time, right? She'd have told me if she was in any pain."
"Selene, we're talking about Maya, remember? Have you ever heard her complain? I'm heading out there. You keep calling the school, see if you can reach her. I'll let you know as soon as I get there. Keep your cell phone with you."
"Suit yourself."
Axell heard worry behind Selene's flippant attitude, and assured she'd be on hand if Maya needed her, he hung up.
He wished he'd brought the Rover into town today, but he'd just had it washed and hadn't wanted to get it dirty. Stupid.
Not taking the time to castigate himself properly, Axell hurried out the front door, locked it, and dodged rain drops until he reached the BMW. He was probably worrying for nothing. She was probably upstairs, dizzily creating palaces out of that trash heap.
She'd do it too, Axell realized. She would probably scavenge bolts of cloth from Goodwill, decorate the walls with it, and call it home. She'd be sitting there with her teapot on a toadstool, sipping tea when he arrived.
He needed to reassure himself with those thoughts. He didn't want to accept responsibility for any more women, and certainly not for a comparative stranger.
Maybe not a comparative stranger. He knew her bad habits as well as his own. And there was the matter of that kiss...
As he navigated puddles large enough to splash the car's roof, he congratulated himself for not driving one of those low-slung sports cars that Angela had preferred. The Beamer's solidity would get him through.
Axell lost some of that confidence when the heavy car fishtailed in a particularly deep stream of water as he left the main highway. Slow down, he muttered, easing up on the gas pedal as the rain poured harder, blinding the windshield. He'd driven these roads for decades. He knew every willow oak, every curve around the cotton fields, every skinny creek that rose in bad weather. He'd be all right. He just prayed Maya had the sense to stay where she was. Someone else might not know the roads as well as he.
Selene's words rang in his ears. What the devil did you think you were doing, moving her into a place the city is condemning? That poor girl had her hopes up so high...
How many times could one person be knocked down before they quit getting up?
He wouldn't think like that. Maya was a survivor. She wasn't like Angela. She wouldn't do anything to hurt Matty or the baby. Maybe she'd holed up out here so she could cry her eyes out in private, but she would be fine. By now, she had that tea ready.
Axell rode high on that confidence until he hit the river of red muddy water pouring over the road from the new shopping center development, and the car stalled.
* * *
Maya swept the last pile of dirt into a dustpan and dumped it into a trash bag she'd brought from downstairs. There, she had two rooms clean. That's all they'd need for now.
She grimaced as the pain in her back lapped in waves around to her front. Straightening, she clung to a chair until the ache rolled past. She was overdoing it. The ache had steadily worsened throughout the day. She eased herself into the chair.
The telltale burst of water down her thigh hit her with shock.
Oh, God, not now.
Of course, now. That's the way her life worked.
The baby was coming early.
All right, Maya. Let's not panic. First babies took their time. She really wasn't even having labor pains yet, just the usual backache.
Clutching the stair rail, she worked her way down to the lower bathroom. This business of the bathroom and kitchen on the first floor could be a real pain when the baby arrived, she realized. Maybe she could adapt one of these lower rooms for living in and fix an upper one for school. Be creative, Maya. There's a solution to every problem.
She washed herself and rinsed the wet dress. She needed to clean the mess upstairs. She should have kept a change of clothing here. She'd look real cute with a Pampers taped to her when help arrived.
She clung to the wall while another ache rolled past, then aimed for the office telephone. Who should she call first? Emergency services? She couldn't afford the ambulance bill, but she knew Selene had a meeting this afternoon. Axell? She hated to rely on him. But even if Teresa picked Matty up after school, the teenager couldn't take