Born in Whitehorn
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Karen Rose Smith
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CHAPTER ONE
“Why can’t Sara talk?”
Leah Nighthawk glanced at the five-year-old seated beside her as she drove to the Hip Hop Café in Whitehorn, Montana. The sound of the girl’s voice startled Leah for a moment. Jenny McCallum had been unusually quiet during the thirty-mile drive from the Laughing Horse Reservation where she’d stayed with Leah for safety’s sake during the past two weeks. Anyone looking at little Jennifer would never know the child was an heiress and had almost been the victim of a recent kidnapping plot that had gone wrong.
Leah pushed her long, black hair over her shoulder as she carefully chose the right words to answer her small friend’s question. “The men who took Sara didn’t hurt her, but they must have scared her before she ran away from them. Your mom and dad think she’s still scared and that’s why she’s not talking. Maybe when she has her family and friends around her again, she’ll feel safe enough to tell everyone what happened.”
Leah hoped her words had alleviated Jenny’s concern. Sara Mitchell and Jenny McCallum were best friends and even looked somewhat alike with their blond hair and blue eyes. Because Sara had been wearing Jenny’s coat in the schoolyard two weeks ago, the kidnappers had mistakenly taken her instead of Jenny. The McCallums had worried that the two men, who had worn ski masks during the attempt, would realize they’d kidnapped the wrong child and come after Jenny again. Leah had offered to keep the little girl with her on the reservation, knowing no one would look there, and Jenny’s parents had agreed to the plan.
Leah’s very round tummy brushed against the steering wheel as she turned her blue van into the parking lot of the Hip Hop Café. Snow flurries that had begun shortly after she’d left her small house on the “res” danced across the windshield. A welcome-home celebration for Sara had been hastily planned by the McCallums. Leah knew she was tempting fate by bringing Jenny to the party. Dr. Jeremy Winters could very well stop in. Last night he was the one who’d found Sara wandering along the road after she’d escaped from her kidnappers.
Just thinking about Jeremy made Leah’s heart ache. Unbidden, memories of their night together filled her mind with vivid images, and her eyes pricked with tears. When she’d awakened in his arms almost nine months ago, she’d told him she couldn’t see him again…that she was leaving Montana. But when she’d discovered she was pregnant, she’d postponed leaving and had stayed secluded on the res, working at the trading post, saving money so that when the babies were born she could leave Montana as her mother had always wanted her to do. Over and over again she’d had to remind herself that Jeremy was essentially a stranger, that she refused to be a burden to him, that one night of passion wasn’t enough for her to ungratefully turn her back on the dreams her mother had nurtured for her all her life.
Jeremy was most likely making rounds at Whitehorn Memorial Hospital right now. She could slip into the Hip Hop, deliver Jenny to her parents, make sure Sara truly was unharmed, then leave before he arrived. As Leah pulled into a parking place, she anxiously checked the cars already parked there. Thankfully she didn’t see Jeremy’s forest-green Jeep.
Taking a deep breath, she switched off the ignition.
After she unfastened her seat belt, she protectively laid her hand on her belly and turned toward Jenny. “Before we go inside, I just want to tell you how much I enjoyed having you with me.”
Jenny smiled and unbuckled her seat belt. “It was fun staying with you. I like the trading post, and practicing my Christmas pageant song with you, and you telling me stories, and…” Leaning closer, she laid her hand beside Leah’s as she had quite a few times over the past two weeks. “And I like feeling the babies.”
“They’ve been quiet today,” Leah said, her overwhelmingly tender feelings toward her unborn children growing stronger by the minute. When she’d found out she was having twins, she’d been scared but also overjoyed. She’d have two babies to love.
She just wished her mother was here…she just wished…
Blinking quick tears away, she motioned outside the window. “Be careful when you get out of the van. The blacktop might be slippery.” A fine layer of snow already coated the parking lot, and Leah knew Jenny’s enthusiasm to get inside could make her feet slip right out from under her.
Leah opened her door and stepped onto the ground. Her hand automatically went to her back, which had been bothering her all day. She’d been feeling particularly tired, too, and just blamed it on standing on her feet at the trading post.
After her mother had been diagnosed with cancer twenty months ago, Leah had returned to the reservation from Chicago to be with her and to take care of her. She’d been fortunate to find a job as an assistant to the curator of the Native American Museum in Whitehorn. But as her mother had required more care, Leah had scaled back to part-time and finally quit during the last month of her mother’s life. If Jeremy hadn’t stopped in that one evening after her mother died… If she hadn’t let him comfort her… If she hadn’t foolishly made love with him…
In spite of Leah’s warning to be careful, Jenny ran to the back door of the café, unmindful of the snow. Leah took more care, keeping her ears alert for the sound of any cars arriving. Once inside, she looked around the 1950’s-style diner with its chrome and vinyl. It was decorated for Christmas, which was less than a week away, with pinecone wreaths, gold tinsel garlands, and mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. Two attractive women were talking while they arranged cookies on a platter. They both looked up when Jenny and Leah entered. Jessica McCallum, Jenny’s adoptive mother, beamed a smile at the sight of her daughter. Tall, slender and very pretty, with sable-brown hair she wore pulled back in a bun, Jessica was the head of the social welfare department in Whitehorn. Danielle Mitchell, Sara’s mother, paused in her work to watch as mother and daughter reunited once more. Danielle, an attractive woman with auburn hair that fell to her shoulders, had been raising Sara on her own for the past two years since her husband had disappeared. Leah had become friends with both women when she’d worked at the museum where they volunteered their time on weekends.
Jenny spotted her mother and took off at a run across the tile floor, past the jukebox that usually blared country-western music. Jessica opened her arms to Jenny, enveloping her in a huge hug. Both Jessica and her husband Sterling had visited Jenny on the reservation and kept in constant phone contact, but it was obvious how glad mother and daughter were to be together again.
Finally Jessica straightened and came over to Leah. “I don’t know how to thank you for keeping her safe.”
“No thanks are necessary,” Leah said. “We had fun.” As she watched Jenny eat a cookie from the tray and talk with Sara’s mother, Leah lowered her voice. “Is it really safe for Jenny to go home since the men haven’t been caught?”
“We’re putting extra security on at the ranch, and we won’t let Jenny out of our sight,” Jessica assured her. “We don’t think they know yet they kidnapped the wrong girl. If they make a move, Sterling will be ready for them.”
Sterling McCallum, Jessica’s husband, was a special investigator for the sheriff’s office. Leah had no doubt that he’d see that his daughter remained safe.
“I’m more concerned about Sara,” Jessica said in a low voice. “I think those men said something to frighten her, and that’s why she won’t talk. If we can make her feel safe again and she can tell us something to help identify them—”
Jessica stopped abruptly as Danielle and Jenny joined them.
“Hi, Leah. Why don’t you take off your coat,” Danielle suggested. “I’m sure we can find a comfortable chair for you.”
Knowing she had to avoid Jeremy, Leah said, “I can’t stay. I want to get back to the res before the storm really breaks.”
“At least have a cup of tea,” Jessica insisted.
Before Leah could refuse, she spotted little Sara coming around the counter from the kitchen. Her long blond hair was tied in pigtails and her pretty purple sweatshirt and slacks matched. When the five-year-old saw Jenny and Leah, she broke into a huge smile. Sara didn’t look any different than she had a few weeks ago. But when her gaze found Leah’s, Leah saw an element of fear there that had never been in her eyes before.
Going over to Sara, Leah stooped and gave her a hug, holding on to her for a moment. “I’m so glad you’re back home again. I can’t stay right now, but I’ll see you again soon. Okay?” She leaned back, and Sara just nodded.
When Leah straightened, Danielle put her arm around her shoulders. “I swear you haven’t gained any weight except for the babies.”
Leah laughed and patted her belly. “Yes, it’s all right here.”
“You be careful driving home,” Danielle warned.
“I’ll be very careful,” Leah responded. Then, after a cautious glance around the room, she said, “Please don’t tell anyone I was here. Okay?”
Danielle and Jessica exchanged glances.
Danielle asked, “Does this have something to do with the father of the twins?”
Leah hesitated. She hadn’t told anyone who the father was. She’d decided that was best.
After an awkward pause, Jessica patted Leah’s arm. “You don’t have to tell us anything.”
“Thank you,” Leah said gratefully.
After a round of goodbyes, and a wave to Jenny’s dad who was coming out of the kitchen with a tray of sandwiches, Leah headed for the door, eager to be on her way before she ran into Jeremy. Unlike most doctors who chose to make rounds in the early morning on Saturdays, Jeremy usually made his rounds in the afternoon, spending more time with his patients, listening and talking to them. He was a good doctor and had shown her mother great kindness.
And not only a good doctor, a little voice whispered in Leah’s head. In her mind’s eye she could picture Jeremy’s wavy brown hair, his ruggedly handsome face and his green, green eyes. Their night together had been unforgettable.
But Leah didn’t want to trap Jeremy Winters. She didn’t want to be anyone’s responsibility but her own.
As she left the Hip Hop Café, she placed one boot carefully in front of the other, walking toward her van. The weatherman was calling for at least six inches of snow by morning, maybe more. Although it meant inconvenience more often than not, Leah still loved to see the world covered in white. She was thinking about her years in Chicago, the wind and the snow, when a sharp pain stabbed her back. It was strong enough to make her grab for the door handle on her van and hold tight. Taking a slow, deep breath, she looked up at the gray sky.
This couldn’t be labor. Not yet. Could it?
Her obstetrician had told her twins could be early…
Fear washed over her. She had to get back to the res, to Bessie, her mother’s best friend and neighbor who had been so supportive throughout Leah’s pregnancy. Bessie would know what the pain meant. After all, this could be false labor. It could be a cramp.
When the pain subsided, Leah felt relieved and climbed into the van. She switched on her headlights and drove out of the parking lot in the swirling snow. The wind had picked up and blew forcefully against the vehicle as she made her way slowly back to the res. Turning on the radio to a local station, Leah became anxious about the low visibility and turned her windshield wipers to a higher speed. But the wipers didn’t seem to help as she peered through the iced glass at the mounting snow, and listened as the newscaster spoke of an accident on the other side of Whitehorn on Route 191. It was a serious one from the sound of it.
The heater struggled to keep up with dispelling the cold. Leah was reaching forward to turn the fan up a notch when a tearing contraction ripped through her and she gasped, almost losing control of the van. Somehow she managed to turn the wheel and pull off crookedly onto the shoulder of the road.
* * *
Jeremy Winters’s heart had thudded crazily as his windshield wipers pushed the snow aside and he watched the woman get into the familiar blue van. She had long, silky black hair. She was also very pregnant!
When he’d first turned into the back entrance of the parking lot of the Hip Hop Café, he’d thought he recognized the older blue van.
And he had. It was Leah’s. A pregnant Leah’s.
But Leah had left the Whitehorn area! Hadn’t she?
Stunned, he followed her onto the main road.
The night they’d spent together filled his mind until he had to block it out to think.
He’d never doubted that Leah would leave Laughing Horse to pursue the dream her mother had fostered. During the month he’d taken care of Leah’s mother, Teresa Nighthawk had proudly told him more than once that some day Leah would be working as a curator in a museum in New York City or Washington, D.C. He knew Teresa had taken her daughter away from the reservation when Leah was small, to give her a better life, and had only returned to Laughing Horse when her own mother had suffered a heart attack. After Leah’s grandmother died, Teresa had stayed in the house where she’d grown up while Leah finished college and found a job in Chicago. When Teresa learned she had cancer, she hadn’t wanted Leah to come back to the res, but Leah had insisted.
At the time, Jeremy had been filling in for Kane Hunter at the Laughing Horse clinic for a month while Kane was away. Toward the end of that month, Teresa Nighthawk had died. Jeremy had returned to the res one night to check on Leah… And comfort had turned to desire. Afterward, when Leah had told him she was leaving Montana, he’d believed her. And with Kane’s return to the clinic, Jeremy had had no reason to drive out to Laughing Horse again and learn differently.
Now that he thought about it, Leah’s decision to leave had given him an out from pursuing his attraction to her. When he’d lost his wife and unborn child five years ago, he’d thought he’d never recover and he’d resisted relationships. The night with Leah had been an exception. He’d let down his guard with her and that was something he’d learned not to do. After all, he never again wanted to feel the pain and anguish of losing someone he cared for deeply. Instead, he’d thrown himself into his work and now his practice was his life.
Yet, he had to know if the child Leah was carrying was his. If it was, why hadn’t she told him?
His thoughts and emotions whirled chaotically as he followed her onto the road to the reservation so he could confront her in private, out of the elements.
Once again memories of their night together flooded back, and he became aroused…then swore. But no sooner had the words left his mouth than Leah’s van swerved erratically to the side of the road, bumping onto the shoulder. Had a tire blown? Had she skidded on the slushy road? Pulling up behind her, he switched on his flashers, got out and slammed the door.
Leah’s magnificent hair hid her face as Jeremy flung open her van door to find her doubled over behind the steering wheel.
“Leah!”
Taking short, shallow breaths, she looked up at him, her eyes filled with fear. “The babies…” Her voice caught.
“Babies?” he asked, catching the plural right away.
She nodded. “Twins. I had a sonogram and—” A moan escaped her lips as another contraction hit.
Jeremy didn’t feel like a doctor now. He felt like a lover who’d been turned out into the cold, a soon-to-be-father—He cut off the thought. He didn’t know that for sure.
Years of training took over as his fingers went to the pulse on Leah’s wrist. Strong but fast. “How many weeks?” he asked tersely.
“Thirty-four.”
Relief swept through him. Though his specialty was internal medicine, he’d treated pregnant women before sending them to obstetricians. Leah’s labor was early, but not too early to put either her or the babies in danger.
“Take some deep breaths while you can,” he suggested. “I’m going to call an ambulance.” Pulling out his cell phone, he dialled 9-1-1, gave his location and explained the situation. To his dismay, the dispatcher told him the ambulance would be delayed. There had been an accident and it was on another call. Jeremy ordered, “Just get it here as soon as you can,” then switched off the phone.
With Leah he kept his voice calm, though he was feeling anything but calm. “Let’s get you into the back of the van before another contraction begins.” Without giving her a chance to respond, he slid open the back door then scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bench seat. Beside her in the confining quarters, he was aware of everything about her, how little her pregnancy had changed her. Her eyes were still the deepest brown velvet; her ebony hair was thick and straight and soft. She always smelled like orange blossoms and he could smell that scent now as he shrugged out of his down coat, bundled it and slipped it behind her back as a pillow.
She still looked frightened, and he tried to reassure her. “You’ll be okay, Leah. Your babies will be okay. Trust me.”
“I’ll try,” she murmured, then tensed as another contraction started.
Even without timing the contractions, Jeremy knew they were coming fast and hard, and the ambulance might not get here in time. After the contraction passed, there was moisture on Leah’s brow and Jeremy suspected she was trapping all the pain inside. “Let it out, Leah. You can scream if you want to. I don’t care.”
She caught her breath and then looked up at him with an almost-smile. “I’m not a screamer.”
He knew that was true. She had a courageous, quiet way about her that he envied.
“Can you take your coat off?” he asked. “I need something to cover you and wrap around the babies when they come.”
Tugging the long coat from under her, she tried to slip her arms out. He automatically helped her. His arm was practically around her shoulders and his face close to hers—The urge to kiss her was so strong, he could barely restrain it.
But she had wanted him out of her life.
He couldn’t wait any longer to ask. “Are the babies mine?”
After a moment she answered softly. “Yes.”
As tension gripped her body again, he slipped her coat from her and knew they couldn’t discuss this now. The stakes had suddenly gotten higher, and he thanked God he was a doctor, though at the moment he couldn’t really do much to help her. He covered her with the coat then moved to the end of the seat.
“There’s a blanket in the back,” she told him. “And an old sweater. Do whatever you have to for my babies.”
“Our babies.”
She kept silent.
Snow fell onto his hair as he found the blanket and sweater in the back, but he was hardly aware of it in his concern for Leah. Retrieving his medical bag from his Jeep, he brought it into the van and shut the door. Then he helped Leah slip off her boots and undergarments and pull her jumper above her belly. He felt awkward about disrobing her, as if he were invading her privacy. But they both knew he’d have to do more than that before they were through.
Jeremy was as gentle with Leah as he could be and when it came time to push, he knelt at her feet, encouraging her. He could see the head of one of the babies, and he urged, “Push with all your might. Let’s get this one out.”
Leah pushed and pushed and pushed until the head and then the shoulders were in Jeremy’s hands. Finally he held a brand-new baby girl, and the feelings jumbling inside him were positively overwhelming. Checking the baby to make sure she was breathing properly, he then wrapped his daughter and laid her on Leah’s tummy.
When another contraction racked Leah’s body, he realized the second baby was coming quickly. After a few pushes the second birth progressed as swiftly as the first. This child was a little boy. His son!
As he laid the second baby in Leah’s arms, there were tears coursing down her cheeks, and he realized his own eyes were moist. They heard the sound of the siren then, and he smiled at her. “Just in time.”
“Are they okay?” she asked, concerned.
“I think they’re fine. We’ll know more after we get you and them checked out at the hospital.”
The ambulance pulled up beside the van. In a flurry of activity, paramedics transferred Leah and the babies to the ambulance, and Jeremy wanted to climb in with them. But Leah might not want him there. She apparently didn’t want him in her life. Anger pushed at all the other feelings swirling inside him as erratically as the snowflakes around him.
After the ambulance had gone safely on its way, Jeremy climbed into his Jeep and shut his eyes for a moment. He was a father…a father of twins. It would take Leah a while to get checked in at the hospital and settled in a room. Whether she wanted him there or not, he would be there. He drove to the hospital as the snow continued to fall harder.
An hour later, Jeremy stopped at Leah’s room. He had made arrangements for someone to drive her van back to Laughing Horse, then he’d checked patients’ charts while he waited for her to get settled. Pushing open the door, he peered inside, ready to confront the situation between them. But she was dozing, and he didn’t want to disturb her. Yet he couldn’t help letting his gaze linger on her. Remembering.
The desire he’d felt for Leah on their first meeting had been so elemental it had overwhelmed him. She’d come into the clinic on Laughing Horse to go over her mother’s case with him, to ask what they could do to make Teresa more comfortable. Jeremy had told Leah he’d stop by to check on her mother.
When he’d made the house call, he’d been amazed by Teresa’s fortitude in not wanting to take stronger medication than necessary, as well as Leah’s as she’d cared for her mother. His respect and admiration for both women had grown with each successive visit, and so had his attraction to Leah. Her Northern Cheyenne heritage was evident in the beautiful contours of her face and her dark brown eyes. She was small and slender and had felt so perfect in his arms.
Forcing himself to close her door again, he headed for the nursery to see his son and daughter.
Staring down at them, he was totally taken with the babies, awed by them, until he finally picked up one and then the other. They were perfect little miracles, and he was so grateful. His chest tightened. After he checked their charts, he spoke with the pediatrician on call. Both babies were perfectly healthy at five pounds each, and ready for life in the world. Finally tearing himself away from them, he went back to Leah’s room and sat in the chair beside her bed, watching her.
As if she sensed his presence, she opened her eyes and turned toward him. “Thank you.”
But he didn’t want her thanks. “We have to name them,” he said gruffly, knowing she’d been through a lot, reluctant now to have the discussion he knew they had to have.
“I’d like to name the little girl Brooke, if that’s all right with you.”
He thought about it for a moment. “It’s fine. And our son?”
After a moment she asked, “What would your choice be?”
“Something strong.” He thought for a few moments. “How about Adam?”
“Adam,” she repeated. “I like it. Adam it is.”
Jeremy straightened in his chair, determined to find out why she’d kept her pregnancy from him. But before he could bring it up, a nurse wheeled in the babies. “It’s time to discuss breast-feeding,” she cheerfully informed the new mother.
Leah’s cheeks flushed, and as much as Jeremy wanted to stay, he knew she’d be more comfortable if he left. Standing, he looked down at her. “We have a lot to talk about, but it can wait until tomorrow.”
“I told the doctor I want to go home tomorrow.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. The pediatrician will probably take another look at the babies in the morning. But I don’t see why they can’t go home with you. I’ll stop for you after morning rounds.”
“You don’t have to. I can call Bessie.” Her voice was soft but sure.
Bessie Whitecloud was Leah’s next-door neighbor and had been her mother’s best friend. But he wasn’t going to leave this responsibility to someone else. “I’m taking you and the babies home tomorrow, Leah.” Before she had a chance to argue with him, he went to the door, took one last look at Brooke and Adam and then headed down the hall.
* * *
Snow was still falling when Leah looked out her hospital window at the cottonwoods heavy with white the next morning. Jeremy was going to take her home. So many conflicting emotions washed over her from the events of the past night. She was amazed that Jeremy had found her and relieved he’d been there to deliver the babies. She remembered how he’d towered over her so strong and determined.
That’s exactly why she hadn’t told him about her pregnancy. Because he was so strong and determined, she was afraid he wouldn’t let her do what she needed to do. Decisions she would make about her future had to do with leaving her past behind and reaching for the kind of life her mother had envisioned for her. There were precious ties to her mother in the house on Laughing Horse, but Teresa Nighthawk had struggled valiantly for years to free her from any ties to the reservation. When Leah thought about feeding Brooke and Adam for the first time, how she’d experienced great surges of love and protectiveness as they’d suckled at her breasts, she appreciated even more all the sacrifices her mother had made for her.
There was a quick rap on her door and Jeremy stepped inside, all six-feet-two-inches of him. He was lean, his shoulders broad, his muscles honed, and she didn’t even know from what. They’d had many conversations during the month he’d cared for her mother, but they’d mostly concerned his work, her life on the reservation, the history of the Northern Cheyenne. He’d been curious and interested, and whenever Teresa Nighthawk had told him stories, Leah had learned more herself.
Jeremy was wearing jeans and high shoe boots this morning, and Leah could see a flannel shirt underneath his blue down jacket. She felt drawn to him in a man-woman way that definitely shouldn’t be on her mind this morning.
But as his gaze passed over her corduroy jumper that now hung loosely, she wished his mere presence didn’t make her breath catch. Instead, she concentrated on his words as he said, “I managed to get hold of the owner of the Children’s Corner this morning, so I have car seats, something she called buntings, and diapers, in case you weren’t stocked up yet.”
Already he was taking responsibility for her. “Thank you,” she murmured. “I spoke with the nurses about wrapping the babies in blankets, but buntings will be much better. I’ll reimburse you for everything when we get home.”
His voice was deep and gruff. “You’ll do no such thing. Brooke and Adam are my responsibility as much as yours.”
She knew Jeremy was the type of man who fulfilled his obligations. There would be no argument with him about this. Yet she wanted to make something very clear. “I don’t expect you to care for the babies. I don’t expect anything from you.”
He raked his hand through his hair. “Obviously, or you would have told me I was about to become a father.” There was an edge to his voice, an undertone of anger, but before Leah could address it, the nurse wheeled the babies in and it was time to get ready to go.
At least eight inches of snow had fallen, covering Whitehorn and the surrounding area, but the main road had been plowed. Leah knew Jeremy hadn’t said everything he needed to say, and the tension was high between them as he maneuvered through the still-falling snow, concentrating on his driving. They could get an additional six inches if this kept up.
When they reached the res, none of the snow-covered dirt roads had been plowed. They almost got stuck once, but Jeremy’s expertise in handling the Jeep got them going again. Still, as they reached Leah’s house, they both breathed a sigh of relief. “I might never get out of here again,” he muttered.
“Mack—over at the gas station—has a pickup with a plow on the front. He’ll try to get the roads open as soon as he can.”
Jeremy unfastened his seat belt. “Give me your key. I’ll take the twins inside and then come back and get you.”
“I’ll be fine,” she murmured.
His impatience with her answer showed as his brows drew together and his jaw set. “Listen, Leah. You had twins less than twenty-four hours ago. You might think you’re a superwoman, but when Adam and Brooke are crying at the same time and you don’t know whether to feed or diaper first, you’ll know you’re not. Stay put until I come and get you.”
This was a side of Jeremy she had never seen and didn’t know if she liked. “No one’s ever given me orders like a dictator, Jeremy. Don’t think you can start now.” Her quiet but firm tone told him she wouldn’t be bossed or bullied.
“Fine, have it your own way,” he said as he opened his door and stepped outside.
First Jeremy broke a path to the front door, so walking it with the twins would be easier. Then he carried Brooke inside, coming back a few moments later for Adam. In the meantime, Leah climbed out, but the large steps she had to take were hard for her. Jeremy came down the porch steps and met her a few feet from the Jeep. “You want to do this the hard way or the easy way?”
“The easy way,” she said, looking up at him apologetically.
Sweeping her into his arms, he carried her to the porch. His chest was hard against her. His cologne was a musky pine. His lips were sensual and…
He set her down.
When she crossed the threshold into the house, she let its familiar ambience distract her from her awareness of Jeremy. The blue-and-tan tweed sofa with removable pillows at its back was old now, but still comfortable. She’d slept there when she and her mother had returned to the res to visit her grandmother. Above it hung a shield of rawhide, decorated with feathers and trade beads. The pine coffee table and end tables had been crafted by Bessie’s husband, Joe, as had the two cradles sitting side by side beside a set of bookcases topped by a snapping turtle shell. On the wall above those hung a circle of life mounted on a prayer wheel. A worn armchair was angled beside the black woodstove in the corner. To Leah’s surprise, the living room felt cooler than usual. Suspecting the problem, she went to the lamp by the sofa and turned it on, but no light shone. She guessed the electricity hadn’t been off long, otherwise it would be a lot colder in the house.
“The electricity’s out,” she said. “I’ll have to get the woodstove fired up.” Going over to her children, she looked down at them tenderly. She’d fed them before they’d left the hospital and for the moment they seemed to be content. Fortunately she had been getting ready for them for the past few months and had almost everything she needed from an infant tub to diapers.
“I’ll get the stove going,” Jeremy decided. “Is the wood out back?”
She nodded. By the time she’d taken off her coat and unzipped Brooke’s bunting, there was a rap on the door. “Come in,” she called.
“I was so worried about you. The van came back and you didn’t. What—”
Bessie Whitecloud stopped short as she stepped inside. Leah’s surrogate mother was plump, wore her gray-streaked black hair short around her face, and always had a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Her gaze now, however, was filled with concern.
Picking up her daughter, Leah carried her over to Bessie. “This is Brooke.” Motioning to the other cradle, she said, “And that’s Adam.”
“Oh, my goodness!” Bessie exclaimed. “You had the babies.” Taking Brooke from Leah, she cuddled her close and softly crooned to the little girl.
Just then the back door opened and Jeremy, carrying an armful of wood, came in from the kitchen.
“Well,” Bessie said, looking expectantly at Leah. “Hello, Dr. Winters.”
“Hi, Bessie.” He smiled at her. “What do you think of my daughter?”
“She’s absolutely beautiful.” Walking over to the other cradle, she peered down at Adam. “And he’s going to be as handsome as his dad.” With a self-satisfied smile, Bessie admitted, “I thought you might be the father.”
Leah was totally astonished.
Bessie went on. “Leah wouldn’t say, but I didn’t know who else it could be. Do you two want me to keep this hushed up?”
Jeremy dumped the wood by the stove. “Absolutely not. I’m proud to claim my children.” Opening the stove, he arranged some logs inside.
Ashamed and embarrassed, Leah felt guilty for having gotten herself into this predicament. Jeremy blatantly proclaiming his fatherhood didn’t help. When she’d discovered she was pregnant, she’d gone to Bessie, not knowing who else to confide in, worried about how others in their small community would see her. But Bessie had declared that Leah had gained everyone’s respect by the tender care she had taken of her mother and if she stayed at Laughing Horse, she might see a few frowns of disapproval at her pregnancy, but anyone who knew her would support her. Still, Leah had felt awkward, and did now, too.
Scooping up Adam, Leah held the baby in her arms, then leaned down and placed a tender kiss on his forehead. “I’m going to take Adam with me to nurse. Will you stay for a few minutes?” she asked the older woman.
“I’ll look in on you before I leave,” Bessie assured her.
Unnerved by Jeremy’s presence in her house and his proprietary attitude toward the twins, Leah took Adam into the bedroom, knowing as soon as Bessie left, she and Jeremy were going to have to face the subject of his fatherhood and what they were going to do about it.
