A Very Special Delivery

by Brenda Harlen

  Now she was wearing borrowed clothes that didn’t fit, her hair was in a haphazard ponytail and her face was bare of makeup. And maybe it was because Lukas had held her hand as she sweated through labor and childbirth, but he seemed unaffected by the absence of mascara on her lashes and he honestly didn’t seem to care who she was. He’d come to her aid simply because that was the kind of man he was, with no ulterior motive or hidden agenda. It wasn’t just a surprising but a liberating revelation.

  As was the fact that when he talked to her, he actually seemed to listen to what she was saying—even if they were having a nonsensical conversation about carb counting or Zumba classes. He was charming and funny and genuine, and she’d never known anyone quite like him.

  And whenever he smiled at her, she felt a subtle clenching low in her belly that made her just a little bit uneasy. Not because she worried that he would do or say anything inappropriate, but because she was worried that her response to him was inappropriate.

  The last time she’d had sex was probably the night that Caden was conceived. In the eight and half months since then, she’d hardly thought about it—she certainly hadn’t missed it. So why was she thinking about it now?

  Was this flood of hormones through her system simply a side effect of the birth experience? Or was it connected to the sexy man who had rescued her from a blizzard and delivered her baby?

  If she’d met Lukas Garrett in a different time and place—and if she wasn’t the new mother of a beautiful baby boy—she would probably strike up a conversation, flirt with him a little, see if there was any evidence that the sizzle she felt was reciprocated.

  But it wasn’t a different time or place, and Caden was her priority. She didn’t have the leisure or the energy for any kind of romantic complications.

  As she pushed away from the table to carry her empty plate to the sink, she couldn’t help but feel just a little bit disappointed by the fact.

  Chapter Five

  The window by the sink overlooked the driveway, and as she glanced outside, she realized that she’d been so focused on the snow earlier she hadn’t noticed that it was cleared.

  “How did you have time to shovel your driveway already?” she asked.

  “I didn’t. Jon Quinlan came by first thing this morning with his plow.”

  “Is he a neighbor?”

  “Not exactly.”

  It was an evasive response from a man who had impressed her as being anything but, and it piqued her curiosity. “Then what is he—exactly?”

  “He owns a landscaping and yard maintenance company.”

  “So why didn’t you just say that you hire someone to clear it?”

  “Because I didn’t hire him,” he admitted. “And he won’t let me pay him.”

  “He must not have a very successful business if he works for free.” She returned to the table and took the baby again.

  “That’s what I keep telling him, but Jon thinks he owes me. His daughter has a poodle-mix named Sparky. A few years back, Sparky had a hernia, but Jon had just been laid off from his job and didn’t have the money for the surgery.”

  “But you did the surgery, anyway,” she guessed.

  He lifted one shoulder. “I couldn’t let the animal suffer.”

  And in that moment, she realized it was true. Someone else might have turned the man away, but Lukas Garrett couldn’t. It simply wasn’t in him to do nothing when he could help. She also realized that he wasn’t comfortable talking about what he’d done because he didn’t think it was a big deal.

  So instead of commenting on his generosity, she asked, “What kind of pet does Mrs. Kurchik have?”

  He was visibly startled by her question—so she tapped a finger to the label that advertised “Mrs. Kurchik’s Peach Jam” on the jar.

  He shrugged again. “An aging basset hound and a battle-scarred tabby cat.”

  “The joys of living and working in a small town?”

  “Pinehurst isn’t nearly as small as it used to be, but the population growth hasn’t affected the sense of community,” he told her.

  Before she could comment further, she heard something that sounded like a thud from behind the door to the laundry room. “What was that?”

  “Einstein,” he admitted. “He can come in and out through the doggy door, but I closed the inside door so that he doesn’t race in and track snow through the house.”

  She frowned as another thump sounded. “Is he…knocking?”

  He laughed. “Maybe he does think that’s what he’s doing. It’s certainly a better explanation than that he likes to bang his head against the door.” He pushed away from the table. “I’d better go dry his paws and let him in before he gives himself brain damage—if it’s not already too late.”

  While Lukas was dealing with the dog, Julie decided to give her parents a call. She bypassed the handset on the table for her cell phone. Not just because she didn’t want her host to incur long-distance charges for the call but because she didn’t know how to explain a stranger’s name and number showing up on her parents’ call display. It was easier all around to call from her cell, as she was in the habit of doing.

  When she heard her mother’s voice on the other end of the line, her throat tightened and her eyes filled with tears.

  “Hello?” Lucinda said again when Julie was unable to respond. Then, confirming that her mother had checked the display, “Julie—is that you?”

  She cleared her throat. “Yes, it’s me. Hi, Mom.”

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Of course,” she said. “I think the connection just cut out for a second.”

  “I’m so pleased to hear from you. I was going to call from the car on the way to the airport, but I wasn’t sure of your schedule.”

  “You’re going to the airport?”

  “We’re on our way to Melbourne.” Lucinda practically sang out the announcement. “Your dad booked the tickets for our thirty-fifth anniversary.”

  Julie wondered for a minute if she’d somehow overlooked the milestone because of everything going on in her own life, but she knew that she hadn’t. “Your anniversary isn’t until the end of the month.”

  “But Reg wanted us to be there for our anniversary,” her mother explained. “To celebrate thirty-five years together at the place we met.”

  Julie knew the story, of course. Her mother had been an American student studying in Melbourne, her father had been on vacation after his first year of law school, and they’d met at a cafe near Brighton Beach.

  “We always said we would go back some day, but we never did. After we got married, we got so busy with other things. Your father was building his career, and I was focused on raising four children.”

  “You sound really excited about this,” Julie said, wishing that she could share her mother’s enthusiasm. For the past several months, she’d been looking forward to going home. Now her return was almost imminent, but her parents weren’t even going to be there. And she was more than a little apprehensive about the prospect of returning to Massachusetts—and facing Elliott—while they were away.

  “We both are,” Lucinda told her. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been on vacation together, just the two of us.”

  “Then it’s definitely long overdue,” she agreed with false cheerfulness. “When will you be home?”

  “December seventh.”

  “You’re going for more than a month?”

  “Thirty-five days—one for each year we’ve been together.”

  Which, Julie had to admit, was an incredibly romantic gesture on her father’s part. And it was incredibly selfish of her to be upset because her parents were leaving the country rather than hanging around at home to welcome the grandchild they didn’t know they had.

  “That’s…wonderful,” she finally said.

  “You’ll be home by then, too, won’t you?” Lucinda asked her.

  “I’ll be home by then,” Julie promised, gently tracing the curve of her
baby’s cheek with her fingertip. “With a surprise for you.”

  “For me?” Lucinda sounded delighted.

  “For both you and Dad.”

  “I can’t wait,” her mother said. “Although honestly, it’s enough to know that you’re finally coming home. We’ve missed you, baby.”

  She felt the sting of tears in the back of her eyes. “I’ve missed you, too. All of you.”

  “You’re doing okay, though?” Lucinda prompted.

  “I’m doing better than okay,” Julie assured her. “I needed the time away, to figure some things out, but I’m looking forward to coming home.” And it was true, even if the thought of seeing her former fiance tied her stomach into knots.

  “Where are you now?”

  “In Upstate New York.”

  “I saw on the news that there’s a big storm moving in that direction. You make sure you keep an eye on it,” her mother advised.

  Julie had to smile. “I’ll do that.”

  “Oh, your father’s tapping his watch,” Lucinda said regretfully. “I have to run.”

  “Okay. Give my love to Dad. And have a fabulous time.”

  * * *

  After Einstein was dry, Lukas carried him into the kitchen to ensure that he didn’t try to jump all over their guests. Except that when he opened the laundry room door, he found Julie’s chair was empty and both mother and son were gone.

  His heart gave a little jolt—an instinctive response that he didn’t want to think about too deeply—but settled again when he heard her voice in the family room. At first he thought she was talking to Caden, but as he finished tidying up the dishes from breakfast—not an easy task with the dog tucked under his arm—he realized that she was on the phone. Though he wasn’t trying to listen to her conversation, he couldn’t help but hear bits and pieces of it. She sounded cheerful and upbeat, so he was surprised—and distressed—to enter the family room after she’d ended the call and see tears on her cheeks.

  From the time they were kids, his brothers had always teased him about his protective instincts. He never liked to see anyone or anything hurting. It was one of the reasons he’d become a vet—to help heal injured creatures. It still broke his heart when he couldn’t save one of them, and it still brought him to his knees whenever he saw a woman in tears.

  “Julie?” He crouched down beside the sofa, setting Einstein on the floor by his feet. “Is everything okay?”

  She wiped at the wet streaks on her cheeks, but the tears continued to fall. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize,” he said. “Just tell me what I can do to help.”

  She offered a wobbly smile but shook her head. “Nothing. I’m just being a big baby.”

  Which he didn’t believe for a minute. “Do you want to tell me about the phone call?”

  “My mom,” she admitted. “I guess, now that I’m a mom, too, I really wanted to hear her voice and to tell her that I would be home in a few days. I haven’t seen them in a while—my fault, because I was working out of town—and I just found out that she and my dad are going to Australia for a month.”

  He frowned. “They couldn’t postpone their trip to see you and meet their new grandson?”

  “They probably could—and they would.”

  “But?” he prompted.

  “But it’s their thirty-fifth anniversary and the trip was a surprise for my mom from my dad, a journey back to the place they first met.”

  “You didn’t tell them that you had the baby, did you?”

  “No,” she admitted.

  “Will there be anyone else at home when you get there?”

  She shook her head. “My youngest brother, Ethan, is at school in Washington. He won’t be home until Christmas break. Daniel lives in Boston and Kevin in New Haven.”

  “Are you going to tell them about Caden?”

  “I can’t tell them before I tell my parents,” she said matter-of-factly.

  “What about…” He wanted to ask about Caden’s father, but he let the words fade away. He was undeniably curious, but he had no right to ask. They had been brought together by circumstances beyond anyone’s control, and he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable by pressing for information she didn’t want to give.

  She looked up at him, waiting for him to finish his question. She seemed to tense, as if she anticipated what he was going to ask and didn’t want to answer. But instead he only said, “What do your brothers do?”

  “Daniel’s a corporate attorney, Kevin’s the producer of a talk radio station and Ethan is still trying to figure out what he wants to be when he grows up.”

  “How old is he?”

  “Twenty-seven,” she admitted.

  “You’re the youngest.”

  “Is that a statement or a question?”

  “It’s a guess,” he admitted. “But you don’t look like you’re even close to thirty.”

  “I’m the youngest,” she confirmed, but didn’t actually tell him how old she was.

  “And the only girl.”

  She nodded.

  “How was that—growing up with three older brothers?”

  “Most of the time it was great,” she said, then one corner of her mouth quirked upward in a half smile. “Except when it wasn’t.”

  Being one of three brothers himself, he knew what she meant.

  “Any of them married? Kids?”

  “Just Kevin. He and Brooke recently celebrated their second anniversary, and they’re expecting their first child in March.”

  “So Caden is the first grandchild for your parents?”

  She nodded.

  He frowned. “That’s a pretty big milestone for most people.”

  She just nodded again.

  He sensed that there was something she wasn’t telling him, something she didn’t want to tell him. And although he knew it wasn’t any of his business—after all, they were only strangers whose paths would never have crossed if not for an unexpected snowstorm—he couldn’t help but comment. “I know Caden came a couple of weeks early, but I wouldn’t have thought they’d make plans to go anywhere when you were so close to your due date.”

  She finally lifted her gaze to meet his. “They wouldn’t have—if they’d known I was pregnant.”

  He couldn’t quite get his head around what she was saying. “Are you telling me that you managed to keep your pregnancy a secret from your family for the better part of nine months?”

  “I didn’t intend to keep it a secret,” she admitted. “I wanted to tell them. But when I first left town, I didn’t know I was pregnant.”

  “When did you know?”

  “A few days later. And then, I didn’t know how to tell them. It didn’t seem like the kind of news I should share over the phone, and I was sure I would see them soon. But my job kept me so busy, I never had a chance to go home.”

  “You haven’t been home in nine months?”

  “Actually, it’s more like seven months—since April,” she admitted.

  “And that kind of extended absence isn’t unusual?”

  “It was an extraordinary career opportunity,” she explained. “As an art curator at The Grayson Gallery, I was invited to travel to select galleries around the United States with Evangeline Grayson’s private collection of impressionist and post-impressionist art.”

  “Has it been that long since you’ve seen Caden’s father, too?” Luke asked.

  “Caden doesn’t have a father,” she said coolly.

  His brows lifted. “I might not have any kids of my own, but I’m pretty sure I understand the basics of reproduction.”

  “Then you know that donating sperm doesn’t make a man a father.”

  He didn’t believe that her child had been conceived through intrauterine insemination. She seemed too young to have chosen that route—and too defensive. Which suggested that the story of Caden’s father was a little more complicated than she wanted him to know.

  And while he had a lot more questions, he a
ccepted that she had no obligation to tell him anything. He also suspected that if he pushed for answers, she might lie, and he’d rather wait until she trusted him enough to tell him the truth.

  So all he said was, “I just got a message from Bruce. He’s towed your car, but he won’t have a chance to look at it until Monday at the earliest.”

  “Monday?” she echoed, obviously disappointed.

  He shrugged. “He’s going to be busy the rest of the day hauling cars out of ditches, and he doesn’t work on Sundays.”

  “I guess I should make some kind of arrangements, then.”

  “Arrangements for what?” he asked.

  “Transportation to a hotel.”

  “We don’t have a hotel in Pinehurst,” he told her. “There are a few bed-and-breakfasts, and one roadside motel on the outskirts of town, but no hotel.”

  She frowned at that. “I guess I could try the motel.”

  “Why would you want to try somewhere else when there’s plenty of room for both you and Caden here?”

  She was shaking her head even before he finished speaking.

  “Why not?” he challenged.

  “Because we’ve imposed on you too much already.”

  “It’s not an imposition.”

  “How is having a stranger and her newborn baby in your home not an imposition?”

  “Because I want you to stay,” he told her honestly. “At least until the weather clears and your car is fixed.”

  He didn’t need to point out that there was no one waiting for her at home, as her response confirmed.

  “I feel like I should decline your invitation, but considering that my options are extremely limited right now, I’ll say thank you instead.”

  “You’re welcome. I made up the bed in the first room at the top of the stairs,” he told her. “It has a private en-suite bathroom, so you don’t have to worry about sharing one.”

  “Does it have a shower?”

  “As a matter of fact, it does.”

  “Because I would really appreciate being able to… Oh, no.”