Concealed Attractions (Cedar Island Tales) (45 page)

The
baby’s cry
sounded
.

“
I’m being paged.
”
Ben
headed for the bedroom
before
Angela
could
let herself out
.

Ben
took
pictures of three generations of
Kelly
s
. Then
Anna
took
pictures of Ben and
Danni
and
the baby
.
After
her mother
left
,
Danni
bundled up the baby and
Ben
drove
them
to the doctor’s office.
The
baby weighed
six pounds,
five
ounces
and was
nineteen
inches long. His hair was reddish gold.

Angela removed her g
love
s.
“
Rule
of the day,
Danni
.
No intercourse for about six weeks, and—”

“I’m not.
”
Danni
flush
ed.
“I won’t.”

Angela
looked
at her. “
And,
I don’t want
you to. Y
ou just had a baby.
I have some more things for you to read. While you are
fully
breastfeeding,
pregnancy risk
is low. B
ut, later, it could happen. I want you to tell me what birth control you
plan
to use.
In advance of when you might
need it
.
You can tell me that when you come back for your six-week check-up.
Or sooner if you decide,
to,
you know
…
”

Danni
nodded
, her eyes on the sleeping baby
.

“And
I want to
see
him
in three days. He’s
nursing well now, but I want to make sure he
keeps doing that
. Sometimes babies
start out
fine
and then
lose more weight than they should. It’s easy to stop that if we catch it
quickly
.”

“I read that all newborns lose
at the beginning
.”

“True, but he should start gaining soon
—if he’s nursing often enough.
Have you talked
to
LeeAnn
?”

“Last week
.
”

“Good
.” Angela jotted her notes. “
Ben
says he caught the
baby. Were you bothered that he saw your bottom?”

Danni
colored
.
“Actua
lly,
I think
he saw the rest of me, too
.
After my water broke,
I wasn’t thinking about
anything except the contractions
.
And, he didn’t say a word about
the—that I d
idn’t have a stitch on. He just …
he just was there
. H
elping.”

Angela
smil
ed
. “
You were lucky
to have
some
one with his training,
though I doubt he’s
caught other two-legged babies
before
.
”

“He
was
his sister
’s
coach
, but she was in the hospital for the big event.”

“
Ben
cares about you—a lot. I can tell.”

“I
know
he’s glad the baby is here.
”
I
don’t dare
hope it’s more than that.
But her heart ached for a word
from him
that he
lov
ed
her
half
as much
as he seemed to love the baby
.
She’d seen how he’d wiped his tears away.

“I’m sure he is. And,
you must be
glad he was there for you.”

She nodded.
How could I have done it without him?
She couldn’t imagine having given birth in a better place, at the cottage with Ben. Even though he freaked
a little
when she’d said she had to push. Now that the baby was here, she
didn’t want to be anywhere but in their woodsy hideaway, with Ben and the baby. Little Bump.
But
Ben i
s
leaving
in May
.
Only three months to pretend they were a
real
family. Then she’d be on her own again.
She’d go home then.

“Let me get yo
ur mother
in here
.
Phoebe
said
she
’s
here to pick you up
. Ben went over to the clinic to give
everyone
the big news.”

Danni tucked the blanket around the baby
when Anna entered
.

“
A
bout
his
feedings
, Danni
. Do what
LeeAnn
suggests
.
He
needs to eat en
ough to gain
weight
in addition to
breathing and staying warm and all the other things we do. Now, about your diet
—
”

“You’re not going to say I can’t have spicy foods, are you? I
love
them,”
Danni
interrupted.

“No, just
eat when you’
re hungry and
push
fluids. You need that to make milk
. We’re done here
.”
Angela
went to the door.
“
I
almost forgot. C
ongratulations
. I’d have preferred that you have him in the hospital
, but you and your midwife were a fine team
. And given how fast
this
little guy
came,
plan
to live next door to the hospital for the next one!”

Anna
laugh
ed
. “Come on,
honey
. Let’s get you home.” Together, they wrapped the baby
up
and
returned
to the cottage in the woods
.

Ben yawned his way through
the last half of
the day
, reliving the early morning birth whenever he wasn’t concentrating on a procedure
.
He remained alert while he splinted a dog’s leg, the result of a collision with a car
. As
soon as it was over, he
looked in at
Joe
l
, who was poring over veterinary supply catalogs
.

“Any chance I could go home a little early today?”

“Are you done with that collie?”

“He’s all splinted up and resting comfortably in the back.”

“What about those two cats—the one with the infected puncture wounds, and the other one
you spayed
?”

“
She’s
still
sleeping. The other one was unhappy when
Kate and
I cleaned his wounds, but he was drinking
water
when I checked him. I think
he can
go home later today if Bronnie calls his owner.”

“
Why don’t you tell her that?
” Joel looked
up from the catalogs
. “
Ben?
Congratulations! What’s his name?”

“Don’t know yet. I gotta get home.”

Dannilynn
was waking
from
a nap
,
the baby snuggled next to her
,
when Ben
arrived
home
.
“H
ow did things go
a
t the doctor’s?”

“Fine. I have to bring him back in three days, and me in six weeks.” She
sat up and nibbled
her lower lip
. “I’ve decided on a name. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Why would I?” He
eased
the
sleeping
baby
out of her arms and
in
to
the cradle.

“I decided, well
… H
ere
,
take a
look
. I wrote it down
.”
She handed him a piece of paper.

“
Why
James?”

“It’s m
y dad’s middle name.”

Ben
squint
ed
at
Danni
. “After all the nas
tiness he’s put you through
?”

“I was
afraid you would say that. M
aybe
it will bring him around. When we talked about names,
you said
it was my choice.
”
S
he
followed him into the kitchen and
retrieved
an
orange
from the
refrigerator
fruit bin.

Ben
was silent
as he looked
again
at the paper
then
reached for one of the donuts Anna had left.

His heart dipped down to his toes.
“You have ‘
L
og
an
’ here as his middle name.”
That’s
m
y
middle name.

“
You caught him. That makes him as m
uch yours as mine.
”

He brushed a finger over the name.
Is it a sign?
“What d
id
your mom say?”

“We talked about it in the car. She said whatever I decided was fine with her.
And
she was glad you
were here
.” S
he reached out to
grasp
his hand. “Will you let me keep your middle name as his?”

He thought
he detected pleading in her tone.
“I’m honored.”
He
looked
at her
and
wanted to say more
, that he felt like her baby’s father, tha
t he loved her. The baby, too,
and not just because she
needed him.
Maybe it isn’t the right time.

“Good. The
n it’s settled.  I’ll call the p
astor to set the date for the baptism.” She rose and
walked over to
the cradle, now moving as the baby fussed and kicked his feet.

“It’s your turn to serve,” Angela said to
Joe
l
, as she settled into the chair nearest the fireplace. “I’ve had a long day.”

“So
you
said.
What do you think of my
extern
? Was he a good midwife?” Before she could answer, he continued. “He said he saved the afterbirth for you and you complimented him on
his
cord tying.”

“He did it all just fine. I asked hi
m if he’d like to upgrade to MD.
He
said ‘no thanks
.
’
”

“
A good thing
. I need him
more than you do
.”

“He alluded to that. But he was about busting his buttons when I arrived
,
proud as could be
and acting for all
the world like the proud papa
. Did he mention that?”