41. Lydia
41
LYDIA
T he cold went away, and so did the snow, almost as quickly as it arrived. And after a few days, we were left with only a few piles of dirty snow along the edges of the streets. There were no other remnants of the big snowstorm that somehow triggered my early labor with the baby.
He still didn’t have a name. He had spent two days as Chris. Part of the second ‘Chris’ day, we tried using the full name of Christopher and the nickname of Topher. Topher didn’t last for more than ten minutes.
Today, I couldn’t decide if he was going to be Yul or Noel for the rest of the day. Evie had informed me that I had a few more days left before I needed to file the birth certificate.
“Are you sure he’s okay?” I twisted in my seat and looked in the back, where all I could see was the bulk of the car seat that protected him.
“Noel will be fine,” Miles said. “Noel. Noel.” He said the name a couple more times. “It feels awkward in the mouth.”
“Noel,” I repeated. “Noel Carlisle does sound pretty nice together.”
“It does, but on a day to day basis, how often do you walk around being called Lydia Walsh?”
“What about you?” I threw the question back at him.
“I’m either referred to as Carlisle or Miles. In business, nobody really says Miles Carlisle.” He deepened his voice as he said his name.
“You’re right. Nobody walks around calling me Lydia Walsh, at least not since I was in school and the teacher was calling my name.”
We were headed out to the resort he was considering purchasing for development. Miles had gotten the information he needed from county records, including directions and maps. He had spent at least a full day on the phone with somebody in his office in New York, barking orders to them. And now we were going to actually look at the place.
If we could find it.
There was a wide pull off on the road. I glanced down at the printed out directions in my hands. The instructions weren’t very clear. This was the second attempt to find the private road leading to the property.
“I think this might be it,” I said.
Miles pulled over. About ten yards farther into the woods, I could see a chain draped across what at first didn’t even look like a footpath.
“It’s chained up.”
Miles jumped out of the car and examined the posts and the chain. He did something, and then the chain fell to the ground. He brushed his hands together as he walked back to the car. “It was just for show. There are no ‘ No Trespassing ’ signs posted anywhere, and based on the information we’ve been given, this should be the spot on the map. We’ll be fine. I do this all the time.”
He got in the SUV and began driving slowly as we had to rediscover the roadway covered in years of fallen leaves and branches.
After a quarter of a mile or so, the woods opened up onto a compound of dilapidated buildings and covered walkways. In the not too far distance was a lake with half fallen down boathouses.
“Oh, Miles. This place is…”
“Perfect,” he said.
I wasn’t going to say perfect. I was thinking more along the lines of the stuff of horror films. But he was smiling, and I could see his mind working as his eyes darted around.
“Stay here. I’ll be right back.” He got out of the car and took a few steps forward.
He put his hands on his hips and simply looked out at everything. He looked like a man overseeing his kingdom. At that moment, I somehow understood what this project meant to him.
The baby began fussing. I climbed out of the passenger seat and into the back and began making shushing noises. That didn’t stop him from waking up.
I carefully removed him from the buckles and held him so that I could breastfeed. As I looked down at the baby and then out at Miles, suddenly, I knew what his name was.
He wasn’t Chris, and he definitely wasn’t Noel.
He was Nick. Nicholas, the bringer of presents. Nick Carlisle. That was his name. When he finished feeding, I changed him and secured him back in the car seat, all before Miles returned to us.
“I’m going to have to go back to the city,” Miles announced.
“For how long?”
“I have to?—”
“No,” I interrupted him. “For how long? You can go, but I have to know exactly when you’re coming back.”
“I’m coming back to you, Lydia.”
“You’ve said that before, Miles. I can’t do that again. I have to know.”
“I understand, darling. I won’t leave until after the new year. I’ll be gone for four days.”
“Four days,” I repeated.
“I’ll call you every day,” he said.
“You promise?” I asked.
“Yes, Lydia, I promise, and I know that you need something more than empty promises to know that you can trust me.”
I gave Miles a sharp smile. “I do, but I’m going to trust you to come back, okay?”
“I will not break that trust. I promise,” he said.
I felt tears stinging my eyes. I didn’t expect this to be this hard. I didn’t want him to go. I didn’t want him to go, even if it was only for four days. I swallowed around a lump in my throat.
“You have to come back, Miles, because I love you.”
“I love you,” he said. His voice was so low, I almost didn’t hear him. “And I love the boy.”
“Nicholas,” I said. “His name is Nicholas, Nick.”
And then I lost it. I couldn’t stop crying.
Miles climbed out, walked around, and pulled me out of my seat and into his arms. It was the first time in a very long time that he had held me like this.
“Nicholas.” He smiled as he said the name. “That’s a wonderful name. I thought you were going for something with a Christmas theme.”
“Old Saint Nick,” I said. “Santa Claus himself. After all, you said he was a present.”
“Santa Claus brings presents to all the good little boys and girls. And you’ve been a very good girl this year, haven’t you?”
“I tried,” I admitted.
“And I sucked,” he said as he brushed my hair away from my face and down my back.
“Yeah, you kind of did,” I admitted.
“Yet, you still love me,” he said.
“I can’t help it.”
He caught my chin with his finger and tipped my face up to meet his.
“I can’t help but be in love with you, either.” And then he kissed me, and that kiss was so soft and so warm and so perfect.
I wondered, oh, so briefly in that split second before my brain turned off, why it had taken him five days since his arrival to kiss me properly?
“Maybe I’ll only be gone for three days,” he said with a chuckle.
“Three days is definitely better than four,” I admitted.
“I’m going to have a lot of work to do getting this property up and running, getting the renovations done on the Sweet Mountain Inn, and learning how to be a local.”
“You, a local?” I almost laughed.
“Hey, I was a small town kid once. I’ll figure it out. I’ll have you to help me. You can be my Brookdale coach.”
“I think you and Mayor Dan need to become friends,” I said. “That man will be a better Brookdale coach for you than I will.”
“Dan’s a good guy. I know he is. I could actually see that happening.”
Before the moment got too terribly serious, Miles gave an exaggerated shudder. “I can’t believe I’m moving back to a small town. Get back in the car and let’s go home before I change my mind.”
I narrowed my eyes and glared at him.
He kissed me on the tip of my nose. “I’m joking. I’m not going to change my mind. I love you.”
We got into the car. Miles drove in a large, bumpy circle before heading back down the private road.
“Nick, huh?” he asked. “Nick Carlisle. That’s easy to say, doesn’t sound awkward the way Chris or Noel did. I knew you would figure it out.”
“I guess we need to file his birth certificate now that he has a name,” I said.
Miles’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he continued to say Nick’s name. “Are you planning on a middle name?”
“Does he need a middle name? Coming up with one name was hard enough,” I complained.
“Is there anyone you would want to name him after?” Miles asked.
“What about your name?”
Miles shook his head. He kept his eye on the road as he turned out from the private lane and back onto the local road.
“He gets his own name. I have my father’s name, and I refuse to use it other than the initial.”
“James?” I asked.
He grimaced. “Yeah. I was an ego trip for that man, not a child. I don’t want that for Nick. I say skip the middle name or give him the name of someone he could look up to.”
“Dan?” I asked.
“Nicholas Daniel Carlisle. Now that’s an impressive name.”