9
On Thursday, with the gazebo scraped and sanded and the first coat of primer drying, Nicky took the afternoon off to go fishing at Lake Moonshine with Finley’s family. Which left Harper in a bind. Her client, Misty Cline, had made a last-minute addition to the menu for her bridal brunch and Harper had some shopping to do. Which could be fine, or could be a disaster, depending on Aunt Clara’s current mood. Today, of all days, she was uncharacteristically quarrelsome. From the kitchen window, Harper could see Dalton cleaning his paint brushes, done for the day. She hated to impose. The man had devoted every waking moment to the gazebo, and he deserved an afternoon off. But maybe he could spare just an hour or two.
He glanced up when she appeared before him. “Hey, you.”
“Hey.” She gestured toward the gazebo, which was now a crisp, clean white. “It looks a hundred percent better already.”
He smiled. “Well, maybe ninety, if you don’t look too closely.”
“Listen, I have a favor to ask. You can say no if you want to.”
“OK.”
“Here’s the thing. It’s two days before the brunch I’m catering, and my bride has decided she’s got to have white-chocolate dipped strawberry cake-sicles. I have to run to the party store in the plaza and see if I can get my hands on the molds, and I’m also out of dipping chocolate. Aunt Clara’s in a mood today and it would be so much easier to go by myself. Would you be able to watch her for a few hours? If you have other plans, it’s totally all right.”
He wiped the last of his brushes with paint thinner and tapped the lid back on the can. “I have no idea what a cake-sicle is, but I’ll be happy to hang out with Clara while you get what you need.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“You’re a lifesaver.”
“It’s no problem, Harper. I enjoy Clara’s company.”
“Thank you so much. You be sure and take the morning off tomorrow. Nicky’ll keep an eye on Clara while I go to a doctor’s appointment. The reduced price you gave us was because of Nicky’s help. We don’t expect you to do all the work alone.”
“You’re going back to the doctor already? Is everything OK with the little ballerina?”
“As far as I know. They had to cancel my ultrasound when I went last time. I got a call yesterday that they’re able to fit me in tomorrow morning, on top of everything else I have going on, but truthfully, I’m pretty excited.”
“I’ll bet.”
“It’s my first ultrasound.” She ran a hand across her belly. “It will be fun to finally see what’s going on in there.”
“Yeah, it will. Is Babe Wayland going with you again?”
“No, definitely not. I’d rather go alone.” Without thinking, she blurted, “Unless you’d like to go with me.”
“Are you serious?”
“I mean, if you want to.”
His face changed; held an expression she could not read. He seemed conflicted and she was sorry she’d been so impulsive. “It was a silly thought. Never mind. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“No, I’d like to go,” he said quietly.
It was bold of her to invite him. It was also highly inappropriate. It was a milestone event, and she barely knew the man. But she couldn’t deny the connection she felt with him, and it would be nice to share the experience of her first ultrasound with someone she felt close to. Someone with no ulterior motive.
When she pulled into the plaza a half hour later it was impossibly crowded for a weekday. She circled the lot twice, then nudged Clara’s car into a spot several stores away from the one she wanted. Inside, the party store teemed with shoppers. So much for a quick trip.
She found the cake-sicle molds and the dipping chocolates and took them to the front of the store, resisting the urge to browse through the latest kitchen gadgets, as she normally would. After what seemed an eternity in the check-out line, she hurried home to find the house empty, as was Dalton’s usual parking spot in the driveway. A note on the kitchen table read: Out for a ride. See you when we see you!
Feeling guilty for the pleasure of an afternoon to herself, she got out her equipment and began the prep work for the party favors. She could make these ahead. She sang along with the radio, losing herself in her work. All her usual concerns tugged at her apron strings like persistent children. Today she pushed them away. She would not entertain worrisome thoughts. One of her favorite Bible verses popped into her head.
Be still and know that I am God.
Yes, today she would do that.
With her work finished, she stowed the confections in the cooler on the back patio and had just finished wiping down the kitchen when Dalton and Clara pulled in the driveway.
Harper went out to greet them.
His car overflowed with flowers.
“What on earth is all this?” she asked.
“This is Miss Clara’s traveling flower show,” Dalton said.
Clara giggled from the passenger seat, a strawberry ice cream cone dripping down her hand and a flamboyant pink and purple scarf wrapped around her head. “It was such a pretty day that we decided to go for a spin in the convertible. We passed by the nursery, and I wanted to look around a bit. Dallas was kind enough to let me.”
“It’s Dalton. Dallas is your nephew, my father, remember?” she corrected her aunt gently. “And I’d say you did more than just look, Aunt Clara.”
“Oh, but the flowers were so lovely, and the prices were so reasonable!”
Dalton climbed out of the car and went around to the passenger side to help Clara out. “We’ve decided to install flower boxes on the front of the gazebo. Seemed like we should get some things to put in them.” Letting go of Clara’s hands, he wiped a sheen of strawberry ice cream on his jeans and indicated the trays of miniature roses in startling shades of red and sunshine yellow, the snow-white baby’s breath, and Swedish ivy in variegated shades of green.
“They’re beautiful,” Harper said.
“Turns out Miss Clara has quite an eye for flowers. These are all deeper shades of the paint colors she picked out for the gazebo. The flower boxes will make a nice contrast.”
“They’ll really make it pop!” Clara exclaimed.
“Flower boxes, huh? So, your portfolio also includes carpentry work?”
“Ahh, not exactly.” He popped the trunk lid and lifted out a stack of oblong terra cotta planters. “All I have to do is install the brackets on the front of the gazebo, and voila.”
They carried the flowers to the shade of the patio.
“Speaking of the gazebo,” he said, “the first coat of primer’s probably dry by now. It looks as though it might rain tomorrow, so I want to get the second coat on before dark.”
She nodded, all at once unable to speak. He took her breath away, standing there, holding a tray of roses. He was a study in contrasts. Fragile and masculine. Strong, but broken. She could feel it in her soul. “Thank you, Dalton,” she said. “For today. It meant a lot.”
“No problem.”
Recovering, she added, “That scarf, though.”
He chuckled. “It made her happy.”
“That’s all that matters, I guess.”
He tipped an imaginary hat and headed back to work. Harper’s gaze caressed the beautiful flowers, and then the beautiful man who had brought them. The gazebo would be lovely when it was finished, but suddenly, she did not want it to be finished. When the work was done, Dalton would have no reason to stay in Redford’s Crossing. The thought caused a deep-down lonely feeling to settle in her chest, and a second revelation.
She would miss him more than she wanted to admit.
~*~
As predicted, Friday morning dawned gray and overcast. Dalton took down his tent and carried his sleeping bag and clothes to the shelter of the patio just as the rain began to fall.
Inside, Nicky and Clara were both in their pajamas, installed in front of one of Nicky’s video games.
“’Morning, D,” Nicky said, not taking his gaze from the screen. “Harper said to tell you she’ll be right down.”
Dalton watched for a moment as Nicky maneuvered a race car around a track, smiling despite the uneasiness in his stomach as Clara’s fist pounded air.
“Go! Go! Go! He’s catching up with you, darling. Go!”
Finally, Harper appeared dressed in white leggings and an oversized pink top. Her hair was tied back in a loose ponytail and Dalton thought she looked as fresh and lovely as the roses he and Clara had bought the day before.
“Can I make you some toast?” she asked him. “I had to drink a lot of water for the ultrasound and I’m too waterlogged to eat.”
Food was out of the question. His stomach was rolling. Was it too late to tell her he couldn’t do this? “Ahh, I’m good for now. Maybe we can grab some breakfast after the appointment,” he said instead.
By the time they arrived at the office building the sky was pouring rain. He pulled up to the canopied front entrance and let Harper out, then circled back to find a parking spot. He had no idea what to expect today and a part of him wanted to just drive away. He couldn’t imagine why she’d invited him, and even less why he’d agreed to come. His protective armor was splitting wide open, and he was powerless to hold it together. He met Harper in the waiting room.
They took a seat in a bank of chairs.
A pregnant woman smiled at them. “Your first?” she asked.
“Yes,” Harper said.
“I figured as much. My man came to all the appointments with our first, too.” She patted her bulging tummy and shrugged. “By number three…”
Dalton couldn’t fathom such a thing, that such a miracle could become commonplace. The woman assumed he and Harper were a couple and since there was no reason to correct her, he didn’t.
The door opened and a pretty young nurse appeared. “Good morning, Harper. We’re ready for you.”
“Hi, Morgan,” Harper said. “This is my friend, Dalton. He’ll sit in on the ultrasound if that’s OK?”
“Certainly.” She turned her smile on Dalton. “But you may want to wait out here for a moment, hon. Harper, we’ll need you to undress from the waist down.”
Harper’s face turned as pink as her shirt. “Oh. I didn’t realize…”
“We’ll drape you, honey, and then your friend can come in.”
A few moments later, the nurse called him and shortly after that Dr. Minford arrived. Dalton judged the man to be only slightly older than him, early thirties, maybe. Calm and confident, the doctor’s laid-back manner put Dalton instantly at ease.
He moved his hands around on Harper’s abdomen, measured from her breastbone to where the sheet was draped just below her tummy. He recited the measurements to Morgan, who entered them into a laptop. Then he smiled at Harper again. “OK. Are you ready to see your baby?”
An inexplicable thrill went through Dalton.
Harper nodded.
The nurse spread a tube of gel on her belly, flipped a switch, and the monitor came to life. A gray crescent moon appeared, filled with small, dark shapes the doctor identified as a heart, kidneys, and a bladder, and then the screen changed again, and a tiny face appeared.
And for the second time in his life, Dalton Kingston fell head over heels in love.
Harper cried out softly. Her hand found his and squeezed it hard. “Look at the little feet!” she exclaimed.
Like a penniless child peering into a candy store window, knowing he had no right to want for anything inside, but unable to look away, Dalton gazed at the child. A beautiful, perfect child.
A tiny, perfect hand appeared.
“Is it sucking its thumb?” Harper asked.
“Sure is,” the doctor said.
Harper blinked back tears, breathless, caught up, as Dalton was, in the sheer wonder of the moment.
Dr. Minford gently prodded Harper’s belly. “Come on now, little darlin’. Roll over so we can have a look at you.” He manipulated her abdomen and the baby shifted.
“OK, beautiful. This is a leg,” the doctor said. He pointed to a shaded area to the right of the little leg, grinned. “See this area here? If this baby had any equipment, this is where it would be.”
“Equipment?” Harper’s breath caught. “You mean…it’s a girl?”
“Without a doubt.”
Tears spilled from her eyes.
Dalton pulled a tissue from a box on the bedside table and handed it to her.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Don’t be.”
“Looks as if she’s exactly where she should be, at eighteen weeks,” Dr. Minford said.
Harper asked the doctor many questions, but Dalton could not process the answers he gave her. He was still staring at the screen, searching for the little face. And then with the flip of a switch the watery world went dark.
~*~
After the appointment they stopped at a local diner and ordered stacks of blueberry pancakes, bacon, and cups of coffee. Their clothes were plastered to their bodies, Harper’s hair dripping with rain.
Dalton could not stop looking at her, could not stop thinking about the miracle that was taking place inside her. He was consumed with an overwhelming longing to be a part of it. If she’d let him.
Their meal arrived and she dug in. “These look so good.”
He forked a bite of hash browns into his mouth and swallowed, barely tasting. Barely aware of anything except Harper’s eyes, Harper’s smile, and the dimple in her cheek.
“So, Dr. Minford says I’ll have another ultrasound in a month, at twenty-two weeks.” She swallowed a bite of pancakes. “I can’t wait.”
He couldn’t either.
“I’ll have to start getting some things together,” she said. “I don’t even know what I need.”
“You’ve got plenty of time to figure it all out,” he said.
She didn’t seem to hear him. “I’ll have to get a nursery ready. There’s Nicky’s old room that he used for a club house several years ago. It’s more like a big closet than a room, but it should be enough space for a baby. It could be cleaned out and painted. I definitely want it pink. Right now, it’s full of junk. I don’t even know what it all is, old crafting supplies and magazines, Nicky’s and my papers from grade school. Aunt Clara never throws anything out. Maybe after the gazebo is done…” Her incredible green eyes met his, “Would you stay a few more days, just to get Nicky started on painting it?”
Outside the diner, the sky raged. The windows rattled, buffeted by wind and rain, but the glow on Harper’s face overpowered the storm. It wrapped Dalton in its warmth, offered him something he’d thought was lost to him forever.
Hope.
He felt it deep inside then, the sudden impact as the ground solidified beneath him and he began to find his footing.