“Oh, honey.” Jade heard the regret in her mom’s tone. “PJ’s watching the store for me. Maybe we can move to another Lamaze class, just for this week.”
“They’re all full. It’s okay, Mom. I’ll figure something out.”
“I thought for sure my appointment was tomorrow. I even had it written on my calendar. You know what? I’ll just reschedule.”
“No, Mom. You’ll have to wait weeks to get in to see him. Your health is too important. This isn’t a big deal. We probably won’t do anything today beyond introductions. I’ll just go by myself.”
“Are you sure, honey?”
Jade reassured her mom and ended the conversation, hanging up the phone with a frown.
“Everything okay?”
She hadn’t heard Daniel return from lunch. He’d been withdrawn since their lock-in a week ago. Probably feeling awkward about the way she’d climbed into his arms and clung to him like a burr on a dog.
“Mom can’t make Lamaze class today. I told you it was during work hours, right? I tried to get in an evening class, but they were full.”
Maybe she should drop out. She’d probably end up with a C-section anyway. She was already scheduled for one since twins were rarely in position for a normal delivery.
“No big deal. You can work until midnight to make up for it.”
She smiled a little at his joke, already wondering if it would be possible for Madison to leave the clinic early today. Probably not. Jade would just have to go alone. How awkward. A room full of couples, and her.
Ah, well. It was just one time.
“You have someone to go with you?”
Jade opened the document she was typing for Daniel. “Not really. It’s fine. Just one class.”
She squinted at Daniel’s scrawled sentence on the notebook paper, deciphered it, and typed it in.
“You, ah, want me to?”
She kept typing, her mind on the financial details in the paper, the spelling of the word accrual. “Want you to what?”
Accrual basis—what did that even mean? Oh, well. Not for her to understand.
“Go with you. To Lamaze.”
She looked up, but he was suddenly busy with the file on his desk. Daniel at her Lamaze class? Helping her breathe and whatnot? Was that weird? Too intimate?
More intimate than being entwined on the closet floor like a skein of yarn? “It’s at four.”
“I know. My schedule’s clear after two.”
“I saw all those notes from the building department.”
“Nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow.”
“Aren’t you on call tonight?”
“Nope.”
Her lips twisted. “This won’t help the rumor.”
He waved her away. “I don’t care about that. No one will know anyway.”
She wanted to say yes. The rumor had died down, and he was right. It was only one time and all the way in Louisville. It would be much easier walking into that room with someone. Even if he wasn’t a significant other.
“If it’s too . . . weird . . . that’s fine,” he said.
“It’s not weird. You’re practically my brother.”
His fingers paused on the file before moving again. If practicing Lamaze with your brother wasn’t weird, then why hadn’t she considered asking Ryan when her mother canceled?
“Well, like family, anyway. Sure you don’t mind, Daniel?”
“Not at all. Besides, I’ve been craving brisket from that diner outside Louisville. Maybe we can stop afterward.”
“All right then.” She finished filing, then stood to stretch. “How was your meeting with Bill Hollis? The ferry situation?”
He twirled toward her in his chair. “He thinks we should buy our own ferry and run it to Louisville and Cincinnati.”
“Won’t that make the operators of the Cincinnati ferry mad? Your dad seemed to think they have powerful connections.”
Daniel shrugged. “Appeasing the Crawfords isn’t my job. If Chapel Springs needs a ferry, I’ll make it happen. I have a meeting next week with Louisville’s department of transportation. They might be interested in partnering.”
“That’d be great.”
“Not only would it provide transportation to and from work and attract tourists, but it would mean jobs for the community and additional revenue. A win-win.”
“Can we afford a ferry?”
He nodded. “Bill found a used old-fashioned ferry that would be perfect. If we can get Louisville to go along, even better.”
Brisket was the last thing on Jade’s mind as they rushed toward the Lamaze room later that afternoon. They’d left on time but construction on 65 had been nearly at a standstill, and now they were ten minutes late.
A dry-erase board hung on the wall beside the door. Welcome to Lamaze! Cindy Keating, RN, Certified Instructor it said in loopy cursive letters.
They entered the large room and came face-to-face with a circle of couples. A blond woman with a pixie haircut and elfin smile popped to her feet.
“You must be Jade! I’m Cindy Keating!” Her tiny frame made Jade long for her own pre-pregnancy body. Not that she’d ever been that thin. Or that . . . exuberant.
“Sorry we’re late . . . traffic,” Jade said.
“Not a problem! Class, this is Jade McKinley. Why don’t you introduce us to your handsome partner?”
“Uh—this is my—uh, friend. Daniel.”
He nodded. “Hey, everyone.”
They nodded and smiled in return.
“Go ahead and find a spot! I’m sorry we’ve already done introductions—tight schedule, you know.”
After they sat in the padded blue seats, Cindy introduced the other six couples, then settled into the teaching portion.
It took awhile to acclimate to Cindy’s enthusiasm. Her cheerleader version of the stages of labor was weird. Cindy knew of Jade’s twin status and added particular details just for her. Jade had never heard someone referring to her uterus with such enthusiasm. Hearing intimate details of the labor process in front of Daniel made her squirm. He visibly winced at the mention of tearing perineums.
When Cindy finally finished extolling the virtues of Kegel exercises, she capped her dry-erase marker and pulled a media cart front and center. “Movie time! You all are about to experience a live birth!”
Jade darted a glance at Daniel, but his face gave nothing away.
The lights went out.
“Sorry . . .” Jade whispered.
“No worries. Covered all this in EMT training.”
Yeah, but not sitting next to her.
Cindy turned on the TV and grabbed the remote. “This is such a beautiful, no-holds-barred view of the birthing process! Y’all are going to love it!”
“Really sorry,” Jade said.
The movie started, and Jade watched silently. Daniel seemed frozen to his seat. She couldn’t look at him. Could hardly tear her eyes from the screen. Kind of like a traffic accident. Horrifying, yet mesmerizing.
As the woman’s labor progressed, sweat beaded on her forehead. Her face scrunched in pain. A grunt followed, opening to a loud guttural sound Jade had never heard from a human being.
Holy Toledo, what was she in for? A C-section was starting to sound like heaven. Her heart quickened. If she had a regular birth, could she do this? She had not one, but two babies to push out.
There was always a girl’s best friend—the epidural. But she’d heard horror stories about not getting them in time or about the anesthesia not working. Why did moms feel the need to share their horror stories?
Just when Jade thought she couldn’t take the movie another moment, the baby was born—a boy. He let out a tiny screech, his face scrunching up just as his mom’s had moments before. Jade’s breath caught.
The movie played on, finally wrapping up. Cindy flipped off the TV and turned on the lights.
“Isn’t that just so . . . !” She palmed her heart, blinking hard. “Gets me every time. We’
ll be practicing all the breathing techniques you saw as well as discussing pain control options, labor positions, and so much more! But first, let’s talk about relaxation!”
A few minutes later, the couples were seated on the floor. After briefing them on relaxation basics, she asked the ladies to contract a muscle.
“All right, partners—it’s your job to find the tense muscle—go!”
Jade’s eyes met Daniel’s. “She gets right down to business, doesn’t she?”
He tweaked a brow. “Kind of like a very personal scavenger hunt.”
“Ha-ha.”
“All right, gentlemen! Keep at it. It’s your job during labor to recognize tension and help your partner relax! How are we doing?”
“My partner’s not cooperating,” Daniel whispered.
“Fine,” Jade said. “Choose a limb.” She tried to contract her calf muscle and couldn’t isolate it, so she settled for her thigh. Unfortunately Daniel started with her arm. He wiggled each of her fingers and worked his way up her forearm, pressing lightly, up her bicep, to her shoulder. His fingers trailed up her neck and to her jaw, wiggling it back and forth playfully.
“That’s not a limb,” she said, her words garbled.
He started on her other arm, working in the same pattern. She gradually relaxed under his slow touch, had to remind her thigh muscle to remain flexed.
“Keep it up, partners!” Cindy said as she walked the room, watching. “Doing great!”
“You better not be cheating,” Daniel said after he’d finished both arms.
“I wouldn’t cheat. This is serious business.”
Jade’s toes were next. He wiggled them until she giggled.
“Stop it,” she said, but he made a point of lingering on her ticklish spots.
She sent him a withering look and kicked his hand away.
A moment later, his fingers pressed into the hardened muscle.
“Ding, ding, ding,” he said.
“Finally.” She relaxed the muscle.
He gave her an ornery look. “My turn next?”
He wanted her hands on him? She smacked him on the chest while a flush crawled up her neck.
His lips twitched. “Fair is fair.”
Cindy had them move on to the next exercise while Jade’s mind turned Daniel’s comment over. She couldn’t believe he’d said that. Were things changing between them? She remembered their accidental kiss, their night in the closet.
“We have time for one breathing exercise,” Cindy said, bringing her thoughts to the present. “Slow breathing!”
Following directions, Daniel settled behind Jade, straddling her body. Jade leaned forward over her pretzel-style legs, visions of the night they’d snuggled rising again in her mind. She’d told herself it was only because she’d been cold. Only because he’d been softer than the floor. But why had she continued thinking about it every night as she lay in her soft, warm bed?
It was the companionship, the comfort and security of being in someone’s arms. She was only human. Of course she craved that. She just wasn’t going to get it.
“Ladies, lean into your partner!”
“You heard the lady,” Daniel said.
Heat climbing into her face, she straightened her legs and leaned into his hard chest.
“Relax all your muscles! Start at your toes and work your way up just like we did before.”
His arms came around her, his hands resting on his knees. His chest rose and fell. His breath stirred the hairs near her ear.
Relax. Right.
She breathed in his nice, clean, manly smell, soaked in the warmth of him against her back. She liked being in his arms. Was that weird? Wrong? She was having feelings she’d never had before. Stirrings she’d never felt before, not with Daniel.
“Relax,” he whispered, his breath tickling her ear.
A shiver went down her arms. “I’m trying.”
He smoothed his hands down the pebbled skin of her arms, his efforts to help making it worse.
Focus, Jade. Toes. Calves. Thighs . . .
“All right, ladies, let’s start some deep breaths! In through your nose, out through your mouth . . . count to five, partners, nice and slow . . .”
“Deep breath,” Daniel said softly. “One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five.”
She expelled the breath as he counted.
“Again,” he said. “One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five . . .”
The low tone of his voice in her ear, the rumble of his chest against her back, commanded her attention. He’d been a good partner tonight. No matter how awkward or uncomfortable the exercise, he hadn’t complained. He was always there for her. He was going to make someone a fine—
She stopped the thought, remembering what he’d said in the closet. She frowned, her breathing on automatic now. Had he been serious about not marrying?
She understood wanting to do things differently from his parents—and he should. But such drastic measures. Surely he could find a compromise.
That’s what Jade had tried to do. She didn’t want love, but she did want a father for her babies. Of course, that plan hadn’t worked out so well.
The two problems, hers and Daniel’s, whirled in her mind, mingling and dancing until they merged.
Her breath hitched.
Daniel peeked over her shoulder, still counting.
She picked up breathing where she’d left off, the idea whipping across her mind like a snapped guitar string.
No. It was ridiculous. She and Daniel getting—
She couldn’t even finish the thought. Especially now. Here. Wrapped up in his arms like this, smelling his nice clean scent, hearing his low voice rumbling in her ear.
“Excellent! Great job, everyone!” Cindy wrapped up the class a few minutes later.
Jade and Daniel filed out behind the others. When they reached the hall to the parking garage, they separated from the group.
Jade nudged Daniel’s shoulder as they walked through the garage. “I don’t care what anybody says, you’re a good man.”
His eyes laughed. “I now know more about female anatomy than I ever wanted to know.”
“You’re welcome.”
He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. When they reached his car, he opened the door. “Up for some of that brisket?”
“Dinner and a movie,” she teased. “Can’t beat that.”
“I’m pretty sure my retinas are permanently scarred.”
The diner was nearly empty, and the service was fast. Between work and Lamaze talk, they kept up a steady stream of conversation. Daniel was easy to talk to. He never ran out of things to say, but he knew when to listen. He was thoughtful and compassionate and giving.
On their way home, the idea that had sprung earlier resurfaced. Jade shook her head, looking out the window as the landscape passed. It would never work. Daniel didn’t want that, not with her. Not with anyone apparently. But especially not with her. If he’d thought tonight was weird, how about sharing a bathroom, a bed, a lifetime?
Crazy. Insane.
And yet even as he dropped her off, even as she changed into her pajamas, even as she slipped into her lonely bed, the idea hovered like a pesky mosquito.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
JADE RAPPED ON MADISON’S DOOR. INSIDE, THE DOGS barked. Their feet scampered across the floor, and the door shuddered in the frame as two big heads peeked through the door’s half window.
“Down, guys,” Madison said through the door, then swung it open. “Hey, this is a nice surprise. Come on in.”
“Hey, Sis.” Rigsby and Lulu clambered around Jade’s legs. The black lab and border collie threw her off balance, and Jade braced herself against the wall.
“Lulu, Rigsby.” Madison grabbed their collars. “Get back.” The dogs stood aside, tails wagging, tongues lolling out to the side.
Madison palmed Jade’s stomach. “Hi, little ones. It’s your favorite auntie.”
Jade gave
a wry grin. Her sisters had already started competing for the position. “Is Beckett around?”
“He’s helping Dad with the tractor. I just got off the phone with Mom. She’s loving Lamaze, I’ll tell you that. Want something to drink?”
Jade plopped down on the plaid sofa. The dogs followed, settling at her feet. “No thanks. I can’t stay long.” She scanned the room as she petted the dogs. Pretty blue curtains framed the picture window, a braided rug hugged the wood floor, and family pictures graced the walls.
“I like what you’ve done with the place. It’s looking homey.”
“Now that the walls aren’t stark white and completely barren?”
Jade shrugged. “He was a bachelor.”
Madison took the other end of the sofa with a satisfied smile. “Not anymore.”
“No, now he’s completely smitten. That man can’t keep his hands off you.”
“We’re mutually smitten.”
“I’m really happy for you. Both of you.”
Madison had struggled with her twin brother’s death for years. It was good to see her come out the other side smiling and content. So worth the embarrassment Jade had suffered when she’d thought Beckett was interested in her.
Madison tucked her feet under her. “So what’s up? Not like you to drop by on a Wednesday night.”
Jade looked out the picture window at the golden leaves of the oak trees. Fall had come quickly, the leaves changing almost overnight. Time was marching on. She was already seven months, and before she knew it, she’d be responsible for two little lives. The thought always made her lungs feel too small.
“Jade?”
She turned to Madison, wondering what her sister was going to think of her idea. It had seemed so crazy three weeks ago. But the idea had settled in. Now it felt less insane and more . . . sensible. Or maybe Jade was just kidding herself. She’d lost perspective. That’s why she was here.
“I wanted to talk to you about Daniel.”
Madison tilted her head. Something flickered in her eyes that Jade couldn’t quite decipher. Just as quickly it was gone.
“Ever since the whole closet thing . . . no, maybe it was before that, I’m not sure, but definitely by the time he went to Lamaze with me—”
Dancing with Fireflies Page 17
