Cradle and All

by M. J. Rodgers

  He took her hands in his and held on. “Anne, you don’t want to leave me.”

  She tried to pull away. “It’s the right thing to do.”

  “You think the right thing to do is to break my heart?” he asked, pulling her back.

  “You have to find your soul mate,” she said, with such determined courage.

  “You are my soul mate, Anne. You only see the love in what I do. And I only see the love in what you’re trying to do for me now. But I can’t let you go. Not ever. I can live without children. I can’t live without you.”

  He replaced the rings on her finger. “I love you, Anne.”

  She let out a sigh of surrender as he carefully enfolded her into his arms. Gently, he kissed her forehead, her cheeks and then her mouth, so warm and loving and giving.

  It was a long moment later when she drew back to look into his eyes. “When you collapsed yesterday and I saw all that blood...oh, Tom, I’ve never been so scared in my life. It was only then that I realized how empty my life would be without you.”

  He eased her back to him, holding her close. “You’re not going to be without me. I’m going to be around a long, long time. We’re going to grow old together. Very, very old.”

  A knock came at the door and the bishop peered into the room. When he saw Tom and Anne in each other’s arms, he looked embarrassed for having intruded. “Excuse me, but you have some visitors, Tom. Mind if I bring them in?”

  Tom was tempted to tell the bishop he did mind, but he could see from the look on Harry’s face that he considered these visitors important.

  “Okay,” Tom said.

  “I’ll give you some privacy,” Anne said, getting up to leave.

  Tom caught her hand. “Stay. I don’t care who it is. I’ve been without you too long. I don’t intend to be without you another second.”

  She moved back to his side with a smile and interlaced her fingers with his.

  They heard it then. The unmistakable sound of Tommy’s inconsolable crying.

  The door to the hospital room swung open and Theresa and Jeff Ballard came in, Tommy howling his little head off in Theresa’s arms.

  Anne didn’t pause a second but went directly to the unhappy child. “May I?” she asked.

  Theresa nodded as she relinquished the baby to Anne’s open arms. Anne held Tommy close to her chest, rocking him as she crooned to him softly. He clutched her as if she were his lifeline, and rested his head against her with a shaky little sigh, his cries ceasing.

  Theresa and Jeff looked at Anne and then each other before turning to Tom.

  The couple approached his bed. “You don’t look half-bad for someone who was shot,” Jeff said good-naturedly.

  His wife smiled at Tom. “You made the Boston Herald.”

  Jeff handed Tom the newspaper he’d been carrying. Tom glanced at the headline: Doctor and Lawyer Arrested in Baby Breeding Ring.

  “It mentions both you and Anne as being instrumental in getting the goods on those two,” Jeff said. “When I asked you to let me know if you could pin something on Faust, I wasn’t expecting anything this dramatic.”

  “Neither was I,” Tom admitted as he handed the paper back to Jeff.

  “As soon as the legal verdict comes down, I’ll be able to get the slime’s license revoked,” Jeff said. “I just hope it’ll be soon.”

  “You needn’t worry about his practicing medicine until then,” Anne said, stepping to the other side of Tom’s bed. “The prosecutor on the case convinced the judge that both Faust and Shrubber are flight risks. She traced the money trail from Shrubber’s clients and was able to show that it had been deposited in an offshore account. They’re both being held without bail until their trial. As is Nurse Ronley.”

  “That’s a relief, Anne,” Jeff said. He turned back to Tom. “Theresa and I didn’t come down just to show you the newspaper. We came to give you a get-well gift.”

  “Thanks, but it’s not necessary, Jeff,” Tom protested.

  “Don’t be so hasty,” Jeff replied. “I think you’re going to want this gift.”

  He paused to exchange smiles with his wife. “Theresa and I saw how much you and Anne love Tommy the other night at dinner. And how happy he was when either of you held him. Tommy has been heartbroken since the moment Anne gave him up to us this morning. He knows who his mother is, Tom. And she’s holding him right now. He also knows who his father is. And that’s you.”

  “You gave us three wonderful children, Tom,” Theresa said. “We want to give Tommy to you and Anne. We know in our hearts that he belongs with you two. You’re his real parents.”

  Tom looked over at the beautiful little boy in Anne’s arms. Then he looked up at the shining joy on Anne’s face.

  He turned back to his friends.

  “You’re right, Jeff,” Tom said. “This is a gift I do want.”

  * * *

  TOM RETURNED TO the rectory after his Friday class with Cooper’s Corner’s adolescent boys. He couldn’t believe it had been just four weeks ago tonight that he’d answered the parish buzzer to find Tommy on the doorstep.

  Tommy, his son. How wonderful it was to be able to think of him that way! To know he was his and Anne’s forever.

  When he walked into the study, he found them on the couch, softly lit by lamplight. Anne was breast-feeding Tommy and singing quietly to him. It was a scene filled with such profound beauty that it made Tom’s heart ache.

  When Anne looked up and saw him, her smile was a sudden glow.

  Tom was filled with that same sense of wonder he’d had the first moment he saw her. And he knew that he would always feel that way looking at his wife—his soul mate.

  “How was class?” she asked.

  “Challenging as always,” Tom said as he came over to the couch and leaned down to brush a kiss against her lips. “But these boys are going to be very good men.”

  “They certainly will be if you have a hand in molding them,” Anne said, and the simple pride in her voice did wonderfully complex things to his heart.

  “When did you get home?” Tom asked as he snuggled next to her side. She smelled enticingly of baby oil. He’d never realized how sexy a smell it could be.

  “Half an hour ago. I had an extra errand to run.”

  Tom wrapped his arm around Anne, luxuriating in the feel of her warmth and the simple magic of the moment.

  “Hungry?” she asked.

  “No, I’m perfect. You’re perfect. Tommy’s perfect. Life is perfect. I have absolutely no desire for anything else.”

  “Not even a little brother or sister for Tommy?” Anne asked after a moment.

  Was that still troubling her? Tom kissed the copper silk of her hair. “You and Tommy are all I want, Anne. All I’ll ever need.”

  She sighed. “Oh, Tom, I’m so sorry to hear that.”

  Tom blinked, certain he couldn’t have heard right. He turned her in his arms to look at her face. “Anne, is something wrong?”

  “I’ve been regular since I was twelve, so when I missed my period a couple of weeks ago, I began to wonder. Still, I didn’t want to tell you until I was sure.”

  “You’re pregnant?” Tom asked in a strangled whisper.

  Anne smiled, obviously delighted with his shock. “I stopped by the doctor’s today. That’s why I was late getting back. We’re going to have a baby, Tom.”

  As Tom gazed spellbound at the glowing smile on Anne’s face, he was filled with a joy so potent that he suddenly knew why the angels sang.

  He held her to him gently, possessively, kissing the sudden, happy tears on her cheeks, knowing they were mixing with his own.

  “It happened that first night we were together, Tom. I know it. After all those years with Bill, all it took was one night with you. This bab
y wanted you to be his father. No one else would do.”

  The sweet bliss on her face blazed through his soul. “Anne, I love you so much.”

  “And I love you, Tom. With you life is full of such lovely miracles. You’ve even got me believing in happily ever after.”

  “To have and to hold from this day forward,” Tom softly quoted. “For better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. And not a moment sooner, Anne. This is my solemn vow.”

  EPILOGUE

  MAUREEN COOPER TURNED her SUV onto Highway 7 as she headed out on her weekly shopping trip into Williamstown for supplies. She was getting a late start. They were full up at Twin Oaks and it had been a busy day.

  She was still smiling from her recent telephone conversation with Anne. It was such great news to learn she and Tom were going to have a baby!

  Maureen would never forget the moment she’d found out she was pregnant with the twins. There just wasn’t anything that could compare to that kind of excitement and joy.

  How eager she had been to share it with Chance.

  She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying not to think of her daughters’ daddy. Chance Maguire had been out of her life for a long time now. And she knew it was best that way.

  Chance’s life revolved around the plush, concrete palaces of world commerce—multimillion-dollar mergers and major deals, an elite society of movers and shakers and business breakers.

  She, on the other hand, had come to love her life in rugged, rural Cooper’s Corner—the deep woods and bouncy brooks, meadows frantic with wildflowers, the charm of the quaint shops and the plain and simple decency of its people.

  Yes, she and Chance lived in very different worlds, and she wouldn’t trade hers for his. Not for anything.

  Maureen peered through her windshield as the wipers worked to beat away the heavy rain. She saw the turnoff to the maple syrup farm up ahead. She normally bought her syrup on the way home from Williamstown, but because of her late start today, it would be well into the night before she came back this way.

  She didn’t like dropping in on the family so late. Not that they would ever complain. But she was not the kind of person to take advantage of friends.

  Making her decision quickly, she signaled, slowed down and took the exit. She would buy the syrup now and do the rest of her shopping afterward. A few turns later and she was climbing the narrow country road that would take her to the small farm, tucked away in the hills.

  The hard rain pounded the windshield and turned the unpaved road into mud. Maureen drove slowly around the twisting turns. She was glad she had decided to do this now. It would have been much more difficult navigating this winding road at night instead of in the evening twilight.

  A favorite song played on her car stereo and Maureen’s fingers tapped to its beat as she sang along.

  She was so focused on the road and the music that at first she didn’t notice the big delivery truck coming up fast behind her. By the time she did, it was already filling her rearview mirror.

  Irritation flickered through her. The driver was going way too fast on this winding road, made all the more treacherous because of the heavy rain.

  Normally Maureen avoided such fools by pulling over and letting them pass. But there was no room on this narrow, one-lane road—just the thick curtain of trees to her right and the sheer drop to her left.

  She tapped her brakes to alert the driver behind her as she started to slow for the next turn. But when she checked her rearview mirror, she discovered the vehicle hadn’t slowed.

  The truck hit her hard. Maureen was thrown against her shoulder belt as she headed into the turn. The trees, the road, the mud, the truck, the beat of the song, the beat of her windshield wipers all seemed to blur together.

  With a firm grip on the wheel, she took the turn tight, fighting the speed as she struggled to keep the car on the slippery road. She skidded along the edge, mud spitting out under her tires as she rounded the curve.

  She made it. But the relief that washed through her was soon replaced with anger. She was going to strangle that truck driver! She glanced in her rearview mirror to see him coming out of the turn. But instead of slowing and pulling over as she expected, the truck started to accelerate. Right at her.

  Icy reality stabbed her thoughts. Nevil! The truck driver was Owen Nevil!

  Maureen stomped on the gas, frantic now to keep ahead of the truck boring down on her.

  The next turn was coming up fast. If she didn’t slow down, she’d never make it. But if she did slow down, that bastard was going to hit her again and force her vehicle into the thick trees to her right or off the two-hundred-foot drop to her left.

  Either way, she wouldn’t survive.

  And then Maureen saw it. Coming up on her right. A recently logged clear-cut. It was her chance. Her only chance.

  Nevil must have seen it, too. The truck behind her made a sudden roar as it accelerated. He was going to try to hit her before she could make the clearing. Push her past it. Push her into the next turn. Push her over the edge.

  Maureen held tightly to the steering wheel, bracing herself as the truck loomed large in her rearview mirror. It was going to be close. Very, very close.

  She yanked the wheel, turning into the clear-cut at the same instant that the truck struck her left rear fender. The force flipped her SUV, spinning it into the air.

  The earth and sky traded places, and Maureen was caught in an eerie sense of slow motion as the car flew above the ground. Then the front smacked into a thick tree stump with a noisy whack, jolting the bones in her body and spinning the SUV like a top.

  The next thing she knew, the air bag deployed around her like a gigantic mushroom and the car landed with a thud on the soft mud.

  The concussion knocked the breath out of her. She fought to fill her lungs, her pulses pounding, her shoulders and neck aching. She was suspended in the seat and shoulder belts and realized the vehicle had landed upside down.

  Cautiously Maureen moved her arms and legs. Nothing was broken. She exhaled in relief. She’d made it.

  She tossed aside the now deflated air bag and reached over to turn off the ignition. Then she released herself from the seat belt and shoulder restraint and fell to the roof of the truck. Flipping onto her back, she peered out at the fading light glinting through the fractured glass of the windows.

  And discovered to her shock that the SUV’s cab was sinking fast into the mud!

  Maureen pushed hard on the driver’s door, desperately trying to open it and get out. But the door was bent and jammed shut. And every second she strained her shoulder against it, the SUV sank farther into the mud.

  Panic threatened to engulf her as she forced herself to take a deep breath. The only other way out was through the windshield. And she didn’t have much time. She turned and kicked with both feet, as hard as she could. The shattered glass broke away in a spidery heap.

  Maureen grabbed her shoulder bag with one hand and the bent metal of the cab’s roof with the other. She pulled herself through the narrow opening onto the gooey earth, then rolled quickly away, gaining freedom just before the cab section sunk below the mud line, trapping her there forever.

  Her heart was hammering her ribs and her body was bruised and aching. But there was no time to rest. Maureen dug into her shoulder bag, grabbed her loaded .38, rolled onto her stomach and aimed her weapon back at the road.


  Nevil gunned the delivery truck’s engine. Maureen aimed and fired. But she was too far away and the truck moved too fast. The bullet missed. Before she could get off another shot, the truck was down the road, out of sight.

  The rain pounded down on Maureen as she lay panting in the mud. She listened to the fading sounds of the truck’s engine until it was gone.

  She had known Nevil wouldn’t stay around to face her. The sneaky bastard’s specialty was murders made to look like accidents. And he had just failed in his latest attempt on her.

  Once again, she had survived. But Maureen didn’t feel much like celebrating. She knew Nevil would be back.

  And she also knew that the next time she might not be so lucky.

  * * * * *

  Welcome to Twin Oaks—the new B and B in

  Cooper’s Corner, Massachusetts.

  Bed and breakfast will never be the same!

  COOPER’S CORNER

  a Harlequin continuity series continues with

  JUST ONE LOOK

  by Joanna Wayne

  Cooper’s Corner postmistress Alison Fairchild had the most fabulous little upturned nose ever—thanks to recent plastic surgery. After a lifetime of teasing and insecurity, she looked stunning as she made her entrance at the rehearsal for her friend’s wedding. All eyes were on her—except for the gorgeous stranger in the dark glasses.

  Here’s a preview!

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