Under The Mistletoe (Holiday Hearts #2)

by Kristin Hardy

  “I didn’t think her type would pitch in.”

  “I think her type gets the job done, no matter what.”

  Lorraine cleared cups and glasses off of an unoccupied table. “You ask me, we could use a few more like her.”

  “We could,” he agreed. “See you later, Lorraine.”

  “See you, Mr. Trask.”

  Hadley Stone, desk clerk. Interesting.

  “And here’s your key, Mr. Breyer. Have a pleasant stay with us.”

  Hadley glanced down to clear her screen.

  “What are you doing here?” an icy voice demanded. Hadley turned to see Tina Wheeler. “Hi, Tina. Glad you’re back. Angie was having some trouble so I figured I’d help out.”

  Tina bristled. “This isn’t your job.”

  “I don’t mind.”

  A guest walked up to the front desk, credit card in hand, but Tina ignored him. “Where’s Angie? She should be out here.”

  It triggered Hadley’s protective instinct. “She wasn’t feeling well. I sent her to the back for a break.”

  “She can’t just leave the desk when we’re shorthanded.” Another pair of guests drifted up to stand in the line.

  “I told her to.”

  Tina was furious, Hadley could tell, but afraid to push it. “We have a schedule for breaks,” she said stiffly.

  “When was the last time you saw a pregnant woman keep to a break schedule?” Hadley asked.

  Tina paled. “Are you questioning my judgment?”

  “I was trying to point out why I stepped in, though now that you mention it, maybe your judgment should be questioned. Next person in line,” Hadley called.

  “I still don’t understand how you wound up back here.”

  Angie emerged from the back, looking wan and holding her stomach. “Tina—”

  “Did you ask Ms. Stone to fill in for you?” Tina demanded.

  “I did,” said a steely voice behind them.

  Hadley spun to see Gabe standing there, his eyes coldly furious.

  Tina looked as if she’d swallowed a bug. “You okayed it?”

  “We were shorthanded. I asked Angie to train Hadley while you were out at lunch.”

  Angie stared at the terminal, her face scrubbed of all expression.

  “Now, I’m sure you can see the line we’ve got out here.” Gabe’s even voice held the snap of command. “Let’s skip the discussion and get these guests into their rooms. Next in line, please,” he said more loudly.

  It was a hard way to make a living, Hadley discovered as the day wore on. She might have faced more pressure and more exhausting hours before, but being on her feet and constantly on show wore her down. How Angie stood up to it, pregnant and heavy, Hadley hadn’t a clue. By midafternoon, the flow of guests had increased from a trickle to a flood.

  “I need to change the card my room charges to,” the guest in front of her said. At a loss, Hadley looked around for help. Angie was occupied, Gabe was gone. That left only…

  She bit back a sigh. “Tina, can you help me out?”

  Tina gave her a frigid look. “Card, please?” She took it and began clicking keys furiously. “There you are,” she said to the guest, handing the credit card back.

  “Thank you,” Hadley said when she was finished. Tina nodded and walked away without speaking.

  Angie nudged Hadley. “Don’t feel bad. She gets like that sometimes.”

  “So I’ve noticed.”

  “No, really, she’s been great about my pregnancy and stuff. She’s just worried about René and Bill being out and the big weekend and all. She’s not so bad, really.”

  “Angie, you’re a saint.”

  “No, I just do my job.” She picked up a key a guest had set on the counter, and turned to the pigeonholes. Suddenly, she made a little noise of distress and closed her eyes.

  “Are you okay?” Hadley asked immediately.

  After a few seconds, Angie managed a faint smile. “The burrito again. Maybe I should go back to the ladies’ room.”

  “You’ve been going every few minutes since I got here.” A suspicion began to grow in Hadley’s mind. “Those gas pains wouldn’t be regularly spaced, by any chance, would they?”

  “I haven’t noticed. I…” Angie’s head tilted. “You don’t mean labor pains, do you?”

  “Could they be?”

  “I’m not due for two weeks.”

  “Since when has that mattered to pregnant women? Are you sure they feel like gas pains?”

  “Well I…” Angie faltered.

  “That’s what I thought.” Hadley nodded. “I don’t think we take a chance. Let’s get you to the doctor. Tina,” she called.

  Tina reappeared from the back with a frown. “What?”

  “It’s Angie. We need to get her to the hospital. I think she might be having labor pains.”

  Tina’s eyes widened, the frown gone. “What should we do?”

  “We’ll get Mr. Trask.” Gabe would know what to do. Hadley snatched up the twin to his walkie-talkie cell phone.

  The handset beeped. “Trask.”

  “Gabe, Hadley. We need you, now. Angie’s baby’s coming.”

  “Two minutes,” he promised, and hung up.

  One thing he could say for the job, life was never dull. Calculating the distance to the nearest hospital as he walked, Gabe flipped open his phone and called the valets to bring the hotel car around. No way would Angie be able to get into his Explorer in her condition.

  “Where is she?” he asked as he approached the front desk.

  Tina looked completely stressed out. It was Hadley who answered. “In back.” She appeared calm but for the line of concern furrowed between her eyebrows.

  Behind the partition, Angie sat back in an office chair, looking pale. Crouching down before her, he took her hands in his. “How are you doing?”

  She was sweating a little, he saw. “I’m okay. It’s probably nothing.” She sounded calm but a little shaky around the edges. “My sister went into false labor twice before she had her kids. I’m not due for another two weeks.”

  “Tell that to Trot.” That earned him a brief smile. “Look, I don’t want to mess around with this. I’m going to take you to the hospital and we’ll put you in good hands.”

  “But what if it’s all for nothing?”

  “It’s worth it just to find out it’s nothing. Anyway, I’m doing this for my own protection.” He rose. “Hank would kick my ass all the way through Crawford Notch if I didn’t take care of you. Now, they’re bringing the hotel car around front. Can you get up with me and make it out to the porch?”

  She nodded and he helped her up. She was just a kid, he realized, for all her capable efficiency.

  “Okay, we’re taking Angie to the emergency clinic. It’s closest,” he said as he walked her to the front.

  “Do they deliver babies?” Hadley asked.

  “They do now. I need someone to sit with her in the back in case she needs anything.”

  Hadley stepped forward. “I’ll go.”

  Getting Angie to the car wasn’t quick, delayed by a stop for another contraction. Hoping devoutly that the hospital was near, Hadley laid towels on the back seat of the town car and helped Angie lie back against the pillows, her head in Hadley’s lap.

  “Everybody all set?” Gabe asked, leaning in the open door.

  “Ready to go,” Hadley told him. She smoothed the hair off Angie’s forehead as the car headed down the long curving drive. “You okay, kiddo?”

  Angie managed a wobbly smile. “I guess. I mean, I know I am. It’s just a little scary to think it might actually be here.”

  “Well, you don’t need to worry. We’re going to get you to the doctor and you’re going to have a beautiful baby boy.” Hadley thanked her lucky stars again for Gabe’s calm, reassuring presence. “So tell me about Trot’s nursery.”

  Gabe turned from the access road to the highway.

  “Well, the walls are yellow and we’ve got a
blue crib. I was going to get a mobile for him when Hank got home….” Her voice quivered and she stopped a minute before she continued. “My mama got us one of those intercoms so I’ll be able to hear him at night if he—” Abruptly, Angie whitened and began a fast, whistling breath.

  Hadley glanced at her watch. “The contractions are getting closer.” Her eyes met Gabe’s in the rearview mirror and he silently held up five fingers. They were close, at least. She wished desperately that she knew enough about labor to tell whether they had enough time. “Do you want to call Hank or your family to tell them what’s going on?”

  Angie relaxed again, looking paler. “I don’t want to tell Hank. He’ll only worry and there’s nothing he can do.” She rubbed her hands over her belly. “Once we get to the hospital and find out if it’s for real, I can call my mom. She’s down in Albany, but she can be here in a few hours.”

  “Is she going to stay with you after the baby comes?”

  “She’s going to stay for a month, which’ll be good. Hank’s never been around babies so he’s terrified.”

  That would make two of them, Hadley thought. “Have you?”

  “I lived with my sister when she had hers. I’ve changed my share of diapers. I’m more worried about the delivery.”

  “We’ll be at the hospital soon,” Hadley said reassuringly, wiping the sweat off Angie’s forehead.

  “A couple of minutes,” Gabe called.

  She hoped he was right. The contractions were getting too close for comfort, and while Hadley had every confidence she could deal with whatever came up, she didn’t really care to test herself by delivering a baby.

  “So is Hank excited about being a daddy?”

  “He’s already bought a baseball mitt, even though Trot’s going to have to wait about six years to use it.”

  “I like a man who plans ahead,” Gabe interjected.

  Angie laughed. “This time he planned too far ahead. He wanted to be around my last week so he switched his schedule. Otherwise he’d be home right now.”

  “I’m betting he’ll get home pretty quick once he hears.”

  Angie gave a smothered groan and more sweat sprang up on her forehead. Seconds stretched out as she tensed, moving her head in silent pain. Finally, she relaxed.

  “A bad one?” Hadley asked.

  She nodded. “I’ll be okay. Just do me one favor.”

  “Sure, anything.”

  “When we get there, tell them to forget the natural child birth thing. I don’t want the breathing and the full beautiful experience. I want drugs.”

  Hadley laughed. “I’ll make sure you get them.”

  “Okay, Angie, we’re here,” Gabe said, and brought the car around in an arc under the overhang of the E.R.

  Chapter Twelve

  Gabe had always figured he’d have kids someday. He’d never particularly thought about the realities of it, though, not until he sat in the lobby of the clinic and listened to Angie cry out.

  He wiped his forehead, suddenly hot.

  “Getting to you?” Hadley asked.

  “Right now, adoption is seeming like a really good option.”

  “I can’t believe how brave she was. I was beginning to get worried we weren’t going to make it. If I were her, I’d have been in a panic.”

  “She had you there with her. You were good,” he said.

  Looking both pleased and embarrassed, Hadley fiddled with her fingers. “I didn’t do much except hold her hand and pray that she didn’t have it in the car.”

  “We’d have done all right. I played catcher in high school.” A door opened down the hall.

  Hadley laughed. “How good are you at barehanding?”

  He looked at her. “The best.” Beautiful and fearless. Was it any wonder he was beginning to go nuts for her?

  At the sound of a throat clearing Hadley and Gabe looked up to see a nurse standing over them. “Are you Hadley?”

  She nodded. “Did Angie deliver?”

  “She’s close. She’s a little scared and a little lonely and she was asking for you. How would you feel about scrubbing up and coming in to sit with her for the last bit?”

  Shock, panic and horror chased across Hadley’s face. She reached out blindly and clutched Gabe’s thigh. “She wants me?” Her voice squeaked. “In the delivery room?”

  “She’s probably got a little while longer in labor and then we’ll take her in.” The nurse gave a sympathetic smile. “You don’t have to. It just might help her to have some support.”

  He watched Hadley scrape her nerve together, bit by bit. Finally, she took a deep breath and rose. “No problem. Just show me where to go.”

  As the nurse led her away, Hadley threw a desperate glance over her shoulder at him. Then she straightened her shoulders and walked through the doors.

  “It’s a boy.” Hadley stood before him in a surgical gown, pulling the cap off her pale hair, a dazed look on her face.

  “Is Angie all right?”

  An ear-to-ear grin split her face. “She’s fabulous. She was so great, she did just what they told her to do and it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” Hadley sank down next to him. “Oh Gabe, he’s beautiful. I’ve never been much on kids but this baby is gorgeous.”

  “You wouldn’t be just a little biased, would you?”

  She gave him a haughty look. “Not in the least. He’s fine, but they’re going to transfer him to the preemie nursery at the hospital for a couple of days. Angie’s asleep. She’s wiped, poor thing.”

  “After an hour and a half in labor, she ought to be. And here we were worried about her having it in the car.”

  “I know. Actually, it was quick compared to some of the horror stories you hear. Painful.” She gave a little shudder. “But you should have seen her face when they held Trot up to her.” Hadley blinked a few times and her nose pinkened.

  “You need to just sit down and chill for a while?”

  She pulled off the gown and gave a dreamy sigh. “I don’t think so. There’s nothing we can really do here. Angie will probably sleep for a week. I’ve left a message for her to call me if she needs anything when she wakes up, but that won’t be for a while.”

  “Her mom should be here in a couple of hours. She said she’d leave right away when I talked with her.”

  “I suppose we can get going, then.” Hadley stood, wrapping up her gown and hat and stuffing it into a nearby bin. “We’ve still got a Winter Carnival to run, don’t we?”

  “I think we already had our thrill ride for today.”

  It was disorienting when she returned to realize it was only a little after five. It seemed as though days had gone by since she and Gabe had packed Angie off to the clinic. Instead, the evening activities at the hotel were just coming to a peak and every pair of hands was needed, including hers.

  She checked in guests, made dinner reservations, gave directions, assisted at the ice sculpture demonstration, cleared tables in the lounge, guided people down to the jingling sleighs, and took photographs of merrymakers. Seven-thirty found her stapling up the velvet hem of one of the Victorian carolers who roved through the hotel.

  After, she ducked into the back to replace the stapler, only to find Tina behind her.

  “What are you still doing here?” Hadley asked with an internal groan.

  “Same as you. Work to be done.” Shifting her feet, Tina stared at the carpet. “How’s Angie?”

  “Fine. She said to tell everyone hi.”

  Abruptly, Tina raised her head to stare at Hadley. “I screwed up today.” The words were defiant.

  “It wasn’t an easy situation,” Hadley said carefully. “You were juggling a lot of things.”

  “I shouldn’t have left Angie alone.” The fight in Tina’s voice diminished.

  “No,” Hadley agreed, “but it was an unusual situation. Everything worked out okay.”

  “Because you stepped in.”

  “Tina?” She waited until Tina met h
er eyes. “We’re all on the same team here.”

  “Really?” The edge was back. “When you can lay off half of us any day? It’s kind of hard to be sure whose team you’re on.”

  It was the fundamental question. There was a time when Hadley she would have answered “Stone Enterprises” without hesitation. There was a time when she’d been clear on her objectives. Somehow, the lines weren’t as apparent anymore.

  Then she thought of Angie, of Lester, of Ed at the railway, of Gabe. Of Gabe. And she realized the lines really were apparent, after all.

  “I’m on this team and I’m going to do everything in my power to take care of the hotel and everyone in it. You’ve got my word on that.”

  Tina studied her. “Even if your bosses won’t like it?”

  “I’ll convince them they do.”

  “Somehow I think you can do that,” Tina said slowly.

  “Count on it.”

  By the time she was able to finally break away, over an hour later, Hadley was almost staggering. After standing in her pumps for nearly ten hours straight, sliding on her snow boots felt exquisite. Ridiculous, of course, to have to put on boots and an overcoat to make a hundred-yard walk, but it hadn’t taken her long to learn to respect winter in the White Mountains.

  Skaters whirled around the frozen pond behind the hotel, but Hadley had no eye for them. Instead, she headed down the path to Cortland House. All she had to do was go another hundred yards and when she got there she was going to go dead to the world, at least until the next morning, when she’d promised Tina she’d come back and start all over again.

  The porch light shone out like a beacon, guiding her home. So she’d yet to actually stock the kitchen except for a couple of cans of soup. It was still her place, all five rooms.

  At least for the time being.

  As she neared the house, she heard the rapid crunch of foot steps behind her. “It’s a good thing you decided to take off,” Gabe said. “I was just about to come in and boot you out.” He climbed the steps to the porch with her, pulling out his keys.