ideas. "Doug can come with the van."

"Doug!" Ray pointed at him, excited. "He's here! That's right. I had a message from him that said he was at the house." She hurriedly poked at her phone. "Doug? Hey, bring the van down to the beach around the corner. But first, and get the key from under the mat. My sister's hospital bag is in the bottom of the seventeenth century cherry wood armoire in the back bedroom."

"He won't know what any of that is," Beth said, groaning. "Just make him come with the van."

"He'll know," Ray and Lokela said at the same time.

"All right," Ray said in the phone. "See you in five. Beth, we have to go up the ice-cream stand so he'll see us. Can you make it?"

"I've got her," Lokela said. "You can count on me."

"For a change," Ray hissed, as she fell alongside him.

"I can explain everything, please—"

Beth whipped up her head. "Not now. Now we walk to the ice-cream stand. We don't explain and we don't bring up past mistakes. Like wanting to have a baby in the first place."