A Brand of Christmas

by Maggie Shayne

  Chapter 12

  Her mother, her sisters and Bobby seemed to have bought every newspaper in print the next morning. It was the day before Christmas Eve. A time when she should be bustling around in excited holiday preparations. Not worrying about the press. At first Maya was almost afraid to look at the newspapers scattered across the table. The ones she'd seen the day before had been horrible. Mean-spirited, and filled with attacks on her character and personal life. Some went so far as to suggest she'd deliberately sought Caleb out and gotten pregnant with his child, all as a means to get her hands on the coveted Montgomery fortune.

  Hesitantly she picked up one paper, glancing at the headline.

  More Than Meets the Eye?

  Her gaze skimmed to the lines someone had highlighted.

  "Sources close to Montgomery suggest there is far more to this story than meets the eye, and that it is, in fact, more a tale of star-crossed lovers than a political scandal."

  Frowning, she set that paper aside and glanced at the one beneath it, which also had lines highlighted in yellow.

  "The Reverend Jackson of the Big Falls Christian Church, claims that despite what the press has had to say about Miss Brand, her character is beyond reproach. In fact, all the residents of the small town seem to have positive opinions about Maya Brand. Far from the party girl some sources have depicted, residents claim she has rarely even been seen in the company of a man, much less dated one. She goes to church every Sunday and is good to her mother and sisters. Doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, doesn't swear. So what is the real story here? At the moment, Montgomery remains stoically silent on the issue, refusing any comment at all."

  She set the paper down atop the rest of the stack on the kitchen table when she heard the now familiar pattern of Caleb's footsteps. Heavy steps, trying hard to be light. Measured, but not hesitant. Pausing, always, when he got a certain distance from her. She wondered about that.

  "Morning," he said softly.

  She looked up. He was whiskery this morning. His hair was tousled, his eyes sleepy. He'd been up half the night plotting with Bobby and the two lawyers her mother insisted on calling Oompah and Loompah. Not to their faces, of course. The lawyers and Bobby had taken up residence at the boarding house. Caleb had spent the night here, in Edie's old room.

  "Morning," she replied. Then she held up her coffee mug. "You want some?"

  "I'd love some, thanks." He took her mug, took a sip, licked his lips and handed it back to her with a smile that told her he knew full well that wasn't what she'd meant. "That's so good I think I'll get a cup for myself."

  "That was the whole idea," she said.

  He crossed the room, poured his mug full, sipped again and said, "Caffeinated?"

  She turned to look at him. "Half. I swear it won't hurt the babies. But I might have collapsed without it."

  He frowned at her. "Not sleeping well?"

  "No."

  He lowered his head fast. "It's all this stress. I knew it would be bad for you-"

  "It's only partly because of the stress, Caleb. Mostly, it's these kids of yours, wriggling around. I swear they're line-dancing in there."

  Smiling at her, Caleb returned to the table, set his mug down and moved behind her chair. "It won't be much longer, Maya." His hands closed on her shoulders, squeezed, pulled, released. "Lean forward, hm?"

  She sighed deeply and, folding her arms on the table, laid her head on them. "You don't have to do that," she said, and didn't mean a damn word of it.

  He rubbed between her shoulder blades, then down her spine, and finally made small, delicious circles right at the small of her back where it seemed all the tension of the past eight and a half months was centered.

  "Oooh, yesss," she moaned very softly.

  His hands stilled, but only for a moment. Then he went right back to rubbing again. "We, um?we've got an interview scheduled with Dirk Atwater, today at noon. He's with the Oklahoma Times. They're putting out an evening edition, and we're the lead story."

  She lifted her head a little. "Do I have to be there? I mean, you're the celebrity here. Can't you do the interview?"

  He stopped rubbing. "I can. Sure I can, if you want."

  "Keep rubbing."

  She almost heard him smile, but he started massaging her again.

  "It would be better if I was there, though, wouldn't it?" she asked.

  "It'll be fine either way."

  "Is that what Bobby would tell me if I asked him?"

  He hesitated. His hands stopped moving on her back. So she sat up and turned to look over her shoulder at him. "You don't have to protect me, you know. If it's better for me to be there, I can be there. It's not my dream come true, but it won't kill me, either."

  "I just?don't want you doing anything you'd rather not be doing right now."

  She smiled. "Tell me that when I'm in labor. Speaking of which-I'll make a deal with you."

  His brows went up. "A deal?"

  "Yes. I made a little appointment of my own for us today. You come to mine, and I'll come to yours. Okay?"

  He narrowed his eyes on her. "Do I dare to ask what I'm agreeing to here?"

  "You said you wanted to be in the delivery room, didn't you?"

  Very slowly, he nodded.

  "Well, then you should come with me today."

  He didn't realize what he was agreeing to. And he didn't regret it, exactly, he just hadn't been prepared. He drove. And he pretended not to notice the number of vehicles that fell in behind the rather weather-beaten van as he left the Brand family home behind.

  "We're going to have to get a new van," he commented.

  She swung her head toward him. "What's wrong with this one?"

  "Nothing!" he answered quickly, because she sounded slightly defensive. "I mean, it's just odd, the wife-to-be of a multimillionaire, driving around in?uh?an older? vehicle."

  She pursed her lips, crossed her arms over her belly. "I worked hard for this van. It's a nice van."

  "I know you did, and I agree. It's a very nice van."

  She pouted a little, then sighed. "I suppose a newer one would be safer. For the babies, I mean."

  "Oh, yeah. Lots safer. Side impact protection, built-in baby seats-you know, they say a lot of kids get hurt because their car seats aren't fitted correctly for the kind of vehicle they're in."

  She frowned at him. "Where did you hear that?"

  "Read it. One of those parenting magazines I got from the clinic. See, the seats of various vehicles are shaped differently, so the baby seat that's perfect for one car might be totally unsafe in another."

  "You actually read all those magazines you took home?" she asked him, her eyes curious.

  "Sure I did. Research. I bought about a dozen books in town, too."

  He glanced at her as he pulled to a stop at a red light, the only red light in town. She was smiling. "I'm really glad you believe in doing your homework, Caleb."

  "Why?"

  "Because that's what we're doing now. Turn right here. It's at the house around the corner."

  "We're going to someone's house?"

  "Uh-huh. Nancy Kelly. She's the nurse who gave the natural childbirth classes I attended. I called her, and she agreed to give us a quick refresher course, since you missed the first round."

  He felt his eyes widen. "Childbirth?classes?"

  "You want to be in the delivery room, don't you?"

  He nodded mutely.

  "You want to know what to do while you're in there, don't you?"

  "I kind of thought being there would be the extent of my?duties."

  "You thought wrong, then."

  She said it with such a sweet smile that he almost stopped being nervous.

  Fifteen minutes later, though, the nervousness was back and then some. He was sitting on some woman's living room floor, legs stretched out in front of him, with Maya reclining in between them.

  "Come on, Maya," Nurse Nancy said with a scowl. "Lean back and relax. You know how this is do
ne."

  "It was a hell of a lot different with Mom as my partner," Maya said, but she did lean back.

  She reclined against Caleb's chest, and her hair was under his chin, and the scent of it reached up to tickle his nose and his memory. It smelled the same as it had that night, all those months ago. But wait a minute, he wasn't supposed to be thinking thoughts like that. Certainly not at a time like this.

  "Put your hands on her belly, Caleb. No, no, like this." Nurse Nancy bent to take his hands and place them strategically on the lower part of Maya's swollen middle.

  Then she paused and looked up. "My goodness, Maya, the babies certainly are riding low today."

  "I thought something felt different. Does that mean anything?"

  Nancy smiled. "It might mean you're getting ready to deliver."

  "You think?" she asked, eyes widening.

  "Well, if I were a betting woman," Nancy said, "I'd lay odds you'll go within forty-eight hours." She shrugged. "Of course, I could be wrong."

  Maya looked up at Caleb, her eyes shining with a combination of nerves and excitement. Nancy replaced her hands on Caleb's, moved them slowly. "Now rub very gently, in soft, slow circles. It's going to soothe her through the contractions. See?"

  He moved his hands over her. It was intimate. Almost sensual. When he glanced down at Maya, he saw that she had closed her eyes. This was the most relaxed he'd seen her since he'd been back here. "Am I doing it right?" he asked softly.

  Her lips curved into a smile. "You're a whole lot better at this than Mom was."

  "Yeah?"

  "You're not doing the breathing, Maya."

  "I'll hyperventilate and pass out."

  "Then you're in the perfect place for it," Nancy said. "Now breathe. Hee hee hee, who. Come on."

  "Hee-hee-hee-who," she breathed, only she managed to do it to the tune of Beethoven's Fifth, and Caleb burst out laughing.

  "Oh, sure, encourage her!" Nancy said in exasperation.

  Maya opened her eyes to grin up at him, her head moving up and down with his laughter. He looked back at her, and for just a moment their eyes locked. He stopped laughing. Her smile faded. And something inside her reached out to touch something inside him. At least, that was what it felt like.

  "Now, Caleb," Nancy said, "I'm going to explain to you what happens when we get to the actual pushing."

  He almost grimaced in pain at that thought

  Maya said, "Don't worry. As my mamma used to say before a spanking, 'Darlin', this is gonna hurt me a whole lot more than it's gonna hurt you.'"

  "I wish it wasn't."

  "My mamma also used to say to stop whining and be a Brand. Don't you worry, Caleb. I'll be fine."

  He hated the black fear that crept up inside him when he thought of the ordeal ahead. His mother had died, hemorrhaged to death with the doctors right there, helpless to save her no matter how they tried. And one of her children stillborn. The day of his birth had been a black day of despair and grief, rather than one of joy and celebration. He damn well didn't want the Montgomery family curse visiting itself on this woman?on these babies. But he didn't know what to do about it.

  He noticed the nurse looking at him oddly, tried to shake the dread out of his expression, and forced a smile as he continued with his lesson in how to coach the woman who would be his wife through labor and delivery.

  But later, when they'd finished and Maya had gone to visit the rest room before they left for home, the woman handed him a pamphlet. "Everything we've been over is on here. So you can review things before the big day."

  "Great I was beginning to regret not taking notes."

  She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "So what is it you're worried about Mr. Montgomery?"

  "Caleb. Please, after the things we've discussed today, I think we ought to at least be on a first-name basis."

  She lifted her brows, gave a nod and waited. "You looked scared to death once or twice."

  He nodded, licked his lips and glanced nervously in the direction Maya had gone. Not seeing her, he looked back at Nancy again. "I was a twin. My mother hemorrhaged-they couldn't save her."

  "I'm sorry."

  He held up a hand. "My twin brother was stillborn."

  "I see," she said. "But, Caleb, that doesn't mean-"

  "That's not all of it. My father was a twin, as well, and his brother didn't make it, either." He'd let his gaze sink slowly as he spoke, but now he lifted it again to see if there was any reaction in her eyes.

  There wasn't. She was a nurse, though, and trained to hide her emotions from frightened patients, he told himself.

  "Listen to me, Caleb. In the years since you were born there have been more advances in neonatal care than you can even imagine. We have babies born under three pounds today. Babies so tiny I've held them right in the palm of my hand." She cupped her hand to demonstrate. "Babies who did just fine. Now Maya's had ultrasound exams done. We already know that both babies are of good, solid size, and that they're healthy. Maya's healthy, too. And you've got to take her family history into account as well as your own. Her mother gave birth five times-the first two when she was only in her teens. And within a few hours, she was on her feet telling the other new moms in the ward to stop their whining."

  He smiled at that. He couldn't help it, it was such an accurate visual he was getting of Vidalia Brand.

  "Maya's strong. The babies are strong. There's no reason to think they won't be just fine." She looked at him again, smiled. "But if it will make you feel any better, I'll give Maya's doctor a call and bring her up to speed on your family history. Okay?"

  He nodded. "That's good. I wanted to do it myself, but I didn't want Maya to know any of this."

  Nancy nodded. "That's for the best. No sense getting her as terrified as you are."

  "That's what I thought, too."

  She nodded. "I'll keep it to myself-at least until after your kids are born safe and sound."

  "Thanks. You're a good woman, Nurse Nancy."

  She made a face, rolled her eyes. "Gee, that's the first time I've been called that." Her tone was sarcastic but teasing. Reaching up, she tucked the pamphlet into Caleb's shirt pocket. "See you in the delivery room, Dad," she said with a wink.

  His stomach clenched all over again. "Bring smelling salts in case I pass out, all right?"

  "Oh, you wouldn't be the first," she assured him.

  For some reason, that didn't make him feel any better.