“I can see how having a second pair of hands would be helpful in a family with two sets of twins.”
It was also nice to know Shane had gone above and beyond. And that he hadn’t been scared off by sick kids. That had to be a plus, didn’t it?
“What can I do to help?” Jillian asked.
“You can peel and slice the apples, if you’d like.”
Jillian reached for a knife from the wooden butcher block on the counter, then carried the fruit to the sink. Before turning on the water, she said, “Hank mentioned that you and Dan are expecting again.”
Eva smiled, and her eyes brightened. “We haven’t made an official announcement yet, but it’s true. We hadn’t planned on having another child, but I guess God had other ideas.”
“You seem happy, though.”
“Oh, I am. Babies are a gift, especially the unexpected ones.”
Jillian placed a hand on her tummy. Her baby hadn’t been planned, either, but she considered her pregnancy a blessing.
Before long, Eva brought the children into the kitchen for lunch. After wiping sticky fingers, she took the little ones off to bed for a nap.
Kevin and Kaylee went into the living room to watch the DVD they’d been waiting to see, just as the men returned from the barn.
Lunch was pleasant, and so was the conversation. Jillian was glad that she’d met the Walkers. Shane had been right about them. They were nice people, a loving couple and a wonderful family.
As Shane drove her back to Brighton Valley, she reflected upon her time at the ranch. “Thanks for bringing me today. I had a really good time.”
“I thought you would.”
More than that, Jillian realized that she now had a woman to talk to about pregnancy and babies. Her friend Katie, as sweet as she was, had never been married. So it was nice knowing that she had Eva.
“The Walkers are sure going to have their hands full when the new baby comes,” Jillian said. “I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have five kids. Wow.”
When they arrived back at the apartment, Shane parked in back of the diner. Then they headed for the stairway that led to the rear entrance.
As Jillian made her way up the steps, something pulled low in her belly. Something sharp and painful. She stopped abruptly, gasped and put her hand on her stomach.
“What’s the matter?” Shane asked.
“Something hurts.”
“What?”
“I don’t know.” She stood there a moment, stroking low on her belly.
Deciding to continue on, she took two more steps before it happened again. “Whoa.”
“Was it a cramp?” he asked. “Or maybe a contraction?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never had a baby before.”
They stood in the stairway, not moving up or down.
After a beat—and another painful twinge—Shane clicked his tongue. “That’s it. You need to see a doctor.”
“But he’s in Houston.”
“We’re not making a two-hour drive for medical advice. I’m taking you to the E.R. at the Brighton Valley Medical Center.”
She wanted to argue, to downplay the pain, but the whole baby experience was new to her, and she had to admit she was a little worried herself.
But was this something that required a visit to the emergency room?
“We could go upstairs and wait to see if it goes away,” she said.
Shane reached for her waist. “Don’t take another step, Jillian. I’m going to carry you down the stairs and put you in the truck.”
She wanted to object, to say that she could walk, but as Shane scooped her into his arms, as she caught a whiff of his musky scent, she let down her defenses for the first time since the night they’d met and let the cowboy have his way.
Shane drove Jillian straight to the Brighton Valley Medical Center and followed the sign to the emergency room.
“How are you feeling now?” he asked, as he pulled into a parking space.
“I’m okay.” She glanced out the window at the white stucco building, then rubbed her belly. “It’s feeling a little better now. It’s probably nothing.”
“Maybe, but it won’t hurt to have you checked out by a doctor.”
After Shane parked, he slid out from behind the wheel, circled the pickup and opened Jillian’s door. Then he took her hand and held it until they entered the E.R. and Jillian was directed to a triage area, where a nurse determined which patients needed to be seen first.
While Jillian explained her pain and the details of her pregnancy, Shane scanned the waiting room, which didn’t appear to be especially busy today, thank goodness.
He couldn’t count the number of times he’d experienced busy E.R.’s in Houston, when he’d brought a perp or a victim in for treatment. And he knew that some patients waited for hours to be seen.
Shane figured it wouldn’t hurt to remind the nurse what was at stake, what could go wrong. “Under the circumstances, since she’s pregnant and might be in premature labor, she’ll see a doctor right away, won’t she?”
“No,” the triage nurse said. “We’ll be sending her up to the obstetrical floor. They’re better equipped to examine and treat her up there. Just give me a minute or two, and we’ll have an orderly take her upstairs in a wheelchair.”
Shane gave Jillian’s hand a gentle squeeze, hoping she felt as relieved as he did at the news.
“In fact,” the nurse added, “why don’t you take a seat in the waiting room for a few minutes? It won’t be long.”
After a clerk from the reception desk took Jillian’s insurance information, they released her to find a chair with the others who waited with hacking coughs, stomachaches and visible wounds.
It seemed like ages, but was probably only a matter of minutes, before a tall, slender nurse with black spiky hair called Jillian’s name. Five minutes later, after an elevator ride and a trip down several corridors, they arrived in the obstetrical unit, where Jillian was assigned to an exam room. After her vitals were taken, she was given a gown and told to undress.
Thinking she would probably want some privacy, Shane said, “I’ll wait outside.”
He’d hoped she might stop him, which would mean that their friendship—or whatever their relationship was—had made a turn of some kind, growing stronger and more intimate than before. Yet she let him leave.
The nurse followed him out, but they didn’t have to wait long. Once Jillian had changed out of her street clothes, he and the nurse returned to the room.
When the two of them were left alone, he asked, “So how are you feeling now?”
“Better. In fact, I’m afraid I might have made a bigger deal out of those pains than I should have.”
“Don’t worry about that. This is just a precaution.”
Moments