“Stay with me tonight,” he said. “After the baby shower. I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you, too.” She smiled. “Actually, you’d have to throw me out. I already have an overnight bag in my car.”
“I want to hear about what happened when you went out of town.”
“Good, because I want to tell you.”
The sound of someone clearing her throat made them step apart. Patricia stood in the doorway of the dining room.
“The crowd is getting restless,” she said. “I have an idea. Why don’t the two of you go back and start opening presents, while I work on cutting the cake?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Kelly said and led the way.
Tanner settled down in his chair again, but now he didn’t feel so very out of place. As he started to open presents, he found himself thinking about the hours that would follow, about how much he wanted to be with Kelly.
Maybe Ryan was right. Maybe it was time to let go of the past and take a chance on the future. Except he was still just a construction worker and Kelly was still a doctor. Did they have a prayer of making it work? What about his fear of losing everything he cared about? Would he survive losing her?
He opened the first box Kelly handed him. It was flat and light, so he guessed clothes. Inside was a red velvet dress with a white lace collar.
“It’s for Christmas,” Mattie, one of his electricians, told him. “I didn’t know if Lia had a Christmas dress yet.”
“Thanks. It’s very nice. And, no, Lia only has one dress right now.”
The next box was large and square. He shook it, then glanced at the tag. He recognized Kelly’s scrawl.
“You didn’t have to get anything,” he told her.
“I wanted to. That’s half the fun of a shower...buying a baby present.”
“That and the pink punch,” he said, motioning to his still-untouched cup.
He tore off the white-and-pink paper. Inside was a box with a picture of a lamp. The base was a ballerina teddy bear with a matching shade. He pointed his finger at her. “You’re the reason that woman at the store kept telling me this sucker was back-ordered.”
“Absolutely. Once you got serious enough to put up a border print, I knew that Lia had to have the lamp. I bought it right after you put up the wallpaper. The woman at the store knew and had been sworn to secrecy.”
Ryan leaned forward and handed Tanner a slim box. Inside was a savings bond in Lia’s name. “For her college fund,” Ryan explained. “It’s going to be that time before you know it.”
College? His daughter? Of course he wanted her to go, but it seemed so far away. Ryan’s gift made him think that the future would be here quicker than he realized.
“Look at all this,” Kelly said. “Dresses and lamps and money for college. You’re turning into a real dad.”
She was right. The baby stuff didn’t scare him anymore. Nor did his daughter. No matter what happened, he now knew that he and Lia were going to make it. The question was would they make it alone, or would someone else join their little family?
* * *
“I can’t get enough of you,” Tanner whispered, his hands buried deep in Kelly’s long hair.
She lay beneath him, her naked body all feminine curves and welcoming heat. He could feel her breasts pressing against his chest and the pressure of her legs wrapped around him, urging him deeper. He was so damn close, but he didn’t want to finish...not yet. He wanted their lovemaking to last longer. As it was, they’d barely made it upstairs after the last guest had left. Their clothes lay scattered on the stairs, and it was all he’d been able to do to control himself enough to slip on a condom before plunging inside her.
“Oh, Tanner.” She breathed his name with a passionate gasp. She was as responsive this time as she’d been the last.
He’d brought her to climax just by kissing her breasts. When he’d touched between her legs, she’d been so very ready. Slipping one of his fingers inside her, he’d felt the deep contractions of her muscles as she convulsed around him. Even now, with each thrust, she climaxed, shuddering and clutching, urging him on, to make her do that again.
The problem was watching her react like that was such a huge turn-on that he couldn’t hold back. But he had to try. So he forced himself to think of something else. Work maybe or—
She grabbed his buttocks and pressed down, forcing him deeper. She contracted again, milking him. Pleasure built unbearably. He swore, knowing he’d just crossed the point of no return.
“I want you,” he growled, then kissed her. He plunged his tongue into her mouth as he plunged his maleness deep inside her. Her movements were frantic, begging, intoxicating. She whimpered.
He moved faster and faster, lost in the moment, feeling himself collect for the ultimate release. Then it was on him. All he could do was hang on as his body collected itself, then exploded, sending his release rocketing through him. Even as he absorbed the exquisite pleasure, he felt her tightening and releasing as her own climax rippled through her.
They clung to each other until their heartbeats returned to normal. Then he opened his eyes and gazed at her. “Wow.”
“My thoughts exactly,” she whispered. “How do you do that to me? How do you make me react that way?”
“Just luck.”
“Oh, I think it’s more than that. Chemistry, maybe.”
Or love. But he didn’t say that because he wasn’t sure. Did he love Kelly? Could he risk it all with her? He touched her face, then gently kissed her mouth. He couldn’t imagine her not being a part of his world. She’d entered his life along with Lia, and in some ways the two were irrevocably linked in his mind.
“Thank you,” he told her.
“Thank you, Tanner. It’s wonderful to finally get what all the fuss is about.”
He rolled onto his side, drawing her with him. “I’ve missed you.”
“Me, too. It’s been a long week.” She smiled. “I have a lot to tell you. Many things have happened in the past few days.”
“Good things or bad things?”
She paused to consider. “Mostly good. I’ve learned a lot about myself and my past. I went to see—”
An electronic beep filled the room. Kelly sat up. “That’s my phone, but where on earth are my slacks?”
“The stairs,” he said.
While she went to check her text message, he looked in on his daughter. Fortunately Lia had grown accustomed to the sound of Kelly’s phone. The baby barely stirred.
Two minutes later he heard Kelly in the hallway. He went out to join her and found her frantically pulling on clothes. “I have to go,” she said.
He frowned. “I thought you weren’t on call tonight.”
“I’m not. It’s someone from the clinic. Corina.” She looked at him. Her face had gone pale, and her eyes were huge. “It’s too early. There’s something wrong. Dear God, she’s only seventeen. She’s had enough trouble in her life already—she doesn’t need this.” She pulled on her shirt and headed down the stairs. “I’m sorry, Tanner. I have to be there. I don’t have backup for my clinic patients.”
“It’s okay. I understand.”
She paused at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at him. “Are you sure? I didn’t mean to end our evening this way.”
“I know. It’s fine. Do you want me to drive you to the hospital?”
“No. I don’t know how long I’ll be.” She paused. “I have to go.”
And then she was gone. He listened for the sound of the front door closing. After that, there was only silence. Their parting seemed so unfinished. At first Tanner wondered if he was angry with her and just didn’t want to admit it. Then he realized it wasn’t that at all. What bothered him was what he’d wanted to say as she’d been leaving.
I love you.
He’d wanted to speak the words to her, calling them out as both a talisman and a prayer—for her knowledge and her safekeeping.
I love you. He’d never said those words to anyone before in his life. Women had said them to him, and he’d always assumed they were lying.
He turned on his heel and returned to his daughter’s room. Even though she was sleeping, he touched her face, then her tiny hand. “Hey, Lia, it’s your dad. I just realized something. I’ve never told you I love you.” His throat tightened. “Well, I do. I love you more than I can tell you. I’m going to tell you every single day for the rest of your life.” He smiled. “Or at least while you’re living under my roof. It’ll be hard to say it every day when you’re off at college. I want you to know how important you are to me. I want you to know that I’m always going to be here for you.” Then he bent over and kissed her.
Finally he returned to his bedroom. Not to sleep but to wait for Kelly to return.
* * *
“She’s bleeding,” the nurse told Kelly as she scrubbed at the large sink. “The baby is doing all right for now.”
Kelly’s mind raced frantically as she considered possibilities. “Is the neonatal unit ready for us?” she asked.
“Yes, Doctor.”
Kelly stepped away from the sink and headed for the labor room. She had a bad feeling they were going to have to take the baby. A C-section wasn’t the end of the world, but it would probably send Corina into a panic. Still, if she was in trouble, there wasn’t another choice. No way was Kelly going to lose either of her patients.
“How’s it going?” she asked as she stepped into the room.
Corina looked up and tried to smile, but she was crying too hard. “Not great. Something’s wrong, Dr. Kelly. I can feel it.”
“Your baby wants to come a little early,” Kelly said, her voice reassuring. She was frantic to start examining Corina, but experience had taught her that thirty seconds of reassurance at the beginning of a problem could literally be a lifesaver later. “It happens all the time. Some babies are impatient, and there’s not much we can do about that. But you’re well into your thirty-third week. It’s manageable.”
What was less manageable was the blood she saw staining the towels that had been tossed into a bucket below the table. Kelly glanced at the monitors attached to Corina and the baby. They didn’t have a whole lot of time.
“It’s my fault,” Corina cried as tears poured down her cheeks. “I know I did something terrible.”
“No, you didn’t,” Kelly told her. “It’s not your fault. It just happened.”
Big brown eyes bore into her soul. “My baby knows I don’t want it. It’s trying to die.”
Kelly walked over to Corina and took her hands. “You’re not doing anything wrong. You and the baby are going to be fine. Do you trust me?”
Corina stared at her, then nodded slowly.
“Good. Now try to relax. I’m going keep both of you safe.”
“Doctor?”
Kelly glanced at the screen, then at the nurse monitoring the bleeding. “Let’s get going,” Kelly said.
She started issuing orders even as she bent to examine Corina. The rest of the world seemed to fade around her. Her mind cleared. She didn’t even have to think; she just knew the next step. She was going to make sure both mother and child came out of this just fine.
* * *
Four hours later Kelly stepped into the hallway. It was well after midnight, and all she could think about was crawling into bed. The problem was it was too late to go back to Tanner’s, so she was going to have to crawl into her own bed and sleep alone. Right now that seemed like an empty proposition.
Despite the late hour, there were still people in the hospital corridor. The medical institution never shut down. Which was good news. She could leave knowing that Corina and her baby would be well cared for throughout the night.
“You look exhausted,” a familiar voice said.
Kelly glanced up and saw Tanner leaning against the wall. Despite how tired she felt, her heart fluttered in her chest and she couldn’t help smiling.
“What are you doing here?”
He shrugged, then walked toward her. “I missed you. I was also afraid you’d get some fool idea that it was too late to come back to my place, so I wanted to be here to tell you that you were wrong. I want you in my bed. To sleep,” he amended as he reached out and squeezed her hand. “As much as I’d like to do other things, we both have to get up early in the morning.”
She blinked. This wasn’t making sense. “You came down here in the middle of the night to see me? Where’s Lia?”
“Charming the nurses,” he said, jerking his head back toward the nurses’ station. “I sneaked her in. So far no one has threatened to call security.”
“How long have you been here?”
“About twenty minutes. I called and kept track of how things were going with your patient so I would know when you would be finished.” His expression softened. “They told me it was touch and go for a while, that you saved the girl’s life and her baby’s.”
“You’re not a family member. They wouldn’t have given out that information to just anyone.”
“I’m not just anyone.”
He wasn’t. He was someone very special to her, she thought.
“I know it’s not my business, or my place, but I’m proud of you, Dr. Kelly Hall. From what I heard, you pulled off a Christmas miracle tonight.”
He pulled her close, and she went willingly into his arms. It hadn’t been a miracle, but for a while she’d thought she might actually lose them both. Corina had started bleeding even more, and then the baby had become distressed. It could have been a disaster, but everything had turned out in the end.
“I had great training,” she said. “I knew what to do to save them.”
“It was more than that. I overheard a couple of nurses talking. They said that you’re gifted. It’s as if you know exactly how much more your patients can stand before their strength gives out.”
She started to protest, but then she realized he was right. She’d always had the way of sensing the strength of both her mothers and their infants. She loved her work. Tonight wasn’t the first time her skill had saved both mother and child.
Kelly pressed her lips together and tried to grasp the significance of what she’d just figured out. She’d saved lives. She was good at what she did—maybe gifted was too strong a term, but she was highly committed and skilled. That counted for a lot. At one time she’d chosen her specialty as a second best—not what she wanted to do but close. Yet now, after having been in practice for several years, she suddenly understood that this was where she belonged. She was a terrific gynecologist and obstetrician. She had nothing of which to be ashamed.
She wrapped her arms around Tanner’s waist and hugged him tight. “Thank you for being here tonight.”
He smiled at her. “I’m not even going to bother saying ‘You’re welcome.’ Where else would I want to be?”
Chapter 15
Despite the fact that she’d only had about four hours of sleep the night before, Kelly was in her office before seven. She had a couple of things to do there before she made her way to the hospital to check on her patients, especially Corina.
Kelly set her purse on her desk, then settled in her chair. She stared at the phone for a long moment before picking it up and dialing a familiar number. With the two-hour time difference between Oregon and Kansas, she should catch her father right as he came to work.
“Pastor Hall’s office, this is Betty.”
“Hi, Betty, it’s Kelly. Is my dad around?”
“Kelly!” The older woman’s voice rose with a note of both surprise and pleasure. “How are you? Your father says you work too m
any hours. Is that true? You have to take care of yourself. You’re not a teenager anymore. You need your sleep and lots of fruits and vegetables. Did I send you my lentil vegetable soup recipe? It’s wonderful. I served it at the ladies’ prayer lunch just last month, and it was a hit. I’ll email it to you. Did you know we have email at the church now? Very modern. Horace and I are thinking of getting a computer of our own. The things people can do on those machines. It’s just amazing. So why were you calling, dear?”
Despite her exhaustion, her worries and her questions, Kelly couldn’t help smiling. Betty never changed. According to town legend, she’d been born talking.
“I’d like to speak to my father.”
“Of course you would. He’s right in his office. Just got here a few minutes ago, but then you’d know that. Pastor Hall is as regular as the church clock. He walks through that door every day at exactly eight fifty-eight. In the past ten years I don’t know that he’s been late more than once, and that was because he stopped to help old Mrs. Winston with her car. It had a flat tire, or was it out of gas? Anyway, he’s quite punctual.” She paused to draw breath. “I’ll let him know you’re on the phone.”
There was a click as she was put on hold. Kelly knew that it would be a couple of minutes until her father could get Betty off the intercom so that he could pick up the phone. The older woman was a trial at times, but she was as much a part of Kelly’s world as the town where she’d grown up. Betty and Horace had never had children. Despite that, and their differences—her talking constantly and him as silent as a tree—they rarely went anywhere without each other. And when they were together, they always held hands. Once when Kelly had been all of fifteen or sixteen, she’d even come across them kissing in a corner of the choir room. It had been the only time she’d known Betty to be quiet.
“This is an unexpected pleasure,” her father said a few minutes later. “Good morning.”
“Hi, Dad. How are you?”
“Fine, and, according to Betty, I was here right on time, which is a good thing. Otherwise I would have missed your call.” He chuckled. “That woman.”
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