“I’m going with you,” Mitch said. He could feel the blood pounding in his ears. Here was another dragon to fight, and this time he was going to come out the victor. Tessa was the woman he loved. She was facing the most difficult situation a woman could endure. He wasn’t going to let her do it alone.
“I’m sorry, Mitch. We’re operating under emergency conditions here until the power’s back on. If you’re not Tessa’s husband or her assigned labor coach, I can’t let you come back.”
“Don’t go spouting regulations at me, Annie. I’m not leaving her for a minute no matter what the emergency regs say.”
“Mitch, do you really want to stay with me?” There was a world of longing in Tessa’s voice and despite his fear for her safety, Mitch’s heart soared.
Maggie and the others were listening with rapt attention, but despite his audience, Mitch hunkered down on the other side of the chair. “Every step of the way.”
Ethan Staver came through the ER doors bringing a swirl of wet cold air with him. “Lynn Kendall called me. She said Rachel and Ruth were on their way to the church to help out and saw you carry Tessa to your truck and head this way with her. Thought I’d better check it out.”
Mitch paid no heed to the chief’s arrival. The world had narrowed down to two people. Him and the woman he loved. He held her blue, blue gaze with his brown one, covered her hands with his. “I love you, Tessa. I won’t leave you unless you tell me you don’t want me by your side through this whole wonderful terrifying business.”
“I—”
“Shh, Tessa. Don’t tell me you’ve got to do this on your own. You don’t.”
Tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them away. “I want you with me every step of the way,” she whispered. “I’m so scared there’s something wrong with my baby.”
Annie laid her hand on Mitch’s shoulder. “To hell with the rules. My patient needs you, and that’s good enough for me.”
She wheeled Tessa into an exam room, and Mitch helped her onto the high table. He held her hands and her eyes with his and told her over and over again what a beautiful healthy baby she was going to have. He delved into his memory of the night Sam was born and coached her through a contraction that hit in the middle of Annie’s examination. “Easy, Tessa. Breathe through your mouth. That’s the way. Still think it’s a girl?” he asked, brushing her hair back off her forehead as the contraction eased, striving for a note of lightness to keep his own fear at bay.
“It’s a girl,” Tessa said, panting, but resolute. “I know it.”
“Okay,” he said with a smile. “I’ll take your word for it.”
“And she’s going to be here before it’s time for kickoff, or I miss my guess,” Annie said. Completing her exam, she pulled off her rubber gloves and went to the sink to wash her hands again. “You’re doing fine, Tessa. Nothing’s wrong. This baby has just decided she’s going to be born today, and nothing we can do will change her mind.”
“You’re sure?” Tessa asked as Mitch and Annie helped her to her feet. Another contraction caught her and she clutched at Mitch for support.
“Absolutely.” Annie brought the wheelchair back to the exam table. “I was going to ask you if you felt like walking to the birthing suite, but maybe you should ride.”
“Everything’s really fine? I didn’t do something to hurt the baby and make her come early?”
“You haven’t done anything wrong, Tessa,” Annie assured her.
Tessa was crying openly now. “I’ve made such a mess of things. I tricked myself into believing Brian was the kind of man I’d always dreamed of, when he wasn’t. I followed him to California. I ran away, instead of trying to work out some kind of arrangement with him for the baby. I was going to take him back for all the wrong reasons. I—”
Mitch touched her lips with his fingers, silencing her litany of regrets. He caressed her cheek with the palm of his hand and laid the other one across the roundness of her stomach, cradling the baby she carried inside her. He kissed her softly, quickly, but with all the love he held in his heart. “You’re going to marry me for all the right reasons.”
She opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again, but no sound came out.
“Why did you come back to Riverbend yesterday, Tessa?” Now that he knew the baby was okay, that Tessa was okay, he intended to make them both his forever as quickly as he could manage.
The question surprised her. “The weather…”
“It wasn’t only the weather, was it?”
She held his gaze. He let her see inside him, into his soul. “No,” she whispered after a long moment. “It wasn’t only the weather.”
“Now tell me why you turned around and came back?”
“I couldn’t leave. I…I belong here. You knew that before I did.” A little of the darkness left her eyes, reminding him of the gentle blue of an April sky after a thunderstorm.
“Do you love me?”
“Yes,” she said simply. “With all my heart.”
He smiled, held her eyes captive with his. “Why?”
“Why? I…” She seemed confused.
He kept pushing. He had to make her see what was in her heart, bring it out into the open and make it strong, or her fears might get the best of her again. “Tell me why, Tessa.”
“Because I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” She grasped one of his hands between her own.
“And I want to fall asleep with you beside me every night,” he said, “and wake up with you every morning.” He leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the mouth. “I want to raise your daughter as my own, Tessa.”
Her breath caught on a sob and her eyes were bright, not with pain, but with joy. “Oh, Mitch, that’s the most wonderful thing you could say to me.” She leaned forward to kiss him back. “And I want Sam to love me as his mother.”
“No more doubts?”
“No more doubts. But I’m still scared, Mitch. I’m not ready for this. Don’t leave me.”
“I have to leave you, love. For a few minutes, just while Annie gets you settled in. There’s work to be done.”
“What work?”
He took the handles of the wheelchair from Annie Stevens and wheeled Tessa back into the hallway. “Maggie!” he called. “Does being the mother-in-law of the county clerk carry any weight?”
Maggie laughed, but her eyes were suspiciously bright as she came out from behind the nurses’ station. “You bet it does. And you don’t have to tell me what you want her for. I can guess.” She reached for the phone on the desk and started to punch in numbers.
“I don’t understand?” Tessa murmured, turning in the chair.
Mitch dropped to the balls of his feet to bring her face level with his. “The marriage license.” He smiled. “We’re going to get married. Here and now.”
“Oh, Mitch. Can we?”
“Ethan? Can you get Shannon Leatherman to the courthouse to pick up a license and get it out to us?”
“Consider it done.”
“But what about blood tests? Waiting periods? A preacher?” Another contraction was beginning to ripple across her belly.
“Shh, stop asking so many questions. Breathe through it, Tessa. Just like we did in the exam room.” She watched him, matched her breathing to his. “That’s it. Keep focused. That’s the way.”
“Okay,” she said, relaxing against the back of the chair. “It’s okay. But we can’t get married now.”
“Yes, we can. There’s no waiting period in Indiana. And no law against a marriage certificate that’s written in longhand that I know of.”
“That’s right,” Maggie said, shooing Ethan toward the door. “I’ll come with you to get Shannon. And we’ll pick up Sam and Caleb on the way. They can’t miss this. We’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail with the license.”
“And I can marry you.” Barb Baden peered over the top of the high counter, her round face beaming. “I’ll just go and fetch a Bible from the chapel.” A
s good as her word the rotund little mayor hurried off down the gloomy hallway.
“We’ll hold down the fort here,” Wally Drummer assured Annie and a surprised nurse who’d just come on the scene.
“It’s that easy?” Tessa asked.
“It’s that easy.” Mitch kissed her once more. “In thirty minutes you’ll be my wife, and the position comes with a lifetime guarantee.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
TESSA WATCHED the sunset fade from coral to pink to pearl as twilight deepened outside the window of her hospital room. She was sore and aching in every bone and muscle, and so tired she could barely hold her eyes open. But she was far too excited to sleep.
She had a child. A daughter. A beautiful little girl, all six pounds, three ounces of her.
And a husband.
She lifted her hand and ran her fingers over the worn surface of the wide gold band on the third finger of her left hand. It had belonged to Caleb’s wife. He had carried it with him every day since her death ten years before, he’d told her as he’d handed it to Mitch. The ring was his gift to welcome her into the family. She’d even had flowers, courtesy of Wally Drummer and his wife, who had opened the hospital gift shop and confiscated a handful of roses and daisies for her impromptu bouquet.
And then, the baby who had been in such a hurry to make her appearance, decided to stay put for a while. A very long while, in Tessa’s estimation. She hadn’t been born until the middle of the afternoon, just after the electricity was restored. In time for Annie and her staff to head home for their turkey dinners and the second half of the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears game. A true Thanksgiving baby.
She turned her head to the chair by the bed where Mitch sprawled, his long legs stretched out, the baby resting on his chest. Her beautiful perfect daughter. Their beautiful perfect daughter.
She couldn’t have done it alone. Nothing she’d read about had prepared her for the rigors of childbirth. It was truly a miraculous awe-inspiring event. It was also a frightening, painful and exhausting ordeal. There had been times when she was ready to give up, let the darkness take her away. But every time she wavered Mitch had been there to urge her on. She had clung to his hand like a lifeline. Made his quiet encouraging voice the center of her universe. Drawn on his strength and unshakable faith that she was going to bring their baby into the world safely. And she had.
A little girl. She would have welcomed a son, of course. But a daughter was even more special to her.
Because she already had a son.
She smiled and closed her eyes on a sudden rush of happy tears. Hormones, she told herself. And excitement. And pure unadulterated love for all the Sterling men.
“What are you smiling about?” Mitch asked, his voice very soft so as not to disturb the baby sleeping in his arms. His big hands cradled the infant against his strong chest. He held her so surely, so comfortably.
“Everything,” she said, leaning back against the pillows. She didn’t know how she was going to stay awake long enough to eat the turkey dinner with all the trimmings that Sam and Caleb had gone off to fetch for her. She held out her hands. “Can I hold her?”
Mitch chuckled. “I don’t know. I’m pretty comfortable here. I don’t think I want to give her up yet.”
“Do you think she’ll be hungry when she wakes up?”
“Probably.” His eyes narrowed as he straightened slowly from his lounging position in the chair. “You’ll do fine at that, too.”
She felt color rising in her cheeks but didn’t look away. They hadn’t yet made love, but they had shared an intimacy that far transcended even that joining—the birth of a child. Talk of breast-feeding shouldn’t make her uncomfortable. And it didn’t. Only a little anxious. “I didn’t think I’d get to breast-feed her. I…I thought I’d have to be looking for a job as soon as I could.”
“You have a job. Full-time wife and mother. It’s yours for as long as you want it, Mrs. Sterling.” Mitch stood up, still cradling the baby against his chest. He came and sat down beside her on the bed. “Although I don’t imagine it’ll be all that long before you’ll want to be adding to your résumé.”
Her eyes widened in momentary dismay. “You mean another baby?”
He laughed softly and the little one stirred and rooted against his collarbone, then settled back to sleep as Tessa took her in her arms. “No, I didn’t mean another baby. But one or two more would be nice.”
“Yes, another baby would be nice. In a few years.”
“I meant getting your degree. Teaching.”
Her tears spilled over, and she made no attempt to stop them. “Oh, Mitch. I’ve put that dream aside.”
“There’s no reason to.”
“But the expense. I can’t ask…”
His hand stilled for a moment as he traced the outline of the baby’s fine ear. He looked up at her. “Who else would you ask? What’s mine is yours. It’s an investment in our future and a damned good one. I want you to have your dream, Tessa.”
“I’ve always wanted to teach. And that way I can give something back.”
“A lifetime of teaching children to honor the past and use it to build on the future.”
“A lifetime in Riverbend. I like the sound of that.” The baby stretched and mewed, her tiny mouth pursed in a pout. Her eyes opened. Eyes so blue they were almost black. Tessa wondered if they would stay that way, always reminding her a little of Brian. She didn’t want to think of him, but she had to.
“I tried to call Brian,” she said, speaking her thoughts aloud without hesitation. She could tell Mitch anything, everything. “A friend of his answered. He’s already left for Honduras. I don’t know when he’ll get back to me.” She sighed. She couldn’t help it.
Mitch lifted her chin with his knuckle. “He’s a fact of life, Tessa. Just like Sam’s mother. They’re going to weave themselves in and out of our lives for a lot of years to come and probably cause some trouble and heartache, but we can handle it.”
She nodded. She looked into his warm brown eyes and saw the depth of love reflected there, and felt she could take on the world. “I’ll make mistakes,” she warned him.
“We all make mistakes. Parenting is a learning curve. Just about the time we get it right, they grow up on us and leave home.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
“It won’t be easy. But together we can take on the world.”
“I think you just might be right.”
He leaned forward and kissed her. “I know I’m right. Have you decided what we’re going to name this little beauty?”
He cupped his palm gently to the baby’s cheek and she covered her hand with his. “I thought I’d let Sam do that,” she said.
EVERYONE WAS ASLEEP but him. Sam looked around, wondering if he’d dozed off for a while, too. A whole plate of turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy on top of a long, weird, scary, happy day could do that to a guy. His dad was stretched out on the hospital bed with his arm around Tessa. She had her head on his shoulder and they were holding hands. Granddad was sleeping with his chin on his chest in the only comfortable chair in the room. He was sitting on one with a hinged seat that lifted up. He hadn’t wanted to look and see what was underneath—he was afraid he already knew.
The baby was asleep in a little see-through plastic crib beside him. He looked over at her. She was starting to move around, kicking her little feet, waving her tiny hands. Was that what had woken him? He stood up and bent over the crib. Her face was all screwed up and getting red. She was going to start crying any second.
He wondered what to do. He saw movement reflected in the dark glass of the window and turned around. Tessa was beckoning to him.
“Pick her up,” she mouthed. He knew she wasn’t making any sound so his dad and granddad wouldn’t wake up.
“Me?” he signed. He’d held her already, sitting in the good chair with his hand on the arm so her head didn’t flop or break her in two or anything. He hadn’t lift
ed her. Or carried her.
Tessa—his stepmom. He’d prayed and he’d wished on a star for extra luck, but he hadn’t expected to get his wish so soon.
Yeah, it was a miracle, all right.
And now he had a brand-new baby sister into the bargain.
He wouldn’t dare miss Sunday school any more after this.
“Bring her to me,” Tessa signed.
“Carry her?” he asked, just to be sure.
Tessa nodded, smiling. “Yes.” She held out her hands.
He picked his little sister up as carefully as if she were made of glass. Spun glass, the sparkly kind that hung in shop windows. He slid his hand under her neck and cradled her head. He slid his other hand under her bottom and lifted her up a little bit.
She didn’t break in half or roll out of his hands. He lifted her a little higher. She was light as a feather, even wrapped up in a blanket and wearing a little knitted pink cap. She didn’t have any hair at all that he could see.
She opened her eyes. Babies couldn’t see very well when they were so little. He’d learned that in school. But she sure looked like she was staring right up at him.
“Hi,” he said in a whisper, working very hard to make sure he wasn’t talking too loudly. She squirmed a little in his hands and he held his breath, but didn’t drop her. Then he straightened. “Hi, little kid.” She opened her eyes wider. Now he was sure she was looking at him. “I’m your big brother, Sam. Who are you?” She was going to have to have a name. He wondered what Tessa was going to name her. He hoped she remembered how much he liked Laura Marie.
He turned toward the bed and deposited his sister gently in her mother’s arms. He didn’t know how his dad had talked Tessa into marrying him so fast, but he was glad he had. Now she was his mom, too.
“She’s cute,” he said, still whispering. His voice was just right. He could tell by Tessa’s encouraging smile. “What’s her name?”
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