Jenna's Having a Baby

by Laurie Paige

  Their eyes met.

  They were both silent as a thousand messages flashed between them. She saw hunger in those dark depths, hunger that matched her own. It was the oddest thing…and yet the most natural one in the world.

  Her breasts beaded, and she had trouble breathing regularly. She saw him open his mouth and inhale slowly, fully. It was both comforting and exciting to know he was having the same problem that she was.

  His gaze left her eyes and meandered down her throat, then lingered at her nipples, wantonly outlined against the soft blue knit top she wore. His eyes came back to hers.

  “I have to go,” he said, standing. He put the nearly full coffee cup on the small table between their chairs. “I’ll be back around noon.”

  “What for?” she asked, her eyes going wide as her imagination ran riot.

  Again that sexy sweep of his eyes. “Lunch. What do you want me to bring for you?”

  “Fried chicken, potato salad and baked beans,” she promptly answered. When he looked surprised, she added, “That’s my favorite meal. My mom used to fix it almost every Sunday for me and my dad.”

  “Do your parents live around here?”

  She shook her head. “My mother died of cancer a few years ago. My father retired last year and moved to Arizona where he can golf all year. He was a medical pathologist.”

  “You’re an only child?”

  She nodded. “I had a brother, two years younger, but he died when he was six. He was trying to ride my bike, but he lost control and went into the street in front of a car.”

  He looked away from her and stared into the far distance as if seeing the tragedy unfold. She wished she hadn’t mentioned the accident.

  “I felt terribly guilty about letting him try my bike, but my parents told me it wasn’t my fault. They said it was human nature to want to try new things, or else we would still be in the stone age.”

  “Your parents were wise,” he said after a beat of silence. “Guilt for something like that would have been too great a burden for a child to carry through life.”

  She observed the shadows that gathered in his eyes and hid his emotions. “Life happens,” she said softly, “to all of us.”

  “Yeah,” he said on a harsh note and strode down the walk and to his car.

  She stayed there for a long time after he left, thinking of life and guilt and grief. Eric needed a friend, she decided. He needed to open up and let his feelings out, or maybe put them behind him.

  His unexpected laughter had been wonderful. She wanted to hear it again. After all, wasn’t it supposed to be the best medicine?

  * * *

  Eric parked in the guest slot he’d used earlier. He lifted the plastic bag from the seat and headed up the sidewalk to Jenna’s place. The front door was open when he stepped onto the porch.

  “Come on in,” she called before he could knock.

  His eyes slid over her in a visual caress he couldn’t suppress. Like him, she wore shorts and a knit top. Her legs were long and slender and shapely. Her ankles weren’t puffy as they had been Friday night, but then she’d been on her feet for ten straight hours at the hospital that day. Today, she was both refreshed and a refreshing sight.

  “How did the game go?” she asked with a sunny smile.

  “Beat the socks off me the first set, but I got him back on the next two,” he said, placing the bag on the kitchen counter. He’d stopped by his place to shower and change to fresh clothing after the hard-fought game.

  One good thing—the exercise had cooled his libido somewhat. His glance went to her legs again. But not much, he amended as a surge of heat whipped through him.

  He removed two containers of the requested food while she prepared tall icy glasses of tea.

  “Lemon?” She held one up.

  “Please.”

  “I made a veggie platter. It’s in the refrigerator. Plates are in the cabinet to the right of the cups.”

  He set the platter and plates on the table, then got forks, spoons and knives from the drawer where they were stored. She brought the iced-tea glasses.

  She eyed the meal. “This looks delicious.”

  After holding a chair for her, he took his place across the table. For some reason, sharing a meal was beginning to feel familiar. That, he warned himself, was not a good thing.

  “Have you gained much weight during your pregnancy?” he asked, unable to come up with another topic.

  She shook her head. “About seven pounds so far. I don’t want to put on too much. It may be too hard to take off.”

  “I don’t think you have to worry.” He paused. “I find it amazing that you and your friends resorted to…”

  “Artificial insemination,” she supplied when he didn’t continue the thought.

  “Yes. Didn’t you know any men who would be happy to do the, uh, the…”

  “Dastardly deed?” she suggested.

  He was a doctor, for Pete’s sake. He didn’t know why he was having problems discussing the situation.

  It didn’t seem to bother her. Those sky-blue eyes were alight with merriment, he observed. At his expense.

  “Well, I thought of asking you since you were the only unattached male I knew who fit my requirements.”

  An invisible hand stuck a sizzling hot poker right into his chest. He couldn’t breathe. Or think.

  Images sprang full-blown into his mind. Him and her wrapped in a passionate embrace on that nice big bed upstairs, right over their heads. Kisses that burned clear down to the soles of his feet.

  “What requirements?” he heard himself ask.

  “Under forty, for one. Intelligent, for another.” She tilted her head slightly, her smile charming and sort of dreamy as she counted out the prerequisites.

  “Good looks, but not necessarily movie-star hand some.”

  Her eyes roamed his face in a teasing, but sincere manner.

  “I’m flattered,” he said, putting a wry twist to the words. “Why didn’t you ask?”

  “I was afraid you’d refuse. You don’t indulge in the party circuit, at least not that I know of. Also, you, uh, tend to take charge. I didn’t want you telling me every little thing I was doing wrong in raising the child.”

  He had to smile. “So that’s what you think of me?” he demanded. “You think I’m bossy?”

  “Well, if the surgical booties fit…”

  “I get the picture.” He found himself relaxing as the conversation veered to the hospital and the staff. The sexual tension still hummed through his veins, but he no longer felt it was something he had to guard against every second while he was around her.

  She covered a yawn at one point. He realized they had been sitting chatting for almost two hours.

  “You need to rest,” he said, rising and clearing the table before she could do it.

  “You’re very helpful around the house,” she told him, putting the remaining veggies in a plastic bag and storing them in the refrigerator. “Your wife must have trained you well.”

  The mellow feelings disappeared. “She was a gourmet cook. She didn’t like anyone messing in the kitchen while she was in it. It distracted her, she said.”

  “I can understand that. If I were an expert, I probably wouldn’t want someone in my way, either. Since I’m not, I’ll take all the help I can get.”

  The tension slipped from him. “You’re easy to be around,” he told her. “I missed you yesterday at the hospital. The other nurses—”

  He stopped, realizing it wasn’t good form for the head of the department to talk about the staff to one of them.

  “None of them has worked with you as long as I have,” she continued his thought, “so it isn’t as easy for the others to anticipate what you need.”

  “Sometimes you seem to read my mind.”

  Her smile bloomed. “I know the routine.”

  For a second, the ambiance between them was the same as yesterday when they’d kissed. He felt a compelling urge to do it again. He
wasn’t sure he would stop this time. They were alone in her home and he knew exactly where the bedroom was located.

  “I have to go,” he said and headed for the door.

  “Thank you for the lunch. And for helping me after the accident. And for driving me to the clinic yesterday.”

  He paused and glanced back at her. The window over the sink backlighted her golden hair, turning it into a shimmering halo around her perfect face. She looked like an angel come to life.

  He strode out and down the sidewalk, putting distance between them. One thing he knew—angels weren’t for mortals like him.

  CHAPTER 6

  On Wednesday evening, after a slow four hours in E.R., Jenna retrieved her dinner from the fridge and headed for one of the little-used waiting rooms. She and another nurse had decided to eat in there where it was quieter and more comfortable. And Jenna could prop her feet up.

  She heard a “Shhh” as she approached the door and was disappointed. Someone was using the room. Well, maybe they wouldn’t stay long—

  “Surprise!” a chorus of voices rang out when she entered the room.

  Every nerve in Jenna’s body jerked as adrenaline flooded her system, ready to send her into “fight or flight” mode. She grinned and pressed a hand to her breast in exaggerated relief. “Definitely a surprise,” she told her friends as they crowded around her.

  The room was decorated in blue crepe-paper streamers and balloons proclaiming It’s a Boy! A cake held pride of place on the nearest table along with gaily colored plates and napkins. Presents were stacked on another table.

  “A baby shower? For me?”

  “Yes, for you,” her long-time friend, Lily, assured her, stepping forward and tugging her to a seat at the cake table. “We also brought healthy food so you could have a piece of cake without suffering a guilty conscience.”

  Jenna laughed. She was rather strict on herself about eating well-balanced meals. For the baby’s sake. “Rachel, hi,” she greeted her other best friend. “Did you two plan this?” she demanded, gesturing toward the decorations.

  “Yep,” Lily said.

  “With the help of the E.R. staff,” Rachel added.

  Jenna glanced at the crowd. There were at least twenty people in the room, many of them co-workers on other shifts in E.R. and several from the pediatrics wing where she had often volunteered to feed babies or just hold the fretful ones if their parents weren’t available.

  Looking past the smiling faces, she spotted Eric at the back of the room. He was putting on a pot of coffee. He looked around at that moment and winked at her.

  It was so surprising, she was almost shocked again.

  “Your boss said it was okay,” Rachel told her. “He even said you could take longer for your break.”

  “Eric was in on this?” Jenna did have trouble believing that. He was so…so solemn, as a rule.

  “He was. He thought it was just the thing to cheer you up after your mishap last Friday.”

  “He did?”

  While the people around her chuckled at her amazement, Jenna realized she’d probably made her boss sound like a curmudgeon or something. “He’s been really wonderful this past week, helping me and all.”

  “Right, he must have been taking ‘nice’ pills,” the other E.R. nurse who’d tricked her into coming here said and laughed delightedly when several glances went from her to Eric and back, speculation definitely in their depths.

  “Dr. Thompson is always nice,” Jenna said, feeling compelled to defend him.

  “Huh,” the nurse said, but under her breath as the doctor came forward at that moment.

  “Dinner is served, madam,” he intoned.

  Everyone seemed to know what he or she was supposed to do. Soon Jenna was seated in front of a feast of dishes prepared by her friends. Eric had supplied a honey-cured ham from a local deli that was already cut and ready to eat, along with their delicious homemade crunchy rolls.

  After eating, she had to open the gifts before they let her cut the cake. She was touched by the assortment of tiny clothes and blankets and layette outfits.

  “Thank you all so much,” she said when she was at last finished. “This was such a surprise, a wonderful one, and I love everything. I can’t wait to use it all—”

  “Except the diapers,” Lily said, wrinkling her nose.

  “Where is your baby?” Jenna asked Lily.

  “Asleep, I hope, at home with her daddy.” She glanced at the clock. “It’s time I got back. It’s almost time for a feeding.” She gave her friend a hug. “Eric would make a great father, don’t you think?” she whispered in Jenna’s ear. With a grin, she sailed out of the room.

  Jenna looked anywhere but at the part of the room where Eric chatted with another doctor. She was afraid her thoughts would leap into her eyes for all to read.

  Lily’s teasing words sizzled in her head like the stamp of a branding iron. Eric as father to her son?

  Don’t even think about it, she warned herself. She had gone into this alone and with her eyes wide open to the difficulties of single parenthood. She could handle it.

  “Time to get back to work,” the E.R. nurse said with a groan and then a laugh.

  Jenna looked at all the stuff to clean up.

  “Go on,” Eric told her. “I can handle this. I’ll load the gifts in my SUV. It’s bigger than your car. I can bring them by tonight when you get off.”

  “Th-thanks,” she said with an involuntary stammer.

  The other E.R. nurse looked at her and waggled her eyebrows. “Something between you and Dr. Thompson?” she asked in a friendly, teasing manner on the way back to their duty station.

  Jenna shook her head. “Not really. He was…helpful after I had the accident.”

  “Honey, if I weren’t married, I think I’d see just how helpful he could be.”

  Their laughter was cut short when they entered the Emergency Room area. Two people were being brought in on stretchers. “Fire,” the medic with the emergency medical team told Jenna. “Their house caught on fire. They tried to save their pets and were overcome with smoke. The firemen pulled them out of the burning house.”

  Jenna went to work, directing the EMT medics to put the victims in two cubicles and instructing a nurse to call in a specialist on burn treatment. She checked the IVs started by the medics and prepared a special wash to start cleaning the inflamed skin as they removed charred clothing from the man and woman.

  Eric and the burn specialist arrived at the same time. The specialist instructed Eric on what to do for the first patient while he started on the second one. Jenna listened and made sure the supplies were at hand, anticipating each request from the doctors as they all worked for the remainder of the shift and into the next.

  “You need to get off your feet,” Eric told her when they at last walked outside into the cool night breeze. He was frowning in his serious way as he looked her over.

  Jenna checked the time. “It’s only a little after eleven. I thought it was later.”

  “You’ve had a long day.”

  It was obvious he thought she’d overdone it, but no one could predict emergencies and no one walked out while dealing with one. “I’m fine,” she assured him.

  “Huh,” he said. “I’ll follow you home.”

  She started to protest, then remembered he had all her baby stuff in his vehicle. He probably wanted to get rid of it so he wouldn’t have to do it tomorrow. “Okay.”

  He raised his eyebrows at her acquiescence, evidently expecting an argument. She gave him an impish smile, then unlocked her car and drove home with him a safe distance behind her car.

  At the condo, he carried in most of the stuff and, under her direction, stored it in the guest room where the baby crib, sanded and painted, waited to be reassembled.

  “I need to tell my father he has to come up and put the crib together,” she told Eric. “I took it apart, but I can’t remember how it goes back together.”

  “I’ll put it t
ogether for you over the weekend, if you like.”

  “That would be very nice.” Her heart bumped around her chest like a demolition derby car. She took a fortifying breath. “Did you do that when you and your wife were expecting?”

  He put the last pile of boxes on the floor next to the wall, then turned and looked at her. His face was grim. “We hadn’t bought furniture yet. We thought we had plenty of time for the house to be finished, then we would get it.”

  “Oh, that’s right,” she said, recalling the information. “You had a new house built a little farther out from the hospital. The land was advertised as five-acre estates. Are you pleased with it and the house?”

  She kept her manner friendly but bland as she led the way downstairs. She pretended not to notice his frown or the dark memories that filled his eyes. He had to talk about it sometime in order to get over the pain. Now was as good as any, she decided.

  “The place is okay,” he finally answered in forbidding tones. “I don’t stay at the house much.”

  She laughed. “You’re always at the hospital,” she scolded. “You’re worse than Scrooge as a workaholic. I need something to eat. How about a ham and cheese omelet?” she asked, seeing the left-over ham on the counter.

  When he didn’t answer, she glanced over her shoulder. His gaze was on her in a way that started the blood to pounding, driven by the tom-tom beat of her heart.

  “Eric?” she said, her voice going breathless.

  “Fine,” he said. “That’ll be fine.”

  She prepared the food, aware that she was hungry after the long evening of work, but knowing the hunger extended past the need for food. She sensed the same need in him as he stood at the half wall that divided the living from the cooking area and watched her work.

  When they sat down at the table, silence prevailed during the quick meal. “Would you like a cup of tea?” she asked upon finishing. She named the various kinds she had when he indicated he would.