Special Delivery (Mountain Meadow Homecoming 1)

by Laura Browning

  Her voice was cool, impersonal just like she would talk to a stranger. He would get nowhere with her tonight, but he could be patient. He could wait. And in truth, he felt terrible. Sleep was what he needed. Evan leaned forward as she helped him off with his jacket. Then she knelt at his feet, unlacing his boots and taking them off. He stared at the short, practical style of her golden hair. It suited what she’d become, and he hated it. Was it as soft as it had been? Unable to resist, he touched a strand.

  “Don’t!” She cringed from him, and he let his hand fall to his lap. This wasn’t his Jenny. This was a stranger. This was Dr. Owens. He wondered if Jenny was still there somewhere.

  * * * *

  Holly reemerged from the bathroom. Jake tried, but he couldn’t help it. His eyes gravitated to her chest and he swallowed, looking at Noelle instead. He was still rocking her and she was still fussing.

  “I think I’ve got it,” Holly said. The relief on her face was obvious. “Here, let me have her and I’ll try again.”

  He handed the baby to her and then lounged against the doorway. Holly sat in the rocker and opened her gown. Jake studied his bare feet until the silence told him Noelle had latched on. His gaze drifted up again. Holly stared at her daughter’s small face with such intense love he couldn’t look away. He should go. He shouldn’t be here, but there was no place else he wanted to be.

  “I guess I’ll go to bed if you don’t need anything more,” he mumbled, but he didn’t want to leave. He wanted to sit with her, wanted to hold them both and feel that human connection.

  Most often when he awoke from a dream, the last thing he wanted was to be around other people. Tonight had been different. When he awoke shaking, Holly’s needs had overshadowed his. She’d made him forget the horror with the most basic of pictures: a mother feeding her child.

  He came back to where he was and what he was doing when Holly cleared her throat. She moved her legs to one side on the stool. “Would you sit with me? I could use some company.”

  Jake nodded, trying to be casual, but sure his relief must be obvious. “Me, too.”

  He perched on the stool, forearms resting on his thighs and hands clasped between his knees, but he kept his face half averted. He didn’t want to spook her or make her uncomfortable so she asked him to leave.

  “Jake?”

  “What?”

  “I’ll be feeding Noelle a lot while we’re living here with you. About every two to three hours right now.”

  Jake was careful to keep his eyes above her throat. “So?”

  “I have to bare my breast. I try not to flaunt it, but let’s face it, if we’re going to live in the same house, you’re going to have to get used to it.”

  Heat suffused his cheeks. His gaze skittered to where Noelle suckled. “Yeah, but I feel like I’m staring.”

  She tilted her head. “I don’t feel that way. In fact, it makes me more uncomfortable when you don’t look. I-I like having you here.”

  Jake felt himself melt as watched her and the baby. “It’s so beautiful, Holly. You can’t imagine…a miracle. I thought so as soon as I saw her little head crown.”

  Her lower lip trembled before she pressed her lips together. He touched her knee and murmured, “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

  A tear rolled down her cheek she could do nothing to hide. “It’s just so different than what I imagined. I-I guess I built this fairy-tale picture when I discovered I was pregnant.”

  “The handsome prince would marry you and carry you off to his castle where you would all live happily ever after?”

  Holly nodded. “But it wasn’t like that.”

  “You don’t have to tell me.”

  “I do,” she whispered. “Because…because…”

  He touched her cheek, sure of what she was going to say and needing to ease the way. “Because there’s already something between us?”

  She nodded, obviously relieved he understood. “Yes. Even though we said we’d just be friends. I don’t want there to be any lies. I’ve already been through that.”

  Jake swallowed. “Okay.”

  * * * *

  Holly stared off into the distance. “I met Spence at the beginning of my final year in college. I was bowled over. Now I suspect he intended that. I guess some of my awe was due to his name and his family. I was naive. We dated off and on when he came to Lynchburg, then after my parents died, Spence started putting the pressure on me to take our relationship to the next level.

  “Here I was, now legally responsible for Tyler, trying to help him cope with losing our parents even as I was coming to terms with my own grief, and Spence was right there. He seemed supportive at every turn and I began to depend on that. Spring break rolled around. He found a woman to stay with Tyler and took me to New York. We shopped, went to museums, took in a Broadway show and he was a perfect gentleman until the last night.” Holly bit her lip and her brows drew together with the memories of what had occurred.

  “I realize now he kept plying me with drinks, and when he took me to my room… He proposed.” Holly paused. “I was so overwhelmed I said yes, and then one thing led to another and…sex wasn’t like I thought it would be. He was impatient and it hurt.”

  Why was he so easy to talk to? She hadn’t told anyone the things she was telling Jake.

  “It was your first time?”

  Holly nodded. She swallowed and picked Noelle up to burp her before she switched the baby to her other breast. Jake waited patiently, and this time she noticed he didn’t look away. She saw the banked heat in his eyes and felt warmed by it. In just the short time since they’d met, she already trusted him. Jake would never hurt her. She knew it. She touched his thigh, so close to hers, and smiled.

  “I told him I didn’t want to do it again. I wanted to wait until we were married. I hoped it would give me some time to get used to the idea. He said he was okay with it, but he was angry.”

  Holly stared around the nursery Jake had fixed for her and the baby. Actions. Spence gave her words. Jake gave her actions.

  “He would make remarks, even when we were out with friends. And he started putting pressure on me again, but Jake,” she added, “I didn’t want to do it with him. I was scared.”

  He waited. Another thing she liked. He didn’t mouth some platitude. “Then I found out I was pregnant. When I told him, he was furious. He broke it off with me, accused me, said I was just trying to trap him into marriage for his money. I was wearing his ring.” Her chin wobbled, but she pressed her lips together for a minute so she could regain control. “He had already asked me to marry him, so how could I be trapping him?”

  Jake leaned toward her this time and stroked the hair off her face. It would be so easy to lean into that touch, but she didn’t yet have the nerve. “Shhh. It’s okay. Here, let me take Noelle and put her down, she’s drifted off.” He reached over to lift her from Holly’s arms, then put the drowsy baby to his bare shoulder and burped and rocked her to sleep again. He laid her in her crib as if he’d been handling babies his entire life. Holly closed her gown and her robe.

  “I thought you would be awkward with her,” she observed, “but you’re not.”

  Jake chuckled. “It’s a fluke. It’s just because it’s her, I guess. I helped her be born, so it just seems natural to handle her. She’s out like a light. I could use some hot chocolate. What about you?”

  They worked together in the kitchen, then carried their steaming mugs into the den. Jake sat on the couch and patted the spot next to him. “Sit next to me and keep me warm. I think we still have some talking to do, don’t you?”

  Holly nodded, warmed by more than just the cocoa. “Yeah.”

  Jake rested his arm along the back of the couch. It felt like a silent offer for her to get closer, so Holly took advantage of it, curling against his side. “You told me at the hospital that Spence threatened you. Did you involve the police?”

  Holly leaned forward an
d set her mug down. “I did. I got a restraining order after Spence stopped by a couple times drunk.”

  Jake’s arm moved from the couch to her shoulders and he squeezed with his hand. “Did he hurt you or Tyler?” he growled.

  She hesitated. “He backed off for a little while when I got the restraining order.”

  Jake’s eyes narrowed. “So he did hurt you.”

  Holly swallowed. “The Dilby name can make a lot of people look the other way. I couldn’t risk my baby or Tyler, so I packed our stuff and we left.”

  “So why did you stop here? Mountain Meadow’s not a final destination for most folks.”

  “I was almost out of money. I had to pick a place. We were parked along the parkway near a mileage sign and…I just picked. I knew I had to save what was left to pay for some place for us to live, and Mountain Meadow sounded so peaceful. You know?”

  Jake chuckled. “It drew me.”

  “From the military?”

  His jaw tensed. “I left the army two years before I returned to the States, so I was ex-military. I did special jobs for money. Some of them involved getting people in and out of places. Sometimes I worked for the government, sometimes not.”

  “A mercenary?”

  Jake snorted. “I guess you could call it that.”

  “What happened?”

  He raked a hand through his hair. “I had to pull what was left of one of my best friends from the wreckage of a blown-up Humvee. The next morning I realized I was losing touch with me. No amount of money was worth that. I came back to figure out what I wanted out of life.”

  “Did you?” Holly held her breath for his answer.

  “Yeah,” he whispered. “Just recently. You’ll be safe here, Holly.” Jake set their mugs aside, then tilted her chin up. “I want to kiss you.”

  She wanted it, too, so much it made her breathless. As his face moved closer to her, Holly trembled. Spence had been rough. Subconsciously she braced for that, so when Jake’s touch asked rather than took, she relaxed. He nibbled at her lower lip, so gently it was like the brush of a butterfly. Heat filled her to overflowing. Hands she’d rested against his chest, almost in a position to push him away, instead inched around his strong neck and into his silky hair. His kiss was like nothing she had ever known.

  “Holly.” His voice was a whisper, a benediction. He rested his chin against her forehead, tucking her against his chest. His heart beat as fast as hers. “This is the wrong time for this. I’m aroused as hell, and you’ve just given birth. And what are we supposed to do about that?”

  Holly stared at him, uncertain how to take his humor. Spence would have been infuriated, but not this man. She stroked his beard-roughened cheek.

  He chuckled. “I’ll take a cold shower. Our time will come, but I think we both have to admit there’s a lot more than friendship happening here.”

  Holly closed her eyes. There was. So much more.

  * * * *

  Jenny woke at four to check on Evan. He slept with one arm behind his head and the other dropped off the couch. He snored lightly, his lips parted and his wide mouth looking softer and more vulnerable. The cover had slipped onto the floor. Jenny picked it up and recovered him. The throw was too short to cover his long, narrow feet, so she grabbed a second throw. He was watching her.

  “Don’t stop,” he drawled. “I was just enjoying this picture of domestic bliss.”

  Jenny tossed the blanket over him and straightened, her hands fisted on her narrow hips. “I came to see if you were alert. Well you are. So see you.”

  “Not going to soothe my fevered brow? Charm me with your bedside manner? Kiss me and make it better?” he taunted. Once she might have. Now it just made her sad. “You’ve become a frozen caricature of a woman. You stand there in front of me with your fists clenched at your sides and look at me like I hurt you? If I took you right now, would you even react like a normal woman? Moan with pleasure like you did after our senior prom?”

  “Go to hell, Evan.” Jenny stormed out of the room, his cynical laughter following her. She ran back to her room, shut the door, and leaned back against it, her breath coming out in harsh, silent sobs. How could he despoil what they’d had?

  How could she get through the rest of this ordeal with him here? How could she check on Holly with him right next door? What had she been thinking to get Holly to move in with Jake…Evan’s very best friend?

  * * * *

  When she woke him again at six, she had showered and changed. “Get up, Evan,” she ordered. “There’s coffee and toast in the kitchen if you’re hungry. I’m leaving in fifteen minutes.”

  “Not a morning person, Jenny?” he sniped, wanting to strike back at her, needing to see the dislike in her face. Needing to see anything but that pale, wounded look of last night or the way her golden eyes dulled, like someone snapped off the light inside. “I guess that’s just one more reason why we would never have worked out.”

  She stopped in the doorway and looked at him as if he had just crawled out from under a rock. “I’ll take you to the hospital. Dr. Razawi will handle any follow up. I’ve already e-mailed him the details of your case, so he’ll be aware of what happened when you see him.”

  She left the room before he could say anything else. Evan smacked the arm of the couch with his forearm and fist. Fifteen minutes later, he folded himself into the little BMW she drove. She had already warmed the car, and his seat had a heater under the leather covering to make it comfortable.

  “Big house, nice car,” he observed. “Not strapped by school loans? Your daddy’s moonshine business must have been even better than everyone knew.”

  “Oh, he didn’t…” Jenny halted, not finishing whatever she’d been about to utter. She tucked her hair behind her ear and put the car in gear. She had always fidgeted with her hair when she was nervous—or hiding something. Her daddy didn’t what? Evan wondered. He didn’t pay for her schooling? Then who had? She’d gotten her undergraduate degree from Carolina and gone on to Wake Forest’s medical school. Not a cheap education.

  The prosecutor in him was like a terrier with a bone, and he wanted to keep tearing at it. But for once in his life, Evan stopped himself. There was something vulnerable in the twist to her mouth and the shadows under her golden eyes. What had put those shadows there?

  As if she couldn’t stand the silence, she glanced at him. “What? No snotty comeback?”

  She slowed the car as they rounded the curve. Over the embankment, the tail end of his Nissan was just visible. Her breath caught, and he glanced her way. If possible, her face had gone even paler.

  “Just think, Jenny,” he needled her, unable to stop this time, “you nearly had your wish. I did almost go to hell.”

  She cringed at his tone. “Don’t,” she choked. “Don’t, Evan.” She didn’t say another word as she sped to the hospital. She halted in front of the emergency entrance. To Evan’s mortification, an orderly came out with a wheelchair. Evan glared at Jenny.

  “Very funny. I will not get in that.”

  “Suit yourself. They’re expecting you. I’ve done my job. You’re here. Good-bye, Evan. Get out of my car.”

  Once he was standing on the curb, she slid behind the wheel and drove around to the physicians’ parking lot without looking back.

  * * * *

  Holly curled against Jake, her cheek resting on his furry chest, his arm snuggled around her. He was the one who heard Noelle’s cries first. He tried to shift from underneath her, no doubt thinking she was asleep, but she stirred.

  “What time is it?” she murmured, a little groggy.

  “Five-thirty.” As she started to move, he pressed her back. “Stay there. I’ll change her and bring her to you, okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Are you okay or do you need to…?” He gestured toward her chest.

  “No. I’m fine. A little full, but I think it’ll be okay.”

  He nodded and sprint
ed up the stairs. Holly stared after him just a bit befuddled. He’d kissed her several times. He hadn’t scared her, but his searching mouth had left her aching and wanting in a way she’d never experienced with Spence. Holly leaned back into the corner of the couch, turning her cheek against the back of it. It still retained Jake’s warmth and the tangy smell of the soap he used. She smiled as she inhaled.

  Holly had stepped into the fantasy she’d spun so many months ago, but instead of Spence Dilby, Jake Allred was the handsome prince. She heard his step on the stairs. Jake had thrown on sweats and sneakers and had Noelle tucked in the crook of his arm. He bent and laid the baby in her arms before he kissed Holly on the mouth. The heat, even from his light brush of lips, was almost more than she could handle.

  “Good morning,” he murmured.

  She blinked at him. She had spent her first night with Jake. “Where are you going?”

  His mouth quirked. “Morning run. I’ll be back by the time you finish nursing. Then I’ll take Noelle while you get Tyler going. The bus stops out front at seven-thirty.”

  Holly laughed as she offered breakfast to the already rooting infant. “You sound like you’ve been doing this forever.”

  He grinned. “It’s kind of nice.”

  With a wave he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him. Holly stared at the heavy oak panel. Jake was right. They were so far beyond mere friendship. Sharing Noelle’s birth had made their relationship more intimate than it probably should be. They didn’t really know each other that well. It scared her, but also made her want to grab hold with both hands. She wanted security for Tyler and the baby, but she didn’t want to use Jake to attain it.

  After Spence, Holly wasn’t sure she could put her complete trust in another man again. She wanted to stand on her own.

  Chapter 7

  “Good morning, Ernie!” Jake grinned at his boss as he entered the cramped police station and nodded to the other two men already there.

  The patrol officer on duty overnight nursed a cup of coffee while he debriefed the officer just coming on. Two other officers rounded out their numbers. Everyone pitched in, and if something big happened they couldn’t handle, there was always help from either Sam Barnes and his guys, or they could go to the state. With the proximity of the parkway, even the rangers provided assistance when needed.