Apollo rushed to her side. He grunted in pain as he knelt down next to her, but she couldn’t ask him about it—not yet. He took her hand in his. His hand was dry but his skin was cold to the touch. The wave of pain rose...rose...and crested. And then it was slow to ebb away.
When the pain fully passed, she sighed. “I can’t believe the pain is going to get worse. This feels plenty bad right now.”
“Don’t think about it. You’re doing great.”
“I sure don’t feel like it.”
He gave her hand a quick squeeze before he released it. As he went to straighten, she noticed his cargo shorts had risen up slightly on his muscular thighs. That was when she noticed a long scar starting near his knee and snaking up under his clothes. It was still pink, as though the scar were recent.
Once fully upright, he said, “I’ll be right back. I need to get out of these clothes.” He turned toward the bedroom but then paused and turned back. “Do you need anything first?”
She shook her head. “I’m good. Thanks.”
The truth was she had a lot of questions for him. She wanted to know when this storm was going to move on. She wanted to know if he got any other information from the mainland. And she wanted to know about the scar on his leg. Did it have something to do with why he’d missed his own brother’s funeral?
Seconds ticked away as Popi flipped through her pregnancy book, gleaning any information that would help them. She wondered if there was any way to delay this delivery until help reached them. She didn’t recall reading anything like that, but maybe she missed it. Originally she’d been planning to stay with her sister in the city. And when that plan had fallen through, she’d made the backup plan to stay with her parents. At this point, they didn’t even know that she was in labor, and she had no way of telling them.
Apollo entered the room again. His gaze moved to the kitchen island. “You didn’t want to eat?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t think it was a good idea under the circumstances.”
He nodded in understanding.
“You can go ahead and eat,” she said. “In fact, I insist.”
“That’s okay.”
But she knew it wasn’t. He had to be starving, especially with his hike to the marina. “Please eat. You don’t know how long we’re going to be here.”
His hesitant gaze moved between her and the food.
“Go ahead,” she said.
His worried gaze turned back to her. “Shouldn’t you eat something too?”
She shook her head. “I’m good.”
He moved to the counter. “You know I feel really guilty about eating when you aren’t.”
That touched her. “Tell you what, after this baby is born, I’m going to be starved. You can feed me then.” She thought it would make him feel better, but instead the worry reflected in his eyes was now written all over his face.
“You bet.” His voice lacked enthusiasm. “Anything you want.”
Another contraction stole her voice. She sucked in her breath, holding it. She leaned forward and squeezed her eyes closed as the pain increased. She willed the pain to go away, but it seemed like the pain grew in strength and length as her labor progressed. Would she be able to hold out until help reached them?
The next thing she knew, there were hands on her back. She opened her eyes in surprise to find Apollo kneeling next to her. His big hands and long fingers gently kneaded her back.
“Breath in,” he reminded her. His voice was deep and soothing.
She did as he said.
“And breath out.” All the while, his hands moved over her aching back. “Now again.” He breathed with her as though they were in this together.
After a while, the pain slowly ebbed away. She leaned back on the mound of pillows. “How did you know how to do that?”
“I did a little research while I waited for you to return from the wedding. I had a lot of time to kill and knew nothing about pregnancy. I wanted some idea of what to expect.”
She looked at Apollo with a new kind of appreciation. There was definitely more to this man that anyone ever gave him credit for. She wondered what else there was to him. Because the more time she spent with him, the more curious she became.