"Charlie..." I tried to keep the panic out of my voice, but I could feel the sticky moisture on my thighs and under my bottom. My voice climbed with every passing second and syllable out of my mouth. "Charlie!" Charlie stirred in the bed next to me, but he hadn't fully woken up. I had my hand resting firmly on my stomach, but each wave of pain brought tears to my eyes. I didn't want to press too hard because it hurt, but as I cradled my belly in my hands, I worried that if I let go, my insides would come falling out. My head was pounding, I couldn't catch my breath, and I would have sworn someone had sliced me open and the babies were going to deliver themselves. The third time I called his name, Charlie's eyes fluttered open and then suddenly became alert. "What's wrong?" He sat up, now wild-eyed, searching my face and reaching for me. "Sarah?" He threw back the bedspread and then turned on the lamp. His ruffled hair fell into his face, and I noticed his cheek was re

There was a knock that startled me. There wasn't anyone in the NICU other than the nurses, and none of them spoke. It was the middle of the night, and the hospital was fairly quiet. This ward was dead silent. The babies didn't cry, and other than the machines that beeped or pulsed around me, there was nothing. I glanced over my shoulder to find the nurse who'd brought me up here, and the shine in her eyes wasn't nearly as bright as it had been when she'd asked me about meeting the girls. So I waited for her to speak. "Sarah's out of surgery. We'll be moving her to recovery shortly." I didn't know what to do. I couldn't take the twins with me, but I couldn't stand here, either. They were too little to be left alone, and I couldn't be in two places at one time. I glanced at the incubator and then back at the lady in scrubs, unsure of what the right decision was. "I think your family would like to see your little girls." She read my mind, and I wanted to h

I didn't have any idea what he could possibly know that made him feel this sense of debt toward Sarah, but I had to imagine it had to do with her mama running off. It had changed the course of Sarah's teenage years and subsequently her life. "Jack..." I shook my head, determined to refuse his offer. "It's already been done, son. I'm just trying to give you the courtesy of tellin' you I did it." "How?" It wasn't like I couldn't undo whatever magic he'd worked in the billing department. The old man wasn't going to budge, that much was evident in his stern expression. Nor did he have any intention of sharing the details with me. "You're a new father." Jack wasn't telling me anything I didn't already know. "And I hope you never go through what I have. I don't want you to ever feel the hopelessness that I have, thinking that each time I walk out of a hospital room is the last time I'm going to see my daughter alive. It ain't a good place to be." I co

Maneuvering to the NICU had been no simple feat, but I'd been determined to see my daughters as soon as humanly possible. I didn't care how much pain I was in, nor did I care what the doctor's thought about moving me. I wasn't guaranteed today or tomorrow, and there was no chance I'd risk not seeing them, talking to them, touching them. Personally, I thought the nurses conceded just to get me to shut up, and I didn't bother trying to hide my satisfaction when Charlie suggested they make it happen. He'd never seen me overbearing...until today. My mama claws came out sharp and fierce, and I'd protect those girls until my last breath. Even though I'd seen pictures, they didn't change the magic of the moment I first met my daughters. Peering in at their tiny little bodies, I, too, noticed all the things Charlie had said about their differences. It was the little things like the pulse of one versus the other, the skin tone, the way one breathed, the little bits of fuzz on their head

"Sarah!" Panic laced my husband's tone, and I dreaded hearing what he'd come in to tell me. Mason Belle was in a state of emergency as wildfires tore through the fields, pastures, and ranches all around us. We'd hoped like crazy that they'd blow in another direction, but that wasn't the path they took. For days the flames had inched toward our county and then one by one taken over. Last night, they'd hit Cross Acres and Twin Creeks, and every available hand had been called up to do everything they could to help, which primarily meant driving the cattle to safety. That was difficult to do at Cross Acres because there were so many more head than on any other ranch around. That many cows required space to even stand much less feed. When Charlie had gotten the call from his dad last night, I'd been woken as well. What hadn't happened was an update since. Even if my condition didn't prevent me from hopping on a horse to try to heard cattle, my three children did. A