A light was on in the nursery, and Latham had stacked the gifts just inside the door. The baby room didn’t have furniture yet, and it seemed so empty.
Across the pond, she heard Latham’s truck start with a growl. He was upset with her, and still he’d brought the gifts over because her mom had asked him to. She wished things were different and that he could be sitting here with her, looking through the gifts for Ada Jane.
She flipped the light off and walked back into the living area, sitting on the couch and swinging her feet up. Her belly tightened in a Braxton Hicks contraction. She’d been having more lately. Her doctor told her it was just the body’s way of practicing to have a baby.
Ready or not, the baby was coming soon. And Ada Jane deserved a mom who had a plan.
Chapter Sixteen
“Wynn Sheehan?”
Wynn stopped short on the street outside the Hilltop and slowly turned around. A man she’d never seen before, around thirty-five, in khaki pants and a button-down with the sleeves rolled up, gave her a little wave from the door of his office.
“Can I help you?”
He smiled and his face creased into friendly dimples. “Your mom told me I might catch you. Come in for a bad cup of coffee?”
She was on her way to the obstetrician for a checkup, but she had a few minutes. “Okay...sure. I’ll just have water, though.”
“Wise choice. I make terrible coffee.” The man pushed the door to his office open wider, and she thought for a second that this seemed too much like a TV movie and she should probably run for her life, but she’d been seeing his office for months now and wondering about it, so she followed him inside.
He gestured to a group of two leather seats. He had nice eyes that crinkled when he smiled and riotous brown hair that was completely unprofessional. “I’m Garrett Cole. I’m an attorney. Your mom said you’re a lawyer, too. Or she said you went to law school. Sorry, I’m not that clear on the details.”
He spoke as he walked to the back of the long room, where there was a counter with a sink. He grabbed a paper cup and filled it with water from the tap.
“I’m licensed in Alabama,” Wynn said, “but I haven’t practiced. I worked on Congressman Schofield’s staff up until a few months ago.”
He handed her the cup of water. “I heard that. I also heard you were good at it. Do you have any interest in being a part of a firm?” Garrett grinned.
“If you’re talking about your firm, I might. I’d like to stay in Red Hill Springs. I don’t know anything at all about this kind of practice.” She was intrigued, though.
“It’s kind of a learn-on-the-job deal. The short answer is I do a little bit of everything. I have too much work to do on my own, plus I’m going to have to be away soon for a month, so I need a partner, or at least someone to help with my cases for a while.”
“You don’t even know me. How do you know I’d make a good partner?”
“I don’t.” He shrugged. “But I’ve met you now. I like you. And Chip Campbell vouched for you. He said he asked you to be on the town council. I like that you’ll be involved in the community and that you have family ties here.”
“Chip told you that?” She took a sip of the water and looked around. The building had one wall of exposed brick and the ceiling was open. There was the grouping of two leather chairs and one desk a little farther back closer to the counter where he kept the coffeepot, but there was plenty of space for her to have a desk and for an assistant if there was one. This office was two doors down from Jules’s bakery and three down from the Hilltop. She’d be working in very close proximity to her family.
She considered for a second if that would bother her and decided it wouldn’t. “So you told me the short answer of what you do. How about the long one?”
“I handle estate planning, the occasional criminal case, family law, bankruptcy, even a personal injury case or two.” He hung his hand over the arm of his chair, and a black-and-white cat with a curious pink nose came out to rub her head against his hand. “Here’s the thing. It sounds silly, but I became an attorney so I could help people. People come to me when they don’t have any other options, and I help them. It’s mostly really fulfilling, sometimes frustrating, but it’s always interesting.”
He paused. “Oh, and the cat comes with the office.”
“I like cats.” Her mind was racing through the possibilities, shuffling through her feelings. This had the potential to be everything she’d been looking for. “So how would this work?”
“If you want to start work before your baby comes, I can give you a case or two to handle now. And then while I’m away, you’ll take care of my cases. When I get back, if you like the work, we can talk about your buying into the practice. If not, I’ll say thanks for the help and no hard feelings.”
“You’ll put all that in writing.” After all, they were attorneys. They didn’t trust a handshake.
His grin was wide. “Of course. So you’re interested?”
“I am. Very interested.”
“Any more questions or requests?”
She thought for a second. “I’m planning to breastfeed. I’ll either have my baby with me or be pumping.”
His color went pink. “Of course. That’s totally fine. One of the benefits of working solo in a small town is that I make the rules.”
“I’ve been praying for an opportunity to stay close to Red Hill Springs. I really appreciate the offer.” Wynn was having trouble believing that her prayer had been answered in a way that filled all of her needs.
“You’re an answer to a specific prayer for me, too.” Garrett leaned forward and held out his hand. “Looking forward to getting to know you better.”
“Me, too.” She rose and he stood, as well. “I guess I’d better go let Chip know that I’m available for the town council.”
“I guess I’d better start shopping for another desk.” He held the door open for her. “I’ll get the paperwork drawn up and give you a call and we can make it official.”
“Thank you.” She walked out the door of the law office and turned back. The nameplate on the door said Garrett Cole, Attorney at Law. She hoped this worked out. Maybe there would be another name added to the door before long.
She checked her watch and started down the street to her car, her feet feeling ten thousand pounds lighter than they had a few hours ago. Maybe after her OB appointment, she would go see Latham at work. She had a job, and that felt like the last piece of the puzzle falling into place.
It wasn’t permanent—yet—but she had a good feeling.
* * *
Latham sat at a table in the courtyard outside his classroom with a plate of tacos from the food truck that parked outside his building, skimming over his notes for the day. He looked up as someone slid a plate onto the table opposite him, expecting one of his students.
Instead, Wynn sat across from him, a plate of nachos piled high with beans and guacamole in front of her. She stuffed one in her mouth and said, “Wow, if I’d known there was such good food on campus, I’d have come a long time ago.”
“You should check out the doughnut truck some time.” His eyes were on hers. He had no idea what she was doing there. It wasn’t like they’d parted on the best of terms, and he wasn’t ready to move forward unless things had changed.
“You’re probably wondering what I’m doing here.” She echoed his thoughts as she popped another nacho into her mouth. “Aside from getting this extremely tasty late lunch, that is.”
“The thought crossed my mind.” His heart literally ached looking at her. She was dressed casually in jeans and boots, a T-shirt and a long necklace with a tassel hanging off it. Her hair was long and loose, and her blue eyes were covered with tortoise shell sunglasses.
She rubbed her belly absentmindedly. “I know you probably already have a lesson planned, but if you
want me to talk to your freshman class and answer questions, I’d be happy to. Today, or another time, if you’d rather.”
“I’m not sure what your motivation is, here.”
“I feel like I’m on firmer ground now than I was when you first asked me. I wondered then if I could say anything helpful, and I’m still not sure I could’ve. Now I feel like I can contribute. And you asked me to.”
The words slugged him. He shrugged and tried to make it nonchalant, like it didn’t really matter that she was there. But it did. It really did matter that she’d taken the time to come down there because he asked her to. “Okay.”
“Okay, you want me to talk?” Her face lit up. “Awesome.”
“Just don’t say anything embarrassing.”
She grinned. “I promise. No stories from our misspent youth.”
He stood, picked up his plate and hers, too, walking over to the trash can and dumping them. She could always get to him, a fact that didn’t exactly make him comfortable. “All right, let’s go. You can talk as long as you want and then we’ll do questions for the rest of the time. Suit you?”
“Yes.”
The class was mostly waiting for him when they walked in the door. There would inevitably be a few stragglers. He took the strap for his case from over his shoulder and placed the bag on the desk, sat on the edge and waited for the class to quiet. “Okay, guys, we have a special guest this afternoon. This is Wynn Sheehan. She was a staffer in Washington, DC, for the last four years. She’s got the inside scoop on what life is like inside the Beltway and might even be able to give you some hints about how to get a job. Wynn, the floor’s yours.”
He walked to the back of the room and watched as she effortlessly reeled them in. She talked about how every decision she made as a student had an effect on her job—which was something these students needed to hear.
It served him right, he guessed, that he was as attracted to her brain as to her beauty. She was the whole package. If he knew she would stay... Gran’s diamond ring was a hard knot in his pocket, reminding him what was at stake.
He wanted her to come to him and make promises. Maybe her coming here today was her version of a peace offering, he didn’t know. What he did know is that she held his heart, in no uncertain terms.
He dragged his attention back to her words.
“So, in Washington, DC, I was on Congressman Schofield’s staff. My official title was Legislative Director. I had a small staff of people under me who all had expertise in a variety of policy areas. Each of those people was responsible for keeping up with legislation and major issues that might be coming up in their area of expertise and advising me and the chief of staff, especially if it would affect the people in the district we were serving. Got it so far?”
Someone in the middle of the room raised her hand. “So if there’s a bill that your congressperson is trying to get passed, who writes that?”
“It could be someone like me, or sometimes a junior staffer is assigned a bill to write. They check in with the Office of Legislative Counsel and are assigned a lawyer who helps turn the bill into legislative-speak. Often these are run by advocacy groups, too, before they’re presented to the member of Congress. Then he or she will sign the bill and it goes into the hopper.”
Another hand went up. “And then does the bill come before the House for a vote?”
“Sometimes. More often, those small bills end up bundled in with larger pieces of legislation.” Wynn leaned on the desk, her hand rubbing the side of her baby belly. Latham wondered if the baby was kicking her.
“Is it exciting to work there?” This from a young woman Latham knew had aspirations to go to law school.
Wynn smiled. “It really is. I guess maybe some people get jaded to the whole process, but I never did. It was exciting to be at the center of lawmaking in our country, to know that the things that we worked on that eventually became law had the power to change things for people. Real people who lived real lives, not just statistics.”
One of the students in the back of the room closed his book. Latham glanced at his watch, shocked that an hour had gone by. He stood. “That’s it for today, guys. Let’s thank our guest.”
There was some scattered applause as the students gathered their books and left. Wynn grabbed the young lady who’d asked the question about working in DC being exciting and handed her a card. Leave it to Wynn to narrow in on the one student with real interest.
When the room was empty except for the two of them, he leaned on the desk beside her. “Thanks for coming. You managed to intrigue and inspire a class of college students...and their teacher.”
Her hand rubbed circles on her tummy. “It was my pleasure. I’m sorry I wouldn’t come before. I had a hard time accepting that my life had changed so much, especially because it was my fault. I guess now I’m starting to realize that God is big enough to use even my mistakes.” She shrugged a little. “It’s a process.”
He walked outside with her and lingered on the sidewalk. “I’m sorry—I know I’ve put pressure on you. And you’re right, it’s not easy. It took me some time after Gran died to come to grips with the fact that not only had I lost one person I loved, but the other one was barely hanging on.”
She took a couple of steps toward her car and swayed a little, then turned around. “Do you want to come over for dessert? I have a couple of boxes of goodies left from the shower.”
“I don’t know, Wynn.” This visit had been great, but ultimately, nothing had changed. Seeing her in action this evening just made him realize even more that she was meant for bigger things. She was made for it.
“Just to talk. I want to tell you about—” She grabbed her belly with a low groan. “Oh. Wow.”
He gripped her elbow. “Are you okay?”
She looked up at him, a look of panic in her eyes, and he watched as all the color drained from her face. Her eyes drifted away from his and she swayed again, going limp in his arms.
“Wynn!”
He sank to the ground with her and dug his phone out of his satchel, dialing 911 with shaking fingers. “I’m just outside the Sanger building at the junior college. A pregnant woman passed out.”
With the phone clutched in his hand and the promise from the dispatcher that EMTs would be on their way, he shook her gently. “Wynn, wake up. Come on, love, wake up.”
She roused slightly, opening groggy blue eyes. Her lips moved, like she was trying to make words, but nothing came out and she was gone again.
“Where is that ambulance? Come on.” He stared unblinking into her pale, pale face and prayed.
Please God, please. You’ve brought her back to me. Please, God, let her be okay. Let Ada be okay. Oh, God, why is this happening?
The paramedics took seven long minutes to arrive and about thirty seconds to get her on a gurney. They loaded her into the ambulance, where one guy started working on her. Latham thought he saw her eyes open, but he wasn’t sure.
The other EMT stood in front of him. “Hey, sir, we’re gonna take good care of her, but I need you to talk to me for a second. Tell me what happened.”
“We were just walking. She asked me if I wanted to go get some dessert and then she grabbed her stomach. She—um—she went white and her eyes rolled back in her head. I grabbed her as she fell.” He could barely get the words out, and his gaze went to Wynn in the back of the ambulance.
“How many weeks pregnant is she?” The EMT snapped out the question.
“Around seven months—twenty-eight weeks—I think.” Latham didn’t look at him. The guy in the ambulance had an IV hanging.
“’Scuse me, sir. Just a couple more questions. How long has she been bleeding?”
He looked at the EMT, then. “She wasn’t bleeding.”
The one in the back of the ambulance snapped his fingers at the guy talking to Latham. “Sam. Let’s go
.”
The EMT—Sam—said, “You can meet us at Mercy,” then jumped into the driver’s seat. The big engine growled, and seconds later, lights and sirens went on.
When he looked down, Latham realized his pants, where Wynn had been lying across his lap, were covered in blood. “I didn’t know.”
He stood in the parking lot staring at her purse on the ground. A couple of students came out of the building.
One of them stopped, looking concerned, but keeping his distance. “Hey, dude. You okay?”
The words jolted him into action. He picked up Wynn’s purse, ran to his truck and jumped inside. With trembling fingers, he scrolled through his contacts until he found Wynn’s mom. Come on, come on.
She didn’t answer.
He dialed Joe, closing his eyes when Joe answered.
“Joe, it’s Latham. Wynn’s in an ambulance on the way to the hospital in Mobile.”
“Which one?”
“Mercy.” Latham started the truck and backed out of the parking space.
“I’ll get everybody there. What happened?”
“She passed out. She was bleeding, Joe.” Latham pulled out into the street, wincing as a car blew past him, honking the horn.
“Pay attention to the drive, Latham. She’s gonna be okay. The baby’s gonna be fine, too. We’ll meet you there.”
Latham wanted to believe Joe, but all he could think was how stupid and careless he had been. The woman he loved had been in his arms and he was too scared to tell her he loved her. And he loved Ada Jane already.
Lord, please let her be okay.
She had to be okay, and then he would tell her. He would tell her over and over until she believed him.
He wasn’t making that mistake again.
Chapter Seventeen
Wynn reached up to scratch her face. Her fingers found an oxygen mask. She opened her eyes.
Their Secret Baby Bond Page 16
