Be My Valentine, Baby

by Laura Marie Altom

  “Why would you pick him?” Patrick protested. “He sucks at this game.”

  Stephie shrugged. “Guess I’ve always had a thing for underdogs.”

  After Hawk outlined the rules which were basically hide-and-seek, but with an ambush attack element, Tanner led Stephie to a stand of pines. He found one with low enough branches for her to easily climb, then they settled in to wait.

  “This is kind of a boring game.” Stephie yawned.

  “It usually picks up once someone’s bleeding and gets pissed enough for revenge. Until then, settle in for some R & R in a tree.”

  “Will do.” After maybe a minute’s silence, she asked, “Are things between you and Jenny as awkward as they seem?”

  “You noticed?”

  “Sorry, but it was kind of hard not to. I walked in on two of the most adorable families ever, and then there were you two. Jenny looked ready to burst into tears and you looked poised to punch the nearest tree.”

  “Come on, it’s not that bad. We’re friends.”

  Eyebrows raised she said, “I’m friends with the HVAC guy who’s constantly trying to keep my apartment’s ancient heater chugging along, but that doesn’t mean I want to marry him.”

  “Here’s the deal…” He struggled to find the right words. “I love her, but I don’t especially feel in love with her. Somewhere along the way we’ve lost the spark that made us work. I’ll be damned if I know how to get it back.”

  “Have you…” She made a crude hand gesture of the sort he’d have expected from one of his SEAL buddies. “…You know?”

  “Geez, Stephie. Get your mind out of the gutter. I haven’t even kissed her. She’s pregnant and still fragile from the whole coma thing.”

  “She didn’t look all that fragile to me. Her color’s great. When I saw her tickle Lilianna and Brody’s kid, her coordination seemed good. Did you ever think maybe it’s you with the problem?”

  “How could I have a problem when all I want is to get my wife back?”

  “But how can you do that when you’re not treating her like a wife? Back in the day, would you ask permission to kiss her or hold her or you know…” There she went again with the gesture.

  “Stop that. And no way have I done any of those things. Like I said, she’s not all there. How do I know she’d even want me? Since the fire, I’m not the same.”

  Stephie sighed. “My vibe changes every ten minutes. Big deal. My advice, knock off the Mr. Friendly routine and make Jenny feel like a wanted woman.”

  “But—” Thump! Something hard and green hit his temple. “Ouch. What the—”

  “Nailed you!” Hawk stood at the base of the tree looking mighty proud of himself.

  Patrick said, “See, Stephie? Told you Tanner’s lousy at this game.”

  For the record, it was looking like Tanner was lousy at a lot of things—especially winning back his wife.

  Chapter Twelve

  THE DAY SHOULD have been special. It had started out that way with Tanner feeling the baby kick and then sharing the sweet parade. But then his former nurse barged into their party and Hawk was there, glowering and downing beer after beer and instead of the fun holiday spirit bringing Jenny and her husband closer, it had driven them further apart.

  Now, Jenny wandered from the crowd gathered for fireworks. She walked along the lakeside trail, cupping her hands over the baby. Had she made a mistake letting her family convince her to return to Kodiak Gorge?

  “There you are…” Tanner jogged to catch up with her. “Everything okay?”

  “Sure.” What a loaded question. On the surface, everything between them was fine, but on a deeper level, she wasn’t at all sure how things were going between them.

  “How great is it seeing Stephie again? Well, for me, anyway. I guess you never really knew her. She was a godsend. A real-life angel. There’s no way I could have gotten through—”

  Jenny stopped. “Do you love her?”

  “W-what?” Tanner coughed.

  “You heard me. It’s a simple question. Do. You. Love. Her? Because I get the feeling that you sure as hell don’t love me.”

  “How can you say that? You’re my world.”

  “Am I?” She swiped stupid tears. “What’s wrong with me? Do you find me unattractive? We’ve been living together for over two months, yet aside from the occasional peck to my forehead or holding my hand on our walks, we might as well be brother and sister.”

  “Babe…” He slashed his fingers through his hair.

  “That’s it, right? You don’t think I’m—”

  Framing her face with his hands, he tilted his head to not just kiss her, but claim her. At first, the pressure was almost painful in its beauty, but then it softened and she opened her mouth to him for a thrilling sweep of their tongues. The hope for them that had lived in her chest like a budding flower now opened and spread and bloomed. She relaxed into him, releasing a breathy mew.

  “Does that answer your question?”

  “Mmm hmm…” She clung to him, hungry for more, but wanting to savor this precious moment when she first realized it no longer mattered if she’d forgotten she and Tanner’s past because she was cautiously optimistic about their shared future.

  “No more ridiculous questions about me wanting anyone other than you?”

  “Not as long as I get regular reminders of that fact. Tanner, I want things to be different—better. Richer. Once the baby comes, we won’t have as much time for each other. When I see couples like Rose and Colby, Lilianna and Brody, it makes me feel like we’re not doing it right.”

  “I know.” He rested his forehead against hers. “But with you not knowing me, I didn’t want to touch you without your permission.”

  “That’s sweet, but if we’d dated this long without a single kiss, I would have told all my girlfriends I was afraid you swing for the other team. But now that I know there is, I feel stupid for wasting so much time.”

  He kissed her again with such heady urgency, her knees threatened to buckle.

  All the time they’d been together, how could she have failed to recognize this chemical connection?

  A thundering pop, then shrieks signaled the start of the fireworks show.

  Tanner took her hand, guiding her to a nearby grassy bank where he helped her sit, then filled in behind her, drawing her back to rest her head against his chest. The fireworks were stunning, but nothing compared to the tingly excitement surging through her. Like a teen in the throes of her first crush, when Tanner wrapped his arms around her, lacing his fingers atop their baby, she could have swooned.

  The fireworks, the delicious sensation of falling for a man her heart already knew, was surreal. She wanted this night to last forever.

  Thirty minutes later, when the show ended and all at once the entire crowd rose to leave the park, she and Tanner stayed. “Earlier today,” he said, playing with one of her pigtails, “I was afraid we’d never find this again.”

  “Tell me about one of our happy times.”

  “The summer before I left the Navy, I had a long weekend leave and we decided to go on a road trip. Not thirty minutes outside of San Diego, we had a flat.”

  “Oh no. It was easy to fix, right?”

  “Correct. But then late Friday night, we got to the Arizona state park where we’d planned to camp for the weekend and had another flat—only this time, since the spare had already been used, we were up you-know-what creek without a paddle. In the morning, we called a tow truck, but it took the driver six hours to find us. By the time that flat was fixed and the spare, it was almost dark, so we ended up in a roadside motel that had linoleum walls—even in the shower.”

  “What? I know you’re messing with me.”

  “Hand to God it’s the truth. So, Sunday morning, we check out and climb back in the car only to have it not start. Turns out the battery’s dead. I’d kept my cool till this point, but I totally blew it. I’m letting a string of cusswords fly and what are you doing?”

>   “I can’t imagine…” He’d backed up to catch her smiling in the semi-darkness.

  “Laughing your ass off…” He lunged in for tickle and had her laughing again.

  “Stop!” She cried on the heels of a giggle. “I’m going to pee!”

  “Then you should think about being nice to me in times of struggle.” He was relentless, getting her sides and tummy. But then he stopped and stared. She felt the weight of it in the yellowish gloom.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Not a thing in the world.”

  “Then why are you looking at me that way?”

  “It just occurred to me that we used to have epic tickle fights.”

  “And?”

  “You’re ticklish in the same places. Your body remembers…” He grabbed hold of her pigtails, drawing her in for a spellbinding kiss. Not only did her body remember, but when she closed her eyes, she felt transported to another time and place when she was happy. So very happy.

  “Take me home,” she whispered. “I want to be with you. All the way with you…”

  “Are you sure? I mean is it safe for you and the baby?”

  “According to my maternity books, it’s not only safe, but good for me. We’ll just have to get creative with positions.”

  He kissed her again. “Sounds fun.”

  After helping her to her feet, Tanner took Jenny’s hand to lead her to the car. This time, instead of clasping it, he eased his fingers between hers. That pleasant tingle returned like confetti being tossed in her tummy.

  Aside from trash and a few lingering couples, the park had cleared out.

  All their friends were gone.

  She was secretly glad. Though she was starting to enjoy their company, right now she selfishly wanted Tanner all to herself.

  The ride home was quiet, yet intimate with Tanner holding her hand, stroking her palm with his thumb.

  He parked in the garage, then helped her up the stairs and into the kitchen. All the lights were off, yet the eerie midnight glow shone through every window.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said, drinking in the view.

  “Not as beautiful as you.” He stood behind her, sweeping her pigtails aside, then kissing the exposed skin.

  She shivered.

  “Cold?”

  “Hot.” She spun around to face him. “It’s crazy to me that in a single night, everything’s changed. I feel like we’re finally forging the connection we should have since I first walked through the door.” On her tiptoes, she kissed him, then whispered, “Let’s see what other surprises this night holds in store…”

  “My room or yours?”

  “How about ours? Move in with me. That bed is comfy, but too big and lonely.”

  “Are you sure? If you’re not ready, I’ll understand. In fact—”

  “Stop.” Walking backwards up the stairs leading to her room, Jenny’s cheeks hurt from smiling.

  Tanner was a few steps below her, but when she reached the landing, he charged ahead for another kiss. He hugged her, lifting her off her feet to kiss her and spin until she was laughing and breathless and dizzy.

  He set her down, kissing her again, but her spirit was still flying.

  She reached back to stabilize herself with the rail, but her ungainly, eight-month-pregnant body no longer performed as planned. She miscalculated the distance and grasped empty air. Before she could do more than cry out, she was falling, falling down the stairs, headfirst until landing with an explosive crack of her head against the wood-plank floor.

  “Jenny!”

  Tanner’s voice was the last thing she heard.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “IT’S GOT THE consistency of tar, but it’ll keep you awake.” Colby handed Tanner a Styrofoam cup filled with coffee.

  “Thanks.” The small hospital’s surgery waiting room was too hot, yet Tanner couldn’t recall having ever felt this cold. It was two in the morning. When he couldn’t wake Jenny after her fall, he’d called Kodiak Gorge’s only ambulance to the house. When paramedics lifted her, they found her in a puddle of what they suspected was amniotic fluid.

  With her unconscious and a twenty-hour countdown to how long their baby could safely remain inside her, Tanner had signed surgical consent forms for an emergency C-section. An OB/GYN had just flown in from Anchorage and according to the on-call nurse was already scrubbing in.

  Lilianna and Rose huddled together, whispering in low tones.

  Colby sipped his own coffee.

  Brody paced.

  When the waiting room’s automatic door slid open and Hawk and Patrick rushed through, Brody cut them off at the pass. They seemed to have words, then Hawk brushed past his boss only to have Brody try physically restraining him. Fat chance, since Brody was the brains of his operation and Hawk the brawn.

  “Back off,” Hawk said over his shoulder. “If something happens to her and I didn’t get this off my chest, I’d never forgive myself.”

  Tanner’s gaze narrowed while slowly rising from his chair. The yawning pit in his stomach told him that whatever Brody and Hawk had fought about concerned Jenny.

  “Hawk,” Tanner said with a nod. “We’ve got this covered. There was no need for you to come.”

  “Yes, there was. I have something to tell you that you’re not going to like, but needs to be said.”

  “Now isn’t the time,” Brody said to Hawk. “You’re being a selfish prick.”

  “Agreed.” Colby stood beside Team Brody.

  “Selfish prick is my best look.” Hawk bowed his head.

  Even Rose and Lilianna joined the fray.

  Patrick held back, texting furiously on his iPhone.

  “Would someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Tanner asked. “My wife is fighting for her life. My baby is also in danger. Hawk, whatever beef you’ve got, I agree with Colby and Brody that this isn’t a good time.”

  “There’s no right way to say this…” Hawk forced a deep breath.

  Rose clamped her hand over her mouth.

  Tanner’s already spiked heartrate shot to an unhealthy degree.

  “Don’t do this,” Brody said. “Jenny’s not the same person. You’re not only hurting her, but Tanner.”

  “Don’t you get it?” Hawk clenched his hands into fists. “My whole life I’ve been a total douche. Up until now, I was okay with it. But then I saw all of you with your perfect families and I wanted more. Tanner, when you and Jenny officially split, and she moved back to San Diego, we—”

  “No, no, no…” Tanner turned his back on Hawk. Whatever the bastard had to say, he didn’t care to hear it.

  “She told me your divorce was final. I believed her. It was just a fling—for both of us. It meant nothing. I was a convenient rebound. When she learned the paperwork on your divorce had been screwed, and she came back up here to see you, I assumed that was the end of it. But then she called to tell me she was pregnant. And she didn’t know which of us was the father, so…”

  “Are you kidding me?” Tanner said through clenched teeth.

  “It’s going to be okay,” Rose assured. “Jenny loves you. She’s always loved you.”

  “She sure had a funny way of showing it. How long have all of you known?”

  Their silence spoke volumes.

  “Screw each and every one of you.” Tanner punched the nearest wall. The painted concrete block won. With his fist bloodied and mind spinning, he ducked into the bathroom for privacy and paper towels. He locked the door behind him, letting the cold water run to partially drown out the sounds of arguing spilling from outside.

  After cleaning his wound, he pressed a wad of paper towels to it, switching them out when it bled through. After the third change, the bleeding had slowed, then stopped. He was glad for the distraction, because the reason behind his self-inflicted wound was too much to bear.

  It didn’t especially bother him that Jenny had been with Hawk.

  She believed they’d been divorced.

  As
did Tanner. He couldn’t fault her for moving on.

  The paternity issue didn’t even bother him. Was it humiliating? For sure, but the mystery could be easily enough solved and custody arrangements made. God forbid if Hawk did turn out to be the baby’s father. He was hardly in the position to be a single dad.

  What really bothered him? The fact that before the fire, Jenny had known there was a chance the baby they were putting their marriage back together for may not even be his. The whole time, she’d known. For all he knew, she could have been in constant contact with Hawk. The reason she remembered him, but no one else, could be because he was the man she’d last loved.

  Everything now made sense. Her standoffishness. Her reluctance to be with him.

  All along, Hawk had been the man she wanted. Tanner had been a consolation prize. If he hadn’t already been bleeding, that realization would have had him not punching the wall, but his supposed SEAL brother.

  Even more cruel? Current Jenny—Jenny 2.0—the woman he’d grown to love all over again had no idea what she’d done, so how could he in good conscience be mad at her?

  He shouldn’t, but was.

  His supposed ex-wife hadn’t cheated, but she’d lied. Which was the worse offense?

  A knock sounded on the bathroom door. Colby said, “The doctor’s here. He wants to talk to you.”

  “Be right out.” Tanner splashed cold water on his face, dried off, then left the blessed privacy of the room.

  “Good,” the doctor said upon Tanner’s exit. “Are you the father?”

  Incapable of looking at Hawk, he said, “Yessir.”

  “Great. First, congratulations. You have a beautiful baby girl. Though she made her appearance sooner than we’d have liked, her lungs seem fully developed and she weighed in at a whopping five pounds and eight ounces. As a precautionary measure, we’ll keep her here for a few days to rule out jaundice.”

  Relief weakened Tanner’s knees. “And Jenny?”

  “She’s in recovery. Paramedics noted in their report that she briefly woke in the ambulance, asking for you.”