“So Matt said.”
“Was there anything else he told you?” she asked, resenting the way her ex-husband had taken it upon himself to interfere in her life. It wouldn’t bother her nearly as much if he hadn’t disappeared without a word—which just went to prove what she’d been saying all along. The man wasn’t reliable.
“Matt did mention that he wanted you to return to Alaska and move to—What’s the name of that town again?”
“Hard Luck,” Karen supplied.
“Right, Hard Luck. How could I forget that?” Doug Sullivan smiled, then said in a kind voice, “It might not be such a bad idea, Karen.”
“But—”
He raised his hand, stopping her. “Just until the baby’s born. Matt has every right to be concerned about you…and his baby.”
The last person Karen had thought would side with her ex-husband was her boss. Typical of Matt to have someone else do his arguing for him! “Do you realize how far Hard Luck is from Fairbanks or a town of any real size?” she asked. “There isn’t a doctor within a five-hundred-mile radius.”
“True, but Matt says the public-health nurse is a fully qualified midwife. I believe he said her name’s Dotty something. She’s one of the women who went up there last year—she married the shopkeeper, I think.”
Karen looked away, annoyed that Matt had brought Doug in to make a case on his behalf. He was obviously very serious about getting her to move to Hard Luck.
Doug’s blue eyes twinkled as he spoke. “We got quite a chuckle out of that story, remember?”
Karen wasn’t likely to forget. The news article about a group of lonely bush pilots advertising for women had attracted national attention. Her own connection with Alaska had made the topic especially fascinating for everyone at the Paragon office. Karen had laughed and joked with her friends—until she’d learned that Matt had moved to Hard Luck. Then the whole story had ceased to amuse her. With women said to be arriving every week—a gross exaggeration, according to Lanni—Matt could easily fall in love with one of the newcomers. Why that should concern her, Karen didn’t care to question.
“So this Dotty was recruited by the O’Hallorans?” Karen asked, reining in her memories.
“Yes, and then she married a guy named, let me see, Pete. Unusual last name. Lively or Liver or something.”
“Livengood,” Karen remembered. A man with a thick gray beard came to mind. She’d briefly danced with him at Charles and Lanni’s wedding reception.
“In addition, a doctor flies in once a month.”
“You sound like you want to be rid of me,” Karen complained.
“Not at all,” the older man reassured her, patting her hand. “You know as well as I do that I’m a mess without you. Why else do you think I personally requested you for my executive assistant when I was promoted? You deserved it as much as I did—heaven knows I wouldn’t have gotten my promotion without you.”
“Nonsense.” But hearing him say so helped smooth her ruffled ego.
“Come back to work next spring after the baby’s born,” Doug suggested. “You’ve been very ill these past few weeks.”
Karen bit down on her lip, upset at the way everyone was making decisions for her. She felt trapped and helpless. And angry.
“Nancy’s doing a reasonable job filling in for you. She’s not you, but she’ll do until you’re back on your feet.”
Karen said nothing, unwilling to agree.
“Your job will be waiting for you,” Doug promised. “But right now, you need to take care of yourself and the little one.”
“Did Matt put you up to this?” she asked.
“No.” Once again her boss was quick to set her straight. “He came to me with a number of questions, told me what had happened and left it at that. He’s worried about you, like any husband would be.”
“Matt is no longer my husband.”
“I’m well aware of that, my dear, but did anyone tell him? He’s fiercely protective of you, Karen. I know that bothers you, but in this instance I agree with the young man. Your health and that of the baby is what’s most important.”
“Yes, but—”
“Now, because I want you back, I’ve talked with the good people in the employment office, and if you agree, I’ll arrange to have your furniture and other personal belongings placed in storage. Then later, when you’re ready to return to California, everything will be here waiting for you.”
The resentment she’d experienced earlier flared back to life. She didn’t want anyone making that kind of decision for her. But her anger died a quick death as Karen acknowledged that Doug was acting out of genuine concern and affection. Besides, she would’ve come to the same conclusion herself. Her health and that of her baby had to take priority over her distrust of her ex-husband.
Moving to Hard Luck with Matt wasn’t the ideal situation, but it made more sense than any of her other options.
“What do you say, Karen?” Doug prompted.
“All right, but just until the baby’s born.”
“Take as long as you like,” he told her, patting her hand again. “When you’re ready to move back to Oakland, your job will still be here.”
Doug Sullivan left after their discussion, and Karen must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew a small noise jarred her awake. It took her a moment to realize she wasn’t alone in the room.
“Sorry.” Matt stood at the foot of her bed, looking sheepish. “I guess this wasn’t meant to be used as a flower vase, huh?” He’d thrust a bouquet of roses into the water pitcher.
Karen couldn’t keep from smiling. “You brought me flowers?”
He seemed almost embarrassed that he’d been caught. He shrugged and mopped up the spilled water with some tissues.
“Doug Sullivan was in to see me,” she said.
Matt’s hand stilled as he raised his eyes to meet hers. “I suppose you’re angry because I talked to him. You might as well know I phoned Dr. Baker while I was at it. You’ve made it plain that you don’t want me meddling in your life, but there’s more to consider here than—”
“I’m not angry.”
His head came up as if he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly. “You’re not?”
“No. I’ve decided the best thing for me and the baby is to do as you suggested and move to Hard Luck with you. But I want it understood right here and now that I’m returning to California as soon as the baby’s born.”
Matt’s expression was astonished, then ecstatic. “Whatever you say.”
“Don’t think you’re going to change my mind, Matthew Caldwell, because it isn’t going to happen.”
“Whatever you say, sweetheart.”
Karen groaned. “I’m not your sweetheart or anything else.”
“Maybe not, but you’re the mother of my baby, and for now that’s all that matters.”
Matt felt lighthearted. If he’d ever needed to prove that sometimes the quickest route to what you want is an indirect one, he’d done it with Karen. He was convinced he could have argued with her until the twelfth of never and gotten nowhere. Only when he’d received Doug Sullivan’s support did he get the results he wanted.
He stared out the window of the small aircraft as it passed over the rugged Arctic terrain, heading due north toward Hard Luck. The Midnight Sons plane, piloted by Ted Richards, had picked them up in Fairbanks.
Karen slept peacefully at his side. He restrained himself from placing an arm around her, although he’d been dying to do that from the moment they’d left Oakland a day earlier.
She wasn’t happy about all this, but she’d finally listened to reason. The way he figured it, once she was in his home, he’d have her back in his bed in no time, and the rest would fall naturally into place.
To begin with, he’d make sure she understood that he wasn’t going to ask anything from her physically. They’d need to sleep in the same room, though, so he’d be able to look after her properly when she was ill. That made
perfect sense. Still, it might take some talking to persuade her to share a room—and a bed—with him, but he’d talk as long as he had to. Wear her down, he thought wryly.
Getting Karen back in his bed had haunted Matt from the night of his sister’s wedding. Nothing had ever felt so right to him. That Karen should get pregnant from their one night together struck him as a kind of poetic justice.
Their lovemaking had always been incredible. That night was no exception. But it was an exception in another way—they’d made love without arguing first. During the last two years of their marriage, that had become a pattern, a negative one. They’d had a lot of fights—and always ended up in bed afterward.
No one would guess that his sweet-natured wife had such a temper. Their fights used to escalate quickly to comedy, with Karen throwing anything she could lay her hands on. Over the years he’d dodged books, cups, pillows. A turkey drumstick, once. And the madder she got, the more passionate she became. The hotter her temper, the hotter her desire. The fact that, with them, passion was usually tied to anger disturbed him.
And he knew it was something Karen hated about herself, this tendency to flail at her husband in anger, then reconcile in bed.
They’d broken the pattern the night of Lanni’s wedding. The reality that they’d created a baby still hadn’t fully sunk in. Every time he thought about it he grinned.
In the airport that very day he’d found himself watching mothers with children. It was all he could do to keep from approaching total strangers and declaring that he and Karen were having a baby.
“We’re almost there,” he whispered. He slid his arm carefully around her; if she was going to be angry with him, then so be it.
Her beautiful long lashes fluttered open and she glanced out the small window on the opposite side of the plane. “How long have I been asleep?”
He was tempted to tell her that the length of time she’d been awake would have been easier to calculate. “Not long,” he assured her with a straight face.
She raised her eyebrows. “I’ll bet. Well,” she said, stretching, “I hope I can sleep tonight.”
She would—he’d make sure of that. Once upon a time they’d slept spoon fashion, cuddled up against each other, perfectly content. Now they would again. Every night if he had anything to say about it.
The plane descended slowly, aligning itself with Hard Luck’s narrow gravel runway. A number of planes lined the field, and several more were parked alongside nearby homes, like cars in a carport.
Matt resisted the urge to point out that the wildflowers were in bloom, to exclaim how beautiful the countryside looked with the snow all gone. June was probably his favorite month here in the high Arctic. The days lasted well into the evening, and nights were only long enough for the stars to blink a couple of times, then disappear over the horizon, blinded by the light of approaching day.
“Lanni should be there to greet us,” Matt told her. When he’d called his sister to tell her that Karen was returning with him, Lanni had shrieked with delight. She’d advised him to go slow with Karen, but he didn’t need anyone to tell him that.
The Baron came down gently on the runway and coasted to a stop.
Sawyer O’Halloran opened the side door and lowered the steps. He offered Karen his hand as she climbed out of the aircraft, then greeted her with a warm hug.
“It’s great to see you again.”
“Thanks, Sawyer,” she said a bit shyly.
It gave Matt a small degree of pleasure that she didn’t just blurt out that she wasn’t staying once the baby was born.
Sawyer loaded the luggage into his trunk, and ten minutes later they were at the lodge. Matt was eager to see the place after his two-week absence—and eager to learn how many new reservations Lanni had taken. Thanking Sawyer, he lugged in their suitcases and set them in the lobby, then called, “Lanni!”
“She’s not here,” Karen informed him with perfect logic after he’d called for his sister two more times. Then he saw a note propped up on the registration desk.
“So I see,” Matt said, not entirely concealing his frustration. “Well, make yourself comfortable while I put our suitcases in the bedroom.” He lifted the heavy bags and headed toward the master bedroom in his private quarters—a small apartment on the main floor.
“Matt.”
He set the cases back down. “Yes?”
“Where are you taking my things?”
He’d just explained that, but he was a patient man. “To the bedroom.”
“You appear to be carrying them into your bedroom.”
“Mine? It’s ours now, darlin’.”
Her mouth thinned in a way that told him she wasn’t pleased. “I believe my room is upstairs—darlin’.”
Matt’s gaze followed the staircase that led to the second level and the rooms beyond. “But I thought—”
“I know exactly what you thought, Matthew Caldwell, and it’s not going to happen.”
Chapter
5
July 1996
Abbey hummed softly to herself as she arranged the new books on the front display table. The town council had allotted her a small budget, and she’d quickly purchased the latest hardcover releases. She didn’t expect them to remain on display for very long. Now that the Hard Luck Library was in full operation, almost everyone in town took advantage of it. Abbey had been hired to organize the library, but it was thanks to the generosity of Sawyer’s mother, Ellen O’Halloran—now Ellen Greenleaf—who had donated a vast majority of the books, that the place even existed. It had been Ellen’s dream. And now the people of Hard Luck had access to fiction of all kinds and for all ages, as well as a variety of resource materials.
Abbey bent down to replace one of the children’s books and experienced a dizzy sensation. The room started to spin. She lost her balance and flopped onto the floor.
“Honey, I’ve been thinking…” Sawyer walked into the library, halting abruptly when he found his wife sitting, dazed, on the floor. “Abbey? Are you okay?”
She gave him a wan smile. “My goodness, that was a shock.”
“What happened?” Sawyer asked, helping her to her feet. He framed her face between his large hands and studied her intently. His frown deepened. “You’re pale.”
“I’m a little light-headed, that’s all,” she said, dismissing his anxiety.
“Light-headed?” His voice turned gravelly with concern. “I think you’d better talk to Doc Gleason the next time he flies in.”
“Sawyer,” she said, smiling softly, “I already know why this happened.”
“You do?”
“I’m about ninety-nine percent sure I’m pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” Her husband’s mouth fell open. “You think we’re going to have a baby?” He pulled out a chair, one she thought was meant for her, then promptly sat in it himself.
Abbey laughed out loud when Sawyer placed his hand over his heart and croaked, “You might have prepared me.”
“Sawyer, we’ve talked about having a baby.”
“I know, but this is different…You’re pregnant!”
Abbey poured him a glass of water, which he swallowed in giant gulps. “We’re going to have a baby.” His eyes were loving as he gazed up at her. “Oh, Abbey, I can’t begin to tell you how—”
“Stunned,” she said.
“No, pleased. Happy. Thrilled.” His lips curved in a slow smile.
She smiled back. “I know.” She’d never seen her husband react quite this way before.
“Have you told anyone else?”
“No. Sawyer, I’d tell you first. Anyway, it’s still early….” But despite that, she was sure. The joy and excitement that welled up inside her were as unmistakable as the physical symptoms of pregnancy.
“Can I tell someone? This is too good to keep to myself. We should let Charles and Lanni know, don’t you think? My mother!” he cried. “Mom will go nuts. She’s dying for a granddaughter. Just look at the way she??
?s taken to Scott and Susan, and after three sons who can blame her for wanting a girl? We should tell Christian.” He was talking so fast the words nearly ran together. “I remember the morning he started talking about bringing women to Hard Luck. I kept thinking this was the craziest idea I’d ever heard. Then I met you, and now I’m so grateful for my brother’s loony ideas. Charles is grateful too—he’d never have met Lanni if we hadn’t needed more housing for the—”
“Sawyer,” she said, interrupting gently. She touched his arm. “Don’t you think we should let Scott and Susan know before we tell anyone else?”
“Scott and Susan…of course. You mean they don’t already know?”
“No, sweetheart. Of course not.” He made such a comical sight it was all Abbey could do to keep from laughing.
Sawyer stood up, then immediately sat back down. “Scott can help me build a cradle. But I don’t want to ignore Susan, so maybe we should—”
She placed her arms around his neck and did the only thing she could think of to silence him. She kissed him.
Slowly Sawyer eased his mouth from hers. “Abbey, we’ve got to—”
Determinedly she brought his mouth back to hers and kissed him again, revealing without words how much she loved him and how joyful she was to be carrying his child. This time she met with far less resistance.
Sawyer groaned and his arms circled her waist as he pulled her onto his lap. “Abbey…”
“Hmm?”
“I love you.”
“I’ve never doubted that. We can tell the kids about the baby this evening, and then we’ll phone your mother and let the rest of the family know.”
Her kisses had mellowed him considerably. “All right, but I think you should come home and rest first.”
Abbey sighed and pressed her forehead against his. “Someone needs to be at the library. Besides, we both know that if I went home neither one of us would rest.”
“This is the trouble with having a wife,” Sawyer muttered, grinning broadly. “You know me too well. You’re right—resting wasn’t what I had in mind.”