by Becky Flade
“You needed to vent, whether you realized it or not.” Jenna tipped the bottle back. “We’ll just say that’s another reason I’m here.”
Jenna was right, Maggie thought. She had needed to vent. The outburst had left her feeling lighter and when she continued, calmer.
“He cares about me. Worries about me. Feels responsible for me. Desires me. For a lot of people that would be plenty. But I want it all. I want what your parents have, Jen. I want my husband to still be looking at me with love and lust and respect some forty-odd years after he got down on one knee.” Maggie righted the chair she’d knocked over.
“Aidan doesn’t love me, Jen. And he doesn’t want the baby.”
“Sweetie . . . ” Jenna started but Maggie cut her off.
“For the last few months we’ve been living on borrowed time and we both know it. I feel like I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop and he’s been looking at me like I’m a ticking time bomb that’s going to go off any second. No one dares mention the elephant in the room, which is a freaking riot when you consider the fact that I am, literally,” she gestured to her stomach, “the elephant in the room.”
Maggie walked out the back door and onto the deck taking deep, slow breaths, willing the tears away. She heard Jenna follow her out. She couldn’t suppress the wobbly grin when Jenna started to rub her back in soft, steady circles; it was a habit Jen didn’t realize she’d inherited from her mom.
“Come home. You aren’t happy. Obviously you’ll have to wait until after the baby’s born, but I’m serious; come home. You won’t be alone, Mags. You’ll have me and mom, Emily, Bobby and Claire; more support than you’ll know what to do with most days. You have family that loves you, Sweetie.” Jenna suggested softly and without judgment. Maggie knew without being told that this was another reason Jenna had come to visit. She sighed and laid her head on her best friend’s shoulder. She’d missed this and Jenna.
“I’ve considered it, Jen. Don’t think I haven’t. And God I miss everyone so much. But, no, Trappers’ Cove is my home now. It felt that way to me even before I fell for Aidan. You know how I always felt a little out of place?”
Maggie felt Jenna nod.
“I don’t feel like that here. And I want my baby to have a chance to know his father.”
The two friends stood silent in the warm Minnesota spring.
“Can I ask you something?” Jenna asked.
“Shoot.” Maggie replied.
“Why are you still living here? In this house, with Aidan. I just don’t get it. If you know it’s hopeless and all that, why put yourself through this every day, Sweetie? It has to be slowly breaking your heart.”
“What kind of woman would I be if I walked away just because loving him isn’t easy? I’ll stay until it’s done and I know it may sound ridiculous, Jen, but we’re not done. Not yet anyway.”
“What’s it going to take?”
“I don’t know.” Maggie stepped away, turned and leaned against the railing her back to what she thought of as her and Aidan’s meadow. “He listens to country music.”
“I’m shocked you stayed at all.” Jenna put her hand over her heart in mock horror. Maggie chuckled. Then Jenna grinned maliciously. “Let’s go scratch all his compact discs.”
“Oh, remember we did that to that guy Duke that cheated on you sophomore year in college.” Maggie laughed.
“I should’ve had my head examined for dating a guy named Duke in the first place.” Jenna winced. “Wasn’t it your job as best friend to talk me out of shit like that?”
“If memory serves, I tried. But you were obsessed with his ass.”
Jenna winked. “He did have a great ass, didn’t he?”
“Hey, you’re a happily married woman, remember?”
“Yeah, but I’m not dead.” Jenna took a sip of her beer.
“So is this the-cheer-Maggie-up portion of the program?”
“It is if it’s working. If it’s not, we can still go scratch up dumbass’s Garth Brook’s collection. I’m all for that.”
“How’s Mike? What’s he doing while you’re here?” Maggie asked shaking her head but smiling. They spent the rest of the afternoon reminiscing about the past and Jenna caught Maggie up to date with the antics of family and mutual friends before leaving to check in at the inn and sleep off her jet-lag. Maggie hadn’t realized how much she had missed Jenna until she’d waved goodbye at the front door after promising to spend the next day shopping in Brandwyne. Emotional again, she idly moved through the house until she ended up standing at the bedroom doors, staring out over the meadow.
She could see Aidan out on Jezebel resplendent in the late afternoon sun. She doubted he’d be back before sunset. He wouldn’t know Jenna had gone. She could step out onto the deck and wave; or walk to the paddock and meet him when he brought in the mare. Her words to Jenna came back to her. No they weren’t done yet, but something was coming she could sense it. Closing the drapes Maggie stepped away from the window and let him finish his ride.
Alone.
Chapter Nineteen
Maggie was happily humming along to Metallica as she drove to her baby shower at the diner. She pulled into the parking lot and heaved herself from the car, alternately hating and being amused by her shape induced waddle as she hurried through the soft, steady rain. The familiar diner was filled with the noises and scents of women. Pink, blue, white, and yellow crepe decorated any stationary surface. A mountain of presents wrapped in sparkling paper surrounded a gaudily decorated wicker chair.
She had been prepared to feign surprise, but the astonishment was genuine. Mixed in with Jenna and the now familiar faces from Trappers’ Cove were Jenna’s mother and sister, Emily; Bobby’s wife; some friends from Philadelphia; and Maggie’s former nanny, Mrs. O’Connell. Maggie burst into uncharacteristic tears.
“What did I tell you?” Jenna crowed, elbowing her sister-in-law. “I said she’d cry.”
“Seriously, who could’ve known Sweetie was really a crybaby all this time,” was Emily McAllister’s response to her sister’s needling. The playful bickering was hushed by a crowd of women who moved forward en masse to hug Maggie. One at a time Maggie was passed from one pair of warm loving arms to the next, and then she found herself sitting in the hideously decorated but surprisingly comfortable chair, completely at a loss for how she had gotten across the room. With a tear-stained smile, she sat back and enjoyed a few hours of carefully orchestrated chaos and played judge to the utterly feminine competitions unfolding before her.
Maggie was tired, but happily so, by the shower’s end. She’d received a beautiful Lenox merry-go-round from her mother and Joel attached to politely worded congratulations written, based on the handwriting, by Jason, her mother’s assistant. But another box held a framed photo of her mother holding a newborn Maggie. It was a picture she’d never seen before, obviously taken in the hospital with a regular camera, presumably by Maggie’s late father. The brief but warm accompanying note was written in her mother’s handwriting. As she watched Jenna weave in and out of guests and presents piled waist deep, Maggie heard the door open and looked up to see Aidan escorting Mrs. O’Connell out, holding a large umbrella over the older woman’s head.
“Okay, Sweetie. Slight change in plans because there’s a big-ass storm out there and I hear the county has issued a flash flood warning. Sly is taking Mrs. O’Connell out to the ranch in his truck. And Aidan is going to drive you home. Then Sly is coming back here for me and whatever we can fit in his truck.” Jenna said when she finally got to Maggie’s side. “Mom is going to organize the rest of the troops and they’re to pack up whatever is left-over. Then tomorrow a few of us are coming out to the house to set up the nursery, gossip viciously, stare slack-jawed at that man of yours, and polish off the leftovers.”
“How did you get everyone here?” Maggie asked.
“Aidan” was Jenna’s only reply, and when Maggie simply stared at her, Jenna laughed and explained, “He paid f
or everyone to fly out here, including bringing Mrs. O’Connell in from Cork, Ireland. He blocked out and booked an entire gaggle of rooms at a hotel in Brandwyne so we could be sneaky and comfortable. I was in charge of coordinating all flights and schedules, but Aidan insisted on footing the bill. He said something like, ‘She’s given so much up for me. Please let me do this for her.’ Gotta tell you, Sweetie,” Jenna glanced over her shoulder at Aidan who was back from safely seeing Mrs. O’Connell to Sly’s truck and was currently making his way over to them and whispered conspiratorially, “I may not be sure whether I like him, and he may not even know it, but I think he loves you.”
It took several more minutes to make their goodbyes and get out of the diner but when Maggie was finally sitting securely in the truck she was glad Aidan was there to drive. The gentle rain had become a treacherous storm during her baby shower. And she was exhausted. When they were a few miles out of town, Maggie said, “Thank you.”
“For?” Aidan asked.
“Picking me up for starters. But mostly for helping out with the shower.” He looked over at her. “Jenna told me you brought everyone out. It meant the world to me to have Mrs. O’Connell there. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Maggie turned the radio on low and leaned back. She found the combination of classic Rolling Stones backset against the rhythmic swish of the windshield wipers had a soothing effect. Not long after they passed the turn off for the cabin Maggie had once rented from the Black’s, Sly passed them on his way back to town. Smiling crazily, the old man honked and waved, spraying water up over Aidan’s pick-up in a wide arc. Maggie laughed and waved back. When she lowered her hand, Aidan found it with his and linked their fingers. She laid her head back and closed her eyes, content.
“What the hell is this guy doing?” Aidan asked, releasing her hand. The annoyance held an undertone of alarm that got Maggie’s full attention and she lifted her head. Maggie glanced in the rearview and saw a large, black SUV following too closely behind them. She turned in her seat and got a glimpse of the driver. He was a large dark haired man with a beard. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him before. Maggie was trying to get a better look when he suddenly accelerated and rammed into the back of Aidan’s truck. They lurched forward and Maggie gasped as the seat belt tightened against her stomach.
“Aidan!” She screamed.
“Turn around, Maggie. And hold on.” They were hit again and the truck began to hydroplane on the slick road. Maggie scrambled to get her cell phone from her purse as she was jostled around the front seat, but both it and her bag fell to the floor between her feet. Aidan swore colorfully as he fought for control of the vehicle.
The SUV hit them again with so much force they almost spun. Aidan twisted the wheel hard and all four tires found purchase on the blacktop just as they were coming up on a sharp curve. Maggie breathed a shaky sigh of a relief. But it was short lived. As Aidan began navigating the turn, they were hit a final time with enough force the truck was sent crashing headfirst into the guardrail along the inside of the curve. Maggie heard metal squeal against metal as they tore through the barrier and her own scream as they crashed into the deep ditch that ran along the side of the road.
The impact threw her forward and her hands went out instinctively, slapping the dashboard. The restraint clutched, pulling her back sharply, stealing her breath. Maggie’s palms stung. Her chest hurt, as did her lower stomach. The baby. Her heart wrenched. Then her abdomen did.
“Maggie?” Aidan asked. “Baby, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Are you?” She turned to him. “You’re bleeding.”
“It’s just a nose bleed, baby. I’m okay. Honest.” He wiped at his nose. “See? Already slowing down, nothing to worry about. Fucking maniac did that on purpose.” He slammed a fist into the armrest. “Did you get a look at him?”
“Just a glance; I didn’t recognize him. You?”
“I didn’t know him either.” Aidan tried his cell. “No signal. Great; we’re between the towers.”
Maggie felt her abdomen tighten again. Oh this can’t be happening now, she thought.
“I’m going to check things out. Stay in the truck.” Maggie nodded. She watched through the windows as Aidan circled the truck, slipped in the mud, cursed.
“How bad is it, babe?” Maggie asked when he climbed back in the driver’s seat.
“Not nearly as bad as it should’ve been. The damage from that guy hitting us and then going through the guardrail is substantial. I don’t think the impact itself did much. Airbags didn’t even deploy. The rain probably helped us there. Soft landing, all mud.” He explained. “But there is no way the truck’s getting out of this hole without help.
I’m going to run back to the Black’s; it’s only about a mile and a half. I’ll get Jake, his truck and his winch.” Aidan kissed her gently on the forehead. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”
“Aidan.” She hesitated. “Be careful.”
I should have told him, she thought as she felt another contraction. She timed them as being only a few minutes apart. They were too close together, she thought. She was worried. Aidan appeared suddenly framed in her window startling her and she yelped. She laughed at herself as he opened her door. Rain poured over him. His hair was plastered to his skull and his clothes were soaked through.
“You were fast.” She tried to see around him but from the angle of the truck she couldn’t see the road. “I didn’t hear the truck. Where’s Jake?”
“We’ve got a problem, Mags. There’s a tree down about a half mile back. A big tree; and a good part of the road is flooded out. No one is getting through in either direction any time soon. Last time this happened we were cut off from Trappers’ Cove for two whole days. When they say flash flood out here they mean it; welcome to springtime in Minnesota. We’re going to have to walk home, sweetheart. I’m sorry.”
“That’s not our only problem.”
“It’s not?” Aidan asked.
“No, it’s not. I’m in labor, my water just broke and I don’t think we have time to get to the hospital in Brandwyne.”
“Pardon me?” The indignant expression on Aidan’s rain soaked face made Maggie choke on a gurgle of laughter as another contraction rippled through her. The pain must have showed in her face. His expression quickly changed to one of panic that Maggie imagined had been gracing the faces of expectant fathers since the dawn of time.
No wonder God chose women for this, she thought.
“The baby’s not waiting, Aidan. And I’m not having him in this ditch on the side of the road. Nanny’s an experienced midwife.” She locked her hand in his. “Take me home.”
“You know the fastest route is through the woods.” He warned. She nodded. “Then let’s go, rock star.”
They walked hand in hand slowly over the uneven and sometimes rocky ground, stopping whenever Maggie had a contraction. The rain and mud slowed their progress even more. The going was arduous and the contractions were getting more painful. They still had nearly a mile to go before reaching the tree line bordering their meadow, and though she couldn’t see it, Maggie knew sunset was but moments away. She also knew something was seriously wrong inside her.
“Aidan. Wait.” The contractions were closer and the pain was making her head swim. She leaned against a tree, panting, as lightening highlighted his frown.
“Maggie, we’re not making it home before the sun goes down,” he warned.
“I know.”
They had only gone a few more yards when a blue humming glow settled over Aidan’s body and she watched, amazed even now, as he turned into the beautiful Gealach. A sudden agony gripped her and she doubled over, instinctually placing her hand over her groin. When she looked up the wolf was staring at her with Aidan’s worried, frustrated eyes. Maggie reached out to comfort the beast and found her palm bloodied.
Chapter Twenty
She limped out of the tree line, leaning a great deal of her we
ight against the wolf, the two of them bathed in moonlight. Maggie wasn’t sure she could go much further; the pain was worsening and she was terrified. Gealach whimpered at her side, nudging her palm with his snout, trying to encourage her as best he could. Though she’d come to love the beast even before she loved the man held prisoner inside, and though she knew Aidan was with her, at this moment she wished with all her soul the man was by her side. Maggie straightened her spine, lifted her head and pushed towards home.
“Maggie!”
She looked up and saw Nanny hurrying across the field toward her. Maggie smiled slightly, wondering how the woman managed to make a worried run across a wild meadow look like a practical exercise. The smile disappeared as a contraction ripped through Maggie and she thought, insanely, that she’d in fact been torn in two.
“Oh, Blessed Mother, the baby is coming now?” Mrs. O’Connell gasped when she had gotten close enough to see Maggie’s state.
“Yes, Nanny, he is and something is very wrong. Help me,” she pled.
“Come on now a stóirín, just a few more feet and we’ll be inside.” The older woman wrapped her frail but steely arm around Maggie’s form and began to lead her toward the house as quickly as Maggie could move. Gealach fell into step beside them, offering his massive size as further support. From the corner of her eye she caught Nanny’s quick nervous glance move from the blood staining Maggie’s dress to the wolf flanking her and whining nervously.
“Nanny, this is Gealach. Sorry you couldn’t be meeting under different circumstances.”
“My people, we have our traditions and superstitions but we’re a more pragmatic lot than people generally credit us.” Nanny looked at Gealach again. “That being said: your man? He’s hurting for you, Maggie Mae. I doubt he’ll ever forgive himself for being trapped within that glorious beast right now.”
