Harlequin Heartwarming May 2016 Box Set (9 page)

“Mrs Beechum doesn't have feelings,” Nick said. “You should have seen her last test.”

“Nick,” Tessa warned.

“You're so gullible, Aunt Tessa.”

She made a face at Nick and then at Mac for laughing in agreement. This was the most fun she'd had and the most relaxed she'd been in years. Mac and Nick playfully ganging up on her was a good thing. Guys bonding. The two of them would be all right.

“We have our share of wildlife reserves and safaris down in South Africa—haven't you two been?” Mac asked as he maneuvered the jeep around a granite outcropping.

“A school trip to a zoo once. My parents flew me over one area, but all I remember seeing were lions. I was just a kid at the time,” Nick said.

Mac and Tessa shared a smile subtle enough for Nick not to notice.
Just a kid.

“You know, I don't think I've ever visited one,” Tessa said. “I probably haven't visited half the places tourists flock to. It's that way everywhere, isn't it? You get caught up in your everyday life and completely disconnect from the world around you. It's easy to take the things you're surrounded by for granted. I had an American classmate once who'd never seen the Grand Canyon or Statue of Liberty, yet she'd already seen all of our attractions and I hadn't.” Tessa turned in her seat as she caught sight of a rhino grazing in the thicket off the road.

“True,” Mac said.

“Where are we headed, anyway?” Nick asked.

“To visit a neighbor. Speaking of which, it looks like we have a visitor.” Mac eyed the rearview mirror. “Now that's a good-sized cock. You want me to slow down so you can get a close look?”

An ostrich raced after them with black-and-white wings flared and a determined expression on its face.

“Speed up,” Tessa said.

“I thought they were supposed to be shy. What happened to sticking its head in the ground?” Nick called out over the revving engine. He held onto his seat, Tessa-style.

“They'll get down on the ground if threatened, and when they do, their necks aren't as visible against the sand. They don't actually bury their heads. It's an optical illusion.”

“Feel free to speed up a little more, Mac,” Tessa insisted. The massive bird was gaining on them and she didn't like the fact that Nick was in the back.

“Don't worry,” Mac said.

She felt the jeep pick up speed, but the ostrich reached the end of the jeep and tried poking at it with its beak. It was like a scene out of
Jurassic Park
. Tessa reached back and grabbed Nick's hand, jerking him toward the center of the seat, away from the side the bird was on, but suddenly, it broke off its chase.

Tessa pressed her hand against her chest.

“Are you okay, Nick?” she asked. His mouth hung open as he watched the bird shrink in their wake.

“That. Was. Incredible. Now, that's something everyone at school is going to hear about,” Nick said.

She hadn't seen him so full of life since his parents died. And for all the therapy bills, what he'd really needed was a high-speed chase by a male ostrich. Go figure. Mac kept one hand on the steering wheel and rested the other on her shoulder. His touch soothed her racing pulse.

“I knew we'd lose him. The ostrich, not Nick,” he said with a wink. “The males are very territorial and we may have passed a nest, but they're sprinters. Kind of like cheetahs in that they run out of steam.”

“I wasn't worried.”

“You sure about that? Should I ‘get Tess to confess'?”

“I was petrified,” she immediately said, removing his hand from her shoulder and setting it back on the steering wheel. Not only was she not about to take a dip in a croc-infested river, but she also didn't trust herself to keep her eyes off Mac if he took off his shirt.

He merged onto a dirt road that looked like it had seen a little more traffic than the one they'd been on. The jeep cleared a hill, and a large, bustling camp surrounded by sprawling acacia and fig trees and overlooking the river valley beyond came into view. The jazzy sound of a band of elephants carried through the air as if to announce their arrival.

As they approached, the figure of a petite woman with light hair emerged onto the porch of a single-story home that blended into the landscape in a Frank Lloyd Wright way. She had a baby strapped to her back in a colorful sling and held the hand of a child with a mass of vibrant, curly hair that bounced as she hopped up and down, pointing toward them.

“That,” Mac said, “is the Busara Elephant Research and Rescue camp.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

M
AC
PULLED
UP
in his usual spot and got out of the Camp Jamba jeep in a single move that avoided opening the finicky driver's side door. He opened his arms to hug Pippa as she came barreling toward him.

“Hi, Uncle Mac!”

“Hey, squirt.” He ruffled her hair, then sized her up. “Have you really grown two feet in the past two weeks? Or is Ambosi hiding in there?” He reached for her hair again and parted her curls as if conducting a search. She giggled and ducked away. He'd known her since she was a baby, back when Busara was nothing but a couple of framed tents and a few pens where Anna kept and treated baby elephants found injured or orphaned by poachers. At the time, Pippa's father, Jack, was living in the US and had no idea he had a daughter being raised in the wilds of Africa.

Teasing spunky little Pippa had become a routine, even now at her precocious seven years of age. Ambosi was a three-legged vervet monkey who'd fancied Anna from the moment she first gave him food when he'd hobbled into her barely set-up camp.

“No, silly. Ambosi is too busy with his new girlfriend.” She rubbed her hands together mischievously and crinkled her pert nose. “Mommy said they might have babies.”

“Is that so?”

“Yep.” She peered over his shoulder. “Are those your friends you said you were bringing?”

Mac shifted as Tessa walked up. Nick lingered closer to the jeep, his bangs once again hiding most of his face.

“Pippa, this is Mrs. Henning, an old friend, and that is Nick, my nephew. Anna, this is Tessa.”

“I've heard so much about this place. It's an honor to meet you,” Tessa said, shaking Anna's hand.

“Oh, thank you. It's really not much. We just do what needs to be done,” Anna said.

“She's too humble,” Mac said.

“Says the man we can't get by without,” Anna added, patting his arm.

“How's Noah been?”

“Sleeping very well, thank goodness. I can feel the wet drool on my shoulder, so my guess is he's dozed off again.”

“He's adorable,” Tessa said.

“Hey, Nick, come say hello.”

Nick shuffled over and shook hands, back in his moody shell. So the kid was a bit shy around people. The opposite of Pippa, who studied Nick shamelessly with her arms crossed. She tipped her head to the side.

“Nice hair,” she said.

Nick shifted his feet and his face flushed, but he shrugged.

“You, too.”

She grabbed his hand without asking his permission and tugged him away from the jeep.

“Come on. I'll introduce you to each of the elephants. They all have names. And Ambosi. He's a monkey and watch out because he likes to throw things at strangers. And my friend Haki. He's human.”

Mac shook his head and chuckled as Pippa dragged Nick away.

“This should be interesting,” he said. “I say we forgo rescuing him and let Pippa have a little fun.”

“You're something else,” Tessa said.

“She's quite the big sister, let me tell you,” Anna said. “Fearless and not the least bit shy. Sometimes I wish she had just a little of both. A happy medium.”

The way Tessa smiled in disbelief almost made him feel like they were real partners. Like parents watching their child.

“I don't think I've ever in my life met a more adorable little girl,” Tessa said.

“Thanks. You two come inside. I'm betting you need a break after the trip over.” Anna glanced between him and Tessa. “Jack will be back from Nairobi soon...and then we can talk.”

* * *

T
ESSA
FOLLOWED
A
NNA
into her house. It was much bigger than the cottage at Camp Jamba. The living room had a large window overlooking the valley and she couldn't resist walking up to it for a better view of a family of elephants mud-bathing by the riverbed. A large kitchen opened onto the living room, and a painting that Tessa immediately recognized as Kesi's artwork hung on a wall over a casual lounging area. Mac had told her about how impossibly rustic and minimal Busara had been when it all began. This home, new as it was, kept the rustic, minimal feel despite its comforts.

“This is really nice,” she told Anna. “Kesi told me she helped design it.”

“She did, and she was amazing to work with. I'm still getting used to all the space.” Anna smiled. “I was so accustomed to tent life, this felt like a strange luxury, but I have to admit it has been nice. And being able to share it with our best friends who live and work here, too—Niara and Kamau and their son, Haki—has been perfect.”

Ah, so that's why it was so large. The sections on either side of the main area, she guessed, were two separate family wings. Until she'd seen the Lagats' cottage and now, the Busara house, Tessa had never imagined that living out here, in the middle of nowhere, could seem so normal. If anything, both places, for all their isolation, carried more of an atmosphere of community and family than her home in South Africa. More than her entire neighborhood, for that matter.

“Well, hello again.” Sue appeared from one of the rooms down a short hallway, closing the door quietly behind her. “I left Niara some crackers and ice to help with the nausea. She said she just needed to lie down for a bit,” she told Anna.

“Thanks, Mom. I'll check on her again soon. First trimester,” Anna explained to Tessa. “Please, have a seat. Make yourself comfortable. Can I get you anything?”

“Oh, no, thanks. I'm fine.” She honestly didn't think her stomach could handle anything. Anticipation over the discussion they were supposed to have with a friend of Mac's who he believed could help, had her on edge. She wanted this all over so she could have peace in her life again.

Anna sat down on a small sofa and skillfully slipped the cloth carrier and baby off her back. He complained, but she had him tucked against her and nursing within seconds. Tessa tried to appear nonchalant. Maybe a little too hard. She knew nursing was totally natural and a good thing, and her discomfort wasn't about the unexpected glimpse of Anna's breast. Tessa had seen plenty of them for crying out loud. It was the act that took her by surprise...and the sudden realization that no matter how many articles she'd read on breastfeeding or how much she'd learned about it in school, she'd never seen it done in person. Well, there was this mama cat at a shelter once. And that cute baby monkey she'd spotted clinging to its mother and nursing up in a tree at Camp Jamba. But even Maria had bottle-fed Nick because of a post-partum infection that required medication. She'd insisted that formula was safer than drugs, even when the doctor had said breastfeeding wouldn't hurt the baby. So watching Anna's baby nursing was a first. Anna leaned down and kissed her little boy—Noah, that was his name—on the head.

Something stirred in Tessa. Something she'd never felt before. She'd never given babies and nursing much thought because she'd never planned to have kids. Nick was a different situation, but babies? Could she ever do what Anna was doing? Have children and care for them from infancy, as fragile and dependent as they were?

Her mom once told her that she'd nursed her for as long as she could...about six months...before she resumed her work trips out to sea with Tessa's father. They'd hired a nanny to help with the girls during those early years, and yes, her mom did return home more often when they were little than she did once Tessa and Maria had reached their teens, but she hadn't cared for them like this. Here, Anna had managed to blend her work and family seamlessly. And seeing Noah's tiny hand pinch her chest as he nursed was indescribably wholesome. Now she understood why Mac had said that Anna wasn't just any woman. He was right.

“Come on, have a seat,” Anna said, motioning to the other half of the sofa. Oh, man. Had she been staring? Tessa gave a polite smile and sat down. Mac had excused himself early on and said he was going to rescue Nick. Tessa knew he was rescuing himself. Mac wasn't a girl-talk kind of guy.

“How old is he?” she asked, smiling at Noah.

“Just turned nine months,” Anna said. Her mom brought a tray with cups of tea from the kitchen, set it on the wooden coffee table and sat with them.

“I'll burp him for you when he's finished,” Sue said.

“Thanks, Mom.” She handed her a burp cloth but let the baby have a few more minutes.” She turned back to Tessa. “So, how are you liking it out here?”

“It's nice,” Tessa said, forcing herself to take her eyes off baby Noah. He was so precious. Why couldn't she think straight?
It's nice?
Really? “I mean, obviously, you know, I could be here under better circumstances, but the country is beautiful and Camp Jamba is lovely. The Lagats have been extraordinary.” She glanced at Sue. Did she know why Tessa was here? Maybe she'd said too much.

“They're special people,” Anna said. “And yes, I'm sorry that you lost your sister and brother-in-law.” Okay, so Sue wasn't necessarily in the loop. Luckily, Anna had smoothed over what the “circumstances” might be without a flinch.

“Thank you. It's nice that Nick is getting to see some other kids here, even if they are younger. It's not easy for a thirteen-year-old to be stuck with a bunch of grown-ups.”

“Well, Jack's brother-in-law, Ben, now lives in Nairobi and his oldest daughter isn't much younger than Nick. Maybe if you come back to visit, Ben can bring his family and the kids will have a chance to meet.”

Tessa nodded and reached for a cup of tea. She took a sip and it was sweet, minty and soothing.

“Mmm. This is nice,” she said.

“There's plenty,” Sue said, taking Noah from Anna and resting him against her shoulder. Anna untangled the ends of her ponytail from his little fingers and straightened her blouse, then took a cup for herself.

“The Mac I've come to know,” Anna mused, “would stop anything he's doing at the drop of a pin just to help friends and family. He's a good partner to have when it comes to raising a teen boy. From what he told me when he called, you've been amazing since Nick lost his parents. His words, to be exact.” Anna looked at her from beneath her lashes as she took a sip.

Tessa was speechless. Mac had told Anna that she, Tessa, was amazing? Why hadn't he ever told Tessa that? And the idea that Mac was a good partner threw her, too. He'd contributed, financially, to raising Nick, but he hadn't really been there the past six months. He was really making up for it now. Is that what they were? Partners? Her and Mac...on the same team. That tilted her world as much as watching Noah nurse. She didn't want children. Nor did Brice, for different reasons. Even if she ever changed her mind, something she'd never considered until a few minutes ago, he wouldn't change his. He'd made that clear.

“That's generous of Mac to say. I'd be lying if I said it was easy, but I think getting him far away from home for a break might be the catalyst he needs to see that there's still life beyond the loss he's endured. You know?”

“I do.”

“Hello. Have I missed all the fun?”

A beautiful woman dressed in a loose, geometrically patterned dress entered the living area and smiled as she held her hand out to shake Tessa's.

“I'm Niara. You must be Tessa. I'm sorry I didn't come out sooner to meet you.” She sat down on a chair across from the couch.

“Nice to meet you. I hope you're feeling better,” Tessa said.

“Much. It just comes and goes like magic. I wish I had a pregnancy like yours,” she told Anna. “She didn't even throw up once.”

Tessa grinned at Anna.

“It's all the animals I work with. I'm completely desensitized to odors. Jack, on the other hand, turned the oddest shade of green the first time Noah needed a diaper change. You should see him handle it now, though,” Anna said.

Tessa almost choked on her tea, trying to picture Brice changing a diaper. For that matter, she wasn't sure she could picture
herself
doing one. They continued to joke and tease the men behind their backs.

“I overheard him telling Kamau about it over a game of chess. I burst out laughing. Kamau claims that diaper changes are nothing. Let's see what he says after he tries his first,” Niara said.

Tessa had been told that Kamau—aka Dr. Kamau Odaba, a field veterinarian working with Anna—was Niara's husband, though not her son Haki's biological father. Haki was already a little boy by the time Kamau had fallen in love with Niara, so their second child was going to be a new experience for Kamau. He was off tracking one of the elephant herds they were studying. The mention of his name reminded her she'd come here on business. She wasn't really a part of this group. She was merely a visitor. Why did that bring her down?

She was loving these women. The whole situation felt surreal...as if she'd always known them. Anna, Niara, Sue and Tessa bonding over breastfeeding, tea and funny stories about their husbands. Tessa would have never pictured sitting around like this and thoroughly enjoying herself.

“I'm afraid I'd make the men look professional,” Tessa said.

“No younger siblings that you ever changed diapers for?” Sue asked. An enormous belch burst from Noah's baby mouth and everyone raised their eyebrows, then laughed.

“No. Just an older sister,” Tessa said as she set her cup down. “I managed to avoid diaper duty as Nick's aunt after he was born.”

“Would you like to hold him?” Anna asked. She was up and scooping Noah from her mom's arms before Tessa could answer.

“Oh. Sure. But I haven't held a baby since Nick was born.”

“Here you go.” Anna settled Noah in Tessa's arms and guided her hold on him, then sat back down beaming.

Tessa looked down. Heaven help her, he had an indefinable scent that made her want to nuzzle him and bottle it up for keeps. He was sleeping, yet his hand wrapped around her finger and he squeezed. She was done for.