Montana Mavericks Christmas

by Susan Mallery

  And not only a good doctor, a little voice whispered in Leah’s head. In her mind’s eye she could picture Jeremy’s wavy brown hair, his ruggedly handsome face and his green, green eyes. Their night together had been unforgettable.

  But Leah didn’t want to trap Jeremy Winters. She didn’t want to be anyone’s responsibility but her own.

  As she left the Hip Hop Café, she placed one boot carefully in front of the other, walking toward her van. The weatherman was calling for at least six inches of snow by morning, maybe more. Although it meant inconvenience more often than not, Leah still loved to see the world covered in white. She was thinking about her years in Chicago, the wind and the snow, when a sharp pain stabbed her back. It was strong enough to make her grab for the door handle on her van and hold tight. Taking a slow, deep breath, she looked up at the gray sky.

  This couldn’t be labor. Not yet. Could it?

  Her obstetrician had told her twins could be early…

  Fear washed over her. She had to get back to the res, to Bessie, her mother’s best friend and neighbor who had been so supportive throughout Leah’s pregnancy. Bessie would know what the pain meant. After all, this could be false labor. It could be a cramp.

  When the pain subsided, Leah felt relieved and climbed into the van. She switched on her headlights and drove out of the parking lot in the swirling snow. The wind had picked up and blew forcefully against the vehicle as she made her way slowly back to the res. Turning on the radio to a local station, Leah became anxious about the low visibility and turned her windshield wipers to a higher speed. But the wipers didn’t seem to help as she peered through the iced glass at the mounting snow, and listened as the newscaster spoke of an accident on the other side of Whitehorn on Route 191. It was a serious one from the sound of it.

  The heater struggled to keep up with dispelling the cold. Leah was reaching forward to turn the fan up a notch when a tearing contraction ripped through her and she gasped, almost losing control of the van. Somehow she managed to turn the wheel and pull off crookedly onto the shoulder of the road.

  Jeremy Winters’s heart had thudded crazily as his windshield wipers pushed the snow aside and he watched the woman get into the familiar blue van. She had long, silky black hair. She was also very pregnant!

  When he’d first turned into the back entrance of the parking lot of the Hip Hop Café, he’d thought he recognized the older blue van.

  And he had. It was Leah’s. A pregnant Leah’s.

  But Leah had left the Whitehorn area! Hadn’t she?

  Stunned, he followed her onto the main road.

  The night they’d spent together filled his mind until he had to block it out to think.

  He’d never doubted that Leah would leave Laughing Horse to pursue the dream her mother had fostered. During the month he’d taken care of Leah’s mother, Teresa Nighthawk had proudly told him more than once that some day Leah would be working as a curator in a museum in New York City or Washington, D.C. He knew Teresa had taken her daughter away from the reservation when Leah was small, to give her a better life, and had only returned to Laughing Horse when her own mother had suffered a heart attack. After Leah’s grandmother died, Teresa had stayed in the house where she’d grown up while Leah finished college and found a job in Chicago. When Teresa learned she had cancer, she hadn’t wanted Leah to come back to the res, but Leah had insisted.

  At the time, Jeremy had been filling in for Kane Hunter at the Laughing Horse clinic for a month while Kane was away. Toward the end of that month, Teresa Nighthawk had died. Jeremy had returned to the res one night to check on Leah… And comfort had turned to desire. Afterward, when Leah had told him she was leaving Montana, he’d believed her. And with Kane’s return to the clinic, Jeremy had had no reason to drive out to Laughing Horse again and learn differently.

  Now that he thought about it, Leah’s decision to leave had given him an out from pursuing his attraction to her. When he’d lost his wife and unborn child five years ago, he’d thought he’d never recover and he’d resisted relationships. The night with Leah had been an exception. He’d let down his guard with her and that was something he’d learned not to do. After all, he never again wanted to feel the pain and anguish of losing someone he cared for deeply. Instead, he’d thrown himself into his work and now his practice was his life.

  Yet, he had to know if the child Leah was carrying was his. If it was, why hadn’t she told him?

  His thoughts and emotions whirled chaotically as he followed her onto the road to the reservation so he could confront her in private, out of the elements.

  Once again memories of their night together flooded back, and he became aroused…then swore. But no sooner had the words left his mouth than Leah’s van swerved erratically to the side of the road, bumping onto the shoulder. Had a tire blown? Had she skidded on the slushy road? Pulling up behind her, he switched on his flashers, got out and slammed the door.

  Leah’s magnificent hair hid her face as Jeremy flung open her van door to find her doubled over behind the steering wheel.

  “Leah!”

  Taking short, shallow breaths, she looked up at him, her eyes filled with fear. “The babies…” Her voice caught.

  “Babies?” he asked, catching the plural right away.

  She nodded. “Twins. I had a sonogram and—” A moan escaped her lips as another contraction hit.

  Jeremy didn’t feel like a doctor now. He felt like a lover who’d been turned out into the cold, a soon-to-be-father—He cut off the thought. He didn’t know that for sure.

  Years of training took over as his fingers went to the pulse on Leah’s wrist. Strong but fast. “How many weeks?” he asked tersely.

  “Thirty-four.”

  Relief swept through him. Though his specialty was internal medicine, he’d treated pregnant women before sending them to obstetricians. Leah’s labor was early, but not too early to put either her or the babies in danger.

  “Take some deep breaths while you can,” he suggested. “I’m going to call an ambulance.” Pulling out his cell phone, he dialled 9-1-1, gave his location and explained the situation. To his dismay, the dispatcher told him the ambulance would be delayed. There had been an accident and it was on another call. Jeremy ordered, “Just get it here as soon as you can,” then switched off the phone.

  With Leah he kept his voice calm, though he was feeling anything but calm. “Let’s get you into the back of the van before another contraction begins.” Without giving her a chance to respond, he slid open the back door then scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bench seat. Beside her in the confining quarters, he was aware of everything about her, how little her pregnancy had changed her. Her eyes were still the deepest brown velvet; her ebony hair was thick and straight and soft. She always smelled like orange blossoms and he could smell that scent now as he shrugged out of his down coat, bundled it and slipped it behind her back as a pillow.

  She still looked frightened, and he tried to reassure her. “You’ll be okay, Leah. Your babies will be okay. Trust me.”

  “I’ll try,” she murmured, then tensed as another contraction started.

  Even without timing the contractions, Jeremy knew they were coming fast and hard, and the ambulance might not get here in time. After the contraction passed, there was moisture on Leah’s brow and Jeremy suspected she was trapping all the pain inside. “Let it out, Leah. You can scream if you want to. I don’t care.”

  She caught her breath and then looked up at him with an almost-smile. “I’m not a screamer.”

  He knew that was true. She had a courageous, quiet way about her that he envied.

  “Can you take your coat off?” he asked. “I need something to cover you and wrap around the babies when they come.”

  Tugging the long coat from under her, she tried to slip her arms out. He automatically helped her. His arm was practically around her shoulders and his face close to hers—The urge to kiss her was so strong, he could barely restra
in it.

  But she had wanted him out of her life.

  He couldn’t wait any longer to ask. “Are the babies mine?”

  After a moment she answered softly. “Yes.”

  As tension gripped her body again, he slipped her coat from her and knew they couldn’t discuss this now. The stakes had suddenly gotten higher, and he thanked God he was a doctor, though at the moment he couldn’t really do much to help her. He covered her with the coat then moved to the end of the seat.

  “There’s a blanket in the back,” she told him. “And an old sweater. Do whatever you have to for my babies.”

  “Our babies.”

  She kept silent.

  Snow fell onto his hair as he found the blanket and sweater in the back, but he was hardly aware of it in his concern for Leah. Retrieving his medical bag from his Jeep, he brought it into the van and shut the door. Then he helped Leah slip off her boots and undergarments and pull her jumper above her belly. He felt awkward about disrobing her, as if he were invading her privacy. But they both knew he’d have to do more than that before they were through.

  Jeremy was as gentle with Leah as he could be and when it came time to push, he knelt at her feet, encouraging her. He could see the head of one of the babies, and he urged, “Push with all your might. Let’s get this one out.”

  Leah pushed and pushed and pushed until the head and then the shoulders were in Jeremy’s hands. Finally he held a brand-new baby girl, and the feelings jumbling inside him were positively overwhelming. Checking the baby to make sure she was breathing properly, he then wrapped his daughter and laid her on Leah’s tummy.

  When another contraction racked Leah’s body, he realized the second baby was coming quickly. After a few pushes the second birth progressed as swiftly as the first. This child was a little boy. His son!

  As he laid the second baby in Leah’s arms, there were tears coursing down her cheeks, and he realized his own eyes were moist. They heard the sound of the siren then, and he smiled at her. “Just in time.”

  “Are they okay?” she asked, concerned.

  “I think they’re fine. We’ll know more after we get you and them checked out at the hospital.”

  The ambulance pulled up beside the van. In a flurry of activity, paramedics transferred Leah and the babies to the ambulance, and Jeremy wanted to climb in with them. But Leah might not want him there. She apparently didn’t want him in her life. Anger pushed at all the other feelings swirling inside him as erratically as the snowflakes around him.

  After the ambulance had gone safely on its way, Jeremy climbed into his Jeep and shut his eyes for a moment. He was a father…a father of twins. It would take Leah a while to get checked in at the hospital and settled in a room. Whether she wanted him there or not, he would be there. He drove to the hospital as the snow continued to fall harder.

  An hour later, Jeremy stopped at Leah’s room. He had made arrangements for someone to drive her van back to Laughing Horse, then he’d checked patients’ charts while he waited for her to get settled. Pushing open the door, he peered inside, ready to confront the situation between them. But she was dozing, and he didn’t want to disturb her. Yet he couldn’t help letting his gaze linger on her. Remembering.

  The desire he’d felt for Leah on their first meeting had been so elemental it had overwhelmed him. She’d come into the clinic on Laughing Horse to go over her mother’s case with him, to ask what they could do to make Teresa more comfortable. Jeremy had told Leah he’d stop by to check on her mother.

  When he’d made the house call, he’d been amazed by Teresa’s fortitude in not wanting to take stronger medication than necessary, as well as Leah’s as she’d cared for her mother. His respect and admiration for both women had grown with each successive visit, and so had his attraction to Leah. Her Northern Cheyenne heritage was evident in the beautiful contours of her face and her dark brown eyes. She was small and slender and had felt so perfect in his arms.

  Forcing himself to close her door again, he headed for the nursery to see his son and daughter.

  Staring down at them, he was totally taken with the babies, awed by them, until he finally picked up one and then the other. They were perfect little miracles, and he was so grateful. His chest tightened. After he checked their charts, he spoke with the pediatrician on call. Both babies were perfectly healthy at five pounds each, and ready for life in the world. Finally tearing himself away from them, he went back to Leah’s room and sat in the chair beside her bed, watching her.

  As if she sensed his presence, she opened her eyes and turned toward him. “Thank you.”

  But he didn’t want her thanks. “We have to name them,” he said gruffly, knowing she’d been through a lot, reluctant now to have the discussion he knew they had to have.

  “I’d like to name the little girl Brooke, if that’s all right with you.”

  He thought about it for a moment. “It’s fine. And our son?”

  After a moment she asked, “What would your choice be?”

  “Something strong.” He thought for a few moments. “How about Adam?”

  “Adam,” she repeated. “I like it. Adam it is.”

  Jeremy straightened in his chair, determined to find out why she’d kept her pregnancy from him. But before he could bring it up, a nurse wheeled in the babies. “It’s time to discuss breast-feeding,” she cheerfully informed the new mother.

  Leah’s cheeks flushed, and as much as Jeremy wanted to stay, he knew she’d be more comfortable if he left. Standing, he looked down at her. “We have a lot to talk about, but it can wait until tomorrow.”

  “I told the doctor I want to go home tomorrow.”

  “That shouldn’t be a problem. The pediatrician will probably take another look at the babies in the morning. But I don’t see why they can’t go home with you. I’ll stop for you after morning rounds.”

  “You don’t have to. I can call Bessie.” Her voice was soft but sure.

  Bessie Whitecloud was Leah’s next-door neighbor and had been her mother’s best friend. But he wasn’t going to leave this responsibility to someone else. “I’m taking you and the babies home tomorrow, Leah.” Before she had a chance to argue with him, he went to the door, took one last look at Brooke and Adam and then headed down the hall.

  Snow was still falling when Leah looked out her hospital window at the cottonwoods heavy with white the next morning. Jeremy was going to take her home. So many conflicting emotions washed over her from the events of the past night. She was amazed that Jeremy had found her and relieved he’d been there to deliver the babies. She remembered how he’d towered over her so strong and determined.

  That’s exactly why she hadn’t told him about her pregnancy. Because he was so strong and determined, she was afraid he wouldn’t let her do what she needed to do. Decisions she would make about her future had to do with leaving her past behind and reaching for the kind of life her mother had envisioned for her. There were precious ties to her mother in the house on Laughing Horse, but Teresa Nighthawk had struggled valiantly for years to free her from any ties to the reservation. When Leah thought about feeding Brooke and Adam for the first time, how she’d experienced great surges of love and protectiveness as they’d suckled at her breasts, she appreciated even more all the sacrifices her mother had made for her.

  There was a quick rap on her door and Jeremy stepped inside, all six-feet-two-inches of him. He was lean, his shoulders broad, his muscles honed, and she didn’t even know from what. They’d had many conversations during the month he’d cared for her mother, but they’d mostly concerned his work, her life on the reservation, the history of the Northern Cheyenne. He’d been curious and interested, and whenever Teresa Nighthawk had told him stories, Leah had learned more herself.

  Jeremy was wearing jeans and high shoe boots this morning, and Leah could see a flannel shirt underneath his blue down jacket. She felt drawn to him in a man-woman way that definitely shouldn’t be on her mind this morning.
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  But as his gaze passed over her corduroy jumper that now hung loosely, she wished his mere presence didn’t make her breath catch. Instead, she concentrated on his words as he said, “I managed to get hold of the owner of the Children’s Corner this morning, so I have car seats, something she called buntings, and diapers, in case you weren’t stocked up yet.”

  Already he was taking responsibility for her. “Thank you,” she murmured. “I spoke with the nurses about wrapping the babies in blankets, but buntings will be much better. I’ll reimburse you for everything when we get home.”

  His voice was deep and gruff. “You’ll do no such thing. Brooke and Adam are my responsibility as much as yours.”

  She knew Jeremy was the type of man who fulfilled his obligations. There would be no argument with him about this. Yet she wanted to make something very clear. “I don’t expect you to care for the babies. I don’t expect anything from you.”

  He raked his hand through his hair. “Obviously, or you would have told me I was about to become a father.” There was an edge to his voice, an undertone of anger, but before Leah could address it, the nurse wheeled the babies in and it was time to get ready to go.

  At least eight inches of snow had fallen, covering Whitehorn and the surrounding area, but the main road had been plowed. Leah knew Jeremy hadn’t said everything he needed to say, and the tension was high between them as he maneuvered through the still-falling snow, concentrating on his driving. They could get an additional six inches if this kept up.

  When they reached the res, none of the snow-covered dirt roads had been plowed. They almost got stuck once, but Jeremy’s expertise in handling the Jeep got them going again. Still, as they reached Leah’s house, they both breathed a sigh of relief. “I might never get out of here again,” he muttered.

  “Mack—over at the gas station—has a pickup with a plow on the front. He’ll try to get the roads open as soon as he can.”