Special Delivery (Mountain Meadow Homecoming 1) (9 page)

Holly placed the swaddled infant in the doctor’s outstretched arms. For just a second, something flashed in Jenny’s eyes. Pain, nostalgia, Holly wasn’t sure, so she blurted into the brief silence, “She’s doing well. She’s nursing just like she should be.”

“And how are you handling that?”

“It was strange at first, but Jake helped, and we got the hang of it.”

Jenny arched one perfect brow at Jake. To Holly’s surprise, he blushed and looked away.

“Yeah. Jake’s been great, Doc,” Tyler chimed in. “He didn’t even panic when the lights went out while Holly was havin’ the baby!”

“Really? You didn’t tell me that, Jake.”

Jake coughed. “Yes, well it turned out okay. I had my emergency kit with a couple of flashlights and some candles.”

“A candlelight delivery,” Jenny drawled. “How…old-fashioned.”

Jake glared and flushed again, his gaze darting from Holly and Tyler to the doctor. “Enough, Jen,” he snapped. “We all did what we had to do.”

One of the nurses paused to look at the baby in Doc Owens’s arms. “Did you just say Jake delivered this cutie by candlelight?”

Jake groaned. Holly studied his face. He was embarrassed. Was it because they were linking her to him? The idea hurt, but it didn’t fit with what she knew of him. So why was he worried?

Jenny glanced at Holly. “Come on, Mama. Let’s get you and the baby settled in a room. There are a few tests I’d like to run on both of you, and we need to record all of Noelle’s vital information. We’ll keep you tonight, just like we would any new mom who gave birth here, but I see no reason you can’t go home tomorrow. We’ll see about Noelle.”

“What do you mean?” Holly gasped. “Won’t she be able to go with me?”

Jake moved closer, resting his hand on her shoulder, and a sense of comfort moved through her. Jenny handed her the baby.

“We just want to be careful. Even though you were pretty much full term, since she was just a little earlier than expected and born at home, we’ll check her over. I’m sure everything’s fine, Holly,” Jenny soothed. “I didn’t mean to alarm you.”

* * * *

As the nurse wheeled Holly and the baby away with Tyler following, Jake spun on his longtime friend. “Nice bedside manner, Doc.”

Her golden eyes narrowed as she countered, “You helped her and the baby get the hang of nursing?”

“Don’t divert.” Jake blushed again. “I read the manual to her while she,” he gestured with his hands, “you know, handled everything else.”

“Well, I knew you’d made a thorough study of breasts during high school, Jake, but I didn’t realize it extended to their practical uses.” Jenny laughed, enjoying his discomfort.

“Come on, Jen! Cut me some slack. It was me or the eleven-year-old. I did what I had to, what anyone would have done.”

Her tawny eyes examined him again. “From the blush on your face and the soft look in your eyes, I suspect you did a lot more than what just anyone would have done.”

“I was there.”

Jenny arched a brow. He hated when she did that. “You know what I think, Jacob Allred? I think you’re already crushing on Holly Morgan.”

Jake was speechless, which was just as well since Jen wasn’t done with him. “I haven’t liked how closed in you’ve been. I noticed it as soon as I got back, and I suspect you’ve been that way since you returned to Mountain Meadow. I look at you and see someone so withdrawn, so alone, even when you’re surrounded by the people you’ve known all your life. That’s not like the Jake who was always there for everyone else with a shoulder to cry on.”

He shifted his feet and slapped his cap against his thigh. “Jen…don’t pry. You have no idea. I can’t…I can’t talk about it. Okay?”

“Let me ask you something. All kidding aside now. You’ve got a ton of room in your big old house. I didn’t understand why you bought such a huge place, but it’s a godsend now. Would you take them in? I don’t want them at the old Crawley place. Between the well water and the paint, I’m not sure how safe it is.”

Jake wadded his cap in his big hand and returned to slapping it against his leg. He could picture Holly, Tyler, and the baby filling the emptiness in his big house. What he couldn’t picture was actually talking to Holly about it. He slapped the cap harder. He’d stared into the eyes of enemies, risked gun and mortar fire to help his fellow soldiers, but asking Holly to move in? He needed help. “I thought of suggesting that, but I wasn’t sure she would go for the idea. Think you could sell her on it for me?”

Jenny smiled. “I’ll try. In the meantime, I asked one of my nurses to get her and the baby some of the basic things they need to get started—on me of course.”

Jake shuffled his feet. “I could help. She doesn’t have much.”

Jenny smiled. He narrowed his eyes. She looked way too smug. “Great, Jake. You know, you’ve got a great argument on your side.”

“You mean the PO, and your phone call?” He glanced at the exit doors. “I better go. I need a shower and a shave, and I need to check in with the chief. I’ll be by later to see Holly, if you’ll let her know. I’ll take Tyler home with me then. I told her he could bunk with me.”

Jenny touched his sleeve. “I’d be happy to. And Jacob?”

He rolled his eyes. “Only my mom calls me Jacob, and you’ve done it twice so far in this conversation. So before I kill you—what now?”

“Thanks. You did great.”

He grinned, embarrassed at just how fantastic that made him feel. “Well, thanks, but Holly did the hard work.”

Jenny arched a brow. “Come on, Allred. We both know better.”

He laughed and waved as he left the building, his step lighter just knowing Jenny was in his corner.

* * * *

Holly bit her lower lip as a pediatric nurse took Noelle from her and left the room. Maybe it was stupid, but she wanted to cry. Noelle hadn’t been out of her sight since her birth. Until now.

The remaining nurse smiled. “Don’t worry, honey. We’re just going to weigh and measure her, then record the information we would already have if you’d given birth here. When was the last time you nursed?”

“About an hour ago,” Holly murmured.

“We’ll have her back for her next feeding, okay? You just get some rest. You’ll find out just how much you need it over the next few months.”

Holly tried to smile, but it didn’t quite make it. She was uneasy about having Noelle out of her sight and knew she would get little rest. Leaving Lynchburg had stopped Spence pestering her about the baby, but Holly feared he hadn’t quit trying to get his hands on her. Noelle was a means to an end, a way to turn everything into the ideal picture of marriage and family life.

Sure, he could shower Noelle with money. But what about love? Her mouth thinned as she looked out the window at the sunlight sparkling off ice still coating the tree branches. She would never let him have her. Spence wouldn’t love Noelle. She would be a possession. And he’d already shown he tired of his toys in no time.

“Holly? Are you okay? You look mad or scared or something.”

She started, recalling Tyler still sat in the room. “I’m okay. I was just thinking.”

“About him—about Spence. Right?”

Holly stared at her brother. “Yeah. How did you know?”

“You always get the same look when you think about him. Don’t worry, Holly. Jake and I will protect you.” Tyler jutted his chin.

She laughed. “Jake and you, huh? You’ve gotten pretty tight.” Tyler’s reaction to Jake just ramped Holly’s attraction that much higher.

Tyler flushed. “He’s great. Did you know he fought in Afghanistan and Iraq? He was in one of those units no one knows about.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“Jake told me he’d been in the Middle East, so I asked Mr. Tarpley. He told me.”

His military background would explain why he always seemed prepared to handle any situation without getting rattled—except for the odd blush or two. Holly smiled. She’d never met a man who blushed. Jake always looked so capable, so it made him less intimidating.

“You’re right, Tyler, Jake is a great guy.” And Holly had gotten used to having him around. Would it feel lonely without him?

“Is this Jake’s fan club?” Doc asked as she stepped across the threshold. “Because if it is, I want a membership.”

Tyler and Holly laughed.

“We owe him a lot.” She continued. “You and the baby are in great shape, Holly. You’ve come through labor and delivery with no problems we can find. I would say Jake did as good a job as I could have done, but that might put me out of a job.”

“I’m sure he’d like to hear that from you,” Holly said. “Being thrown into it wasn’t easy. The power going out just made it more difficult. We would have been lost without him.”

Jenny sat in the chair next to Holly’s bed, leaned back, and crossed her slender legs. “I’d like to talk to you about where you’re living. The Crawley place was fine for you and even Tyler, as big as he’s getting to be, but I’m not sure it’s healthy for a baby.”

“It’s all I can afford,” Holly mumbled, uncertainty about where they would go once she left the hospital tightening her chest. “But I’d already realized the same thing. Having to deliver Noelle there…well, if Jake hadn’t come along it would have been bad. I thought maybe you might know where I could rent something closer. A couple of rooms even. I don’t have money to put a deposit down, but I can still do books for Mr. Crawford, and I thought I might be able to work a deal to do bookkeeping and taxes for other people.”

Jenny smiled, the gentleness in her expression like a lifeline. “I see you’ve already given it some thought. I think I can help you out with a place. It might just be temporary. I know someone who has one of those big old Victorian homes. Lots of bedrooms. Bright. Airy. Just the place for a baby and,” she added looking at Tyler, “for a boy running errands and doing odd jobs not too far away.”

“Is it Jake?” Holly asked and saw the doctor’s guilty expression. “He’s already done so much, I don’t want to impose.”

“I think it’s safe to say Jake doesn’t see it as an imposition, but talk to him about it.”

“I-I don’t know.” He had already done so much. She should stand on her own two feet. Look what had happened with Spence. “This is such a tightly knit area. I was thinking more along the lines of an older woman hoping to supplement her retirement.”

“We have those, too. But I want you to think about Jake’s place. He said he would stop by tonight and visit before he takes Tyler home with him. Talk to him and see what you can work out. God knows he’s got plenty of room.”

The nurse returned with Noelle. The tension that had vibrated along her nerves since Noelle had left the room, eased. As long as she could see her, she was safe. After peeking at the baby, Jenny left.

Tyler stared out the window while Holly cradled the baby to nurse. Noelle rooted and latched on. For several minutes, only the sound of the baby nursing interrupted the silence in the room. Holly’s eyes drooped as she relaxed. She could be safe here, and she had people willing to help her. All she had to do was reach for it.

* * * *

For just a moment, when Jake returned, the sight of mother and baby took his breath away. Holly was beautiful. His heart filled. The whole picture was perfect. A lot of her previous tension was gone, as if she’d made some decisions and gotten herself in balance. Her hair fell in loose curls around her shoulders, framing a delicate, porcelain-skinned face tilted toward her child. Together they looked like a painter’s ideal of mother and child. He wanted to take a picture, find some way of burning the image and the feeling on his brain and in his heart so he would never forget it.

“Jake!” Tyler noticed him, and the mood was broken. Holly’s wide green gaze met Jake’s. He held it while he spoke to Tyler.

“Hi, kid. How’s it goin’?”

“Great! Both docs—Holly’s and Noelle’s—say they can go home tomorrow. Doc Owens says we can stay with you.”

“Tyler!” Holly blushed. “Jake and I still have to talk about that.”

Tyler frowned. “Okay, but if I get a vote, I vote for Jake’s. I’d be closer to school and the store. And, Holly, any place is better than where we are now.”

Jake handed Tyler a couple of bucks. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, buddy. Why don’t you go to the snack machines and buy something to eat and drink while Holly and I talk about this?”

“Adults never let you hear anything good,” Tyler groused.

Jake stared out the window, waiting until Tyler left. “Jenny said she mentioned the idea to you,” he murmured. “You can’t keep on at the Crawley place. You’ve got no heat other than a woodstove, and this time of year it’s too risky.”

When he glanced at her, Holly’s lips were pressed together, her gaze on the baby rather than him. Crap. She was going to refuse. Time to fight dirty.

“There’s another reason, too, Holly. Doc’s practice got a call not long before you went into labor. We think somebody’s fishing for information about you.”

Her eyes widened. He had her attention now. “What did Doc tell you?”

“Only that you had a protective order in place.” Jake took a deep breath. “The rest I found out on my own.” It might piss her off, but he had to be honest. “I guess it’s the cop in me. I got the basic info on you and Tyler. So I know you were engaged and your fiancé broke it off when he found out you were pregnant.”

Her eyes snapped. “You
checked
us out?”

He grabbed his cap and popped it against his thighs. “It’s my job, Holly. You were running from something, and I just wanted to know if it was something you’d done, or something someone was trying to do to you.”

“And what did you find out?” She eyed him warily. Trust was such a fragile thing, and her doubts hurt.

“I discovered what I already knew. You were trying to do the right thing for your brother and your baby. Damn it, Holly. Let me help. Not every guy’s out to hurt you.” Especially not him.

“I’ve been burned once,” she whispered. Yeah. He hated that, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to be the one to burn her again. “I just wish you would’ve asked me before you did a background check.”

“I should have. Can we agree we’ll both keep that in mind?”

“Yes. Things will get better now. I can take care of Tyler and Noelle. I can still work on the pallet company’s books from home. I couldn’t pay you much.”