Make Room for Baby

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Abby reached over and squeezed Tad’s thigh reassuringly. “Eventually someone will have to trust you enough to tell you what’s going on.”

  “That may be. But it could take a long time. I’ve been here just a few months. People don’t yet have all that much confidence I’m even going to stay. Whereas the Three Stooges have been here, firmly in control, for years.”

  “Just don’t give up,” Abby encouraged him seriously. “Sooner or later someone’s bound to realize what a good guy you are and trust you enough to confide in you.”

  As they approached the doctor’s office parking lot, Tad reached over and squeezed her hand. “Thanks for asking me to tag along,” he said.

  Abby was uncomfortably aware she hadn’t asked Tad to go with her the first time she’d seen Dr. Ellison, the obstetrician Doc Harlan had recommended. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask you the last time.”

  “That’s okay. I know you’re used to taking care of health concerns yourself, and that most women don’t bring their husbands along for every visit. I’m just glad you asked me this time.” Tad paused, looking down at her tummy, then back at her face. “So, I’m really going to hear our baby’s heartbeat?”

  Abby nodded. She wanted to share this with Tad and so much else. “Yep.”

  Tad shook his head. “Incredible,” he said softly.

  Abby’s spirits rose even higher; she’d thought so, too. She started to undo her seat belt, then stopped, did a double take and gasped.

  Tad’s reaction was immediate. “What is it? Are you hurting? Is something wrong?”

  Abby gasped again, barely able to believe. Suddenly her pregnancy was more real to her than ever. Face white, she turned to her husband and placed his hand squarely on her tummy. “Tad!” she whispered, stunned. “The baby just moved.”

  HIS HEART POUNDING, Tad sat with his hand on Abby’s tummy. He waited. And waited. To no avail. Nothing.

  Finally Abby sighed. She looked every bit as disappointed as he felt. “We’re going to have to go in, or I’ll be late for my appointment.”

  “Right.” Tad got out of the Jeep.

  “I’m sure the baby will kick again soon,” Abby said as he helped her out. “I should have gotten your hand over here sooner. I was just so stunned.”

  Tad grinned down at her, looking every bit the proud papa. “That’s the first time?”

  Abby nodded. “A couple of times I thought maybe the baby might have kicked, just a little, but I wasn’t sure. This time I was sure.” She threw back her head and laughed. “It felt like I had a soccer player inside my tummy.”

  Tad grinned, enjoying the glorious autumn day as much as she was. They linked arms and headed for the building entrance. “So what do you think?” he asked. “Boy or girl?”

  “I don’t know.” Abby snuggled into the warm protective curve of his arm. Tipping her head back, she glanced up at him. “Would it matter to you?”

  Tad shook his head. “Just as long as the baby’s healthy. That’s all that matters.”

  Abby agreed. She waited while Tad held the door for her. “I used to hear people say that. I never knew what they meant. Now it...well, it makes sense.”

  “To me, too.”

  Tad may have missed out on the first kick, but he heard the baby’s heartbeat loud and clear on the Doppler, a hand-held ultrasound device Dr. Ellison held against Abby’s stomach to amplify the sound.

  Ta-dwn, ta-dum, ta-dum. The baby’s heartbeat filled the examining room, the sound remarkably strong and steady. As their eyes met, Abby’s filled with tears, and she thought, but couldn’t be sure, she saw an answering sheen in Tad’s. One thing was certain, she thought buoyantly. There was no disguising either’s happiness.

  “Well, everything seems to be in order,” Dr. Ellison said after he’d palpated Abby’s abdomen, discussed with her how she’d been feeling and checked the chart. “Your weight gain is right on target. Your blood pressure and urine check out fine. Call me if there are any problems. Otherwise, I’ll see you again in a month.”

  The doctor slipped out of the room. Abby started to get up from the examining table. Then she felt it again. Rather than risk Tad losing out, she lifted her blouse with one hand, grabbed his hand with the other and pressed it to her stomach. Like the tapping of fingers on a tabletop, the rapid fluttering moved across the inside of her tummy. “That?” Tad said joyously. “That’s it?”

  The baby flutter-kicked again. “That’s it,” Abby said.

  All the love he felt for her in his eyes, Tad bent down to kiss her lips. “Incredible,” he whispered. “Just incredible.”

  “YOU TWO COULD BE an ad for happy parents,” the receptionist said as she set up Abby’s next appointment.

  Abby knew it was true. The baby was bringing them together, closer and faster than she’d ever thought possible.

  “I am pretty excited,” Tad told Abby as they left the doctor’s office and climbed into his Jeep.

  “Me, too,” Abby said. She rested her hand on her tummy and leaned her head against the seat back. “Now that I can feel the baby moving, it’s beginning to seem so-o-o real.”

  Tad cast her a shy glance. “I know.”

  Abby watched him fit the key in the ignition. “At first it was...well, I knew I was pregnant, but I didn’t feel any different. I didn’t feel pregnant.”

  In no hurry to start the engine, Tad turned to her. “And now you do.”

  Abby nodded as a car pulled up beside them and a young couple got out. “Oh, yes,” Abby told Tad softly. As she looked into his eyes, she knew he was going to make a great dad.

  He caught her hand and kissed it. “I feel it, too.”

  Abby’s heart soared at the revelation. “Probably not as much as me.”

  “Probably not, you’re right.” Tad cupped her face in his hands, caressed it gently. “But I absolutely feel something,” he told her as he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her with a tenderness that was so real, so potent, it was nearly enough to make her cry. He drew back slightly. “I feel love.”

  Abby gulped, aware she’d never felt such deep all-encompassing emotion or wanted anyone in her life so much. “I feel it, too,” she admitted.

  Tad regarded her with a thoroughly male satisfaction. And an intimate knowledge of her that was daunting. “This whole family thing is going to work out, Abby,” he said firmly, accurately reading the fears that always seemed to lurk just beneath her outward confidence. “We’re going to make it work,” he promised, kissing her again.

  Were they? Abby wished she could believe that even as she kissed Tad back with all her heart and soul. But inwardly she was not as sure that the love they felt for the baby they were expecting was enough to hold their marriage together over the long haul. Her parents had been head over heels in love plenty of times and yet never once had any of their marriages succeeded in the end, she remembered shakily.

  Tad slowly lifted his mouth from hers. “This baby is a part of both of us and a testament to our love that no one will ever be able to take away,” he said, reluctantly releasing her.

  Abby nodded, steeling herself for the worst even as she hoped for the best. No matter what happened, she told herself sternly, she would never forget this time in her life. With the baby, with Tad. She just had to make the most of it while she could, for as long as she could.

  Tad grinned and started the Jeep. “Now we just have to figure out a name.”

  Abby groaned, able to imagine what a task that would be, given the fact that she’d never known a couple who had managed it easily yet. “I’ve always been partial to Holly.”

  Tad made a face. “We are not naming our child after a shrub,” he stated.

  Abby settled more comfortably into her seat. “What would you pick, then?”

  He paused, his expression turning very serious. “Corelle, after our first set of dishes.”

  Abby scowled at him playfully. She should have known he’d horse around. “Be serious.”

  Tad thoug
ht a moment. “Crystal, after our glasses?”

  Abby rolled her eyes, then said with utmost gravity, “How about Robin, after the first bird we spotted in our yard?”

  Tad’s lips curved sexily. “Blossom, after the place where we live.”

  Abby chuckled. “On to the boys names. How about Lyon?”

  Tad shook his head. “Too ferocious.”

  Good point. Abby studied his profile. “Okay, your turn.”

  “Boris.”

  Abby snorted. “Not unless he has a sister named Natasha.”

  Tad grinned again and at the next traffic stop darted her a look that was even sexier than the last. “I could work on a sister,” he allowed.

  Abby felt herself tingle from head to toe. “I’ll bet you could,” she drawled, enjoying the easy banter.

  “Maybe we could even start practicing for the next big event now.” Tad shot her an openly lascivious look. “I’m free after work. How about you?”

  Abby shook her head with mock reproach. “You’re incorrigible.”

  “What can I say?” Tad grinned. He parked in front of the closest storefront and pulled her close. “You inspire me.”

  “WHAT DO YOU THINK about getting a second car?” Tad asked as they passed Joe Don’s dealership for the second time that morning.

  “Now?” Abby asked, surprised.

  Tad shrugged. “Well, we’ve been sharing one, and I know there’ve been times when it’s been a pain.”

  Abby thought about the way the paper had been struggling, and now, with the baby on the way, Tad’s finances were probably stretched to the limits, as were hers. “I don’t mind walking to work or home. It’s only five blocks.”

  Tad nodded thoughtfully. “True,” he said, not looking as happy with her response as she would have expected.

  “Besides—” Abby forced herself to be practical even though it was the last thing she felt like doing at the moment “—if I go back to New York to work at a magazine there, I won’t need it.”

  The moment the words were out Abby could have shot herself. Hadn’t they more or less agreed they’d just take it one day at a time until after the baby was born? But to his credit, Tad’s expression remained unreadable. “True,” he said again.

  Abby gulped, wished she could erase her faux pas and rushed on, “It wouldn’t be cost-effective to buy one only to have to dump it several months later. And financially it’s such a big purchase, and we’re still strapped for obvious reasons and—”

  “You wouldn’t mind me looking into it, anyway, would you?” Tad interrupted.

  Because he was already in the process of making a U-turn, Abby couldn’t see into his eyes. “What are you up to?”

  “You’ll see. Just play along.” Tad turned the Jeep into a parking space in front of Audrey’s Bakery and Café.

  It was ten-thirty, and Ernest Lee Scruggs was sitting at a table in the back, the classified ads and a notepad and pen in front of him. He was wearing his mechanic’s uniform from Joe Don Jerome’s dealership. Neither light blue shirt nor pants had a speck of grease or grime on them. His hands, too, were clean. Which could only mean one thing, Abby thought. He hadn’t put in any work thus far today.

  “Hey, Ernest Lee.” Tad waved at the mechanic. He ordered two muffins, two juices and one coffee for him and led the way to Ernest Lee’s table. “Mind if we talk to you a minute?” Tad said affably. Not waiting for a response, he pulled up a chair and sat down, then pulled up one for Abby, who, like Ernest Lee, was looking a little reluctant. “We’ve got a couple of questions,” Tad continued. “See, Abby and I were just talking about buying a second car. The only problem is we can’t afford a brand-new one. I’m a little leery of buying a used one ’cause there’s no warranty. And if I pick it out on my own, it’s almost a certainty we’ll get stuck with a lemon. Not good, when you’ve got a wife with a baby on the way. So, I was thinking maybe you’d agree—for a fee of course—to take a look under the hood of any car I might want to buy.”

  Ernest Lee shrugged, looking perfectly willing to help. “Sure,” he said.

  Tad’s brows knit together in a concerned manner. “Joe Don wouldn’t mind you advising me on any car he’s trying to sell off his lot?”

  An angry look came into Ernest Lee’s eyes. “You can get a better deal from one of the dealers in Asheville or Charlotte.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Tad sighed. He leaned forward urgently. “The problem is financing. Things are a little tight for Abby and me right now.” Tad reached over and patted Abby on the knee. “And since Joe Don has been known to help people who need a helping hand—”

  Getting the drift of where this was all going, Abby interjected, “Not to mention it’d be a good way to mend fences with him.” Abby looked at Ernest Lee with something akin to an apologetic glance. “You might have heard that Joe Don’s been a little put out with us,” she said.

  Ernest Lee sighed. “Yeah, I know he pulled all his advertising from the paper in the summer.”

  “So you’ll help us?” Tad pressed.

  “Look, I—” Ernest Lee suddenly turned very red in the face, stared out the window, then turned back to them. “I’d like to help you folks out. Honestly I would.” He crumpled his empty paper coffee cup in his hand. “But I wouldn’t buy a used car here in Blossom.”

  “How about a new car or truck, then?” Tad said. “After all, you just bought one here.”

  “Yeah, and it’s been nothing but trouble,” Ernest Lee said darkly. He stood, pushing his chair back with a screech.

  “Can’t you do something?” Tad stood, too. “I mean, there’s a lemon law in this state....”

  Ernest Lee blew out a frustrated breath. “The dealer would have to agree the vehicle is a lemon.”

  “And Joe Don doesn’t?”

  Ernest Lee wheeled away from the two of them abruptly. “I’ve got to go.”

  “If I said something to upset you...” Tad rushed to apologize.

  “It’s not you,” Ernest Lee said. He stalked out without a backward glance.

  Audrey, who’d heard everything, came out from behind the counter. Proprietor of one of the most popular places in town, she knew just about everything that was going on. “He’s upset because that new pickup he got isn’t worth a plug nickel and Joe Don won’t let him turn it back for another,” she said.

  “Why not?” Abby asked. After all, Ernest Lee worked for Joe Don. That ought to count for something.

  Audrey shrugged. “’Cause I guess Joe Don doesn’t agree it’s a lemon. Heaven knows everyone who has the poor judgment to get a car there ends up having trouble with it,” she said as she began to wipe down a few of the tables.

  “Then why do they go there?” Abby asked.

  Audrey sighed. “Because you can’t beat the interest rates, the insurance and sticker price anywhere else in the state.”

  TAD DID HIS BEST to keep his feelings to himself, but the knowledge that Abby still wanted a magazine editor’s job in New York bugged him repeatedly throughout the day. Part of him believed the life they were building together in Blossom ought to be enough, while another knew exactly what she yearned for, because there was a part of him that missed trotting around the globe for whatever story was currently breaking. There’d been an elusiveness to that kind of life that was appealing, if only because it’d been so darned easy to leave his problems behind him and forget all about them.

  That was hard to do in Blossom, where everywhere he turned he was reminded of his yearning for Abby and the baby they were expecting. Where everywhere he turned he was reminded that, no matter how much he wanted her to stay with him, no matter how much he wanted to be what she needed and wanted, his best, just like back in Houston, might not be good enough. In fact, his best might be damn near disastrous.

  Fortunately the work of getting out the next issue of the Blossom Weekly News kept them both busy from the time they hit the newspaper office until the time they returned, exhausted, to their half-redecorated home an
d fell into bed.

  Still thinking how he might be able to make Abby love him as much as she loved the baby they were expecting, Tad fell asleep. Only to awake short hours later when Abby sat bolt upright in bed.

  “Omigod!” she gasped, moaning and groaning and writhing sinuously as she attempted to extricate herself from the comforting warmth of him and the soothing feather ticking.

  “What is it?” Tad cried as Abby flung the covers off her and stumbled, still moaning, from the bed.

  “Don’t touch me!” she shouted back as he followed her, the expression in her eyes as wild and confused as the state of her hair. “Omigod, omigod, omigod!” Abby’s breath came out in a shuddering hiss as she did a strange one-legged dance around the bedroom in the moonlight.

  “Are you hurt?” Tad bolted toward her. There was only one time in his life he’d ever felt anywhere near as helpless, he remembered, panicking, and that he did not want to think about.

  Abby lowered her hands toward the floor, then lifted them toward the ceiling. “No, I’m dancing, you idiot,” she pushed the words through her teeth.

  Dancing. In the middle of the night. What she was doing looked more like an ancient tribal ritual to him.

  Recalling Doc Harlan’s advice to indulge his pregnant wife at all costs, Tad figured, what the heck. If she wouldn’t tell him what she was doing or why, he’d just do it, too. Moaning and groaning in tandem to her wild sounds, he danced around with her in mirror image, stomping one leg on the floor repeatedly, writhing and moaning all the while.

  Abby finally settled down, then she laughed until she cried, and he still had no idea what was going on as she sank onto the floor in a heap. He sank down beside her. “You want to tell me what’s up with you?” he asked as she wiped away the tears of laughter flowing down her cheeks.

  “I had a muscle cramp,” she explained, when she could breathe again. “In my calf. It woke me up, and between you and the feather ticking and the covers, I was so tangled up I couldn’t get out of bed. By the time I did, my calf muscle had practically rolled into a circle and the pain was excruciating. The only way to make it stop hurting is to straighten out the muscle, and the only way I’ve ever been able to do that is to put weight on it. The only trouble is, the process of putting weight on the calf muscle is excruciating, too, and until the cramp stops you can’t really stand on that leg.”