The Family They've Longed For

by Robin Gianna

  “Perfect. Thanks.”

  They moved back to where everyone was gathered and Rory watched Jake scan the room, presumably looking for a helper. Even though she dreaded the thought of spending more awkward hours with him, she knew what needed to happen and placed her hand on his forearm.

  “I’ll go with you. I haven’t delivered a baby in a long time, but I’m sure I can help.”

  He looked down at her for a long moment, his expression inscrutable. She knew what he was thinking, because she was, too. Being together after that scorching and ill-advised kiss wasn’t the best idea. But this was an emergency, and having two doctors made a lot more sense than him finding a random friend to assist him.

  Finally, he nodded. “All right. But what about your mom?”

  “I’ll see if Linda can drive her home. Stay with her, too, if she can.”

  “I’ll call Jameson to tell him we’ll leave soon, then I’ll pull together some supplies.”

  Linda was more than happy to take her mother home and spend the night. “It’s looking like we’ll get more snow than we thought,” Linda said as she peered out the window at the light flakes steadily falling to the ground. “So I’d just as soon stay put once we’re at your house. It’ll be fun having a slumber party, don’t you think, Wendy?”

  “A slumber party! I love that idea! I probably can’t dance around yet, but we can work on those paper pumpkins and ghost strings for Halloween. Rory got me all the supplies we need.”

  Wendy’s eyes shone with pleasure, and Rory had to face what she’d been trying to ignore. Her mom truly loved living here. She loved her friends and her life here. Much as she wanted her mother to come live with her for the winter in Los Angeles, and was convinced she’d enjoy the warmth of Southern California, she couldn’t deny the truth. Moving her to LA for the winter would be more for her benefit than for Twinkie’s.

  “That’s perfect, Linda,” Rory said. “In case we’re gone a long time there’s leftover stew and noodles in the fridge, to heat up for dinner, or the things Beth is being kind enough to send from the party. Plus Twinkie and I made cookies the other day, so there’s plenty to eat. You’ll need to help her get into her jammies, though, because she’s still having trouble getting undressed by herself.”

  “I’m happy to do that. Goodness knows I’ve had plenty to eat here already, but I’m sure we’ll want a late-night snack.”

  Glad to have all that settled, Rory hugged Linda and her mom, and went to grab her coat. There was no sign of Jake yet, and she hovered around the door, nervous and worried about spending this time with him, but at the same time feeling wired about the trek and perhaps helping this woman deliver her baby.

  Now that Jake was about to leave a number of guests stood, obviously wanting to say their goodbyes. Beth was holding Mika and talking with them, but she came over when she spotted Rory by the door.

  “Thanks for doing this, Rory. I know Jake appreciates it, too.”

  “Taking care of people, whether it’s this kind of situation or something in my own specialty, is why doctors go into medicine. I’m happy to do it.”

  “I hope Natalia’s okay, and that the baby is, too.”

  Beth’s anxious expression made Rory’s stomach drop. For some reason when she thought of labor and birth, even a difficult one, she thought of a happy outcome, with a beautiful newborn.

  How was it possible that it hadn’t even occurred to her that it might be a terrible situation, like her own had been nine years ago?

  That tonight a baby might be born, but not healthy. Maybe not even alive.

  God, she’d shoved all that down so deeply. How was she going to handle it if this turned out to be the kind of life-altering heartache her own pregnancy and labor had turned into?

  She sucked in a steadying breath. She was a doctor. She had to be brave and tough—be there for this woman and her unborn child and stop thinking of herself. It would be okay. She’d get through it no matter what happened. She could do it. Would do it.

  “I hope so, too, Beth. I’ll do the best I can to help the momma and Jake bring a healthy baby into the world.”

  Beth’s brown eyes were filled with worry for Natalia Woodrow, and with a kind of deep sympathy she knew was about her and the baby she and Jake had lost.

  “I know you will.”

  Jake appeared by her side with several bags stuffed to overflowing. “Ready?”

  “Ready. What have you got in there?”

  “Transport monitor. Exterior monitor to track the baby’s vitals. Pain meds. Surgical equipment. Hopefully everything we’ll need, no matter what the situation is.”

  “You keep all that here?” she asked, astonished that he’d have medical supplies beyond the simplest things at his own house.

  “You’ve been gone too long. When storms come through, or the power goes out, or we need to go on search and rescue or whatever situation, we’ve got to be ready. Getting to the clinic might not be an option.”

  Search and rescue. Another thing she’d apparently shoved down so as not to think about it too hard after what had happened.

  “Of course,” she muttered. “So, let’s go.”

  Her heart squeezing all over again, she watched the sweet hug and kiss Jake gave the baby, then another to his mom, before he led the way to his truck, stashing the equipment on the second set of bench seats behind the front set.

  She climbed up into the truck and in moments they’d driven the half mile or so of gravel road that led from his house to the main paved road, where they picked up speed. She tried to ignore the fluttering in her heart from being so close to him after what had happened between them, even as she was thankful this wasn’t the small car he’d had so long ago, when she would have been mere inches from his big body.

  Tension—sexual and otherwise—seemed to vibrate between them, and she didn’t think she was the only one feeling it.

  “Where do they live? How far is it?”

  “Pretty far—which worries me. About thirty-five miles away, in a little town that sprang up near one of the new oil fields that wasn’t open when you lived here. Remember the dry cabins up on the ridge? Where lots of hunters go? It’s about ten miles from there.”

  “What’s the road like?” She wasn’t worried about the road, but avoiding a heavy silence between them by making small talk might calm her nerves.

  “Not bad, really. The oil company put a lot of money into it, so it’s fairly smooth all the way into the town. I think the Woodrows live off a gravel road, but in the truck it won’t be a problem even if it snows more.”

  She glanced around at the snowflakes, clinging to the car and starting to cover the landscape. “I didn’t really look at the forecast, but it seems early for any kind of real snow.”

  “Yeah, I can’t imagine we’ll get much. But I guess you never know.”

  His face was in profile as he watched the road, and the years fell away as she remembered all the times they’d driven together in a car. Sometimes it had been in his small sedan, other times in her own compact little SUV, which she’d bought once they were in college in Anchorage with the money she’d made waiting tables there.

  Confusing and contradictory thoughts swirled through her mind as the miles passed. Thoughts of that kiss, and wanting more of them, warred with her self-protective mode that had been telling her from the day she arrived that she needed to get away from him and Eudemonia and the memories as quickly as possible.

  But at this moment that attitude was selfish—like he’d said she’d been before, right? Tonight it was a good thing she was here to help this woman with whatever problem she was having. Surely the distraction of that would put everything out of her mind but work?

  But then there’d be the torture of driving back with him.

  Except, in a strange way, this didn’t feel like torture. It felt oddly nice t
o be sitting close to him in this truck, despite the slightly disturbing tension zinging around the cab. And suddenly, after wanting nothing more than to get back to California as soon as possible, the thought of going back into her hidey-hole and her normal life in LA felt strangely distant.

  Which clearly proved that being back home was making her crazy.

  Jake seemed to want to fill the silence, too—but not with conversation about what had happened between them in his kitchen. Which she was glad about, since she didn’t want to go there, either.

  He asked questions about her potential future job in LA, and told her about the general medical practice in Fairbanks, where he and his father took turns working since the clinic in Eudemonia didn’t need both of them full-time.

  The conversation helped her relax and forget her strange confusion. And when they finally pulled up in front of the Woodrows’ house, flooded with outdoor lights presumably to help them find it, her heart had returned to a normal rhythm.

  “Why don’t you go knock and tell them we’re here?” he said, half of his face lit up, the other in shadow as he leaned into the back seat of the truck. “I’ll bring the stuff in.”

  She turned away from the striking angles of the face she’d seen in her dreams for so long and moved toward the front door. She’d barely lifted her arm to knock when it cracked open and an obviously agitated man peered out.

  “I’m Dr. Anderson, and Dr. Jacob Hunter is with me.”

  “Thank God.”

  He swung the door wide, then turned and moved into the house, leaving Rory to assume he wanted her to follow. She glanced over her shoulder to see Jake’s tall, broad form moving out of the shadows toward the house, and decided to go on in.

  “Back here. She’s in a lot of pain. I don’t know what to do.”

  Moving through a pretty modern foyer into a good-sized living room, Rory was surprised to see the poor woman lying right there on the carpeted floor, writhing and moaning. Her heart beat harder. She hated to see the obvious distress the poor woman was in. Hopefully it was normal labor pain, but if her husband hadn’t been able to get her into the car even between contractions there was a good chance it was more than that.

  She knelt down and grasped the woman’s wrist to take her pulse. It was high, but that wasn’t a surprise, considering how much pain she must be in.

  “I’m Aurora Anderson, a doctor from LA, and Dr. Hunter is here with me.” She sensed Jake coming up behind her. “Tell us what’s going on.”

  “She said she thought she was in labor, so we called the midwife and were upset to find out she’s in Anchorage. She gave us some instructions on the signs to look for—timing how far apart the contractions were and stuff—and said we should go to Fairbanks to the hospital there when they were twenty minutes apart, to give us plenty of time to drive there.”

  “But she didn’t feel able to do that?” Jake asked, also crouching down beside the moaning woman.

  “It seemed okay for a while, but then the contractions starting coming closer and I got worried and said we should go. And then she was like this.” Worry etched the man’s face. “She’d been sitting and walking around, but then she was in so much pain she just lay down on the floor, and she’s been like this ever since. The midwife said last week that the baby was breech, but she expected it would turn. But now it’s coming early. Is that the problem? I’m scared. Do you think something’s wrong?”

  “Let’s find out.”

  Rory watched Jake take the woman’s pulse, and didn’t think it necessary to tell him her own findings.

  “Where does it hurt?”

  “Oh, God...” The woman shrieked and moaned simultaneously. She clutched her hands to her swollen abdomen, rolling from side to side. “It...it hurts so much. Is...is the baby...?”

  “Hang in there.”

  Jake’s lips tightened and his gaze met Rory’s for a moment. She knew it was possible the woman was just having normal labor contractions and had a low tolerance for pain, but somehow this seemed like more than that. Obviously Jake thought so, too.

  “Let me feel your belly, okay?”

  Rory reached for the woman’s hands, gently squeezing, both to try to comfort her and to keep them away from her belly so Jake could give her an external examination.

  He glanced up at Rory again. “I think she’s in the second stage of labor. I need to do an internal exam. The baby might still be breech, which would account for her extreme pain.”

  Rory nodded, but didn’t say what she was thinking, and knew Jake was thinking, too. A breech baby was going to be a lot more difficult to deliver, unless they could turn it, and a C-section would likely be necessary if they couldn’t. These were far from ideal conditions for that, and they’d have to get her to the hospital in Fairbanks to recover, but if that was what had to happen, they’d make it happen.

  “Natalia, I want to do an internal exam, to see how much you’re dilated. I’m willing to bet you’re close to delivering, but let’s find out.”

  He turned to Jameson.

  “We’re going to need some towels and hot water. Can you light that wood-burning stove and put a kettle on it? Or heat some water in the kitchen? And bring a sheet to put on the floor beneath her. But first a glass of water so she can take some pain medication. I assume you want that, Natalia?”

  “Ye-e-s...” she gasped. “Hurts...bad.”

  “I’m on it, honey,” Jameson said as he ran from the room.

  In moments he was back with a water glass, then he hurried off again.

  “Rory? How about you try to help her sit up enough to take the narcotic while I get it?”

  She nodded as Jake rifled through one of the bags. “We know your pain is bad, Natalia, but the narcotic should help,” she said. “You’re going to have to sit up to swallow. Can you do that?”

  The woman gave a jerky nod, even as she cried out again, and Rory struggled to help her to a sitting position. The effort was only partially successful, as she slumped sideways against Rory, but it was enough for her to be able to drink without choking.

  “Here.”

  Jake held the glass to Natalia’s lips, tipping it up as he held the pills in his other hand. He poked them onto her tongue and Rory stroked her throat, because she knew that sometimes that helped a person in tremendous pain swallow when it was hard for them to focus on anything but how much they hurt.

  Water dribbled down her chin, and she choked a little, but finally she got them down.

  It struck Rory how odd it was to be working with Jake this way again. As though they knew what the other needed without having to speak. Was it from all the years they’d been so close that they’d practically been able to read one another’s minds?

  Jameson ran in with a pile of sheets and towels. Rory spread a sheet on the floor, then the two men helped move Natalia on top of it.

  “I need to give you the internal exam,” Jake said. “We’re going to get your clothes off, and then you’re going to feel me touch you so I can check dilation. Okay?”

  His calm and gentle voice was so different from his everyday speech. Different from the way he’d spoken to Rory since she’d been back. Except that wasn’t entirely true. Tonight, when he’d told her he understood what she’d been feeling at Mika’s party, his voice had held that same, caring warmth.

  There was no doubt the man was good at reassuring patients, even in stressful situations. But even long ago he’d been good at that, hadn’t he? If she let herself, she could still remember his sweetness and concern for her, even in the darkest times. Even when he had been hurting, too. And she knew it was past time to finally tell him that.

  The two of them worked to remove Natalia’s pants—which wasn’t easy, considering she was on her side on the floor again, rocking. Rory hated to see her in so much pain, and she had a bad feeling the worst was yet to come.


  Even though she was pretty sure the last thing the woman was thinking about was her modesty, Rory placed a towel over her as Jake reached to examine her. After a long moment his gaze lifted to meet Rory’s again, before moving back to Natalia, and she could tell it wasn’t good news.

  “Baby’s ready to come. It’s still breech, but not engaged in the pelvis yet, so that’s good. It’s possible to deliver it that way, but not ideal. So we’re going to try to turn it. Are you ready?”

  “Oh, God. No!”

  “I’m here, honey. I’m here for you. It’s going to be okay,” Jameson said, holding her hand.

  The anxiety on the man’s face took her back to all those years ago, when she’d been delivering Adam. How Jake had been there, holding her, kissing her head, trying to soothe her even as his own heart had been breaking. She realized now, feeling a little ashamed, that his suffering was something she hadn’t thought about enough.

  “We need to get the external monitor on her, so we can check the baby’s heartbeat and make sure it’s normal before we try this.”

  The baby’s heartbeat. Briefly, Rory squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to remember when they’d done that for hers. Theirs. When it had shown there was no heartbeat at all. Was Jake remembering, too? Or had he delivered enough babies over the last nine years that it didn’t feel so personal anymore?

  She swallowed hard and focused fiercely on Natalia. Not the time for memories to keep resurfacing, good or bad.

  “How do we do this?” she asked in a near whisper. “I kind of remember from med school, but not really.”

  “Wait a minute. Let’s get this done first.”

  His brows lowered in concentration as he attached the monitor. Rory held her breath as they waited for the reading, and slumped in relief to see the strong, steady beat of the baby’s heart.

  “Baby’s okay,” she said. Her voice was a little thin but she couldn’t help it. “Heartbeat’s good, Natalia.”

  The woman nodded, huffing breaths in and out, and Jake sent her the kind of smile that would reassure anyone.

  “All right. I’m going to give you an injection of a drug that will help your womb relax, making it a little easier for us to turn the baby. What I’m going to do,” he continued as he drew the medicine into a syringe and injected it, “is put my hands on your belly. One by the baby’s bottom and one on its head, and see if I can turn it. Are you ready?”