by Edie Claire
Haley finished rereading Ben’s letter and set it back on her bedside table. Her eyes caught sight of the large cardboard box on the floor by the wall, and she grinned. In a few more minutes, Ben should be done for the day. Then she would call him. They had added calls to their repertoire now, but still kept up the letters. Calls were reserved for special occasions, of which today was one, because after three weeks of strategizing and finessing, Haley’s new position was secured. She would not return to the environmental group when her maternity leave was over. She would join the employment law division instead.
She hadn’t said a word to Ben yet. The news had her practically bursting, but she hadn’t wanted to raise his hopes till she was sure.
Michelle’s petite form appeared in Haley’s doorway. Although well over fifty, Michelle looked far younger and delighted in that fact. “Are you going to call him soon?” she asked, her blue eyes twinkling just like Micah’s.
“A couple minutes more,” Haley answered.
“You think he’ll have an announcement of his own?” Michelle teased.
Haley’s answering smile was strained. Both Micah and her mother knew how she felt about Ben and where things currently stood between the couple. It was hard to keep secrets from the two women who had been waiting on her hand and foot the whole last week, particularly when she knew they might have to keep it up a while yet. The first week after Haley cut back her hours, her test results had improved dramatically. But after the second week her numbers had crept up again, and the bed rest order had come down. Now, at the 37-week mark, they were all in a waiting game. Haley was still only borderline preeclamptic, but now that the baby was officially full-term, if things went south even the slightest, she would be looking at an immediate induction.
“I wish you’d quit talking about that, Mom,” Haley replied tiredly. She was always tired now, even when she was in a good mood. “He hasn’t said anything about moving here. I don’t even know if he’s thinking about it.”
Michelle entered and perched herself on the foot of Haley’s bed. “Well, of course he must be!” she insisted. “It’s the perfect solution! It’s not like you live in the middle of a cornfield somewhere. We’re in the whale capital of the world! You said yourself, it’s one of the few places on earth that he could live year round.”
Haley breathed out with a sigh. “I know, Mom. But it’s not the same.”
“The same as what?”
Haley had no answer. At least not one her mother would understand. Her feelings on the issue were so conflicted, she couldn’t possibly put them into words. Not an hour passed that she didn’t catch herself fantasizing about the possibility of Ben’s moving to California. But every time that fantasy arose, it came with the grim, aching worry that he wouldn’t be content.
“I don’t know, Mom,” Haley replied. “But at least after the baby’s born we’ll be able to visit each other more often.”
Michelle frowned. “You don’t really think you’ll be satisfied with a long-distance relationship forever, do you? If you want to live in the same place, there’s really no other option but for him to move here, is there? Surely there’s nothing for you in those little touristy places where he works now?”
Haley tensed. Her mother was right. Even if she were fortunate enough to secure a spot with a law firm in Honolulu or Anchorage, their problems would not be solved. Anchorage was hours from Seward and Honolulu was a plane ride away from Maui. Furthermore, regardless of which place she worked, they could not stay together all year unless Ben gave up half the whale migration.
“No, Mom,” she agreed sadly. “It’s hard to see what else we could do. Unless I want to take up flipping burgers.”
Michelle’s eyes widened. “Haley Olson, don’t you even think about it! No man worth his salt would ask you to do that. You’re a brilliant lawyer. You were born for it. There’s no question you have the higher earning power; if anyone should quit work, it should be him. He’s not sexist, is he?”
“Mom,” Haley said wearily. “Do you seriously think a sexist would last five minutes with me? I was joking about the burgers. He wouldn’t want me to do that.”
Haley felt her spirits slipping again and struggled to rally them. She did not want to think about the future right now. She wanted to think about the present, and the fact that she was about to make Ben very, very happy.
“I’m going to call him now,” Haley announced. “Can you shut the door?”
Michelle smirked. “I could still eavesdrop if I wanted to, you know.”
“But you won’t, because that would be wrong,” Haley retorted.
Michelle smiled unrepentantly, but rose and went to the door. “Actually, Micah should be coming for the switch-off any minute now. If I don’t see you before I leave, remember to flip back over to your left side. We want plenty of oxygen going to that baby, don’t we?”
“Yes, Mom,” Haley agreed, relieved when the door closed. Her mother had been taking good care of her in the last week, but the two women hadn’t spent this much time together since Haley was in the womb. And although Micah had frequently been the object of their mother’s babying over the years, it was an unaccustomed role for Haley.
She picked up the phone and dialed Ben’s number. He answered on the second ring. “Hi there,” he said tenderly.
A wave of goosebumps crept up Haley’s spine. She loved to hear his voice. She had been tempted to ask him if he would videoconference from his laptop, but since her own face looked like a pile of pudding, she contented herself with a call. “Hi yourself,” she replied. “Can you talk a minute?”
“Sure,” he said. Haley could hear seagulls in the background, along with the familiar clanking and sloshing of a marina. “I’m just finishing up. Everything okay?”
“Fine,” she answered. “No worries.” He knew that she was on bed rest, but given his past trauma with ‘girl stuff,’ she had kept her explanations bare bones.
“Yeah,” he said uncertainly, “about that. My mother wants me to ask what you mean by ‘borderline’ preeclampsia. She seems worried about you.” He paused a beat. “Should I be?”
“No, you should not,” Haley said firmly. “It means that I don’t meet the stated criteria for a diagnosis of preeclampsia, despite them telling me for over a month now that it was only a matter of time. I just keep hanging in there, bouncing around right under the cutoff. Now that Fred’s full-term, though, I’m pretty sure they’re all secretly hoping my next labs will cross the line. Then they can justify inducing labor and be done with me.”
Ben was quiet for a moment.
“Uh oh,” Haley said. “Too much information, Captain?”
“No,” he said quickly. “I just wish I could be there.”
The goosebumps did their thing again. “You will be. In a week,” she said brightly. She cast a glance at the cardboard box on her floor. “I got a package today.”
“Oh?” he said, sounding surprised. “From who?”
Haley grinned. “The Sisters Parker.”
Ben groaned.
Haley chuckled merrily. “Oh, stop! It was very nice. They sent all sorts of lovely things. Spritzes and lotions, interesting pillows, massage oil, aromatherapy, herbal teas, some paperback novels, puzzle books, and chocolate. They seemed to know exactly what a woman on bed rest would want to spoil herself with.”
He grumbled. “Well, I guess that’s—”
“Including,” Haley interrupted, reaching toward her bedside table, “the most unbelievably adorable picture I’ve ever seen.”
A beat passed. “Oh, God,” he said miserably. “Which one is it?”
Haley dissolved into laughter. She picked up the photo again and traced her fingers lovingly along the edge. The baby in the picture couldn’t be more than a year old. But the wild ginger hair and hazel eyes were unmistakable. “The one with the tiara and the bright pink tutu,” she answered.
Ben exhaled gruffly. “Fabulous. Well, at least that’s better than the one i
n the bathtub.”
“Which one, now?” Haley teased.
“Never mind,” he returned. “I will deal with them later.”
“Please don’t,” Haley said sincerely. “It really was very sweet of them.”
“Sweet has nothing to do with it,” he insisted. “They’re trying to recruit you.”
“Recruit me for what?”
“Their side, of course,” Ben said heavily. “So you’ll gang up with them against me.”
Haley smiled to herself thoughtfully. She knew that Ben was joking, but she suspected there was a grain of truth to his words as well. “Ben,” she said evenly, “I promise I will never join forces with your sisters against you. I’ll always be on your side.”
He was quiet for a long time. “Can I have that in writing?” he asked finally.
“Sure,” she chuckled. “I’ll draw up the papers tomorrow.”
“No, you take it easy,” he insisted. “I’ll get a lawyer here to do it.”
Speaking of lawyers…
Haley put the picture back on her bedside table and propped herself up a bit. “Listen, Ben,” she said eagerly. “There’s something I need to tell you. I think you’re going to like it.”
“Does it have anything to do with my sisters?”
“No.”
“Then go ahead.”
Haley took a breath. “It’s my job. I told you that I lost the lead role on the cases I was working before I left. But it’s more than that. I’m getting out of the environmental group. When I finish my maternity leave, I’ll be going to work with the employment law division instead.”
Seagulls. Distant shouts. A car horn.
After several seconds, Haley could hear her own heartbeat. “Ben?” she asked uncertainly.
“I’m here,” he answered, his voice strange. “But won’t you have to start all over again?”
“Yes,” she replied, disappointed. It was hardly the exuberance she had expected. “But that doesn’t mean it isn’t doable. And before you get too full of yourself, Captain, I should explain that it’s not all about you. I’ve never been overly fond of Bob Hardin and working with him for forever was less than appealing to me. I hear Tom is much more amiable. Some of his associates only work fifty hours a week.”
She paused, but Ben said nothing.
“So I hope your place in Maui has a nice shower,” she continued, “because I might actually have enough time off to fly out and borrow it once in a while.”
“It’s a hole,” he said mechanically.
“Excuse me?”
She could picture him shaking his head, running his hand through his hair. He was trying to think quickly. She had caught him off guard.
“My place is a dump,” he explained. “I’m trying to get out of the lease, actually.”
There was another awkward pause. Haley began to worry. “This is not exactly the reaction I expected, Ben,” she admitted. “I thought you’d be happy.”
“Are you happy, Haley?” he demanded.
Now he caught her off guard. “What do you mean? I just told you why I’m doing it!”
“And you told me before that it would mean starting all over. That you would lose years of experience and expertise, and that you like the environmental area itself — that unlike most people you actually enjoy digging into those regs.”
“I do, but I—” Haley stammered and lost her train of thought. “Why are you fighting me on this?”
“Because it’s just one more sacrifice!” he said intently. He sighed and calmed his tone. “Haley, don’t you see? Of course it means a lot to me that you’d even consider changing specializations to make me happy. But I don’t want you to do it if it’s not right for you.”
“It is right for me,” she argued. Whether she was telling the truth or not, she wasn’t entirely sure. But she refused to think about it now. The deed was done.
She decided to make light of it instead. “Employment law will offer plenty of new and exciting regulations to dig into, believe me. Besides, I’ve always harbored a secret desire to help corporations fire people. I mean, hasn’t everyone? I think you’re just trying to get out of taking my money, Captain.”
“That’s not true,” he said quietly.
“Excellent. So what gift can I buy you with my nice clean money?”
He considered a moment. “The cabin in Seward could use a new showerhead. Preferably an extra wide with multiple massage options.”
Haley sighed. “You really think big, you know that? Don’t you need anything for the place you’re living now?”
He scoffed. “Nothing short of a bulldozer would make a dent in it.”
“Hey, Ben!” a man’s voice shouted in the background.
“Just a second!” Ben called back.
“You have to go?” she asked, feeling suddenly empty.
“Yes, for now,” he answered. “Listen, Haley. I’m sorry. I am glad you’re leaving the dark side. When I tell the humpbacks, they’ll be leaping out of the water. As long as you’re happy, I’m happy. Probably happier.”
“I’m glad,” she said, feeling slightly more encouraged. “Goodbye, Ben.”
“Bye.”
Haley hung up the phone. She rolled dutifully onto her left side and put her hand on her bulging abdomen. As wretched as she’d been feeling the last six weeks, the one bright spot was that Fred was doing great. She was big for her age, kicking up a storm, and could safely be born anytime now. The greater threat with preeclampsia, as Micah reminded her daily, was to Haley’s own health.
“We’re going to be fine,” Haley soothed. “Not much longer now, and you’ll be out of your cocoon and in your mommy’s arms. Then everyone will be happy.”
She sank lower on her pillows and closed her eyes. She had only just dozed off when her phone made the sound of a whale song. It was the ringtone she’d picked out for Ben — the one she almost never heard. And it wasn’t a phone call. It was a text.
She stared at the screen in disbelief.
Thank you, Haley. Sincerely, The Earth
A smile spread across her face, and she lay back and closed her eyes again. He was happy. She had surprised him a little, that was all. But the more he thought about it, the happier he would be. She was sure of it.
She started to compose her next letter to him in her head. But before she could finish, she was asleep.
Chapter 30
Ben swiped a sleeve across his forehead, attempting to stem the sweat as he walked hurriedly down the hallway, scanning the confusing room numbers with frustration. Where the hell was she?
It did not feel like the day after Christmas. The last twenty-four hours had been more of a nightmare. He hadn’t been all that concerned when he didn’t hear from Haley on Christmas Eve. He figured she was busy with her family, or else would assume that he was. But when Christmas Day turned into Christmas afternoon and his calls to her went straight to voicemail, he began to worry. His phone had finally rung at dinner, and he had been relieved to see her number. But when he picked up the call he had found himself speaking not to Haley, but to her mother, who had accosted his ear with such frantic and incoherent babble he thought he would lose his mind. If Haley’s brother-in-law hadn’t stepped in and wrested the phone from Michelle’s hand, Ben would almost certainly be babbling incoherently himself now.
This is Tim, Micah’s husband, the calm male voice had said. Don’t worry. Haley’s going to be fine. It’s just that she needs a c-section. Micah is going in with her now.
After listening to Michelle’s terrifying stream-of-consciousness rant, which included the words “seizures,” and “organ failure,” Ben had not been easily convinced of the “fine” part, but Tim had done his best to cut to the chase.
Haley woke up with a headache yesterday morning, and her blood pressure was up a little, so they decided to induce. She’s been in labor since yesterday afternoon, but it was going slow, and just now her pressure went up again and they made the call to do a section
. Haley’s been bleary and a bit out of it, but she hasn’t had any other complications. The stuff her mother was saying was just what the doctors were worried about if they didn’t do the surgery.
After Ben had scraped himself off the floor, relayed the information to his family, and received his mother’s assurance that Haley’s care sounded perfectly reasonable and appropriate, he got on the phone to the airlines. Unfortunately, screwing around with one’s flight schedule on Christmas Day was not the easiest thing to do. He went straight to the airport hoping to make a standby, but not only did he fail at that quest, his original flight was cancelled and the next one out was delayed. He had reached LAX this morning only to encounter ridiculous lines at the car rental counter and traffic on the 405 at a complete standstill.
It had been nearly twenty-four hours since Haley went into surgery, and he still hadn’t talked to her. Tim had called back late yesterday to say that everyone was fine and that Haley was sleeping. Micah had texted him this morning to say the same thing.
It wasn’t good enough.
Room 3524. Ben stopped short, reeling a little. He hadn’t slept a wink last night. He double-checked the number on the paper in his hand, then knocked softly.
The door opened a crack, and Micah peeked out at him. Her blue eyes twinkled as they took him in. She greeted him with a smile that changed quickly to a grin, which he interpreted to mean that she was glad to see him, but that he looked like a serial killer again. She swept out of the room and pulled the door almost closed behind her.
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re here,” she said sincerely, throwing her arms up to hug him.
Ben hugged her back, but was anxious to get inside. “Is she okay?”
