Chapter1 (37 page)
Authors: Ribbon of Rain
Marunga.
You disappointment me.
You would deny a man the knowledge he’s going to be a father?
Kat stumbled as she stepped off the wooden planks of the dock.
Her face paled.
“I just found out for sure the other day, Grandmother.”
She hadn’t felt well since her return home, so she’d gone to the doctor two days ago.
The doctor had confirmed her suspicions.
She was pregnant.
When do you plan to give the father the happy news?
Kat skirted the question.
“I haven’t decided.”
She lay down on the lawn, breathed in the natural chlorophyll of the green grass, and watched the huge puffy clouds drift across the soft blue sky.
Soon the grass would turn brown and the ground would freeze.
Next would come four feet of snow.
The changing of seasons always depressed her.
She’d never known why until recently.
Her experience with Jude had solved the ongoing mystery.
Change.
Looking back at her life, she’d always floundered with any kind of change.
In seven months, she’d be a mother.
Talk about change.
Remember Marunga.
The only constant in life is change
.
You are strong as an oak tree, but even the oak tree bends in the wind.
Kat closed her eyes, trying to squeeze back the tears, but they leaked from the corners of her eyes.
Since being home, she’d pondered her refusal to forgive Jude for his lapse in trusting her.
She felt ashamed for being so damn adamant about not spending time in the city with him.
They could have compromised, spending part of the year here and part in
*****
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Jude grumbled, stumbling from the couch to door.
“Stop that God-awful pounding.”
He opened the door and groaned.
“What do you want, Frank?
It’s Sunday.”
Frank pushed his way inside, his gaze sweeping the room.
“What a pigpen.
When’s the last time you cleaned this place?”
Jude walked to the refrigerator and drank orange juice from the carton.
“I’m sure you didn’t come by to complain about my housecleaning habits.
What’s up?”
A blood curdling scream filled the condo.
Frank went for his gun.
“What the hell is that?
Sounds like a woman screaming.”
Jude’s face grew warm.
“Nothing,” he muttered.
“I’ll turn it off.”
Frank stayed on Jude’s heels as he walked to his CD player.
He picked up the empty CD cover.
“Sounds of the Wilderness.”
Frank shook his head.
“You’re still grieving over Kat?
You told me you’d forgotten all about her.”
“I lied.
She’s the first thing on my mind in the morning and still there when I pass out at night.”
Jude returned to the kitchen and leaned against the counter.
“Then go find her.”
“She’d probably shoot me.”
Frank took a seat at the table.
“Look, I’ve got a legitimate reason for you to pay a visit to
“Is that right?
And what would that be?”
“I’m serious.
We received a check from Mr. Nyguen made out to Katherine Tenney.
A reward for returning his gems.”
Jude reached in the cupboard and poured shredded wheat into a bowl.
“That’s great.
Kat deserves it.
Mail it to her, Frank.
I’m the last person she wants to see.”
“When are you coming back to work?”
Jude’s spoon stopped halfway to his mouth.
“I’m still on personal leave.
Remember?
I have six months.”
“And I’d be all for it if I thought you were enjoying yourself.
If I saw you doing something constructive.
But that’s not the case.
You never leave this place.
God only knows what you do in here all day long.
Other than listening to banshee’s screeching on a CD…”
“That was a porcupine,” Jude interrupted, indignant at Frank’s barrage of complaints about his lifestyle.
Good thing he didn’t know about all the other nature CD’s he’d bought.
Sounds of nature brought him closer to Kat.
Frank’s expression said it all.
He thought his friend had gone off the deep end.
“How about coming back to work, but doing something new?”
“I’ve told you at least fifty times, I’m not interested in being a profiler.”
“I’m not talking about the profiler position, though you’d be great at it.
We’re starting a class for new recruits.
Basic stuff.
Interested in teaching?”
*****
“Dammit!”
Jude’s fist hit the wood, bringing up all heads sitting around the table.
“Does anyone here have a freaking clue what we’re up against?”
No one responded.
A few loosened their ties.
One slender man with the traditional short hair cut spoke up, his voice eager.
“Traitors, sir.”
Jude rubbed the back of his neck.
Christ.
They sent him a bunch of babies barely out of the schoolroom and expect him to turn them into top-notch agents in a week.
“That’s correct, Mr. Douglas.”
“Doughty, sir.”
“Sorry.
Mr. Doughty.”
Jude looked up when the door at the back of the room swung open.
His heart plummeted to the floor before shooting into his throat.
Cody walked in.
News about Kat.
The words danced in his head.
Jude forced his attention back to the fifteen enthusiastic men waiting for him to continue the lecture.
“Take a break.
See you back here in about an hour.”
Cody came forward as the new agents filed out of the room.
“New job?”
Jude chuckled.
“No.
I’d taken leave, but Frank coerced me into coming back and trying this for a while.
What are you doing down this way?”
Cody leaned back against the table, his hands in his pockets.
“I fly out on assignment tomorrow and wanted to catch up with you before I left.”
“Oh.”
No way was he going to spill his guts to Cody.
He still had some pride.
“You look about as happy as Kat.”
“You’ve seen her?”
So much for pride.
He couldn’t disguise the eagerness of his question.
“Just left her yesterday.”
Cody’s eyes bored inside his soul.
“Is she okay?”
“Physically, she’s fine, although she’s dropped some weight.
Emotionally, she’s withering on the vine like gone-by fruit.
She loves and misses you.”
Jude turned his back to Cody and busied himself with erasing the blackboard.
“That’s not what she said before she left.
I heard her loud and clear.
I’m not a part of her world.”
“Then she lied.
She broods twenty-four hours a day.
I’ve said what I came to say.
The rest is up to you.”
Cody’s words sank into Jude’s brain.
He turned to ask a question, but the room was empty.
Chapter 22
The sun was high when Kat woke.
She turned over, glanced at the clock sitting on her nightstand, and jackknifed up.
She couldn’t remember ever having slept till
.
The hot sun beating through the skylights caused a light sheen of sweat on her body.
Her hands went to her still flat abdomen, and she flopped back against the pillows and smiled.
The doctor had warned her she’d need more rest.
She curled up on the bed and thought about the tiny life tucked safely inside her body.
A son or daughter?
Would the baby have Jude’s eyes?
Her hair?
Guilt settled over her.
Her grandmother was right, as usual.
What right did she have to keep this baby from Jude?
Every child deserved a mother and a father.
Thinking about Jude ruined her pleasure in being lazy.
She rolled out of bed.
On the way to the bathroom, she made her decision.
She’d go to
She’d never ask or expect anything from him.
He could visit the child whenever he wanted.
In a few years, he could take his son or daughter for a week’s visit every now and then.
Lukewarm water cascaded over Kat while questions bounced around in her head.
Would she and Jude be able to put aside their differences for the sake of the baby?
They had no choice, because it was imperative they get along.
The water quickly turned cold.
Kat shivered as she dried herself, wincing at the sensitivity of her breasts.
How could she prevent herself from jumping Jude’s bones when she saw him?
Not a night passed that she didn’t relive the few fantastic times they’d made love.
Just the memories made her hot.
She was breathing hard thinking about it for God’s sake.
Must be her hormonal changes.
Back in her bedroom, she rummaged through her bureau drawers, looking for decent clothes to pack.
She dragged out one pair of jeans after one another, until several were on the floor at her feet.
Frustrated at her lack of a wardrobe, she flopped back on the bed.
She didn’t care how she looked.
Hell, who was she fooling?
She wanted to arrive in
Nothing in her wardrobe could do that.
She settled for packing three pair of her best jeans and tee shirts.
On the way home from
Some women in her army unit had raved about maternity jeans.
She’d buy some.
According to the doctor’s calculations, her baby would be born in March.
He’d been adamant that she spend the winter months in town, not at the lake.
Kat had her own ideas.
She had a distant relative who was a mid-wife, and Kat hoped to convince this woman to stay at the lodge for the winter to deliver the baby.
She ran down the stairs, a definite spring in her step.
Nausea forced her to sit at the table for a minute.
Taking a deep gulp of air, she put two pieces of whole wheat bread in the toaster.
Red kept getting underfoot.
After stepping on his tail for the third time, she put him outside.
He knew something was up and wanted to be part of it.
Old Red had turned into quite the traveler.
The toast popped.
The nausea persisted, but she forced herself to munch on the dry toast.
An hour later, Kat stood on the dock with a duffle bag.
Red ran in circles, tongue hanging out, tail wagging.
“Sit.”
The words came out harsher than she’d intended, but it didn’t seem to bother Red.
He sat there grinning at her.
His tail thumped like a jackhammer on the wood.
A quick moving thunderstorm had just passed over, leaving a rainbow in its wake.
A beautiful r
ibbon of rain
.
Perhaps it was an omen of good things to come.
Kat tossed her bag in the center of the tied canoe.
Red jumped up, ran to the end of the dock and started to bark.
Kat was about to reprimand him, but abruptly forgot her anger.
A canoe zigzagged down the lake as if paddled by a drunken sailor.
Her pulse did double time.
No one paddled a canoe like Jude.
Joy bubbled up inside, but she pushed it down.
He’d saved her a trip.
That’s all.
She’d tell him about the baby.
