“Maybe her cell battery’s dead,” the sheriff said. “It could be she’s out of range, too.”
Actually, Linc was curious as to why the sheriff himself had responded to dispatch. One would think the man had better things to do—like dealing with real criminals or spending the evening with his family. “Listen, Sheriff, is Cedar Cove so hard up for crime that the sheriff responds per son ally to a possible break-in?”
Troy Davis grinned. “I was on my way to my daughter’s house for dinner when I heard the call.”
“So you decided to come out here and see what’s going on.”
“Something like that.”
Linc liked the sheriff. He seemed a level headed guy, whereas his deputies were overzealous newbies, hoping for a bit of excitement. He’d bet they were bored out of their minds in a quiet little town like Cedar Cove. The call about this sup posed break-in had sent these two into a giddy state of importance.
“The only essential thing here is finding our sister,” Linc reiterated to the sheriff.
“The problem is, we don’t know where to find her,” Ned put in.
The sheriff rubbed the side of his face. “Did you ask around town?”
No one at the pub had been able to help. “Not re ally. We asked the guys at some tavern, but they didn’t seem aware of much except how full their glasses were.”
The sheriff grinned and seemed to appreciate Linc’s wry sense of humor. “She’s very pregnant,” Ned felt obliged to re mind everyone. “It isn’t like some one wouldn’t notice her.”
“Yeah.” Mel once more thrust his arms out in front of him and bloated his cheeks for emphasis.
Linc made an effort not to groan.
“Wait,” Deputy Pierpont said thoughtfully. “Seems to me I heard something about a pregnant woman earlier.”
That got Linc’s attention. “Where?” he asked urgently. “When?”
“I got a friend who’s a fire fighter and he mentioned it.”
“What did he say?”
Deputy Pierpont shrugged. “Don’t remember. His name’s Hut ton. You could go to the fire station and ask.”
“Will do.” Linc stepped for ward and shook hands with the sheriff and then, for good measure and goodwill, with each of the deputies. “Thanks for all your help.”
Troy Davis nodded. “You tell your sister she shouldn’t have worried you like this.”
“Oh, I’ll tell her,” Linc promised. He had quite a few other things he planned to say to her, too.
After receiving directions to the fire station, they jumped back in the truck. Finally they were get ting somewhere, Linc told him self with a feeling of satisfaction. It was just a matter of time before they caught up with her.
It didn’t take them long to locate the fire station.
Rather than re peat their earlier mistakes—or what Linc considered mistakes—he said, “Let me do the talking, under stand?”
“Okay,” Ned agreed.
“Mel?”
“Oh, all right.”
They walked into the station house and asked to speak to the duty chief, who eyed them cautiously.
Linc got immediately to the point. “I under stand that earlier today you responded to an incident involving a young pregnant woman. A fire fighter named Hut ton was mentioned in connection with this call. Is that correct?”
When the chief didn’t reply, Linc added, “If so, we believe that’s our sister.”
The man raised his eye brows, as if determined not to give out any information.
“She needs her family, chief.”
There must’ve been some emotion in Linc’s voice, some emotion he didn’t even know he’d revealed, be cause the man hesitated, then excused him self. He re turned a few minutes later, followed by a second man.
“This is Mack McAfee. He’s one of the EMTs who took the call.”
“You saw Mary Jo?” Linc asked. He ex tended his hand, and Mack shook it in a friendly fashion. “I did.”
Linc’s relief was so great he nearly collapsed into a nearby chair. “That’s great!”
“She’s okay, isn’t she?” Ned said anxiously. “She hasn’t gone into labor or any thing?”
“No, no, she had a dizzy spell.”
“Dizzy?” Linc repeated and cast a startled look at his brothers.
“Does that mean what I think it means?” Mel asked.
Linc felt sick to his stomach. “I was twelve when Mary Jo was born and I remember it like it was yesterday. Mom got real dizzy that morning and by noon Mary Jo had arrived.”
“That’s not generally a sign of on coming labor,” Mack re assured him.
“It is in our family. Dad told me it was that way with each and every pregnancy. According to him, Mom had very quick deliveries and they all started with a dizzy spell. He barely made it to the hospital in time with Mary Jo. In fact—”
“She was born while Dad was parking the car,” Mel said. “He dropped Mom off at the emergency door and then he went to look for a parking space.”
That tale had been told around the kitchen table for years. Once their father had parked the car and made his way back to the hospital, he was met by the doctor, who congratulated him on the birth of his baby girl.
“Do you know where she is?” Linc asked with renewed urgency.
“You might talk to Grace Harding,” Mack said.
“Who’s Grace Harding?”
“The librarian.” Mack paused for a moment. “Mary Jo was at the library when I treated her.”
“The library?” That didn’t make any sense to Linc. Why had Mary Jo gone to the library?
“What was she doing there?” Mel asked.
“That isn’t as important as where she is now,” Linc said. “Mack, do you have any idea where she might’ve gone after she left the library?” He remembered seeing it earlier. The building with the mural.
Mack shook his head. “She didn’t say, al though I told her to put her feet up and rest for a few hours.”
“She must’ve got ten a hotel room.” They should have realized that earlier. Of course! If Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes were out of town, that was exactly what Mary Jo would have done.
“I don’t think so,” Mack said. “I thought I’d check on her my self and discovered she isn’t at any of the motels in town.”
“Why not?”
“No rooms avail able.”
“Where would she go?”
“My guess,” Mack said slowly, “is to Grace Harding’s house.”
“Why her place?”
“Be cause it seems like the kind of thing Mrs. Harding would do. I have the Hardings’ phone number. I could call if you’d like.”
Linc couldn’t believe their good for tune. “Please.”
The fire fighter was gone for what seemed like a long time. He re turned wearing a grin. “You can talk to her your self if you want.”
Linc bolted to his feet, eager to hear the sound of his sister’s voice. He’d been upset earlier—angry, worried, close to panic—but all he felt now was relief.
“She’s at the Harding ranch in Olalla.”
The three brothers exchanged smiling glances. “Is she all right?”
“She said she’s feeling great, but she also said she’s ready to go home if you’re willing to come and get her.”
“Wonderful.” Linc couldn’t have wished for any thing more.
“I’ll give you directions to the Harding place. She’s on the phone now if you’d like to chat.”
Linc grinned, following Mack to the office, his brothers on his heels.
This was finally working out. They’d get Mary Jo home where she be longed.
Fourteen
“No, please,” Mary Jo said, looking at Grace and her family. “I want you to go to the Christmas Eve service, just like you planned.”
“Are you positive?” Grace seemed uncertain about leaving her be hind.
Mary Jo had bowed to their entreaties and been their guest for a truly wonderful dinner, but she
had no intention of imposing on them any further that evening.
“I am.” There was no reason for them to stay home be cause of her, either. This crazy adventure of hers was over; she’d admitted de feat. Her brothers were on their way and she’d be back in Seattle in a couple of hours.
“I’d like to meet those young men,” Grace said. “But it sounds as if they’ll get here while we’re at church.”
“You will meet them,” Mary Jo promised. “Sometime after Christmas.” In one short afternoon, she’d be come strongly attached to both Grace Harding and Cliff. Her two daughters, her daughter-in-law, their husbands and the grand children had made Mary Jo feel like part of the family. They’d welcomed her with out question, opened their hearts and their home to her, given her a place to sleep, a meal, the com fort of their company. In this day and age, Mary Jo knew that kind of un conditional friendship wasn’t the norm. This was a special family and she planned to keep in touch with them.
While the fathers loaded up the kids and Cliff brought his car around, Grace lingered.
“You have our phone number?” she asked as they stood by the front door.
“Oh, yes. Cell numbers, too.” Mary Jo patted her pants pocket. Grace had carefully writ ten out all the numbers for her.
“You’ll call us soon.”
Mary Jo nodded. Grace was like the mother she’d lost—loving, protective, accepting. And now that she was becoming a mother herself, she valued her memory even more profoundly. It was Grace who’d reminded Mary Jo of everything her mother had been to her, of everything she wanted to be to her own child. Even though her baby wasn’t born yet, she felt blessed. She was grateful for every thing her pregnancy had brought her. A new maturity, the knowledge that she could rise to the occasion, that she had the strength to cope. This brand-new friend ship. And, of course, the baby to come.
“If your brothers are hungry when they get here, there are plenty of leftovers,” Grace was saying. “Tell them to help them selves.”
“Thank you.”
Cliff parked the car closer to the house and got out to open the passenger door. Still Grace lingered. “Don’t hesitate to phone if you need any thing, under stand?”
“I won’t—and thank you.” Wearing her coat like a cloak, Mary Jo walked out side with her into the clear, beautiful night. Snow outlined the branches of trees, and the air was crisp.
“Wait in the house,” Grace said.
“I’ll be fine in the apartment. It’s com fort able there.”
The two women hugged and Grace slid into the car next to her husband. Maryellen, Kelly and Lisa, with their families, had al ready left for the church.
Grace lowered the window. “Thank you for being so patient with Tyler,” she said, giving her an apologetic look.
Mary Jo smiled, completely enchanted with the six-year-old who’d received a drum for Christmas and had pounded away on it incessantly.
“He’s a talented little boy.” In fact, she loved all of Grace and Cliff’s grand children.
“Now go in side before you get cold,” Grace scolded.
But Mary Jo remained in the yard until the car lights faded from sight. Then, pulling her coat more snugly around her, she strolled to ward the barn. Several of the participants in the live Nativity scene were in side a corral attached to the barn and she went there first.
“Hello, don key,” she said. “Merry Christmas to you.”
As if he under stood that she was talking to him, the don key walked to ward her until he was within pet ting range. Mary Jo stroked his velvety nose, then walked into the barn.
“Hello, everyone.”
At the sound of her voice, Funny Face stuck her head over the stall door.
“Hi there,” Mary Jo greeted the mare. “I hear you’re very special to Cliff,” she said. Funny Face nickered loudly in response.
Apparently curious about what was causing all the commotion, the camel poked her head out, too. “Sorry, camel,” Mary Jo called, “but your reputation has preceded you and I’m not giving you a chance to bite my arm.”
After several minutes of chatting with the other horses, Mary Jo washed her hands at a sink in the barn and headed up the stairs to the apartment. About halfway up, her back started to ache again. She pressed one hand against it and continued climbing, holding on to the railing with the other.
When she reached the apartment, she paused in the middle of removing her coat as she felt a powerful tightening across her stomach.
Was this labor?
She suspected it must be, but everything she’d heard and read stated that contractions began gradually. What she’d just experienced was in tense and had lasted several long, painful seconds. Another contraction came al most right away.
Mary Jo checked her watch this time. Three minutes later there was a third contraction of equal se verity.
Only three minutes.
At the class she’d attended, she’d learned that it wasn’t un common for labor pains to start at fifteen-minute intervals. Per haps hers had started earlier and she hadn’t noticed. That didn’t seem possible, though. How could she be in labor and not know it? Except…there were all those family stories about her mother and how a dizzy spell always signaled the onset of labor. A dizzy spell like the one she’d had at the library…
The next pain caught her unawares and she grabbed her stomach and doubled over. “That got my attention,” she announced to the empty room.
Not sure what to do next, Mary Jo paced, deliberating on the best course of action. Her brothers were due any moment. If she told them she was in labor the second they arrived, they’d panic. One thing Mary Jo knew: she did not want her three brothers delivering this baby.
None of them had any experience or even the slightest idea of what to do. Linc would probably order the baby to wait until they could get to a hospital. Knowing Mel and his queasy stomach, he’d fall over in a dead faint, while Ned would walk around declaring that this was just perfect. He was going to be an uncle to a baby born on Christmas Eve—or Christmas Day, de pending on how long this labor business was going to take.
Three minutes later, another pain struck and again Mary Jo bent double with the strength of it. She ex haled slowly and timed it, staring at her watch. This contraction lasted thirty seconds. Half a minute. It wasn’t supposed to hap pen this fast! Labor was sup posed to go on for hours and hours.
Mary Jo didn’t know what to door who to call. Her mind was spinning, her thoughts scrambling in a dozen different directions at once. She considered phoning Grace. If she was going to give birth here, at the ranch, she wanted a woman with her—and she couldn’t think of anyone she’d rather have than Grace Harding. But Grace had left just a few minutes before and the only way to reach her was by cell phone. Unfortunately, as she’d learned earlier, cover age in this area was sporadic at best. And she hated to interfere with the Hardings’ Christmas plans.
The second per son she thought of was Mack McAfee. He’d been so kind, and he was a trained medical technician. He was calm and logical, which was exactly what she needed. He’d called—when was it? Half an hour ago—and urged her to go home with her brothers. There’d be plenty of time to talk to Ben and Charlotte Rhodes after the baby’s birth. Her brothers wouldn’t have the opportunity to con front David or his father now, any way, and she’d man age, some how or other, to prevent it in the future, too. While she was speaking with Linc, she’d realized how desperate her brothers had been to find her. Mary Jo hadn’t meant to worry them like this.
If Linc or Mel or even Ned had reasoned with her like Mack had, she would’ve listened. Too late to worry about any of that now…
Mary Jo went back down the stairs to the barn. She didn’t want to dial 9-1-1 and cause alarm the way she had with her dizzy spell at the library earlier, so she decided to call the fire station directly.
The barn phone was the same number as the house. Sure enough, when she picked up the receiver she saw that Caller ID displayed the numb
er of the last call received—the fire house. Mary Jo pushed the re dial button.
On the second ring, some one picked up. “Kit sap County Fire District.”
Relief washed over her at the sound of Mack’s voice. “Mack?”
There was a slight hesitation. “Mary Jo? Is that you?”
“Ye-es.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I… Grace and her family left for the Christmas Eve service about ten minutes ago. I didn’t go be cause my brothers are on their way here.”
“They haven’t arrived yet?” He seemed surprised.
“Not yet.”
Mack groaned. “I’ll bet they’re lost.”
Mary Jo didn’t doubt that for an instant.
“I’m sure they’ll be there any time,” he said.
“I hate to bother you,” she whispered and gasped at the se verity of the next contraction.
“Mary Jo!”
Closing her eyes, she mentally counted until the pain sub sided.
“What’s wrong?” he asked urgently.
“I’m afraid I’ve gone into labor.”
Mack didn’t miss a beat. “Then I should get out there so I can trans port you to the birthing center.”
At the rate this was progressing, he’d better not lose any time. “Thank you,” she said simply.
He must have sensed her fear, be cause he asked, “How far apart are the contractions?”
“Three minutes. I’ve been timing them.”
“That’s good.”
“I didn’t take all the birthing classes… I wish I had, but David said he’d take them with me and it never happened. I went once but that was just last week and—”
“You’ll do fine. If you want, I’ll stay with you.”
“You?”
“I’m not a bad coach.”
“You’d be a wonderful coach, but you have to re member I’ve only had the one class.”
“Listen, in stead of talking about it over the phone, why don’t I hop in the aid car and drive over.”
“Ri-ight.” At the strength of the last contraction, Mary Jo was beginning to think this was an excellent idea.
“Where are you?”
“In the barn at the moment.” She gave a small laugh.