“That’s a wonderful idea,” Reed said.
Phillip stomped his foot, kicking up a whirl of dust. “Well, I don’t! I’ve got enough to do without taking on somebody else’s problems.”
“Like what?” Reed asked. “Homework and video games?”
Phillip didn’t answer. He just glared off in the direction of the destroyed coop.
“Tell you what, boys. I’ll go over there in the morning and check out the damage, see what materials we’d need to make it right again. If it looks like we can do the job, I’ll run into town and pick up wood and chicken wire.”
Justin smiled and gave his brother an I-told-you-so look of triumph. “That would be great, Dad. Then we can fix it this weekend.”
“Hmm, it might take a few weekends,” Reed said. “But it will be fun, all of us together, working on a project.” He looked hard at his oldest boy. “No one gets to sit this one out, pal. You might even discover that you enjoyed doing something for our neighbors.”
“Come on, Dad. They’re not even our neighbors anymore,” Phillip pointed out.
“That’s true for now,” he said. “But things might change.” If I have anything to say about it.
CHAPTER TWENTY
ONCE REED DECIDED to fix up the chicken coop, he became a changed man. His mornings started early with rounds to his patients and a trip to Camryn’s farm to feed her chickens, who’d been displaced for a couple of days but were now roosting happily in what was left of their coop. Reed gathered the eggs, and when they began to fill up his refrigerator, he took them to town and sold them to the diner. A coffee tin in a top cupboard became the symbolic “Camryn’s start-over fund” where Reed tucked the profits from his egg gathering.
Reed didn’t know if Camryn would even be interested in starting over, but it didn’t matter, because he was starting over with his own life by rebuilding hers. The project at Camryn’s turned out to be a bonding experience for the Bolden men. They worked hard, laughed a lot and chased a bunch of chickens around Camryn’s yard. And when they ate some of the eggs, Reed saw a sense of pride in the boy’s faces and appetites.
The restoration of the coop was meant to be a surprise. The boys wanted it that way, but Reed took pictures of the progress over the weekends as they hammered and stapled and made a pretty good home for the chicks. The final picture of the finished project brought a feeling of accomplishment to all who’d worked on it, and Reed and his sons, including Phillip, were anxious to show the pictures to Camryn and Esther.
Reed called Camryn several times over the next few weeks. He shared news of his clinic, the town, his parents, his sons, with special emphasis on Rooster, whom he’d become to think of as a member of his own family. When it was time to return the dog to its owners, Reed and his boys would have a hard time letting go.
Sometimes Reed thought Camryn needed cheering up, and he was glad that he could be the one to do that. For a woman who had been busy most of her days, this inactivity had to be difficult. Most times, though, Camryn seemed genuinely happy to hear from him. She asked about Rooster, talked about Esther and her family. The pregnancy was progressing as it should, but the doctor was monitoring her closely.
The one main dark spot on Camryn’s horizon seemed to be her relationship with her sister, Brooke. Reed didn’t ask why the twins might have had a falling out. He knew their love was strong and abiding, and whatever the problem, they would work it out.
“How is my house?” Camryn asked him during one phone call. “Have you been inside to check things out?”
Since she had sold the acreage to Agri-Crops, he wasn’t surprised that she didn’t ask about the few acres she’d turned over to a garden. And he was encouraged that she asked about the house. Yes, he’d been inside, several times actually. Each time he went in the door, smelled the scents that reminded him of Camryn and studied the little things on her shelves, he felt close to her. And he missed her even more.
“Everything is great,” he told her. “The house looks like you are going to walk in the door any minute. Nothing has changed.”
Except maybe for his growing desire that she would do exactly that—walk in the door any minute.
“Some serious farm equipment has been on the property adjacent to the house,” he told her. “I’d say Agri-Crops is preparing the soil for a spring planting.”
“I would be excited to see what crops they’re planning and watch them grow.”
“Does that mean you’re coming back?” he asked her.
“I don’t know, Reed. I can’t decide anything until the baby comes and I know she’s healthy. I do worry about how I would manage, just the three of us.”
She paused. He held his breath. “But I think about it often,” she said.
He wondered if what he was feeling for Cam was love. Lyrics from romantic songs and verses of poetry popped into his head with regularity these days. Oddly, her absence seemed to have cleared so many of the doubts from his mind. Talking to her on the phone, hearing her voice, picturing her smile intensified the feeling. Could a man fall hopelessly in love with a woman over the phone? Reed was sure he had.
* * *
CAMRYN EXPERIENCED THE same mixed emotions she always felt after talking to Reed. Today he’d made her feel especially homesick by describing little details of the farmhouse she’d left behind. But she was happy that he had been inside her home and sensed that the visits were his way of maintaining a connection between them. Was it enough of a connection? She couldn’t say. The one she dreamed of involved a forever life of six people bound together through the hardships, challenges and joys of living together. But if he did not want to assume the role of father to her two children, she knew she would have to sacrifice her own desires for the needs of her daughters.
And so she waited out the long hours and even longer days until Grace Evelyn would enter the world, filling her mother’s heart with love and gratitude and liberating her from the exile to which she’d been confined. What would Camryn do then? That was the question that consumed her thoughts and often filled her with dread, because it seemed the peace and tranquility of the life she’d known in Bufflehead Creek would only be a fading memory.
“Are you busy?” Brooke poked her head into Camryn’s room a few minutes after Cam had disconnected with Reed.
“Not now,” Camryn said. “And as you well know, hardly ever.”
“It won’t be long now,” Brooke said, staring at her sister’s cumbersome belly. “My goodness Camryn, you’re as big as a house.”
“Still three weeks until my due date,” Cam said. “Though I wouldn’t be surprised if this little girl came early. I’ve been feeling twinges...”
“I have something to tell you if you won’t get upset.”
“No, I won’t get upset,” she said. She could well imagine that everyone in her family was tired of waiting out this birth and coddling to Camryn’s needs. Though not one of her family was as tired of the ordeal as Camryn herself was.
“Why would I get upset?” Camryn said. “Unless this is more about our phantom brother and his never-to-be-discovered whereabouts.”
Brooke gave her a sheepish look and settled on a comfy rocker their mother had purchased just last week, another gift to ensure that Camryn would stay in Charleston. “Well, it is about Edward.”
“Oh, Brooke, you’ve got to stop this search. Besides the money you’ve spent trying to track down this man, you’ve missed days of work, and...”
“My job is fine,” Brooke insisted. “And the last I heard, the money I make is mine to spend however I want.”
“Of course it is,” Camryn said, “but honey, the likelihood is that you’ll never find Edward and you’ll spend the rest of your life wondering what happened to him.”
“Well, we have eliminated some places he isn’t. Prison, for one,” Brooke said defiantly.
“You�
�re sure of that?”
“Yes. I’ve done a background check of every Edward imprisoned in the state of South Carolina over the past thirty years. None of their backgrounds match the details, as scant as they are, of our brother.”
“Okay, so he hasn’t been in prison in South Carolina. That only leaves prisons in forty-nine more states to investigate.”
Brooke scowled, prompting Camryn to think she’d gone too far. For some reason, one that Camryn couldn’t understand even after hearing her sister provide the motivation for this search, finding this long-lost brother had become the central objective of her sister’s life.
“Can’t you be on my side for once?” Brooke challenged. “Or at least pretend to understand?” She leaned forward in the chair, commanding Camryn’s attention. “He’s out there, and he’s our flesh and blood. Doesn’t that mean anything to you or are you so wrapped up in your own problems and your own little family that you don’t even see that I need a family, too?”
Her words were like a bolt of reality, and Camryn suddenly understood why her sister was so obsessed with this quest. Brooke, the career woman, the serial dater, the one who seemed to have it all, didn’t have what Camryn was fighting so hard to protect. But Brooke had never professed an interest in having children, or, for that matter, getting married and settling down.
Camryn got out of bed and padded over to her sister. The twinge she’d been experiencing suddenly became a slicing pain. She held her stomach with one hand and reached for her sister with the other. Probably another false alarm, she told herself. “Brooke, you have a family,” she said. “You have Mom and Dad, me and Esther, and soon, Grace. We all love you.”
A single tear fell down Brooke’s cheek, and she swiped at it as if it burned her skin. Crying was so unlike her. “I know that,” she said. “And I love you, but if there is more for me out there somewhere, I need to know it. I need my connection to something bigger, because as wonderful as Mom and Dad are, they are not our connection to the past. I’m tired of being the girl who has always had to fabricate a family history just to feel like I belong.”
Camryn rested her hand on Brooke’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry, honey. You go ahead and do what you have to do. I won’t criticize you again.”
“Really?”
“Really.” She smiled. “At least, I’ll try not to. Now what did you want to tell me about Edward when you came in...”
She couldn’t get the last word out. A crippling pain started at the top of her abdomen and spread downward, taking her breath. She clutched her belly.
Brooke jumped upfrom the rocker and walked Camryn back to the bed. “Cammie, what’s wrong?”
“Get my suitcase out of the closet,” Camryn said. “It’s all packed.”
Brooke rushed to do as Cam asked.
“How fast will that fancy car of yours go?” Camryn asked as she struggled to the door.
“Pretty darn fast,” Brooke assured her. “Are we about to have a baby?”
“I hope not for at least fifteen minutes,” Cam said. “It takes that long to get to the hospital.”
* * *
AFTER HAVING THE usual shower and snack-time arguments with his sons, Reed finally got the boys to bed. Tomorrow was Friday, and he’d promised them a movie in town and all the popcorn they could eat. He’d just settled on his sofa when his cell phone rang.
“Who could that be at this hour?” he said to the wiry bundle of fur curled up in front of his fireplace. “Hope we don’t have to go down to the clinic to see a sick friend of yours, Rooster.”
The dog whined at hearing his name, and Reed sat up straight when he saw the name on his caller ID.
“Camryn? Is this you?”
“Hi, Reed. It’s me, Esther.”
“Sweetie, what are you doing up so late? Is something wrong?” He’d risen from the sofa and already starting planning the essentials he would throw in his suitcase if he needed to leave the house immediately.
“I’m up late because I don’t have to go to school tomorrow.”
“Are you sick, Essie?”
“No. I just called to tell you that Mommy had our baby. Mommy said I could call you.”
Relief made Reed weak in his knees, and he sat back down on the couch. “Of course you can, Es. That’s wonderful news. Is everyone okay?”
“Yep. I saw Mommy a few minutes ago, and she was holding my new sister.”
“How does the baby look to you, Esther?”
“Pink and wrinkly. But Mommy and Grandma say that’s normal. Her skin will stretch out soon. And she’s really little. That’s because she was born three weeks early. Mommy said she was anxious to meet me.”
“I’m sure she was. And how does your Mommy feel?”
“Okay, I guess. She keeps smiling at baby Grace and kissing me more than usual. The doctor said she can go home tomorrow. That’s why I don’t have to go to school. I get to help out at Grandma’s house.”
Going home tomorrow. That was good news. Apparently the early birth didn’t come with too many complications. “Esther, tell your mother that I will call her in the morning. Will you do that, please?”
“Sure. And will you tell Rooster that we had the baby?”
Reed glanced over at the dog who was scratching at his midsection, unmindful of the change to his family situation. “You bet I will, sweetie. Rooster is going to be one happy dog.”
“Okay, thanks. You can tell Justin and Phillip, too.”
“I will. Hope to see you soon, Esther.”
“Me, too. I have to hang up now.”
“Okay. Thanks for calling.”
Reed maintained the connection long after he knew Esther had hung up. The phone felt warm to his palm, a reflection of the heat slowly building in his chest. Yes, Rooster would be a happy dog. But Reed was way ahead of him. Mother and baby were doing fine. He grinned, feeling giddy and silly. What’s going on with you, Bolden? You’d think it was your baby cuddled up next to Camryn in Charleston.
It wasn’t, of course. Grace had a father. He was probably in the hospital room with Camryn right now. So why did Reed feel like running around all of Bufflehead Creek handing out cigars?
* * *
AT BREAKFAST THE next morning Reed told the boys about Esther’s new little sister.
“That’s cool,” Justin said. “When do we get to see the baby?”
Phillip poured milk on his cereal. “Don’t be stupid, Justin,” he said. “It’s just a baby. We’ll see it when they come back.”
Reed had avoided telling his sons that Camryn’s plans might mean that she and Esther would never come back. Maybe he hadn’t told them because he hoped the possibility of her staying in Charleston wasn’t an option. Maybe he wasn’t ready to accept that Camryn was going to make a life without the Bolden men in it. But now it was time.
“Here’s the thing, boys,” he began. “Camryn and Esther may not be coming back to Bufflehead Creek.”
His spoon poised halfway to his mouth, Justin gaped at him. “What are you talking about? I thought they were just going until the baby was born. Well, now the baby is born.”
“Yeah, and we did all that work on the chicken coop,” Phillip said. “You mean they won’t even see what we did?”
“They have to come back,” Justin chimed in. “We have their dog!”
As if he understood every word, Rooster stood up from the rug by the kitchen sink, wandered over to Justin and put his head on the boy’s knee.
“All of these are important matters,” Reed said. “That’s why we’re not going to the movies tonight.”
“What?” Phillip’s voice raised an octave. “Why not? You promised.”
“I know I said we would,” Reed agreed, “but something more important has come up. Now I think I want us to go to Charleston.”
“All of us?” Justin asked.
“Sure. You, Phillip, me and Rooster.”
“Just to see a baby?” Phillip said.
“Not just to see a baby,” Reed explained. “We haven’t seen Camryn or Esther in over two months. I don’t know about you guys, but I kind of miss those girls.”
“Me, too, Dad,” Justin said. “I’d like to go to Charleston. Why don’t we make it a surprise? I’ll bet ol’ Esther won’t be able to think of a thing to say.”
Reed stared at his older son. “Phillip, what do you say? You can go with us or you can stay with Grandma.”
“That’s my choice? Go see a baby or stay with Grandma?”
Reed shrugged. “Yep.”
“Okay, I’ll go. But I’m not changing any diapers.”
Reed laughed and ruffled Phillip’s hair. “Fair enough. We’ll leave as soon as the bus drops you guys off. We’ll be in Charleston before it gets dark. I’ll make a hotel reservation for us after you leave for school.”
He made a mental list. And get someone out here to watch the clinic and feed the animals. Thank goodness his barn was finished, so whoever he hired to watch the place wouldn’t have to run to the next property to care for the horses. He’d have to carefully label all the animals’ medications and treatment plans. Another plus...his rehab center wasn’t too crowded at the moment. He’d wait a few hours and then call the hospital to make certain Camryn and Grace had been discharged. And he’d look up the address for Mr. and Mrs. Craig Montgomery.
Reed hurried about his chores. He experienced almost the same excitement he’d felt when he was a kid and his parents were taking the family on a special vacation. Like then, he was hopeful, unable to focus on everything he had to accomplish in a few hours.
As the day wore on, doubts began to filter into the positive energy in his brain. Would Camryn be happy to see him? After their phone calls, he believed she would be. Would Mark be around? No question—a baby changed everything. Would Mark pressure Camryn to get back together? Would Mark wonder what this man and his two sons were doing at the Montgomerys’?
Baby Makes Four Page 21
