by Mia Ross
“I gotta be honest... I’ve been picturing something more like this.” Pausing, he cleared his throat and took a blank sheet of paper from the new printer on the desk. Handing it to her, he said, “Lindsay, I just bought myself a nice red Ferrari. Here’s the receipt.”
Because he was still just about irresistible as ever, she decided to play along. “And this is a business expense how?”
He cocked his head, doing a good impression of someone who was seriously considering her question. “You’re the brains of this outfit, sweetheart. I’m the muscle.”
Oh, he was a real piece of work. “How is it you just managed to compliment us both in the same breath?”
“It’s a gift.”
The mischievous twinkle in his eyes made her laugh, and the warmth that nudged into her heart felt so good, she never wanted to stop. Suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed her side, making her gasp in dismay.
Before she even registered that he’d moved, Brian was on his knees in front of her, his jaw set in concern. “Lindsay, are you okay?”
She couldn’t speak, so she held up a forefinger in a wordless request for him to give her a second. Once the cramp began to recede, she slowly inhaled and let the breath out the way she’d learned from one of her pregnancy books. Then, taking pity on him, she forced a shaky smile. “Fine. Just a pang.”
“How often do you get these ‘pangs’?” he demanded.
“Not often.” He gave her a doubtful look, and she rolled her eyes in defeat. “Okay, they started about a week ago and have happened a few times since then. Happy?”
“I will be,” he replied, striding over to get their coats from the rack by the door. “As soon as you see a doctor who gives you a thorough checkup and says you and the baby are all right. There’s a women’s clinic not far from here. It’s free for folks who need a little help.”
Meaning her, she realized grimly. This time last year, she had a good job, a decent place to live and a fairly reliable car. What on earth had happened to her? After a lot of soul-searching, she’d come to the conclusion that her current predicament wasn’t Jeff’s fault alone. She’d done plenty to sabotage her own life, and now she was dealing with the consequences. She wouldn’t compound the problem by allowing her child to suffer for her mistakes.
“All right, but I need to bring this,” she replied, closing the laptop and sliding it into its protective case.
“Really?”
“I just got this thing configured the way I want it, and I’m not leaving it here so someone can waltz through your crack security and snag it. I’m not letting it out of my sight.”
“Fine, but let me carry it for you. And for the record, that lock might not be new, but it’s as sturdy as ever.”
Tiring of their latest battle of wills, she gave in. “Whatever.”
He helped her into her coat, and then she turned to face him. Worry for her clouded his handsome face, and she couldn’t help admiring a man who could feel such compassion for someone who’d once treated him like dirt. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now, let’s go.”
Brian kept his four-wheel drive near the speed limit and distracted her with small talk about the business, but Lindsay could hear the nervousness running beneath the surface of his deep voice. When they arrived at the clinic, he wasted no time getting her inside and checked in. Then he pulled the kind of stunt that she would always think of as “The Brian.”
Leaning on the top of the reception desk, he flashed one of his notorious knee-weakening grins at the poor woman who’d been ogling the tall, well-built blacksmith since the moment they walked in. “Miss Holland really needs to see someone right away. Is there any way you can help us out with that?”
The woman’s eyes flicked to Lindsay and then back to him. “Your relationship to the patient?”
“She’s my office manager.”
Technically, that was true, but Lindsay felt a little twinge of regret that he’d so easily classified her as nothing more than his employee. But she recognized his tactic as an attempt to get her admitted more quickly, so she did her best to ignore her reaction to it. After all, it wasn’t any different from her flirting with the environmental inspector to get on his good side. So why did it bother her so much?
“Hold on and I’ll check to see who’s available.” After a quick back-and-forth on the phone, she hung up and angled a subtle look down the hallway. Very quietly, she said, “One of our nurses can see you now in room four.”
Lindsay thanked her and moved away from the desk. To her amazement, Brian asked, “Want me to come with you?”
“No, I’m fine,” she answered reflexively. When he strolled into the waiting room and took a seat, she wished she’d been more honest with him. Because as she went down that sterile hallway to be examined by a stranger, she felt tiny and vulnerable. And very much alone.
Fortunately, a nurse whose name tag identified her as Karen was waiting for her, so she didn’t have time for a pity party. After stepping on the scale, she followed Karen into a small but brightly painted room and managed to get up on the exam table.
“You’re a little on the light side, considering how far along you are,” the nurse told her in a motherly tone. Despite the clinical garb, Lindsay found the woman’s personable demeanor reassuring, and for the first time in weeks, she felt as if things were actually going to be okay.
“I’ve been traveling,” she explained, purposefully keeping it vague. Nice as Karen was, Lindsay had no intention of spilling her guts to someone she didn’t know. “Getting here took me longer than I expected, and it was kind of hard on my stomach.”
“Does that mean you’re settled in now?”
Well, she had a job and people who cared about what happened to her. In her mind, that was a definite step up. “More or less.”
“Let’s work on making that a yes,” Karen suggested with a sympathetic expression, reaching into a drawer for a large bottle that she handed over. “Take these vitamins every day, and if your stomach is still off, try smaller meals and snacks throughout the day. That way, you and the baby will get what you need and you’ll have less digestive problems.”
Her prenatal vitamins were one of the things she’d continued using, even when she’d had to scrape together change to buy them. But she understood that Karen was trying to be helpful, so she simply nodded. “Okay.”
“Did you have a sonogram at any point?”
This time, Lindsay shook her head, feeling like the worst mother-to-be in history. “I didn’t know I needed one.”
“Often, someone as young and generally healthy as you doesn’t. But it’s good to be on the safe side. We have the equipment here, and we offer free scans to all our patients.”
Translation: when you’re dead broke, we’ll pay for your test. Lindsay mentally cringed at the implication, but she recognized that she couldn’t allow her pride to jeopardize the health of her baby. Her son or daughter was all she had in the world, and there was nothing she wouldn’t do for this child. “I think that makes sense. Thank you.”
“No worries,” Karen assured her briskly. “I think there’s a patient in the room now, so you might have to wait a few minutes. Is there someone here with you?”
Brian was out front, and knowing him, he’d already charmed half the women in the waiting room. Over the years, his rangy build had filled in a bit, and in his flannel shirt and faded jeans he had the look of a lean lumberjack. Much as she’d liked him back in high school, Lindsay remembered wishing he was more polished, maybe on his way to college or up some corporate ladder.
Then again, she thought wryly, when she met him, Jeff had claimed to be on that kind of path, and he’d disappointed her time after time. Pushing the pointless reminiscing aside, she replied, “A friend drove me here, but I’m not sure he’d want to see this.”
She braced herself for a pit
ying look, but Karen simply smiled. “It’s your call, of course, but if he cared enough to bring you here, I’d imagine he’s the supportive type. Do you want me to go out and ask him?”
“I guess it can’t hurt.”
“Then I’ll be right back. We can work around your clothes, so go ahead and get dressed.” She patted Lindsay’s shoulder on the way out, leaving her alone with more unsettling thoughts that she’d rather not explore right now. Or ever.
Thankfully, only a couple of minutes later someone knocked on the door. “Come in.”
When Brian peered into the exam room, Lindsay was so flabbergasted that she blurted, “You came.”
“Sure I came.” Stepping inside, he let the door fall closed and eyed her as if she’d gone completely off her rocker. “Why wouldn’t I?”
Jeff had never exhibited the slightest interest in having a family. In hindsight, that should have been a warning to her about how things between them would end. “I’m pretty sure Jeff wouldn’t have, and he was the father.”
The warmth left Brian’s eyes, and they glittered like shards of glass. “I told you before, you’re better off without him. You and the baby both are.”
The way his voice softened when he referred to her child made Lindsay’s eyes mist with gratitude. He could have just dropped her off at the clinic and picked her up when she was finished. But he’d insisted on staying, even though this was probably the last thing he’d envisioned doing today. “Yes, you did. I appreciate you saying that.”
“I also meant it. Both times.”
“I know.” Her voice cracked a little, and she blinked away tears that were threatening to spill over.
“Aw, man.” Glancing around, he found some tissues and handed the box to her. “Are you okay?”
Not trusting herself to speak normally, Lindsay nodded, dabbing at her eyes while she furiously tried to pull herself together. Brian had been nothing but kind to her since she showed up at the forge, and the last thing she wanted to do was repay his generosity with blubbering.
“I’m fine.” Shaking off the lingering bout of vulnerability, she sat up straighter and forced a smile. “Pregnant women get emotional for no reason sometimes. No biggie.”
“I’d say you’ve got plenty of reason.” He seemed ready to add something more, then seemed to think better of it and clamped his mouth shut around a grimace.
“Go ahead, Brian. If you’ve got something to say, just spit it out. It can’t be any worse than what I’ve been saying to myself for the past few months.”
“Back when he lived here, I always hated that guy,” he growled, his features hardening dangerously. “I just could never figure out why.”
A question that had haunted her for years bubbled to the surface, but Lindsay hesitated. Did she really want to know the answer? After debating with herself for a few seconds, she finally decided that she had to settle things between them once and for all. “What about me?”
His expression softened immediately, and he shook his head with a wry grin. “I tried to hate you, but I could never quite manage it. Once I got over you skipping town that way, I realized it never would’ve worked for us because we wanted different things out of life. I’m a feet-on-the-ground kinda guy, and you wanted to fly. It just would’ve been nice if you’d told me you were going.”
Yes, it would have, Lindsay thought morosely. Brian was such a good guy, and she’d truly cared about him. Maybe even loved him, but she couldn’t say for certain. She’d loved Jeff, and look where that had gotten her. Some people didn’t do well with intense emotions, and more than once she’d wondered if she was one of them.
But regret was something she was well acquainted with, and she said, “I’m sorry, Brian. I wish there was some way I could make it up to you.”
To her surprise, he turned the somber conversation around with twinkling eyes. “Take good care of yourself and this baby, and help me get my business organized, and we’ll call it even.”
“Deal.”
They shook to seal their bargain just as Karen knocked and opened the door for a technician wheeling in a machine that looked capable of talking to someone in outer space. The young woman efficiently hooked everything up and then turned to look from Lindsay to Brian. “Ready?”
A panicked look flew across his face, and he put up his hands as he took a big step back. “I’m not the father. I’m just here for moral support.”
He was awfully quick to correct the mistake, Lindsay noted wryly. Not that she could blame him.
“You don’t want to see?” the tech asked him.
Lindsay waited for him to answer, curious to hear what he’d say. He’d been raised in a large, loving family but didn’t yet have one of his own. It suggested to her that he liked his bachelor’s life and didn’t have any immediate plans for trading in his imaginary Ferrari for a minivan.
Then, to her astonishment, he stopped his backpedaling and slid a questioning look her way. “Whatta you think?”
“It’s fine with me.”
The tech coated Lindsay’s stomach with gel and fiddled around with the scanning end of the machine until she apparently found the right spot. Pointing to the monitor with her other hand, she announced, “There you go.”
Lindsay squinted at the blob on the screen, trying to find a human shape in the grainy image. Just when she was about to give up, a tiny limb moved, as if the little person inside her was waving. Her heart shot into her throat, and she asked, “Is that an arm?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Whoa,” Brian murmured, edging in for a closer look. “How cool is that?”
“Very,” Lindsay agreed. Then a wild thought popped into her head, and she asked the tech, “Can you tell if it’s a boy or a girl?”
“Yes, I can.” Glancing at Brian, she asked, “Do you both want to know?”
“I’m not the father,” he reminded her. “If Lindsay wants to know, go ahead and tell her.”
“Then it’s a girl. Ten fingers and toes, and a good size for this stage. At this point, everything looks good.”
“At this point?” A chill shivered down Lindsay’s spine, as if someone had tossed ice water on her joyful mood. “What do you mean by that?”
“Healthy children aren’t born by chance,” Karen said gently. “You have to take excellent care of yourself and get consistent medical attention to ensure that the rest of your pregnancy and the delivery go as well as possible. This little cutie is counting on you.”
She nodded at the flickering image on the screen, and Lindsay followed the prompt to look at the monitor.
Her daughter.
Those two simple words settled into her heart with a weight she hadn’t felt before. Since discovering that she was pregnant, she’d accepted that it was her job to give her baby the best start she possibly could. But somehow, seeing her in person for the first time gave Lindsay’s situation a whole new spin that she couldn’t quite put into words. Her heart was overjoyed that the child was doing well, but her mind careened from one worry to the next, even while she recognized that most of them wouldn’t even apply to her for months.
Before her imagination galloped off with her good sense, she firmly pushed her fear aside and focused on the present. She and the baby were doing well, and thanks to Brian she’d have the means to make sure that continued.
For now, that was all that mattered.
* * *
Brian had been working day and night for months to get the old ironworks into some semblance of working order. His revenue stream was more like a trickle, and he knew it would take some serious commitment from him to improve it. But today, Lindsay’s emergency had distracted him from his own problems, and he realized that taking care of her was a lot more important than finishing a garden sculpture for a customer who wouldn’t be using it until spring.
Because he wasn’t much of
a cook, he stopped in at the bakery and fell on Gran’s mercy. After giving her the quick version of their morning, he got the response he was after.
After hugging Lindsay, she ordered, “You two sit down and I’ll bring you something to eat.”
“It doesn’t make sense to take the entire afternoon off,” Lindsay protested as they found an empty table. “We both have a lot to do at the forge.”
She had a point there, he acknowledged, but he questioned whether she’d be comfortable enough in the makeshift office there. “I’ll tell you what—we’ll ask Gran if we can use her office. It’s warmer, and she’s got a nice, cushy desk chair like the one you bookmarked online.”
“You saw that?”
“It was hard to miss. I also noticed that you marked the page for Waterford University,” he added in a casual tone so she wouldn’t scold him for snooping. “Are you looking at taking some psychology classes after the baby’s born?”
“Well, maybe,” she allowed, touching the screen to show him what she’d been reading. “At your celebration party, Holly told me that she’s in their interior design program, and she loves it. She was able to put together a schedule for online and on-campus courses that gives her time at home and at school.”
“Sounds perfect for you,” he approved, tapping the top edge of the laptop screen. “I know we bought this for the business, but you’re welcome to use it anytime.”
“I’m not sure about college.”
“Then use it for whatever, until you can afford to get one for yourself.”
She gave him a dubious look, then a shadow of that sassy grin wrinkled the corner of her mouth. “You’re the boss.”
“Just keep telling yourself that, sweetheart,” he teased. “We’ll get along fine.”
A bit of that old spark glittered in her eyes, alerting him that some of her spirit was coming back. “Not if you keep calling me ‘sweetheart.’”
“Got it.”