Lost in the Wind

by Calle J. Brookes

  “Yeah, I know how that feels myself. So…” Nikkie Jean had more important things to worry about than what happened thirty-six years ago; she wanted to see that Doppler monitor in action. She wanted to hear for herself. “Bigger-than-average babies seem to be the norm here.”

  “Same for their siblings’ children. Luc and Payton’s baby, Patrick, weighed almost nine and a half. Paige’s Mikey weighed almost ten—and was twenty-three inches long.”

  “Ouch. Ouch. Ouch,” Nikkie Jean said, eyeing Caine and Rafe like they were the overly large devils they were. “Too bad these guys didn’t come with warning labels.”

  Caine just shot her a hot look—one that had her remembering that she hadn’t exactly protested what they’d done that night.

  Far from it; she’d lured him to his doom easily and willingly, after all.

  “No kidding, right?” Jillian motioned for her to lie back on the bed. She went to work with the monitor. “So how do you feel today?”

  “Honestly? Other than the always-with-me morning sickness, I feel fine. I’m just…not certain how I got here.” She’d heard enough the last time she’d opened her eyes to figure out that a storm had hit. But the details were more than just fuzzy to her. They were nonexistent.

  Caine leaned forward as Jillian fiddled with the settings. His eyes were trained on hers. It would take Jillian a moment to find the baby, if the machine could pick it up at all. The room was silent until…

  “There. Found the Jelly Bean.”

  A steady thump, thump sounded from the monitor.

  Tears sprang to her eyes. Nikkie Jean’s gaze shot to Caine’s. He had the dopiest grin on his face. His fingers were wrapped around hers.

  His eyes met hers. For a moment, Jillian and Rafe disappeared. And it was just her and Caine. Connected.

  Jillian let them listen for a few more minutes. “So…my niece or nephew sounds just fine. But I bet he or she is hungry right now?”

  “Definitely. I don’t remember eating anything since—” She frowned. “I don’t remember. I don’t remember anything since yesterday afternoon. I think it was yesterday.”

  She fought back the panic. She shouldn’t have lost that much time. Not for the little scratch on her head. She didn’t even have much of a headache. “Did I hit my head again?”

  “We don’t know,” Caine said. His fingers slipped around hers and he squeezed. Some of the panic receded. “You left the building, according to what Izzie said, to go meet Annie at the mayor’s office. You never made it. The head of pediatrics from County actually found you on his way to County after the storm.”

  She didn’t have a headache. Not like the last time she’d been in the hospital. “I don’t feel like I hit my head.”

  “You have a small bruise right here.” Caine brushed the area over her right temple. “But no concussion. The wound didn’t even require stitches. It’s more like an abrasion or road rash.”

  “What’s the last thing you do remember?” Jillian asked, quietly and calmly. Nikkie Jean looked at her friend and pulled in a deep breath. Whatever had happened, she was safe now.

  “There was a meeting at lunch—with Rafe. I walked in with Lacy and Allen. After that…blank.”

  “It’s possible you did hit your head and, combined with the previous concussion, you just don’t remember,” Rafe said, with a soothing tone in his voice. “Or you simply fainted and bruised your head when you fell. And rode out the storm where you landed. Or the trauma has caused you to block it out. We’ve seen that happen before. We have no real way of knowing unless you can remember later. Which, with a blow to the head, isn’t all that unusual.”

  “I—” She tried. She truly did. But all she remembered was walking down the hallway with Lacy right before the meeting started. “I think…I remember…Dr. Henedy? Was he there? And a woman? A nurse?”

  Jillian nodded. “Dr. DeTerro actually found you on the sidewalk, Nik. He carried you to us. Wallace Henedy was working a triage tent in the parking lot. He and Cherise were the ones to originally treat you.”

  “The lunch meeting ran to about four thirty. The storm hit after that. You were found and admitted two and a half hours after,” Rafe said. “After Wallace and Cherise checked you over and determined you were stable, Jillian and I brought you here.”

  “But what happened in between?” Anything could have happened to her. Nikkie Jean fought the panic that brought.

  “Only you can tell us that,” Caine said. “But it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are safe.” He leaned closer and brushed a kiss over her hand. “You’re both safe right now.”

  All at once, what he’d told her flashed through her head. How he’d had to sit with his wife as she died, knowing she’d never see their son. Nikkie Jean flipped her hand over and cupped his cheek.

  “We’re all going to be ok.”

  He’d only been gone a few hours. He’d been there when she’d opened her eyes around seven-thirty in the morning. She’d just watched him sleeping for a few minutes before drifting off again, reassured that he was safe. That she was. That the baby was. He’d been gone the next time she’d surfaced an hour or so later. No doubt to captain his own ship.

  But Izzie had been there in his place. Now Rafe stood looking down at her.

  “I’m giving you a clean bill of health—well, Dr. Kaur is. She asked me to stop by and give you the message since she was paged to an emergency twin delivery fifteen minutes ago. You are fine. Jelly Bean is fine. And you are being released.”

  To go where?

  Izzie had confirmed what she’d suspected. Her house had taken an indirect hit. Her roof was damaged, and the back part of the house had taken structural damage. Izzie had taken photos for her. It was fixable, but she wasn’t going to be living there for a while. She’d gotten lucky it hadn’t been blown to smithereens. The tornado had cut a swath right over Caine’s house and straight toward hers.

  They’d both gotten incredibly lucky.

  “I need to find a place to stay. Need to call the Barratt or something.” She wasn’t too attached to her house. Not really. She’d certainly moved before.

  But this was the first place she’d purchased with her own money, earned with her own work.

  Maybe she was more attached to it than she’d thought. Tears burned her eyes behind the pink sports glasses that she’d had in a tote bag in her locker. She’d left them in there, and Izzie had retrieved them for her so she would be able to see.

  “You’re coming home with me.”

  A warm hand covers hers. One attached to a very handsome green dragon. He’d slipped into the room behind his brother, apparently. Nikkie Jean wrapped her fingers around the hand he’d touched her with.

  She’d like that very much. She wasn’t quite ready to let him go just yet.

  If she ever would be.

  80

  THEY LET HER OUT JUST after nine that night, twenty-six hours after the storm had first hit and nine hours after they’d told her she was being paroled. An odd discharge time, but Nikkie Jean understood. They needed the bed. And she was well enough to go home. Not like she didn’t have her own personal physician ready and willing to give her personal attention.

  Rafe hadn’t been willing to let her out of the hospital until Caine had shown back up—again—looking ragged and tired after being called back to BCGH unexpectedly. Now she was going home. Finally.

  Well, to Caine’s home, anyway.

  He pulled into the driveway of his house. The lights were on, but the kids should be asleep.

  It looked different in the middle of the night. Less welcoming.

  Every joint in her body ached. She was exhausted and not exactly in a good place in her head right now. “I can’t do this right now.”

  “Do what?”

  “Think about this. I just want to sleep.” And cry. She wanted to be alone so she could cry.

  “Then I’ll carry you inside. You can be asleep in a few minutes, I promise. I have your prescr
iptions in my pocket.”

  She nodded. There was acetaminophen in there somewhere. It was all she was going to take. Well, in addition to the vitamins, anyway.

  “Stay there. I’ll come lift you out.”

  She didn’t want that. She wanted to be able to stand on her own feet with him. To not be the least little bit vulnerable. But that wasn’t happening. Nikkie Jean couldn’t even get in and out of his truck right now without assistance.

  Caine’s hands practically scorched her skin when he lifted her out. He sat her down on her feet just briefly. Then he scooped her back up—far too easily. She sighed.

  He must have felt it. “It’ll be ok, sweetheart. No matter what I have to do to make it that way. I promise.”

  Nikkie Jean rested her head against his broad shoulder as he carried her inside.

  “Here you ar—” An older man with wild white hair, tan skin, and brown eyes waited in the kitchen.

  “Hello,” Nikkie Jean said softly.

  Henry was staring at Nikkie Jean, obvious confusion on the man’s face. No wonder. Caine hadn’t said much to him about what had happened. He just hadn’t had time. “Uncle Henry, meet Dr. Nikkie Jean Netorre. She’s going to be staying with us for a while.”

  “Nice to meet you, honey. How did you hurt yourself?”

  Nikkie Jean nodded. “I…this is awkward. I was hurt in the storm.”

  “I’m sorry, honey. Let’s get you comfortable. Then I’ll get one of the guest rooms ready. There are two.”

  “The one that connects to mine, Henry. There’s something you need to know.” Caine wasn’t one for wasting much time. Especially now. He’d come too damned close two damned times too many to waste time any longer. “Nikkie Jean is pregnant. The baby is mine.”

  His uncle just stared. And stared. At the two of them. Nikkie Jean was so tense in his arms it was a wonder she hadn’t shattered. Caine just tightened his arms around her.

  “You’re serious.”

  “Very much so.” Caine brushed a kiss over her head without thinking. Gradually the tension left her body. “I need to get her settled, Henry. She’s had a rough few days.”

  “Of course. Welcome, little honey. I’m Uncle Henry, and anything you need at all, you come to me. Let me get you some extra blankets. Do you have any clothes with you, or do we need to find you something to wear?” Henry started buzzing around, gathering what he thought Nikkie Jean would need. Just like he’d suspected his uncle would. His uncle was a natural-born nurturer. Henry was the only reason Caine had survived to adulthood; Caine had often thought that before. “You can sleep in one of my nephew’s shirts tonight. Tomorrow, you can get me a list of anything you need, and I’ll go get it for you.”

  Henry did exactly what Caine had expected. He fussed. His uncle had never married. The man Henry had been in love with had died in the military almost forty years ago. He’d never had a family other than Caine and Caine’s children.

  Henry had not been overly fond of Caine’s wife, and the two had grown apart then. But after she’d died, leaving Caine with a premature infant to care for, Henry had come running to help.

  Caine adored the older man. And he suspected Henry was going to adore Nikkie Jean.

  Nikkie Jean thanked him. Caine heard a significant sniffle the instant Henry took off down the hall. His arms tightened around her. “Hey, you ok?”

  “He doesn’t have to go to so much trouble for me.”

  “He wants to.” Caine wanted to. He wanted to be the man to do whatever Nikkie Jean needed. Or provide it.

  He wanted this woman in his arms to need him. Him. He wanted to be the focus of her world for a while.

  “I—I could have gone to the hotel. Or to Rafe and Jillian’s. They offered.” She shot a look at him. There were tears on her cheeks. “They told me…no matter what happens between us, that they consider me family now. Me and Jelly Bean. Rafe even gave me a hug.”

  “He did, did he?” He’d hug her. Hold her however she would let him.

  “I…only have Izzie and Annie. As my family. And now I have Rafe and Jillian, too. You’re lucky you’re part of their family, Caine. Very lucky to have them, just waiting for you to let them in.”

  “You have me. And I’m considering letting them in, as you said. I can’t…close myself off any longer. I…hell, Nikkie Jean, I told myself at April’s funeral that I wasn’t going to let another woman in like that to hurt me, to hurt the children. But you…slid right in. As if you were meant to be there. If I believe in the fates—which I’m starting to—then it’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

  “The baby will have a family. A real one. Like I didn’t. That matters, Caine.” Her head rested on his shoulder. She was trembling in his arms, going limp as he stood there, giving Henry time to get her room ready. “I’m glad you’re letting me in. And that I’m letting you in, too.”

  Within seconds, Nikkie Jean was sound asleep in his arms. He tightened his hold, feeling like he mattered to her now. Like he could make a difference for her. Like he’d just been existing for the last two years, waiting to find her.

  Caine brushed a kiss over her head. “You matter, sweetheart. I can promise you that. Now it’ll be up to me to show you just how much.”

  He carried her to the room right next to his. If it had just been him and her, or even him, her, and Henry, he would have walked straight to his room and put her in his bed.

  Where she belonged.

  But there would be time for that later. He’d need to ease her and the twins into the idea. He wouldn’t rush any of them.

  Henry was waiting, the blankets turned back. “Ah, little thing fell asleep already?”

  “She’s had a rough few weeks. And morning sickness hasn’t been easy, either.”

  “I didn’t realize you had a woman, Caine. I thought the children were just fixated on a friend of your sister’s.”

  “That’s her. We…met several months ago. Things happened. The baby…was a shock. A surprise, for sure. But one I’m so damned thrilled about.”

  “And now you’re getting another child. You planning on doing the right thing with this little lady?”

  He knew exactly what Henry meant. His uncle had some definite old-fashioned ideals at times. “I’m planning on it. But I screwed up with her months ago. I don’t know how to fix that.”

  “Now your little honey there is skittish?”

  “That’s a good word for it.”

  “She going to be good for the kids?”

  Caine nodded. Of that, he had no doubt. “She’s a pediatric surgeon, Henry. And has one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen.”

  “Then you’d best be careful not to crush it.” Henry looked down at her as Caine lowered her to the bed. “She’s very small. As young as she looks?”

  “No. That, she’s not. She’s thirty.” He removed Nikkie Jean’s glasses. She wasn’t wearing the contacts. “She’s stubborn as a pack of mules, too.”

  “Then I guess you’d better plan to out-stubborn her.”

  “I guess I will. I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Glad to see you’re back among the living, boy. I was starting to think you would close yourself off forever. Good to see that you aren’t.”

  “I wasn’t, until she came barreling into the ER one night.” And he’d been there, almost waiting. As if that was exactly where he was supposed to be.

  81

  WHEN NIKKIE JEAN OPENED her eyes the next morning, Caine was leaning over her, and the three most beautiful mini-Alvaros were standing next to him.

  “Good morning,” he said in a rueful tone. “I was planning to let you sleep, but Dalton wandered in here. And Keller followed him. They seem to think I brought Sleeping Beauty home with me.”

  “That is such a lame story,” Everett said. “All the princess does is just sleep.”

  Keller gave her a shy smile. “I like Belle the best.”

  “I bet you do. You’re just as pretty as she is,” Nikkie Jean said. T
his was one of the most awkward mornings of her life. “Hi, guys.”

  “Dad says he wants you to be his girlfriend, and we’re not to do anything to scare you off. So I can’t push Keller off the roof again. Or anything like that.” Everett gave her a challenging look. But one that had the same wariness she’d seen in his father’s eyes.

  No wonder. With what Caine had said April had done to her own children, they’d view any woman Caine brought home as a possible threat. “No. Probably not. Why were you on the roof, and did you use proper rock-climbing equipment?”

  That had the little boy looking at her closely. “No. She was supposed to be the hostage so I could rescue her and arrest the bad guy.”

  “It was the shed roof, sweetheart. Eight feet off the ground. But she sprained her wrist.” Caine sat down on the bed next to her. “How do you feel today?”

  “Rested. My head is finally clear. I’m a little sore, but I could probably go into work today and be just fine.”

  “Not happening. You’re going to laze around like the princess while we take care of you.”

  Dalton squirmed and pulled himself closer to the bed. Caine reached down and lifted his son.

  Right into her arms.

  Dalton babbled at her and clapped his hands.

  He was such a beautiful child. They all three were.

  “We’ve made breakfast. Daddy is going to carry you into the kitchen,” Keller said. “Uncle Henry told him he had to be romantic, so you’ll stay with us.”

  “Do you want me to stay with you? I mean, I’m not going to be in the way?” Nikkie Jean asked, looking at the twins.

  Caine was watching her with them, a tension about him that she hadn’t missed.

  “I don’t think you’ll be in the way,” Keller wrapped a hand around Nikkie Jean’s. “Do you want to see my room? I have dolls in there. I don’t have a lot of dresses for them.”

  “I like to make doll dresses sometimes. I’ll show you how.”

  Everett rolled his eyes. “Dolls are for girls.”