Babies And Badges (American Baby)

by Laura Marie Altom

  Slipping the key into the ignition, her 3.9L-4V V8 roared to life, and then he was easing the gearshift back, wishing she was a standard, but understanding that even rolling goddesses had their limitations.

  His mission was to drive her right on up onto the trailer, but somehow that wasn’t enough. Not near enough for a true fan such as himself.

  He needed more time.

  Time to tell her how much her page on that year’s Ford calendar had meant to him. And how much he dearly longed to see how she’d handle out on the open road.

  And then…before he’d even realized he’d done it, he was there.

  Zooming down the open road at eighty-five.

  Top down.

  Winging around every curve as if the beauty rode on rails!

  “Woo-hoo!” he called to the heavens.

  Yes! Yes! This was just as he’d dreamed it would be and more. Sheer driving perfection in its purest form. Who cared that she was only to be his for this brief moment in time? This would have to be enough, for on his meager deputy’s pay, he could never hope to buy her for his own.

  Zoom!

  He headed into the straight stretch just before Judi Thompson’s place doing well over ninety.

  Hot damn at the power!

  He slowed her to sixty round the upcoming curve, then sadly to a measly fifteen for the s-curve after that.

  And then—boom!

  Just as he’d readied her for another straight stretch, he ran right into craft fair traffic.

  Literally—ran right into!

  Crash! The RV he’d hit might as well have been a brick wall.

  Airbags inflated, Jimmy didn’t feel all that hurt. As for his yellow baby, though…

  Suddenly all of that dust on her dash didn’t seem like her biggest problem.

  “HERE YOU GO,” Nurse Nosy said. “Just sign here and here, and these two sweeties are all yours.”

  They were all standing in the nursery after the girls had been fed and bathed and dressed in matching pink-and-purple gingham jumpers that Noah had given to her. Cassie thought them much cuter than the T-shirts she’d been given by the hospital.

  “How about I just carry them out?” Noah asked, tickling twin tummies in their rolling bassinet.

  “Sorry,” the nurse said, “but it’s hospital policy that all patients be wheeled out. That way, no one can say they didn’t leave here in good condition.”

  “We at least get, like, a two-week warranty, don’t we?” Noah asked with a wink. “After all, you get at least that with a new puppy or hamster.”

  Cassie poked him in his ribs. “For just once would you knock off the jokes? This is a solemn occasion.”

  “Darn straight,” he said with a wink to the nurse over Cassie’s head. “For the next eighteen years, you can kiss your freedom—not to mention, sleep—goodbye.”

  Rolling her eyes at him, Cassie signed the chart, then gazed upon her two miracles, but while the sight of their sheer perfection didn’t surprise her, the look of wonder on Noah’s face did. Each of his big, strong hands cocooned two baby feet, reminding her of his strength and goodness and warmth.

  How different this day had been in her dreams. First, she’d planned to share it with Tom, then Chloe. But here, now, with Noah, a tingling in her heart told her everything was exactly the way it should be.

  “Ready?” the nurse asked, shooting both of them a friendly smile.

  Cassie nodded.

  Noah jogged the few steps to the elevator to press the down button.

  “Maybe I should take the stairs,” he said when the elevator didn’t instantly appear. “That way I could have the truck all ready to go.”

  Hand on his forearm, Cassie said, “Noah, I already told you, we’re taking a limo. You’ve already done so much. No way am I putting you to the trouble of driving us all the way to Little Rock.”

  “But the car seats.”

  “Thank you for those. It was very thoughtful. How much do I owe you?”

  “Owe me?” The elevator dinged, and the nurse rolled the babies on while Noah placed his hand on the small of Cassie’s back to guide her into the too-cramped space.

  “You know, for the car seats?”

  He hardened his jaw and his eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. “Thought we’d already been over this.”

  “We have. And I’m taking the limo.” Because if being this near you in an elevator makes my pulse race, I can’t even imagine what sitting beside you for two hours is going to do!

  “No, Cass,” he ground from between his teeth. “We haven’t.”

  The elevator dinged, and the doors swished open.

  Cassie drank gallons of fresh air.

  The powdery sweetness of the babies combined with Noah’s masculine scents would be her undoing. The leather of his worn deck shoes and faint citrus aftershave gave her an irrational craving to—

  “Could y’all please settle this in the lounge area?” the nurse asked. “Other folks need to get on.”

  Cassie sharply looked away from Noah’s handsome profile to a small crowd of three well-dressed older women and a jumping girl of about five shrieking, “Grandma, look! I’m a frog! I’m a frog!” Each jump launched long black pigtails into flight.

  “Samantha, pipe down,” warned the tallest of the bunch. Grandma? A beautifully made-up grandma sporting hip jeans and an Abercrombie surf shirt!

  “Noooaaah!” Samantha shrieked, hopping straight onto the elevator to crush her chubby arms around Noah’s jean-clad legs. “I missed you! Where’ve you been? How come you left the wedding before the big party? There was cocktail weenies and cake and big shrimps! I wanted you to dance the Chicken Dance with me! You do that real good! Better than anyone!”

  While Cassie backed off the elevator, the nurse and babies following, Noah swung the little girl into his arms for a warm hug. He smiled, but Cassie could’ve sworn that smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. Who was this little cutie? And why did he look like holding her brought sadness rather than joy?

  “Noah?” The woman Cassie presumed to be the girl’s grandmother looked from Samantha to her to the babies. “Is this that gorgeous new family of yours I keep hearing so much about?”

  Chapter Eight

  Noah cringed.

  As if this morning hadn’t already gone straight down the toilet. The last person he needed to deal with was Kelsey’s mom. And he’d been royally ticked at how just because he and Kelsey broke up, he never got to hang out with her family anymore—especially the munchkin currently in his arms.

  This was just one more of his gripes with m-marriage—or any so-called relationship. They didn’t last, and when they inevitably fell apart, all of those emotional ties fell apart right along with them.

  And that hurt.

  And he was tired of hurting.

  “Yes, it’s me, Evelyn,” he said, exiting the elevator, Sammie still in his arms. She’d rested her head on his shoulder, and one of her chubby hands had hold of his right ear while the other landed on top of his head. He’d forgotten how nice it was holding kids. They always smelled great, too—like sweat and crayons and bubble gum. Every time Noah had broken things off with a woman, he’d lost another sweetie like Sam—Kelsey’s sister’s kid. Tim—Tiffany’s nephew. Lacey, Helen’s niece. The list went on and on. Kids, just like the gorgeous women they’d been attached to, always left.

  Yeah, but what if you had a kid of your own? Maybe even a perfect matching pair?

  Noelle had gotten fussy, and Noah watched as Cassie scooped her out of the bassinet and into her arms.

  “Ms. Tremont,” the nurse said. “I’m really not allowed to let you—”

  “Drop it,” Noah barked. “Noelle’s her baby and she can dam—darn well hold her if she pleases.”

  The nurse shot him a dirty look while Evelyn raised her eyebrows.

  “On that note,” Evelyn said, reaching for Sammie, “we’d better get upstairs. Rose Goodman just had another hip replacement surgery.”

>   After easing Sammie into Evelyn’s outstretched arms, Noah said, “Tell Rose I’ll stop by after a while.”

  “Will do.” Evelyn waved as she stepped onto the elevator behind the rest of her crew. Noah recognized the whole smiley bunch as being on the Cheer-Up committee from Riverdale Methodist Church. Funny though, how whenever he happened upon them they had this knack for making him grumpier than a fly on the wrong end of a swatter.

  “Bye, Noah!” Sammie shouted as the elevator doors swished closed.

  “She’s adorable,” Cass said as they resumed their walk to the hospital entrance. “And she seemed smitten with you. Another one of your many female fans, huh?”

  When she winked before nudging him in his ribs, he frowned all the harder. “Since I don’t see any limos lurking about, guess I’ll get the truck.”

  “I told them noon and it’s just now eleven-thirty-five. Who’d have thought we’d be running ahead of schedule?” She shot him a grin.

  “Look, Cass, I—”

  “Sheriff!” Out of breath, cheeks blaze red and uniform all rumpled and sweaty, Briggs chugged through the hospital’s automated main entry. “Thank God I found you! We’ve been callin’ and pagin’ you for like an hour!”

  Noah automatically reached for his phone, but it wasn’t in its usual spot on the waistband of his jeans. Neither was his pager. Oops. Big oops. It wasn’t like him to be so forgetful. But then it also wasn’t like him to be so wound up over a woman and her babies! “Well? What’s up?”

  “It’s Jimmy. Ambulance is bringin’ him in with a busted arm. And ma’am,” he said, removing his hat to hold it over his heart. “I’m real sorry to have to tell you this, but you’ve got yourself a seriously busted car.”

  CASSIE SQUEEZED Noelle a bit tighter.

  Seeing Jimmy, all pale and broken and bruised, had been bad enough. But standing outside the hospital’s emergency room in blinding noonday sun, watching her poor car being towed through the lot, left her feeling faint. The tow guy was a friend of Jimmy’s, apparently, and had stopped by to check on him.

  Leaning hard against Noah, she said, “Ouch.”

  “That’s one way of putting it.” He held Hope, and somehow, being close like this, the four of them together, made the sight of her crunched, not even one-year-old yellow baby somewhat easier to bear.

  “What am I going to do?” she asked.

  Behind her, she felt Noah shrug. “Guess there’s only one thing to do. We head on to Little Rock, and I’ll get Moe down at The Dent Doctor to give her a look.”

  “Does he have the expertise to work on this car?”

  Laughing, Noah said, “Our illustrious ex-mayor drives a Lamborghini he’s always dinging, and Precious Hallowell has a brand spankin’ new Porsche she just backed into her garage—her closed garage. So, yeah, I’d say he knows what he’s doing.”

  “O-okay.”

  A flash of sun glinted off the trunk of a black Caddie pulling into the lot. Cassie groaned.

  “What’s wrong now?”

  “The limo. I forgot all about the limo.” Glancing at her watch, she saw that the whole mess with Jimmy and her car had taken well over an hour, which meant the limo service she’d ordered all the way from Fayetteville would now be long gone. “Grrr. Why didn’t someone find me? I could have said quick goodbyes to Jimmy and my car, then been on my way.”

  His free hand on her shoulder, Noah turned her to face him. “Relax. This at least settles the debate over who’s driving you.” Grinning, he said, “Looks like I win. So if you’re ready, let’s go.”

  Gazing up at him, at his deep brown eyes, she shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  “What’s that mean? You wanna stop off at Brenda’s for one last burger before we go?”

  She shook her head.

  “Then what?”

  “I’m not going. I, um, think it’d be best if I stayed here until my car is fixed. This Moe person is going to need all kinds of insurance information, and there’s going to be paperwork and stuff.” And something about the way you have one hand on my baby, and the other on me, I just don’t feel strong enough to deal with a crunched car and two newborns and a big house and my business just yet. Maybe tomorrow. But not today.

  “Um, all right.” Releasing her, he took a step back. “Um, yeah, sure. I guess that works.”

  “If you don’t want us at your house, I understand. As soon as the craft fair’s over, I’m sure we can find—”

  Not want you?

  Noah swallowed hard. That was the problem. He did want her. And her babies. And her disgustingly healthy cooking and too much cleaning and her laugh and wide, green eyes that drew him in like warm, clear Beaver Lake water on a hot summer’s day.

  Across the parking lot, those three gigglers he’d seen at Brenda’s hustled into the hospital dressed in cute candy striper uniforms. Noah took Cass’s hand in his and said, “Nope, you’re all coming home with me—for however long it takes to fix your car.”

  “But, Noah, I—” Since he had no free hands, meaning he couldn’t silence her by pressing his fingers to her lips, he went with his only other option, which meant covering her mouth with his own.

  Noah’s kiss eased through Cassie’s body like calm in a bottle. Maybe it was the sunshine raining down on them, or the powdery-sweet smell of her babies nestled between them or the even sweeter smell of spring making her arms and legs all quivery, but whatever the cause, she knew she never wanted the delicious sensation to end.

  Then it did, and it took her a second to find the strength to open her eyes.

  “Sorry,” Noah said, releasing her hand before taking a couple steps back.

  “Sure,” Cassie said. And if I act bored enough, maybe you’ll believe that kiss affected me as little as it evidently did you.

  “Must’ve been the heat,” he said, lips pressed to the top of Hope’s down-covered head.

  Turning away from the enchanting sight of her beautiful baby and the breathtakingly handsome man holding her, Cassie studied a trio of sparrows splashing in a puddle left from the hospital’s automatic sprinklers. The perimeter of lawn looked so perfect it could’ve been colored with Crayola green. “Of course.”

  “Speaking of which, we’d better get these munchkins out of the sun. Don’t want them burned.”

  “No. That wouldn’t be good.” Geesh, was she like the worst new mother in the world? Following Noah to his truck, Cassie wanted to have been the one concerned about the babies getting sunburned—not Noah! Not the cold, unfeeling creep who’d kissed her like she’d never been kissed before only to now act like it’d meant nothing!

  Two rows over, a truck belched by, tainting the air with caustic exhaust.

  “Cover Hope’s nose!” she cried.

  “Why?” He walked backward for the second it’d taken to ask the question.

  “Because exhaust fumes are toxic! And stop walking backward. You could trip.”

  “And you’re worried about me getting hurt?”

  “Not you—Hope!”

  Stopping beside his faded red Suburban, he said, “You’re ticked at me, aren’t you?”

  “No.”

  “Liar.” He playfully tugged a chunk of her hair.

  “Ouch.”

  “Oh, that didn’t hurt, and you know it.”

  “Did so,” she said, studying the Juicy Fruit wrapper some litterbug had left at her feet. She knelt to grab the gum wrapper. Her girls deserved a nice, tidy earth.

  “Tell me the truth.” Noah said, slipping his hand about her waist when she’d stood back up. “You’re mad because I thought about the babies getting sunburned before you.”

  “You couldn’t be more wrong.”

  “Then how come your lips are doing that sexy frowny thing they do when you think I haven’t eaten enough of whatever healthy tofu/bug combo you’ve served me?”

  “I’ve never served you bugs, and as for my lips, they—” Cheeks hot, she touched those lips with her fingers, swearing the
y were still tingling from his kiss.

  He thought they were sexy, huh? Her lips?

  The mere thought only made them tingle more!

  “I’m sorry,” he said, releasing her to fish his keys from his pocket. “That came out wrong.”

  Walking around to the passenger side of his truck, he opened the back door and settled Hope into her baby seat. Once he’d clicked her safety harness into place, he reached for Noelle, then opened Cassie’s door. “Climb in. I’ll make sure Munchkin Number Two’s locked and loaded.”

  Though Cassie wanted to glare at him for using such rough and ready guy slang in reference to her perfectly pink little girl, when she gazed into his gorgeous, deep brown eyes, then lowered her gaze to where Noelle rested her cheek on his broad chest, all she could do was smile.

  “OKAY,” NOAH SAID from his perch on the sun-flooded window seat in Cass’s room. “This time, pay attention. You take the sticky thingy and put it here—not on the ducks.”

  “But it looks cuter on the ducks.”

  “Cass…” Noah sighed. “This isn’t about cute. It’s about keeping the wet stuff in the diaper and not on our laps.”

  “I see your point.” Practicing what he’d just taught her using Hope as his demo baby, Cass expertly changed Noelle’s diaper. “There, how’s that?” she asked, proudly holding her squirming baby up for his inspection.

  “Much better. In a few hours, we’ll move on to baths.” After getting Hope back into her clothes, having a devil of a time working her tiny buttons and snaps, he ambled into the kitchen, looking for a snack.

  Unfortunately, Cass was right on his heels as he reached into the cabinet beside the fridge for one of his favorite chocolate fudge snack cakes. “Gone,” she said, smug smile playing about her lips.

  “What do you mean, gone?”

  “I mean, those things aren’t healthy. Too much hydrogenated stuff and monotriglycerides.”

  “What’re those?”

  “I’m not sure,” she said, reaching into the fridge. “But here, have this.”

  She handed him an apple.

  Oh boy.

  “Look,” he said, trying his damnedest to not be distracted by the warm and fuzzies shooting through his chest from Hope snoozing on him. Oblivious to her mother’s wicked ways, she’d rested her head on his shoulder, and her five pound body felt like a warm bean bag in his arms. A bean bag with a heart beating against his chest. Fast beats. But that was okay. Baby hearts did that.