Baby Makes Four

by Cynthia Thomason

  “Okay, Mommy.”

  Reed knew the next few minutes were going to be difficult ones. Camryn would have to tell her daughter about one of the terrible aspects of farm life and survival of the fittest. And she would explain that they were leaving with Brooke and going to Charleston, and Esther’s life was going to change.

  “And so will yours,” Reed said to himself as he walked out the front door and left the women to deal with the immediate future. If only things had been different...

  Reed stayed busy the rest of the afternoon. He had patients in his clinic, especially Rooster, who needed twenty-four-hour monitoring. Reed was grateful Becky’s son didn’t have studying to do for Monday classes and could stick around and help. Phillip and Justin came to the recovery room often in the next hours, each time begging to see Rooster. Reed didn’t let them closer than the window to the equivalent of his intensive care unit, though the boys complained.

  One visitor did get to go inside the recovery area. In the late afternoon, after Brooke’s car was packed, Brooke drove her sister and niece to Reed’s house. Camryn stayed in the car, but Esther ran into the clinic calling Reed’s name.

  “Hey, there, kiddo, what’s going on?” he said when he met her inside the door.

  “I just have to see Rooster,” Esther said. “I know he’ll be okay, but he needs to know that I love him. I have to tell him.”

  “Of course you do, honey.” Reed placed a hand on Esther’s shoulder. “Come on. I’ll take you to him.”

  They walked into the sterile environment of the care unit. Only one cage had an occupant, and Esther found her dog right away. “Hi, Rooster. It’s me, Esther. How are you feeling?”

  The dog didn’t move but the monitors attached to his body showed that he was breathing normally and his heart was beating.

  Esther looked up at Reed. “He’s not moving, Reed.” She hiccuped, camouflaging a sob. “He’s not dead, is he?”

  “No, Esther, he’s fine. But when an animal gets hurt as badly as Rooster did, they tend to sleep a lot. That’s good. It’s what we veterinarians want them to do. He’s not feeling any pain.”

  “But he doesn’t know I’m here.”

  “I’ll bet he does, Esther. Rooster is a smart dog. He can’t respond to you, but I’m sure he hears your voice.”

  Esther poked a finger between the bars of the cage. The tip just reached Rooster’s nose and Esther stroked it gently. “You have to get better, Rooster. Mommy said we are going to get you some special treats.”

  Rooster sniffed loudly. His upper lip quivered and rose.

  “Look, Reed,” Esther exclaimed. “He’s smiling. He did hear me. Rooster loves treats.”

  “You see?” Reed said. “He knows your voice even when he’s sleeping.”

  Esther nodded. “Will you tell Justin to talk about me a lot when he comes to see Rooster?”

  “I will, and Justin will be happy to have long conversations about you.”

  “And maybe I can call once in a while to see how he’s doing? I know how to use the cell phone.”

  “Call whenever you like, Es.”

  She nodded. “Okay. I have to go, Rooster. Mommy said I could only stay a minute, and I think it’s been longer than that already. We’re going to Charleston until Mommy has her baby and then we’re coming back here to get you.” She leaned into the metal bars and made little kissing sounds. “I love you, Rooster. Don’t forget us.”

  Reed turned away. This was why he became a veterinarian—so he could heal animals and return them to their families or to the people who loved them. And he dang sure was going to return this special dog to this child.

  “Okay, Esther, I’ll take you to the car. Don’t worry about Rooster. I will treat him like the hero he is.”

  “You’re a hero too, Reed,” she said when they walked out of the recovery room. “You saved him.”

  He didn’t walk Esther all the way to the car. He stood at the top of his drive and watched her climb inside. Before turning around, Brooke tooted the horn. Camryn raised up from the back seat and waved. Reed didn’t want to remember Cam’s face the way he saw it now, drained, pale, sad. He wanted to remember the energetic, hardworking pursuer of dreams, the first friend he made in Bufflehead Creek, the best one he’d ever had.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, the fourth day at her parents’ house on bed rest, Camryn took a break. She sat outside under an old oak tree in her childhood backyard.

  The temperature was unseasonably warm today, sixty degrees, comfortable for the end of January.

  Esther would be home from school soon, and the arrival of her daughter every day was the highlight of Camryn’s hours. Esther was happy because Cam had arranged for her to go back to her previous school, and Esther remembered some of her old classmates. All that was required was for Camryn’s mother to take Essie to school and her father to pick her up.

  Life should have been perfect for Camryn. She was being well cared for by a family that loved her. The local obstetrician had given her encouraging news. Esther was doing well except for missing Rooster and Reed’s boys. And Camryn had gotten positive feedback from Mr. Palermo of Agri-Crops, who said he was certain the deal they’d talked about in Bufflehead Creek was still good. He needed to check with his superiors and he would get back to her by the end of the week.

  Yes, everything was going according to the plan Camryn had made when she left her farm, the plan she had to follow to assure the healthy arrival of the baby she now knew was her second daughter. Unfortunately this plan was not the one Camryn had decided upon for the rest of her life. That plan involved a small town, a farm and a brood of chickens. So now she didn’t know what she was going to do with the years ahead of her.

  Stay in Charleston, work at the gallery? Live with her parents indefinitely? They had made it clear that they would be happy to have her. Move to her own place and struggle as a single mother with two children?

  Mark had come to see her on Monday. He’d been sympathetic enough when she told him about the wild boars, stopping just short of saying he’d “told her so” about the move to the farm. Camryn was certain he would support his daughters financially, but she questioned whether he would have a significant role in their everyday lives. Mark’s relationship with Paula was progressing, and she envisioned a wedding ceremony for the two of them. Once that happened, Mark would be a daddy to Paula’s daughter, too, a live-in daddy, not one who made time for his two daughters when he could.

  Camryn plucked a leafless twig from a low-hanging branch of the tree and began stripping it of bark until she could find the green belly, a sign of spring coming before too long. The tree would soon be vibrant with life, providing shade to the whole family. The tree would have a purpose, so why didn’t Camryn feel that she had a purpose, as well?

  At the farm, she never once woke in the morning with the thought that she didn’t have a purpose in life. On those acres, there was always more to do than there were hours in the day. Now she was living a life of bed rest and an artificial calm that she strived constantly to maintain with cups of tea, naps and sweet romance books.

  She no longer breathed the smells of her garden, the ones that soothed her by just being in the air. She no longer gathered warm eggs, gifts from her chickens that proved they were a working family, each creature, large and small, contributing to the tranquil routine of her days.

  Oh, my, how desperately she missed...all of it.

  “Hi, Mommy. I’m home from school!”

  Esther’s voice brought Camryn back to her reality in the sweetest, most positive way. She held open her arms and Esther scampered into them.

  “Grandma said you were out here,” Esther said. “Are you okay? Is our baby okay?”

  “Yes, sweetie, we’re both fine. I just felt like a bit of sunshine. It’s such a beautiful day.” She managed t
o fit Esther on her lap despite her expanding belly. “How was school today?”

  “It was okay. We played a game that Justin would have loved. It was a spelling game, and he was the best speller in our class.”

  This wasn’t the first time Esther had mentioned the friend she’d left in Bufflehead Creek. Cam knew she missed him. Oh, the wonderful irony of childhood hurt and forgiveness, as natural as the sun rising.

  “Are we going to do anything tonight?” Esther asked, her voice hopeful. It had been so long since they’d done something spontaneous and fun. Even a trip to the ice cream shop would have been nice, but Camryn knew that wouldn’t happen.

  “I think Grandma is going to the supermarket,” she said. “I’ll bet she’d love to have you go with her.”

  “Okay, I’ll do that,” Esther said, “But first there’s something I’d really like to do.”

  “What is it?”

  “Can I call Reed? I want to ask him how Rooster is, and he said I could call him whenever I wanted to.”

  “Then of course you can,” Cam answered. She took her cell phone from her pocket and handed it to Esther. At the farm, Camryn rarely remembered to take her phone when she went outside. Since returning to Charleston, the phone had become a constant companion. “Reed’s number is in my contacts list,” Cam said. “Do you know how to find it?”

  Esther gave her a grown-up look, foreshadowing what she would be like as a teenager. “Of course, Mommy. Everyone knows how to use a cell phone.”

  Esther took the phone, stood up and stepped away from Camryn. She punched in the connection. Cam’s heart hammered just knowing who would be on the opposite end of the call.

  “No, Reed, this isn’t Mommy. It’s me, Esther,” the child said.

  “I’m fine. We’re all fine. I just wanted to call to find out how Rooster is.”

  She paused, listening. When she grinned broadly, Camryn knew the news had to be good. “Wow,” Esther said. “He walked around the clinic today? That’s really good, isn’t it?”

  Reed obviously confirmed Esther’s evaluation because the grin stayed in place.

  “Do you think he misses me?” she said after a moment. “Tell him I miss him, too. And Reed?”

  Another pause. “Can I talk to Justin, please?”

  When Reed’s son got on the line, Esther told him about the spelling game in school. She assured him that he would have won. “And Justin, I want you to watch Rooster all the time, when you’re not in school at least. Make sure he’s eating and sleeping, and not itching too much. And Justin, you can show him a picture of me. I’ll have Mommy take one and send it on the cell phone, okay?”

  Camryn swallowed a lump in her throat. Thank goodness the days didn’t drag for a nine-year-old as they did for an adult. But it would still be quite a while before Esther would see Rooster again. Just as soon as possible after the baby was born, Cam would bundle her little family in the car and go back to Bufflehead Creek...to see Rooster, of course.

  Esther disconnected and handed the phone back to Camryn. Reed hadn’t asked to talk to her? Why should he? All the information she needed concerning her farm she got from Becky’s reliable son, Randy. But still, Cam had to work to hide her disappointment.

  “Reed told me to tell you hi, Mommy.”

  “Oh, that’s nice.”

  “You should call him and tell him hi back yourself.”

  Camryn sighed, slipped the phone into her pocket. “Maybe I will, sweetheart. Soon.”

  * * *

  REED SHOVED HIS phone into his jeans pocket and continued feeding the birds recently transferred to his care from the Low Country Rehabilitation Center. What was wrong with him? All he could think about while talking to Esther was telling her to put her mother on the line. Just one word from Camryn, just a chance to hear the inflection in her voice, and he would know that she was okay. And then he would be okay, too, and could maybe relieve some of this awful ache in his heart.

  What should he have done? Try to stop her from packing up and leaving the farm with her sister? Of course not. Camryn needed care, attention, the best medical advice. Charleston was no doubt the best place for her to be. And besides, what had he offered in place of the choice she made? More of the same? A man who adored her but couldn’t commit to making a family with her? A man who’d never been much of a father anyway, and who suddenly agreed to take on the care of four children, each one as different from the other as any kids could be?

  Reed was a trial-and-error father who believed in letting his kids make mistakes and suffer the consequences. Camryn was a mother who believed in avoiding consequences of any kind. Safety first, that was Cam’s motto. There was no way these two people could form a united front with four different children, especially when two of them had a biological father constantly in the background, criticizing, correcting when the mood struck him to be concerned.

  No, Reed had chosen the safest path for himself and his boys. “Get your own house in order,” he’d said to himself over the last few days. “Make a good home for your sons. Don’t take on any more responsibility when you’re barely able to handle the situation you’ve inherited from a woman who cared more for a South American cattle rancher than she did her own children.” Not that Reed would have won any awards for his fathering techniques before, but he was trying now. His priorities were in order, weren’t they?

  So why was he so miserable? Why did he miss coffee in the mornings in that cozy kitchen? Why did he miss helping a woman who was determined to make a success of her little patch of land and her flock of chickens? Why did he dream every night of holding her, kissing her? Why did he allow himself to contemplate a future with a woman who brought more into his life than he could handle?

  Why did he want to jump into his SUV and take the quickest route to Charleston?

  His cell phone rang and he took it from his pocket. The word “Camryn” identified the caller. A muscle in his chest clinched. His hands started to sweat. At the same time, the hole in his heart started to fill up with warm, wonderful feelings.

  “Camryn. Hi, how’s everything going?”

  “I’m doing well,” she said. “The doctor said bed rest is doing wonders for me.”

  “Really?” He didn’t want to appear skeptical. “I’m sure it’s doing wonders for the baby, but how about you? How are you adjusting to being a lady of leisure?”

  She chuckled. “Inactivity has its good points and bad. Tell me about your boys, your parents, Rooster, my chickens and goats. Don’t leave anything out, Reed. I want to know it all.”

  She seemed hungry for information about her farm, and he fed her even the minutest details about the place she’d left behind. She asked questions. He answered each one, avoiding mention of the attack by the boars, compensating with news of neighbors and events and the people she’d come to know.

  He ended his litany of Bufflehead Creek details with, “It’s not the same without you here, Cam.”

  “I know. It’s very different for me, too.” Her voice hitched. He sensed she was on the verge of tears. “Nothing is the same.”

  His heart soared. “What are you saying? Do you want to come home to Bufflehead Creek? Because if you do, I’ll leave right now...”

  “I can’t,” she said. “This baby... In a few weeks...”

  “In a few weeks, what, Cam?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t make any decisions now. What happened that night... I’ll never forget it.”

  “And you shouldn’t. It’s part of the cycle of country life, the good and bad, the almost incomprehensible. There were lessons to be learned that night about being cautious, being careful, and most of all, being accepting of all of life’s ups and downs. Nature can be a beautiful and cruel teacher.” He paused a moment before adding, “But that doesn’t mean we don’t live our own lives to the fullest. It’s the challenges that make us strong.”


  “I wanted to hear your voice, Reed,” she said. “And I’m glad I called. You always have a way of calming my worst inner turmoil.”

  “I’m glad you called, Camryn. If it’s okay we’ll talk often. You have a responsibility now to have a healthy baby. That’s what is important. If I can help you through this, you know I’m willing. I may not always be up to the task, but I will always try.” He took a deep breath. “Camryn, I...”

  “I know, Reed,” she said. “We’ll talk soon. Goodbye.”

  He put his phone back in his pocket and looked toward the house. Both of his boys were coming around the house toward the birdcages. Reed pulled himself together, straightened his spine and smiled. There has to be a way to work this out, he thought, as his life erupted into the chaos of being a dad.

  * * *

  JUSTIN REACHED HIS father first. “Hi, Dad. Guess what?”

  Oh, great, a guessing game. A dozen or more ghastly ideas popped into Reed’s head. I was in the principal’s office today. I threw up in class. I got in a fight on the playground, etc. Before actually picking one of his choices, Reed considered that just maybe the right answer would be that Justin had gotten an A on his math test today.

  “Don’t ask him,” Phillip said. “Justin had another one of his dumb ideas.”

  “It’s not dumb,” Justin said. “It’s nice. Don’t you ever want to be nice?”

  Phillip scowled. “Nope.”

  “Tell me what the idea is,” Reed said. “I won’t know if it’s dumb or nice if you don’t tell me.”

  Justin grinned. “Okay, here goes. You know how Camryn’s chicken coop got all messed up when the boars attacked?”

  “Yes, I know that. The pigs rooted through the screen and splintered some of the wood. It’s pretty rough.”

  “Well, my idea is that we should fix it...you, me and Phillip.” He eyed his brother. “Phillip has to help.”

  Reed had already thought about trying to restore the chicken coop. Even if Cam decided to sell the farmhouse, a sturdy coop might make a difference in the price she could ask. And if she didn’t sell, then she’d need the coop even more. He figured he’d hire some guys from town to come out and do the work, but Justin’s idea was much better.