Desperately Seeking Fireman (11 page)

A shudder passed through her, as it finally occurred to her what she’d just done. She’d arranged for Jeb’s departure from her life.

It was for the best, of course. Not just because Melissa would be safer back on the mainland. But because
Nita
would be safer. No matter how much she gorged herself on this man’s steady presence and skillful lovemaking, he wasn’t for her. For those moments with him, she hadn’t felt like a failure of a woman. She’d felt wonderful. Which meant it would be all the more crushing when it ended. Which it would.

Because he wasn’t ready for the kind of relationship she wanted.

Maybe quitting her job had clarified her thoughts. Because suddenly it seemed perfectly clear that what she wanted was another chance to make a baby. She couldn’t have her baby back, the baby on which she’d lavished four months of love and care. That baby was gone. Safe in the hands of the eternal. But another baby awaited, and that baby needed her. That baby needed a real father, too, not someone who offered nothing more than a monthly check.

Jeb had raised his daughter. He’d stayed married through some pretty challenging times. Now he was free. Why on earth would he want to do it all over again?

She drew away from him, wiped her eyes, and tightened the belt of her robe. “I’ll be holed up with my computer. Come say goodbye before you guys go.”

A
S BLOW-OFFS WENT,
that one was pretty masterful, if you asked Jeb. Furious, he threw his things into his overnight bag, slung it over his shoulder, and crossed the narrow hallway to Melissa’s room.

“Come in,” she called.

She was just sliding her laptop into its sleeve. “Are we leaving?”

“Nita arranged seats for us on the senator’s chopper.”

“That Nita. Isn’t she amazing? She’s so good at organizing everything. And incredibly thoughtful. Don’t you think?”

Jeb didn’t trust himself to answer a question about Nita at the moment. Anyway, he had more pressing problems at the moment. He’d seen the wince Melissa had tried to hide as she zipped her laptop case. He spun Melissa’s chair around so she faced him, then leaned down, fixing her with his captain’s stare.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“What?”

“This isn’t something to mess around with. Tell me exactly what’s going on.”

Something flickered in those deep green eyes. “You’re so much like Brody it’s eerie.”

“Melissa,” he warned.

“First, tell me if you like Nita.”

He wanted to wring her neck. Not even hormones were an excuse for extortion. “Of course I like her,” he ground out.

“Because she deserves to be liked. I know she comes across as someone who has it all together, but inside she’s the softest, kindest, most generous—”

“
I like her
. You don’t have to talk me into it. She did that all on her own.”

A slow, delighted smile spread across her face. “You do like her,” she murmured. “I’m so happy.” Then she recoiled, hand on her belly. “Oh crap.” She scrunched up her face. Jeb knelt next to her, rubbing her back in the way Belinda had appreciated.

“I’ve been having some pains,” Melissa blurted. “They started last night. It’s probably nothing. I mean, it’s too early. And they’re far apart. Probably Braxton-Hicks contractions, right? The false ones that come before the real ones?” She grabbed at his hand. “It’s nothing to worry about, right?”

“Have you told Brody?”

“I don’t want him to worry. I haven’t told anyone except you. I called my OB-GYN and left a message, but I haven’t heard back yet.

He straightened up. “I’m calling Brody.”

“No! There’s nothing he can do from there. He’ll just go crazy. I don’t want to do that to him.”

“Then we’re getting on that chopper and we’ll call him from the mainland.”

“Okay. Fine. If the senator really lets me on it. He’s pretty ticked off.”

“He’ll let you,” said Jeb grimly. He started imagining what he’d do to the senator if he objected. Those pleasant thoughts were interrupted by the sound of shouting outside.

Jeb hurried to the window and pulled back the ruffled curtain. The reporters were leaving en masse. Camera operators were throwing equipment into cases, reporters were running down the street. Nita hadn’t even held her press conference yet, had she? He looked at his watch. Barely fifteen minutes had passed since he’d left her in the tea room. He nudged the window open. Water sprayed into the room. “What’s going on?” He yelled to the disappearing crowd.

“The last ferry’s here,” someone answered. “It came early and it’s leaving right away.”

Jeb closed the window before the floor got too soaked. He turned back to Melissa. “It’s a good thing Nita got us spots on the chopper.”

“I guess it is. My stuff is packed. I’m ready to go.” She flinched again. Jeb was at her side in a second. She grabbed his hand and squeezed hard until the pain passed. “How do we get to the chopper?” She said with a gasp.

“I’ll go find out. You’re doing great, Melissa. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Empty words. But they’d better be true. He’d do everything in his power to make sure they were.

A steady thump-thumping sound made him look out the window again. A helicopter hovered directly overhead, its blades whipping rainwater in a wild pinwheel pattern. Peering out the window was the senator. He spotted Jeb and gave him the finger. Then the chopper lifted higher in the air, wheeled to the left, and headed toward the mainland.

So much for their ride off the island.

Chapter Ten

B
Y THE TIME
Nita had indulged in a string of satisfying curses at Senator Stryker and the runaway reporters, she was ready to face Jeb in the empty tea room.

“Once the press left, Stryker must have figured our deal was pointless. What about the ferry?”

“It’s probably gone by now. It’s going to be packed anyway. I’m not comfortable with Melissa being crammed onto a ferryboat in a storm.” He dragged a hand through his hair.

“Then we just stay here and ride it out?” A sneaky tendril of hope stole through her. Maybe she wouldn’t have to say goodbye to Jeb yet.

“Where’s Angie?”

“She went across the street to her friend’s house. Apparently they have a storm knitting tradition.”

Jeb lapsed into deep thought. Nita watched him, realizing that whatever decision he made, she would trust it. “I’m going to call Brody and explain the situation. Can you check on Melissa?”

“Of course.”

Nita hurried to Melissa’s room and tapped on the door. “Melissa?” she called softly. No answer. She pushed the door open and stepped into an eerie stillness.
Oh my God. Something’s wrong. Something happened
. She knew it with every cell of her body, every goose bump on her skin. Suddenly she felt as if she was drowning in terror. She couldn’t move her feet, couldn’t open her mouth. Images from the day she’d started bleeding cascaded through her mind. The absolute terror, the call to her doctor, the cab ride to the emergency room, the carefully neutral expressions of the nurses, the onrushing darkness.

“Melissa?” She managed to whisper.

“In here.” Melissa’s voice came from the bathroom.

She could make it to the bathroom. She had to, for Melissa’s sake, and for her baby. Forcing one foot to lift, then the other, she moved jerkily across the bedroom to the tiny bathroom. When she pushed the door open, her first thought was that water had spilled on the floor. Melissa was standing over it. She looked up at Nita with an expression of complete astonishment.

“What the hell, I think my water broke! It shouldn’t have done that. I still have another month to go.”

That was bad, very bad. Sick fear grabbed at her throat.
Not Melissa. Not Melissa’s baby
. She wanted to throw up. She felt as if a cloud of panicked hornets was swarming her brain.

“What do we do? What do we do?” What had she done when she’d seen the blood? She’d called her doctor, then a cab. She turned blindly toward the door, then whirled back again. “I’ll call 911. They’ll send an ambulance. No, I have the Suburban. I can drive you to the hospital.” She spun toward the door again.

“Nita.” Melissa grabbed her upper arm and gave her a little shake. “It’s going to be okay. Get Jeb. Just
get Jeb
. You hear me?”

Nita nodded, those two crucial words penetrating the fog of fear.
Get Jeb
. She could do that.

W
HEN
N
ITA RAN
into the tearoom screaming for him, she was nearly incoherent, but Jeb got enough of the gist to spring into action.

“Could be premature rupture,” he said. “Is she going into labor? Is she having regular contractions? Focus, Nita.” He gripped her by the shoulders, willing her gaze to meet his. She took a deep, shuddering breath and passed a hand over her forehead.

“I’m sorry. I was just . . .”

“I know.” He recognized a trauma flashback when he saw one. “Keep on breathing, you’ll be okay.” He ran through the options. Each of them required a functioning Nita, so he stayed with her, using his voice to soothe her and bring her back to herself.

After a few seemingly endless moments, Nita’s glazed look transformed into her usual alertness. “I’m fine. What can I do? I don’t know about the contractions. Want me to time them or something?”

“Yes. That would be perfect.” That would give her something to focus on. “I’m going to work on getting a ride to the hospital. Tell Melissa I’ll take care of it and not to panic. I’ll make a couple of calls and be there in a second. And keep your cool, Nita. She needs you.”

She nodded, her jaw clenched with determination, and ran off. Jeb called Brody first and filled him in. “Get on the first plane you can. Or drive. Call your OB/GYN and see what hospital we should head to.”

“I’m on it.”

Then he called 911 and explained the situation to the dispatcher, who was in Port Howard on the mainland. “I can send the fire boat, but it takes an hour to get out there. Maybe more in this weather.”

“What about a Medevac?”

“They’re all grounded at the moment due to lightning strikes. Might get the all clear soon, but I can’t say when.”

Jeb swore to himself, and hung up.

He called the Santa Lucia firehouse, but the phone did nothing but ring and ring. Maybe the line was out of order. Maybe everyone was out dealing with the storm. Maybe their incompetent fire chief was deep into a bottle of rum. He pulled out the pager Charlie had left him and punched in his cell number. A few seconds later Charlie called him back, sounding as if he was in the rinse cycle of a car wash.

Afraid the connection wouldn’t last long, Jeb kept it simple. “We need to get Melissa to a hospital. Can you take us on your boat?”

Charlie’s voice punched through the storm-static in isolated words. “. . . fishing boat . . . cabin . . . uncomfortable . . .”

“Can you do it? Safely?”

“. . . wharf . . . half an hour.”

“We’ll be there. Three of us.” They would need Nita’s help. He just hoped she was holding herself together enough to give it.

L
IKE THE CARING
friend she was, Nita came through. When he finally walked into Melissa’s room, he found them sitting on the bed, Melissa holding onto Nita’s hand for dear life while Nita stared at the timer on her iPhone.

“Her pains are lasting forty seconds,” she said proudly. “And they’re coming about eight minutes apart.”

“
Eight
minutes?”

“Yes, is that bad?”

He recovered himself quickly. “No, that’s fine. It looks like this baby likes to make things interesting.”

Melissa’s eyes brimmed with tears. “But Brody isn’t here! I can’t have the baby without Brody.”

“He’s on his way. He’s going to meet us at the hospital.”

Tears poured down Melissa’s cheeks. “I should have listened to him. Why’d I have to go waltzing off to some island for a stupid story? Now the baby might be born without Brody, and I couldn’t stand it if that happened.”

“Shhh, shhh.” Nita threw her arms around Melissa, who buried her head in Nita’s shoulder. “It’s going to be fine. Brody will get there. I mean, come on, he’s Brody! He’ll find a way. And Jeb will get us to the hospital, right?”

“The boat’s picking us up at the wharf in,” he checked his watch, “twenty minutes. Nita, are you packed?”

Just then Melissa gave another deep groan and clutched at Nita. “I just need my purse,” Nita told him. “Can you grab it?”

“Of course. Get Melissa to the Suburban and I’ll be there in a few minutes.” He picked up Melissa’s bag and her laptop case. “Is this everything?”

“Yes,” gasped Melissa, emerging from the contraction. “I travel light. Well, except for this belly I’m hauling around.”

“Sense of humor. That’s good. Hang onto that.”

She did her best, he had to hand it to her. By the time they all made it to the wharf, they were drenched to the skin from the rain whipping through the air. It took all his driving skills to dodge the broken tree branches and tumbling lawn furniture clogging the roads. Both Melissa and Nita were great, keeping their cool through huge gusts of wind that shook the old Suburban.

At the wharf, Melissa’s calm deserted her at the sight of Charlie’s boat, which had an open deck, a tiny wheelhouse, and narrow benches as seats. “We’re not going in that, are we?” she wailed. A breaking wave sent a plume of ocean water over them, making her stagger.

Jeb wiped salt water out of his eyes with one hand while the other held her steady. On Melissa’s other side, Nita was shoving her drenched hair off her face.

“Are you sure about this, Jeb?” She called over the constant thunder of the surf.

“It’s safe,” he told them. “These boats are built to ride out storms.”

Charlie called to them from the wheelhouse. “I know it looks bad, but this boat’s been through worse storms than this. I can’t leave the wheel while she’s at the dock. Can you make it aboard okay?”

A large swell pushed the craft against the pilings, so hard the rubber fenders got squished to the side. For the first time, Jeb felt a moment of real fear. What if Melissa couldn’t bridge the constantly shifting gap between the wharf and the boat? What if she
fell in
? Maybe they’d be safer staying on the island until the storm subsided. If the baby came, he could handle it. He was a trained EMT, and had handled many medical emergencies over the years.