Sunflower Lane (20 page)

He wanted to come get Tess himself.

“I’ll be there in less than five minutes. Tell her to slow everything down until then.” He hung up before Annabelle could say another word.

“I think your husband needs a lesson in female anatomy,” Mia’s great-aunt, Winny Pruitt, muttered with a snort. “Doesn’t he know a woman can’t slow things down once that baby makes up its mind to pop out?”

There was sweat on Tess’s forehead, tiny beads of it clinging to her hair and skin as everyone pressed around her.

“Let’s give her some space, some air.” Diana McPhee stepped in, calmly shooing the guests crowding in around the chair where Tess slumped, her eyes wide with fear.

“Don’t be scared,” Charlotte murmured, kneeling beside her.

“Someone should . . . call the hospital . . . or alert Doc Carson,” Tess said faintly.

“I’ll do that, sweetie. No worries.” Sophie whipped out her phone.

Annabelle felt helpless, and desperate to do something. Then, remembering when Trish had gone into labor with the twins, she suddenly raced into the kitchen, dampened a cotton dish towel with cool water, and returned to dab it around Tess’s face. “John will be here any minute,” she said soothingly and prayed she’d hear his car pull up right now.

“I know.” Tess peered anxiously into her eyes. “It’s just . . . so early. I’m only thirty-seven weeks . . . and f-four days. . . . I need to get to thirty-nine weeks! Annabelle, last time . . .” She gulped and couldn’t say another word.

“This isn’t last time, honey; it’s now.” Annabelle held the cool cloth to her friend’s forehead. “You’re close to being full-term. Very close. Your baby just can’t wait to meet you face-to-face.”

But as she met Tess’s frantic eyes, her heart turned over at the panic deepening in their depths.

“Listen to me, Tess—babies come early all the time. My friend Ginger in Philly delivered more than three weeks early and had a super healthy baby boy. They only kept her in the hospital a day and a half. And Trish delivered Ethan twelve days early. No problem.”

Still looking scared, Tess managed to nod. “You’re right. Everything will be . . . fine. It’s just . . . you know. . . .”

“We know, honey.” Patricia took her hand and squeezed it gently. “Just try to relax. Take deep breaths.”

Suddenly Charlotte grinned. “Hey. Want to watch me open some more gifts while we’re waiting for John? That ought to distract you.”

“S-sure.” Tess tried her best to smile.

“I’m kidding.” Charlotte drew in her breath. “But if John doesn’t get here in the next two minutes, I might have to bean him with one of those frying pans.”

John did arrive less than three minutes later—he must have been going fifty miles per hour, Annabelle guessed—and carried Tess out to his Jeep. He loaded her in, put pillows and towels supplied by Aunt Susie all around her, and, with all of the women either looking out the front window or standing on the lush lawn watching him, took off like a shot toward the hospital.

Annabelle pulled Charlotte aside. “You should open the rest of your gifts,” she said when they were gone.

“I know, but all I want to do is go to that hospital and see how she’s doing!”

“So do I, Char, but we can’t just leave. Your aunt and your mom went to a lot of trouble to make this shower beautiful. You’re the guest of honor. Look at all these people and all these gifts,” she added softly.

“So what am I supposed to do? Forget that Tess is about to give birth early? She’s terrified of losing
this
baby, too!”

“You’re right. She is. She needs us, whatever happens.”

“So . . .” Charlotte swallowed. “We go?”

“Not yet,” Annabelle whispered. “You open your presents and thank everyone—quickly!”

Charlotte began to protest, then looked at the pretty living room packed with guests, and the still-high pile of gifts. She sighed. “You’re right. Why are you always right?”

With quick steps, she returned to the gift table and Annabelle moved forward to help unwrap.

“Hurry,” she said, so softly only Charlotte could hear, as the guests stopped chattering about Tess and began settling down around the gift table once more. “Open them, Charlotte. Fast. Then we
go.
”

Wes had faced fugitives, drug lords, and thugs with an ease born of experience, but he’d never run herd over three active kids for an entire afternoon.

Make that four kids,
he thought, as he watched Ethan and his pal Jimmy tossing a ball in the open field that bordered Annabelle’s house.

Treasure was out there, too—chasing the ball, retrieving it when they threw it for him, and loping around the field, happy as a puppy.

Megan and Michelle had kept Wes more on his toes than he’d imagined possible, starting from the time Annabelle took off for the bridal shower. They’d been practicing their tap routine for the past forty-five minutes and again wanted an audience. He got the boys to come in and watch for a short time, but soon they rebelled, and he was left to watch the girls tap-dance to “Yankee Doodle Dandy”—minus tap shoes and costume—at least six or seven times.

He was surprised by how entertaining it was. The girls were about as cute as they could be—surprisingly good dancers even at this age, and their smiles just about knocked him out—but it would have been far more entertaining if he were watching Annabelle dancing right along with them.

He decided he might just have to ask her for a private dance performance later. Preferably in a very skimpy costume, if any at all.

She still hadn’t come home yet after calling to tell him that Tess was in labor, already at the hospital, and she was headed there, too—unless he wanted her to come home and take over right away. She was worried that he couldn’t handle the kids all afternoon, but he’d assured her he’d handled worse and this was a piece of cake.

Watching over kids wasn’t exactly his field of expertise, that was for sure, but it was fun, in an unexpected way. Not quite as challenging as a midnight raid, he thought with a grin, as Megan ran over to him and told him breathlessly that they’d practiced real hard and would he watch them one more time?

This time she promised, there’d be no mistakes.

“Sure thing, honey.” His heart nearly melted at the way her little freckled face lit up. Michelle had shyly asked him whether he was bored with watching them rehearse. He’d assured her he loved it.

Most of the time, the only way he could tell those two apart was by their demeanor—and their clothes. Plus the fact that Megan was an inch taller, and far more boisterous in general than her sister. She said whatever was on her mind, and had more freckles on her face and scrapes on her knees than her twin.

Michelle seemed to live inside her head most of the time. A thinker, reader, and dreamer, that one. A very sweet one.

“Most boys don’t like dancing that much,” Michelle commented shyly after he agreed to watch the routine yet
again late in the afternoon. “You don’t have to, if you don’t want to.”

“I do want to. I like watching you guys do this dance. Everyone in town is going to love it.”

“We’re dancing after the parade, though.” Megan sighed. “There’s going to be a lot of other stuff going on. Do you think other people will come to watch, not just all the moms and stuff?”

“Sure, ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ is the best song of the Fourth of July. Lots of people are going to want to watch.”

“Ethan won’t,” Michelle piped up. She ran over to the biggest section of open space in the living room and got into position for the opening pose of the dance. “He only cares about basketball, baseball, and the treasure. He wants to go to the parade just to eat ice cream.”

“Who cares?” Megan shot over to join her. Neither wore tap shoes inside the house. They’d only been practicing the steps to get the routine down pat. “Watch us just one more time, okay?”

“You got it. Ready, set, go.” He clicked on the music, which he’d had to download at their request onto his cell phone, and settled down on the cream and blue sofa, watching and applauding enthusiastically when they took their bows, admiring Annabelle’s clever, fun choreography and the girls’ no-holds-barred energy.

Still he missed Annabelle—and he had a few ideas for the evening ahead, after the kids were sound asleep. He kept glancing at the time, wondering when she’d be back.

He may not be used to supervising kids, but they were easy. Really good kids. Great kids, actually. Still, his admiration for her grew. She was here for them, day in and day out. Giving it her all. Supporting them and nurturing them.

And she did it all with so much love.

He wished she were back here right now. He had a lot to tell her about Megan, he realized, as from outside, Treasure
let out several loud, deep barks, and raced madly around the field chasing that ball.

He’d watched three episodes of
Lassie
with the kids this afternoon, and they were halfway through the DVD. He felt encouraged when Megan looked as fascinated as the others and watched the on-screen collie with delight.

But when he asked her if she wanted to walk outside and pet Treasure, she’d quickly shaken her head.

Even when Ethan promised her that Treasure was friendly, and her sister proclaimed she loved Treasure more than anything, Megan set her lips stubbornly and turned away.

“Treasure won’t bite you,” Wes told her quietly.

“How do you know?”

“Because dogs don’t usually bite people unless someone is mean to them or if the dog is hurt or scared. And Treasure isn’t any of those things. Most dogs are friendly and love kids. Treasure sure does.”

“Lassie loves kids, too.”

“You should pet Treasure.” Michelle trotted up. She smiled at her sister. “Watch
me
. I’m not scared.” Darting outside, she threw her arms around the dog, who immediately sat down and let her bury her face in his neck.

“How about stepping out on the porch with me and we’ll sit down awhile, watch Treasure play?” Wes asked, mindful of the reading he’d done, which suggested that gradually getting closer to the animal in small stages was helpful.

“No. He might run over and bite me.” Megan’s little face was solemn.

“He’d never do that. I promise. And if he starts to run over, I’ll tell him to sit and he will. Just give him a chance, honey. Dogs are wonderful and Treasure loves kids. Especially cute little girls.”

She shook her head, fear lurking in her eyes. “No. Can I have a cookie now?”

Those anxious eyes were killing him. He let it go. “Sure.”

All of the research he’d done had clearly spelled out that overcoming a fear of dogs took time and came in gradual stages. Getting used to being around the dog was key.

So maybe having Treasure out there playing with the boys was part of that, but man, getting the usually fearless Megan within twenty feet of that dog was going to be a challenge. He began to doubt there was any way to rush things along. But he’d really hoped that Treasure would be an integral part of the family by the time he said his good-byes and took off for Wyoming.

It was still a few weeks away yet, he reminded himself as something inside him flinched at the idea of leaving in only a short while. Leaving without Treasure having a home was bothering him. It wasn’t anything more than that, he told himself.

He wanted Annabelle and the kids to have a dog to help keep them safe, and he wanted to know that they were all right when he left.

By seven o’clock Annabelle was home, kicking off her strappy heels, reporting that Tess had gone into early labor, but the child was doing fine and the doctors thought the baby would be here by morning.

The kids all swarmed excitedly around her. Wes met her eyes for a moment as she laughed with relief and then hugged her nieces and nephew, assuring them that in a week or two they could visit the new baby. His chest filled up with some emotion completely unfamiliar to him when she turned to him and smiled. He felt something tight and almost painful, but . . . it made him catch his breath with a kind of joy.

She was just so awesome. For a moment he could only stare at her, and then slowly, coming to his senses, he grinned back.

Ten minutes later he was grilling hot dogs and
hamburgers on the grill behind the house, as Annabelle tossed together a salad, chopped carrots and tomatoes, and took out some leftover potato salad. Ethan and the girls were setting the kitchen table, chattering about someday when they’d have ponies or even horses. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard them dreaming about that, and even in the short time before he left, it probably wouldn’t be the last.

Treasure had finally settled down on the grass after slurping up a huge bowl of water.

But when Wes came around the house with the platter of hot dogs, burgers, and toasted buns, the dog leaped to his feet.

“I’ll bring you back a burger in a minute, boy. We’ll have to get you home and inside before dark.” He started up the steps, then noticed something, a tiny movement at the front window.

Wes’s reflexes were quick and he saw the girl at the window just before she ducked away. She was wearing pink shorts and a pink-and-yellow-striped tee. Since Michelle had been wearing blue shorts and a white top a few minutes ago when she ran outside to see how long until the burgers were done, he knew for sure.

The girl at the window was definitely Megan.

A smile touched his lips. He wondered how long she’d been standing there, watching Treasure all on her own.

He felt a beat of hope, the kind he felt when he was very close to breaking a particularly tough case. As happened so often, there was a pattern to how solving cases—and problems—progressed.

The answer was the same for both.

Small steps.