A Brand of Christmas

  Chapter 16

  He hadn't thought about how he was supposed to get the generator to the bulldozer. The thing was huge, and it would have taken two or three men at the very least, to pick it up. But he discovered chains on the back of the dozer, attached them to the machine, and even thought to make sure it had gasoline in its tank, so he wouldn't have to make this trek again to syphon some from one of the cars. The tank was full, though, so he remounted the bull-dozer and ground it into motion. And he thanked his lucky stars Tom Cooper hadn't just handed it over earlier tonight or he'd never have gotten here. He'd been watching for five miles, and he still just barely managed to make it go where he wanted. There was a definite knack to this thing.

  He dragged the generator right up to the front door, then shut the dozer down, got off, and, finally, after what seemed like an endless, freezing journey, he stumbled on frozen stumps into the house.

  Cooper met him at the door "I'll start the genny and get her plugged in the second I get thawed out here. You'd best get out of those things. You're needed elsewhere."

  He thought of Mel and rapidly, clumsily, started tugging at the snow-encrusted scarf and mittens. The parka's zipper was frozen, and there was so much snow frozen to his legs that he could barely tell where the boots ended and the overalls began. Snow scattered everywhere, but eventually he got shed of most of the layers and limped into the living room on numb feet.

  Mel lay on the sofa, her clothes on the floor, her body wrapped in blankets. Kara and Selene worked fiercely, rubbing her hands and feet. Mel's hair was wet but thawed out. The fireplace burned full blast, giving off blessed heat that began to make his own hands and feet burn as the feeling came back to them.

  "How is she?" he asked, leaning over the other two.

  Mel's eyes opened. Her teeth were chattering and her body shaking, but she managed a weak smile. "I'll b-b-be fine. Thanks t-t-to you."

  "Hey, that's what brothers-in-law are for, isn't it?"

  "Caleb?I?need to tell you something." Mel was so cold her teeth were chattering. "I?the photograph. It?was me. I sent it."

  He leaned closer to her, looked right into her eyes and said, "Then I know who to thank, don't I?"

  Her smile was wavering, but heartfelt, he thought. Then she frowned. "W-what are you waiting for? You should be upstairs," she told him.

  Caleb frowned. "Upstairs?" Then he glanced at the other two.

  But before either of them could speak, a heart-ripping shriek tore through the house and right into his soul. He thought it might have cracked a few windows. A rush of dizziness hit him so fast, he almost fell down. "Maya?" he asked stupidly.

  "You better get up there, Caleb," Selene said. "We'll take care of Mel."

  Caleb didn't want to think what he was thinking, but he didn't take time to verify it. Instead he lunged to the stairs, and his half-functioning, damp sock-clad feet stumbled and slammed into steps on the way up. They would hurt like hell later, when the feeling came back.

  "God, Mamma, why does it have to hurt so much!" Maya cried brokenly.

  He lurched down the hall, burst into her bedroom and stared in shock at the scene being played out in front of him.

  Maya lay propped up on pillows. Her knees were bent and pointed at the ceiling, and her bare feet pressed down into the mattress. Her mother, looking about as terrified as Caleb felt, was at the foot of the bed. Then, looking up at her daughter, pasting a calm and confident smile in place, Vidalia Brand said, "All right now, honey, it's time. When the next contraction comes, I want you to push."

  For one brief instant he thought he might pass out cold. He shook that away and thought he might throw up instead, from sheer terror. But he shook that off, too. The look of unmitigated fear on Maya's pale face was all it took to snap him out of it. It was fairly easy to size up the situation. The babies were coming, and they were coming now. There was no choice about it. His own fears didn't matter. Hers did. His job here was to get her through this. Not add his own worries to hers.

  "Now, Maya Brand," he said, "I thought I told you I wanted to be in the delivery room. What are you thinking, trying to start without me?"

  Maya's head turned fast, and her eyes met his. And he saw something that almost floored him all over again. The look in her eyes when she saw him standing there?he'd never seen anything like that before. He'd never felt so wanted, or so needed. Or so loved.

  He felt himself grow an inch or two taller.

  "Caleb," she whispered, sounding exhausted already. "My God, you're here. You're really here."

  "I'm here." He moved closer, trusting his legs not to buckle.

  Maya's eyes widened. "Caleb, my sister?Mel?she's-"

  "Safe and sound on the sofa downstairs. Kara and Selene have everything in hand down there. And a friend of mine ought to have that generator running in a few minutes or so. I want you to stop worrying about all that. You've got plenty to do right up here."

  She heard his voice and thought it was her mind, weaving more fantasies. She'd been lying in the bed, in pain, terrified for her babies, for her sisters, for herself, wishing with everything in her that Caleb would walk through her door and somehow make her believe everything was going to be okay. So powerful was the image in her mind that when she turned her head and saw him there, she almost didn't believe he was real. And then she did, and everything she'd been feeling for him seemed to spill from her pores and beam from her eyes.

  His face changed-something moved over his features. But she couldn't tell what. Then he was moving closer, and she noticed his odd gait-he was limping.

  "Caleb, what's wrong?"

  He shook his head, pausing to warm his hands over the small portable heater. "Nothing a little warming up won't fix," he told her.

  Vidalia frowned at him. "How in the world did you manage to get out here, Caleb Montgomery?"

  He winked. "Would you believe I hitched a ride on a sleigh with a guy in red and eight tiny reindeer?"

  "It's a day early for that," Vidalia said. Then Maya saw her mother look down at Caleb's feet, saw her brows draw together in concern. She started to twist around to have a look for herself, but another contraction hit.

  Caleb came to the bedside, and the second his hand was within reach, she clutched it in hers. Cold. His hand was still so cold.

  "Time to push, honey," her mother told her. "You remember the drill."

  "Come on," Caleb said, sliding an arm around her shoulders to brace her up. His face was close to hers. "Push now. That's it, one, two, three, four?"

  When Caleb reached ten, she stopped pushing. Rested. He let her lie back and stroked her hair away from her face. Vidalia ran to the bedroom door and shouted down the stairs. "We need a bowl of ice chips up here," she called.

  By the time she was back in position again, another pain had Maya in its grip, and she pushed again while Caleb held her and counted.

  Selene arrived with the requested bowl of ice chips and set them on the bedside stand. In her other hand she held a pair of wool socks. "Put these on, Caleb," she said, handing them to him. "We warmed them by the fire for you. Your feet look about frozen."

  "That was sweet of you. Thanks." He tugged the damp socks off, and quickly pulled the warm ones on, just barely finishing before the next contraction came.

  It went on and on. Caleb holding her, counting with her, wiping the sweat away from her brow, feeding her ice chips in between. She pushed until she thought she couldn't push anymore. She felt her body being torn apart. And then, finally, a rush of relief.

  She fell back on the bed, breathless and limp. Panting, she looked at Caleb, and saw his gaze directed toward her mother, at the bed's foot. His look was intense, and for the first time, she saw the fear in his eyes showing through the confident facade. The only sound from the foot of the bed was that of her mother's hurried movements.

  "Mamma?" Maya whispered. She tried to lift her head from the pillows to see. Her heart seemed to slow to a stop in her chest, and she held her breath. C
aleb's hand tightened around hers.

  Then, softly, a hoarse and snuffly cry. Like the bleat of a newborn lamb. And then her mother was at her side, holding a tiny, messy, squirming, red-faced bundle, wrapped in a small blanket. "A boy," Vidalia said. "Your son, Caleb." And she handed the baby into Caleb's waiting arms.

  Maya couldn't take her eyes off the baby. Her mother helped her sit up farther, plumping the pillows behind her, which she'd pretty well flattened, as Caleb sat on the edge of the bed holding the baby. He hadn't said a word. Not a word.

  As soon as Maya was upright, Caleb gently placed the baby into her arms. Filmy, unfocused eyes squinted at her, and when she touched the tiny hand, it gripped her finger and her chest contracted with a kind of wonder and joy she'd never experienced. Lifting her head, she looked at Caleb.

  His face was wet. His eyes, his cheeks. He met her gaze, and smiled at her. "My God, Maya, look what you did. You're?incredible." And then, leaning closer, he brushed his lips over hers, very gently. She closed her eyes, sighed very softly. His hand threaded in her hair, and he kissed her again. Then he drew back and just stared at her, as if he'd never quite seen her before.

  She looked at the baby. "Cain Caleb Montgomery the Fourth," she said softly. "Such a big name for such a little thing."

  Caleb lowered his forehead to hers, and the tears on her cheeks mingled with those on his.

  The sound of a motor reached Maya, and only then did she tear her eyes away from her baby. Then the lights flickered on, blinked off, came on again, and stayed this time.

  "Thank the Lord," Vidalia said. "Now, darlin', if it's okay, can I take my grandson for just a bit?"

  Maya nodded, and Caleb gathered the baby from her arms and handed him carefully to Vidalia. She turned toward the doorway, and for the first time Maya looked beyond Caleb to see that Kara and Selene were crowded there, peering in. They were both damp eyed, too.

  "Well come on in here and close the door, this little one needs to be kept very warm just now," Vidalia said.

  "Mel's resting," Kara explained. "Tom Cooper's gonna sit with her so we can help out up here."

  "I turned the furnace way up, Mom, and I brought diapers and baby clothes, and blankets," Selene said.

  "Yeah, and even a little hat." Kara held up the tiny little cotton skullcap. "They always put hats on them in the hospitals."

  Vidalia looked at the baby, obviously not relishing the idea of handing him over. But then another contraction came, and Maya, caught by surprise, cried out. Vidalia shot her a worried glance and handed the newborn off to Selene, complete with a set of instructions, which she spoke rapidly even as she resumed her position at the foot of the bed.

  "Oh, God, not yet," Maya moaned. "I can't do this again." It hit her that that was exactly what was about to happen.

  "Yes, you can. Come on, Maya, you can. I know you can," Caleb told her.

  Panting, she waited for the pain to pass, then looked up at him. "I need to sit up. I need something to brace against."

  He didn't hesitate. He lifted her shoulders and positioned himself on the bed behind her, just the way they had done at the childbirth class. He bent his knees so she could brace her hands on his thighs, and his chest was solid behind her.

  "Better?" he asked.

  She let her head fall back against him and nodded. "I think?oh, God!"

  "Another one? Okay, okay, it's all right. Breathe through it." His hands were on her belly, rubbing circles that were supposed to be soothing. But it was his breath, and his voice, so close to her ear that gave her the most relief, the most comfort. He was here. He was actually here for her, when it had been all but impossible to be. He was not like her father, and he would never be. He might not love her, but he would always, she sensed, be there for her. And for her children.

  He held her like that all through the wee hours. He breathed with her, talked to her, held her. A few feet away, her sisters took turns holding the baby, their body heat, his incubator. And as the sun came up, breaking through the storm clouds, and climbing steadily higher, Maya pushed with all the strength she had left in her.

  And finally the second baby emerged into the world.

  She collapsed against Caleb. And his arms tightened around her. She heard the fear in his voice when he spoke. "Vidalia?? Is he??"

  Opening her eyes, Maya looked up at Caleb's face, seeing the stricken expression. Fear hit her hard, and she shifted her gaze to the foot of the bed, where her mother was working. But she couldn't see the baby.

  But then Vidalia smiled, and she knew it was okay. Everything was okay. The baby started to cry gustily as Vidalia wrapped it in a blanket and held it close to her. "You men just tend to jump to conclusions, don't you?" she asked Caleb as she brought the little bundle and placed it in Maya's arms. "Your daughter is just fine," Vidalia whispered.

  "Oh?a girl?" Maya breathed. "A little girl? Just like Selene said?."

  "Was there ever any doubt?" Selene asked softly. "Help ought to be here soon. At first light Mr. Cooper headed back to town. Said he'd go straight to the sheriff's department and let them know the situation."

  Maya frowned tiredly. "How was he going to do that?"

  "Same way he got out here with Caleb," Kara said. "On his bulldozer."

  Maya blinked in shock, tipping her head backward to stare up at Caleb. "You came all the way out here last night on a bulldozer?"

  He shrugged. "Hey, I was looking for a snowmobile, but I figured I'd better take what I could get."

  "But it must have taken over an hour-and in that storm?God, Caleb, it was a crazy thing to do."

  "Walking would have been crazier," he told her. And his eyes got that look again. All?deep and potent. "But I would have, if that was the only way to get to you last night."

  Her brows came down. "How did you know?"

  He shook his head. "I didn't?.I just had a feeling that I had to get here. That you needed me."

  "I was sending a telepathic 911," Selene confessed from across the room.

  But Caleb's gaze never moved from Maya's, as she whispered, "So was I, Caleb. I was wishing for you so much?and you came. You came."

  "I always will," he promised her. And for the first time, she believed it with all her heart.