by A. J. Pine
Sam’s mom squeezed his shoulder gently. “She’s right, sweetheart. You haven’t eaten. You haven’t slept. That’s not doing anyone any favors.”
After taking one more sniff of the mint plant, Delaney set it on the table next to her bed and held her hand out for Sam. He took it, kissed it, and then pressed it to his chest.
“Please,” Delaney said. “I slept. I ate. And I need you to do those things, too, okay?”
A muscle ticked in his jaw, but he nodded. “Okay,” he said. “I’m coming right back, though.” He leaned over to kiss her, once on the forehead and once on the lips.
“I know,” Delaney said as he rested his forehead against hers.
He straightened and for the first time set his eyes on Jenna, as if he was just noticing she was there.
“Thank you,” he said. “I’m glad she’s not alone.”
“Of course,” Jenna responded. “I can stay as long as you need me. We were all going to be together in Reno today anyway. I have no other plans.”
And with that, Sam finally let his mother lead him out of the room.
Barbara Ann clicked the door shut behind her, and Delaney released a long breath.
“It’s called bed rest,” she said. “Not bed watch-your-fiancé-freak-out.” She winced. “Do I sound horrible and ungrateful for the amazing man who’s going to be an even more amazing father?”
Jenna sat in the chair that someone had pulled up close to Delaney’s bed.
“It doesn’t sound ungrateful,” she said, squeezing Delaney’s hand. “It just sounds like it’s not easy for either of you to relax, which is pretty understandable. Are you scared?”
Delaney nodded. But before she could speak, they were interrupted by a loud whirring sound.
Jenna’s eyes widened and Delaney laughed.
“What is that?” Jenna asked.
“Lift the blanket off my legs,” Delaney said.
Jenna leaned toward the far end of the bed but then looked back at Delaney. “Should I be scared?” she asked.
“Nah,” Delaney said. “The only thing frightening under there are my swollen feet and ankles, and you’ve seen those already.”
“Okay,” Jenna said hesitantly. “Here goes nothing.”
She lifted the blanket, and there were Delaney’s swollen feet. But her ankles and calves were covered with what looked like long black sleeves that were filling with air.
“Compression pumps,” Delaney said while Jenna was still investigating the contraptions. “They’re to keep the blood flowing so I don’t clot since I can’t get out of bed. Not that I’ve been laid up for that long, but I guess it’s standard procedure for patients stuck in bed.”
Jenna’s brows drew together as she turned her attention back to Delaney.
White wires protruded from the neck of her green hospital gown, from her neck where the IV was inserted, and from her feet where the pumps connected to their machine.
“On a scale of one to ten,” Jenna said, “how uncomfortable is bed rest?”
“It’s the worst,” she admitted. “And if we make it to the twenty-four-hour mark without labor starting up again, I get to go home—and stay on bed rest for the last weeks of the pregnancy. But I’ll do whatever I have to do for this baby to make it to full term or as close to full term as she can get.”
Jenna gasped.
“What?” Delaney asked.
“Um…You just said she.”
This time Delaney gasped. “Oh God! Don’t tell Sam. We weren’t supposed to find out. But last night when he ran home to get my stuff and it was just me and the doctor…I don’t know. I was so scared. Was the baby okay? If the baby was born last night, what would the risks be? What would possible complications be? How long would the baby be in the NICU without me being able to hold it or nurse it or…” She forced a smile, but Jenna could tell she was holding back tears. “I just needed to know something for certain, something that made me feel like I was in control.” She shrugged. “I wanted something to make me feel more connected to her.” She let out a tearful laugh. “Connected to her. Can you believe it? We’re having a little girl! And if I have to stay parked on my butt with compression cuffs on my legs to make sure we get to take her home with us when we leave the hospital after she’s born, then so be it.”
Jenna stood and hugged Delaney tight, careful not to tug one of her many wire accessories. “Congratulations, Mama!” she said. “Your secret is safe with me.”
As happy and relieved as she was for Delaney and Sam, Jenna felt the pang of what she’d never have—a flesh-and-blood baby of her own. It made no sense. When Jack and Ava had Clare and had even named her after Jack’s mom and Jenna’s sister, Jenna hadn’t felt anything but pure joy for her nephew and the woman he loved finding their way back to each other after so many years.
Her throat tightened as she understood the difference between then and now.
Colt. Colt Morgan was the difference. She was falling for him, which meant she was also mourning a future she’d never be able to have with him.
“Jenna, honey, are you okay?” Delaney asked.
The women were still embracing, but not until Delaney asked did Jenna realize she was crying.
Jenna loosened her grip and slid back into her chair, wiping her tears away and trying to laugh them off. The only problem was that nothing about the situation was funny.
“It’s nothing,” Jenna said. “You need to rest. Why don’t we see what’s on TV?”
Delaney crossed her arms as best she could over her pregnant belly and gave Jenna a pointed look. “As long as I’m focusing on something other than whether or not I’m going to have this baby today or four weeks from today, consider me resting. Plus, it will give me a chance to be half as good a friend as you’ve been to me this week.” Her brows drew together. “Has it really only been a week? I feel like I’ve known you my whole life. See?” she said with a smile. “The magic of Meadow Valley. Now please, tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it with some of that magic.”
Jenna forced a smile. “I can’t have children,” she said. “And no magic in the world can change that.”
She thought she’d made her peace with this reality, but then she’d never met a man like Colt Morgan—a man who made her want what she’d already lost.
Delaney’s hand flew over her mouth, and her eyes glossed over. Her blood pressure monitor beeped a few times but then went silent again.
“See?” Jenna said. “I’ve upset you when you’re supposed to be taking it easy. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
Delaney shook her head and rubbed a palm over her belly. “It wasn’t you,” she said. “Little girl just gave me a good kick in the side. No contractions, though. So we’re both okay. But you’ve been here all week with me and my in-your-face pregnancy, and oh, Jenna…I had no idea.”
Delaney reached for Jenna as far as she could without tugging her IV, and Jenna grabbed the other woman’s hand.
“There’s no way you could have known, and I’ve been fine with all of this for years. At least, I thought I was. I raised my nephews from teens to adults. I watched Jack, my oldest, become a father twice, and nothing has made me happier than seeing him and his brothers start lives of their own. And after they were independent and out of my care—and I felt like I was lucky to have had the opportunity to be their mother—I made the decision to prioritize my health over the What if? of having a family.”
Delaney swiped at a tear from under her eye. “You tested positive for the BRCA gene,” she said. It wasn’t a question.
Jenna nodded. “My sister, Clare—Jack, Luke, and Walker’s mama…” She swallowed the lump in her throat. It didn’t matter how many years it had been. It never got easier talking about losing her favorite person in the world. “It was ovarian cancer. She got tested before she passed, and when she found out she was a carrier she made me promise I’d get tested too—that I’d learn my options, that I’d take care of myself.” She blew ou
t a shaky breath. “It was like she knew somehow that her dying would ruin Jack Sr., that the boys were going to need me someday.”
She pulled her hand back from Delaney’s, needing both to wipe her face clean from tears. “It was hard. So hard. I was barely done being a kid myself when I was suddenly the mother of three teens, all of whom were in such a bad place in the years following Clare’s death. When we somehow came out the other side of it and I was in my early thirties I had a complete hysterectomy. And I’ve never regretted it. Not once.”
It was finally time for tissues, and luckily there was a box on the bedside table. Jenna pulled three to start, keeping two for herself and handing one to Delaney.
“Until Colt,” Delaney said after blotting her eyes dry.
Jenna nodded slowly. “Until Colt,” she finally admitted out loud. “But that’s ridiculous, right? I’ve only known him for a week.” But it had been the best week in recent memory. No. That was a lie. It had been the best week she’d ever had. And she didn’t want that to change. Still, she tried to logic her way out of the predicament of falling for him. “We both agreed this was just a fling,” she added. But last night, something had shifted between them. She was pretty sure he felt it, too, which meant logic was out the window.
Delaney’s circulation cuffs sounded, breaking the momentary silence and giving both women the excuse to laugh instead of cry.
“When in doubt…” Delaney said. “You can always count on my cankles to lighten the mood.”
Jenna sniffled and laughed some more. “Your ankles are beautiful,” she said. “They’re a testament to what a woman’s body can endure to do the most magical thing.”
Delaney cradled the baby girl inside her stomach. “I know,” she said. “You’re right. About the magical part, at least. But wait until you see me at the wedding in December. I’m going to be wearing the most amazing strappy heels even if it’s snowing…And it better be snowing.”
Jenna’s eyes widened. “I’ll be back home by then, in Los Olivos.” An hour away from her nephews’ ranch in Oak Bluff—and five times that distance from Meadow Valley, the town that grew on her each and every day, not to mention the people here she was growing to care for by the minute. People like Delaney—and Colt. She cleared her throat and continued. “But I will count on you to send me lots of pictures. I’ll leave you my email or you can text or—”
“Jenna Owens,” Delaney said, her voice stern. “Did you not just hear me informally invite you to my wedding? We can start pricing flights now. Sam and I can even cover some of the cost, and of course you can stay at the ranch for free, but you have to be here. Please say you’ll think about it.”
Jenna’s heart tugged at the thought of Delaney wanting her there five months from now.
“But if things with Colt end badly…” Jenna started. Because even though he might be falling for her, too, he wouldn’t truly want to pursue a woman ten years his senior who couldn’t have a family.
Delaney scoffed and tried to slide further up the inclined half of her hospital bed. “Why in the world would you assume something like that? That man is crazy about you. I’ve never seen him like this. And you forget where you are…Magic Valley.” She winked at Jenna.
“I’m scared to tell him,” Jenna admitted. “The last guy I was with—and it’s been a long time—when I told him I didn’t want to have children, that that part of my life was behind me, he, um, he hit me. And when I made the mistake of giving him a second chance and I tried to tell him the whole truth, that I couldn’t have kids, he told me I was lying, and he hit me again.” Jenna knew her choice to put her health first didn’t make her any less of who she was. But the experience had scared her enough to keep men at arm’s length ever since.
“Oh God, Jenna. Oh my God. I’m so sorry. Shit. You sure have been through your share of hell, haven’t you?” Delaney patted the side of her bed and scooted as much as she could to her right. “Come here. Please.” She held her IV’d arm out to her side so Jenna could slide in under it.
Jenna did as Delaney asked, shimmying herself as close to Delaney as possible so she didn’t fall off the bed. Delaney held her close. She felt safe in her new friend’s arms. She felt safe in Meadow Valley. If Lucy her chicken was psychic—which she certainly was—then maybe a town could be magic. And maybe that magic might just lead her to a happiness she didn’t know she’d been looking for.
“Look,” Delaney said. “I know I might be a few years younger than you, but I’m a really good big sister. I can give you a reference letter from Beth if you want.”
Jenna laughed. “I don’t need a letter. I believe you.”
In a lot of ways, Delaney reminded Jenna of Clare—warm and nurturing and not afraid of the truth. As uncomfortable as it was trying to fit on the hospital bed along with her and as precariously as Jenna was perched, she felt protected. The only other person who’d made her feel like that was Colt.
“I told Colt I didn’t date younger men,” she said. “It’s not because I think I’m old. I know I’m not. But I also know that he may want something I can’t give him. So how can I admit I’m having feelings for him I didn’t plan on having when doing so might only complicate things further?”
She rested her head on Delaney’s shoulder.
Delaney huffed out a small laugh. “Honey, I think you already know the answer to that question. You can tell him how you feel because it’s obvious he feels the same. And because we both already know Colt Morgan is about as good as they get—aside from Sam, of course—then we also know that he’ll treat the situation with the same honesty and care he does everything else. He’s not like the last guy.”
Jenna sighed. “He is different, isn’t he?” Different from any man she’d ever met before.
“They don’t make many like him,” Delaney said. “Or you for that matter, Jenna. If I’ve fallen this hard for you in one week, just imagine how Colt must be feeling.”
“I’ll tell him,” Jenna said. “Before I go home next week. Then I’ll see where we stand and if we’re going to take this any further.” She was happy Delaney couldn’t see her poor excuse for a poker face. Because without even realizing it, Jenna had already given herself away. Colt Morgan had a piece of her heart she’d never get back.
“He’ll make the right choice,” Delaney assured her. “Which is you, of course.”
Jenna’s phone buzzed in her pocket, and she slid off the bed so she could grab it.
“Speak of the devil,” she said, her voice still a little shaky.
It was a text from Colt.
I can’t make it to Trudy’s until later tonight. Any chance you can feed / let the animals out? She has a great backyard if you want to hang there and relax until I’m done here. I could meet you there around ten?
“Everything okay?” Delaney asked.
Jenna nodded. “Just one more second,” she said, then fired off her response.
No problem. But I should warn you that you’re in stiff competition with Frederick for my favor. Plus, he fits in my lap.
Colt replied with a winky-face emoji, and Jenna smiled as she saw the three dots that indicated he was typing something more.
You’re the best. I promise to reward you for your service. I miss seeing your smiling face. Is that okay to say?
Jenna laughed.
I will hold you to that. Now go saddle up a horse or something, mister. And yeah, it’s okay to say. I miss seeing your smiling face too.
He replied with the cowboy emoji, and Jenna’s heart squeezed in her chest. She was pretty sure she’d just given him another small piece of it to keep.
She closed out of the texting app and opened up her phone’s camera.
“How about we find a feel-good romance on one of the hospital channels?” Delaney asked. “I think we could both use a vicarious happily-ever-after.”
The two women laughed, and Jenna handed Delaney the television remote.
Jenna had found an unconventional big sister in Del
aney, and maybe something a lot like the L-word in her growing relationship with Colt. Maybe some of that Meadow Valley magic was making its way on over to her after all.
Chapter Seventeen
Colt took a quick shower in the hope he’d no longer smell like a bonfire, but the scent usually stuck with him regardless.
He threw on a clean T-shirt and jeans, ran his fingers through his hair, and said to hell with it as far as shaving. Sixteen-hour days at the ranch weren’t the norm, but they happened from time to time. He wasn’t usually in a rush to head anywhere afterward other than his bed, but tonight he had someone waiting for him.
All animals fed, walked, and pretty much out cold for the night. Meet me out back at Trudy’s. I’ve got wine, beer, and a sky full of stars.
Jenna’s text kept him from flopping face-first onto his bed and instead had him out of the shower and in his car in mere minutes. And when he pulled into Trudy’s driveway, he couldn’t get out the driver’s-side door fast enough.
Slow your roll, Morgan, he told himself. She’s not going anywhere. Remember what happened the last time you went full throttle into planning a future with someone.
Not that he was planning a future with Jenna. He’d promised her that the here and now was all that mattered, and he’d meant that. It was just that the here and now was pretty damned good, and he couldn’t help but think of all the ways it could get better.
He bypassed the front door and instead let himself into the backyard from the fence gate. He thought he’d discover her at the table enjoying a glass of wine, maybe reading one of Trudy’s books in the gazebo. Instead he found her sprawled on her back on top of a blanket in the grass, hand under her head so that her pink T-shirt rode up and he could see the patch of soft skin between the hem of her shirt and the top of her long floral skirt.
She was lit by nothing but the moon and the stars. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen anything more beautiful.
“Evening, miss,” he said as if he’d happened upon a stargazing stranger.
