What was he saying? That he was falling for her, “hard and fast,” the way he had for Susan? Or was he simply afraid he wouldn’t be able to protect her? Either way, there was only one answer she could give for his sake. “All right, Dane. If they’ll have me, I’ll go.”
Chapter Ten
As Dane had anticipated, when he called the ranch at sunup, Ace didn’t hesitate to offer shelter and protection to Stacey.
“This is extremely generous of him,” Stacey said as they headed out of town in the Blazer. After leaving the sheriff’s office they had gone by Dane’s house. Dane had loaned her a duffle bag, and she had packed enough clothes for a couple of days. That was all, he’d said, that it should take.
“Ace is a generous kind of guy,” Dane said. “Besides, you’re helping catch the men who stole his cattle. And when you tell him who’s in that unmarked grave in his family cemetery, the whole clan will probably welcome you like a long-lost relative.”
Stacey glanced over and was relieved to see him smiling again. “Speaking of long-lost Wilder relatives…”
“Looks like it’s going to be a pretty day,” Dane said.
“Come on, copper, I spilled my guts to you.”
“And I returned the favor.”
He meant Susan, who hadn’t been part of their deal. He was comparing apples to oranges, but that was okay. Stacey wasn’t going to bring up Susan again; it plainly hurt him too much.
Although she wished dearly for the nerve to ask him outright if he’d meant he was falling for her, or if she was merely a distraction.
Forget it. It shouldn’t matter, couldn’t matter. He was too strong-minded for her. Too take-charge. Too…much.
“If you really think they’re going to welcome me like a long-lost relative, I don’t understand why you think they wouldn’t do the same with you. You really are a long-lost relative.”
“Not gonna happen,” Dane said. “So give it up.” Then his eyes widened, and his head whipped around. “You won’t tell them. By damn, you won’t.”
“Don’t insult me. Of course I won’t. But I think it’s gonna cost you.”
He cast her a leery look. “Cost me what?”
“Oh, I don’t know, but rest assured, I’ll think of something.”
“That’s a comfort.”
They rode in silence for a few miles, until they saw an approaching vehicle that was weaving all over the road.
“Dane, look,” Stacey warned.
“I see it. Damn, that looks like Rachel.”
“Rachel, the pregnant lady vet who came to your office? Ace’s sister?” Your sister? she wanted to say, but didn’t.
The oncoming SUV swerved sharply onto the shoulder and came to an abrupt halt.
“That’s her,” Dane said grimly. “And something’s wrong.” He slowed down and pulled across the road, coming to a stop nose to nose with Rachel’s Standing Elk Veterinary Clinic vehicle.
In the SUV, Rachel Wilder Lewis sat pushing herself back into her seat, her arms outstretched, knuckles white around the steering wheel. Her eyes were closed, her head was back, and her cheeks were pumping breath like a bellows through her open mouth.
“Is she in labor?” Stacey asked as Dane put his vehicle in Park. “When is she due?”
“She’s not due for another couple of weeks,” he said. “But unless I miss my guess, nobody told the baby.” He threw open his door and rushed to the passenger door of Rachel’s truck only to find it locked. As Stacey made her clumsy way out of his Blazer, he rounded to Rachel’s door.
“Rachel?” He tried the door and found it locked, so he tapped on her window. “Rachel, hon?”
She opened her eyes and nodded, but kept up her panting and retained her grip on the steering wheel for several seconds that to Dane felt like a lifetime. If ever he’d seen a woman in labor—and he had, more than once—this was it. But this was the first time it had ever scared him clear down to his bones.
Yeah, sure, he’d been scared the first time he’d had to help deliver a baby, back in L.A. in the back seat of his patrol unit when he’d been a rookie street cop right out of the academy. But that woman had been a stranger. This one… God, this one was a close friend, one of the first friends he’d made in Wyatt County, and, even though she didn’t know it, she was his baby sister. Seeing what she was going through and knowing what she had yet to endure made cold sweat pop out along his spine.
But he couldn’t let her know. To her he was just a friend. A good one, but nothing more. And he was the sheriff. She would expect him to be cool and competent, so that’s what he would be.
Steadying himself became imminently easier when Stacey joined him beside the truck.
“Looks like the baby has decided to come early,” Stacey said.
“Looks like.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Whatever needs doing,” he said. “Rachel? Can you unlock the door?”
Finally Rachel’s breathing slowed and she relaxed somewhat and opened the door. “Boy,” she said, “am I glad to see you.”
“I guess we need to get you to the hospital, huh?” Dane said, trying to instill confidence with his smile.
“But it’s too early,” she protested.
“It didn’t look like it from where I’ve been standing,” he said.
“I tried to call Grady but couldn’t reach him. I had an early call and was on my way back to the clinic, and— Oh, God, here comes another one.”
“Breathe,” Dane told her. “Little pants, just like you were doing. Everything’s going to be fine, hon.” His mind raced. He needed to get her to the hospital. A glance into her back seat told him she couldn’t ride there. It was filled with veterinary supplies and equipment, as was the cargo area behind the seat.
He turned to Stacey. “Go make sure my back seat is clear.”
“Sure. Anything else?”
“There should be a blanket in the back. See if you can find it.” He turned back to Rachel in time to see her relax again.
Relax, hell, she nearly collapsed in relief as the pain eased.
“I’m going to carry you to my car and take you to the hospital. Okay?”
Rachel huffed out a breath. “Yeah. Okay. Thanks. And Dane?”
“What is it, hon?”
“Will you try to find Grady?”
“You know I will.” When a woman went through this, her man should be at her side, Dane thought.
In between her pains he carried her to his Blazer, but she refused to lie down.
“I’d rather sit up,” she insisted.
“All right. But the back seat is safer, and there’s more room. You won’t have to share space with my radio and shotgun.”
They got her situated and buckled in. Dane went back to pull her vehicle farther off the pavement, then he locked it and returned.
On the way to the hospital he radioed his dispatcher and gave instructions that he was to track down Grady Lewis pronto, and call out to the Flying Ace and let them know Rachel was in labor. “And call the hospital to let them know we’re coming.”
Twice on the drive back to town they came upon a slow-moving vehicle in the lane ahead of them. Dane flipped on his lights and siren and passed them.
Stacey marveled at Dane’s calmness. After all, that was his little sister in the back seat.
Then she noticed how tightly he was gripping the steering wheel—almost as tightly as Rachel had been gripping hers in the throes of labor pains. And his eyes, when he glanced up and tilted the rearview mirror to check on Rachel in the back seat, were anything but calm for a second or two, before he reined in his feelings.
“How are you doing back there?” he asked Rachel.
“Okay,” she said. But her voice sounded strained. “I can’t tell you how glad I am that you two came along when you did. If I’d had to pull over every time a pain hit, the kid would be out of diapers before I made it to the hospital.”
Dane chuckled, and so did Stacey.
“Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?” Stacey asked. It was what everyone always asked of expectant mothers. Stacey didn’t see what difference it made. Boy or girl, a baby was a gift from God. But some couples wanted to know ahead of time, and with today’s technology it was simple to find out.
From the back seat, Rachel said, “No. We decided we wanted to be surprised.”
“Ah, you’re doing it the old-fashioned way,” Stacey said.
“Don’t even say that,” Dane said darkly. “She nearly got a little too old-fashioned and had it on the side of the road.”
“Aw,” Rachel said. “How sweet. He’s worried about me. Thank you, Dane. I love you, too.”
For the next five miles all three of them simply grinned.
When they reached the hospital, Dane scooped Rachel out of the back seat and placed her gently in the wheelchair a nurse had on hand.
“We heard you were coming,” the nurse said. “Sheriff, you’re starting to make a habit out of this. The doctor’s waiting to check you over, Mrs. Lewis. Oh, sorry, make that Dr. Lewis.”
“How about Rachel?” Rachel suggested.
After telling Dane that she would let him know what was happening as soon as she could, the nurse whisked Rachel away through a set of swinging double doors.
“Now what?” Stacey asked. “We’re not going to just leave her here, are we?”
“We’ll wait until some of the family shows up,” Dane said.
The hospital was small. There was only one waiting area, and it was just around the corner from the main entrance. Stacey took a seat there on one of the two sofas. Dane paced the length of the room and back, muttering dire repercussions on the head of one Grady Lewis, Rachel’s husband, if he didn’t get his butt to the hospital soon.
Halfway through what Stacey estimated was Dane’s tenth pass across the room, hurried footsteps approached from the hall.
“Dane?”
From the look on the newcomer’s face and in his eyes, Stacey had to guess that this was the errant Grady Lewis. He was a tall man, as tall as Dane, but leaner. His shoulder-length hair was so thick and black that it seemed to soak up all the light in the room. His high, proud cheekbones and bronze skin spoke of American Indian heritage.
“Grady,” Dane said with relief, confirming Stacey’s guess.
“What happened?” Grady demanded. “Where’s Rachel?”
Dane had barely finished filling him in when Grady rushed from the room. “I’ve got to find her.”
Scarcely ten minutes later a commotion down the hall announced the arrival of more family.
They had all come, Stacey realized. As near as she could tell, every adult member of the Wilder family, and then some, crowded into the small waiting room.
Dane closed his eyes and held up his hands. “I don’t want to know how you managed to get all the way from the ranch as fast as you did. I want no confessions.”
“And you won’t get any,” Ace said. “My lips are sealed. Hi, Stacey. We saw Grady’s truck outside. How’s Rachel?”
“We haven’t heard anything since they wheeled her away,” Stacey answered.
Ace immediately started introducing her to everyone. She met his wife Belinda who, with her dark hair and lively, intelligent gray eyes, seemed like a good match for the rancher. Then there was Jack and his wife, Lisa, and their baby who was just under two years old.
Stacey was fascinated to learn that the baby’s name was Jacqueline Dana. Jacqueline for her father, of course, but Dana was for the man who drove the car while the baby was born in the back on the trip into town. None other than Dane himself.
“My, Sheriff,” Stacey teased. “You seem to have a thing for women about to give birth. I guess that’s what the nurse was talking about when we first got here. Maybe you’re in the wrong line of work.”
Dane gave an exaggerated shudder. “Perish the thought. All I did either time was drive.”
“Come on, Dane, don’t be so modest.” This came from the youngest brother, Trey. “I remember you telling me about that woman in the back seat of your patrol car down in L.A.”
Nothing would do but that Dane tell the story. If he didn’t, he was warned, he would be badgered to death until he gave in. So he told about being a rookie cop and having to help a woman give birth in his car.
Somehow, during the telling, Stacey met Laurie, Trey’s wife, and their six-month-old daughter, Katy.
“Donna—that’s Ace and Belinda’s housekeeper,” Laurie explained to Stacey, “had some errands to run in town this morning, so she took all the kids to school. We left word for her to stop here on her way home and pick up Katy and Jackie. They’ll get too fussy if Rachel’s labor lasts very long.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t,” Dane said. “Grady didn’t look like he could handle it.”
Oh, and you were doing so much better, Stacey thought with a secret smile.
They all helped themselves to the coffee in the urn on a small table in the corner. Ace asked about Stacey’s ankle.
“Much better today,” she said, demonstrating her new, albeit cautious and slow, walking ability.
“I like your shoe combination,” Belinda said. “It makes a statement.”
“How did you hurt it?” Lisa, Jack’s wife, asked.
Stacey shot Dane a look. “I got blinded by a flashlight and lost my footing. Fell down a ravine.”
“I take it from that look you just gave Dane,” Trey said with a deep chuckle, “that it was his flashlight?”
“You guessed it,” Stacey said.
“Smooth move, Dane. Is this some new way to pick up women?”
“Trey, shame.” His wife gave him a dark look.
“Hey,” Trey protested. “Don’t look at me, it worked.”
Dane smirked. “At least I didn’t have to put an ad in the paper to meet a woman.”
Laurie laughed uproariously while the rest of the family joined in. “He got you there, Trey,” she told her husband.
Not long afterward a nurse came to tell them Rachel was settled in the birthing room, and that everyone was welcome to join her there for a while.
Stacey was surprised that a hospital this small even had a birthing room.
“I’ll just wait here,” she said.
“Me, too,” Dane said.
“Oh, no.” Lisa shook her head. “I know Rachel will want to see you, Dane. And we’ve got tons of questions for Stacey,” she added with a grin. “You two come right along with the rest of us.”
“She’s right.” Ace slapped Dane on the shoulder. “You get mixed up in one birth in this family, you can’t get out of this new one. But don’t everybody hound Stacey with questions,” Ace warned the rest of the family. “If she wants to talk about anything, she’ll let us know.”
Stacey smiled in gratitude. She had planned to tell them everything she knew once she got to their house, but she had yet to decide just how to go about the telling. She wasn’t prepared. She needed a little time to think things through.
It was a boisterous group that trooped the otherwise quiet halls of the hospital to the birthing room at the far end of the building. They tried to be quiet, continually shushing each other, but they were so giddy with excitement over the imminent birth of the next Wilder that they couldn’t seem to contain themselves.
The birthing room was spacious, furnished and decorated in cool colors, with whimsical baby animals painted on the walls. It was complete with a bed and a special recliner for the mother-to-be, and a sofa and three chairs making up a family seating area.
Rachel occupied the recliner. Grady had drawn up a footstool and sat next to her knees, his hands cradling hers. It was the sweetest sight Stacey had ever seen.
“There you are,” Rachel cried when the family trooped in. “I knew you wouldn’t make us go through this alone.”
Within twenty minutes, Donna Harris, Ace and Belinda’s housekeeper, as well as Lisa’s aunt, showed up to collect the two youngest Wilders. No
sooner had she departed than Alma Helms, the Lewis housekeeper who had raised Grady since his mother died when he was a boy, and her husband Joe, who managed the Lewis ranch with Grady, arrived. They weren’t about to miss the birth of Grady’s child.
The next four hours were an education for Stacey. She’d never been so intimately exposed to such a large, warm and loving family as this one. She was the only child of an only child, and she’d grown up in a house filled with more tension and angry words between her parents than love.
It was also an education watching Dane interact with these people who did not know he was their brother. When he thought no one was looking, she could see the yearning to be a real part of them in his eyes, an acknowledged member of the clan rather than the outsider he felt himself to be.
Yet they didn’t treat him as an outsider, but as one of their own, and went out of their way to treat Stacey the same.
“You should have seen the double take I did,” Laurie was telling her, “the first time I met Dane. That was last summer before Trey and I were married.”
Stacey nearly did a double take of her own. Laurie and Trey were married last summer, and they had a six-month-old daughter? Ah, well, these things happened, and it was certainly none of Stacey’s business.
“We were having a Sunday cookout,” Laurie went on, “so the whole family was there. It was the first time I’d met them all. There we were, my girls and I, with our pale skin and blond hair, surrounded by all these black-haired, blue-eyed gods.”
This got a round of hoots from the men.
“And goddesses,” Laurie added, for Rachel and the three wives all had dark hair, too. “I was feeling like some kind of pale alien.”
Stacey looked around the room, cognizant of her own blond hair. “I see what you mean.”
“Then here comes Dane,” Laurie said, “looking enough like the rest of them that I thought maybe he was a brother they’d forgotten to mention.”
Stacey could only be grateful that the sip of coffee she’d just taken had been a small one, or she might have choked.
The Last Wilder Page 14