by Cindy Kirk
She’d almost reached the top of the steps when her foot came down on something. Poppy fought to regain her balance but the sacks in her hands and her heeled sandals made that impossible.
Before she could cry out, she was falling.
Chapter Eighteen
Ben had just placed the sacks on the table when he heard Poppy cry out. He took off running. When he spotted her crumpled body at the bottom of the steps, his heart stopped. In seconds he was at her side.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she rocked back and forth, hands on her ankle.
“Poppy.” He knelt down beside her, ignoring the rain. “Sweetheart, what happened?”
“There was something on the stairs.” She sniffled. “I fell.”
“You took quite a tumble,” he agreed, keeping his tone calm. “What hurts?”
“My ankle.” She swiped at her tears with the back of her hand then a look of absolute terror filled her eyes. “Do you think I hurt the baby?”
His heart, which had resumed beating, stopped again. Still, he’d had years of keeping his feelings hidden from anxious patients. “The baby is fine. He or she is well protected by the fluid in the amniotic sac. Now, I’m going to do a quick exam to make sure it’s okay to move you.”
It didn’t take long to ascertain that while she’d probably be sore all over tomorrow, it was her ankle that was the problem. There was slight joint instability and swelling had already begun.
“You’ll be fine,” he said in a voice that shook slightly. He didn’t think she had a clue just how badly she could have been hurt. “Let’s get you inside and put some ice on that ankle.”
He made quick work of clearing the steps of food and toiletries then scooped Poppy into his arms. Ignoring her protests that she could walk with just a little help, he carried her up the stairs and into the apartment.
After she was settled in a chair, he quickly wrapped her ankle before lifting her leg to the coffee table and placing it on a pillow he’d confiscated from the bedroom. “Ice bag?”
“I have one of those gel things in the freezer.”
He retrieved it then gently molded it around the puffy ankle.
“Are you sure it’s not broken?”
He gave her a look and she felt somewhat sheepish. “Of course you’re sure.”
“We may need to x-ray it tomorrow,” he said. “But it appears to be a partial tearing of the ligament.”
“Oh, well, if that’s all—” she quipped, then winced as she tried to reposition herself.
Thunder crackled overhead, rattling the windows.
“Ben,” she said. “You have to get the food.”
“To hell with the food.”
“Please.” Her voice turned pleading. “Just run down and pick up the stuff before the rain really gets started. I’ll be fine.”
He couldn’t believe she could get so upset over a hundred dollars’ worth of food. But she was, so after making sure the ice bag was firmly in place, he did as she asked.
By the time he brought up the last two bags, the rain had turned into a downpour. Because he knew Poppy wouldn’t relax until the food needing to be refrigerated had been put away, he made quick work of that process.
He’d just placed a carton of ice cream in the freezer when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her attempting to stand.
He hurried to her side. “What are you doing?”
“I want to go to the bathroom,” she said blinking back tears. “I want to be sure...” She took a deep breath and released it. “I want to check if there’s any bleeding. I know you said the baby is cushioned but I’m worried.”
“Let me help you.” Carefully removing the ice bag, he saw the look of surprise in her eyes when he picked her up. “No need to argue. This one you won’t win.”
She didn’t say a word, merely rested her head against his shoulder. He felt her tremble and inwardly cursed those blasted steps. They weren’t safe. Not for a pregnant woman.
When he sat her down but made no move to leave, she gave him a nudge. “I’ll be all right alone. Just give me a few minutes.”
“I’ll be outside the door.”
Though it had to have been only a minute or two, Ben was ready to walk in when she called for him. He opened the door. The first thing he saw was the relief on her face.
“No blood,” she told him before he could ask.
He exhaled the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “I told you the baby was okay.”
She held out a hand to him and he lifted her into his arms. “Do you feel better now?”
“A little. I mean, no bleeding is a good sign.” The lines of worry had returned to her brow. “But perhaps I should still call Travis. I realize you’re a doctor and all, but broken bones are your specialty, not babies.”
“If it’d make you feel better, we can call him.” Ben laid her gently back on the sofa and placed the ice bag back on her ankle.
“Is it too late to call?”
Ben pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “It’s not even eight.”
Even if it had been the middle of the night, Ben wouldn’t have hesitated. Bothering Travis was worth easing Poppy’s mind. And his, as well, he realized.
Travis answered immediately. Cutting the social niceties short, Ben explained the situation.
“Considering there’s no bleeding, I’m confident there’s no problem,” Travis told him. “But if you’d like, I can come by and confirm we still have a good strong heartbeat.”
“I’d appreciate it,” Ben said. “Let me give you Poppy’s address.”
When the call disconnected, he turned to Poppy. “He’ll be right over.”
“I hope he doesn’t think I’m a big baby.” Two bright swaths of pink stained her cheeks. “I mean, I could have waited and gone in tomorrow.”
“You could have,” he admitted, taking a seat beside her. “But you’ll sleep better tonight after you get the all clear from Travis.”
“You probably think I’m being silly,” she said, her voice shaking.
“Then I’m silly, too.” He slipped an arm around her shoulders. “Even though I’m ninety-nine point nine percent certain that we have absolutely nothing to worry about, I’d feel better having it confirmed.”
“You really do want this baby,” Poppy said, her voice filled with wonder.
“Did you think I didn’t?”
“I didn’t know for sure.”
“That’s what this is all about,” he said, gesturing to the small living room. “Getting to know each other.”
“Yes,” she said. “That’s what living under the same roof is all about.”
“But after what happened tonight, some changes need to be made.”
Poppy stilled. “What kind of changes?”
“We’re moving to my house.” His tone brooked no argument. “And we’ll be doing that tonight.”
* * *
Travis arrived fewer than ten minutes after Ben’s call. Apparently he and Mary Karen had taken the boys out for pizza and were just down the street. When he told her the baby’s heartbeat was loud and strong, she grasped Ben’s hand and began to cry.
It was as if a huge weight had slipped from her shoulders. When Ben had started packing up essentials, she didn’t protest.
His argument that the stairs to her apartment posed a continuing danger couldn’t be refuted. She knew as the pregnancy progressed and her center of gravity shifted, the risk of falling would only increase.
Next time I might not be so lucky.
She automatically lowered her hand to rest on the little mound. Nothing was more important than her child. And somehow, the thought of living in Ben’s house no longer filled her with the same panic it would have only a few weeks earlie
r.
Somewhere along the way, she’d begun to trust Ben. He’d certainly proven how much he cared for her and their child tonight.
“Poppy?”
She shifted her gaze to the doorway. He set her suitcase on the floor of his guest room, where he’d carried her when they’d first arrived.
“I’d be happy to help you unpack. Or Angela can do it tomorrow, if you’d prefer. Right now, I don’t want you up on that ankle any more than necessary.”
“Thank you.”
A look of surprise skittered across his face. “For what?”
She held out her hands to him and he crossed the room to sit beside her on the bed. “For not yelling at me for climbing the stairs.”
“You’ve gone up and down those stairs with groceries more times than you can probably count,” he said. “There’s no way you could have known a child would leave an eraser on one of the steps.”
“I’m not the type to take chances.”
His gaze settled on her for a heartbeat. Then two. “I’m not, either.”
“We’re not talking about me climbing the stairs anymore,” she said after a long pause.
He shook his head. “We’re not.”
Ben thought about Kristin, remembered how he’d felt when she’d walked away. He’d taken a chance with her and it hadn’t turned out. While he wasn’t ready to give his whole heart to Poppy, he had to admit that she’d already corralled a good part of it. More than he’d ever thought he’d be willing to give up.
“I’d like to try,” she said.
“I would, too.”
“I don’t want to be in this bedroom.” She met his gaze. “I want to be in your room. With you. If you want me there, that is.”
He stroked her cheek and smiled. “I already cleared out part of the closet.”
* * *
The next weeks were the happiest of Ben’s life. Poppy had opened her heart and he’d made himself at home there. They went to church, had breakfast with friends and, once her sprained ankle was fully healed, they’d gone on a long nature walk on his parents’ ranch.
But as far as he was concerned, attending an event to celebrate the arrival of his friend’s baby went above and beyond. Since when did guys attend baby showers?
“Are you absolutely certain I need to be here?” he asked as he pulled the Mercedes next to Travis’s minivan.
“It’s a barbecue.”
“It’s a baby shower.”
“It’s a baby celebration,” she clarified. “Granted, Cole and Meg’s baby is already here. But she arrived before Meg’s friends had a chance to throw her a shower.”
“Tell me there won’t be games.”
“No games.”
His expression was clearly skeptical.
Poppy laughed. “I honestly don’t know if there will be games. But if there are, you won’t be alone in your misery.”
If anyone had told Dr. Ben Campbell that on a late July day he’d be attending a baby shower, he’d have told them they were crazy. But he liked Cole Lassiter, liked the way he and Meg had dropped everything that was going on in their lives several years earlier to return to Jackson Hole and raise the son of mutual friends who’d died in a car accident.
Charlie had to be eight or nine now. And he vaguely remembered hearing something about the boy being Cole’s biological son, but that could have simply been a rumor. Now, there was a little girl in their lives, born six weeks ago.
Ben lifted the trunk and pulled out the gift Poppy had purchased for the baby. The pink frilly bag was bad enough, but there was also an oversize ribbon tied to the handle, in pink naturally. Inside was an assortment of baby items.
Soon he’d have to know how to use such baby items, he reminded himself. The rest of Poppy’s pregnancy would go quickly and he needed to be prepared. They needed to be prepared.
She slipped her arm through his. “Why so solemn?”
“I don’t even know what most of the stuff in this bag is for...and yet this fall, you and I, we’re going to have to know.”
“It scares me sometimes, too. But we’ll be okay. I mean, we’re smart people. We’re responsible adults. We’ll be good parents.”
“We will,” he reassured her. “And if we have questions—”
“We’ll ask your parents. Or mine. Or our friends.” Poppy paused as if she liked the sound of the words. “You know it’s weird, you and I having a group of friends we both enjoy.”
He lifted a brow as they sauntered up the sidewalk toward the large two-story stone home. “What’s odd about that?”
Poppy’s eyes grew thoughtful. “I tried to like Bill’s friends but I couldn’t.”
“Why not?” While Ben enjoyed it when Poppy shared information about her past, he didn’t like it so much when she brought up Bill.
“Most of them didn’t respect their marriage vows any more than he did.” She shook her head, as if she still found it difficult to believe. “Several propositioned me in my own home.”
Ben was still trying to decide how to respond to that when the front door swung open and Cole called out a greeting. They’d barely stepped into the foyer when Meg joined them.
“Here she is.” Cole smiled when Meg handed him the baby wrapped in a hot pink blanket. “This is Evie.”
Poppy stepped forward and with one finger, pushed back the blanket to get a better view of the baby. Creamy white skin and a tuft of hair with a reddish tinge. Her eyes were closed and her little rosebud of a mouth sucked contentedly on nothing.
“She’s gorgeous.” Poppy breathed the words. “May I hold her?”
“Of course.” With great gentleness Cole settled the baby in Poppy’s arms.
Her face lit up with pleasure. For an instant the baby fussed but when Poppy made little cooing noises, Evie relaxed.
“What does big brother think of her?” Poppy asked.
“Adores her.” Meg smiled. “And he’s such a good helper.”
With the baby still cradled in her arms, Poppy followed Cole and Meg onto the back terrace. Though the event had been billed as a baby celebration and barbecue, the feel of an old-fashioned baby shower was very much in evidence.
The trees surrounding the patio were decorated with oversize shiny pink ornaments as well as lights in the softest shade of pink. Someone had draped a banner between several trees which proclaimed Welcome, Evie.
A table off to the right held a mountain of gifts, most wrapped in various shades of pink.
“I’m going to drop off our present.” Ben gave her arm a squeeze. “Be right back.”
But ten minutes later, when the baby had long been transferred to another woman’s arms and everyone was grabbing the burgers and bratwursts from Ryan and Nick at the monster grill, Poppy found herself alone.
“When I saw all the pink, I seriously considered turning around.”
Poppy turned toward the familiar voice. Handsome, as always, in jeans and a white shirt open at the neck, Winn Ferris stood surveying the crowd before him like a king overlooking his kingdom.
“Mitzi dragged me here,” he said, in answer to her unspoken question, handing her an iced tea.
She closed her fingers around the glass. “I thought she was dating Kelvin Reed.”
“Still is.” Winn took a pull from the bottle of beer. “Apparently he had to fly back to Denver.”
Poppy turned in the direction of his gaze and saw Ben standing by his pretty colleague next to the tower of presents. Always the fashionista, Mitzi wore skinny jeans tucked into cowboy boots with blocks of turquoise and a white cowboy shirt with thin lines of turquoise and pearl buttons.
Today her hair had a decidedly reddish cast. Part of it was pulled up while the rest hung to her shoulders. She looked simply adorable, Poppy thought with a s
igh.
Based on the single-mindedness of his attention, Ben had also noticed.
“I always wondered why they broke up,” Winn said in a low tone.
Poppy was tempted to ignore the comment. But this was the father of her baby they were discussing, a fact Winn undoubtedly knew quite well.
“It’s not easy to know what goes on in any relationship.” Her voice turned cool. “Why some stay together while others break up.”
“You’re in love with him.”
“Ben and I are living together,” she said, neither confirming nor denying his words. “This fall we’ll have a baby together.”
“You’re no pushover.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I think you’ve got what it takes to make a relationship work.” Winn glanced back at Mitzi and Ben. “As long as the other partner is equally committed.”
* * *
“I don’t know the first thing about throwing a baby shower, Ben,” Mitzi protested, appearing stunned by his suggestion. “I’m fairly certain one of Poppy’s friends will end up throwing her one, anyway.”
“I want to make sure she has one,” Ben said stubbornly. “It’ll be a nice surprise.”
“Does she like surprises?”
“Don’t most women? I know she likes this kind of stuff.”
While Ben liked a party as much as the next guy, he’d never understand the appeal of baby showers. Yet, he’d heard the excitement in Poppy’s voice when she’d spoken of this barbecue. Barbecue. He snorted. Putting that name on it was merely a way to entice men to an event they’d never otherwise attend.
When he’d asked if she was going to have a barbecue, er, shower, the light in her eyes had dimmed. She’d told him no, that she really hadn’t been back all that long and that throwing a shower was something usually done by old friends.
He’d told her they could throw one at his house. There was plenty of room. And household staff could see to the details.
Appearing quite horrified, she’d told him that simply wasn’t done. Though he hadn’t fully grasped the logic, he’d backed off. Until he’d seen Mitzi.
