North of Heartbreak (13 page)

Maddy grinned and caressed her son’s head with a shaky hand. “Hello, Jacob.”

“That’s a strong name.” Liam stroked one large finger across the baby’s closed fist. He laughed. “But he’ll have to grow into it. Look how tiny he is.”

Willa watched him examine the baby as she clamped and cut the cord tethering child to mother. The huge smile on his face made it seem as if he was the father not just some bystander helping with the delivery.

She would give anything to see him react with the same joy and wonder to the birth of his own child.

Anything.

Chapter Fourteen

“Hey, Willa, are you okay?”

She glanced up. Liam was looking at her, his forehead furrowed. He reached out with one hand and very gently wiped something from her face. His hand came away wet.

She pulled back, her heart sinking. She hadn’t even realized she was crying. Willa pinned a smile on her face. “I’m okay. Births are emotional events. For everyone.”

His expression didn’t change. “You’re sure that’s all it is?”

“Yep.” She turned away to fiddle with her equipment, hoping, praying he’d accept that explanation. “I also cry at sappy TV shows and movies.”

“Your stomach okay now?”

“Seems to be,” she said in a deliberately casual, breezy tone. “Would you get some warm water for me? I’d like to clean him up a little.”

Liam continued to stare. “Sure,” he said finally. He left the room, returning with a large bowl of warm water and a face cloth.

Willa washed the baby, talking softly to him when he cried. “Don’t cry little one, you’re okay.” Liam took the dirty water away and brought her back another fresh bowlful, so she was able to get Jacob cleaned up. She put a tiny diaper on him and wrapped him snugly in a couple of baby blankets.

Liam watched every move she made as if taking mental notes.

Maddy moaned and Willa looked for Liam “Can you take the baby while I deliver the afterbirth?”

“Sure.” He scooped the child out of her arms. “Hey, big guy,” he crooned. “You’re looking good.”

Liam looked relaxed with the baby in his arms. Happy and comfortable, as if he had several children.

He bent down and put his nose on the baby’s head. “How come babies smell so good?”

“I think there’s a law of physics explaining it,” Willa said absently as she dealt with the afterbirth.

He laughed and cradled the boy more snugly. “I think I could get used to this.” He turned his head and looked right at her.

The bottom fell out of Willa’s stomach. “What?” Buzzing in her ears had her attempting to breath deep, but there was no air.

“Wait until he gets hungry,” Maddy replied, breaking through the static. “You probably wouldn’t like that quite so much.”

Yes, yes, she was right. Willa took another breath, injecting oxygen into her lungs. “Babies are a lot of work,” she added. “They need constant care and feeding around the clock too.”

She was able to get Maddy cleaned up a little and settled on the couch with her son in her arms when the sound of engines outside caught their attention. The front door burst open. Two men and several women crowded into the house.

“Maddy?” the man in front shouted.

“I’m here, Hank, and everything’s fine,” Maddy told him, laughing.

He rushed to her side and knelt next to her, touching his wife and newborn baby with shaking hands. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it for the delivery, sweetheart.”

“You couldn’t have known. I wasn’t due for another three weeks. I thought it was false labor until my water broke. Jim called 9-1-1 and Willa and Liam arrived just in time.”

Hank turned to look at them as if he hadn’t been aware they were even in the room. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad we got here in time,” Willa said with a smile. “We’ll have to take Maddy and your son into Fairbanks for a checkup, but I don’t anticipate any problems. The delivery was very simple and straightforward.”

At the hospital, Willa made arrangements to have mother and child flown home after several days’ recovery time and treatment for Maddy’s high blood pressure.

“How are you feeling now?” Liam asked once they were back in the air and on their way to Stony Creek.

She rubbed her hand over her belly. “Not so good. I probably should’ve eaten something in Fairbanks. I get queasy if I skip a meal.”

“I grabbed a banana for you while you were talking with the doctor.” He angled his thumb over his shoulder and she spied a bag just behind his seat.

“Thank you.” She opened the bag and discovered it had more than one banana. “Do you want one?”

He shrugged. “Maybe later.”

She peeled one and opened her mouth to take a bite.

She paused as she realized Liam was staring at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Not a damn thing.”

She nearly dropped the banana. “What?”

His gaze rose until it met her eyes and she caught her breath as it singed her skin.

“You can’t possibly find me…” She paused, searching for the correct word—hell, any word—that might make sense in the situation.

“Sexy,” he suggested in a growl that made a suggestion of its own.

She deliberately took a bite of the banana. He watched her with a smile that slowly transformed his face into a study in desire.

“I’m pregnant.” That should put a stop to his ridiculous behavior.

One shoulder rose and fell. “One less thing to worry about.”

“I…you…” she sputtered.
“What?”

His laughter filled the cockpit, and the fist around her throat let go. “It’s not like I can get you
more
pregnant.”

“You actually still…want me?”

The smile disappeared and he looked away before meeting her gaze again. “Yeah.”

“You are the most confusing man I’ve ever met.”

“Kind of surprised me too.”

Now it was her turn to growl, but it didn’t sound sexy like his. “You’re not supposed to treat me as if you still care.”

“I
do
still care.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” he said, throwing one hand up in the air. “Maybe because nothing’s changed. You’re still you and I’m still me.”

“I’m pregnant,” she yelled. “You’re supposed to be angry and hurt and bitter.”

“I am,” he hollered back. “Believe me, I am. But I’m as much to blame for
this
—” he pointed at her belly, “—as you.”

His words circled her head for long seconds. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know.” He sighed and rubbed his temple. “I really don’t know what to think or how to feel or what to do. I was angry when I left your place last night, but after delivering that baby with you…” His voice trailed off for a moment. “I realized there was more to this than just you and me. There’s an us now. To ignore the facts would be stupid and I’d like to think I’m not that big of a moron.” He paused. “Or jerk.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“What do you want to do?”

Tears waterlogged her words. “I don’t know.”

“Neither do I.”

Willa turned her head away and let her tears trickle down her face. Alone. That’s what she was, what she was meant to be.

Something warm stroked her hand then fingers wrapped around her palm. She closed her hand around Liam’s, leaned her head against the back of her seat and closed her eyes.

A bump woke her and she discovered they were on the Stony Creek runway.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Liam said as he taxied the plane toward the clinic. “I’m going to unload the medical supplies while you do your paperwork. When you’re done, you’re going back to your place to sleep.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but he spoke first. “Don’t argue. You need the rest.” He glanced at her and added, “Please.”

“And after that?”

“I don’t have that figured out yet.”

“Okay.” That was the last thing she said to him before she escaped to her apartment.

The next morning arrived too early, but Willa felt better for the sleep she’d gotten. She was even able to keep down some toast with peanut butter without wishing she hadn’t eaten anything.

The patient load was light. She figured most folks who were going to get the flu had already had it. No matter how hard she tried to keep herself busy, all she could think about was the baby she carried.

The last time she’d gotten pregnant, she’d mourned, terrified to bring a child into the world of abuse and pain she couldn’t find a way out of. Until she’d miscarried and nearly bled to death. If she hadn’t made it out to the driveway before collapsing, she’d have died, as well.

Now, she didn’t know what to think or how to feel. Liam wasn’t her ex-husband. But he’d been scarred by a woman in ways few people could understand.

She did.

The baby was her miracle, but his nightmare.

Just after lunch the radio screamed to life.

“Tundra Air to Med-One, over.”

“Willa here, Tundra Air, over.”

“We’ve got a couple of missing kids. Uncle returned home from a hunting trip to coordinate the search, over.”

“Understood. How can I help, over?”

“At least one of the kids is injured. Request you join the search, over.”

“Roger, Tundra Air. ETA of pick-up, over?”

“Ten minutes, over.”

“Roger, Med-One out.”

“Elizabeth,” Willa called.

“I heard,” she replied.

They met outside the storage area for all Willa’s portable equipment and supplies, and pulled out a half-dozen boxes.

“You sure you want to take all this?” Elizabeth asked.

“Jason just said injured. He didn’t say how. I’d best be prepared.”

“Damn kids, should know better than to run off.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t intentional.”

“Somehow I don’t think that excuse is going to go over real well when they get found.”

“Oh?”

“Those kids are going to get grounded for a year.”

Willa stopped and looked at Elizabeth. “I hope that’s all they get.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Me too.”

The sound of the plane’s engines had the two women moving to the back door. Liam was running toward them.

“There’s two more kits just inside the door,” Willa told him, raising her voice above the noise of the twin props. She and Elizabeth put their med kits in the plane. Liam was there with the last two before they were done.

Willa buckled herself in as he did the same then immediately taxied the plane toward the runway.

“Jason didn’t give many details,” she said after putting on the copilot headset. “Can you fill me in?”

Liam talked as he revved up the engines. “Two boys, both fourteen years old, have been missing for sixteen hours. Their uncle came back to town to get more people to help with the search and to report that they’re sure at least one of them is injured.”

“How did the kids get lost and how do they know one of them is injured?”

“The hunting party had split up to track and stalk a caribou herd on foot. The boys were with their uncle when something set the herd off and they stampeded. Some of the hunters made kills, so it was a couple of hours before anyone realized they’d lost track of the boys. One of their rifles was found broken into bits along with a ripped coat. There was blood on it.”

“Why didn’t they radio for help?”

“The stampede went through their camp. Most of their equipment and tents were destroyed.”

“Good grief.”

“They’ve been tracking the boys, but the herd is still milling around and messing up the trail.”

“Sixteen hours is a long time.”

“Too long, especially if one of them is injured.”

“Until they’re found there’s little I can do.”

“We’re part of an aerial search team. Three planes are coming from Fairbanks, but we’re the closest. I think they’re hoping the boys will create some kind of signal that can be seen from the air.”

“Like a fire or smoke?”

“That or even shape rocks into an SOS.”

“So, essentially, I’m your spotter?”

“Yeah.” He smiled at her. “Hopefully we’ll find them quickly so you can work your medical magic and we have a happy ending to this story.”

“Happy endings are devoutly to be hoped for,” she said, staring out the windshield. As a child she’d believed everyone could have a happy ending. Find love with a handsome prince, have children and live the dream, but the handsome hero of her story had turned out to be a villain. “But we don’t always get them, do we?”

Liam didn’t respond.

She finally glanced at him and discovered a look of extreme concentration on his face.

“Why not?” he asked.

“Why not…what?”

“Why can’t we have our own happy ending?”

“Because it’s not realistic to expect one.”

“I know that, but if we decide to have one, if we choose to do everything needed to have one, why couldn’t we?”

“I didn’t understand a word of what you just said.”

“We just have to reverse everything that’s in the way of the happy ending.”

He had totally lost her. “Huh?”

“What’s the barrier, Willa, to you being happy?”

Her jaw fell open. “I, uh…it isn’t just one thing.”

He sat up straighter in his seat and resettled his shoulders. “So list them.”

“This is crazy,” she muttered. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“If you’re not happy, what are you?” He glanced at her. “Come on, just say it.”

“Fine. I’m alone. I’m pregnant. I’m scared.” About so many things. “Happy now?” she shot back at him.

“No.” He snorted. “You’re pregnant and I’m…terrified.”

“You’re terrified of a baby?”

“No, yes…I—” He broke off, his focus on something on the ground. “What’s that?”

She whipped her head around to look. A thin wisp of smoke snaked its way toward the sky off to the north. “It’s something or somebody.”

Liam turned the plane toward it.

“Could this be one of the search teams?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Like I said only one guy came in to report, and the rest split up to look for the kids.”

They were nearly on the smoke. Liam guided the plane lower and began a wide turn around the area.

Willa scanned the ground looking for the source of the smoke and anything out of place that might indicate a human presence. “Look, there’s an Inukshuk.”

“A what?”

“There aren’t a lot of trees this far north, so the Inuit use stones to create a manlike figure. The longer arm points in the direction the person is traveling. See it?”

“Yeah, the smoke seems to be coming from right next to it.”

“Could they have started a fire to keep warm during the night?”

“And left it smoking?” He answered his own question almost immediately. “They might have.” He picked up the radio. “I’m calling it in. Keep looking for the boys. We’ll follow the Inukshuk.”

Willa sat forward, straining to see as much of the land as she could as they passed over it.