Chapter Twelve
Pete Spencer’s plane was on floats on Lake Monet, where Pete owned a small home. His wife provided Dev with all the information and papers he needed, and one of the nurses met them with the meds and equipment Brynna had requested. Within half an hour Dev had loaded Brynna’s supplies and they were in the air.
She adjusted a headset over her ears, so they could communicate above the engine and wind noise. “How long?” she asked, already peering ahead to the hazy mountain range.
“Twenty minutes at the most,” he said. “As long as visibility is fair and we find the water, we’re good.”
Now that they were alone and she had time to think, the information she’d been given about the lawsuit nagged at her. Somehow it was even too embarrassing for Dev to know what had been done to them. He would have to know, of course, but she was afraid of his reaction. She didn’t want to see relief on his face. If she handled the details ahead of time, there would be little discussion. At least that’s what she’d been hoping.
The break would be clean and efficient. There was nothing she could do to make it painless.
As they neared the spreading blaze, the sight from the air brought the enormity and danger into perspective. Vehicles of all kinds lined the crooked tree-lined roads leading to the site of the fire. Deer and turkey, as well as small animals, fled the blaze in amazing numbers. The thick smoke obscured visibility at ground zero, so Dev flew them around the edges.
“Oh, my…” Brynna breathed.
The stench of soot and ash that reached them made the hair on Brynna’s neck stand on end. Her heart dropped at the devastation as plumes of smoke rose from acres of charred timber that had once been lush green forest.
“No wonder nothing can get in or out of these roads,” she said.
His expression grim, Dev observed the control panel. “Keep an eye out for Big Bear Lake,” he said.
Brynna scanned the scenery below where roads and trees looked like miniature toys. Thank goodness Dev did this kind of thing all the time, because she couldn’t tell one landmark from another. She had complete faith that he would get them there, land and get them out safely.
“There!” she said and pointed to a body of water up ahead and to the right.
“Got it,” he replied and dropped altitude. Brynna’s stomach dipped with the motion. He glanced over at her. “You okay?”
“Fine,” she assured him.
With skillful control, Dev landed the seaplane smoothly on the surface, and they glided toward the east shoreline, where the landmarks they’d been given indicated they’d found the right spot.
“There they are,” Dev said, spotting two figures in shorts and T-shirts waving from the bank.
“She’s over here!” The young man and woman led Brynna toward a tent.
Phoebe Conner was a teenager. She had dark blond hair with unnatural red steaks, front sections worn in braids that fell alongside her pale face. Moving in closer, Brynna noticed the silver ring through her nostril.
“God, I’m glad you’re here,” Phoebe said with a northern accent, tearstains marring her cheeks. “Am I going to die? Is my baby going to die?” She gripped Brynna’s hand with fingers bearing half a dozen silver rings.
“You’re going to be okay,” Brynna assured her. “How far apart are the contractions now?”
“Still ten minutes,” the lanky boyfriend said from beside her. “I’m Robbie. I got her feet up like you said. And I made her drink water.”
“Good job, Robbie. I’m going to take your vitals, Phoebe, then start this IV. I’ll do an exam, and we’ll get you out of here and to the hospital as soon as we can. This is my—this is Devlin Holmes, and he’s going to fly you out of here.”
Brynna took the girl’s blood pressure, listened to her heart and looked at her pupils.
Dev and Robbie stepped out of the tent. Brynna checked Phoebe’s cervix, relieved to find it hadn’t softened. She checked the baby’s position and listened to his heartbeat. Afterward, she called to the men to reenter as she cleaned an area on Phoebe’s arm, found a vein and started an IV.
“Robbie’s coming with me, right?” Phoebe asked.
“I’m afraid the plane won’t take the extra weight,” Dev said. Apparently, he’d known that all along, but hadn’t mentioned it to Brynna.
Phoebe started to cry.
Robbie took her hand. “I’ll get there as soon as I can,” he promised her. “These people will take good care of you.”
“But what if the baby comes?” she wailed.
“We’re going to do everything we can to prevent that,” Brynna told her, fastening her arm to a splint so the IV wouldn’t get jostled. “When was your last checkup?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Did your doctor estimate the baby’s weight then?”
Phoebe shook her head.
“I’m guessing he’s a good four pounds, so even if we can’t stop your labor, your baby has an excellent chance. We want him bigger of course, and his lungs more developed before he’s born, but we can take care of that if need be. I’m starting you on steroids now, as a precaution.”
“What will that do?”
“They will help develop his lungs just in case he comes early.”
“Okay,” Phoebe said, trusting Brynna with her child’s welfare. “Okay.” She had calmed down. “Thank you, Dr. Holmes.”
“Yeah, thanks for coming out here to help us,” Robbie said awkwardly.
“Thank Dev, he’s the one who got me here—and the one who will get Phoebe to the hospital.”
“Get on the road now and head north,” Dev told Robbie and the other two young people without giving them time to say their thanks. “Stay in plain sight. That fire could change direction at any minute. If it does, someone will come for you, because they’re aware of your location.”
“We’ll be fine,” Robbie replied.
“Ready?” Dev asked Brynna. He had carried in a stretcher, and looked to her for instruction.
She held up the IV bag and tubing. “You two move her onto the stretcher and I’ll carry this and keep her arm stable. Let’s go.”
They moved quickly and carefully, settling Phoebe into the plane in the cramped space behind the two seats. Robbie kissed her lips, kissed her protruding belly through her shirt, then backed out while she waved tearfully. Brynna wedged in to sit beside her, and Dev started the engine.
The plane skimmed the surface of the lake and in minutes they were in the air and headed for Whitehorn.
“Oh, my gosh,” Phoebe said as the plane ascended. She placed her hand on her belly.
Brynna immediately placed her fingers on the girl’s abdomen, checking for a contraction, but her uterus was not hard. “What is it?”
“Nothing, I’m okay. I’m just not used to flying.”
Dev handed headsets to both women. “Where are you from, Phoebe?” he asked over the engine noise. Brynna silently thanked him for finding a distraction.
“North Dakota,” she said adjusting hers. That explained the accent. “We were driving through and we didn’t realize we were so close to the fire. I started feeling sick yesterday, so we stopped for the night.”
“Were you drinking enough water?” Brynna asked. “I think you’re dehydrated. That might have brought on the contractions.”
“Maybe not enough.”
“Good thing you had a cell phone,” Brynna told her.
“I always crack on Robbie for bringing that thing everywhere. This time I’m glad he had it.” Phoebe’s gaze took in the sky outside the windows of the plane. “Are we near the fire?”
Brynna nodded and rose to her knees to peer out of the plane. Dev glanced back just then, and they exchanged a look.
Brynna sat down.
“Is he your husband?” Phoebe asked. “You both have the same name.”
Brynna’s heartbeat stumbled to a near stop, then caught its natural rhythm. She nodded with what she hoped was a smile. Her name wasn
’t really Holmes. She was still Brynna Shaw.
“Robbie and I weren’t ready to get married,” the girl said. “I’m just nineteen and he’s twenty. He’s going to college and has a long time left. But we’ve been talking about it lately. I guess it would be good for our kid to have a mom and a dad with the same name, huh?”
“A decision like that needs to be made for the right reasons,” Brynna told her, definitely not feeling like giving advice and wary of her words because Dev was listening in the earphones.
“How long have you guys been married?” Phoebe asked.
“Eight and a half months,” Brynna lied with an ache in her chest. They weren’t really married.
“So you’re newlyweds!” Phoebe replied. “My mom says the first seven years are the worst, and if you can get through those, you have it made. I don’t think she was kidding.”
“Probably not,” Brynna replied.
“She was really mad at me for getting, you know, knocked up. I was taking the Pill, but she said I was careless. My doctor said I probably got pregnant when I had to take some antibiotics. Think that’s possible?”
Brynna nodded. “A lot of things can make birth control ineffective. That’s one of them.”
“I wish you’d tell my mom that.”
“Wait till she sees this baby in another month,” Dev assured her. “She’ll come around.” His words caught Brynna off guard, but meant a lot to the girl whose eyes misted.
“Think so?” Phoebe asked.
“I know it,” Brynna said confidently.
“Lake Monet ahead,” Dev announced. “Ambulance standing by.”
Brynna smiled at Phoebe and held her hand tightly. The plane dipped.
“I think I’m going to throw up,” Phoebe said, her face starkly pale.
Brynna zipped open her medical bag and yanked out a plastic bag. “Take slow deep breaths. We’re almost there.”
Within minutes, Dev had the plane on the water, and they were met by the paramedics. Dev jumped out and helped them with the stretcher, then assisted Brynna out of the water, carrying her bag for her.
Phoebe’s nausea had passed by the time Brynna climbed into the ambulance where the medical workers hovered over their patient. Dev tucked her bag in beside Brynna. The doors closed. The siren wailed.
Glancing through the back windows, Brynna glimpsed Dev standing on the road, boots dark, jeans wet to his knees. He stood watching the ambulance depart, his sandy hair shining under the setting Montana sun. This moment, like all others with Dev, seemed incomplete. There was so much left unfinished between them.
How it would all turn out, she had no idea…and was afraid to predict.
Phoebe Connor’s contractions stopped that evening. Her baby’s vitals were excellent, and Brynna assured her that after another day or two without contractions, they would talk about letting her travel home. Just as they were finishing their conversation, the door to the room burst open and a disheveled Robbie hurried toward the bed.
“Robbie!” Phoebe flung her arms around his neck and he hugged her back. They kissed so passionately, that Brynna looked the other way and made a few notes on the chart. “How did you get here?” Phoebe asked. “It should have taken you over two days!”
“We were driving and Justin noticed a small plane that kept flying above us. We stopped the car to look. It was Dr. Holmes’s husband. He showed us where he was going to land, and we met the plane, then he flew me here.”
Holding Robbie’s hand, Phoebe looked at Brynna with eyes full of tears. “Did you send him to get Robbie?”
Brynna shook her head. “I had no idea.”
No idea whatsoever. What an incredibly kind thing to do. Brynna wished Dev could have seen Phoebe’s eyes when Robbie entered that room. He had made two people very happy. And quite likely saved them the anguish of a premature baby.
“Thank him for us, Doc,” Phoebe said.
“I will.”
“He’s a great guy,” Robbie added.
She wished them a good-night and left them alone. At the nurses’ station, she left instructions, then checked on another patient before leaving the hospital.
It had been a long, exhausting day, and she couldn’t wait to get home and shower. She didn’t know if she imagined the smell of smoke on her hair and clothes or if it was really there.
Home.
The word didn’t hold the same connotation it had a month ago, when she had been blissfully ignorant of what was to come. Back then she’d still been deceiving herself that loving Dev enough could make their relationship work.
Granted, she was to blame for much of what had gone wrong. She’d reacted badly, had been hurt and unforgiving. On top of it she’d been indecisive, too, and he was rightfully angry with her over that.
They’d shared something pretty important tonight. And Dev had gone out of his way to see that the two young people were together. Where was he now? Driving along the dark highway toward Rumor, Brynna pulled out her cell phone. She held it for several minutes, garnering courage before dialing Dev’s number.
He answered on the second ring. “Yes?”
He’d seen the caller ID.
“That was a really nice thing you did, bringing Robbie to Whitehorn.”
“Was she glad to see him?”
“I wish you could have seen her face.”
“Kodak moment, huh?”
“Definitely.”
Silence.
“Dev, I…” She thought for a few seconds, not sure of what she’d been about to say. “I couldn’t have helped that girl without you, you know. You probably prevented that baby from coming too early.”
“You did that. I just flew the plane.”
“Well, we did it together then.”
Silence.
He was still angry with her. She hated the way it felt. It was unlike him to be unresponsive. But then every time he’d made an overture, she’d inflicted injury. He’d become as self-protective as she was, and she couldn’t fault him for it. And there was more to come. Much more.
“We need to talk,” she told him.
“Okay.”
“Not like this. Not over the phone.”
“I’m not coming to the house.”
That hurt. But he was perfectly justified. “Why don’t we meet tomorrow. After work.”
“Where?”
They couldn’t have this talk in a public place, so the Rooftop Café and the Calico Diner were out. “Why don’t I pick up dinner and meet you out at Lake Monet?”
He didn’t reply right away. “All right. I’ll park by the picnic area. What time? Aren’t you working at the clinic?”
“About seven. I’ll leave early.”
“See you then.” He broke the connection.
Again Brynna wondered where he was. In his room at Colby’s ranch house? At Joe’s Bar? She hadn’t heard anything in the background, like music or laughter or pool balls clacking.
Deliberately, she drove down Main and looked for the Lariat along the curb or in the parking lot, but didn’t see it. A truck like that was hard to miss.
Driving to Logan Street, she turned north, then onto her street—Lost Lane. All the time she’d lived in her apartment, she’d never thought anything of coming home to an empty place. After years of living with her siblings and then in crowded dorms, she’d been grateful for the solitude. Now, however…after having lived here with Dev…after sharing chores and meals…and a bed…
The house seemed too quiet. Too empty. Far too lonely.
She was a big girl. An independent career woman. She would get through this. Get over him. Get on with her life.
She unlocked the door and stepped into the empty house.
Somehow.
Chapter Thirteen
Dev parked the Lariat in the deserted parking area and got out to walk along the edge of the lake. Supposedly its name had come from a long-ago romantic Rumor citizen who had likened the flashes of color on the water’s surface to a Monet pai
nting. The water had been low this year, and the haze in the sky dimmed the usually sparkling reflections. He walked through the tall dry grass, frogs leaping into the water for safety.
Brynna’s car pulled up beside his truck, so he turned and headed toward it. Uneasiness overpowered his usual pleasure at seeing her. He didn’t know what to make of anything anymore, didn’t know what to do except leave well enough alone. This time she had initiated their encounter, good enough reason for anxiety.
Brynna carried a red plaid blanket and two paper bags toward the grassy area surrounding the lake. She had changed after work and wore slim-fitting jeans and a sleeveless white sweater, her lovely feminine appearance affecting him as it always did. Keeping things in perspective, Dev joined her and spread out the blanket.
“I got dinner at the deli in MonMart,” she said, sitting down and kicking off her sandals. “It’s the chicken you like.”
He noticed the smooth skin of her slender shoulder and flexed his hand a couple of times to keep from reaching out and stroking her flesh. “Sounds good.” Deliberately ignoring her sexy bare feet, he sat and helped her open plastic containers. “How’s Phoebe?”
“She’s doing really well. We got fluids in her and she hasn’t had a contraction since yesterday.”
“So she’ll get to go home?”
“I’m making her wait another day, just to be sure.”
“Tell her I’ll fly them home. That way she won’t have to drive to the airport or wait in terminals.”
“That’s very kind of you, Dev.”
He shrugged. It was just something he knew how to do, and he wanted to be helpful. He’d been thinking he would join the workers fighting the blaze now heading toward Custer. He didn’t have training for firefighting, but he could bring in food and supplies or fly out the injured. He could handle air reconnaissance. He’d hung back from volunteering, believing Brynna needed him, but it had grown glaringly obvious that she didn’t.
He might as well be somewhere he was welcome.
They ate, their conversation stilted. Finally, Brynna gathered the empty containers. “There’s something we need to talk about.”
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