Christmas in Cedar Cove Read online

  “That’s all been taken care of.”

  “But…I don’t even have a blanket.”

  “Maryellen and Jon are stop ping at their house for diapers and baby blankets and clothes for a new born.”

  “But…”

  “Maryellen still has all of Drake’s clothes, so that should be the least of your worries, okay?”

  “Okay.” A weight lifted from her heart.

  Another pain approached. Mary Jo could feel her self pushing the infant from her womb. She gritted her teeth, bearing down with all her strength.

  Grace, her voice strong and confident, counted off the seconds. Again, when the pain was over, Mary Jo collapsed on the bed.

  In the silence that followed, Mary Jo could hear the sound of her own harsh breathing. Then in the distance she heard the laughter of children. “The kids…”

  “The grand children are out side with Cliff,” Grace said.

  “Laughing?”

  “Do you want me to tell Cliff to keep them quiet?”

  “No…no. It’s…joyful.” This was the way it should be on Christmas Eve. Hearing their happiness gave her hope. Her baby, no matter what the future held, would be born surrounded by people who were generous and kind.

  Giving birth in a barn, the stalls below filled with beasts, children running and laughing out side, celebrating the sea son, hadn’t been part of Mary Jo’s plan. And yet—it was perfect.

  So perfect.

  This was a thou sand times better than being alone with strangers in a hospital. None of her brothers would’ve been com fort able staying with her through labor. Maybe Ned, but even her youngest brother, as much as he loved her, wouldn’t have done well seeing her in all this pain.

  Mack had been with her from the first, and now Grace.

  “Thank you,” she whispered to them both.

  “No, Mary Jo, thank you,” Grace whispered back. “We’re so honored to be helping you.”

  “I’m glad you’re with me.” She smiled tremulously at Grace, then Mack. How she wished she’d fallen in love with him in stead of David. Mack was everything a man should be….

  Another pain came, and she locked her eyes with his for as long as she could until the contraction be came too strong. She surrendered to it, whimpering softly.

  “The head’s al most there,” Mack said when the pain finally released her. “Your baby has lots of brown hair.”

  “Oh…”

  “Another pain or two and this will be over,” Grace promised.

  “Thank God, thank God,” Mary Jo said fervently.

  “You’re going to be a good mother,” Grace told her.

  Mary Jo wanted to believe that. Needed to believe it. All night, she’d been tortured with doubts and, worse, with guilt about arriving at this moment to tally un prepared.

  “I want to be a good mother.”

  “You al ready are,” Mack said.

  “I love my baby.”

  “I know.” Grace whisked the damp hair from her brow.

  Mary Jo was drenched in sweat, her face streaked with tears. “I’m never going through this again,” she gasped, looking at Grace. “I can’t believe my mother gave birth four times.”

  “All women think that,” Grace said. “I know I did. While I was in labor with Maryellen, I told Dan that if this baby wasn’t the son he wanted, he was out of luck be cause I wasn’t having another one.”

  “You did, though.”

  “As soon as you hold your baby in your arms, nothing else matters. You for get the pain.”

  Foot steps clattered up the stair s. “Mom?”

  It was Maryellen, Grace’s daughter.

  “In here,” Grace called out.

  Maryellen hurried into the room, then paused when she saw Mary Jo and smiled tear fully. Her arms were heaped with baby clothes.

  A pain over took Mary Jo. Again it was Mack she looked to, Mack who held her gaze, lending her his strength.

  She was grateful that Grace was at her side, but most of the time it had been Mack who’d guided and encouraged her. He had a way of comforting her that no one else seemed to have, not even Grace.

  “You’re doing so well,” Mack said to her. “We have a shoulder….”

  Mary Jo sobbed quietly. It was al most over. The baby was leaving her body. She could feel it now, feel the child slip ping free and then the loud, fierce cry that re sounded in the room.

  Her relief was instantaneous.

  She’d done it! De spite everything, she’d done it.

  With her last re serves of strength, Mary Jo rose up on one elbow.

  Mack held the child in his arms and Brandon had a towel ready. Mack turned to her and she saw, to her astonishment, that there were tears in his eyes.

  “You have a daughter, Mary Jo.”

  “A daughter,” she whispered.

  “A beautiful baby girl.”

  Her own tears came then, streaming from her eyes with an intensity of emotion that surprised her. She hadn’t given much thought to the sex of this child, hadn’t re ally cared. Her brothers were the ones who’d insisted she’d have a son.

  They’d been wrong.

  “A daughter,” she whispered again. “I have a daughter.”

  Eighteen

  “The natives are getting rest less,” Jon Bow man reported to Grace when she came down from the apartment. After watching the birth of Mary Jo’s baby, Grace felt ecstatic. She couldn’t de scribe all the emotions tumbling through her. Joy. Excitement. Awe. Each one held fast to her heart.

  Katie, April and Tyler raced around the yard, screaming at the top of their lungs, chasing one another, gleeful and happy. Jon went to quiet them, but Grace stopped him.

  “Let them play,” she told her son-in-law. “They aren’t hurting any thing out here.”

  “Kelly and Lisa are in side making hot cocoa,” Cliff said, joining Grace. “And Paul’s looking after Emma.” He slid his arm around her waist. “Everything all right up there?” He nodded to ward the barn.

  “Everything’s wonderful. Mary Jo had a baby girl.”

  “That’s marvelous!” Cliff kissed her cheek. “I bet you never guessed you’d be delivering a baby on Christmas Eve.”

  Grace had to agree; it was the last thing she’d expected. She was thankful Mary Jo hadn’t been stuck in some hotel room alone. These might not have been the best of cir cum stances, but she’d ended up with people who genuinely cared for her and her baby.

  Grace didn’t know Roy and Corrie McAfee’s son well, but Mack had proved him self ten times over. He was a capable, compassionate young man, and he’d been an immeasurable help to Mary Jo. In fact, Grace doubted any one could have done more.

  After he’d delivered that baby girl, Mack had cradled the infant in his arms and gazed down on her with tears shining in his eyes. An onlooker might have thought he was the child’s father.

  The other EMT actually had to ask him to let go of the baby so he could wash her. After that, Grace had wrapped the crying baby in a swaddling blanket and handed her to Mary Jo.

  The two EMTs were finishing up with Mary Jo and would be transporting her and the baby to the closest birthing center. Maryellen had stayed to discuss breast-feeding and to encourage and, if need be, assist the new mother.

  Grace had felt it was time to check on the rest of her family.

  “It’s certainly been a full and busy night,” Cliff said.

  “Fuller than either of us could’ve imagined,” Grace murmured.

  A car pulled into the yard. “Isn’t that Jack’s?” Cliff asked, squinting into the lights.

  “Yes—it’s Olivia and Jack.” Grace should’ve known Olivia wouldn’t just go home after Christmas Eve services. She’d briefly told Olivia what was happening before she’d hurried out of the church, fearing she’d caused enough of a distraction as it was.

  Jack parked next to Cliff’s vehicle. Be fore he’d even turned off the engine, Olivia had opened her door. “How’s everything?” she asked
anxiously as she stepped out of the car.

  “We have a baby girl.”

  Olivia brought her hands together and pressed them to her heart. “I’m so pleased. And Mary Jo?”

  “Was in credible.”

  “You delivered the baby?”

  “Not exactly. But I was there.”

  Being with Mary Jo had brought back so many memories of her own children’s births. Memories that were clear and vivid. The wonder of seeing that beautiful, perfectly formed child. The elation. The feeling of womanly power. She remembered it all.

  “If not you, then who?” Olivia asked.

  “Mack McAfee. The other EMT, Brandon, was there, too, but it was Mack who stayed with Mary Jo, who helped her through the worst of it. By the time I arrived, the baby was ready to be born.”

  “I’m sure she was happy to see you.”

  Mary Jo had been, but she hadn’t re ally needed Grace; she and Mack had worked together with a sense of ease and mutual trust.

  Grace al most felt as if she’d intruded on something very private. The communication between Mack and Mary Jo had been—she hesitated to use this word—spiritual. It was focused entirely on the birth, on what each needed to do to get that baby born. Grace felt moved to tears, even now, as she thought about it.

  “Grandma, listen!” Tyler shouted. He pounded on his drum, making an excruciating racket.

  Grace covered her ears. “Gently, Tyler, gently.”

  Tyler frowned as he looked up at her. “I was playing my best for you.”

  “Remember the song about the little drummer boy?” Olivia asked him.

  Tyler nodded eagerly. “It’s my favorite.”

  “It says in the song that he went pa-rum-pum-pum-pum, right?”

  Tyler nodded again.

  “It doesn’t say he beat the drum like crazy until Baby Jesus’s mother put her hands over her ears and asked him to go next door and play.”

  Tyler laughed. “No.”

  “Okay, try it more slowly now,” Grace said.

  Tyler did, tapping on the drum in a soft rhythm that was pleasing to the ear.

  “Lovely,” Grace told her grand son.

  “Can I play for the ox and the lamb?” he asked.

  “In the song they kept time, remember?”

  Grinning, Tyler raced away to show his cousins what he’d learned and to serenade the animals.

  “Come in for a cup of coffee,” Cliff suggested to Olivia and Jack.

  “We should head home,” Jack said. His arm rested protectively on Olivia’s shoulders.

  “I just wanted to make sure everything turned out well,” Olivia explained. “Do you think I could see Mary Jo and the baby for a few minutes?”

  “I don’t see why not,” Grace said with a smile.

  The two women left the men out side while Grace led the way up to the small apartment. Brandon Hut ton sat on the top step with his medical equipment, filling out paper work. He shifted aside and they skirted around him.

  “Mary Jo?” Grace asked, standing in the door way to the bed room. “Would it be okay if Olivia came in to see the baby?”

  “Of course. That would be fine,” Mary Jo said.

  When they walked into the bed room, they found Mary Jo sit ting up, holding her baby in her arms.

  “Oh, my,” Olivia whispered as she reached the bed. “She’s so tiny.”

  “She didn’t feel so tiny a little while ago.” Mary Jo looked up with a comical expression. “I felt like I was giving birth to an elephant.”

  “It was worth it, though,” Olivia said and ran her finger over the baby’s head. “She’s just gorgeous.”

  “I never would’ve believed how much you can love such a tiny baby.” Mary Jo’s voice was full of wonder. “I thought my heart would burst with love when Mack put her in my arms.”

  “Do you have a name for her?” Grace asked.

  “Not yet. I had one picked out, but now I’m not sure.”

  “She’s a special baby born on a special night.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Mary Jo said, kissing the newborn’s forehead. Her gaze fell lovingly on the child. “When I was first pregnant…I was so embarrassed and afraid, I prayed God would just let me die. And now…now I see her as an in credible gift.”

  Grace had felt that way when she discovered she was pregnant with Maryellen all those years ago. It was shortly before her high school graduation; she’d been dating Dan Sherman and their relationship had al ways been on-again, off-again. She’d dreaded telling him she was pregnant, even more than she’d dreaded telling her parents.

  For weeks she’d kept her secret, embarrassed and ashamed. But like Mary Jo, she’d learned to see the pregnancy as an unexpected gift, and the moment Maryellen was placed in her arms, Grace had experienced an overwhelming surge of love. The birth hadn’t been easy, they never re ally were, but as soon as she saw her daughter, Grace had recognized that every minute of that pain had been worth the out come.

  “If you need any thing,” Olivia was saying to Mary Jo, “make sure you give me a call.”

  “Thank you. That’s so kind.”

  Olivia turned to Mack, who hovered in the background. “Are you taking her to the birthing center in Silver dale?”

  He nodded. “We’ll be leaving in about ten minutes.”

  “Then I won’t keep you,” Olivia said. “I’ll stop by some time tomorrow afternoon,” she promised Mary Jo.

  “Oh, please don’t,” Mary Jo said quickly. “It’s Christmas—spend that time with your family. I’ll get in touch soon. Any way, I’ll be with my own family.” She looked up, her eyes widening.

  “Mary Jo?” Grace asked in alarm. “What’s wrong?”

  “Oh, my good ness!”

  “What is it?” Mack’s voice was equally worried.

  “My brothers,” Mary Jo said. “They never showed up.”

  “That’s true.” The en tire matter had slipped Grace’s mind. “Mary Jo’s brothers were due here—” she checked her watch “—three hours ago.”

  “Where could they be?” Mary Jo wailed.

  Grace tried to re as sure her. “They’re probably lost. It’s easy enough with all these back roads. They’ve never been in this area before, have they?”

  Mary Jo shook her head.

  “Don’t worry. When they arrive, I’ll tell them what happened and where to find you.”

  Mary Jo smiled down at the infant cradled in her arms. “They’ll hardly believe I had the baby—but then it’s hard for me to believe, too.”

  “I’ll call you tomorrow,” Olivia said.

  “Thank you, but please…”

  “Yes?”

  “Don’t tell your parents about the baby yet. Give them a chance to settle back into their routine before you let them know about David and me…and the baby.”

  “I won’t say a word until you and I agree the time is right.”

  Mary Jo nodded.

  Grace was impressed that Mary Jo wanted to spare Ben and Charlotte the unsavory news of David’s betrayal until they were more pre pared to accept it.

  “I’ll leave you now,” Olivia told her. “But like I said, if you need any thing, anytime, please call. You’re practically family, you know.”

  Mary Jo thanked her softly. “You all feel like family to me…. Everyone’s been so wonderful.”

  Grace walked down the stairs with Olivia. She was surprised to see Jack and Cliff still out side, huddled with the children.

  “What’s Cliff up to now?” Grace wondered aloud.

  Jack glanced over. “You gotta see this!” he said, waving at Olivia. He sounded like a giddy child.

  As soon as Grace saw the huge car ton of fire works Cliff had dragged out, she groaned. “Cliff!”

  “I was saving them for New Year’s Eve, but I can’t think of a better night for celebrating, can you?”

  “What about the horses?”

  “They’re all safe in their stalls. Don’t worry about them.”


  “And Butter cup? She hates that kind of noise.”

  “She’s locked in the house.”

  “Can we, Grandpa, can we?”

  The children were jumping up and down, clapping their hands with enthusiasm.

  “Why right now?” Grace asked.

  Cliff sent her a look of pure innocence. “I was just casting about for a way to keep the grand kids entertained.”

  “Oh, all right.” She sighed loudly, holding back a grin.

  “Okay if we stay and watch?” Jack said.

  Grace and Olivia glanced at each other. As they’d often had occasion to observe, most men were little boys at heart.

  “If you must,” Olivia murmured.

  The front door opened and Kelly stepped out with her husband, Paul, who still held the baby. Grace’s daughter balanced a large tray filled with mugs and Lisa followed with a tin of Christmas cookies.

  “Any one for hot chocolate?” Kelly asked.

  “I’d love a cup,” Olivia said.

  “Me, too,” Grace put in.

  Paul gestured at the kids. “What’s going on?”

  “Fire works in a few minutes,” Grace told him.

  “Wow! Great idea.”

  “Men,” Olivia whispered under her breath, and then both Olivia and Grace broke into giggles, just like they had when they were school girls.

  Nineteen

  “How did we get so lost—twice?” Linc groaned. The only thing left to do was re turn to Cedar Cove and start over. That sounded easy enough, except that he no longer knew how to find the town.

  “That King did us wrong,” Mel said.

  “You think?” Linc asked sarcastically. He was past frustration, past impatience and past losing his cool. All he wanted was to track down his pregnant sister and bring her home. That shouldn’t be such an impossible task, and yet…

  “I’m never going back to King’s,” Ned said in disgust.

  “Me, neither,” Mel spat. “If I ever go back to Cedar Cove, which is un likely.”

  Frankly, Linc was of the same mind, at least as far as King went. The man had black mailed him into paying for directions and then completely misled him. True, the sandwiches weren’t bad, but he’d over charged for them. The old coot had an evil streak a mile wide. If he thought it was fun to misdirect them, then he had a per verse sense of humor, too. Per verse? Down right twisted!