by Lisa Carter
Landing engine-first in the creek, the rear end stuck straight out of the water. Moaning, she clutched her abdomen. Was the baby okay?
Something freezing cold seeped into the soles of her boots, and she stared in disbelief as marsh water rose from the floorboards. Frantic, she plucked at the seat belt. If she didn’t get free—
The lock released, and with a fear born of adrenaline, she scrambled—belly and all—between the front seats.
In the back seat, she wrenched at the door handle. Nothing. But bracing her boots against the door, she shoved. Trapped against the snowpacked embankment, the door yielded a foot. Not much, but enough.
By holding her breath and sucking in her gut, she squeezed through the narrow opening. Like a cork out of a bottle, she popped out. Only to find herself losing the battle with gravity.
Sliding on the ice-coated bank, she flailed, reaching for anything to stop her descent. She fell against the car.
Tears matted her eyelashes and froze. She groaned as another contraction knifed through her. An excruciating minute before the worst of it passed. No one knew where she was. And with the car sinking into the marsh, no one would think to look for her down here.
She fought her way inch by painful inch to the top of the embankment. For Ruby’s sake, she couldn’t quit.
Using the dented railing on the road for support, she staggered to her feet. The snow had stopped, but drifts blanketed both sides of the road. It was hard to tell where the pavement ended. She didn’t want to end up in the creek again.
Shivering, she pushed onward, one step after the other. If she stopped, she’d die. And so would Ruby.
But her foot came down on nothing, and she stumbled. Falling, she twisted to avoid crushing the baby. Landing on her back, the breath whooshed out of her lungs.
She lay there, stunned. Cold and tired. Tired of fighting to remain alive. She closed her eyes. She needed to sleep. Just a few minutes.
From beneath her closed eyelids came the image of Ryan’s face when he kissed her. Followed by another picture of Ryan holding her baby, loving her baby. Loving Anna. A scene with no basis in reality. Not yet...
Her eyes flew open. Her heart hammered. She had to get out of here. With a biting snap, her numbed limbs tingled painfully to life.
But she’d reached the end of her delusions of self-sufficiency. “God, help me, please.” Her voice rang out over the hushed stillness.
And that was when she heard it.
Bells. The jangle of a harness. The sleigh? Had Ryan come looking for her?
Rolling onto her side, she planted her mittens into the snow and pushed upward. She had to get his attention. It was now or never. “Ryan!”
The wind caught her voice and snatched it away. Panic swelled. He’d pass by without seeing her.
* * *
The sleigh glided along the ice-encrusted roadway. Franklin’s breath puffed in the cold, night air. But at the edge of the wood, movement caught Ryan’s attention. Contrasted against the snowy landscape, something red.
His lungs burned as he sucked in a blast of frigid air. Yanking the reins, he jerked Franklin to a standstill. “Anna?”
God, please let it be Anna. Where was her car? What was she doing out here on foot?
Tossing the reins onto the seat, he plunged out of the sleigh, only to flounder in the knee-deep drift. Grabbing hold of the bridle, he led the horse down the gentle slope to the other side.
“Anna!”
She raised her head. “Ryan... I—”
Dropping the bridle, he ran to her side. “I’m here, Anna. It’s going to be okay.” Gathering her in his arms, he lifted her off her feet. He slogged toward the sleigh. “You need to get warm.”
She tucked her head underneath his chin against the hollow of his throat. “I’m so sorry, Ryan. For everything.”
He set her on the seat, but she clung to him. “Don’t leave me, Ryan. Please...”
Ryan’s heart thumped. “Let me get the quilt.” He eased out of her stranglehold. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be here as long as you need me.” He wrapped her in the quilt. “But I’m going to have to help Franklin find the way home.”
She huddled into him.
Cutting a path through the forest, he kept the sleigh off the road. There was one place where they could bypass the fallen tree blocking the entrance to town. He’d have to risk fording the tidal creek near a shallow, narrow portion of the marsh.
“We’re almost there, Anna.” He drove Franklin as hard as he dared. “Hang on.”
She bit off a groan. His eyes darted to her. Contorted with pain, her face was pale.
“Do I need to stop?”
She gritted her chattering teeth. “K-keep g-going.” Her breathing became labored as she fought the next wave of surging pain.
Franklin came to an abrupt halt at the incline leading into the creek. Jumping out of the sleigh, Ryan’s boots thumped on the snowpacked ground. He grabbed Franklin’s bridle. The horse tossed his head, but Ryan hauled the horse forward.
Never letting go of the bridle, he guided Franklin into the water. The sleigh jolted over the pebbled creek bottom. Anna clutched the side of the sleigh as the horse clambered up the creek bank. And they emerged beyond the blocked bridge.
The whirring red and white lights of the waiting ambulance were a welcome relief. Luke got out of the driver side. Her father clambered out the passenger seat. The back doors of the ambulance swung open to reveal Will and Anna’s mother.
Ryan swallowed. He’d not realized how scared he’d been that he’d have to deliver the baby by himself. “Look who’s here to meet their grandchild, Anna.”
Her parents hurried toward the sleigh.
“Mom? Dad?” Tears clogged Anna’s voice. “I’m so sorry. For everything.”
Will and Luke followed with a gurney.
“Daddy...” She sobbed as Ryan lifted her out of the sleigh. “If you and Mom could ever find it in your heart to forgive me...”
Everett Pruitt’s stern features softened. “All’s forgiven, honey.” He reached for his daughter. “Thank you, Ryan, for everything you’ve done. I’ll take it from here.”
Ryan hesitated only an instant before he surrendered Anna into her father’s arms. Everett laid her on the gurney.
Her mother went into nurse mode, checking Anna’s vitals. “She’ll never make it Riverside, not with the road conditions. Take her to our house.” She exchanged glances with Will. “We’re going to have to deliver this baby ourselves.”
Will’s dark eyes—so like Anna’s—clouded. Luke took Mrs. Pruitt’s place beside the cart. Silent, Ryan stood beside the panting horse as the men rolled the gurney into the ambulance.
Anna stretched out her hand. “Where’s Ryan?”
Everett’s eyes shot to him. “He’s not far, sweetheart. He’ll follow us to the house, right?”
Ryan gave a quick jerk of his head. He’d planned on coming, invitation or not.
Everett stroked the hair off her perspiring forehead. “Ryan will see you soon. Just hang in there.”
The wheels folded as they lifted the gurney into the ambulance. Her mother jumped in with Will. Everett jogged around to the passenger side.
Luke slammed the doors closed. “Take the horse to the firehouse, Ryan. Ethan will take care of him. And get out of those wet boots.”
The ambulance disappeared around the square toward the Pruitt home. Anna had asked for him. And for now, that was enough.
* * *
Leaving Ethan to deal with the horse and sleigh, Ryan tromped through the snow on the square. Except for the chugging whine of an outdoor generator, the streets lay dark and quiet. When the transformer blew, Kiptohanock’s electricity went with it.
It was late. Most folks were pro
bably waiting for the dawn under thick, heavy quilts. Tomorrow was Christmas morning. He could only imagine Anna’s weariness. It had been a long, excruciating evening. And it wasn’t over yet.
But at the end of weariness lay joy. By tomorrow—God willing—she’d be a mother. The Pruitts would have a new baby to love.
As for him? When the highway cleared, would he find himself driving away to the start of a new life? At the Pruitt house, he climbed the creaking steps to the wraparound porch.
Stomping the snow from his borrowed boots, he was about to knock when Evy threw open the door. “Thank God you’re here.” She yanked him inside.
At the base of the staircase, Everett wrenched Ryan’s coat off his back. “Anna’s calling for you. We can’t get her to settle. You’ll need to stay with her.”
“Uh...” His gaze ping-ponged around the parlor, where logs blazed in the hearth. “During the delivery?”
He’d imagined the scenario in so many different ways. Pacing a hospital corridor and waiting for news. Or in his new condo in North Carolina, getting a phone call from Anna. But never this. Being an active participant in the most wondrous moment of her life.
Flashlight in hand, Will appeared on the landing. “Anna wants you, Ryan.”
If only that were true. He scrubbed his chin with his hand. But it wasn’t true. She needed her friend. Nothing more. She’d come to depend on him over the last month of her pregnancy.
Yet despite the unfulfilled longings of his heart for Anna, he was grateful for the opportunity to see the little Christmas baby born into the world.
He followed Will upstairs to the room that had always been Anna’s. The glow of candles pushed the darkness to the corners. Propped in the bed, she gripped her mother’s hand. Her chest heaved.
As his shadow fell across them, Mrs. Pruitt glanced up. “I wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold out.” She beckoned him to take her place beside the bed. “Anna, sweetheart? Ryan’s here. I need to check your progress. I think it’s about time to push.”
Sinking onto the footstool, he grasped Anna’s hand. Sweat glistened on her forehead. Her eyes were large with fear and pain. “Ryan...”
“You’re going to get through this,” he whispered. “You’re strong and brave and beautiful.”
There were times when she squeezed his hand so hard he lost feeling in his fingers. Her mother and Evy stationed themselves at the end of the bed, beyond the tented sheet lying across her knees.
Lines creased her forehead. Her chin sank onto her chest as her body hunched. But her eyes never left his face.
“Breathe, Anna,” he encouraged. “You’re doing great. Just a little more.”
One final, agonizing push. Mrs. Pruitt opened her hands. Anna fell onto the pillows. Tears streamed across Evy’s face. Will grabbed a pair of scissors.
“Mom,” Anna gasped. “Is my baby all right?”
There was a high-pitched cry of tiny outrage.
“She’s perfect.” Gail Pruitt’s face shone. “Absolutely perfect.”
Anna struggled to sit upright. “I want to see her.”
Evy spread a towel on the bed. Mrs. Pruitt laid the writhing pink bundle on top and wrapped the baby in its warmth. She placed the baby alongside her mother.
A tiny fist waved in the air. And a small foot shot out from beneath the folds of the towel. Anna’s eyes darted to his.
She laughed. “No surprise there, huh?”
He swallowed past the lump in his throat. “A girl who’s got something to say. And she intends to say it.”
Ryan fell to his knees beside the bed as Anna cradled her long-awaited child. Her Christmas baby.
Anna brushed her lips against her daughter’s delicate cheek. “Hello, Ruby Gail Reyes.”
Her mom’s mouth trembled.
Lured by the lusty cries of life, her dad ventured into the room. He draped his arm around his wife. Gail Pruitt leaned her head on his shoulder.
“I’m naming her for Mateo’s grandmother and my amazing mom.” Anna moistened her lips with her tongue. “I pray I can be as incredible a mother as she has been to me.”
The tough ex-deputy didn’t look so fierce now. His eyes were red-rimmed. Ruby Gail Reyes had reduced the blustering lawman to emotional gelatin.
Will cleared his throat. “She’s like a baby football.”
Anna rolled her eyes. “Only a Pruitt would think that.”
“We should clean her up,” Mrs. Pruitt added.
“Just a few more minutes.” With Ruby tucked in the crook of her arm, Anna unfolded the towel. “After I count her fingers and toes.” She looked at Ryan. “Wanna help? Since I know math is kind of your thing.”
And so together they counted each one. While Ruby Reyes let the world know how she really felt.
He rose. “All present and accounted for.”
Anna gazed at him, her arms outstretched. “Would you like to hold her, Ryan?”
His heart jackhammered. “Yes.” He gulped. “I would.”
For a second, the baby lay in both their arms as she transferred her hold to him. A moment in which he had eyes only for Ruby’s mother. The great love of his life.
The only love of his life. And he beheld in that fraction of a heartbeat the life that could never be his. The love that would never be his. A woman whose heart would always belong to her dead husband. Yet for this stolen moment, Ryan’s to cherish.
He needed to imprint this memory of Anna forever on his brain. It wasn’t nearly enough. Not even close to what he longed for. All he’d ever have of Anna, it would need to last him a lifetime.
She gave her child over to him. Gazing at the beautiful baby in his arms, for the second time in his life, Ryan fell in love. Hopelessly, helplessly, irretrievably in love with the bawling creature with the fathomless black eyes.
Although not his child, he felt a love so pure, it took his breath. His vision blurred. How can this be, God? But it was so. His heart was hers.
“Welcome to our world, sweet Ruby.” He pressed his cheek against the softness of her black curls. “Welcome to our world.”
Holding the precious child in his arms, at last he understood the math Canyon Collier had spoken of. The divine equation of love multiplied.
Shifting his weight from side to side, he crooned a lullaby and rocked her gently. “... Angels watching, e’er around thee, All through the night.”
Ruby stopped crying as if somehow she recognized his voice. Everything and everyone in the room faded. Her baby fist flailed from beneath the cover and grazed his lips.
“... Soft the drowsy hours are creeping, hill and vale in slumber sleeping.” His arms tightened around the drowsy infant.
The child he’d come to love. An unexpected love for a baby who wasn’t his. An unexplainable love. A love to which he was ready to devote his life. But Anna had been crystal clear. There was no place for him in her life or Ruby’s.
“I my loved ones’ watch am keeping...” His voice hitched. “All through the night...” he whispered.
How far was Ryan’s love willing to go for Anna and this baby? For him, God’s love had been willing to go all the way from heaven to the manger to the cross. Now Ryan had arrived at his own cross. And because of God’s love, Ryan’s love for Anna and this baby could do no less.
He must love them enough to let them go.
Anna’s brown eyes gleamed with bittersweet tears. “Ryan...”
His gaze fell to the sleeping child. “Someone else should have a turn. Goodbye, Anna.”
Ryan brushed his lips against the smooth perfection of Ruby’s forehead. Inhaling her sweet baby scent, he whispered goodbye as he lowered Ruby into her mother’s arms.
Loving her, he let Ruby go. He let them both go. And walked away. Alone into the night.
/>
Chapter Twenty
Ryan was gone before Anna could stop him. One minute he was there loving her child and the next? He slipped away as Ruby went into the loving embrace of her grandparents.
Anna was exhausted by the time her mother and Evy shooed the menfolk out of the bedroom. No one but Ruby wanted to sleep that night. A night no one would ever forget. A Christmas Eve when love had been born in their hearts and in their home again.
Finally—her mother last—each family member crept quietly to their own beds. To capture a few hours of sleep before dawn bathed the world in the light of Christmas morning. A Christmas like no other.
And though beyond weary, Anna found herself unable to fall asleep. Filled with wonder and gratitude for the intricately woven child lying beside her on the bed. A blessing. God’s reminder of His never-failing love for Anna and for those who would always love her. Ryan, most of all.
Last night when he held Ruby, she’d glimpsed in his eyes the kind of love that never let go. A divine love reflected through the grace note of Ryan’s love for her. And for a child who wasn’t his.
Until the day she died, a part of her would love Ruby’s father. But in Ryan’s love, she saw herself, Ruby and a future of which she’d not dared to allow herself to dream.
God’s precious gifts to her—Mateo, Ruby. And Ryan.
She gazed at the sleeping child in her arms and wept. Why had she not seen it before? Only through much pain had God brought them to each other.
Ruby’s upper lip curved sweetly. Something fierce and strong fluttered in Anna’s heart. Ruby had been worth any price. The pain. The grief. The loss.
Through the window, she watched as light flooded the eastern sky. And with poignant insight, she realized she’d been so stubborn. So blind to the incredible beauty of the gifts God had placed within her reach. The supreme gift of Himself.
Joy and hope. The pain of yesterday forgotten as if it had never been. As for Ryan? Her heart swelled. Was it too late? Why had he left?
She couldn’t shake that one moment last night when Ruby no longer lay between them, but united them. In faith. In love. In purpose.
