Terry McLaughlin - Maybe, Baby

He was a dear. He’d always been her friend and, until this moment, her protector. She wondered how he’d manage the shift in their relationship, how she’d deal with the same thing, and she shivered. He’d be a focused and tenacious adversary. She hoped their friendship would survive the coming days.

“Hello, Nora,” he said in his low, slightly gruff voice.

“Hello, Burke.” She lifted the quilt higher over her shoulder. “I hope your trip wasn’t too bad.”

“No. Not at all.” His lips thinned with the hint of a grimace, and she remembered how much he hated to travel. “Everything went according to schedule,” he said.

Ashley kicked at the quilt, and Burke stared for a moment at the tented spot before meeting Nora’s gaze again. He cleared his throat.

“I hope you’re hungry,” she said. “Jenna’s been cooking all afternoon.”

“Whatever it is, it smells delicious.”

“That’s pecan pie, I think.”

Ashley whooped and tugged at the cover.

He flicked another glance at the quilt. “Is that your baby under there?”

“Yes.” Nora smiled. “I’ll show her to you in a few minutes.”

“Is there something—” Burke frowned and straightened. “Is she ill?”

“She’s fine.” Nora’s smile widened. “She’s nursing.”

“Nursing?”

Nora could see the moment Burke understood what nursing meant. The red spots on his cheeks deepened and spread.

“I see,” he said. “I mean, I don’t. That is, I don’t want to see, if that’s all right. Not that I don’t want to see the baby—I just don’t want to see you. No—I mean, I do want to see you. Just not you and the baby. Together. Right now, that is.”

“I know what you mean.” Nora bit hard on her lip to kill a smile. “Don’t worry. I don’t want you to see right now, either.”

“Well, then,” he said with a stiff nod. “That’s settled.”

This was so strange, watching him deal with her in such a formal manner. And what was even stranger was the fact that the more ill at ease he appeared, the more relaxed she felt.

Things between them seemed reversed, somehow. Usually she was the one asking the questions, needing his help. Usually he was the one with the answers, the one in control.

“Why don’t you take off that jacket and sit down?” She gestured at the empty chair across from her. “Dinner will be ready soon.”

“While you—no, thank you.”

Jody skidded into the room behind him. “Hey, Burke.”

“Hello, Jody.” His face eased into the first smile Nora had seen, deepening the grooves on either side of his mouth. “I’ve got a delivery for you. From Fitz.”

“Shh.” She glanced behind her, toward the entry. “You don’t want Mom to find out. She’ll skin us both.”

Burke froze. “She will?”

Ellie had decided months ago that Fitz’s habit of bringing presents back from his business trips to California needed to be broken. So far he’d been able to find a few ways to smuggle goods past her embargo, but it was always a dicey proposition.

“Is it in here?” Jody lifted his briefcase. “You can slip it to me while I help you carry your things to your room.”

“My room?” He pushed his glasses up his nose. “I wasn’t told I’d be staying here.”

“Well, you are,” said Jody as she headed toward the entry.

Burked turned to face Nora. “Fitz mentioned a small cabin.”

“Will’s old place. The water heater’s broken.”

“I’ve no hot water?”

“That’s what Jenna said.”

Ashley squawked and kicked at the quilt, and Nora struggled to button her blouse beneath the cover. “Will went into town today to get a replacement, but they didn’t have what he needed. It won’t be fixed until tomorrow.”

“Then I’m to stay here, in this house?”

“You could go back to town, but the snow is coming down pretty fast now.” She gave up on the buttons and lifted Ashley against her shoulder, still beneath the quilt, rubbing her back and hoping for a quick, neat burp. “Do you have chains?”

“For the tires, you mean?” He frowned. “There’s a box in the back of the car.”

“Do you know how to put them on?”

“I’m sure I can follow the directions.” He closed his eyes, and his glasses slipped crookedly as he pinched at his nose. “Isn’t there a snowplow service of some sort?”

“For the main roads. But it doesn’t come out to Granite Ridge. And you might still need the chains.”

Ashley burped. A loud, liquidy burp. The kind that meant lots of slightly curdled milk coming back up. A familiar warm, wet sensation slid over the edge of the cloth diaper and down the front of Nora’s blouse.

“Isn’t there another alternative?” asked Burke.

“Yes, there is.” Nora folded the quilt down to reveal Ashley, her curly baby hair sticking up in places, her cheeks bright pink from the warmth beneath the cover. One side of her face was smeared with spit-up, as was the front of her yellow print sleeper. Her head wobbled a bit as she craned her neck to get a better look at Burke, and then she burped again—another long, wet, gurgly sound effect to accompany the stuff that spattered over Nora’s lap and dripped to the floor.

“You could stay with the baby and me,” said Nora.

CHAPTER THREE

BURKE TOOK HIS SEAT in the Harrison family’s spacious dining room later that evening and surveyed the crowd gathered around the lake-sized table. Ellie and Will formed a cozy corner to his left, their voices low as they discussed scheduling changes involving an injured member of the ranch crew and the season’s calving chores. Jody and Jenna sat to his right, negotiating the details of Jody’s plans for a sleepover party. Across the table, Nora laughed at Maggie’s description of a classroom incident while Wayne, Maggie’s husband, paced behind them with Nora’s squalling baby in his arms.

The table was set with thick, homey china and daffodils crowded in a fat pitcher, and the serving platters were heaped with delicious-looking food. The wine in Burke’s goblet, which Wayne had contributed from his cellar, was a surprisingly good cabernet. At least Burke could be assured of one thing: he wouldn’t go hungry during his stay.

If only the din weren’t enough to obliterate his appetite.

The baby ceased its howling for a moment, and a wide smile creased Wayne’s rugged features as he lifted its face close to his and nuzzled its nose. “That’s my girl,” he said in his soft voice as he carried the kicking, writhing bundle toward the dimly lit parlor adjoining the dining room. “You were just waiting for your uncle Wayne to figure things out.”

“Here, Burke,” said Jody as she handed him a platter piled with thick slices of glazed ham. “And please pass the sweet potatoes down to Will when you get a chance.”

He noticed the others were helping themselves to servings of beet salad, home-preserved peaches, dilled carrots, baked-bean casserole and corn bread. “Aren’t we going to wait for Wayne to join us?”

“He’s got Ashley.”

“Yes, but—”

“He’ll give someone else a turn in a minute,” she said, handing him a pottery jar filled with some kind of aromatic relish. “He likes her. Besides, he says he needs the practice.”

Burke didn’t understand why anyone would want to spend one minute more than necessary practicing to have his eardrums damaged.

“You’ll get a turn, too,” Jody said.

“Thank you, but that’s not—”

“Excuse me, Burke.” Nora fluttered impossibly thick lashes at him from across the table. “Could you please pass the butter?”

She looked lovely tonight, he thought, dazzled by her presence. He knew she was doing the dazzling bit on purpose, and he supposed he should be immune to it by now. But she was so bloody good at it.