by McNear, Mary
She watched while it pulled into the driveway, and three firemen-paramedics spilled out.
“Hey, Jax,” one of them said cheerfully, “we hear you’re going to have a baby.”
“It would appear that way,” Jax said, sagging against the cabin wall.
“Hi, I’m Jed,” he said, coming up the cabin’s front steps and shaking Allie’s hand. He was tall, broad shouldered, and very muscular. Allie thought about what Jax had said about going to high school with half the volunteer firemen. This one, Jed, looked like he’d been a linebacker on the football team.
“How far apart are her contractions?” he asked Allie now, glancing over at Jax. Judging from a little wail that escaped her, then, she seemed to be in the middle of a particularly intense one.
“Two minutes,” Allie said. “Maybe less.”
“Okay,” he said calmly, assessing the situation. “I don’t think there’s going to be time to get to the hospital. Even if we can speed the whole way there. I think this baby is going to be born right here.”
Allie nodded weakly. “I was afraid of that.”
“It’s nothing to be afraid of,” he said, briskly. “Trust me, we’ve delivered many babies. One just recently. But we are going to need a place to set up. A bedroom, maybe?”
“Of course,” Allie said, reassured by his confidence. “My son’s asleep in his room. But you can have mine. I’ll show you where it is.”
“Good. Also, if you have any extra sheets and towels, now would be a good time to get those out for us.”
“Absolutely,” Allie said.
She showed Jed her bedroom, then brought him a stack of sheets and towels, and a cotton nightgown for Jax that was the closest thing she owned to a hospital gown.
Jax seemed reluctant to come inside, but Jed persuaded her, gently, to come into Allie’s bedroom. He needed to examine her, he explained, so that they’d know how her labor was progressing.
While he did that, Allie went to check on Wyatt, her heart pounding. What if the labor wasn’t progressing normally, she wondered. What if the baby wasn’t okay? But she couldn’t think about that now. So instead she straightened Wyatt’s disheveled covers, marveling, for the thousandth time, at his ability to sleep through anything.
After she left his room, she searched, desperately, for something to do. Something that would be helpful to Jax. Something short of actually being in that room with her. Because Jax was definitely better off without her. She was such a nervous wreck that Jax would probably end up coaching her through the delivery.
Finally, she hit on an idea. Ice chips. She’d sucked on those while she was in labor with Wyatt. She went to the kitchen and emptied all the ice cube trays into a large plastic bag. Then she put it on the kitchen counter and started whacking it with a meat tenderizer, breaking the cubes into little shards of ice.
She’d made at least a pound of ice chips by the time Jed walked into the kitchen.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m making ice chips for Jax,” Allie explained, continuing to thwack the bag of ice.
“She hasn’t asked for ice chips,” Jed said. “But she is asking for you.”
“For me?” Allie asked, stopping the meat tenderizer in midswing.
He nodded. “She’s doing really well, by the way. Her water just broke, and she’s nine centimeters dilated. But she’s going to be ready to start pushing soon, and she’d like you to be there with her.”
But Allie shook her head, helplessly. “I’m sorry. I know it’s cowardly. But I can’t go in there. I just can’t.” Her voice cracked, and, to stop herself from crying, she went back to hitting the ice cubes.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Jed asked her, in between her whacking the ice cubes.
“What’s wrong?” Allie repeated, putting down the meat tenderizer. “What’s wrong? Jax is having a baby in the next room, for God’s sake.”
“That’s right,” he said, calmly. “And everything’s going to be fine. So why are you in here, and not in there?”
She paused, slightly out of breath from her exertions. “Because I’m terrified,” she said.
“Terrified of what?”
“Terrified of . . .” She stopped. It was hard to put this nameless fear into words. It made it feel too real. Too . . . possible. “I’m terrified of something happening to Jax. Or the baby. Or both of them,” she said, her voice breaking. “And I couldn’t stand it if it did. I’ve already lost someone once in my life that I loved. I can’t lose anyone else right now. I just can’t.”
“Hey, we’re not going to lose anyone here,” Jed said, his friendly brown eyes looking into her own. “Jax is as strong as an ox. A small ox, maybe. But still, an ox. And the baby’s fine. We have her hooked up to a fetal monitor and—”
“You have a fetal monitor?” Allie asked in surprise.
“That’s right. We’re not complete amateurs here,” he said, good-naturedly. “Her heartbeat is really strong, by the way. But Jax, tough as she is, is in a lot of pain. And an epidural, unfortunately, is not in our bag of tricks. So forget about those ice chips”—he gave her an encouraging smile—“and get in there.”
Allie wavered, then reached deep inside herself for something she hadn’t even known was there anymore. “Okay, let’s go,” she said, suddenly, putting the meat tenderizer down. Jed smiled and led her to her bedroom. There, she brushed past the other paramedics to Jax, who was sitting on the edge of Allie’s bed, rocking back and forth a little, her eyes half closed.
“Jax?” Allie said, taking her hand.
“You’re here,” Jax said, opening her eyes. She exhaled slowly, the relief palpable on her face.
“I’m here,” Allie said, squeezing her hand.
CHAPTER 27
She is so beautiful,” Allie murmured, using the crumpled tissue in her hand to wipe a tear out of the corner of her eye. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d cried this much. Okay, she could remember the last time she’d cried this much. But the circumstances tonight couldn’t be more different. These weren’t tears of sorrow. They were tears of joy. Joy and relief.
“She is beautiful, isn’t she?” Jax agreed, beaming with pride. Jax was lying, propped up by pillows, on Allie’s bed, wearing another nightgown Allie had helped her change into when Jed had finally persuaded her to let go of the baby long enough for him to examine her.
Now, though, the baby was back in Jax’s arms, swaddled in a faded blue bath towel and nothing else. Her name was Jenna, Jax had announced, and as of this moment, she was not quite one hour old. But even so, she seemed to Allie to be an unusually alert baby. And an unusually beautiful one, too.
“She’s one of the few newborns I’ve ever seen who doesn’t look like an overripe tomato,” Allie confessed to Jax. “You know, bright red and wrinkled all over.”
Jax laughed and snuggled Jenna more securely against her. “Well, naturally, I’m a little biased. I think she’s perfect. And you know what else, Allie? I think she may be the first one of my daughters who actually looks more like Jeremy than me. What do you think?”
“She does look like him,” Allie agreed, leaning closer and studying Jenna’s light brown eyes and dandelion soft brown hair. “But it’s only fair, Jax, that one of your children looks like Jeremy. The other three are carbon copies of you.”
“Oh, I’m glad she looks like him,” Jax said fervently. “I’m absolutely thrilled.”
Allie drew back, surprised by the strength of emotion in her voice. But then it occurred to her how exhausted Jax must be. She knew how exhausted she was, and she’d only coached Jax through the delivery.
On closer inspection, though, Allie had to admit that Jax didn’t look exhausted. In fact, she looked absolutely radiant. Radiant and relaxed. Leave it to Jax to go through natural childbirth and look as if she’d been to a day spa.
There was a light tap on the door to Allie’s room now and Jed stuck his head in. “How’s everybody doing?” he asked.
“We’re fine,” Jax said, smiling. “Is it time to go?”
He nodded. “The stretcher’s ready. And I spoke to the hospital. They’re expecting us.” The plan was to take Jax and Jenna to the hospital to be examined, and for Jeremy to meet them there.
“Any chance we can skip the stretcher?” Jax asked, hopefully. “I’m perfectly capable of walking.”
“Sorry, Jax, those are the rules,” Jed said, before ducking out again.
Jax rolled her eyes, but then turned her attention back to Jenna, tucking her towel more closely around her. And the expression on Jax’s face as she looked down at her daughter was one of such pure love that Allie felt more tears welling up in her eyes. She sighed, resignedly, and plucked a few more tissues out of the box on the bedside table.
A few minutes later, Jed and the other two paramedics appeared in the doorway with the stretcher.
“Time to go, Jax,” Jed said. “And Allie? We’ll try not to wake up your son as we’re leaving.”
Allie laughed through her tears. “Honestly, if Jax’s labor didn’t wake him up, I don’t think anything will.”
“Amazing,” Jed said, with a shake of his head.
“It is amazing,” Allie agreed. “But I think he’s going to be disappointed when he wakes up this morning and discovers he missed all the excitement.”
Allie was right about that.
She waited until they were both sitting at the breakfast table before she told him. She’d wanted him to get at least half a bowl of cornflakes into his stomach before she broke the news. Wyatt, not surprisingly, was incredulous.
“Jax’s baby was born here last night?” he repeated. “In our cabin?”
“In our cabin,” Allie said, with a tired smile. She still had not been to sleep. She’d known it was pointless after Jax left to even try. She was still feeling the incredible rush of emotion, and excitement, from Jenna’s birth. So she’d sat on the living room couch, leafing aimlessly through a book. Then, at dawn, she’d taken a cup of coffee out on the front porch and watched the sunrise.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Wyatt asked, crestfallen. “I could have helped.”
Allie suppressed a smile. “The firemen had everything under control,” she assured him.
“Firemen?” he repeated, eyes widening.
Allie sighed inwardly. Now Wyatt would never forgive her. Missing a baby’s birth was one thing. Missing real live firemen on his doorstep was another.
“Well, they were volunteer firemen,” she said quickly. “Butternut isn’t big enough to have a full-time fire department. So they have people who have other jobs during the day but can be firemen in an emergency.”
“Did they have a truck?” he asked, putting another heaping spoonful of cornflakes into his mouth.
“No, no truck. Not last night,” Allie said, relieved that she could answer that honestly. She didn’t think it was necessary to mention that they’d had an ambulance instead. Ambulances ranked just slightly below fire trucks in Wyatt’s estimation.
“But the real reason I didn’t wake you up last night,” she said, “was because I wanted you to be well rested for today. You’re going to have a special visitor later this morning.”
“Who?” he asked, gulping orange juice.
“Caroline,” Allie said. “She called this morning and asked if she could come over for a while and play with you while I took a nap.”
Wyatt’s whole face lit up. Then he considered something. “Is Frankie coming, too?”
“No, Frankie’s not coming,” Allie said. “Somebody needs to stay at Pearl’s and feed all those hungry customers,” she explained.
Wyatt nodded thoughtfully. That seemed fair to him. He went back to eating his cereal, only to remember something once his mouth was full of cornflakes again.
“Did you know Frankie can crush a soda can against his head?” he asked Allie.
“No, sweetie,” Allie said, the corners of her mouth lifting in an almost imperceptible smile. “But I believe it. And don’t talk with your mouth full,” she added, gently.
By the time Caroline arrived, Wyatt was practically dizzy with excitement.
“Caroline!” he shouted, flinging himself into her arms as soon as she got out of her car. “Jax’s baby was born here last night. Right in my mom’s bedroom. And it didn’t even wake me up!”
Caroline laughed, hugging him back. “I know,” she said. “I heard all about it. It was the talk of Pearl’s this morning.”
“There were real firemen and everything,” Wyatt explained, following her up the porch steps where Allie was waiting. “Well, they were half firemen,” he qualified. “They didn’t have a fire engine.”
“Not even half a fire engine?” Caroline asked, glancing at Allie in amusement.
But Wyatt ignored the question. “I’m going to get changed into my bathing suit,” he announced, breathlessly, before disappearing into the cabin.
“Bathing suit? Are we going swimming?” Caroline asked, sitting down on the top step beside Allie.
Allie shook her head. “Oh no. Wyatt has much bigger plans for you. You’re going to be catching tadpoles.”
Caroline raised her eyebrows. “Tadpoles?”
“Catching tadpoles is his new calling in life. That, and digging up worms. Between the two of them, it’s basically a full-time job. But you don’t have to help him if you don’t want to,” she added, quickly. “He’d probably be just as happy having you watch him catch tadpoles.”
“Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Caroline said, slipping off her sandals and rolling up her blue jeans.
But when she looked back up at Allie, her expression was suddenly serious. And even, Allie thought, a little angry.
“Do you mind telling me something?” she asked, tightly.
“Of course not,” Allie replied, surprised by Caroline’s sudden change of mood.
“What on earth was Jax thinking, driving alone out here last night, with that baby about to drop?”
“She wasn’t thinking,” Allie said, feeling guilty. “At least not about herself. She was thinking about me. About whether or not I’d heard about . . .” Her voice trailed off.
Caroline sighed. “That is so like Jax,” she said, finally, with a mixture of affection and exasperation.
“I know,” Allie agreed, unhappily. “And I feel terrible about it, Caroline. I really do. I mean, what if something had gone wrong last night? I never would have forgiven myself.”
“Allie,” Caroline said, “even if you’d known Jax was planning on coming out here last night, there wouldn’t have been anything you could have done to stop her. She’s as stubborn as a mule. Always has been. Always will be. And what’s more”—Caroline put an arm around Allie’s shoulder—“nothing did go wrong. Everything worked out all right, thanks to you. Once you realized Jax was in labor, you stepped up, and took charge.”
“Ha!” Allie snorted. “I was a complete coward. I would have hidden in the kitchen all night if one of the paramedics hadn’t given me a talking-to about how much Jax needed me.”
“Well, maybe you needed a little encouragement.” Caroline smiled. “Who wouldn’t have, under the circumstances? The important thing is that you were there when it mattered. That’s what counts.”
“Maybe,” Allie said. But she appreciated Caroline’s loyalty. Whatever she did, Allie knew, Caroline, and Jax, too, would always see the best in her.
“Listen, I’ll take over now,” Caroline said. “And you, I hope, will take a nap. A long nap.”
“I’ll try,” Allie promised, starting to stand up. But Caroline grabbed her hand.
“Allie? One more thing. Don’t believe everything you hear. About Walker, I mean. I’m sure Caitlin is here for a reason. A good reason. I trust Walker. I really do. After all, you don’t pour a man’s coffee for three years without learning something about him.”
“I haven’t given it a lot of thought,” Allie said, honestly. And, ama
zingly, it was true. As soon as she’d realized Jax was in labor last night, she’d forced the thought of Walker Ford and his ex-wife out of her mind. The only thing that mattered, she’d told herself, was that Jax and the baby were safe. Everything else could wait.
After everyone had left that morning, she hadn’t let herself think about him then, either. It seemed wrong, somehow, to be preoccupied by her own problems. They were so insignificant when compared to the birth of a child.
Now, of course, it would be harder. With Jax and the baby in good hands, and Caroline watching Wyatt, it was going to take some effort not to think about Walker. Not to mention his houseguest.
Caroline started to say something else just then, but Wyatt came barreling back out on to the front porch, wearing his favorite red bathing suit.
“Are you ready, Caroline?” he asked, jumping up and down.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Caroline said, winking at Allie.
Wyatt took Caroline’s hand and tugged impatiently on it as she followed him down the cabin’s front steps. “Don’t worry, Caroline,” he said, earnestly. “I’ll teach you how to catch tadpoles. It’s easy. You can even have your own bucket for them, if you want. That way you can take them home with you.”
“That would be very nice,” Caroline said, swinging Wyatt’s hand.
Allie smiled, a little wearily, as she went back into the cabin.
But a moment later, she heard Caroline calling to her through the screen door. “Allie,” she said, “I think you might have to postpone that nap. You have a visitor.”
Allie came back out on the porch in time to see Walker’s pickup roll into view. In an instant, her tiredness fell away from her. But it was almost immediately replaced by a stomach-churning dread. Suddenly, she felt certain she knew why Walker was here. But she forced herself to come down the steps and walk out to his truck to meet him.
Caroline tried to coax Wyatt down to the lake with her, but once he realized it was Walker, he ran up to him.
