“We had…a misunderstanding before he went in for treatment. When he came out, he wouldn’t talk to me so we could resolve it.”
Liz sat back, looking triumphant. “I knew it. Please come, Anne.”
“I can tell you right now he won’t want to see me.”
“Oh, Anne, when did a man ever know what he wanted—or what was good for him?”
She was too persuasive. I told her I would come the next day. I watched her make her careful way down the walk through the snow to the waiting limo. In another few months I would be walking like that.
Chapter 11
It had snowed through the night and was still snowing when I pulled into the circular driveway that fronted the Cameron mansion of East Avenue. It was one of the few grand houses remaining with its green roof and window gables. Many of the other beautiful homes had been partitioned into apartments.
The entry was built to impress with its circular staircase running up both sides of the hallway. I certainly was impressed. The chandelier was all crystal and gleaming silver. The floors were marble, probably original.
Liz met me at the door. I knew that she and Hunter had a fabulous condo in New York City, but when they were in Rochester, they stayed in this house that Hunter had remodeled for his mother after he’d become successful in property renovation. There was certainly plenty of room for everybody in this mansion.
“Justin is in the library. His mother Amelia is upstairs resting, but she wants to see you before you leave.” Lovely. After a confrontation with Justin, I was to face the grand dame of the Cameron family, the woman who’d been Lady Amelia Wainwright, a daughter of a duke before she‘d married her poor-as-a-church mouse professor. I wanted to turn around and run.
When I came into that wonderful room lined with floor to ceiling books and a library ladder tucked into one corner, Justin stood in front of the fireplace, staring into the fire that crackled nicely in the fire box. The walnut mantel held framed pictures of his family.
I recognized one of a much younger Justin bent over his guitar, his face smooth and gentle. I remembered that Justin very well. The Justin that turned to me was a different matter altogether. His face was hard with anger. “I told Liz I didn’t want to see you.”
“Well, there’s a jolly welcome.” I eased down on the couch, trying to act nonchalant and ready to chat. He stood there as if he were made of stone. “Justin, I came to apologize. I said terrible things to you…”
He left the fireplace and loomed over me, one hand supporting him on the arm of the couch, his green eyes alive with fury. “I don’t give a damn about the names you called me. The damage you did to me was much greater. You made me start to think I might have a chance to lead a normal life. You made me think there might be a future…” His nose started to drip. He grabbed a handkerchief, and went to the fireplace to lean on the mantel and turn his back to me so I wouldn’t see him wiping his nose.
By now, my heart was breaking into little pieces. And I, I of the sharp repartee, couldn’t think of a single thing to say. Except…maybe I had to walk out on a very high precipice. It was dangerous, but I had to try.
“Justin, I want to marry you. Heaven knows we’re sexually compatible.” Not the most romantic thing to say in the world, but he was a guy. What did he care about romance? “Do you think it makes a difference to me if you occasionally get a migraine? Do you think I care about your drippy nose? I’m planning on having several drippy nosed children. You’d just be one of the crowd.”
In a terrible low, threatening voice, he said, “Can’t you get it through your head? We had an affair and that’s it. Over. Done. Finis. I don’t want to marry you, and I sure as hell don’t want any drippy nosed kids. What I want is you out of this house.” He turned his back to me and said in that lethal voice, “Now.”
“I’ll take that as a no to my proposal of marriage.” As gracefully as I could, I extracted myself from the deep cushions of the couch, and my head high, I walked past those acres and acres of books, and that room full of fine furniture. I’d crashed and burned. My wing tips were broken and my fuselage aflame. But I’ll be damned if I was going to cry in front of Justin.
Liz caught me in the foyer and dragged me upstairs. I had an impression of an all-white luxurious bedroom before she closed the door.
“I heard,” she said, and her face was so sympathetic that I fell in her arms.
“I made a terrible mess of it. I asked him to marry me.”
“Oh, my dear. I heard him all the way up here. But at least you got a rise out of him. He’s been so lethargic. There was nothing we could do to rouse him out of his stupor.”
“Well, I roused him, all right. And then some.” Liz’s sympathy made all my fine resolve not to cry vanish, and I burst into tears.
“Anne.” Liz Cameron pulled back to gaze into my face. “This isn’t like you.”
“Oh, stop. Why does everyone think I’m so reasonable and calm and… boring? I can be as irrational and emotional as anybody else.” I wrenched myself out of her arms.
“Anne?” She came from behind me and turned me gently around to face her. “You wouldn’t any chance be pregnant, would you?”
“Why would you say that?”
“Well, let’s see. Number one, I’ve never seen you like this. My guess is your hormones are raging. Number two, I know you love Justin. Number three, you’ve been alone with him for almost two weeks. And number four, you’re purposely not answering my question.”
“Too many numbers,” I mumbled. “But…it’s true. I’m going to have Justin’s baby.”
She took me in her arms as best she could with her nine-month baby bump. “I do believe my baby has a little cousin on the way.” At that, I loosened another bout of crying. I was so touched by her recognizing that her baby and my baby were related. I’d had no one to confide in, no one to tell my worries and fears to. And I’d just been tossed out on my ear by the baby’s father.
“Oh, Anne. I know it isn’t an ideal situation, but Justin’s family will be so happy.”
“Yes,” I said bitterly. “Everybody will be happy but the baby’s father.”
“You have to tell him.”
“I know. I was just hoping he’d be in a better mood when I did. You won‘t tell Hunter, will you?”
She shook her head. “I can’t make that promise. Hunter’s my husband. We made this pact after we were married that we’d never lie to each other. If he asks me, I’ll tell him the truth.”
“That means I have to tell Justin before I leave.”
Liz looked at me with that clear steady gaze. “Yes. And now you must go see Amelia. She’s waiting…”
Amelia Cameron appeared at the door elegant in a flowing gray dress. “I heard your voices. I couldn’t wait any longer.”
She drifted into the room and I had this insane urge to curtsey. She came to me and when I thought she would shake my hand, she gathered me in a hug. “Anne Wentworth. They’ve told me so much about you. They didn’t quite convey how lovely you are.”
She smelled of lavender and I thought how nice it would be to have a mother like her. “How very kind of you, Mrs. Cameron.”
She released me then. “Please call me Amelia. Now tell me all about your trip with Justin.”
Did this fine lady know what a bombshell she’d dropped? I had a feeling she did. Her eyes had that merry mischievous twinkle.
What was I going to say? “Well, Puerto Rico was lovely, but it wasn’t the usual tourist trip. Justin and I spent most of our time in the clinic, he in the treatment room, I in the waiting room…”
“Oh,” Liz cried out. “Oh, no.”
She had on a long silky dress, colored bright blue and green. At her feet, a small puddle appeared. Her water had broken.
Chapter 12
All thoughts of my problems vanished. “Is your overnight packed?”
“In the closet.”
“Where’s Hunter?”
“In New York City. We th
ought we had another week.”
“Your baby has other plans.” I turned to Amelia. “Mrs. Cameron, I‘m sorry.”
“Don’t give me another thought. Just do what needs to be done. I’ll go call Hunter. I told him he should stay home, that she was too close, but of course, no one listens to me and Liz insisted that he go.” She looked at Liz with such love. “Take care of her, Anne. I love her like I love my own daughter.”
“Oh,” Liz cried again.
I ran out and yelled over the railing of that elegant house like a fishwife. “Justin!”
“What the hell?” He shambled out of the library, obviously annoyed at being yelled at. “Is the house burning down?”
“Yes. Go get the car. Liz needs to go to the hospital. If you don’t hurry up, you’ll be helping me deliver a baby right here.”
That put a fire under him. “Damn Hunter. Why the hell isn’t he here?”
I looked out the window. As if on cue, it started to snow harder. Big fluffy flakes driven by a wind. But I knew Rochester. Big fluffy flakes have a nasty way of turning into full blown white outs.
“Come help Liz down the stairs.” Gone was my emotional breakdown. We had to act fast. Babies were inclined to appear quickly once the water broke, even first time babies. Justin had Liz by the arm and was guiding her down the stairs. Liz’s attention was that of a mother about to give birth, all her concentration turned inward to her body and the safe birth of her baby. She didn’t say anything, but I could tell by her breathing that the pains were coming now. Talk about grace under pressure.
Justin was quick, and the family limo appeared at the front door, thank God. There would be room for Liz to stretch out in the back if she needed to. She got in gingerly and I followed. As I sat beside her, she groped for my hand and held it hard. “This was a little more than you bargained for when you agreed to see Justin, isn’t it? But I‘m really glad you‘re here.”
“I hate to admit it but so am I,” Justin said ungraciously as he scrambled under the wheel and revved the engine to swing around the driveway.
I used my watch to time her contractions. They were five minutes apart which meant we had time. The trouble was the snow was thickening and we were on the east side of town. The hospital was on the west side.
If there was anything I didn’t want to do, it was deliver Liz Cameron’s baby in the back seat of a car. It wasn’t that I didn’t know how, I did. There was just the question of keeping mother and baby free from infection. But whether I wanted to or not, this baby was coming. Her contractions were two minutes apart. It was possible I was overreacting. Two minute contractions could go on for a while. I had to give Liz credit. The only indication I had that she was suffering pain was a much tighter squeeze on my hand.
The limo came to a complete stop. “Justin, what it is?”
“Accident on the cross over between 490 and 590.”
“Can’t you call for police escort?”
“It’s a traffic jam, Anne. How is a police escort going to help us get through a traffic jam?” I hated it when he talked to me as if I were a two year old.
“Well, I’m telling you, your little niece or nephew doesn’t care about snowstorms or traffic jams.”
“You mean Liz is going to have the baby here and now…in the car?”
“There’s a good possibility.”
“Hunter will kill me if I don’t get his wife to the hospital.” He swung off the road and we went barreling through that snowstorm, down and around and through back streets. I’d lived in Rochester all my life but I’d never been on any of these streets.
When we pulled up to the hospital, Liz’s contractions were one minute apart. Justin careened into emergency. I ran to get a wheelchair.
“Mrs. Cameron’s having her baby. Her water broke a half an hour ago and her contractions are a minute apart.”
A nurse ran to take Liz from me. “Who’s her doctor?” Liz told her.
Justin had handed off the limo to the valet parking person and stood behind me. “Her husband can check her in.”
“I’m not her husband,” Justin protested.
“Go on,” I said. “You can give them an address and telephone number. I have her purse with her ID and insurance card.” I handed it to him.
“I hate hospitals,” he mumbled.
“This isn’t about you,” I said, rather more sharply that I should have. “This is about Liz. Have you heard from your brother?”
“Yeah, he called me in the car. He says Rochester is socked in, no flights in or out. But knowing Hunter, he‘ll probably find somebody to bring him in.”
“Until he gets here, you’ll have to act as surrogate father.”
“Me? Hell, no.”
“You don’t even know what a surrogate father does.”
“Well, what does he do?”
“He doesn’t deliver the baby, for Pete’s sake. He holds the mother’s hand and tells her everything is all right. Go on. Get her checked in as much as you can. “
When he came back from the desk, I said, “You’ll have to get suited up. They‘ll have a set of scrubs for you.”
“When I see Hunter, I’m going to kill him.”
“Justin, be serious. Liz needs you.”
“She needs you, too,” he said and grabbed my hand to drag me beyond the double doors.
The doctor looked at both of us skeptically. Justin said, “I’m her…husband and this…is her sister.”
Of course, it was a doctor I knew slightly, Dr. Adams. “Hello, Anne. I thought your sister was much younger than you.”
“She is. This lady is my…sister-in-law.”
“Well, it is irregular, but I know you won’t faint, Anne, being an emergency room nurse. I’m not so sure about this young man, though.”
“I’ll be fine,” Justin said, but he actually looked a little green.
Gently I said, “Why don’t you wait in the lobby? Liz is going to be pretty busy for the next hour. She won’t miss you.”
Giving him an out was all it took to firm up his courage. “No. I want to be there.”
And so both Justin and I were in the room when Hunter and Liz’s daughter came into the world. Talk about beautiful. The baby had Hunter’s blue eyes and dark hair. Her fingers and toes were tiny and delicate, so fragile it was hard to believe she would one day be a grown woman.
The baby was cleaned up, swaddled and placed in Liz’s arms. Was there a more wonderful sight than a mother looking at her newborn for the first time? My thoughts were for Hunter. I was so sorry he’d missed this moment.
Justin looked shell shocked. He too must have felt the wonder of this moment when a new life comes into the world, a life that was part of his family. I have seen birth happen many times, but I never lost my wonder at the miracle of it. I suppose it was especially poignant for me since I was carrying my own miracle. To my surprise, Justin whipped out his phone camera and took a picture of mother and baby, capturing this moment in time to send to his brother.
Now that Liz and her daughter were safely out of the woods, Justin and I stripped out of our scrubs and walked into the waiting area. He said, “Thank God I’ll never have to go through that again.”
This was my opening. The truth should be told here and now before the lie went any further. But while I was swallowing the saliva that collected in my mouth and trying to shore up my courage, my silence had alerted him. Inside the little room with its uncomfortable chairs strung around the walls, he swung around to me. “Anne.” He grabbed my arm. “Am I going through this again?”
“Only if you want to be there when your baby is born.”
I could see him processing the information. Then he looked as if he was struggling to keep from strangling me.
“You told me it was safe,” his low voice rasped.
“I thought it was.”
“You’re a registered nurse for God’s sake. Don’t you know anything?”
I raised my chin. “Evidently not enough.”
“I’d rather be bit by a cobra.” I whipped around and nearly ran out of the room, thinking that was a hell of a way to tell a man he was going to be a father, and a hell of a way for the baby’s mother to talk to the father.
I made it through the door of the hospital and was outside in the snow, using my cell phone to call a taxi when he caught up to me, grabbed my arm and swung me around to face him. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Home…where I hope never to lay eyes on a Cameron again as long as I live.”
His mouth quirked a little. It was the first sign I‘d seen that his anger had dissipated. “Your child will be a Cameron.”
“I won’t hold that against him,” I said defiantly. “It’s not the baby’s fault I picked a lousy father.”
Snow collected on his blond head. “You couldn’t have picked a lousier one.”
My taxi arrived. “I couldn’t agree more. Goodbye, Justin.”
He stood there in the snow, looking very alone. Just the way he wanted to be.
Chapter 13
Justin
I reentered the hospital. I promised Hunter I would stay with Liz and the baby until he arrived.
When I got to Liz’s room, the baby lay dozing in a white wicker bassinette next to Liz’s bed. Liz was like a beautiful, serene Madonna and the baby looked like a miniature Hunter, poor thing. I’d seen baby pictures of my brother and little Madeline could have been his twin. Was that baby going to be spoiled? Oh, yeah. Although Liz might put a brake on Hunter’s desire to give this child the world.
With both mother and daughter sleeping, I hunkered down in the chair and dozed off myself. I suppose it was a couple of hours later when Hunter came plowing through the door.
“Could you be quiet, you big ox?” I whispered. “They are both sleeping.”
“Did Liz suffer much?”
“If she did, we didn’t know it. She let out a good moan a couple of times. That woman’s got guts.”
“Oh, yeah,” Hunter said. “Don’t I know it?” He went to gaze at his daughter. “She’s so beautiful.”
Wooing Justin: The Cameron Family Saga, Book Two Page 8
