by Ginny Baird
The man slowly lowered the vase in his hands, exposing that unbelievably handsome and familiar face. “Hello, baby,” Luke said. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Her heart caught in her throat and tears filled her eyes. Could this be a dream?
Over Luke’s shoulder, she spied the flower deliveryman climbing back in his truck, as the light blue SUV parked behind it slowly pulled away. Luke smiled at her, and dark eyes twinkled. “I told the flower guy I’d take it from there.” He shrugged toward the drive, then stepped inside and shut the door. “I hope you don’t mind the personal delivery.”
“Oh, Luke!”
Luke set the flowers on a table, and Amanda leapt into his arms. Despite the fact that his coat was freezing cold and sopping wet, she squeezed him to her. She didn’t care if he was Frosty the Snowman himself. She never wanted to let him go. This was Luke. Her Luke. And by some Valentine’s miracle, he’d made it home! “We’re expecting another one.”
He pulled back to look at her. “What?”
“The baby,” she said a bit breathlessly. “It’s coming.”
Luke took in her overcoat, then his gaze travelled to her bag by the door.” His face glowed brightly. “You mean?”
Amanda nodded, still weeping. How could this be? He was here! “But how did you…? I thought…?”
“We got an early shore leave. Time off for good behavior.” He shot her a wink, and Amanda’s pulse fluttered, just as it had that very first day.
Another car door popped open outdoors, then footfalls raced up the front steps. “That’s Katie,” Amanda told him, opening the door.
Katie entered the house, then fell back in surprise. “Luke! Well, I’ll be! Isn’t this a Valentine’s treat?”
“The very best,” Amanda said, drying her eyes. Suddenly, another shock of pain hit her. “Argh!” she cried, gripping her belly.
“Looks like we’d better get going.” Luke briefly stepped outside to haul in the duffle he’d left on the porch. “Katie?”
She looked uncertainly from one to the other. “Oh, I… It looks like I’m no longer needed here.” But even as she said it, she looked down about it, like she’d really been looking forward to her role in supporting Amanda. “I’ll just head back home and wait for your call.”
“Nonsense,” Luke said kindly. “I can always use a wingman, or woman, as the case may be.”
Katie viewed them both with expectation. “Are you sure?”
Amanda lovingly studied her husband, then set her gaze back on Katie. “He’s right. You know the drill. Luke may even wind up being your wingman!”
The three of them laughed until Amanda winced once more with discomfort.
“We can take my car,” Katie said. “It’s already warmed up.”
“Just let me grab one thing.” Luke strode briskly to the living room and lifted the baby book off the coffee table. Amanda raised her brow, questioning.
“I saw it over there,” he explained, “and it reminded me.”
“Of what?” Amanda asked him.
“Don’t they stamp the baby’s footprints in here or something?”
“Who told you that?” Katie asked with amazement.
“Logan,” Luke said with a grin.
Amanda tucked the baby book in her bag. “Well, God bless Logan.”
“You got that part right.”
Luke wrapped his arm around Amanda’s shoulder as Katie held back the door.
“So,” he asked Amanda as they headed through the snow, “ready to do this thing?”
Amanda smiled at her husband, believing the world was a glorious place. And it was about to get even better. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
He leaned toward her and whispered, “Not a captain yet.”
“No, but you will be,” she said playfully. “I’ve got faith in you.”
“Yeah? Well, I’ve got faith in you too.”
Then he planted a kiss on her forehead and helped her in the car.
Chapter Ten
Ten minutes before midnight, Luke proudly held his baby daughter in his arms. Lena was absolutely perfect. She weighed eight pounds, two ounces exactly, and had all her fingers and toes.
Luke gently jostled Lena and beamed at his wife. “Not bad for a Little Bean.”
“Is he really going to call her that?” Katie asked Amanda from nearby.
Amanda laughed weakly, but her heart was light. The past six hours had been the most exhausting—yet exhilarating—ones of her life. Looking at her husband and daughter now, she knew that every second of her labor had been worth it. “Only until Lena is old enough to tell him to cut it out.”
Luke captured Amanda in his gaze, his adoration for her obvious. “You read my note.”
“Read it and recorded it, yeah. Believe it or not, it was very similar to mine.”
“I believe it,” he told her. He gazed down at the baby in his arms, then back at Amanda. There was love in his eyes. The kind there was no mistaking. “You and I have a lot in common, it seems. More now than ever.”
“On that note,” Katie added cheerily, “I think I’ll leave the three of you alone to enjoy the last few minutes of this holiday.”
“Thanks, Katie.” Amanda stretched her arms wide and pressed her friend to her in a hug. “Thanks so much for everything.”
“We definitely couldn’t have done it without you,” Luke added.
“You go home and get some rest,” Amanda urged.
“Will do.” Katie slipped on her overcoat. The birthing room had a pullout sofa chair, so Luke could stay over, and Logan and Tammy were stopping by in the morning. Logan would give Luke a ride home then so he could pick up his own SUV. Before Katie left, she turned to the three of them. “You all make a very nice family. A very happy family, for sure.”
She quietly closed the door behind her, and Luke handed Lena back to his wife. The baby was swaddled in hospital blankets and in a peaceful, deep slumber. She’d worked hard today too. Amanda studied the child’s tiny face, thinking she’d never seen such beauty. Everything about her, from her charcoal-colored hair to her cherubic pink cheeks, was perfect.
When she glanced back up at Luke, a tiny dab of moisture glistened in his eye. It occurred to Amanda that she’d never seen Luke cry. When he spoke, his voice was thick with emotion. “This is the best homecoming a man could have.”
Amanda patted the side of the bed so he could sit down beside them. He did, and she took his hand. “I don’t know how you got here or who let you, but I’ll always be in their debt.”
“I have news,” he told her. “Commander March came to see me this morning.”
Amanda’s pulse quickened. This could mean anything, including a move to a faraway part of the globe. While she would go anywhere with Luke, the secret truth was, right now and for the next couple of years, she’d give anything in the world to stay put.
“I’ve been put in command of the air flight training division”
Her lips pulled into a grin. “The one right here?”
Luke kissed the back of her hand. “That’s the best one they’ve got.”
“You’re the best the navy’s got.”
“I hope I’m the best you’ve got,” he teased with a wink.
Affection warmed her cheeks. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to the two of us,” she said, referencing Lena.
Luke leaned forward to kiss her on the lips. His tone was husky when he spoke, reminding her of the many loving moments they’d shared and alerting her to the fact there’d be more to come. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Amanda. I love you.” Then he kissed her with the sweetness she’d missed for all these months, and—to her delight—his kiss lingered.
After a while, she whispered back, “We love you too.”
Luke met her gaze, and longing glimmered in his eyes.
“Mind if I lie down beside you?”
Amanda scooted over, making room, and settled little Lena between them.
Luke stretched out an arm
to cradle them both, drawing them toward his chest. His presence was tender and warm, and Amanda gained comfort from his strength. My husband and my baby’s father is finally home.
What a day it had been. One that was filled with love and happy surprises. She would remember it forever.
Luke reached for her hand and laced his fingers through hers. “I’ll remember it forever too,” he said, his voice gone groggy.
She didn’t bother to ask how he’d known what she was thinking.
Somehow he always did.
As she drifted off to sleep, Amanda caught sight of the hospital window. It was coated with snow from the storm still raging outside. Tiny rivulets streaked down the glass, forming intricate patterns as they went. For the life of her, one looked just like a giant Valentine’s heart.
The End
A Note from the Author
Thanks for reading Special Delivery: A Valentine’s Short Story. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please help other people find this book.
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Keep reading here for a preview of romantic comedy Baby, Be Mine.
BABY, BE MINE
By
Ginny Baird
#1 Hot New Release in Humor!
BABY, BE MINE (Holiday Brides Book 5)
A single woman gets a Christmas gift that sends her world into chaos, and has her tracking down a last-minute groom - with the help of her handsome best friend.
Baby, Be Mine
(Chapter One)
Nikki Constantino dabbed the corner of her eye with a tissue. There was so much dust in the room, her allergies were going wild. It caked on the fake flowers in the blue vase and hung heavy in the musty air. No one must have cleaned this study in years.
The stout little man studied her kindly through horn-rimmed glasses. “I know this is hard. You and your aunt must have been close.” Snow slapped the windowpanes behind him, painting icy streaks down the glass.
“Actually, I barely knew her.” She sniffed, and Jack draped his arm around her. He gave her shoulder a light squeeze, the silent signal between them that everything would be all right. She didn’t have to look at him to know his dark brown eyes were focused on the attorney in a way that said, Don’t sugarcoat this. Give it to us straight.
“Nikki hasn’t seen her Great-Aunt Mallory in years.”
“Not since I was little. Ten, I think.”
The attorney studied the papers before him and licked his plump lips. “Uh-huh,” he said, thumbing through them. “Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.”
Jack loudly cleared his throat. “Isn’t there something you’re supposed to read?”
The lawyer stared at Jack. “To Miss Constantino, yes. Frankly, not understanding your relation to the deceased, I’m not certain you should be here.”
Nikki defensively took Jack’s hand. “He’s my best friend!”
“Friend, huh?” the other man asked, appearing amused. “I was hoping you might say fiancé.”
Nikki glanced quickly at Jack, noting his neck had deepened a shade. “Why on earth would you say that?”
“Might make things less complicated.”
Nikki would like to see how they could get more complicated. Here she sat, summoned to some tiny Midwestern town in the thick of winter, at her late great-aunt’s behest. And, she hadn’t a clue why. Her memories of Aunt Mallory were less than flattering and concerned an overbearing woman tottering on tiny heels. Her face was pasty pale from too much pressed powder; her lips were fire-engine red. She never seemed to get the color within the lines. And when she opened her mouth to speak, even her portly beagle, Duke, took refuge under the bed. Whether the meatloaf was overcooked or the thermostat set too low, Aunt Mallory could deliver a tongue-lashing bent in the direction of anyone careless enough to get in her way.
For the first few years after Nikki’s grandma died, her mom, Emma, felt sorry for her late mother’s spinster sister and invited her to join them for holidays. The invitations abruptly stopped after Mallory threatened to stuff poor Duke and pop him in the oven as a replacement for the too dry Thanksgiving turkey. Emma surreptitiously placed Duke with an animal rescue and sent Aunt Mallory packing. It was a transgression Aunt Mallory would never forgive. Not, apparently, until her dying day. She left her niece, Emma, nothing, and she didn’t even know about Nikki’s baby brother since he’d been born after she’d broken family ties. As far as Aunt Mallory was concerned, her only other remaining heir was her grand-niece, Nikki.
The attorney addressed Nikki as winds howled outside. Or maybe those were the cows crying. Could cows cry from relief, Nikki wondered? They were on Aunt Mallory’s dairy farm, all fifty acres of it. Nikki certainly hoped her aunt didn’t leave her that. She didn’t know the first thing about farming. Plus, she was lactose intolerant. “Do I have your permission to proceed?”
She squeezed Jack’s hand, then released it and patted his knee. She must have patted one too many times, because Jack suddenly pinned her palm in place right against his pants leg. Nikki sometimes had a nervous habit of doing something over and over, but only when she was stressed. “Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of Jack.”
“Very well.” He shuffled some papers. “I’ll read what she said in her handwritten note.”
“Handwritten?” Jack interceded. “Isn’t a will supposed to be typed or something? Notarized?”
“She had one of those. This was written after. It supersedes the other.”
Jack sat back in his chair. “I see.”
She was glad he’d come along. When things crowded in on Nikki, she sometimes felt driven to react quickly, and not always in the best-thought-out ways. Like when her knee-jerk reaction was to refuse Mallory’s invite from the grave to come here. Jack said she shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth until she at least knew its breed. He was right, of course. There’d be no sense in refusing an inheritance sight unseen. It was just the fact it came from Aunt Mallory that made it seem unpromising. Jack was good for things like that: helping her stay charted in the right direction. She teasingly called him her compass. He didn’t seem to mind the moniker. He’d had it since the tenth grade.
“I, Mallory Gertrude Greene…”
“Gertrude?” Jack quipped quietly beside her. She slapped his hand with her free one. He still firmly held the other. She tried to tug it away, but he resisted.
“Being of sound mind and body,” the attorney continued, “do hereby bequeath my entire estate—”
“Entire estate?” Nikki asked him. “What’s that mean?”
“I’m getting to that part. To the one relative on earth who never insulted me…”
“That’s because I was terrified,” Nikki whispered to Jack.
“My great-niece, Nicola Carina Constantino…”
Nikki swallowed hard.
“Under the following conditions…”
“I didn’t think the deceased could set conditions,” Jack said.
“They can do anything that they want,” the attorney answered. “Before I proceed, I need to read this stipulation.”
“That’s different from a condition?” Nikki wanted to know.
“It’s a footnote.” He turned the paper sideways to read something scrawled along its edge. “It says here… Important! In order to inherit, Nicola must be over the age of twenty-five. Otherwise—”
“Yes.” Jack pu
mped his fist in the air, and the attorney lowered his glasses.
“This will go a lot faster without the commentary.”
“Sorry.” He glanced apologetically at Nikki. “It just seemed like that was a score.” She’d recently turned twenty-eight, so that wasn’t a problem.
The man rolled his eyes and resumed reading. “Otherwise, the estate will be held in trust until such time Nicola reaches the age of twenty-five and is therefore is suitably mature to meet the aforesaid conditions. Assuming she does, she’ll be at liberty to dispense of her inheritance as she chooses.”
Nikki’s head was spinning already.
“That means you can sell the farm.”
“Good.” She didn’t know much about real estate, but Jack was business minded. He could help her. But wait! What if I can’t sell quickly enough? What will become of the cows? I don’t know a thing about milking! Yikes! What if Aunt Mallory didn’t leave instructions? Will the poor cows explode? Would that make me guilty of—gasp—uddercide?
Jack tightened his grip on her hand, sensing she was growing tense. “Breathe,” he told her quietly. He demonstrated by sucking in air.
She inhaled a deep breath then let it go, feeling better. Thank goodness Jack was here. They both turned toward the attorney, who gaped at them.
