Gansett Island Episodes: Episode 1: Victoria & Shannon Read online

  Victoria put her long dark hair up in a bun, donned a gown and thoroughly washed her hands. Right now she needed to focus on the new life that Tiffany was about to bring into the world. She’d have plenty of time later to figure out what she was going to do about her own life.

  Chapter 2

  Victoria used the sleeve of her gown to wipe sweat from her brow. “Come on, Tiffany. One more big push.”

  “I can’t,” Tiffany said, weeping.

  “Yes, you can, babe,” Blaine said, cheering her on as he had for two hours now.

  It was taking longer than Victoria had thought it would to get the baby out. She was keeping a close eye on the baby’s heart rate and Tiffany’s vital signs. So far they were both hanging in there, but she was anxious to see the baby safely delivered.

  “Why’s it taking so long?” Tiffany asked. “I had Ash in thirty minutes. Aren’t second babies supposed to come faster?”

  “They’re all different,” Victoria said, eyeing the monitor. “Here comes another contraction.”

  Tiffany pushed as hard as she could, but the baby was obstinate.

  “We’re almost there.” Victoria tried to stay cheerful and upbeat during deliveries, hoping the moms would take strength from her positive attitude. “Rest for a minute, and then we’ll do it again.”

  Blaine sat behind Tiffany on the delivery table, his arms around her, and spoke softly to her between contractions as he wiped her tears with a tissue and her face with the cool cloths that Katie handed him after every contraction.

  A knock on the door sent Katie to find out what was up. She came back with an odd expression on her face. “Jenny Martinez is here. She might also be in labor.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Victoria said.

  “Wish I was. David is with her for now.”

  Didn’t it figure that all hell would break loose on a day when she wanted nothing more than to go home and be with Shannon?

  Tiffany’s sister, Maddie McCarthy, came to the door, looking frantic and overheated, which wasn’t recommended due to her own pregnancy. “I came as soon as we got back from the mainland,” Maddie said.

  “Come in,” Tiffany said, holding out a hand to her sister, who rushed to Tiffany’s bedside to hug her.

  “How’re you doing?” Maddie asked.

  “Terrible. The baby won’t come out.”

  “She’s doing great,” Victoria said. “Her little one has a mind of his or her own.”

  “Just like his or her mom,” Blaine said, drawing a small smile from his wife.

  Victoria eyed the monitor and noted the start of another contraction. “Let’s do it again, Tiffany.”

  “Come on, sweetheart,” Blaine said, his arms around her as he supported her from behind. “You got this. I can’t wait to meet our baby.”

  With Maddie holding her hand and offering added encouragement, Tiffany pushed harder than she had in a while.

  Victoria watched as the baby crowned. “That’s it. Don’t stop now, Tiff. You’re almost there.”

  Tiffany screamed from the effort it took to keep pushing.

  Victoria delivered the baby’s head and then the shoulders. “One more good push.” And with that, the baby slid into Victoria’s waiting hands. Holding the squalling infant, she stood to show her off to her exhausted parents. “You have a little girl. Congratulations! Dad, do you want to cut the cord?”

  “I’ll let you take care of that,” Blaine said, wiping tears from his own face as well as Tiffany’s.

  Victoria took care of the cord and handed the baby to Katie to be cleaned up before she got to officially meet her parents. Victoria delivered the placenta and determined that Tiffany needed a few stitches to deal with some tearing. She worked through the post-delivery steps one after the other with single-minded focus on her patient.

  David evaluated the baby and declared her perfectly healthy. He wrapped her in a receiving blanket and brought her to meet her overjoyed parents.

  “Oh my goodness,” Blaine said on a long exhale. “Will you look at that face?”

  “Another girl who looks just like her mother,” Maddie said.

  “Three of them will be the death of me,” Blaine replied as he contended with a new flood of tears.

  “Hi, baby,” Tiffany said, running her finger over her daughter’s cheek.

  “What’s her name?” Victoria asked.

  “Adeline Francine Taylor,” Tiffany said. “Adeline is Blaine’s grandmother’s name, and Francine for my mom.”

  “That’s beautiful,” Maddie said. “I love it, and Mom will be thrilled. Do you want me to call her?”

  “Yes, please. Everything happened so fast that I never got around to calling anyone. How did you hear?”

  “Katie told Shane.” Katie’s fiancé, Shane, and Maddie’s husband, Mac, were cousins. “He called Mac. We got back on the first ferry that had room for the car.”

  “I feel bad that your trip got cut short.”

  On Victoria’s recommendation, Maddie and Mac had gone to the mainland to consult with the specialist at Women & Infants in Providence. After her last pregnancy ended in miscarriage, they were leaving nothing to chance.

  “Only by a day that we were going to spend at the beach,” Maddie said. “Nothing to worry about.”

  “And everything is okay?” Tiffany asked.

  “So far so good. It’s the waiting that’s the hard part.”

  “You’re already past the point you were when you lost Connor.”

  “I know.” Maddie smiled at her sister. “No talk of sad things today. This is baby Adeline’s day. Let me call Mom to get her, Ned and Ashleigh over here to meet their new granddaughter and sister.”

  “Thanks, Maddie.”

  “I’m going to check on another patient,” Victoria said. “I’ll be back to look in on you guys shortly.”

  “Thanks for everything, Vic,” Tiffany said. “I never could’ve gotten through this pregnancy and delivery without your support.”

  “I’m so happy for you all.” Victoria left them with a smile, removed her gown and tossed it into a hamper. Then she went into her office to send a quick text to Shannon. Outbreak of babies around here today. I’ll be late.

  He responded right away. No bother, love. I’ll keep dinner warm for you.

  Don’t worry about dinner for me. Will grab something here.

  Okay, see you when you get home.

  Every time she helped bring a new life into the world, she wondered if she’d ever get to share that experience with a man she loved above all others. Seeing Blaine and Tiffany with their newborn baby made Victoria yearn for a child of her own with the man she loved. Interestingly enough, she’d never had such yearnings until she met Shannon O’Grady.

  She took a deep cleansing breath, the kind she encouraged her laboring moms to take, and left her office to see to Jenny Martinez, a first-time mom at age thirty-eight. Victoria had kept a close eye on Jenny, especially during the last few weeks. Like Tiffany, Jenny had planned to deliver on the mainland, but her baby apparently had other plans.

  Victoria couldn’t wait to see what these strong-willed babies would be like as two-year-olds.

  “Hi there,” she said to Jenny and her husband, Alex, when she entered the room where Jenny was hooked to monitors. Alex stood next to the bed holding her hand, looking as stressed as Blaine had earlier. “How’re you doing?”

  “Not so great,” Jenny said. “The pain is pretty bad. Worse than advertised.”

  “I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that from a first-time mom in labor,” Victoria said. “Let’s take a look.” During the internal exam, Victoria determined that Jenny was fully effaced but only seven centimeters dilated. “You’ve got a little ways to go before you’ll be ready to deliver.”

  Jenny groaned at that news. “How little of a ways?”

  “Three more centimeters, but you’re doing great.”

  “We hadn’t planned to have the baby on the
island,” Alex said, looking a little wild around the eyes. “Are you sure it’ll be safe?”

  “We’ll do everything we can to make sure it’s perfectly safe,” Victoria assured him. “As we’ve talked about over the last few weeks, there’s always a possibility of complications. I don’t expect any problems, but if we encounter something we can’t handle, we can have a chopper here within minutes and get you to Providence. Okay?”

  Alex nodded in agreement, but she could tell he was only partially pacified by her answer.

  She didn’t blame him for being concerned. Island deliveries were never recommended, but they happened. Not usually two in one day, but Victoria delivered, on average, about six babies a year in the clinic. She’d delivered Laura Lawry’s twins in March when they arrived early. In her line of work, best-laid plans often went awry.

  “What’re you thinking about pain meds?” Victoria asked Jenny.

  She glanced at Alex and then said, “I’m going to try to go without.”

  “Are you sure? If we wait much longer, it’ll be too late.”

  “I think I’m sure.”

  “Babe, if you need it, do it,” Alex said. “Victoria wouldn’t give you anything that would hurt the baby.”

  “I know, but I really want to be drug-free.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do,” Victoria said, patting Jenny’s knee. “I’ll be back to check on you in a little while.”

  “Thanks, Vic.”

  David met her in the hallway. “You need food.”

  “I’m okay.”

  “Could be a long night. I’ll order from Mario’s. You want your usual?”

  She wasn’t sure she could eat, but she nodded anyway. “Sure, that’d be great.”

  “Coming right up. Go take five while you can. I’ll find you when the food gets here, and I’ll keep an eye on everyone in the meantime.”

  “Thanks, David.”

  “No problem.”

  Victoria went into her office, took her hair down from the bun and stretched out on the sofa she’d bought at a yard sale for occasions such as this when she was required to stay at the clinic after hours. Rarely did she have to spend an entire night, but it happened once in a while. In a way, she was thankful for the outbreak of babies, because it bought her some time to figure out her next move with Shannon.

  Looking up at the ceiling, she thought about the night she’d met him at the Beachcomber, the same day he’d arrived from Ireland with his aunt Nora, Seamus’s mother. He’d planned to stay for two weeks and go home with Nora. Victoria wasn’t particularly proud of the fact that she’d invited him back to her place the first night they met. That wasn’t something she’d ever done before him. But it had been a while, years really, since she’d connected with a man the way she had with him. And, let’s face it. The man was smoking hot.

  She smiled thinking about how bowled over she’d been by his charm, the accent and a face that defied description. He was male beauty personified, with longish brown hair infused with red highlights that went blond in the summer, hazel eyes, a body built for sin and lips made for kissing. To this day, when he spoke to her in that lyrical Irish accent, she went stupid in the head. He could be talking about taking out the trash, and it had the same impact as when he whispered sweet words when they made love.

  Closing her eyes, she thought about that first time, when he’d silently helped her out of her clothes and then let her do the same for him. She’d been slightly appalled at how easily she’d capitulated to his overwhelming charm, but once they were in her bed, she hadn’t had the mental capacity for regrets or recriminations.

  She’d had the best sex of her entire life that night—and just about every night since then. It was safe to say she was completely addicted to sex with him. Just thinking about it made her want him. Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to indulge in thoughts about the part of their relationship that worked effortlessly. All he had to do was look at her, and she was ready. It had never been like that for her before with any guy, even Stuart, the man she’d dated for two years after college.

  Marrying him would’ve been a huge mistake. What if she’d been married to him or someone else when she met Shannon? How would she have resisted the instant temptation he presented? She’d wanted him from the minute he sat next to her at the Beachcomber bar and asked for a beer. He had her at “I’ll have a Guinness, please, love.”

  Even Chelsea, the bartender, had reacted the way any normal red-blooded American woman would in the face of so much Irish hotness. The “holy cow” look she’d given Victoria had been priceless. But Shannon… He’d had eyes only for her, something that still had the power to amaze her so many months later.

  They’d had an intense two weeks, fueled by the time limit on his visit. She’d actually taken vacation days so they could spend more time together before he had to leave. Okay, truthfully, they’d spent all those vacation days in her bed, getting up only to shower and eat before going back for more. Then, when the time had come for Nora to depart, he’d asked Victoria if she’d like him to stay.

  She’d cried from the relief of knowing she got to keep him—for now anyway. He’d moved into her place that day and had been there ever since, paying his half of the rent and other expenses by working as a mate on the ferries that were managed by his cousin. Seamus had secured a work visa for Shannon that allowed him to stay in the country. Since then, they’d fallen into a satisfying routine that consisted of spending every free minute together. She still couldn’t get enough of him or the way she felt when she was with him.

  But the longer they’d been together, the more she’d begun to wonder about what he wasn’t telling her. The dark moods, his refusal to say much of anything about his life in Ireland and his seeming intention to keep things light rather than serious between them had driven her to seek some answers. She’d gone to Seamus wanting to know why Shannon seemed only capable of a satisfying domestic and sexual relationship but nothing more than that.

  Now she knew, and after hearing what he’d endured, she wished she’d left well enough alone.

  A knock on the door snapped her out of the introspection. She sat up and ran her hands through her hair. “Come in.”

  David poked his head in. “Food’s here. Katie said for us to eat first, and then she will. Is it okay if we eat in here?”

  “Sure.”

  He came in with the bag from Mario’s and set up their dinner on the coffee table she’d bought at the island’s weekly flea market.

  She opened the fragrant container of pasta primavera and poured Italian dressing on the tossed salad. As usual, David had gotten chicken parmesan for himself. “I hope Jenny likes the aroma of garlic in her delivery room,” Victoria said.

  “She’ll be too busy having a baby to notice. I just looked in on her, and she’s doing okay. Tiffany is taking a nap while Blaine is with the baby. All is well.”

  “Thank you. What a crazy day.”

  “Good thing this doesn’t happen very often.”

  “No kidding. Let’s hope Sydney Harris behaves herself and doesn’t go early, too.”

  “Don’t even say it.”

  They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes. Then he glanced over at her. “Are you going tell me why you were crying when you came back from lunch?”

  Chapter 3

  Victoria wiped her mouth with one of the paper napkins Mario’s had sent with their order and took a sip from the bottle of water David had gotten her. “I went to see Seamus.”

  “Okay…”

  “I asked him about Shannon. I… I wanted to know why our relationship seems to be stuck in first gear. Not that first gear is bad. It’s actually really nice, but…”

  “You want it to be more.”

  “I was hoping it could be more. Eventually. Now…” Victoria shrugged. “It’s probably not going to happen.”

  “Why do you say that? What did Seamus tell you?”

  She sighed deeply. “He told me about S
hannon’s first love, Fiona, the woman he was with from childhood who was murdered.”

  “Oh my God. How?”

  “Seamus said I’d have to let Shannon tell me the details, if he chooses to. He didn’t want to go too far in filling in the blanks for me.”

  “And Shannon has never told you anything about her?”

  Victoria shook her head. “I’d never heard her name before today.”

  “Oh wow.”

  “I don’t know what to do with this info, David. Do I tell him I know about her or respect his obvious desire to never speak of her? Do I settle for the perfectly good thing we have now, or do I rock the boat and hope we can make it something even better?”

  “That’s a tough one, for sure. Would he be angry with Seamus for telling you?”

  “Seamus says probably not, and if he is, they’ll work that out between them.”

  After a long moment of quiet during which Victoria picked at her food while David wolfed his down with his usual enthusiasm for all things edible, he looked over at her. “It comes down to what you want. Mentioning this to him would be a risk. He might not appreciate questions about her from you. That could put a wedge between you, but it could also bring you closer. Maybe he’s been trying to find the right time to tell you about her. There’s really no way to predict which way it’ll go. Are you prepared for the possibility that you knowing about her could make him angry?”

  “No, I’m not prepared for that, and I’d never want to do anything to resurrect painful memories for him, but I feel like the ghost of his dead love is standing squarely in the middle of our relationship. We’ll never be able to move forward until we confront her.”

  “And you’re sure that’s what you want? To move forward with him?”

  “Yes. I want everything with him. I’m crazy about him. I have been from the very beginning.”

  “I know,” he said with a smirk. “I was there and had to hear the gory details.”