Riding the storm - By Julie Miller Page 0,31
cradled in his sturdy arms. Jolene blinked, sending a tear down her cheek.
She knew the feeling.
“Here you go, Mrs. B.” Nate circled the bed and laid the bundle of baby on Lily’s chest. “You wouldn’t be looking for a little girl, would you?”
“What? A girl?” Lily panted a moment in shock. Then a sudden energy suffused her, lighting up her expression. She quickly unwrapped the baby, verified the truth for herself, then swaddled her tiny daughter tight. She kissed the baby’s head over and over. “My little girl. At last. Amber Renee Browning. My sweet little girl.”
Lily snatched Nate’s wrist and tugged him down to kiss his cheek. “Thank you, thank you.”
Was that a blush turning the tips of his ears pink? Jolene wondered.
Nate pulled away. “You did all the work, ma’am. You did a fine job.”
Lily beamed, though whether it was in response to the compliment or the sheer joy of finally getting the daughter she’d wanted for so long, Jolene couldn’t tell.
“Is she healthy?” Lily asked.
Nate nodded. “As far as I can tell. All the fingers and toes are there. She’s pink and plump and has plenty to say.”
“Oh, yes,” Lily cooed to her newborn. “Mommy loves you, too. Daddy’s going to spoil you rotten. And you have three big brothers you’ll have to keep in line.”
As mother and daughter got acquainted, Nate and Jolene faded out of the picture for a moment. Breathing easier herself, Jolene hugged her tummy and the baby inside. They were okay. Everyone was okay. And they had California here to thank for it.
Without thinking, she reached for Nate’s hand, and laced her fingers through his. “Thank you.”
If the touch had startled him, he never let on. He turned to study her, tightening his grip around hers as if it was the most natural thing in the world for two strangers who barely knew each other and who’d butted heads more often than not to come together to share this miraculous moment.
He really did have beautiful eyes. Eyes that saw more than they should, perhaps. Jolene was so caught up in the warmth there that she didn’t see him lift his hand to her face. But she felt his gentle touch against her skin and savored the tender stroke of his finger along her cheek. He wiped away the trail of her tear and another fell to replace it.
Nate frowned. “You okay?”
“Hormones run amok,” she laughed, knowing something much more profound had just happened here. The protective distance separating them had vanished, and she still wanted to be closer to him. She soaked in his caring. She longed to offer her own. That’s when she noticed the moisture glistening in his dark lashes. “You?”
Nate swallowed hard and Jolene’s gaze darted to his Adam’s apple bobbing along the column of his throat. She waited expectantly, hurting at the anguish he obviously felt.
She reached up, her fingertips drifting across the tight set of his mouth. His lips parted beneath her touch, and his warm breath brushed past her fingers in a subtle, heated caress that stirred something more than compassion inside her. But he released her, denying her an answer, rejecting her comfort, acknowledging his emotions by covering them up. Keeping them in check. Again.
“I need to finish up,” he announced, returning to the end of the bed and pulling on a new pair of gloves so he could secure the afterbirth and do some suturing. “See to the baby’s stats, will you? And one of us needs to call in a sit rep.”
“I’ll handle the situation report, California.” There. That got a rise out of him, judging by the quick jerk of his head as he glanced her way. But he studiously returned to his work, forgoing his insistence she call him Nate. Jolene felt no satisfaction, only more frustration. How many times did she have to tell herself she shouldn’t be feeling anything for a man who was destined to leave her? “I want to check on Dad, anyway.”
Biting her tongue to keep from asking what it was about babies that tore him up so, why he felt it necessary to be a robot when it came to revealing emotions, Jolene reluctantly lifted Amber Renee from Lily’s arms. She measured and weighed the girl. Put a cap and newborn diaper on her. Made a footprint and filled out the preliminary paperwork. By the time she’d returned the sleeping infant to her mother’s arms, Nate was cleaning up.
At Lily’s request, Jolene headed downstairs and