Special Delivery (Mountain Meadow Homecoming 1) (16 page)

Holly had just put Noelle down when she heard a knock at the front door. She frowned. She didn’t know anyone, and folks knew Jake wasn’t here. She came downstairs but couldn’t see anything through the stained glass bordering each side of the doorway. She hesitated, then shook off the paranoia. No way could Spence have found her. She opened the door and smiled when she saw Evan’s rangy frame standing on the porch. He turned as she opened the door wider, revealing the bandage on his head.

“Oh, Evan! What happened?”

His expression was rueful. “I wrecked my car last night when I took Jenny home. They let me out of the hospital, but,” he added, “I’m supposed to have someone keeping an eye on me for a couple of days. A concussion, you know.”

Her heart went out to him. As sarcastic as he could be, she sensed vulnerability beneath it. “Come on in. You have to stay here. Jake won’t mind. Aren’t you supposed to have someone check on you every few hours?” Before he could open his mouth to answer, she continued. “That won’t be a problem because we’re up with Noelle anyway, so you can spend a couple of nights. I was just getting ready to start dinner. Come back to the kitchen.”

She pulled him into the house and shut the door. As she led the way back to the kitchen, she heard the
click
of the dead bolt. She spun, narrowing her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Just locking the door again.” Evan’s expression was innocent. After a heartbeat or two, Holly nodded.

“Come back and have a seat, Evan,” she invited. “Would you like tea or coffee?”

“Coffee if it’s not too much trouble.” He smiled, oozing charm. “And some of those great chocolate chip cookies if you still have any.”

Holly flushed with pleasure. “Sure.”

Underneath the glower he normally wore, he was very attractive. Holly saw why Jenny was drawn to him. Too bad they were estranged. She set a plate of cookies and a cup of coffee in front of him.

“Cream or sugar?”

“No.”

Holly plopped into the chair across from him and leaned her elbows on the table. “Is Dr. Owens all right?”

Evan paused with a mouthful of cookie, his expression startled. He swallowed. “It happened after I dropped her off. I…uh…missed the curve in her drive.”

Holly touched his forearm. “Well, I’m glad you’re all right. And you must stay here. I know Jake will say the same thing. There’s plenty of room.”

Evan quirked an eyebrow. “He likes you, you know.”

“I like him, too,” she admitted totally unable to stop the huge smile that curled her mouth.

They both heard the key in the lock. Tyler and Jake were coming down the hall. Holly grinned at them, but her smile faded as she saw Tyler’s pinched, pale face and Jake’s serious expression. When she started to rise, Jake waved her back. Her stomach tightened.

“Tyler? Jake? What’s wrong?”

“Tyler saw Spence Dilby at Tarpley’s this afternoon,” Jake said.

Fear grabbed her by the throat. Her first instinct was to grab Tyler and Noelle and take off. Then she locked gazes with Jake, his hazel eyes steady, reassuring. She took a deep breath and addressed her brother. “Are you okay, Ty? Did he see you? He didn’t do anything, did he?”

Jake circled the kitchen table, crouching next to her. “Holly, it’s okay. He didn’t see Tyler.”

She buried her face in Jake’s shoulder. For a moment, just the two of them existed. “He saw the newspaper article, honey,” he whispered. “He saw your picture and knows you’re living here.”

Jake stroked her hair off her face. She brushed away her tears, and blew out a breath. “I won’t let him threaten me, Jake.”

“I know, and I’ll be right beside you to help.”

Evan leaned forward. “Did you list Dilby as the father on the birth certificate?”

“No. When I told him I was pregnant he denied being the father and broke off our engagement. Only after he discovered his new fiancée couldn’t have children did he come back claiming he wanted the baby.”

“You’ve already met the criteria required by the commonwealth to establish you as natural parent. After all, you’ve got two witnesses right here with you who can verify you gave birth to Noelle. Dilby will have to go through the courts and present genetic tests, but I take it from your reactions legalities aren’t your primary concern.”

Jake pulled his handkerchief from his back pocket and handed it to Holly. “You’re right, Ev, that’s not the main worry. The last time Spence Dilby was around Tyler and Holly, he shoved Tyler and slapped her around. I don’t think his approach will be through the courts.”

“He’s a mean man,” Tyler whispered. “Spence scares me.”

“Oh, honey.” She put her arm around him. This was exactly why she had left Lynchburg.

“Don’t worry, Tyler,” Jake said at the same time. “We’re going to make sure you’re okay and Spence can’t get to any of you.”

Evan grinned at them. “Holly invited me to stay here the next couple days since I’m supposed to be taking it easy with my concussion—if it’s okay with you, bro.”

Jake laughed. “Okay? It’s great, a perfect solution, Evan. She won’t be here by herself while I’m at work and Tyler’s at school. Then we hit the weekend, and I happen to have both days off. After…well, we’ll figure it out.”

Holly leaned against Jake’s muscular arm and glanced at Evan. “I’d begun to lose faith in people before I came here, but everyone in this town has been so wonderful. I’m beginning to think arriving in Mountain Meadow was a miracle not an accident.”

* * * *

Jenny was tired when she left the hospital. Between morning rounds and the ones she just finished, it had been a long day. With more retirees in the area, the need was growing for additional doctors and medical facilities to handle their health concerns, but a different patient concerned her now. Jenny told Razawi she would check on Evan as she went home. She wondered what mad impulse had made her volunteer. Evan had been nothing but a thorn in her side. He had dredged up and dissected some of the worst memories of her life, and now she had volunteered to see how he was doing. His house wasn’t even on her way. She should have her head examined. On second thought, she wasn’t sure she wanted to examine her motives.

Jenny pulled into the drive. Just one light burned in his windows. When she knocked on the door, she got no answer. The door was unlocked. Her hand shook a bit as she pushed it open. Was she really going inside? He would for sure bite her head off if he was here.

“Evan,” she called. No answer. “Evan?” This time she called louder, but there was still no answer. Forgetting how he might react to her walking in, Jenny stepped into the foyer and began searching room to room, fear growing that something had happened.

When she didn’t find him anywhere downstairs, she dashed upstairs. The bed in his room was rumpled, his clothes from last night lay on the floor, but a quick check in the bathroom told her he was not there.
Calm down.
Tamping down her panic, she ran back downstairs and out onto the porch, shutting the door behind her.

Good. Jake was home. Jenny hurried across the yards and dashed up the front steps to the wide porch. She banged on the door, shifting from foot to foot. As soon as the door opened, Jenny launched in.

“Oh good, Jake. I came by to check on Evan, but…”

“…I wasn’t home?” Evan’s cool voice rumbled from above her head, completing her sentence.

Jenny stared at him. Afraid what her eyes might reveal, she blanked her expression. “I see you’re doing all right, Evan. Dr. Razawi will be glad to hear that. Well,” she allowed herself a small, professional smile, “now I see you’re doing so well, I’ll be on my way.”

“Don’t you want to come in and say hello to Jake and Holly?” Evan asked. Jenny stopped with her back to him. Tension tightened her shoulders underneath her wool overcoat. “Will you come in if I promise to play nice?”

She was so tired of this, so tired of trying to fight what had never died, at least not on her part.

“I can’t. I can handle the occasional glimpses of you, but I can’t deal with all this verbal sniping, Evan. That’s your forte, not mine,” she finished on a husky whisper.

She heard him stop just behind her. The tension increased until she thought she would scream.

“Jenny…” Evan began. She turned just in time to see Jake step into the doorway with Noelle on his shoulder.

“Hi, Jen. Did you come to check on Evan, or Holly and Noelle?”

Ignoring Evan, she responded, “Evan, but I can see he’s all right, so I’ll head home.”

“No way. Holly would kill me if you didn’t come in to say hi. Have dinner with us. We’re throwing burgers on the grill.”

Jenny smiled in spite of herself. “Jake, it’s two weeks till Christmas. People don’t grill this time of year.”

“I do.”

“Besides, it’s been a long day. I…I lost a patient today. Heart attack. I’m not the best company. I should go. I’ll check in on Holly and Noelle tomorrow.”

Evan touched her then. She drew away, but she saw from his narrowed gray eyes he’d felt the tremble in her body. “Stay,” he murmured. “You could use some company. If I’m the problem, I’ll go home.”

Jenny stared at him. Since when had Evan Richardson become a human being?

Jake eyed them. “I’ll let you sort this out. Noelle’s hungry and Holly wants to nurse. There will be plenty of food for everyone.”

Jake disappeared. Evan still had his hand on Jenny’s arm. “Why are you doing this?” she whispered.

“What?”

“Why are you being nice?”

He quirked a brow. “You think I can’t be?”

“I think you choose not to.”

“Holly’s former fiancé stopped at Tarpley’s. He saw the article and started asking questions,” Evan commented. “She could use some company.”

“Oh no,” Jenny cried. “We have to keep him away. You know she had to put a protective order in place. Someone should stay with her and the baby during the day.”

“I am.”

She gaped. “You?”

Evan grinned, a mischievous expression she hadn’t expected to ever see again, and her heart lurched. “When she saw my bandage, I told her about my terrible concussion and how you sent me home, but I needed someone to check on me, and she invited me to stay with Jake and her for the next two days.”

Jenny laughed, amazed she could. “Oh, Evan, that’s brilliant. Now she won’t feel like she’s a prisoner with a watchdog.” She reached out to squeeze his arm but pulled her hand back when she felt the warm, hair-covered skin of his forearm. Evan covered her hand with his, holding it in place.

“Stay, Jenny.” His voice was urgent. “Don’t let me drive you away from your friends.”

She blinked and bit her lip. Where was the sarcasm? The taunting? Did she even dare trust this Evan? “Okay.”

He took her coat and her bag and hung them on the hooks on the hall tree. Then he let Jenny precede him down the narrow corridor to the kitchen at the rear of the house. They paused, feeling a little like they had stepped into a Norman Rockwell painting. Tyler chewed his pencil as he pondered the textbook in front of him. Holly sat in a chair nearby, nursing the baby, and Jake had just popped a French fry in her mouth before leaning down to kiss her. Anyone looking at them could see they were falling head over heels in love with each other.

“They look so right together,” Jenny marveled, “like they’re already a family.”

“They are,” Evan confirmed from behind her. “Even if they don’t know it for sure, they already are.”

She glanced over her shoulder, and he stared back. A fleeting instant of might-have-beens hung in the air between them. Jenny swallowed.

“Hey, Jenny,” Jake called. “Evan convinced you to stay. Great.”

Jenny smiled. “Yeah. He was right. I do need to be around people after the day I had today, and you are the people I want to be with.” Her voice broke on the last words, her chin trembling. Evan squeezed her shoulder, and Jake gave her a hug, lifting her off her feet.

“Hey.” He laughed. “This is a no-cry zone unless you’re under seven pounds, and even as tiny as you are, Doc, I don’t think you’ll qualify.”

Jenny had to laugh in return. “Put me down, Jake Allred. Can I help with anything?”

“Tyler’s homework,” Holly said. “I can handle the math, but he’s working on health and science now, and that is not my thing.”

Jenny settled in the chair next to Tyler’s, seeing he was studying foods and how they converted into energy. She glanced at Holly and Noelle. Peace radiated from the two of them. Love made them and everyone around them glow. It sounded corny, but looking at mother and daughter was like seeing the Christmas season come to life.

Evan awoke with an image of Jake and Holly permanently imprinted on his brain. He’d gotten up several times during the night. Jake had come in to look in on him during the two times Holly nursed Noelle. Evan awoke on his own the next time. Padding along the hall to the bath, he passed the open door of the nursery and paused. Holly sat in a rocker nursing Noelle by the muted glow of a nursery lamp. Jake was on his knees next to the rocker, one arm curved along the top and the other resting alongside Holly’s as she held the baby. Holly had smiled at Jake, and he’d leaned in to kiss her.

Evan had hurried away. When Jake stopped by a short time later, Evan had snapped at him to let him go back to sleep. Now, in the light of morning, he knew why the scene had left him angry. He envied Jake. Evan had wanted with Jenny what Jake had found so easily with Holly. Since the very first time he set eyes on Jennifer Owens, when she was just a leggy teen who hadn’t quite grown into her body yet, Evan had wanted her. She was small and feisty and smart. What Jenny Owens lacked in money and family she made up for with attitude and academics.

Evan had wanted her as he’d tugged on her hair and kicked at her desk with his big feet. He had wanted her as they sat through Advanced World History with Mr. Pendergast, who delighted in sharing stories of his days in Vietnam. Evan had wanted her the first time he stole a kiss from her behind the football bleachers when she took a break at halftime with the other cheerleaders, and he fell in love the moment she slapped his face for it.

They had started dating during basketball season, but he’d never tried to do more than hold her hand and kiss her. They kissed a lot, but for two years that was all. The guys teased him, everyone except Jake, and the girls gave Jenny a hard time. By their junior year, they were such an acknowledged couple no one gave them grief, and even though they hadn’t gone all the way, they were intimately acquainted with each other’s bodies.