A Soldier's Return ; The Daddy Makeover

by RaeAnne Thayne

“I should be fine. Thank you for worrying about me. Have you checked on Sonia?”

  Rosa nodded, looking worried. “I know she doesn’t like storms much.”

  Though it was nothing the other woman had told her, Melissa had the same impression during the most recent storm. Sonia became even more brusque than normal, her words clipped, and Melissa thought she glimpsed fear layering beneath it.

  “I checked on her first. She assured me she is fine, that she has plenty of LED candles. She had four or five going, with extra batteries if necessary, so they can go all night, if it comes to that.”

  “I hope it doesn’t.” Again, she wondered about Sonia and the mysterious past that left her afraid of the dark.

  “Since Skye is not here, do you want me to leave Fiona with you for the company? I asked Sonia and she said she would be fine.”

  Poor Rosa, having to watch over everyone in Brambleberry House. It wasn’t her job, but somehow they all had become her responsibility anyway.

  She patted Fiona, wishing she could say yes. She never would have guessed she would find so much solace in canine companionship. She and Skye really needed to get serious about going to the shelter and picking out a rescue.

  “That’s so sweet of you, but I think I’m okay. Much better than last time Skye was with her dad.”

  Rosa gave her a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry. Being a mother is hard business, no? It never seems to become easier.”

  That seemed an odd statement, filled with more knowledge than she might have expected from a woman who didn’t have any children, at least as far as Melissa knew. Maybe it was just Rosa’s unique word choices, where English was her second language.

  She couldn’t deny the truth in what her friend said, though. “It’s so hard,” she agreed.

  “If you want some chocolate and the sympathy, you know where to find me. I can maybe find a bottle of wine somewhere, also. We don’t need light for that.”

  She managed a smile, tempted for a moment by the picture Rosa painted. Wine and chocolate and sympathy might just be the perfect prescription during a storm.

  On the other hand, she wouldn’t be good company for anyone.

  This time, she knew her dark mood was only partially about the pang she felt at being separated from her child. The rest was about Eli and this wild morass of emotions she didn’t know what to do about.

  He would be there another week, he had said that afternoon. She had nearly gasped aloud at his words as the shock of them had ripped through her like a sharp blade. She was still trying to process the idea that she only had one more week with him.

  “Thanks,” she managed, “but I think I’ll watch the storm for little longer, then go to bed.”

  “No problem. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.”

  She smiled. “Thanks. Good night.”

  After Rosa left, she sat in the window seat for a while longer, feeling more alone than she had in a long, long time.

  * * *

  She awoke to absolute darkness and the strange, disorienting awareness that she didn’t know where she was.

  She blinked, aware of cold and wind and the faint hint of roses hanging on the air.

  Was that what had awakened her? She blinked again as the sunroom of her apartment at Brambleberry House slowly came into focus. She was still curled up on the window seat, a blanket casually tossed over her. Her back ached from the odd position and her foot tingled, asleep.

  She must have drifted off while watching the storm. She wasn’t sure how she could have slept in the midst of the weather’s intensity. Wind whined outside, fiercely hurling raindrops at the window.

  Her phone suddenly rang and she had the feeling it wasn’t the first time. It wasn’t an alarm, but someone calling.

  Skye!

  Still trying to push away the tangled remnants of sleep, she scrambled for her phone and found it glowing under the throw blanket she must have tugged over her in the night.

  “Hello?” She hardly recognized her own raspy voice.

  “Melissa? Is that you?”

  “I... Yes.”

  Not Skye, and not Cody. Some of her anxiety eased and she pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders against the chill of the night and the storm.

  “It’s Julia Garrett. I’m so sorry to bother you, but I tried to call the clinic’s emergency number and the phone lines must be down. I didn’t have Eli’s cell number and thought you might.”

  Her friend’s words seemed to push away the last vestiges of sleep, and Melissa came fully awake. A hundred grim scenarios flashed through her head. It must be something serious for Julia to reach out at 1:00 a.m. in the middle of a storm.

  “Are you all right? Is it one of the kids?”

  “In a manner of speaking.” Was that amusement she heard in Julia’s voice? It hardly seemed appropriate, given the circumstances.

  “I’m in labor.”

  Shock washed over her. “In labor. Now? Are you sure? Your cervix was only dilated to a one, eight hours ago when you left the office!”

  “I’ve done this enough times, I’m pretty positive. I’ve had contractions all evening. I thought they were only Braxton Hicks, but in the past hour they’ve become much more regular.”

  “How far apart?”

  “I’m down to about three minutes now.”

  Some of her wild panic subsided and she relaxed a little. “Okay. That’s good. There’s still time to make it to the hospital in Seaside.”

  “We thought so, too, but there’s a problem. That’s why I’m calling you. We were packing up the car and Will heard on the radio that the road is closed. The storm has knocked several big trees and power lines down between here and there.”

  Her voice cracked on the last word, and she started to breath heavily and regularly into the phone, obviously in the middle of a contraction. Melissa was already looking for her shoes by the door.

  “That one was less than three minutes.”

  A new voice spoke into the phone. Julia must have handed the phone to her husband. Will was usually one of the most calm, measured people Melissa knew, but now he spoke briskly, his voice edged with the beginnings of panic. “I’m not sure what to do. Should I call for medevac?”

  She wasn’t at all prepared to make this sort of decision for the couple. “Let me call Eli and Wendell and see what they suggest. You told me you had a completely natural childbirth with your two youngest, with no complications. Eli may want to just have you meet us at the office.”

  “The only problem,” Will said, “is that one of the downed power lines I heard about is apparently blocking the road between our place and Doc Sanderson’s office. The only way I could figure out to get there is to walk, which I don’t feel good about in this wind and storm, or to head down the beach on the four-wheeler.”

  “We’re not doing either of those things,” she heard Julia declare.

  “Stay put,” she said, shoving on her raincoat and her boots. “I’m on my way. I’ll be there in five minutes. I’ll get in touch with Eli and see if we can come up with a plan. If I can’t get through, I’ll stop and bang on his windows until he wakes up. Meanwhile, breathe, both of you. And don’t let her have that baby yet.”

  “I’ll do my best, but you know Jules. She can be pretty stubborn,” Will said.

  “I heard that,” Melissa heard Julia say in the background.

  Despite her own efforts to grab a flashlight and rush out the door, Melissa had to fight a smile. Will and Julia were a darling couple, overflowing with love for each other and their children. She adored both of them.

  “Hang tight. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  “Be careful,” Will said. “It’s still pretty nasty out there. I don’t like the idea of you going out in it, either.”

  “I won’t let a little rain stop me,
” she assured him. “See you soon.”

  She hung up the phone as a particularly strong gust of wind rattled the windows of the old house.

  She wasn’t eager to go out into the teeth of the storm, but she also wasn’t about to let her friend down. Not when Julia needed her.

  * * *

  He was having a delicious dream.

  He and Melissa were walking through one of the dense ancient forests around Cannon Beach, her hand tucked in his. She carried a blanket in rich jewel tones and wore a sundress the same green as her eyes. Dappled light shot through the trees, catching in her hair.

  She pulled her hand from his and raced ahead a little, turning around to look at him with that laughing, teasing smile that always stole his breath. He caught up with her and she wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him close, where he was safe and warm and loved.

  It was magic here, with a peace he hadn’t known in months. He wanted to stay forever.

  His phone jerked him awake and for an instant he was back in his residency, surviving on energy bars and rare, haphazard chunks of sleep.

  He fumbled for it. “Hello?

  “Eli. It’s Melissa.”

  The discord of hearing the woman who had just been holding him in his dreams jarred him. Unlike the relaxed, warm woman he’d been dreaming about, her voice was strained and she pitched her voice above howling wind.

  That same storm howled outside his father’s house. He had been sitting in his dad’s old recliner awake most of the night but must have eventually drifted off. He had a feeling he hadn’t been sleeping long.

  Eli sat up, his surroundings coming sharply back into focus. Melissa was calling and she needed him.

  “What is it? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

  “I’m not hurt. I’m fine. But Julia Garrett is in labor and apparently the storm has blocked the road between here and Seaside, as well as between her house and the clinic.”

  “She was barely dilated this afternoon!”

  “Tell that to her baby. Apparently it’s on its own schedule. Now she’s having contractions that are less than three minutes apart. I’m heading to their place now.”

  “In this storm?” Fear for her washed over him like a twenty-foot-high swell. Anything could happen to her. She could get hit by flying debris, stumble into a downed power line, fall and injure herself in the deep, powerless darkness.

  He couldn’t lose her!

  “I’m fine. She needs help. Can you meet me there?”

  He was already throwing on his shoes. “I only need five minutes. Be careful!”

  “I know. Same to you.”

  She hung up before he could argue with her and tell her to go back inside Brambleberry House, where she would be safe.

  “What’s happening?”

  In the light of a lantern, Wendell stood in the doorway, holding on to the walker he detested but still needed for stability. His father’s hair was messy, and in his flannel pajamas he looked his age.

  “I’m sorry I woke you. Julia Garrett’s in labor, and apparently power lines are down between here and the hospital in Seaside.”

  “You didn’t wake me. I can never sleep through storms like this. I’ve been in here fretting, wondering how long it would be before someone called, needing help. I didn’t expect it to be Julia. She’s three weeks from her due date.”

  He wasn’t surprised that his father knew exactly when Julia was due, despite the fact that Wendell had been dealing with his own health issues and subsequent recovery for weeks.

  “It was actually Melissa. Julia called her first and she was letting me know what was going on. Melissa is on her way over there and I’m going to meet her.”

  “She shouldn’t be out in the storm, but you and I both know we can’t stop her, especially since Julia is a friend of hers.”

  “We just saw Julia in the office yesterday. She was barely dilated, but of course babies have their own opinions about when they’re going to make an appearance.”

  “Oh, yes. They love showing up when it’s least convenient for anyone. You can take my emergency kit if you need it. I already pulled it out earlier in the evening and set it by the door. It should have everything you need.”

  He had his own emergency kit he kept stocked with supplies in a backpack, but he was touched his father had survived enough storms around Cannon Beach to make sure Eli, as his designated representative, was ready for anything.

  “Thanks. I’ll keep you posted.”

  “Take care of Julia. I know you will. You’re an amazing doctor.”

  He wasn’t as convinced, but his father’s vote of confidence warmed him through. “I’ll try.”

  “And take care of Melissa, too. She shouldn’t be out in this storm.”

  “Exactly what I told her,” he said. He didn’t have time to tell his father how very much he yearned to take care of Melissa forever, to walk through all the storms of life together.

  He grabbed his father’s case and his own backpack, and headed out into the wind and lashing rain.

  Melissa somehow beat him to the Garretts’ house, but he suspected she hadn’t been there long. Her hair was drenched, despite the raincoat she was taking off, and she looked cold.

  He wanted to kiss the raindrops off her cheeks and hold her close to warm her up but knew both of them needed to focus on the crisis at hand.

  “Thank you both for coming out in this crazy weather,” Will Garrett said as he let Eli inside. “I’m sorry we had to call you in the middle of the night, but when we heard the roads were closed, we weren’t sure what else to do.”

  “You did the right thing,” Eli assured him.

  “Trust Julia to make things more exciting,” he said ruefully. “She’s never content with the ordinary.”

  “You’ll have a great story to tell this little one,” Melissa said, her voice calm. She had so many strengths, but that was one he appreciated most: the calm that seemed to radiate from her.

  “How do you have lights?” she asked.

  “We have a whole-house generator. I put it in a few years ago. Believe me, I’ve never been so grateful for anything in my life,” Will said gruffly.

  When Eli pushed the door open, Melissa close behind him, they found Julia Garrett, dressed in a pale blue nightgown, sitting on the edge of the bed. A pretty teenage girl who had to be one of her twins sat next to her.

  “Hey, Julia. Hi, Maddie.” Melissa greeted both of them with more of that calm.

  Julia managed a smile in response though her features were taut and strained. “This isn’t quite the way I planned this.”

  “What is it with babies, deciding to make their appearances in the middle of the night in the worst possible weather?”

  “Inconsiderate little stinks, aren’t they?”

  She smiled at them and then caught her breath, pressing both hands over her abdomen.

  “That one was barely a minute since the last one,” Maddie said, eyes huge and frightened in her pretty face.

  “We’re okay,” Julia said, reaching out a hand to give her daughter’s arm a reassuring squeeze. “The cavalry is here now. You and Will won’t have to deliver your baby sister.”

  “Whew,” the girl said, vast relief on her face.

  Eli considered his options quickly. “How do you feel about a home birth? I don’t think we have time to call the air ambulance and have them here in time for the delivery, and I’m not sure they can fly in this wind anyway. We can have them on standby in case there any complications.”

  “Women have been giving birth at home forever,” Julia said. “As long as she’s safe, I don’t care how she gets here.”

  He had plenty of colleagues who would have disagreed and would have insisted a hospital was the only safe place for a woman to give birth, but Eli’s experience in war zones and refugee
camps had told him that women could be incredibly resourceful. Under the circumstances, this was the safest possible place for Julia to have her baby, not in a helicopter or an ambulance trying to make its way through the storm.

  Even if they had called for a chopper, it turned out that Julia’s labor progressed so quickly it was clear it wouldn’t have arrived in time. He and Melissa barely had time to arrange her on the bed, put a nervous Will at ease and send Maddie for clean towels and to boil water to sterilize any tools he needed to use.

  Ten minutes later, he watched a head emerge.

  Sweat poured down Julia’s face and she gripped her husband’s hand tightly. “I have to push.”

  “That’s good,” Eli said. “I need you to do just that. Now is the perfect time to push. You’ve got this.”

  A moment later, he delivered a chunky, red-faced baby, who took a shuddering breath, then began to wail.

  “Love that sound,” Melissa said, wiping off the baby’s face with an awestruck expression. “Welcome to the world, little Garrett girl.”

  “Miriam Renee,” Will said, his voice raw with emotions. “We want to call her Miri.”

  Eli caught his breath. It was a coincidence, he knew, but hearing the name out of the blue like that still made him feel as if he’d been run over by a tank.

  For a moment he was frozen, picturing a sweet girl, bloodied and torn, her smile cut down forever by hatred and violence. A strangled cry choked him and he couldn’t breathe or think. He had to get out of here before the memories consumed him and he fell apart. In a panic, his muscles tensed and he was about to rise, to escape, when he felt the gentle pressure of fingers on his shoulder.

  Melissa.

  His gaze met hers, and he saw a knowledge and compassion there that made him swallow back the emotions. She knew. She knew and somehow she steadied him. He had no idea how she managed it. He only knew that the warm touch of her hand on him seemed to clear away the panic and the grief and shock until he felt much more in control.

  He drew in a shuddering breath and cleared his throat. “Miri is a beautiful name for a beautiful little girl.”