Winter Soldier (Mills & Boon Vintage Superromance)

by Marisa Carroll

  The rage dissipated. The panic won. Was Leah truly too involved with the injured child to talk to him? Or was she deliberately avoiding him? If she was, he couldn’t blame her. She had told him often enough that if she had to choose between him and his demons and her child’s well-being, the child would always come first. There were others to help with the little boy, the nurse standing in front of him for one.

  Leah was not coming out, not now and not as long as he was there.

  Adam pivoted and walked away. “You’re right,” he said. “It’s not where I belong.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  LEAH HALTED HER JEEP at the approach to Aurelia’s bridge. It was raining so hard the windshield wipers could barely keep up. She stared at the torrent sweeping out of the ravine, and a chill skittered along her nerve endings. The racing waters of the creek swirled just inches below the railroad-tie decking. Debris had backed up against the supports and piled up along the banks. She had never seen the creek so high. The water seemed to be rising even as she watched, spilling over onto the road and threatening to block her way.

  She rested her forehead against the steering wheel and closed her eyes, marshaling her courage. Crossing the bridge in good weather was always a challenge, and today it looked like sheer folly. She gunned the engine, then rolled down the window just in case. If the worst happened and she drove off the bridge into the water, she didn’t want to be trapped inside. She felt the decking shudder slightly as it took the Jeep’s weight. She tightened her grip on the wheel and kept going. Just once she glanced nervously at the water a little way below her and then didn’t look again. Thirty seconds later her front wheels hit solid ground and a moment after that she was back on the road, fishtailing a little as the wheels strove to gain purchase on the muddy incline. She’d made it one more time.

  Leah had expected to see Naomi Dunn’s pickup parked in its usual spot by the porch, but it was gone. Naomi was a good soul, but timid, and she hated crossing Aurelia’s bridge even on a bright, sunny day. Leah wouldn’t be a bit surprised to learn she had asked to leave early, possibly even at Juliet’s urging.

  She parked the Jeep and hurried onto the porch, holding her sweater over her head to keep off the rain. She’d lost her umbrella to a gust of wind at the ER entrance. The last she’d seen the thing, it was rolling away across the hospital parking lot over an hour ago. It had taken longer than she’d anticipated to detach herself from the fortunately only slightly injured little boy and his grateful grandmother. Adam was nowhere to be found in the hospital or the clinic, and she had resisted the urge to go looking for him. His turning away had made her decision for her. Her child’s welfare had to come first. Better to raise her baby alone than subject him to the kind of rejection that would result from living with Adam.

  “Juliet?” she called, hanging her sweater on the rack beside the door. She was determined to do her best to keep her own troubles hidden from Juliet. The teenager had more than enough to deal with right now without becoming Leah’s confidant on matters of the heart.

  “I’m in here.” Juliet appeared at the doorway to Aurelia’s bedroom, her hand, as usual, on the small of her back to ease the strain of the awkwardly positioned baby.

  “Where’s Naomi?”

  “I sent her home. She was so nervous and upset after the weather bulletin about the flash-flood warning, I couldn’t stand to be around her.” Juliet sounded testy, no doubt because of the weather and her grandmother’s worsening condition, as well as her own physical discomfort.

  “Naomi’s a good soul, but you’re right. She’s not—”

  “She’s a wimp,” Juliet snapped. Then her voice caught on a sob. “Listen to me. Naomi’s been a brick and I’m being a bitch. I’m so glad you’re here. Granny’s very uncomfortable, but I was afraid to give her another pill. Will you come look at her right away?”

  Leah crossed the room, turning on lamps as she went. The gloomy afternoon was fast giving way to twilight. The room was cool and damp. Leah wished she could light a fire to banish the chill and some of the gloom, but with oxygen in use in the next room, a fire was out of the question. “Why don’t you go turn up the thermostat? It’s chilly in here.” She brushed Juliet’s bangs from her forehead. “And when Aurelia’s more comfortable, you can sit with her while I make us something to eat.”

  Juliet lifted her hand to her tangled hair. “I...I think I will.” She looked over Leah’s shoulder. “Is Adam with you?” she asked, then betrayed the real intent of her question. “Did Brian get back yet?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Juliet’s face fell. “Oh, I was expecting him and Adam to be with you.”

  Leah knew she had to tell Juliet the truth, or at least a portion of it. Brian’s return to Slate Hollow was important to the girl. Perhaps more important than Leah had allowed herself to believe. “I don’t know where Adam is. We...we had a quarrel and left the hospital separately. I don’t know if he and Brian will be coming out here this evening.”

  Juliet grabbed Leah’s hand between her own. Her forehead creased in a frown. “Oh, Leah, I’m sorry you and Adam quarreled. What was it about? Not that Brian is bringing me the money from his car, was it?”

  “No, of course not.” Once more Leah felt a stab of remorse. She was so caught up in her own misery she had neglected to realize Juliet’s inner turmoil. “It was personal, a problem that has nothing to do with you or the baby.”

  “I’m glad.” Juliet looked down at their clasped hands, then back at Leah. “Not about your argument, but because it didn’t have anything to do with me and Brian. He’s been a real friend. I was starting to think every guy must be like Cash, a total creep, but not Brian. He’s called me a couple of times this week. Wasn’t that sweet? I mean, it’s been kind of lonely out here and...” She trailed off, coloring slightly. “Well, you know.”

  “I know,” Leah said. It had probably been inevitable Juliet would develop a crush on Brian Sauder. He was as close to a knight in shining armor as she was ever likely to encounter.

  “Selling his car—it’s a great thing to do, even if it makes it harder for me to decide what’s best for the baby, not just for me.”

  “You want to keep the baby, don’t you, Juliet?” Leah had forced herself to remain so carefully neutral she’d failed to consider how devastating giving up your child to another woman to raise would be. Now she was pregnant herself and she knew. The teenager was proving, with her efforts to keep up her schoolwork and her adherence to Clint’s strictures on her diet and activities, that she was capable of great strength of purpose and commitment to a goal. As young as she was, she would be a good mother.

  “More than anything,” Juliet said simply.

  Leah decided to quit straddling the fence. “I’ll make us some soup and sandwiches, and we’ll sit down and talk about how to make it work.”

  Juliet’s eyes brimmed with tears. “You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to hear you say that, but every time I tried to bring up the subject, you always had a good argument about why I should make the decision all on my own. It’s been so lonely.”

  “I’m sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing, not pressuring you one way or the other.” Leah leaned forward and put her arms around Juliet’s shaking shoulders. Their bellies collided and Leah stepped back, laughing.

  “I can do it, Leah. I know I can. I already love him, and I’ll take the best care of him I know how. I’m going to call that snotty lawyer and tell her to tell her clients to go...to go away.” She laughed again. “First, though, I’m going to tell Granny.”

  But when they walked into the softly lit room, it was apparent to Leah that Aurelia wouldn’t be able to comprehend what Juliet wanted to tell her. Her eyes were dulled, her breathing labored. Her fingers plucked restlessly at the coverlet. Her condition had deteriorated a lot since Leah had left her the morning before.

  Juliet lowered herself awkwardly onto the chair beside the bed and took one of Aurelia’s hands in b
oth of hers. “Granny?” she asked softly. “Can you hear me?”

  Aurelia’s only response was a slight moan, although she turned her head as though attempting to focus on her great-granddaughter’s face. Leah took a pill from one of the containers, and indicated the time and dosage on the notepad sitting beside it on the dresser.

  “Granny, it’s Juliet. I have something to tell you.” She looked over her shoulder at Leah. “She’s not answering me.”

  Leah touched the girl’s shoulder, gently urging her out of the way. “Let me give her something for her pain. Perhaps a little later she’ll feel strong enough to hear your good news.” Juliet stood up and stepped aside so Leah could place the pill under Aurelia’s tongue where it would dissolve and be quickly absorbed into her bloodstream.

  “She’s getting worse, isn’t she. She talked to me this morning...but not since.”

  Leah checked Aurelia’s pulse and the setting on her oxygen tank before moving away from the bed to answer Juliet. “We need to keep her comfortable. When she’s awake and more alert, she’s also in more pain.”

  Juliet put a hand to her mouth to stifle a sob. “I know, but I’m not ready to say goodbye.”

  “There’ll be time to say goodbye,” Leah told her, though she didn’t believe it. Juliet was crying in earnest now. “Come with me. Let’s get something to eat and then you can come back and sit with Granny and hold her hand. She’ll know you’re there, and it will help her rest.” Leah put her arm around Juliet’s shoulders and urged her from the room.

  “Okay, but I’m not really hungry. My stomach has been upset all day.”

  “Well, I’m starved, and you’ll feel better with something in your stomach, too.”

  “I have something in my stomach,” Juliet said with a watery little chuckle. “A very big something. I’m going to call that lawyer right now.” She preceded Leah into the kitchen. The phone was on the wall beside the refrigerator. She picked it up, waited a moment and, instead of punching in the number, she jiggled the cradle rest up and down. “Rats, the phone’s dead. I suppose a tree fell on the lines or something. The way it’s raining they probably won’t get it fixed till morning at least.”

  “I have my cell phone in the Jeep,” Leah said. “It never works very well up here in your hollow, but you can give it a try.”

  “I’ll go get it.” Juliet waddled to the door. She stepped out on the porch, leaving the door open behind her. “Leah,” she called, “come here!” There was alarm in her voice.

  Leah hurried to her side. “What is it?”

  “Look.” Juliet was pointing down the slope to the creek. “The bridge is underwater.” She clutched Leah’s arm so tightly Leah winced. In the short time since she’d arrived at the Cade homestead, the creek had risen enough to spill over the bridge deck. It was raining even harder than it had been earlier, and thunder rumbled ominously in the distance, heralding even more rain.

  “The weather report said there was supposed to be two more inches of rain by tomorrow,” Juliet said in a worried voice. “We could get trapped up here. Maybe for days.”

  “We’ll be fine, Juliet. The house is built far enough above the creek—it’s never flooded before, right?”

  “I guess so. Granny’s never said. I...I do remember the bridge being underwater before, though, a couple of times when I was little.”

  “If the water doesn’t go back down soon, we’ll leave. I think we can still get across, although I don’t really want to attempt it.”

  “But how will we move Granny? I know she doesn’t weigh very much, but Clint and the doctor from Lex General both said I shouldn’t lift anything. And...well, I don’t think you can carry her by yourself.”

  Juliet was right. Aurelia was far too ill to be moved in less-than-ideal conditions. Leah could drag her out of the house on a makeshift stretcher, but getting her into the Jeep would be very hard, and a fireman’s rescue carry—throwing Granny over her shoulder—was out of the question. Aurelia was far too ill to attempt such a thing. It was best they stayed put and rode out the flood. “Let’s try my phone first. At least let Caleb and Margaret know we have a problem.”

  “Or Adam and Brian,” Juliet said, moving awkwardly down the slippery wooden steps toward Leah’s Jeep before Leah could stop her. In a few moments she was back with the cell phone, but as Leah had feared she couldn’t get a signal.

  “We’re stuck here at least for the night, it looks like.”

  Juliet’s face fell. She was shivering and her face had paled. “Isn’t there some way we can get through?”

  “I’ll try again in a few minutes. The signal comes and goes up here. Don’t worry. Now come on, let’s get something to eat.”

  Juliet stayed with Aurelia while Leah prepared grilled cheese sandwiches and heated a can of soup. When Leah called her, she came to the small oak table in the kitchen, but barely ate more than a few spoonfuls of soup and only tore her sandwich into pieces and pushed them around on her plate. “Juliet, honey, quit worrying. The house is perfectly safe,” Leah assured her for at least the third time.

  “But what if Granny...”

  “She’s resting comfortably right now, and if she does get worse—” Leah reached out and laid her hand on Juliet’s forearm “—it’s what she wanted. To die at home.”

  “Yes, but I just never let myself think about it actually happening.”

  “It’s a perfectly natural reaction to losing someone you love.”

  “Do you think Brian and Adam have been trying to call us?” she asked, changing the subject, but not before a tear rolled down her cheek and dropped off her chin.

  “I’d wager Brian has been.”

  “Maybe he’ll drive up here to see if we’re all right when he can’t get through on the phone. You know, just to make sure everything’s okay.”

  “Yes, he might,” Leah agreed, hoping Adam’s son would do just that. She didn’t like being marooned on Pine Mountain any more than Juliet did.

  “I’m going to see if the phone’s fixed,” Juliet said, getting up so quickly her chair fell backward on the wooden floor. She picked up the receiver and slammed it down again. “Nothing. Where’s your cell phone?”

  “Right where we left it in the living room.” Leah stood up, too, and righted the chair, then looked at Juliet. Something was wrong. The teenager’s eyes were round and huge. Her neck and shoulders appeared tense and she was frowning as if in pain. “Juliet?”

  The girl had already left the kitchen. When Leah followed her into the living room she found her doubled over, one hand on the sofa back to keep her balance, the other clutching her stomach. “Oh, God,” she gasped. “Leah! What’s happening? It hurts.”

  “How long have you been having contractions?” Leah asked.

  “I haven’t been having contractions, not real ones,” Juliet said. “I mean, only cramps. Those pre-contraction things, whatever you called them.”

  “Have you had any other symptoms? Any bleeding or spotting?” Juliet’s official due date wasn’t for another ten days. She might be having Braxton-Hicks contractions, but she shouldn’t be in severe pain, and she obviously was.

  “I...I’ve been spotting a little all day. I thought...I thought maybe it was because I’ve been on my feet so much or sitting beside Granny’s bed, instead of resting with my feet up like Clint said I should.” She moaned a little and tried to straighten. Her face was drained of all color. She swayed on her feet.

  “Sit down,” Leah ordered. When Juliet was on the sofa, Leah pushed her gently back against the cushions and propped a pillow under her feet.

  “I can’t be having the baby already, can I? How will we get to the hospital? Leah, what will we do?”

  “Relax,” Leah said firmly. “We aren’t certain you’re in labor, but I think it’s time to leave the mountain. We’ll go to my place, and from there we’ll be able to get you to the hospital in plenty of time. Now just try to be calm and remember your breathing exercises.”

 
Leah picked up the cell phone and was rewarded with a signal, but almost as soon as she’d punched in Caleb’s number, it died. “It’s still not working.”

  “I think it’s all right. The pain went away. Maybe it was just cramps, or a stomachache.” Juliet tried to sit up, but Leah put her hand on her shoulder and held her down.

  “Maybe you’re right, but we’re leaving, anyway.”

  “But...but Granny?”

  “We’ll be as careful with her as we can.”

  Leah hurried into the kitchen hoping against hope the phone would be working. It wasn’t. She leaned against the side of the refrigerator and tried to bring her thoughts into order. Assess the risk and the importance of the objective. Make a plan of action. Carry it out. She could deliver Juliet’s baby—if the birth was normal, but she could not perform surgery. They must leave Cade Hollow, and soon. Juliet’s life and the life of her baby were in danger.

  But what of Aurelia? The simple act of taking her down the mountain could be fatal. Leah made the only choice she could make. If necessary she would sacrifice the few remaining hours of Aurelia’s life in order to bring her great-granddaughter and her unborn child safely down the mountain. Leah knew she would do it with Aurelia’s blessing.

  ADAM RESTED HIS FOREARMS on the steering wheel of the Cherokee and looked out through the rain-streaked windshield. He didn’t know exactly how long he had been sitting at the roadside turnout watching the comings and goings in the valley below him, the smattering of lights coming on in the town, as the tattered edges of rain clouds drifted by him like smoke on the wind. It seemed like hours.

  Leah was through with him. There was no other way to describe what he had seen in her eyes. If he went back to her now, she would turn away from him without hesitation. She would shut him out of her life and the child’s, because he was only a shell of a man, one whose heart was calcified with bottled-up fear and anger, and a bone-deep sadness that had festered inside him for almost a quarter century. Nightmares from the past had finally won the battle for his soul.