Getting Lucky (36 page)

The ambulance arrived, as did Jason, before the baby was actually born, but Lauren was too far progressed for anyone to do anything more for Lauren than what Hope was providing as the labor continued at a steady rate.

When the baby was crowning, Hope started to move out of the way for Jason but as Hope tried to stand, Lauren cried out. Tucker and Travis lowered her to the ground and Hope just got her hands in position in time to catch the baby.

There was a long, stunned silence. Then Hope called out, “It’s a girl!”

Jason moved Travis into place. The EMTs supplied him with the scissors—and how-to instructions—to cut his daughter’s umbilical cord. Then Hope swaddled the baby as if she’d done it a thousand times and handed her to her father.

“Oh, wow,” Lauren said, slumped back on the blanket. “I was sure she was another Bennett boy.”

Travis was staring at the tiny girl as if he’d just come upon a two-headed dog. He looked at his wife. “I have a daughter.”

Lauren looked at his face and burst into laughter. “A stubborn little girl who’s already raising hell,” she said. She nodded. “Yes, this is perfect.”

Travis looked pale.

“Travis,” Hope said. “Pull yourself together.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think that’s going to happen for the next eighteen years.”

TJ was pretty sure it was going to take even longer than that.

Then they bundled both baby and Lauren onto a gurney and into the back of the ambulance.

They sped off, Jason in his car right behind them. Everyone from TJ’s porch piled into cars and headed for the hospital as well.

Somehow, Hope ended up in the car with Phoebe and Joe, while TJ found Tucker and Delaney in his truck with him.

“Congratulations, you guys!” Delaney said, kissing him on the cheek. “Our new niece is gorgeous, isn’t she?”

He grinned at that. “Thanks and, yes, she takes after her mother.”

Delaney laughed. “And she clearly loves excitement already.”

TJ thought about that. More excitement. Another person to worry about. Another female to bring drama to his life. He was torn—he’d love for her to be a shy, quiet bookworm on one hand. On the other, Travis deserved a hellion.

“I’m so glad they had a girl,” Delaney said, settling back in the seat and smiling happily. “We have
a lot
of testosterone in this family.”

TJ loved that she already referred to the baby as
their
niece and their family as hers too.

With thoughts of family and belonging with the Bennetts, his mind went immediately to Hope.

She had a family here in Sapphire Falls too. And now they all knew it.

Wow, had he fucked up.

He’d outed her to Dan and Peyton. To everyone.

And they hadn’t had a chance to fully process it or talk about it.

Damn. She had every right to be upset with him about that.

But was it really so bad that they all knew now? It was the simple truth—Hope was Dan’s daughter. It didn’t have to be any more complicated than that.

But it was. It would be.

“Hey, Tuck,” TJ said. “Think there’s a place we can stop and get some pancakes?”

“You don’t want to go to the hospital?” Tucker asked.

“I’ll take them to go.”

“At almost three a.m.?” Tucker laughed. “I don’t think so.”

Yeah, dammit.

The coffee in the cafeteria at the hospital was terrible.

Which really sucked. Hope had the perfect excuse to have coffee without guilt for the first time in weeks and the coffee was bad.

Figured.

Going to fetch the terrible coffee, however, had been an excellent excuse to leave the tiny waiting area where Lauren and Travis’s friends and family were gathered.

Or maybe the room just seemed tiny with so many people and emotions filling it up.

So. Many. People.

The baby was fine, Lauren was fine, Travis was as fine as he could be expected to be now that he had a daughter. Everyone had seen Lauren and Travis and baby Whitney. Everyone had thanked and congratulated Hope on her role in Whitney’s arrival. Everyone had done
everything
.

So why were they all still hanging around here?

It was four in the morning. And not a single one of them looked or seemed tired. They were all happy, elated even.

Except the family’s friends, Dan and Peyton.

Hope sipped her horrible coffee in the hallway
outside
of the waiting area, watching through the window.

Not everyone in the room was bubbling over with joy and excitement, but everyone in that room was filled up with intense emotions, and Hope felt the hallway was the best place for her.

No, actually, back at TJ’s farm would be best. Or maybe even another town altogether.

What was she doing here?

She didn’t need to be here. She didn’t belong here. She wasn’t really a friend. She was no longer the only healthcare provider on the scene. She wasn’t family.

She shouldn’t be here.

She pushed away from the wall just as she heard someone call out to her.

“Hope!”

Hope turned to see Kathy Bennett coming toward her, a huge I’m-a-new-grandma smile on her face.

The pure joy in Kathy’s eyes made Hope choke up as the woman came to stand in front of her.

“Lauren told me how amazing you were. How you kept her calm, and used the lavender to relax her, and coached them all through everything.” She took Hope’s hands in hers. “Thank you so much for being there and doing what you did.”

Yeah. What she’d done. A big fat nothing. The lavender bottle had been empty and Lauren’s delivery had been progressing nicely. Sure, she might have had Whitney on the couch or on the front seat of Travis’s truck, but that baby girl had been in charge all along.

Hope had pretty much bullshitted her way through the whole thing.

“I just reacted,” Hope said. “I’m so glad everything turned out well. Whitney is beautiful.”

“She is, isn’t she?”

Kathy was positively glowing, and Hope couldn’t help her smile.

TJ’s mother squeezed her hands again and then let go. But she didn’t go back into the waiting room. She leaned back against the wall beside Hope, taking in Hope’s view of Kathy’s family.

“I’m so very blessed,” she said.

Hope looked at her. “Your family is…” She couldn’t find the right word.

Overwhelming probably wasn’t the appropriate term—or at least not one that Kathy would appreciate. Boisterous would also maybe not be taken well. “They’re unlike anything I’ve experienced before,” she finally said.

Kathy laughed at that. “Very political answer.”

Hope smiled. “Well, it’s true. It was always just my mom and me. It was a lot…quieter.”

Kathy laughed again. “I’m sure. But you’ll get used to it. Or you’ll learn to tell them they need to shut up. Or you’ll learn to appreciate long walks in the countryside.”

“I do like the countryside.”

“And you have a good ten acres between TJ’s place and Travis’s place,” Kathy said. “Ten acres is a good buffer.”

Hope felt her heart trip. Kathy was talking as though Hope was staying.

“Kathy…” Hope wet her lips and took a deep breath. “I didn’t come to Sapphire Falls because of TJ.”

“You came because of Dan,” Kathy said. She looked over at Hope. “You look so much like your mother.”

Hope wasn’t sure what to say. “You knew?”

“Thomas told me before I came over that morning. But I would have known the minute I saw you. I’ll bet Dan almost fell over when
he
saw you.”

“He was, um, distracted when he first saw me. And it was kind of dark.” Her gaze went back to where Dan was sitting on the opposite side of the room from Peyton. He looked miserable.

Kathy nodded. “Well, he knows now. Give him time.”

Hope’s throat constricted and she felt stinging in her eyes. “He actually always knew. He’s had about twenty-six years to adjust.”

Kathy pushed away from the wall. “He knew Melody was pregnant?”

Hope pressed her lips together and nodded. “She wanted to come back here and he told her not to. He chose JoEllen.”

Kathy’s eyes filled with sympathy. “Honey, I’m sorry.”

Hope hugged her arms to her body. “I’m not. I had a wonderful mother who loved me enough for both of them. And I only came here to meet him, not to start a relationship. I wasn’t even going to tell him who I was. So this is fine.”

“But now that you’re here—”

“I’m not staying,” Hope said, cutting her off. She couldn’t.
That
would be crazy. “I did what I came to do.” She’d met her father. And she’d had a hot fling with a farmer she would never get out of her system.

She’d definitely followed in her mother’s footsteps.

Kathy frowned slightly. “What about TJ?”

Hope’s eyes went to the waiting room window again. TJ, big, gorgeous and—no matter what he said—in his element in the midst of all the people and emotion of the moment, was lounging on one end of a sofa, talking to Tucker.

She didn’t know what to say. About him or
to
him.

In his yard, with the adrenaline pumping from the baby coming and the chaos with Jason and the EMTs arriving, she’d welcomed his hug. She’d felt right, up against him. In the midst of the swirling craziness around them, he’d felt like the calm spot where she could catch her breath.

But now…

He’d outed her to Dan and Peyton. To everyone. All of the women she’d started friendships with now knew she’d lied to them. She’d caused a rift between Dan and Peyton. She’d confused Peyton about
their
relationship and Peyton was either going to realize that Hope had lied to her too, or she was going to want to get even closer.

Hope didn’t do closer.

Basically, he’d complicated everything. He’d been defending her, sort of, but for a guy who claimed to dislike drama, he’d sure jumped into the middle of it.

“TJ’s wonderful, of course,” Hope said. “But you know our story now.” She focused on Kathy instead of the man she was afraid she might be falling in love with. “You know we just met.”

Kathy looked into her eyes. “You made him smile again.”

Hope’s breath caught in her chest.

“And that makes me greedy to have you stay. I’d love to see him smiling for a while. But I understand.”

Hope felt her stomach tighten. She loved that TJ was smiling again. That his shoulder was better. That he knew what it was like to be with a woman who sincerely
liked
him. That he knew he could leave Michelle at her mom’s house and everything would still be fine.

But to stay and give him more than that? She didn’t know how to do long term. She had no role model for that. She had no context. Except a few days in the midst of the Bennetts. And her head was still spinning from all of that.

“My mom talked about her adventures and the greater journey she was on,” Hope said. “I’ve never entertained the idea of being in one place with the same group of people for life.”

Kathy nodded. “I know. But I do wonder if Melody had everything she wanted, or if she told herself she did because she couldn’t have what she really wanted.”

Hope stared at Kathy. A part of her felt as if she should argue. She could tell Kathy that Melody had been the happiest person Hope had ever known and that she’d experienced things that some people had never even heard of outside of story books.

But she couldn’t make the words come.

Because…Kathy was right.

Melody
had
entertained the idea of settling down, in one place, with one man, and making a home and family. She’d called Dan after she left. She’d wanted to come back.

What if he’d said yes? What if he’d wanted to marry her? What if Jo hadn’t needed him?

The realization that she could have grown up in Sapphire Falls rocked through Hope.

She could have grown up with Phoebe and Hailey and the Bennett boys. Phoebe might have been her BFF. She might have dated TJ. She would have had a crush on him for sure.

Hope shook her head. That was all too weird. But had Melody
really
thought about settling down here? Marrying Dan and raising corn and chickens?

Hope knew she had. She’d wanted to come back to him.

Suddenly everything seemed jumbled. Everything Hope thought she knew now seemed off-kilter. Melody had been a free spirit, enjoying learning new things, meeting new people, going to new places.

But…was that because she couldn’t be where she really wanted to be? Where she truly belonged?

Maybe she’d been searching for another place or other people where she could put her roots down. When she’d been twenty, she’d wanted to see the world. That was normal twenty-year-old stuff. But most people didn’t live their entire lives that way, just blowing in the wind, bouncing around in the world.

Unless they never found a place to be happily settled.