James put his arm around her waist. “Don’t go.”
Indecision kept her silent.
“Not yet,” he cajoled. “Stay a bit longer.”
“I would like to see the babies,” she murmured. That was true, but it wasn’t the only reason she felt inclined to linger.
“Little Jimmy.”
“Little Christopher,” Christie said, grinning wildly.
James brought her even closer to his side.
They walked down the corridor like that, and after a long sigh, Christie looked up at James. “If you ever leave me again, I’ll…I don’t know what I’ll do, but I guarantee you it won’t be pleasant. Furthermore—”
“I won’t ever leave you again,” James broke in.
“I’m serious, James. I can’t take the pain.”
He faced her and set his hands squarely on her shoulders. His eyes grew dark and grave. “I’m serious, too.”
“I’m going to finish my schooling.”
“I’ll do everything I can to help you achieve your dreams, Christie. A man does that for the woman he loves.”
She’d been prepared for an argument. He didn’t offer one. Her gaze steadily held his. “I want babies of my own.”
“Babies of our own. And I’m all for it.”
“Don’t be so agreeable,” she snapped. “It confuses me and I—”
He silenced her with a kiss, right there in the hospital hallway. Christie’s arms slid up his chest and looped around his neck as she returned his kiss.
“Three?” he asked in a husky voice when they drew apart.
Christie nestled into his embrace. “Not if they all arrive at once.” On second thought, she mused, that might not be so bad.
James rubbed his hand down the length of her back. “We’ll have beautiful babies.”
She remembered his remark about beautiful babies the day he’d come to the tavern. It was why she’d run after him… “Yes, we will,” she murmured.
He kissed the tip of he nose. “But they won’t play chess.”
“They can if they want to,” she countered.
“Okay,” he agreed, “if they want to play, they can.”
The nurse who’d led Rachel away returned. “I’ve called your friend’s husband,” she said.
“Is everything okay?” Christie asked anxiously.
“No, it isn’t,” Rachel said, a few steps behind the other woman. She seemed about to burst into tears.
“What’s wrong?” Christie hurried after her into the waiting room.
Rachel sat down and buried her face in her hands. “This can’t be true. It just can’t.”
“What can’t?”
Teri’s friend dropped her hands and glanced up. “I’m pregnant,” she wailed.
“But that’s wonderful news,” Christie said. “Isn’t it?”
“It should be,” Rachel said. “I should be happy, but…we’d decided not to have a baby right away and then there’s Jolene. She isn’t ready to deal with this. We promised we’d give her time to get used to us being married first. We promised. I should’ve gone on the pill, but I didn’t.” Looking from Christie to James, she shook her head. “This is what happens. I told Bruce we were playing Russian roulette, but he was so sure we were safe….”
“So what you’re saying is—”
“Sex!” Rachel exclaimed. “This is what happens when you have the most wonderful sex…in the middle of the afternoon. We’ve been meeting at noon—oh, you wouldn’t understand.”
James tightened his grip on Christie and whispered, “Is it noon yet?”
Despite herself, despite her worry about Rachel, Christie smiled.
A moment later, Rachel smiled, too….
Thirty-One
“What do you mean you’re engaged?” Linnette McAfee shouted over the phone.
Mack knew this would shock his sister—just like it would shock his parents once he told them. The engagement felt… He searched for the right word. Strange, he decided. Yes, strange. And awkward, too.
In the short time since they’d become engaged, things had changed between Mack and Mary Jo, and not for the better. Instead of drawing the two of them together, it seemed to have driven them apart.
Ever since that night two weeks ago, Mary Jo had gone out of her way to avoid him. Mack didn’t understand it. He’d accepted her stipulation. Nonetheless she seemed to believe that Mack would treat her as badly as Rhodes had. That told Mack she didn’t really know him or trust him, although she claimed she did.
Another equally unpleasant possibility was that she didn’t actually care for him and was just using him as protection against David Rhodes. He was perfectly willing to play that role and had said as much. But pride—and his own feelings for her—demanded that Mary Jo marry him for reasons other than fear.
“I hadn’t even heard that you were dating anyone,” Linnette said, breaking into his thoughts.
“It’s Mary Jo Wyse and—”
“Isn’t she the woman who had the baby on Christmas Eve?”
“Yes. I delivered Noelle and we’ve been—”
His sister cut him off a second time. “Tell me again why you haven’t said anything to Mom and Dad?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Uncomplicate it for me.”
“Well, for one thing, David Rhodes, Noelle’s birth father, is threatening to go for custody.”
“He wouldn’t dare.”
“He won’t now that I’m in the picture, that’s for sure.”
“Just a minute,” Linnette said in that irritating big-sister way. “You don’t need to marry her to keep David Rhodes out of her life. Obviously, there’s more to this story than meets the eye.”
Maybe informing Linnette that he was engaged hadn’t been such a good idea, after all.
“You love her, don’t you?”
“Yes…”
“But you aren’t a hundred percent convinced she returns your feelings?”
Apparently his sister possessed some form of psychic ability because she’d immediately homed in on the one subject Mack wanted to avoid.
“Uh…”
“You’re afraid she’s using you to keep Noelle’s father at bay?”
When he didn’t answer, she continued. “Mack…do you love her that much?”
Mack sat on a kitchen stool with his cell pressed tightly against his ear. He closed his eyes and whispered, “Yeah, I love her that much.” It would be a whole lot easier if he didn’t.
“Oh, Mack, you’ve got it bad.”
One thing Mack didn’t want was his sister’s sympathy. He regretted even telling her what was going on between him and Mary Jo. And yet…he felt at such a loss to explain this new tension between them. He’d hoped Linnette might offer him some insight. Some explanation.
Since their engagement, Mary Jo had barely looked at him. It used to be that she’d often invite him to dinner on the nights he wasn’t at the station. In the past two weeks he hadn’t been to her place even once.
That wasn’t all. Before they became engaged, they’d played UNO and other card games. They’d talked every day. They’d laughed together. From the moment they’d discussed marriage, she’d treated him as if he had some communicable disease.
“Okay, little brother, if you honestly feel that way, then why—”
“Can I say something?” he asked.
“No,” Linnette said. “Answer my question first.”
“All right. If you must know, Mary Jo agreed to marry me but she insisted on a six-month engagement.”
“Six months? Well, that’s not so bad.”
“She also insisted there be no…physical contact between us.”
“What?”
Mack was not repeating that information. “You heard me.” Just saying the words out loud convinced him Mary Jo didn’t care the way he did. He was a means to an end. He would protect her and Noelle so Rhodes couldn’t threaten her. And the worst of it was…he’d suggested it h
imself.
“Nothing…physical for six months?”
“Mary Jo felt that would give us time to get to know each other—or so she said,” he grumbled. That excuse seemed lame in light of the recent awkwardness between them.
“So you aren’t…you know—”
He groaned. “I don’t ask you about your love life, do I?”
“No, but maybe you should.”
Mack let her comment slide.
“Remember,” his sister said, “Mary Jo has some real trust issues. I can’t blame her for that.”
“You haven’t even met her,” Mack reminded Linnette. But what she’d said was true. Mary Jo did have trust issues; she’d admitted it and the reasons were obvious. That, however, didn’t explain the change in her attitude since she’d agreed to marry him.
“For someone who’s about to become a husband and father, you don’t sound very happy.”
“I’m not. The fact is, I’m not sure why I told you. No one else knows except Mary Jo’s brother.”
“You told me because I’m your big sister and you want advice—only you won’t come right out and ask for it.”
“Am I that transparent?”
“Afraid so.”
He sighed. All of this would be easier if he didn’t have such strong feelings for Mary Jo.
“Does she know your real name is Jerome?”
“She knows.” He’d insisted on being called Mack from the time he was in grade school. He’d been named for his paternal grandfather, and while Mack had loved his grandpa Jerry, he wasn’t fond of the name.
“Why don’t you want to tell Mom and Dad?” Linnette asked. “They’d be thrilled.”
Tentative as the situation between him and Mary Jo was, Mack didn’t feel he could involve his parents. He slouched against the kitchen counter and rested his elbows there. “I have my reasons.”
“When do you plan to tell them?”
“I haven’t figured that out yet.”
“Mack, if Mom finds out from someone else, she’ll be devastated.”
“I know.” Although that wasn’t likely to happen.
“So will Dad.”
Mack knew that, too. In hindsight, he wished he’d already mentioned the engagement to his parents.
“Okay, I understand why you want to keep it a secret,” Linnette surprised him by saying.
“You do?”
“Of course. You want to wait until you’re certain she wants to go through with the wedding. The way things stand right now, you’re feeling hesitant—”
“It’s not me who’s hesitant. It’s Mary Jo.”
“Are you sure about that?”
No question. “Very sure.”
After a moment, Linnette asked, “Can I trust you with a secret, too?”
“Of course.” His sister, however, had never really kept secrets. She’d always been the model student and the good daughter, whereas Mack and his father often fought. It worried him that keeping his engagement from his parents threatened the truce he’d established with his father. He’d risked a great deal for Mary Jo and his biggest fear was that it was all for nothing.
When Linnette wasn’t immediately forthcoming, Mack said, “So what’s your big secret?”
His sister’s voice dropped so low he couldn’t hear.
“Say that again,” he said.
“Okay, fine, I will. I’m married.”
“You’re what?”
“Married.”
“When?”
“December twenty-ninth. On the drive back from Cedar Cove to North Dakota after Christmas, Pete and I took a detour to Las Vegas. Neither of us had ever been before and it was sheer craziness.
“At first, we couldn’t find even one hotel room, let alone two, and when we finally managed to locate a room—there was just the one. That’s when Pete said he didn’t care what the advertisements said—what happens in Vegas doesn’t necessarily stay there, so we got a wedding license and got married the same day.”
“You married Pete?” His sister barely knew the farmer, although it was obvious he’d fallen for her, and fallen hard. Anyone with eyes in his head couldn’t possibly miss that. Linnette had been more circumspect, especially around their parents, but she must’ve felt the same way. “You married him because you could only find one hotel room?”
“Yes.”
“Linnette, that’s insane!”
“Now just a minute, little brother. If that’s not calling the kettle black, I don’t know what is.”
She had him there. Mack wanted to argue and tell her she hadn’t known Pete nearly long enough. He wanted to say she had better sense than this. Besides, less than a year ago she’d been crazy in love with Cal Washburn.
“You’ve been married a lot longer than Mary Jo and I have been engaged. Why keep it a secret?”
“Well…” Linnette exhaled slowly. “I figured Mom and Dad would be disappointed that I hadn’t gone for the big wedding, so Pete and I decided there was no reason to say anything right away. I promised Mom I’d be home this summer, and I thought we could have a second wedding there.”
“Why not tell them now? They like Pete. It isn’t like they’re going to be upset about who you married.”
“I know,” Linnette agreed. “But I was afraid they’d think I married Pete on the rebound. I didn’t. I genuinely love him and, living so far away, it’s not hard to keep it a secret.”
“So that’s what you plan to do? Say nothing and just go ahead with a second wedding?”
Linnette sighed deeply. “I haven’t got that part worked out yet. Getting married on the spur of the moment isn’t as simple as it seems.”
Mack could sympathize.
“We’ve been married for almost four months, and Pete keeps asking when I’m going to tell my family. It was so easy to delay it and now…now it’s been so long. Mack, I’m not sure what to do.”
Mack didn’t have any advice to give her, considering that he’d phoned her with his own troubles, looking for help. “I don’t know, either.”
“You’re not upset with us, are you?”
“Of course not! I couldn’t be happier for you both.”
“Thanks, Mack.”
“I’d suggest you tell Mom and Dad soon, though.”
“I will…”
They spoke for another ten minutes, and his sister updated him on the medical clinic in the small town where she lived. She told him Pete had moved out of the farmhouse and into Buffalo Valley to be with her. Linnette seemed content, happy with her marriage, her work and her life, and that pleased Mack. In the past few years, she’d changed from an insecure, dissatisfied woman to someone who’d become confident in herself and her choices.
After the conversation with his sister, Mack went outside, determined to work on his garden. He chose the south side of the house for exposure to the afternoon sun. He started digging, shoveling up lawn and dirt to create new flower beds.
The area would need a load of topsoil and plenty of fertilizer. Mack had big plans for this garden. Although the mid-April weather was still cool, he soon broke out in a sweat. Pausing to take off his shirt, he worked steadily until Mary Jo parked in their shared driveway.
Mack checked his watch and saw that it was after five. The afternoon, his last afternoon off this week, had sped by. His next shift started at eight tomorrow morning and would last until Saturday. He liked the extended periods of time off this job gave him.
After removing Noelle from her car seat, Mary Jo walked directly past him as she had every day that week. To his surprise she stopped abruptly and stared at him. Mack waited for her to say something. She didn’t, so he continued digging as tenaciously as if he were inches from a vein of gold.
“Hi,” Mary Jo said shyly.
Mack raised his head and leaned against the shovel, trying to suggest that he’d only just noticed her. “Oh, hi. I didn’t see you there.”
She seemed to be studying him closely. “Something wrong?” he aske
d. Maybe he had on two different shoes. He generally didn’t care that much about what he wore.
Mary Jo looked away. “No, sorry, I didn’t mean to stare.”
“Have I got mud smeared on my face?”
“No.” Her neck had gone a warm shade of pink.
“Tell me.”
She appeared even more uneasy. “You look…good. All muscular and tan.”
Hey, that was promising. “I do?”
“I’ve never seen you without a shirt before.”
“I am a firefighter, you know. There’s a reason we’re the preferred candidates for those hunk calendars.” He resisted the urge to pump his arm muscles in order to impress her with his prowess—or, more likely, make her laugh.
Mary Jo smiled at his comment. “Would you like some iced tea?” she asked.
This was definite progress. “I’d love it.”
“Okay if I leave Noelle here? I’ll be right back.”
Mack gazed down at the sleeping infant in her carrier, then watched as Mary Jo headed for her half of the duplex. Still leaning against the shovel handle, he studied her from behind and cursed himself for ever agreeing to this six-month engagement. He wanted to marry her.
Five minutes later, she reappeared with a glass of iced tea. Mack gratefully accepted it and drank the whole glass in one extended swallow.
“You were thirsty.”
“I was,” he said and noticed once again that she had a hard time keeping her eyes off him. Good. He wanted her to feel this sense of deprivation as strongly as he did. Mack decided then and there to see if he could get her to reconsider. “Could we talk?”
“Sure,” she said, backing away from him. “About anything in particular?”
Oh, yes, but Mack thought he’d approach the subject carefully. “Maybe we should discuss this inside.”
“Fine.” She picked up the baby carrier and led the way into her duplex.
Mack followed dutifully. He pulled out a chair at the small kitchen table and waited as she brought Noelle to her room. When she returned, she rinsed his glass and poured him another one.
“About our engagement,” he finally said.
Mary Jo whirled around, her back against the kitchen counter and her hands behind her. “Yes—what about it?”