He should have thought of that beforehand. But he hadn’t, and he’d felt like a colossal jerk.
He didn’t like that feeling, especially not where Natalie Davis was concerned. When she’d looked up at him with those hurt brown eyes, he felt like he’d just ripped the wings off a butterfly.
He was a minister, for crying out loud. He was supposed to help people, not hurt them.
Unfortunately, tonight he couldn’t even close a door right. He tried again to turn the key in the lock but the thing was still too far out of square. Frustrated beyond his limits, Jacob stepped back and kicked the door as hard as he could.
“That’s not going to help.” Jacob turned to find Hoyt Bradley standing a few feet behind him, hands shoved into his pockets. “And I’ve kicked a few doors myself, so that’s experience talking.”
“Yeah, well, this one deserves it, trust me. You’re a little late for tonight’s meeting, but I’m sure glad you showed up. Can you do anything to make this shut so I can lock it?” Hoyt was the owner of Bradley Builders, and a faithful member of Pine Valley Community. If he couldn’t manhandle this door back into line, nobody could.
Hoyt hesitated a second, then stepped forward. He ran practiced hands over the door, pressing gently here and there, then stepped back and shook his head. “Nothing that won’t involve taking it off its hinges and rehanging it at the very least. Most likely, you’re going to need a whole new door.”
“Great.” Jacob muttered. Adding even small repairs to the church budget right now was only going to add fuel to Digby’s argument for a new building. That was the last thing Jacob needed.
His phone buzzed in his jacket pocket, but he ignored it. It had started ringing about an hour ago, right in the middle of the opening prayer. He’d forgotten to put it on vibrate before the prayer service started. Again.
Which reminded him. When he finally made it home tonight, he was changing his generic ringtone to something a little more dignified than the theme from Star Wars.
Not that it had mattered much. Hardly anybody had been there to hear the goofy music. Attendance tonight had been pitiful, barely half what they usually had.
Hoyt’s seat had been one of the empty ones, and that was very unusual. A recent widower and a single dad, Hoyt was leaning pretty heavily on his faith these days. Jacob turned his attention to the builder.
“We missed you tonight.”
“Yeah. About that.” Hoyt shifted uncomfortably. “That’s why I stopped by, as a matter of fact.”
Something about Hoyt’s tone put Jacob on high alert. “Is that so?”
The builder nodded. “Truth is, I owe you an apology, and I didn’t want to waste any time before coming out here and giving it to you.”
“I doubt it, but what for?”
“I’m figuring I wasn’t the only person who didn’t make it to the prayer meeting tonight. I know that because I was with the rest of them...most of them anyway...at Digby Markham’s place. Digby invited me because they were going to talk about this fellowship hall deal.”
“Ah.” Jacob nodded slowly.
“I knew you weren’t too gung ho about it, but a fellowship hall like they’re talking about would be a big contract for me. And the way things are, not too many people are building here right now, so business is slow. I have to look out for my guys. A project like that could keep all my men busy for months. Most of them have families to take care of, and they need that money. I’m sorry, Jacob, but I just didn’t feel like I could pass up the chance to sit in on any meeting that might land me the contract.”
“I see.” He considered Hoyt a friend, so yeah, it stung a little that he’d crossed over to Digby’s side. But he couldn’t fault the man’s reasoning. Work was scarce. “You don’t owe me any apology for looking out for your workers, Hoyt.”
“That’s not what I’m apologizing for.” The builder drew in a deep breath. “If that’s all the meeting had been about, I wouldn’t be here. But there was a good bit more going on. Did you know Digby has a nephew who’s a preacher?”
Jacob’s heart sank. “I’d heard that, yes.”
“Well, he was at the meeting, too, him and his wife. It was plain to me from the get-go that Digby’s hoping to get him your job here at the church. I didn’t have a clue that was in the wind, or I wouldn’t have ever gone over there, contract or no contract. I want you to know that.”
So Arlene was right. She usually was. “It’s okay, Hoyt.”
“No, it isn’t. You were there for me and my family when Marylee got sick...and later when she passed on. And not just at the start of it. You kept coming, kept just being there with us. You never stopped, even when I wasn’t...handling things so well. Remember?”
Jacob remembered. Those had been some dark days. “Nobody handles things like that well, Hoyt.”
“You did,” the contractor said simply. “And I owe you for it. I haven’t forgotten. Digby’s playing some dirty pool. Building a fellowship hall’s one thing. I could see that, if the church can come up with the money. But the other...well, I want no part of it, and I’m sorry I went to that meeting. That’s why I came out here tonight. I wanted to tell you about it.” The builder held out his hand. “I hope you’ll forgive me.”
Jacob clasped the man’s roughened hand firmly. “There’s nothing to forgive, Hoyt.”
“So we’re good, then.”
“Yeah. We’re good.”
“That’s all I needed to know. I’ll stop by tomorrow and take some measurements on this door. I’ll see to it for you, no charge. But there’s not much I can do about it tonight, I’m afraid.”
“Doesn’t matter. I think we’ve both had enough for one night. As far as I’m concerned, if anybody can pry this thing open, they’re more than welcome to help themselves to whatever they can find inside.”
“Fair enough.” Hoyt nodded, clapped Jacob hard on the back, then headed back toward the street and his hulking work truck. Jacob watched the other man go for a second or two, before turning toward the parking lot where his own truck waited.
He’d head back to his empty apartment, nuke a frozen burrito and spend the rest of the evening trying to decide out how best to deal with this latest development in the ongoing Digby debacle.
He wished there was somebody he could talk this over with, but it wasn’t something he should share with anybody else in his congregation. After all, Digby Markham was a member of Pine Valley Community, too, and for now, at least, Jacob was his pastor.
He’d have to figure it out on his own.
Jacob flipped up the collar of his jacket as he walked across the darkened church lawn. The air’s unseasonable chill added to his general feeling of discouragement. He’d be glad when this crazy cold spell broke. Winter had dragged on way past its expiration date, and he was tired of it.
He was ready for something different.
Something better.
And that was true of more than just the weather. He was also deep down bone weary of being alone.
That had dragged on for a long time, too.
It had been years now since he’d had somebody special in his life, somebody to bring flowers to or try out a new restaurant with. Somebody who’d tease him when he’d gone too long without a haircut, somebody with access to the one part of his heart that he kept strictly private.
This solitary lifestyle was supposed to be temporary. One day, he’d told himself, his workload would settle down, he’d find the right woman and he’d trade in this makeshift bachelor life for the adventure of marriage.
In spite of valiant matchmaking attempts by the women of his congregation, that hadn’t happened. The woman he was looking for—the one who would bring that spark to his heart that nobody else could—had just never come along. So here he was, still stuck in the same old rut, dealing with church feuds, clogged-up nursery plumbing and a chronic
case of indigestion from the frozen dinners that he ate alone late at night in his apartment. His life sure didn’t feel particularly adventurous right now.
It just felt empty.
As he fished in his jacket pocket for the truck keys, his phone buzzed against his fingertips like an angry bee. He pulled out the device and checked the screen. That unknown number again. He’d better go ahead and answer because this was either a really persistent telemarketer or some kind of emergency.
“Hello?”
“Jacob?” The feminine voice on the other end of the line sounded strained.
“Natalie? What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“I’m...so sorry...to bother you.” She seemed to be breathing oddly. “But I don’t know anybody else to call...and the baby—”
Jacob had never really understood before what it felt like to have your blood run cold. Now he did. She was alone out there with no car, and she was desperate enough that she’d called him for help. Repeatedly.
Starting almost an hour ago.
“I’m on my way. Just sit tight.” He jumped inside the truck and squealed out of the church parking lot on two tires.
By the time he’d pulled up in front of Lark Hill, he’d set a new personal record for undetected traffic violations. He’d also figured out the quickest way to Fairmont Medical Center. It was the closest hospital to Pine Valley, and no matter how many different routes he considered, a good thirty-five minutes away.
Leaving the truck running, he raced to the door. She met him there, dragging her pink overnight case behind her and cradling her round stomach with her free hand. In the faint light from the dim porch bulb, her face looked tense.
“I’ll take that.” He scooped up the suitcase with one hand and took her arm with the other. “Come on, now. Nice and slow. No need to hurry. We’ll get you to the hospital in plenty of time.”
He hoped he was telling her the truth about that.
Please, God, get us there with time to spare. Lots of time. Hours and hours of time. No near misses tonight, all right? If it’s all the same to You, I’d really rather not deliver this baby on the side of the road.
He helped her carefully into the truck and scrambled into the driver’s seat. As they barreled down the driveway, he saw Rufus, loose again, spotlighted in the headlights. Jacob didn’t even slow down. He lay on the horn and swerved, whizzing past the animal.
“When did the pains start?” That was the question he was supposed to ask, right? And something about how far apart they were.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t remember what any of the potential answers meant.
“Right after you left.”
He took his eyes off the road long enough to stare at her. “But that was hours ago.”
“I know. I...I wasn’t sure at first. And then when I called...”
When she’d called, he hadn’t answered. After all his offers of help, all his assurances, she’d had to call him four times to tell him she was in labor.
Four stinking times.
“I’m so sorry I missed your calls, Natalie. I was in the middle of a prayer meeting, and I had no idea.”
She didn’t answer. When he looked over, he guessed by the look of pained concentration on her face that she was having a contraction. He pressed his foot down harder on the gas pedal.
He’d never felt so relieved in his life as he did half an hour later when they pulled up into the brightly lit hospital parking lot.
Thank You, Lord. Thank You, thank You, thank You.
The grateful refrain echoed in his head as he parked the truck in front of the emergency room entrance. Then he hesitated, unsure what he was supposed to do next.
“Do you want me to go in and get you a wheelchair or something? Or do you want to walk?” He didn’t know what the protocol was at this point. All he knew was that he was ready to turn Natalie over to a fully competent medical professional and collapse somewhere in a relieved heap.
And if he never lived through another day like this one, it would be way too soon.
“I can walk.” Natalie reached for the door handle, and he noticed that her hand was shaking. “Thank you very much for driving me.”
“Whoa. Wait there.” Even he knew that a pregnant lady didn’t walk into the hospital by herself.
“Thanks, but I’ve already bothered you enough. I’ll be fine.”
Jacob started to argue, but he remembered the disaster at Bailey’s earlier and stopped. He couldn’t just keep pushing himself into this woman’s personal business without her permission. He had to respect her wishes, whether he wanted to or not.
Natalie hesitated, her hand resting on the door handle, looking through the truck window at the brightly lit building. She bit her lip and turned to look back at him. “This is...a good hospital, though? For new babies? They’ll take really good care of him?”
“It’s a great hospital, and they’ll take really good care of both of you.” That was true enough, but Jacob’s mind wasn’t on his words.
Natalie’s face was pale, her mouth was trembling and there was a wide, blank look in her eyes. She was doing her best to hide it, but she was scared to death. And why wouldn’t she be? She was in labor with her first baby, in a strange place where she knew nobody.
As he watched, she swallowed hard, nodded and started to open the door. “All right, then. Thanks again for the ride.”
“I was happy to do it. And I’m so sorry I didn’t answer my phone the first time you called.”
“That’s okay. I understand. After...how I acted about the groceries this afternoon, I was surprised you answered it at all. But I’m very grateful you did.”
Jacob frowned as realization struck him.
She’d been afraid he wouldn’t come to help her. When he hadn’t picked up the phone right away, she’d assumed he was deliberately brushing off her calls.
His mind skimmed over what that must have felt like, being alone on that old farm, in pain, frightened, having to turn to someone you barely knew—someone who’d embarrassed you royally just that afternoon—in order to get a ride to the hospital. And then having him not answer your repeated calls for help.
Jacob felt slightly sick. That did it.
He’d respect this woman’s boundaries another day, every single one of them. He’d stay politely on the other side of whatever fence she wanted to put up between them.
But not tonight. Tonight, like it or not, she was stuck with him.
Okay, God. Feel free to jump in here anytime with some guidance because I think things are about to get really interesting.
“I’m staying with you.” He jumped out of the truck before she could protest and bounded around to the passenger door.
“No,” she said as soon as he opened it. “I can’t ask you to—”
“You didn’t ask. I offered.” He reached behind her and snagged her little suitcase. “Okay now, take my arm, and let’s go nice and slow.”
She was shaking her head. “You don’t have to stay. I can handle this by myself.”
Jacob knew a bluff when he heard one. She wasn’t nearly as sure of that as she was trying to sound. “Sure you can. But you’re not going to.” Their gazes locked. “I’m staying, Natalie. Either right beside you in the labor room or in the closest waiting room. That’s your choice. But I’m staying right here at this hospital until this baby is born.”
He could see her fear tussling with her reluctance to accept his help. The fear won. “I...guess that would be...nice. If you’re sure you don’t mind. But just for a little while. I don’t want to keep you too long.”
“I’ve got nothing else to do tonight. Nothing this exciting, anyway.” That much was certainly true. “I’m not going anywhere.”
And he didn’t, for what turned out to be one of the most memorable nights of his life.
He sat beside her in the labor room, watching helplessly as the contractions intensified. He had no idea what to do, but she seemed okay with him sitting beside her. So that’s what he did. Hour after hour after hour.
One thing was for sure. He shouldn’t have worried about her having the baby on the ride to the hospital. Babies took forever.
As the night wore on, he lost track of time. He lost track of everything except the rhythm of the contractions and the beep of the monitors. He learned to tell when a pain was starting by the expression on Natalie’s face and learned with the help of the nurses how to help her breathe her way through it. She liked the lights dim, he discovered, and so whenever the nurses left the room, he flicked off the glaring overhead light. For the first three or four hours, she thanked him quietly each time. After that, she was past words, but she didn’t protest when he took her hand in his so she could squeeze it during the contractions.
His sense of anticipation built hour by hour as the baby’s arrival inched closer. He’d been beside countless hospital beds in his time, but mostly it was for the end of life, not for the beginning.
It was a nice change to be waiting for somebody’s first breath rather than the last.
Finally, the gray-haired head nurse glanced his way and smiled. “Time to kick you out, Pastor. This baby’s about ready to make his entrance.” Jacob had just finished coaching Natalie through a fierce contraction, and he blinked at the nurse, her words not quite registering. “Go on, now,” she urged. “Scat. We need to get down to business in here, and I don’t think you’re invited to this part of the party.”
“Oh! Right.” He glanced down at Natalie. Her hair was damp with perspiration, but she managed to smile up at him.
He wasn’t even surprised. If he’d learned one thing over the past hours, it was that Natalie Davis, small and dainty as she was, had more courage and stamina than anybody he’d ever met.
A Baby For the Minister Page 6
