Нора Робертс - Year One

“Will this be painful?” Max asked, and took Lana’s hand.

“Pain less .” Mentally crossing her fingers, Rachel rubbed the transducer over the gel. “There.” She nodded toward the monitor. “There’s your baby.”

“I can’t really … Oh God, I can!” Lana’s hand clamped on Max’s. “I can see her. She’s moving. I can feel her moving.”

“Hear that sound? That’s a good, strong heartbeat. And from the size, I agree with your conception date.”

“She’s so small.” Max reached out, traced the image with his finger.

“I’ve seen bigger bell peppers,” Lana agreed. “Is she growing all right?”

“We’ve got her at right about five and a half inches, and seven ounces. She’s growing exactly right. And you’re right again. It’s a girl.”

“I see her fingers.” Lana’s voice broke. “She has fingers.”

“Eight fingers, two thumbs,” Rachel confirmed. “We’re going to take a closer look—at her heart, her brain, her other organs—but I’m going to say I’m seeing a perfectly formed eighteen-week fetus, female. How long will this stay on?” she asked Max.

Still tracing the baby, he brought Lana’s hand to his lips. “How long do you need it?”

Rachel felt a bit like weeping herself. “If I didn’t say it before, let me say it now. Welcome to New Hope.”

* * *

Lana came out clutching a list of do’s and don’ts. A line of people snaked out from Katie’s table. Lana zeroed in on Ray, walked over to hug him.

“Told you, Mama.”

“The doctor said she’s perfect. We’re perfect. She’s hoping to talk to you and Carly after you’re settled a little. I liked her, Ray. I really liked her.”

He gave her a pat on the cheek with his big, broad-palmed hand. “You were right to follow the signs.”

“Hey, I’m Fred.” She bounced up, beaming. “You’re Lana, right, and Max? You brought Bill’s son. He’s so happy. They’re up at Bygones. I think they need a little time together. But Jonah said I should show you around, and let you see the house he thinks will work for you. If you want.”

“I really need to check on some things,” Max told Lana. “Some people.”

“Go ahead. I can go with—Fred? Is that short for Fredrica?”

“Short for Freddie. My mom was like a huge Freddie Mercury fan. You know, Queen?”

Lana let out a laugh. “Yes. And I’d really like to look around, see the house.”

“It’s right across the street. See?” She pointed over and up a few houses to a two-story white brick with a porch. “It used to be bigger. See?” she said again. “They made the other part of it into apartments. They’re kind of dated and need work, but the house part’s pretty good.”

“I’d love to see it.”

Lana tipped her face up to kiss Max. “Do what you have to do.” And she went with Fred.

“I live right there. Arlys and I share that house.”

“Did you meet her on the way here?”

“No, we worked together in New York. I was an intern at the station. Chuck lives over there—he has the basement, and Bill and Jonah live there, too. Arlys and I got to Hoboken to Chuck—he’s a hacker, he was her main source.”

“How did you get to Hoboken?”

“Through the PATH tunnels.”

Lana stopped in the middle of the street. “You went through the tunnel? Just you and Arlys?”

“We had to. It was bad. Some of it was really bad, but it’s over now, and we got to Chuck, and he has a Humvee, and we got out. He’s trying to get communications up again. If anybody can … We met Jonah and Rachel and Katie and the babies on the way. I love babies. And we went all the way to Ohio because Arlys’s family—but…”

“I’m sorry.”

Dangling earrings with multicolored beads swayed on Fred’s ears. “But we found Bill, and he came with us. We left signs for Will. And we met Lloyd and Rainbow and … I know I’m talking a lot. I’m excited.”

“So am I.”

Steps led straight off the sidewalk to the porch. Fred opened the door. “Somebody remodeled it, that open floor plan thing.”

“Yes.”

It was airy, Lana thought, and had decent light even with the small front windows.

“You can switch out the furniture if you want. Nobody minds if you switch things with another of the empty places. There won’t be so many empty now. I’m glad.”

“I can work with this. I’m so grateful for this.”

Whoever lived there had had clean, simple tastes. A sofa covered in a gray that made her think of Max’s eyes, chairs in a pattern of gray and navy blue. Tables of dark wood on a floor of golden oak. A fireplace with a wide mantel over it.

But the kitchen pulled at her. They’d carried the flooring through so it read as one flowing space, areas defined by a counter of cream-colored wood covered in deep gray granite.

She wandered in, clutched her hands together at the six-burner stove, the stainless appliances, the generous counter space. Double ovens, she thought, and wide atrium doors to bring in more light.

“It’s a good kitchen.”

“Everything’s dusty, but—”

“We’ll clean it. It’s a good house. There’s a nice yard. They said there’s a community garden. Are there herbs?”

“Sure. We had to start a lot of them from seed, but we’ve got lots of herbs.”

“I wonder if I can get some seed, or transplant some. Who would I ask?”

“I’m sort of in charge of that, so sure. Do you want to see upstairs?”

“Yes.”

“Katie said you were a chef in New York.”

“I was. A sous chef—an under chef,” she explained. “I worked at Delray’s. Three and a half years.”

“I know Delray’s!” Fred led the way to the stairs at a bounce. “I mean, I read some reviews. I couldn’t afford to actually eat there, but I read reviews. It was a hot spot.”

“Those were the days,” Lana murmured. “I’ll cook for you.”

“Really? If I get you cheese, can you make lasagna?”

“If you get me cheese, I’ll make you the best lasagna you’ve ever tasted.”

“We’ve got milk cows and a goat. If you have milk you can get cheese and butter. Cheese is harder, but I’m working on it. I found a book, and I’m using nettles and thistles for the— What is it?”

“Rennet. That’s damn clever, Fred.”

“I made some cottage cheese, and it wasn’t too bad. I’m a faerie, by the way.”

“I should’ve known. You have a brightness about you.”

“Your baby’s bright. Jonah said. He sees things like that. I can feel it, but he can see it, too. This would be a really nice nursery.”

Thinking about the baby, about the light, Lana looked in what had been a guest room doubling as a home office. But Fred was right. It would make a nice nursery. Not too big, not too small, with good light from a window that faced the backyard.

“We can move this out and get baby stuff.”

“I don’t even know what a baby needs.”

“I’ll help you, and Katie. Katie knows all about babies now. And she has clothes from when her babies were just born. We have a crochet circle just starting. They’d love to make you baby things.”

“A crochet circle.” A cheese-making faerie, a doctor, a house with a good kitchen, and a pretty backyard. “It’s like a dream.”

“There’s some bad. We have to have guards, in case. And most everybody accepts us, and most are happy to have us because we can help.”

Lana didn’t have to hear a but to know one was there. “Not everybody accepts Uncannys.”

“Not everybody, even though they don’t say so to your face. But there’s more good than bad. The other bedroom’s bigger, and it’s fixed up pretty nice. The bathroom up here—it’s just a half-bath deal downstairs—must’ve been redone not long before because it’s updated and all. Not like the apartments.”