“Well, if I can’t go in there, then what the fuck am I doing here?!”
“Please, lower your voice,” the nurse instructed at a volume that Leo was able to hear.
“This is bullshit! A fucking waste of time!” Corbin turned around in a huff. As he passed Leo he sneered, “Tell her to call me when it’s over.”
Leo bit his tongue. He knew that if things went the way that he wanted, he’d have to be dealing with Corbin Matthews for a very long time. He didn’t want to start things off by putting him in a hospital bed of his own by delivering a much-deserved ass kicking. No matter how satisfying that would feel in the moment.
So instead of saying or doing anything, he just nodded, and Corbin left the same way he’d come in. Leo knew that it wasn’t his place now, but if that changed—if he got a ring on Jasmine’s finger—then he would definitely be having a conversation with Corbin where he made it very clear that there were certain language and tones that were not to be taken with his wife, or the baby. Ever.
Leo wanted to spend the rest of his life with Jasmine and the baby, and if the price he had to pay for that was Corbin Matthews being around, then he’d gladly pay it.
He raked his hands through his hair and let out a long sigh. Knowing that Jasmine was in this building, just feet away, and in pain was gut-wrenching. He wasn’t someone who sat back passively. He took action. He was a fixer. Accepting the fact that all he could do was sit and wait was proving to be more difficult than he’d anticipated.
Helplessness was not a state he was used to, and he hated it.
“Well, hello there, son. Have you seen Corbin Matthews around?”
Leo looked up and saw The Colonel standing in front of him. At first he was surprised, but then he remembered his grandma telling him that The Colonel volunteered at the hospital.
Leo shook his head. “He left.”
“He left?” The Colonel’s white, bushy brows met above the bridge of his nose. “Isn’t he about to be a daddy?”
Leo shrugged, figuring he’d take a page from his grandma’s book and not say anything because he didn’t have anything nice to say.
“Well, let me know if he shows back up.”
“Is she okay?” Leo knew that he had no legal right to get any information about her. But it was making him crazy not knowing anything. His mind kept going to all the things that could be going wrong. How early this was. How much pain she’d been in on the drive over.
What if the baby was breach? What if the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck? What if there were complications?
The Colonel must’ve taken pity on him because he walked over to him and put his hand on Leo’s shoulder. “Oh, now, don’t you worry. She’s a strong girl. She’s doing just fine.”
Leo nodded, doing his best to take the reassurance at face value.
“Are the two of you…”
“Together? No.” Leo shook his head. Not yet, anyway.
And it was killing him. He’d kept his distance, respected her wishes, and now he wasn’t so sure that had been the right thing. If he’d done things differently, he might be back in the room with her.
“Well, you know what my Marie always said?”
The Colonel moved to Harper’s Crossing after his wife of sixty years had passed away. So no one in town, except for his family, had known Marie Hunter while she was alive. But Leo felt like he did, because The Colonel talked about his late wife so often and with so much love that he felt like he knew her.
Leo knew that he and Marie had shared the same kind of relationship that his grandparents did. The once-in-a-lifetime sort of love that not even death could kill.
“What did Marie say?”
The Colonel looked straight into Leo’s eyes. “She said that love is light. Some love is flashy like fireworks, it burns real bright and then it fades away. And some love is like a candle, it gives off a soft glow and lasts for a period of time. But the best love, true love, is like a firefly; it lasts a lifetime and always glows in the darkest times. That’s the sort of love you want, not flashy, not for a time, but the kind that matters. Our Jasmine is a firefly.”
The Colonel squeezed Leo’s shoulder and then was gone.
Leo couldn’t believe that he’d finally gotten one of The Colonel’s legendary life talks. He’d heard about them for years but, he’d never expected to be on the receiving end of one of them. And the only person he wanted to tell was Jasmine.
The doors opened once again and out of habit Leo looked over. He wasn’t sure what he expected to see. He didn’t think Jasmine was going to be walking out of them, but still, his eyes darted in that direction every time he heard the mechanical swoosh. And every time it was nothing.
This time, he wasn’t disappointed.
Nan walked out of them with a huge smile on her face.
Leo jumped from his chair and crossed the room in four long strides. “How is she? How’s Jasmine?”
“She’s fine. Tired, but fine. And she has a healthy baby girl. Six pounds, four ounces, nineteen inches long.” Nan beamed with pride as she turned her phone toward him and showed him pictures of the most beautiful baby he’d ever seen. She was swaddled in a blanket, lying in the hospital bassinet. She handed the device to him. “There’re more pictures.”
He scrolled up and saw pictures of the baby being weighed, the baby being measured, Nan cutting the umbilical cord. And the final shot showed Jasmine holding her daughter, and looking down at her. She’d never looked happier or more breathtaking.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Nan asked warmly.
His eyes watered and he wiped beneath them. “She is.”
“Our little Allie.”
“Allie?” Leo looked up.
“That’s her name. Allie Nanette Bell.” Nan beamed. “Jasmine’s been on a Notebook kick. She’s watched it almost every day her entire pregnancy, so I’m guessing that’s where the Allie came from.”
Leo froze. He’d been waiting for something, anything. Some kind of sign that Jasmine still had feelings for him. Maybe he was grasping at straws, but to him, that’s what this was.
Her daughter’s name had to be a sign. Her watching The Notebook every day had to be a sign. A sign that what they had was real. A sign that what they had wasn’t over.
Chapter 28
“Where are we going?” Jasmine asked from the back seat of Nan’s SUV, after she turned down the wrong street. “My house is that way.”
“There’s something I want to show you.”
“I kind of just wanted to get Allie home.” It hadn’t taken long for the mama bear to come out in Jasmine. She was fiercely protective of her tiny angel. They’d just been released from the hospital, and she wanted to get her home, where she’d be safe.
“Don’t worry, I promise it will be worth it.” Nan winked at Jasmine through the rearview.
Jasmine felt a stir and she looked down at Allie. She couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful than her perfect little girl. She had bright red lips, brown hair, and long dark eyelashes. The nurses kept commenting that they’d never seen a baby with such long eyelashes, and that she looked like a doll. They also said that she’d come out ready for a photo shoot, and that she was the prettiest baby they’d ever seen. It was nice, but Jasmine figured they told all new moms that.
At least that had been her assumption until Meg came to visit and told her that no one had said that about Phoebe or the twins. She joked that the girls came out looking like their dad, but by the time they were three months, thankfully, they took after her.
Allie made a gurgling noise and Jasmine wiped some bubbles that appeared on her lips. She’d just fed her before they left the hospital, so she was sleeping soundly and would stay that way for the next few hours.
Meg had been right. All she did was poop, sleep, and cry. Thankfully, it had been heavy on the sleeping and minimal on the crying, so Jasmine had actually gotten a lot of rest.
She stared down at her daughte
r in wonder. She never knew that she could love something as much as this little human. She’d only known her for three days, but already she couldn’t remember what life was like before her.
“Oh, shit!” Nan reached over and held the large arrangement of flowers that Leo has sent. They were in the front seat and almost fell as she turned the corner.
“Nan.” Jasmine knew it was a lost cause to try and get her to clean up her language around the baby, but she had to try.
“I told you, I’m getting it out of my system now. Speaking of getting things out of my system, did Corbin come sign the papers?”
“Yes. He stopped by this morning.” Jasmine had mixed feelings about Corbin signing away his parental rights.
He’d told her that he just wanted a fresh start with Jessica. They were moving to be closer to her parents in Cape Cod, and he said that it would be too difficult for him to try and have a long-distance relationship with Allie.
Jasmine suspected that her ex’s decision had more to do with paying child support than it did with geographical limitations. But either way, she wasn’t sure how to feel about it.
She knew what it felt like not to have relationships with her parents. She would never wish that on anyone, much less her daughter. But, it was what it was. She was trying very hard not to stress over things she couldn’t control.
She and Allie would be fine, no matter what. She knew that now. She’d already realized that at the baby shower. But even if she hadn’t, she would definitely have known it now.
From the first second she held her baby in her arms, she knew that nothing would ever stop her from being the mom that Allie needed. Not heartbreak, and not a sperm donor that had no interest in being a parent—or, at least, a parent to Allie.
Jasmine knew it was going to hurt her daughter that her father had chosen a different family, but thankfully, she planned on raising a strong, resilient, warrior just like Nan, just like Meg, and just like her. A woman that would be able to face pain and hurt and come out on the other side.
“Where’re the rest of the flowers that Leo sent?” Nan asked.
“I donated them. I wasn’t sure how I’d be able to transport them, or where I’d put them once I got them home.” Jasmine and Allie’s room had looked like an atrium by the time they were released. Several arrangements had shown up each day.
“I’m glad you kept Teddy.”
Leo had also sent a humungous teddy bear, an oversized stuffed animal that was sitting on the other side of Jasmine. It was so big that it barely fit in the SUV. The delivery person had barely been able to get it through the door of her hospital room.
“Of course I kept Teddy.” The bear connected her to Leo in a tangible way. Heck, she might fight Allie for it when the girl went off to college.
She hadn’t seen the generous gift-giver in person since the doors had closed on him in the hallway. She kept thinking that he would come by to visit her. Every time the door to her room opened, she expected him to walk through it. But he never did.
He’d texted every day, asking how she was, and how Allie was. And he’d sent so many more flowers than she could count. He hadn’t, however, shown up in person or commented on her daughter’s name, making her wonder if the significance had gone over his head.
As Jasmine gazed down at her perfect angel, she wondered, not for the first time, if she’d made a mistake with Leo. She wondered if she should’ve given them a chance. Because every time anything new happened with Allie, he was the first person she wanted to tell.
When Allie was born, she’d wished that he was by her side to witness the incredible moment.
When Allie slept for four hours straight the first night, she’d wanted to text Leo and tell him about it.
When she put Allie in her going home outfit, she’d wanted to take a picture and text it to Leo.
And when Corbin had come by to sign the papers, she’d wanted to call Leo and tell him.
But she hadn’t done any of that. Because she’d made a choice. A choice that she was now stuck with.
Jasmine ran her finger along Allie’s tiny baby arms. Her wrist was just a wrinkle of skin. She leaned down and kissed her little head, inhaling her precious baby scent.
The car went over a bump as Nan announced. “We’re here!”
Jasmine sat up straight and looked out the front window. They were at Willow Pond. Turning her head to the side she saw the farmhouse that she’d always loved.
“Oh, my gosh!” She gasped.
It had been completely renovated. It had a fresh coat of white paint. The roof had been replaced with black shingles. The dilapidated porch was gone, in its place was a brand new one with cedar wood posts that looked like it wrapped around the entire house. And her favorite part of the exterior was the bright blue front door.
“Who did this?” she turned to Nan “Did you do this?”
“No. Not me.” Nan tilted her head toward the house.
When Jasmine looked back she saw the door was opening. Then, Leo walked out wearing a baseball hat, faded jeans and a white T-shirt, his face covered in scruff. He looked like every housewife’s wet dream.
“What is he doing here?” She turned her head back to Nan. “What’s going on?”
Nan reached her arm back and patted Jasmine on the cheek. “Aw, my sweet girl. My sweet, stubborn girl.” Her eyes filled with tears. She’d never seen Nan cry and watching her get choked up now caused Jasmine’s eyes to fill with tears. “That man loves you. And you love him. I know you’re scared. You’re scared that you’re gonna get hurt. And you might, there are no guarantees in this world. But whatever happens, even if the worst thing does, I promise you, you’ll be okay. You’re stronger than you think. Don’t let your past rob you of your future.”
Jasmine nodded, knowing that Nan was right as she sniffed back her tears.
“Now go put that poor boy out of his misery.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Jasmine chuckled and was starting to unhook Allie’s car seat carrier when the door opened and Leo appeared.
“Hi.” She smiled as a single tear fell down her face.
“Hi.” He grinned before looking down at Allie.
Jasmine watched as Leo stared down at her daughter. She couldn’t see his face because the bill of his hat covered it. She waited for him to say something. Anything. When he didn’t she began to wonder if something was wrong.
He rested his hand on the side of her car seat and he ran his thumb along her tiny hand. Even though she was asleep, Allie must’ve felt it because she wrapped her tiny fingers around his thumb.
“This is Allie.” Jasmine knew he knew that, but she wasn’t sure what else to say. “Allie, meet Leo.”
When she spoke, Leo looked up at her, and she saw evidence that she and Nan weren’t the only emotional ones today. His eyes were brimming with tears.
“She’s beautiful. She’s perfect,” he said reverently.
Jasmine smiled as happiness and peace unlike any she’d ever felt before washed over her. A dozen people had told Jasmine the exact same thing. But hearing it from Leo was different.
“Do you want to see the house?” he asked as he wiped the tears that had slipped beneath his eyes.
“Yes!”
She reached down to finish unclicking Allie’s car seat, but Leo was quicker. He had it unlatched and lifted it out of the car before she even had her own seatbelt off. By the time she managed to get out of the car, he’d grabbed the diaper bag too.
Seeing him standing there, holding the car seat in one hand, with the diaper bag over his opposite shoulder, took her breath away. It was the hottest thing she’d ever seen.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, sorry. Aren’t you coming?” she asked when Nan didn’t get out of the vehicle.
Nan lifted her hand and wiggled her fingers in the air. “I’ll be back later.” she chirped, and then drove away.
Jasmine watched her leave and then looked at Leo. “Um, I hope you can take me
home, because that was my ride.”
“You are home.” He smiled.
“What?” Jasmine knew that she was out of it due to the fact that she’d just grown a human and pushed it out of her body, but she was sure she must’ve heard him wrong.
With the arm that had the diaper bag slung over his shoulder, Leo reached into his back pocket and pulled out an envelope. He handed it to Jasmine, and when she reached out to take it, she noticed her hands were shaking.
Her fingers trembled as she opened it and peeked inside. When she did, she saw a key and some paperwork. It wasn’t until she pulled it out that she saw it was a deed with her name on it that she registered what was happening here.
“No.” She shook her head. “I can’t accept this.”
“You don’t have to live here. That’s completely up to you. But the house is yours. Yours and Allie’s,” Leo stated before turning and walking up the porch steps, still carrying Allie in her car seat and the diaper bag.
Jasmine followed him. “Leo you can’t do this!”
He didn’t say a word as he opened the door and went inside. Jasmine was right behind him.
“This is too much,” she argued. “I can’t take this!”
Abruptly, he did a one hundred and eighty degree turn, stopping up short. When he did she came dangerously close to running directly into his chest.
“Can you do me one favor?” he asked.
“What?”
“Can you just not say anything until after I give you the tour? And then you can tell me why you can’t take this, and give me back the key.”
“Okay,” she easily agreed.
The truth was she’d always wanted to know what the house looked like inside, and was excited to see it. But there was no way she was going to let Leo give her a house.
“Okay,” he parroted, looking a little surprised at her easy acquiescence. She didn’t know why that would surprise him. She’d always been a person that compromised.
In elementary school, she was voted Most Likely to Play Well With Others.
“So, this is the front room.” He set the diaper bag down on the entry table and tilted the carrier so Allie could see the room, too.
Just One Touch - Leo & Jasmine (Crossroads Book 16) Page 25
