Homeward Bound (13 page)

"Shut up," Jake growled back. "And, Chloe, eat your peas."

"Thanks for nothing, Uncle Trevor."

Kate tried to keep a straight face through the remainder of the dinner. Jake wouldn't look at her. Chloe made faces every time she took a bite of peas. Trevor tormented Jake with his ever-present smirk. Kate had never known how much she wanted to feel like a part of a family until she met them.

After dinner they retired to the living room to watch a movie; Chloe and Trevor scrambled for the two chairs, leaving Kate to share the sofa with Jake. Kate had a sneaking suspicion that Jake had masterminded the ploy, and feigned innocence for her benefit. What he lacked in tact, he made up for in good intentions.

By nine o'clock she found that the Callahans had more in common man their blond hair and blue eyes. They were all fast asleep. Chloe and Trevor woke in separate intervals and dragged themselves off to bed. She was thankful that they were too groggy to notice much of anything.

Jake had slumped down until his head ended up in her lap. He looked sweet when he slept. Relaxed and content. This was a side of himself that he usually reserved for his daughter. Not wishing to lose the closeness, she settled in to view the remainder of the movie.

* * * *

Jake turned his head in an effort to find a more comfortable position on the lumpy pillow. He realized something was wrong when his pillow hiccupped. He raised his heavy eyelids and stared up into Kate's tear-stained face. Her fingers tightened around his hand, her gaze remained transfixed on the small screen.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Embarrassed that she'd been caught, she wiped her hand across her damp cheek and forced a smile. "Nothing."

"Why are you crying?"

"Because it was so . . . sad when Elliott said goodbye."

Is this something I'm supposed to understand? And who the hell is Elliott? "What are you talking about?"

"E.T. had to go home, and Elliott wanted him to stay."

He rubbed the sleep from his eyes to cover his smile of relief. She sobbed over a dumb children's movie! Across half of America tonight, ten million women cried their eyes out over the ugliest-looking creature to grace the small screen. There must be some logic he failed to grasp.

"Don't cry, Kate. He'll come back in the sequel."

"Ooh," she yelped, pushing him off the couch and onto the floor. Kate didn't like to be teased, he noted from his vantage point on the floor, although she sure had dished out her fair portion of sarcasm. "You're impossible!"

As she stood up, he grabbed on to her leg and sent her tumbling into his lap. She squirmed and wriggled with annoyance, but in the end she settled down and rested her head on his shoulder. She could bare her claws, but a gentle stroke in the right place and she curled right into him and purred.

"I should go, Jake."

"Do you want me to come?"

She hesitated, and then shook her head. "No."

"May I ask why?"

"It isn't because I don't want you. I can't explain it. I feel funny about Chloe being home. I know it doesn't make sense since we won't be in the same house, but I would rather our first time be when she's at school or somewhere else. Do you understand?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I do. That's why I didn't stay yesterday, but you got mad at me."

"All right. So you're smarter than me about these things, Callahan. No need to rub it in."

She exhaled a deep sigh and closed her eyes. She seemed to be struggling to maintain her resolve. Her heart did the right thing, but her body punished her for it. He recognized the ache of need versus conscience.

"Do you suppose we could discuss it again tomorrow over breakfast at your place?"

"I haven't got much food in my refrigerator."

"You've got exactly what I'm hungry for, Kate."

Chapter Eight

A loud crash just outside her window sent Kate flying from the bed in the very early hours of the morning. She grappled with the covers, trying to remember if she’d locked the door the evening before. She fumbled around in the dark for a pair of sweat pants, keeping as quiet as possible. The rustling continued outside her open window. She crawled along the wall and raised one hand to pull down the glass before standing to bolt it shut.

She couldn't see in the darkness, but the sound seemed to be retreating towards the back. Could it be Jake?
 
He had a key. He could come in through either door if he chose.

Like a cat burglar, she prowled through the halls towards the back of the house. A travel umbrella near the door was the only thing she could find to defend her maidenly virtue. She prayed she wouldn't need it.

Her heart pounded against her ribs. Beads of perspiration formed on her forehead. Calm down. This isn't New York. She need only scream for help, and someone next door would hear her.

She turned the handle very slowly, cringing when it gave out a squeak. With the umbrella readied in her hands, she flipped on the kitchen light with her elbow and stepped bravely outside to face her intruder.

"Moo," came the long, low cry.

She jumped back quickly and slumped against the doorframe for support. She felt like an idiot. The major threat against her life-- a loose cow, trampling her newly planted strawberry patch. Its two huge eyes shone in the light, staring sadly. All cows had sad eyes, she reminded herself, but this one seemed different. It took her only a second to realize that this was one of the pregnant cows from the barn.

She knew nothing about cow-birth, but she was half-afraid that the animal would drop a calf in her garden if she didn't get it some help.

"Don't go anywhere," she told the animal.

As she crossed the lawn, she debated about knocking on the door. She didn't need to wake the entire house when she knew they never locked the back door. Using one hand to guide herself along the wall, she made her way silently though the house without mishap.

Entering Jake's bedroom took a little more courage. She tapped lightly but received no response. She opened the door halfway and whispered his name, but he didn't stir. And he accused her of being a heavy sleeper!

"Jake," she whispered again, inching closer to the bed with her hand out to prevent herself from knocking into anything. She made contact with his leg and shook it lightly. Damn! He was comatose. "Jake, wake up."

She roughly judged where his shoulder would be and reached out to push him harder. Jake caught her wrist and pulled her down onto the bed with lightning speed. His hand came across her mouth to cut off her surprised cry.

"Couldn't you wait for breakfast?" he joked, pinning her firmly under the weight of his body.

She took a few deep breaths to restore her rattled nerves to merely high-strung. The man had a twisted sense of humor. She wanted to be angry with him for scaring the life out of her, but she‘d broken into his house.

"Get off of me," she whispered, hoping no one would hear the commotion and catch her in Jake's bedroom in such an embarrassing position. Since he wore nothing below the thin blanket, it didn't look good.

However, he felt great. His attempt to calm her down by tenderly stroking her body sent her senses into another kind of turmoil. Her gasp turned to a sigh, her sigh to a moan. As usual, he had managed to make all purpose desert her normally reasonable mind. He should register his hands with the U.S. Patent Office as a secret weapon.

"What have we here?" he asked. She could imagine, more than see, his smug grin. "I've trapped me a trespasser."

Now she remembered why she’d come. "And there's one in my backyard."

He rolled off her. "What?"
 
He turned on the lamp, and they both squinted against the blast of light. "Are you all right?"

No. I'm hot as hell, she wanted to scream. Instead she scrambled to her knees and put a little distance between them. "One of the cows got out of the barn. A pregnant one."

"Oh." He relaxed when he realized there was no danger. "It must be her time. I guess I better get her back to the barn."

"Should I do anything?"

"Like boil water?" he teased.

"Don't make fun of me, Jake. I'm trying to learn."

He smiled. "Okay. Could you make some coffee while I go wake Trevor? And not that decaf stuff. Something we'll feel."

"Sure."

"Just leave it on the counter if you'll feel too squeamish to come into the barn."

"I'll be there." She sat back on her heels and took a minute to glance around Jake's bedroom. Solid oak furniture dwarfed the large room. The brown, beige, and green print of the curtains and matching comforter gave the room a distinctly bachelor look. Only the antique rocking chair in the corner of the room gave any indication that Jake was a family man.

Jake pulled himself up to a sitting position and carefully rearranged the sheet. "Kate? Are you going to leave so that I can get up?"

Having Jake at the disadvantage for once, she grinned. "Why would I want to do that?"

"I don't have anything on."

"Do you think I didn't notice that when you were on top of me?" The second he began to move, her bravado failed.

His deep, rich laughter echoed through the house, and she darted out the door before anyone awoke to find her with Jake. Being found in the kitchen with Mr. Coffee would be easier to explain.

* * * *

Jake couldn't imagine what Kate had expected to see. If she pictured some animal version of a maternity ward, she had herself another rude awakening that morning. Other than a bed of fresh straw that Trevor pitch forked around the stall, the barn bore little resemblance to the sanitary white conditions she seemed to think more appropriate.

Although birth was as natural as the dawn, at times farmers employed methods to hurry the process along--an idea that Kate obviously found repulsive in theory and nauseating in practice. Once the front legs and head of the calf emerged, Jake tied a rope around its legs. Trevor yanked it out while Jake caught the newborn.

Jake glanced up and saw Kate doubled over with her hand covering her mouth. "Go back to the house."

"I'm fine," she insisted, looking anything but fine.

"No, you're not." He motioned towards his daughter. "Chloe, go with her."

Chloe put her arm around Kate's back. "She'll be okay. She just doesn't understand that you were making it easier for the mother and safer for the baby."

"Are you sure?" Kate asked skeptically. "It looked like it hurt to me."

Chloe eased her forward. "It would hurt more to wait it out. Come on. Help him stand up now. That's the best part. Then you'll see he's all right."

Jake thought for a moment to take Kate to the house himself, but he noticed that some of the color had returned to her face. He moved back and let Chloe show her what to do.

"You can give him support, but he gets up on his own."

As Kate helped the new calf struggle to its feet, Jake admired the many contradictions of Kate. Chloe's tattered old overalls covered her pale green designer sweat suit. Bits of straw stuck out of the rich, stylish brown hair that fell halfway down her back. She didn't flinch when she rested her manicured fingers against the hind quarter of the animal and kept him straight until he stood on his own.

She seemed to be half society girl, half farm girl. A woman who apparently came from neither world, but fit naturally in both. Once again he had to wonder just who she was.

"Do I have to go to school today?" Chloe asked.

Jake gazed at Kate's averted face and bit back a smile. "Yes. But you won't have to do your chores this afternoon."

"Oh, Dad."

"You're off all next week."

Chloe hunched her shoulders and scuffed her feet across the floor. "Whoop-de-do. We'll be planting all next week. Some vacation."

"Well. I was going to take you to the mall on Saturday to buy a dress for Easter mass, but--"

"I'm going. I'm going." Chloe scooted out the door before he could rescind his promise.

Kate waved a scolding finger in his face. "Bribery, Jake? I thought that was a parental no-no."