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The muscles in his arms bunched as he held her against his chest, leaving her feeling more secure than she thought possible. More secure than she should feel. She had an inexplicable urge to lean her head against his wide shoulder, let him take care of her, just for a little while. But she would never trust another man. Not when she was always the one left behind with her pain.
She shoved her hair from her face, unsettled by her reaction to him. “Everybody knows a first baby takes longer. I’m sure I’ll be fine. So, if you’ll put me down, I’ll be on my way.”
The hard look he gave her dissolved whatever hope she’d clung to that he might leave. “I said I’d get you to the hospital. And I will.” Though the fire of impatience burned in his eyes, his words came out soft and gentle, almost a whisper. That, along with the touch of his calloused palm on her arm, brought a sense of calm that surprised her.
Sara shook her head. She didn’t want his help, but another contraction came upon her. She closed her eyes and tried to bear the agony in silence. Her head fell against his shoulder. She gritted her teeth against the searing pain and moaned.
He braced a knee on the front bumper of her car and cradled her in his arms. His chin settled against the top of her head. “Relax. Listen to my voice. Trust me, it will help.”
But she couldn’t trust him. Not when the last man she’d believed in had left her shattered and hurting…and all alone with his unborn child.
She clenched her eyes tighter against the sting of tears threatening and told herself to be strong, to send him away. The man stroked her arm, and she found herself trying to focus on his touch instead of the hell she was going through.
“Listen to me. Have you ever seen a foal being born?” His whispered words washed over her, and she tried to concentrate on what he was saying. “They come out all nose and legs and stuff. It’s as natural as anything. Mama doesn’t need any help. Nature has a way of taking care of everything. It’s going to be all right.” After a long moment, he asked, “Has your contraction ended?”
Sara opened her eyes, only then realizing her pain had eased. She’d been distracted by the tranquilizing warmth of his voice and had let him take control. The fact that she’d let down her guard enough to allow what she’d sworn no man would ever again do irritated her. “Yes, thank you. You can put me down now.”
He pulled her even tighter against his muscled chest and continued around her car.
Sara recognized the time had passed for getting herself to the hospital. She didn’t want to feel helpless, to need any man. Still, there was something about this man that made her think maybe things would be okay. For now.
When they reached the passenger’s door, he paused, his gaze capturing hers. He frowned at her again, and she found herself wondering if he ever smiled.
A sudden wave of nausea hit. Sara swallowed hard. “Wait. I’m going to throw up.” She expected him to put her down. Instead, he held her tighter, giving her the time she needed.
Sara clamped her eyes shut and gulped air until the urge to be sick eased. “Okay. I—I think it’s going away.”
“Then, let’s get you to the hospital.”
This stranger worried her. He’d stormed into her life, full of dark looks and bad temper, and taken over—like the father of her unborn child who’d run out on her.
When he caught the door handle, a sudden uneasiness filled her. “Wait,” she sputtered. “I don’t know you. I can’t let you in my car.”
“I’m not a criminal,” he said, his voice tinged with impatience. “I’m Dr. Cal Tucker. Want to see some I.D.?”
Though she wasn’t thrilled with the tone of his voice or bossy attitude, she shook her head. He was a man, but more than that, he was a doctor. Everything would be all right.
He struggled with the door that hadn’t opened since Thanksgiving. He put his foot against the car and shifted Sara so that he held her in one arm against his chest. With another yank, the door opened, and he maneuvered her into the passenger’s seat, leaning inside the car to hook her seat belt. He turned his head, his face a hair’s breadth from hers. “How’s that?”
Sara swallowed hard and nodded, incapable of speech as the next pain seized her. She sucked in air and checked her watch.
He cursed under his breath, closed the door and raced around the car. Through a haze of pain, she watched him wrestle with the seat until it finally slid all the way back, then tuck his long legs into the cramped space. Even with the seat pushed back, his knees pressed against the dashboard.
Cal glanced toward her as he turned the key in the ignition and pushed on the gas pedal. “What hospital?”
She couldn’t make a sound for a minute, then set her jaw against the pain. “Mercy Hospital.”
When the motor caught, he eased out the clutch. “Hang on.” Her car backfired, coughed, then started forward.
He drove in silence, his movements sure and confident, which only made Sara feel more out of control.
Frustrated at the turn of events, she told herself she shouldn’t blame Cal Tucker. It wasn’t his fault she’d gotten pregnant or that her ex-fiancе, Gary, had demanded she get an abortion, or even that he’d walked out after she’d refused. Just remembering how he’d wanted her to dispose of their baby made her shiver.
“You cold?” Without waiting for her answer, Cal turned the heater up a notch higher as if he knew what was best for her.
Sara pushed the memories away and really noticed the man beside her. “Where have you been, all dressed up?”
A muscle ticked in his jaw as he shifted gears. “A wedding.”
“Yeah, whose?” Sara caught the edge of the seat as another contraction started.
Cal tore the bow tie from around his neck and shoved it in the pocket of the black tuxedo jacket before undoing the top button of his starched shirt. “Mine,” he said in a gruff voice.
Sara forced herself to concentrate on the conversation. “I hate to point this out to you, Dr. Tucker, but you seem to have lost your bride.”
The look he gave her rivaled the Texas sun in July. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” Sara said through clenched teeth as the pain worsened. “What happened?”
Cal’s long fingers tightened around the gearshift, and the perpetual frown he wore deepened. “Last-minute change of plans.”
The contraction peaked, and she settled her hands over her protruding stomach, staring out the window until it eased. She had thought Dr. Tucker might be different from the others, but once again, she’d been fooled by a handsome face. “Your idea?”
He approached a red light, looked both ways, then went across. A shadow of annoyance darkened his gray eyes as he glanced at her from the other side of the console. “No, not mine.”
As another pain came, accompanied by a wave of nausea, Sara looked at her watch. The contractions came much closer together. “Oh, no. Faster. Drive faster.”
Cal placed his hand on her stomach.
Sara stared at his long fingers splayed across her abdomen. The fear she’d felt diminished as she watched him watching her. He gave her a quick nod and stomped on the gas pedal. “Hold on.”
Sara sat stunned. Obviously, he knew what he was doing. At least she hoped so. The thought of relying on any man scared her, but at the moment she didn’t have a choice. And Cal had M.D. behind his name, not that it mattered.
Except, he was going to have to deliver her baby.
“Hang on. We’re almost there.” Cal cursed himself for getting involved. He should have walked away, but he’d had no choice. He could no more have left this woman stranded, alone and in trouble, than he could embrace his parents’ way of life. He intended to get this lady to the hospital, one way or another.
When he pushed on the gas pedal, the stupid car sputtered. He muttered a curse and downshifted into second gear.
The woman gasped. “Pull over. I can’t go any farther.”
“What’s your name?”
“Sara Jamison.” Her words trailed off in a groan.
“Relax. It’s not far now.” Cal rolled through a Stop sign.
She glared at him. “Shove a bowling ball up your nose, Doc, then tell me relaxing will keep it from hurting.” She bore down and yelled a curse aimed at all men, including him.
Frustrated, Cal choked the steering wheel. “Dammit, the side of the road is no place to have a baby.” He felt as out of breath as she sounded. “No, Sara, don’t bear down. Don’t push.”
Sara braced her legs on the floor and moaned. Her hand clamped around his wrist. “Don’t tell me what to do.” She threw her head back and screamed bloody murder.
Cal cursed and pulled over to the curb. He had planned to drop Sara at the hospital, then meet James for a beer.
But first, it looked like he had a baby to deliver.
He got out, raced around to Sara’s side of the car and opened the door. “Let’s get you in the back seat.”
She tried to stand. When her knees buckled, he lifted her in his arms. Her scent whirled around him like a lasso, and he wondered how a woman could smell so good in the middle of something like this.
Cal settled Sara on the back seat. She reclined and bent her knees, tucking the skirt of her frumpy brown dress around her legs.
“Better?” he asked, hovering over her. He saw the fear she tried to hide and found he wanted to reassure her. When he realized he already held her hand, he released it, irritated at his reluctance to let go.
Sara met his gaze, her eyes suddenly wide. “It’s coming.”
She bore down then and yelled as if her horse had thrown her into a cactus patch.
Cal stole a quick glance at his watch. About now, he and Tiffany should have been toasting their future with expensive champagne served in fancy glasses. He shoved the thought aside as he yanked off his tuxedo coat and tossed it over the front seat, then rolled up his sleeves.
Sara grimaced, her face turning red from her exertion. After a moment, she exhaled. “I’m really glad you’re here, Cal, and that you’re a doctor. But, honestly, the way I feel right now, I wouldn’t care if you were a plumber.”
He gave in to the smile that threatened. “That’s good, Sara, ’cause I’m a vet.”
The color drained from her face. “A vet?” Her voice wavered. “You mean a veteran, as in foreign wars?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Veterinarian, as in moo.”
She caught his hand, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “This is no time to joke.”
“I’m not.”
“Oh, great! Do you know what to do?”
“Sure. It’s a piece of cake.” Cal leaned over her and, telling himself he shouldn’t, brushed a sweat-drenched curl behind her ear. This is the last place I want to be. But what better way to end the day from hell, than on the side of the road in a bad neighborhood with a woman…about to give birth.
“Then you’ve done this before?” she asked.
“No, but there’s nothing to worry about. We’ll get through it, together. Trust me, okay?”
His confidence had to have eased her worries, because she nodded, even gave him a tentative smile. “Do I have a choice?”
Cal shook his head. “Sara, I need to check the baby’s position,” he said, his voice rough and uneven.
Color now rushed to her cheeks. She bit her bottom lip and nodded. He knew she had to be scared out of her wits, yet she remained calm, something Cal couldn’t imagine his fiancеe—ex-fiancеe—doing. He had to admit, despite Sara’s stubbornness, he admired her spirit and roll-with-the-punches attitude.
He waited for a wino to pass, then lifted her skirt. It took another moment to undress her so he could see the baby’s head crowning. Sara groaned and pushed.
A passing car honked. The shouts of children playing nearby drifted to Cal on the cold afternoon breeze. The enormity of the situation settled about him. He’d delivered foals valued anywhere from fifty to one hundred thousand dollars, but this child wasn’t an animal. Sara’s baby had decided to be born here and now, whether or not Cal liked it.
“What do you see?” she asked.
Cal bit back the sudden laughter that bubbled up inside him at Sara’s question. He doubted she’d appreciate his warped sense of humor at the moment. “Hmm. I see his head.”
“Her head.”
In spite of everything, he once again found himself smiling at the determination in Sara’s voice. “I’ll have to see the other end to know that.”
“I think you’re about to see it.” She pushed and grunted, and freed the baby’s head.
“Come on,” Cal said, frowning as he noticed the bluish tint to the baby’s coloring. “You’re almost there.”
Sara screamed. Tiny shoulders passed through, then the baby girl slid into his waiting hands. The infant squirmed, and he tightened his hold. Cal checked her mouth and nose as best he could, anxious to make sure her air passages were clear.
Soon the baby’s cries mixed with her mother’s tears of joy. Unlike the mostly silent births to which he’d grown accustomed, the music of life washed over him.
Cal looked at the tiny miracle cradled in his palms. He’d held new life before, though nothing this small or fragile. Why did holding this child make it difficult to breathe? He shook his head, trying to clear his befuddled mind.
The newborn’s eyes opened like a baby bird’s, and she stared up at him. Cal felt as though he’d been bucked off a bronc.
He’d brought a new human life into the world.
He’d delivered Sara’s baby.
“What is it, Cal? What’s wrong?” Even without seeing Sara’s face, he could hear the fear in her voice.
Doing his best to hold the slippery infant against his chest, he grabbed his jacket from the front seat and wrapped the baby in it. “Nothing. It’s a girl.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s perfect,” he said, his voice a hoarse whisper.
When he caught the infant’s fist, her hand closed partway around his index finger. He stared at the tiny fingernails, so perfect in miniature. A tremor snaked up his spine.
After handing the infant to Sara, Cal tugged the lace from one of his patent-leather shoes and used it to tie off the umbilical cord. He’d wait until they reached the hospital and let them sever the remaining tie between mother and child.
Cal caught a glimpse of Sara as she held her daughter. He knew then he’d never forget delivering this child or the undeniable love shining on Sara’s face. Maybe love did exist—at least between mother and child.
This mother and this child.
A smile spread across Sara’s face as she touched her daughter’s cheek. “Cal, what’s your full name?”
“Calvin Lee Tucker,” he said, wondering why she’d asked.
“I’ll call her Jessica Lee.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Cal said, a strange weight settling in his chest.
