by Brenda Novak
Hope pulled up the sleeves of her sweater, fighting the panic that edged closer with every minute. “There’s no ambulance service. And the closest medical center is in Richfield. Once she has the baby, we’ll have to take her there ourselves.”
“Once she has the baby?” he echoed.
Hope nodded. “Just hold her hand and keep telling her everything’s going to be okay while I check her so I know what I’m dealing with.”
“And then what?” Parker asked.
“Pray the baby isn’t breach.”
* * *
PARKER HAD NEVER SEEN a woman give birth before, which was surprising, considering he’d worked at The Birth Place for nearly twelve years. It was a part of the business in which he didn’t involve himself. The midwives handled all of that. Vanessa had had a couple of miscarriages, but he’d gotten her to the hospital in plenty of time and the doctors had taken care of everything. Those were sad, disappointing occasions, especially for his poor wife. But this…this was something else entirely. Anger, fear and hope flooded through him in equal proportions, leaving him so agitated he didn’t know what to do with himself.
“One more push,” Hope said. “Come on, Faith, you can do it.”
“I can’t,” she groaned. Sweat matted her hair to her forehead, despite the cool temperature and, beneath the purple bruises Arvin had left, her face was so pale it was almost translucent. She looked utterly spent.
“Is she okay?” Jed called, poking his head inside the barn. At Hope’s request, her father had sent the men to the house to gather a few items, then shooed everyone out, except her and Parker. But she could tell he was having difficulty waiting.
Hope didn’t have the time or the energy to respond. “I saw the baby’s head during the last contraction,” she told Faith. “One more good push should be all it takes.”
Another contraction came, but Faith didn’t even try to push. She started to twist and moan, and Hope’s fear-filled eyes turned Parker’s way. “If the baby doesn’t come soon, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
“It’ll come,” he told her. Then he squeezed Faith’s hand. “One more push, Faith. You can do it. You’re a strong girl. Show me how strong you are.”
Parker heard the barn door close again, but he knew Jed and the others hadn’t left. They were hovering close by, waiting.
“Here comes another contraction,” Hope said.
“Let’s go, Faith,” Parker said, and she finally bore down. He could feel her shaking as she squeezed his arm and wished he could lend her some of his strength. Come on, he prayed, let the baby come now. Come on.
“That’s it, honey,” Hope said. “Here she is…Here she is…”
Parker caught a glimpse of the baby’s head, and relief almost overwhelmed him. But when the contraction ended, Faith collapsed and the head disappeared back inside her womb.
Tears began to stream down Hope’s face. “Parker, if she loses this baby…”
“She’s not going to lose it,” he said.
“Come on, Faith.” Hope’s voice was angry, impatient this time. “Arvin’s not going to cost us this baby, dammit. You can do it. Come on!”
“What’s wrong?” Hope’s father called, opening the door again.
“Keep the door shut,” Parker hollered. He feared the panic was starting to get to Hope. She was losing the calm she’d had throughout the delivery, and he needed her. Faith needed her. “Hope, it’s okay,” he said, his voice low. “Don’t let her down.”
Hope gritted her teeth and lifted her chin, defiance flashing in her eyes. “I will never let her down,” she said. “She’s my sister. She’s having this baby, and she and the baby are both going to be fine.”
Parker nodded. “That’s the truth. Believe it,” he said with absolute confidence.
Another contraction hit and Faith moaned.
“Now,” Hope said. “Now, Faith.”
Faith seemed to gather her remaining strength and pushed. It was a feeble effort at first, but with Hope’s encouragement, she fought harder.
“Do you want this baby?” Hope asked.
“I want this baby,” she panted.
“Then show me, Faith. How badly do you want this baby? How badly?”
“I…want…this…baby!” The words sounded torn from her throat, but the determination behind them worked. The baby’s head finally slid out just before the contraction ended, and Hope immediately began clearing its breathing passages with the clean sheet Elton had brought from the house. With the next contraction, the baby’s body emerged.
Feeling a little light-headed, Parker drew a deep breath and blinked at the tiny, red body.
It was a boy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“YOU DID IT,” Hope whispered the moment Faith’s baby let out its first cry. “Listen to those lungs. You did it, Faith! What a brave woman you are.”
Parker covered Faith to keep her warm, then smoothed the hair from her forehead as Hope tied the umbilical cord off with a shoelace.
“Is that going to be okay?” Jed asked. He’d come into the barn the second he heard the baby, and the others were beginning to file in and cluster around, too.
“I think so,” Hope said. “The afterbirth delivered just fine, and I’m pretty sure the placental blood has already gone into the baby, where it’s supposed to be. This should ensure that it stays there.” She double-checked her knot. “I could probably cut the cord, but I’d rather not risk infection. It’d be better to take the baby to the hospital still connected to Faith and let them handle it there.”
“Congratulations,” Parker said to Faith. “You have a beautiful baby boy.”
Faith’s eyes were closed. Her breathing was shallow, but she wasn’t losing a lot of blood. Hope thought she was recovering. “Did you hear, honey?” she asked.
Faith opened her eyes and attempted a smile, but Hope could tell she was almost too exhausted to move. “Look at him.” Hope held the crying baby up for her to see. “He’s perfect. I bet he weighs almost seven pounds.”
A real smile curved Faith’s lips at that, and she reached out for him. “He’s beautiful. Let me hold him.”
Hope wrapped the baby in a blanket and settled him in the crook of Faith’s arm, so that supporting him wouldn’t take any effort. “We’re going to transport you to the hospital now, okay, honey?” she said. “You just rest and we’ll take care of everything. We’ll let the baby suckle while we drive. That should help your uterus contract and slow the bleeding. It’ll be good for both of you.”
Hope felt shaky after the infusion of so much adrenaline, but she managed to stand and face the men of Superior. Parker came up behind her. She felt his presence and would have reached back to take his hand, except that hers were still sticky with blood. “We’re leaving now,” she said. “We’re going far away and never coming back, so you have no reason to stop us.”
R.J.’s eyes narrowed and he stepped forward. “I don’t think so. You’ve got to understand that we didn’t want this. We didn’t want any of this. It was Arvin’s doing.”
“I know that,” she said. “But if you keep his sins a secret, you’re as guilty as he is.”
R.J. gaped at her, obviously not used to hearing such damning words, especially from a woman.
“How dare you try to tell me—”
“You’d be surprised by what I dare to tell you,” she said as Parker handed her the baby. He shot R.J. a warning glance that seemed to stifle his reply, because the man stepped back.
“Let’s go,” Parker said, scooping Faith into his arms.
They started out, but R.J. barred their way. “Are you just going to let them walk away without a word?” he said to Jed. “What kind of man are you that you can’t take care of your own family? They could go straight to the police and cause all kinds of trouble.”
Jed’s gaze settled on Faith, and to her astonishment, Hope noticed tear tracks on his cheeks. “You were wrong when you said I don’t care, Hope,” h
e said. “I love her. I’ve always loved all my children.” He looked at her, then, and his eyes seemed to add, “Even you.”
“If you love her, let us go,” Hope said softly, holding the baby close. “And make sure Arvin doesn’t come after us.”
Jed looked at the others as if hoping for their support.
“This doesn’t set a good example for your other children, Jed,” Elton said. “If you let Hope and Faith get away with this, your other daughters will defy you at every turn.”
“Arvin’s our brother,” Rulon chimed in. “He’s made a mistake, but shouldn’t we stand by him and help him repent?”
“Faith will lose her eternal reward if she leaves God’s church,” R.J. added. “She’ll become a child of hell.”
“But forcing her to do what I want…” Jed tugged on his beard. “Somehow, that isn’t the answer,” he said, sounding weary. “I’ve learned that the hard way.”
“Jed—” R.J. began.
Her father waved Parker toward the door. “Take her.”
“You’re doing the right thing,” Hope said, and for the first time she felt a flicker of respect for the man who’d sired her. But the door flew open before they reached it, and Bonner dragged Arvin inside.
“I found him,” he announced, his hair plastered to his head from the rain.
“Where?” R.J. wanted to know.
“In bed with Rachel.”
“Trying to prove you’re still a man, Arvin? Since you couldn’t get it up with Faith?” Hope said.
“You want to see if I can still get it up, Hope?” Arvin replied, his dark eyes glinting with that touch of madness that had always frightened her. “You’re the one who’s caused all this, you know. I hope you’re happy. Look what she’s done, Jed. I don’t know why I ever wanted her in the first place. She was never any good.”
Jed turned to face him, and Hope could tell that any brotherly love he’d felt for Arvin had finally died out. “She’s always been better than you, Arvin. Now get in my car. I’m taking you down to the police station.”
“What?” Arvin cried. “You can’t take me to the police. You’re my brother, for God’s sake.”
“You’re no brother of mine,” Jed said. “You almost killed my daughter and could have killed her baby. As far as I’m concerned, you can rot in jail the rest of your life. I’ll certainly do nothing to help you.”
“R.J., think of the scandal this will cause, the negative attention it will bring the church,” Arvin said, his voice rising in panic.
R.J. stared at the ground for several seconds, shaking his head. Finally he said, “Jed’s right. You’ve gone too far this time, Arvin. There’s nothing we can do.”
Arvin turned frantic eyes on Rulon. “Wait, I’m sorry. I’ll repent. I’m one of you. I have wives to take care of, children. Rulon? Can you believe Jed would turn on me like this?”
Rulon looked from R.J. to Jed, and Hope saw his shoulders slump. He obviously felt more loyalty to Arvin than he did to her or Faith, but he wasn’t about to cross R.J. “You’ve really done it now, Arvin,” he said.
“Judas!” Arvin screamed, struggling as Elton Thatcher took hold of him. “You’re all going to hell! I had a vision last night that you’d betray me. Hope has poisoned all of you, just like she poisoned Faith.”
Elton moved to grab Arvin’s feet because he was thrashing around so much that Elton couldn’t get him outside.
“You’ll be sorry,” Arvin said as they wrestled him through the door.
A car door slammed a few seconds later. Hope could no longer hear Arvin’s shouts above the patter of the rain, but she could feel Bonner’s eyes on her. She glanced at him, then let her gaze slowly circle the barn. This place held so many bittersweet memories—Bonner telling her he loved her, Bonner touching her for the first time. They’d planned their lives here, lying in the hay on a lazy summer afternoon, the smell of animals and warm earth all around. Hope had thought that once she married Bonner, she’d live here forever.
None of that had happened, but it didn’t hurt anymore. Faith and the baby were safe. Even the men who used to hold so much power over her didn’t seem as daunting as they used to. Merely old. And Parker was with her. Somehow that was most significant of all.
“Thanks for calling me, Bonner,” she said.
“You’re welcome.”
Parker hesitated at the door. Seeing him standing there, Hope finally knew where she belonged. And it wasn’t in Superior. She might have come from these people, but the last tie had been severed.
“I’ll be in the truck,” he said, and stepped outside.
Bonner jerked his head in the direction Parker had gone. “You sure that guy’s just a friend?”
Hope didn’t know what to say. Did Parker mean more to her than a friend? She’d thought she could never love again, that she’d never get over Bonner. But when she looked at Bonner, she felt only a touch of nostalgia. When she looked at Parker, she felt good and safe, as if nothing bad had ever happened.
“I’m not sure,” she said.
Bonner studied her. “Well, if he ends up with you, he’s one lucky son of a gun.”
Hope smiled, grateful for her heart’s release, and briefly hugged him with her free arm before facing her father.
“I guess we’re on our way. Will you give Mama our goodbyes?”
Jed nodded. “It’s late. You four be careful.”
“Thanks…Dad,” she said, then she covered the baby’s head to protect him from the rain and the cold, and hurried outside.
* * *
“HOW DO YOU FEEL?” Hope asked Faith, sitting at her bedside eight hours later.
“Better.” She was nursing her baby, and even though it had only been a few hours since they’d checked in to the Richfield Community Medical Center, she already seemed much stronger. Arvin had broken one of her ribs and caused a lot of bruising, which would take a while to heal, but it was a small miracle that neither Faith nor the baby had sustained any serious internal injuries.
“He’s so perfect,” she said about her baby. “Isn’t he?”
Hope nodded and leaned back to close her eyes. She had to rest, just for a minute. She’d had very little sleep over the past week, and the stress of the delivery had depleted her energy.
Parker knocked on the open door before poking his head into the room. He hadn’t had a chance to shave during the past couple of days and had purchased a baseball cap somewhere. He looked a little rough around the edges, but Hope felt her pulse leap just the same. He seemed to be having that effect on her more and more.
“Come in,” Faith said, pulling her covers a little higher.
Parker strode into the room. When Hope saw he was carrying a tray of food, she groaned. “Oh, no. He’s going to make me eat again,” she said. “I knew when he said he was going down to the cafeteria I was in trouble.”
He managed a wounded expression. “Come on, now. Don’t have a bad attitude.”
“I’m not hungry,” Hope complained.
“You should be starving. It’s just a bowl of vegetable soup and some crackers. Eat, and then we’ll go and get some sleep. I think Faith’s in good hands now.”
“Of course she’s in good hands,” a nurse said, sweeping into the room. “I’m in charge of her while she’s here.” She took a few minutes to show Faith how to use a syringe to clear the baby’s breathing passages, if necessary, checked Faith’s blood pressure and collected the tray from Faith’s lunch.
“Everything’s looking good,” she said, pausing at the foot of the bed. “You ready for me to take your little guy to the nursery so you can get some sleep?”
“Not yet,” Faith said.
“Okay. I’ll check back with you in half an hour.” She started to leave, but paused at the door. “Oh, have you thought of a name for the baby yet? You have three days, of course, but the lady from our records department called. They’re waiting to finish the birth certificate.”
Faith looked questioningl
y at Hope. “What do you think? I thought I was going to have a girl.”
Hope considered the tiny bundle in her sister’s arms. “Do you want to name him after someone in the family?” she asked, crossing her fingers that her sister’s answer would be no.
“The men’s names are all so old-fashioned,” Faith said.
Hope hid a smile at the changes that had taken place in her sister and relaxed. “Then what about Brady? I read about a Brady in a book once and always thought that would be a good boy’s name.”
Parker set the tray of food he’d brought on the rolling table and pushed it in front of Hope.
Faith lightly patted her baby’s bottom. “Brady Tanner…” she said, trying it on for size. “What if I add Mama’s maiden name and make it Brady Preston Tanner?”
“That’s nice,” Parker said.
The nurse nodded. “I agree.”
“What do you think?” Hope asked Faith.
Her sister smiled. “I think that name is just about as perfect as he is.”
* * *
HOPE SAT STARING at the number written on the scrap of file folder she’d taken from The Birth Place. Every time she thought about dialing that number, her palms grew moist and her heart began to race. She wasn’t sure if she was more afraid that it would lead to her daughter or that it wouldn’t. The future was so uncertain either way. If she happened to find Autumn, what then? At this point, she had no way of knowing whether the adoptive parents would look kindly on letting her have any type of association with her child. Chances were very good that they wouldn’t. But maybe she’d be able to let go of Autumn, if only she could assure herself of her daughter’s safety and happiness. After seeing Faith with her baby in the hospital, after holding little Brady in her arms, the need to find Autumn felt even more immediate.
Glancing toward the bathroom, where Parker was taking a shower, she lifted the receiver. The number on the file didn’t have an area code, but she was pretty sure that meant it was local to Enchantment. Of course, it would be long-distance from their motel in Richfield, but Hope didn’t care about the cost. She’d gladly reimburse Parker as soon as they checked out, since he’d insisted on charging the room to his credit card.
