“I want to hold her,” Lisa begged Jack.
“I’m sorry, honey, the cord’s not long enough. This is as far as she goes for now.” He leaned over them both and pressed his lips to Lisa’s. “Congratulations, Mommy.”
Again came that burst of emotion that was both a sob and laughter.
“You were fantastic.” He kissed her again. “You were wonderful.” And again.
When they reached the hospital fifteen minutes later, they were met by Dr. Will Carver, two orderlies and two nurses. Probably ninety percent of the staff currently on duty at the hospital.
Jack had already wrapped the baby in a clean blanket and placed her back on Lisa’s stomach. Now he eased the two of them into his arms and scooted out of the vehicle to place them gently on the gurney.
The doctor and nurses were sure taking their own sweet time, Jack thought, considering he had done the hard part. Dane had long since left to hitch a ride out to his vehicle. It had been nearly two hours since they’d taken Lisa and the baby away from him. Making him feel unnecessary. As if they no longer needed him. As if mother and child might be better off without him.
The nurses said he wasn’t sterile. They didn’t know the half of it. He’d been out sweating over a fence all morning, then tussling with Hampton on that muddy road. Not to mention delivering a baby in the back of his rig. Sterile? Hell, he wasn’t even clean.
He worried that he might have harmed Lisa or the baby somehow because of it, but the nurse who had barred him from Lisa’s room told him it looked as though everything was fine. She found a spare set of scrubs and made him wash up, so here he was, pacing the hallway, feeling naked as a jaybird in borrowed pea-green clothes—not even fresh peas at that, but sickly-looking canned peas—that looked like pajamas and were three inches too short for his legs. And the things were damned drafty, he thought with irritation.
Finally Dr. Carver came out of Lisa’s room into the corridor where Jack was pacing. “Congratulations, Jack. You did a good job. You get tired of raising cattle, you might think about taking up midwifery.”
“Real funny, Will. Are they all right? Lisa and the baby?”
“You mean Lisa and little Jacqueline Dana?” Will grinned. “They’re both fine. The baby was about two weeks early, but so far there are no complications from that. Her lungs are fully formed—that was my biggest concern. I want to keep them both for two or three days. When they go home, Lisa will need plenty of help.”
“She’ll have it,” Jack vowed. Belinda and Ace would be home tomorrow, and with them, the kids and Donna. Belinda and Donna would be there day and night to give Lisa all the help she needed.
And she won’t need you anymore.
He wouldn’t think about that. Couldn’t bear to think about it, because he knew it was true. She wouldn’t need him. Didn’t need him now. “Can I see her?”
“Sure.” The doctor slapped Jack on the back. “Now that you’re cleaned up.”
Jack stood before the door to her room and felt sweat dampen his palms. Hell, he’d been steady as a rock when the baby was born. Now that the scary part was over, he was nervous.
He wiped his palms down the thighs of the borrowed scrubs, took a deep breath and entered her room.
And stopped dead in his tracks, spellbound. She was nursing the baby. The sight of it, so beautiful, so maternal, took his breath away. The look of love in her eyes as she gazed down at her daughter swelled his throat closed.
They had cleaned the baby up. She was still red and wrinkled, but it was the red of healthy newborn skin. Her hair, thick and dark, gleamed. She was wearing a diaper now. One tiny red fist kneaded her mother’s milk-pale breast.
Suddenly, as if she sensed his presence—he knew he hadn’t made a sound, hadn’t been capable of it—Lisa looked up and smiled. “Jack.”
“Hi. How do you feel?”
Her smile widened. “Like I just gave birth.”
Jack rushed to her side. “Are you in pain? Can’t they give you—”
“I’m fine, Jack. They already gave me something for the pain—now that the worst part’s over. Oh, Jack, you were wonderful out there. I don’t know what we’d have done without you.”
He swallowed and looked down at the baby. “I can’t believe you named her after me. I’m…humbled.”
They were silent for a moment, both watching the baby as her mouth went slack. When Lisa’s nipple popped free of the baby’s mouth, Lisa and Jack both turned suddenly shy. Lisa pulled the hospital gown up to cover herself, while Jack strode to the window and looked out through the blinds.
“Dane—” Jack stopped and cleared his throat. “Dane says not to worry about giving him your statement. He’ll talk to you later, whenever you feel up to it.”
“Tell him thank-you. Just as long as waiting doesn’t mean Roger goes free.”
Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Not a chance. There’s a question as to whether or not the judge will even set bail. Flight risk, no ties to the area—other than you, and you’re his victim.”
“I’m sure Roger has already called his grandfather. Something will be worked out. He won’t sit in jail long. I can guarantee it.”
Jack turned back and stood beside her bed. “He won’t get near you again. I can guarantee that.” He looked down at the baby again. “God, she’s beautiful.”
“She is, isn’t she?”
“She’s got your mouth. Your nose.”
A nurse poked her head in the door. “Are you ready for me to take her to the nursery?”
Jack could see the conflict in Lisa’s face. She was exhausted, but she didn’t want to let go of the baby. Finally she sighed and let the nurse take her.
“I’ll go,” Jack said. “So you can sleep.”
She looked up at him, the lines of fatigue around her eyes and mouth proclaiming her exhaustion. “Will you come back tomorrow?”
That she thought she had to ask told Jack he’d been right; things were different between them now. He felt suddenly awkward. Unnecessary. But he knew he wouldn’t be able to stay away from her. “Sure. What do you want me to bring you from the house?”
“Oh.” She laughed. “Everything. Clothes, nightgown, robe, slippers, toothbrush, deodorant, under—”
“Everything.” So she still needed him, at least for this. “You got it, Mama.”
Lisa watched him leave. She had never expected to find a man like him, a man she could love with her whole heart, a man with whom she could share her daughter. But as sleep claimed her, she worried about the new distance she sensed between them.
The thought of going home to his empty house held no appeal for Jack. He was still high on the birth of Lisa’s baby, even as the thought that she might no longer need him weighed on his mind. He had a need to be around family.
He would go see Rachel and Grady and the kids. He hadn’t seen his sister and her family, or Ace’s boys, since before the blizzard. Before Lisa.
Besides, he wasn’t about to drive all the way home in pea-green pajamas.
He headed north out of town and drove to Standing Elk Ranch, where he promptly agreed to explain his odd manner of dress in exchange for supper.
After he left—in his freshly laundered clothes—and after the boys were in bed, Rachel turned to Grady. “I still can’t get over Jack delivering Lisa’s baby. Did you pick up on what I picked up on?”
Grady grinned. “He’s nuts about her.”
“Head over heals in love with her.”
“I’d say so.”
Rachel laughed. With her arms spread wide, she fell back on the bed. “My big bad brother has finally fallen in love. I can’t wait to meet her.”
Back at the Flying Ace, Jack went to the main house and up to Lisa’s room. He’d promised he would take her things to her. She might not need him for much anymore, but she at least needed him for this. And there were also her other belongings in the trunk of her car at the garage in town. She might need those when she got out of the hospital. He could take
care of that for her.
Afterward…well, afterward, he would take a step back, get his bearings and see what was what. If she didn’t need him anymore, didn’t want him…
Chapter Thirteen
Lisa spent the early hours the next morning holding her daughter, staring at her, marveling at her. Getting her to nurse and praying her milk would come in soon. One of the nurses helped her give Jacqueline a bath, and there were lessons in diaper changing.
Wouldn’t her friends at the ad agency get a kick out of her excitement over changing a diaper.
Every few minutes as the morning progressed, Lisa glanced toward the door. She did it unconsciously at first, before realizing what she was doing. But it took no great thought to know she was looking for Jack.
Would he come?
Of course he would. He’d said he would bring her clothes and things. If nothing else, he would keep his word.
But she wanted him to come because he wanted to see her, not just to run an errand.
He’d been so wonderful yesterday, so kind and gentle. So loving. She had felt so close to him—until he’d entered her hospital room and she’d sensed a distance between them that hadn’t been there before, not even the day they’d met.
“Is he tired of us, do you think?” she asked her daughter.
It could be. She had a team of nurses to look after her now, and tomorrow Belinda would be home. Maybe Jack was ready to wash his hands of her. She’d been such a burden to him she really couldn’t blame him. But she prayed she was wrong.
Finally, around ten o’clock, he arrived. With him he brought her suitcase and a beautiful arrangement of pink carnations surrounded by baby’s breath.
“Oh, Jack, how pretty! You shouldn’t have.”
Jack felt the hole in the pit of his stomach, the hole he’d felt yesterday when he’d realized she no longer needed him, grow larger. You shouldn’t have. Wasn’t that what you said to a casual acquaintance? It sounded that way to him.
“You’ve done so much for me already,” she said.
The hole in his gut got bigger. “Well,” he said with a shrug, trying to put a good face on it, “you have to share them with the little cupcake there. How is she?”
Lisa looked down at the yawning baby in her arms. “She’s tired. We’ve had a busy morning, what with feedings and baths and diaper changes and all.”
“Maybe I should go and let the two of you get some rest.”
“Oh, but you just got here,” Lisa protested.
“I’ll, uh, come back later.”
He left so fast Lisa was dazed. The tears came without warning. He didn’t want her anymore. Didn’t want anything to do with her. But he was such a nice and decent man he probably would come back, simply because he’d promised.
“Oh, Jack.” He was slipping away from her and she didn’t know why, or how to stop it.
Later that morning the florist brought more flowers—from Dane, from Belinda and her husband, who weren’t even home from Hawaii yet, and even a bouquet from Roger’s parents, with a separate arrangement from his grandfather, which included a note swearing Lisa would never have to worry about Roger bothering her again.
In the afternoon Trey and Stoney came. Lisa thought it was sweet of them, and they made quite a fuss over the baby. Trey brought her a pink teddy bear, and Stoney a stuffed bunny rabbit.
“Oh, thank you!” Lisa exclaimed. “Her first toys.”
Trey grinned, while Stoney blushed.
Just before supper a beautiful, black-haired, blue-eyed woman came to her room, and Lisa knew instantly that this must be Jack’s sister. She was a petite feminine version of Jack and Trey.
“Hi. I hope you don’t mind my dropping in. I’m Rachel Lewis, Jack’s sister. I wanted to introduce myself and bring you some…” She glanced around the room and grinned. “Oh, my. Some flowers.”
“How sweet of you,” Lisa said, thrilled to meet her. “I’m so glad you came.”
“I couldn’t stay away. Jack came for supper last night and told us what happened. He said you were all right, but I had to make sure for myself. Belinda would have my hide. She might have it, anyway, because I haven’t even so much as called you since you got here.”
“I imagine you’ve been a little busy. Haven’t your nephews been staying with you?”
Rachel laughed and rolled her eyes.
Rachel stayed and visited for nearly half an hour. She left when the nurse brought Lisa’s supper tray. By then, Lisa felt as if she’d known the woman her entire life.
Lisa had no sooner finished eating when Belinda arrived.
“You’re here!” Lisa declared, more glad than she could say to see her best friend at last.
“You didn’t wait for me,” Belinda scolded. “You weren’t supposed to have the baby until I got home. But what the heck, I love you, anyway.” She enveloped Lisa in a big hug. “Are you all right?” she demanded. “We heard the most incredible story about Jack delivering the baby.”
“It’s true. He was wonderful.”
“Well, where is he? And where is this alleged baby?”
Lisa felt her hope shrivel and did her best to hide it. If Belinda was asking where Jack was, then he hadn’t come with her. This morning he had stayed barely five minutes, and she hadn’t seen him since. She knew he had work to do, and it was a long drive between the ranch and town. But she had hoped…
“Could I get an introduction here?”
Lisa looked at the man at the foot of her bed. The family resemblance was stunning. He and Jack could have been twins. The two of them and Trey could have been triplets, so alike were they.
“You’re Ace.” She couldn’t help but smile as she held out a hand to him. His grip was firm and warm, his hand as callused as Jack’s. “I can’t tell you how glad I am to meet the man who could get this one—” she put her other hand on Belinda’s shoulder “—to the altar.”
“And you must be Lisa,” Ace responded with an easy smile. “I’m glad to finally meet you, too. It sounds like you’ve had an, uh, eventful stay so far.”
Lisa chuckled. “I’ll say. You folks in Wyoming sure know how to show a lady a good time.”
“Oh, yeah, right.” Belinda took off her coat and tossed it on the nearby chair. “Car accidents, amnesia, blizzards, power outages, kidnapping and roadside childbirth. Be glad we don’t really like you, or we’d have thrown in something really cool, like an influenza outbreak, to cap things off.”
“And all this without your even having to be here,” Lisa added. “I can’t wait for you to see Jackie.”
“Who?”
“My daughter. Jacqueline Dana.”
“Oh, my God.” Belinda looked dumbstruck. “You named her after…I think I’d better sit down.”
“You knew everything else that’s happened. Didn’t Jack tell you?”
“He didn’t say a word.” Belinda looked at Ace, who shook his head. “That rat. I’ll murder him for not telling me something that important.”
“Give the guy a break,” Ace said. “We haven’t even seen him yet, only talked to him on the phone. We just got in and haven’t even picked up the boys yet. Belinda couldn’t wait to see you.”
A moment later the nurse brought Jacqueline to the room.
Ace could see he wasn’t needed or wanted here. No one even seemed to remember he was there. “I’ll leave the two—three—of you to visit. Lisa, it was nice meeting you.”
“Ace, thank you for coming,” she said earnestly. “And thank you, both of you, for letting me stay at your ranch. I can’t tell you how much it’s meant to me.”
“You’re welcome,” he told her. “But don’t start thinking of leaving. I know for a fact that Belinda won’t let you.”
“He’s right of course,” Belinda said when her husband left. “You’re staying with us until you decide what you want to do, and I won’t hear any arguments. And if you don’t let me hold that baby in the next two minutes, I’m going to hit you over the head and
make off with her. I’ll change her name to Lelani and tell everyone we brought her home from Hawaii.”
Laughing, Lisa carefully placed her daughter into the arms of the best friend she’d ever had.
“Now,” Belinda said, “suppose you tell me why you named this beautiful angel after a man you barely know. And don’t tell me it’s because he delivered her. There’s got to be more to it than that. Spill it, girl.”
“Oh, Belinda…” Lisa broke down and cried.
The Flying Ace headquarters was a madhouse of confusion that night when Ace, Belinda, their sons and housekeeper returned.
Jason, Grant and Clay were wild about having their parents home and being back in their own house. They regaled their parents with all their exploits—the snow fort they’d built in the backyard at Standing Elk, the snowball war they’d had with Grady and Rachel, the day they got out of school because of the blizzard.
“Man, it was cool!” Jason exclaimed.
Jack watched it all with an ache in his chest. For the first time in his life, he truly envied his older brother.
It took two hours for the boys to wind down enough to go to bed. When they finally did, Ace and Jack settled in the office so Jack could fill Ace in on ranch business.
“That’s pretty damned interesting,” Ace said an hour later.
“What is?”
“You’ve just talked for a solid hour about the blizzard, the cattle, the fences, and you haven’t said a single word about Lisa. I gotta wonder about that.”
Jack shrugged. “I told Belinda all of that over the phone last night, and you’ve met her. Nothing else to say.”
Ace leaned back and placed his hands behind his head. “Except, according to Rachel, you love her.”
Jack shot him a narrow-eyed glare. “She’s right. I’ve loved Rachel since she was a kid.”
“Very funny, bro. I’m talking about Lisa.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” Jack wasn’t ready to bare his soul to Ace or anyone.
“Isn’t there?”
“No.” Jack stood and headed for the door. “No, there isn’t.”
A Child on the Way Page 19
