Return by Air (Glacier Adventure Series Book 1)

by Tracey Jerald

  “I’m just shy of forty-one years old and I’m about to be a mother for the second time,” I announce.

  “Sexy. You forgot to mention that part. For shame, Dr. Malone.”

  I sigh. “I haven’t earned my doctorate yet, Jennings. I have a feeling this little one might put that on a hiatus.”

  Jennings shifts a little bit so he’s able to meet my eyes. “No, Kara. If I need to shift my responsibilities at the office, I will. But your dreams got put on hold long enough. You will be Dr. Malone by spring, even with our little one.”

  I’m about to argue with him when another contraction hits. “We’ll…see,” I gasp out.

  He smirks and I want to simultaneously punch him and kiss him. Instead, I decide to derail him entirely. “What,” I pant, because that last contraction was awful, “if I want to become Dr. Jennings? You keep saying Dr. Malone as if that’s still my dream. Didn’t we learn dreams change?” Then I groan as another contraction hits. “Damn, this hurts.”

  Jennings stills, whether at my pain or my words, I’m not certain. “Go into my overnight bag,” I order.

  Woodenly, he stands, makes sure I’m settled, before going over to the overnight bag. “Manila envelope inside,” I hiss, just as another contraction is about to start.

  Jennings grabs it. Inside is copy of court-notarized paperwork Kevin and I gave Jennings for Father’s Day last year having his name reordered to be Kevin Malone Jennings. “Hearing…few weeks ago…you were…in Atlanta. Lawyer sent those over.” I pant out a few breaths while Jennings fails as a labor and delivery coach but completely rocks it as a father as tears drip from his eyes. “Surprise. Now we’ll all be Jennings. And it will be Dr. Jennings when it happens,” I groan.

  “Have I told you how much I love you today?” His voice is quiet.

  “Absolutely,” I grit out through my teeth.

  “Have I thanked Jed and Dean for their help in bringing us back together?” God, if I could, I’d run across the room and throw myself in his arms. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, Jennings doesn’t take anything about the life we’ve forged together for granted.

  “Not sure. But I am certain they’re watching. Mind putting those away before I start making threats about the log again?” I only partially joke, as the pain recedes.

  Placing the envelope on top of the bag, Jennings crosses the room. He places his hand on my protruding stomach. Brushing his lips across mine, he says, “You, Kevin, this baby, you’re the only air I need.”

  I open my mouth to tell him how much I love him when the door bounds open behind him. Jennings whirls around. But it’s a surprise.

  One of the best in the world.

  “Did you really think you were going to have this baby without me?” Maris drawls.

  “Oh, my God! How did you get here so quick?” I shove my husband away and open my arms to my best friend.

  “Don’t worry about that. How are you?”

  “They won’t give me an epidural,” I wail.

  “Jesus, Jennings. Why don’t you take a break and go hit Nick or something?” Maris suggests.

  Jennings barks out a laugh but—wisely, in my opinion—doesn’t leave my side.

  “Nick’s here?” I ask, confused.

  “Just got here,” Maris says breezily. “But that’s for later. Right now, let’s focus on getting this tiny human out of you. I still can’t believe you didn’t find out what the sex is.”

  Shyly, I glance up at my husband, who’s shaking his head, and finally admit why I wouldn’t. “I couldn’t afford to the first time.” Jennings stills. “So, I wanted Jennings to have the same feeling of anticipation I had of waiting to know whether this baby was a boy or a girl.”

  Jennings mutters, “My Owl,” before he scoots me up in bed. Sitting down behind me, he buries his head in my neck just as I let out a piercing yell.

  “Christ, Kara! What the hell was that?” He jerks back.

  “If I remember from being on the phone the last time, Jennings—” Maris picks up the nurse’s button and presses it. “—that’s Kara’s signal for it’s ‘go time.’ Lucky for you, this one went by much faster than the last one did.”

  My mind, already in that twisted place of agony and joy mothers go when they’re about to birth their children, still has enough sanity to snap, “There is no mathematical way you could have made it here on time.”

  Leaning down, she drawls, “Not unless I was here already. Think about that while you’re pushing out the newest member of our family. Okay?”

  “I wanted to be thinking about Jennings falling on a log, damnit!” I shout at the top of my lungs just as the doctor and nurses push the door open.

  “Well, that’s certainly a more inventive way of cursing out the father-to-be than I’ve ever heard before,” the doctor laughs.

  “She can say whatever she wants. Just make sure she’s safe.” Jennings’s voice is terrified.

  “First-time father?” the doctor guesses. Before we can correct him or go into our long or complicated history, he asks the nurses to move a lamp over and a tray of surgical implements in place. Jennings holds back a growl as he lifts the lower sheet.

  The doctor’s head whips to mine. “Mrs. Jennings, did you know you’re at ten centimeters?”

  I puff out of my mouth. “Can I push?” The pressure in my lower stomach is almost overwhelming.

  The nurses lower my bed back to get me in position as the doctor says, “Let me burst the embryonic fluid and then…yes, here we go. Mr. Jennings and…?”

  “Just call them Jennings and Maris,” I snap. I’m already lifting my legs into position. Jennings pales while Maris cackles like a hen.

  “Right. Jennings, Maris, each of you grab one of Mrs. Jennings’s legs and brace them while she pushes. It’s entirely possible we’re going to meet this little one very shortly,” the doctor announces before he ducks down beneath my legs.

  “Fuck, Owl. I love you.” Before he grabs my leg, Jennings leans down and presses his lips all over my face. “Try to remember that as you’re cursing me to death.”

  “Ace?” My hand grips his arm with the strength of a thousand men or a single mother in labor. “I don’t think I can curse you. You’re here, and soon he or she will be with us too.”

  Jennings’s chest is rising with the force of his emotion. I knee him in the chest with my leg, reminding him of his job. “Right,” he says sheepishly, grabbing hold and pushing my leg back.

  Maris, who has a death grip on the other, grins. “I think we’re ready.”

  “Mrs. Jennings, on three, push. One, two, three,” the doctor counts.

  When I hear the magic number, I grab behind my thighs with all my might and let out a banshee cry. “Get this baby out of me!” I strain and hold until the doctor says, “Relax.”

  I drop back on the bed with a thunk. Within seconds, Jennings’s lips are mopping up the sweat on my brow. “Amazing. You’re simply amazing.”

  “Save your compliments, Ace,” I tell him on a shaky laugh. “This could take a while.”

  He grins, before pressing his lips against mine.

  I push and ease up seven more times before the doctor says, “The head’s crowning. I think one more big push will get the head out!”

  It’s then I hear him, and the tears roll unchecked down my face. Do you remember the last time we did this? God, you were so brave and strong then, Kara, even if you wanted to emasculate Jennings. Now? Getting to watch you do this with him at your side? Just know I’m so proud of you, my beautiful sister. And I’ll always love you. Sobbing, I reach for Jennings’s hand beneath my thigh and grip it. “If it’s a boy, it’s Jedidiah Dean. If it’s a girl, it’s Deana Smith. Deal?” We hadn’t talked about names, but hearing my brother in my head in this precious moment solidified what I instinctively knew.

  They’d live on in the child Jennings and I made together.

  Jennings bends down and whispers, “Deal. Now push so we can find
out which one it is.”

  My eyes flicker to Maris to find hers wet. “I love you, sister. Find your happy.”

  “Damnit, Kara, will you push the baby out so I can?” she cries.

  And with a push that gets the head out, I listen to the incredible beauty of a cry that started years ago in the Alaskan wild. Another push gets the shoulders out, a final one has the baby landing in the doctor’s arms. I lie back as the doctor murmurs. Nurses scurry around as Jennings strokes my hair, his eyes locked on our baby. Then, finally, words I’ve waited forever to hear are spoken.

  The doctor turns to Jennings and says, “Would you like to hold your daughter?”

  Jennings is a wreck when he accepts the tiny bundle against his chest. Tears streak down his face as he looks down at the wrinkled face that will grow into a combination of all of us. “Welcome to the world, Deana. I’m your daddy.”

  The air that was just sucked out of my lungs may be lost forever hearing the man I love saying that. But who needs it anyway? I’d rather live on the love pumping through my heart.

  The love John Jennings gives to me every day.

  I turn to Maris and weakly smile. “Now, will you go tell Kevin we just added a daughter to our family?”

  “With pleasure.” Leaning over to press a kiss to my still-damp forehead, she whispers, “Remember when I asked if you’d ever really got over what you felt for Jennings?”

  I think back to that early night in Alaska after we all arrived so close to Dean and Jed’s passings. Jennings had just kissed me again for the first time, and I was confused—no, terrified—of falling for the only man who ever truly made my heart soar. “Of course I remember.”

  “I don’t think that will ever change, do you?” She nods to where Jennings is cooing at our daughter despite the nurses’ attempts to corral him to have her weighed and fingerprinted.

  A huge smile bursts across my face. “No. Nothing about the feelings I have for Jennings will change. Of that, I’m certain.”

  And while Maris leaves to go let everyone know the news, I sit back to indulge in watching the new addition of our family wrap her father around her tiny finger. After all, it took exactly the same amount of time for her big brother to do the same, and he was much older when he met his dad for the first time.

  As fatigue causes my eyes to drift shut, I can only imagine what Jennings is going to be like when Deana is Kevin’s age. Giggling at the thought as I drift off, I never know my husband’s tender look switches from our daughter to me when I do.

  Three days after the birth of our daughter, I pull up my email. Taking a deep breath, I start a new message. I read it over and over, making sure each word is perfect before I hit Send.

  A few moments later, Jennings’s phone pings. Pulling it out of his pocket, he opens the message before his head snaps in my direction. “What on earth? Kara?” Confusion is written across his face.

  “I told you, Ace. Every step of the way.” I cradle Deana to my breast as a dawning understanding crosses Jennings’s face as he receives the first of the emails I’ll send him as our daughter has the same milestones our son did so Jennings doesn’t miss a moment.

  I brush my lips across our daughter’s head as I recall what I typed.

  Jennings,

  God, here we go for the second time around.

  I can’t believe we have a little girl. I know you’ll never forget it, but after the shortest labor in history, Deana Smith Jennings was born on November 19 at 6:14 PM weighing only 6 pounds, 13.5 ounces.

  We named her after the two most influential men in our lives — our two brothers who we wish more than anything could hold her. They were there with us in spirit. I could feel Dean in the delivery room, crazy as that sounds. There’s no proof, but he was there — I just know it.

  I’m so glad you love her name, but to be honest, I still would have been the one to choose. After all, I’m the one who was pushing her out with no drugs. Remember that, would you?

  Oh, Jennings, I’ll never forget that moment when you first held her. Much as I will never forget the first time you held our son. Both images are committed to my memory forever.

  Beyond anything, know I will always love you. The only thing that ever separated us was time and air and we conquered both.

  I love you. Now. Forever. Always.

  Kara

  The End

  Also by Tracey Jerald

  Amaryllis Series

  Free to Dream

  Free to Run

  Free to Rejoice

  Free to Breathe

  Free to Believe

  Free to Live

  Glacier Adventure Series

  Return by Air

  Return by Land (Pre-order - October 12, 2020)

  Return by Sea (Coming Winter 2021)

  Standalones

  Close Match

  Ripple Effect

  Lady Boss Press Releases

  Easy Reunion

  CBY - Title to be released soon!

  (Coming August 2020)

  Acknowledgments

  First, to my husband. You held my hand through every adventure in Alaska, as I hope you do until our last breath. I love you more today than yesterday.

  To my son, thank you for growing up to be an inquisitive, sensitive boy who is showing a great talent at quick jokes. You are a miracle I’ll never take for granted. Love you, baby.

  To my Mom, you gave me everything so I could chase my dreams. I love you.

  Jen, when all this is done, you can decide where we go next. Trust me, the Lumberjack show is worth seeing twice. I love you.

  Tara, I remember the night on the front porch when you finally told me about you with whatever junk we could find and homemade Kahlua, stars overhead on the front porch in Yulee. The strength of the woman you are shone through all the way back then. I love you sister.

  To my Meows, we’re an indomitable force together. Just don’t let anyone hack our Zoom calls. I love you all!

  To Sandra Depukat from One Love Editing, thank you for handling all the randomness I ping to you. And thank you for being my friend. Happy (belated) anniversary, love!

  To Holly Malgieri, from Holly’s Red Hot Reviews, you are and always will be my twin. Thank you for working on RBA, but I am so damn proud of all your accomplishments this year. I love you.

  To Gel, at Tempting Illustrations, it constantly eludes me how you can develop such beauty from mere words. You are a true artist. XOXO

  To the amazing team at Foreword PR, you are the backbone to making all of us shine. I can’t thank each and every one of you enough for your time, your dedication, and your heart.

  Linda Russell, remember when I sent you text from 3,400 miles away saying, “So, look where I am?” Look where it lead. LOL. Just to say, I’m more grateful to call you my friend above every other title. So, just deal with the random packages. I love you.

  To Susan Henn, Amy Rhodes, and Dawn Hurst, all of you go so far above and beyond each and every day. Thank you for doing what you do.

  For the members of Tracey’s Tribe, my Facebook home away from home, each of you is amazing!

  And for all of the readers and bloggers who take the time to enjoy my books, thank you for your support. Every day, I am humbled and honored by you.

  I rarely do this, but I have to do a call out to The Killers for the song “Shot at the Night.” After so many years after the loss of my father, who loved their music, I can finally listen to your music again. It’s available on the Return by Air playlist on Spotify.

  About the Author

  Tracey Jerald knew she was meant to be a writer when she would re-write the ending of books in her head when she was a young girl growing up in southern Connecticut. It wasn’t long before she was typing alternate endings and extended epilogues “just for fun”.

  After college in Florida, where she obtained a degree in Criminal Justice, Tracey traded the world of law and order for IT. Her work for a world-wide internet startup transferred her to
Northern Virginia where she met her husband in what many call their own happily ever after. They have one son.

  When she’s not busy with her family or writing, Tracey can be found in her home in north Florida drinking coffee, reading, training for a runDisney event, or feeding her addiction to HGTV.