“He has a diary in there with his planned arrival time written in indelible ink?”
“First babies are never early,” Jenny said stoutly, and Lana chortled as Michael watched silently from the sidelines. He was doing his own thinking.
“Ha!” Lana scoffed. “I had a lady in my shop on Friday buying a romper suit for her baby, who was due tomorrow. He’s now seven weeks old.”
“I…”
“Jenny, you need to be organized, and I’m just the person to help you do it,” Lana said. “Organization is my specialty. Just ask Dylan. I organized him right into marriage. And Mike. I’ve been organizing him since he was three years old. So while I’m on a roll, I thought I’d take you back to my shop right now.” She smiled at Jenny’s bewildered look. “You know I own Oh, Baby!”
“Oh!” Jenny gasped. How many times had she slowed as she’d passed the baby shop, looking longingly in the window at all the delightful things for sale? “Of course. I’ve been past there. It’s lovely. But I can’t afford-”
She closed her eyes. Things were getting out of control. How could she tell them she intended to buy discount store clothes, and a crib and stroller secondhand?
“That’s irrelevant. I’m paying,” Michael announced, and her eyes opened again.
“No.”
“Yes!”
“Michael, no,” she said, distressed. “I can’t-”
“You can,” Megan said. She’d been watching Jenny’s face, saying nothing, but her intelligent mind had been assessing and coming to conclusions. She moved to take Jenny’s faltering hands in hers. “But you needn’t accept Michael’s help in this area, my dear, because this is what I’m going to do. You’re going to accept your baby needs as a combined gift from me and the staff at Maitland. This is our gift to you.”
Jenny took a step back, but Megan’s hands held fast. “Mrs. Maitland, I can’t!”
“You left work on Thursday without being given your farewell gifts,” Megan said sternly. “The staff had taken a collection for a baby shower. Ellie’s given me a check to add to it. She’s grateful for the change you brought to our security offices over the last five months and-” she gave Michael a sideways smile “-she’s grateful for the changes you brought about in our security chief. I’m equally grateful. Lana will dictate what you need, and-”
“Mrs. Maitland-”
“It’s Aunt Megan to you while you’re married to Michael,” she corrected sternly. “Jennifer, I assume you’d like your job back at Maitland Maternity one day?”
“I… Yes.”
“Then learn to accept gifts gracefully. I never got a chance to give the pair of you a wedding gift-”
“We’re not-”
“Married? Don’t talk nonsense. You’re more married than you think. So take this with my blessings. And, Michael?”
“Yes, ma’am?” Michael was just plain bemused.
“You were intending to go back to work after lunch?”
“Of course.”
“There’s no of course about it,” she said sternly. “You’re not welcome at work. You haven’t had a break for two years. I’m ordering you to take time off, starting today, and help Jenny get herself organized.”
“But-”
“You don’t think Jenny needs help?”
“I don’t,” Jenny interrupted, but Megan shook her head.
“There speaks a woman who doesn’t own so much as a diaper for a son who’s due to appear any minute. Lana, can you take this hopeless pair shopping?”
“I’d love to.” Lana was practically choking with laughter. “Dylan’s meeting me for lunch. Maybe we could all go out together. Make a day of it. I’ll bet we could even persuade Jenny to buy some new pajamas.”
“What’s wrong with my pajamas?” Jenny protested, and they all laughed. Suddenly Jenny was laughing with them. This was so easy. And the way Michael was looking at her…
She gazed at him, and her breath caught in her throat. There was affection there, and more…
“Maybe you could do with some pajamas with a proper cord,” Megan was saying as Jenny’s eyes met Michael’s and held. They hardly heard her. “But diapers first.”
There was nothing more to say.
“Yes, ma’am,” said Michael, his eyes still on Jenny’s, and it was all he could do to get the words out. “Whatever you say, Aunt Megan.”
WHAT FOLLOWED was an amazing few hours. Lana collected Dylan because she figured Michael might need some male support, but to Jenny’s astonishment, the men took over.
“Surely we don’t need all this stuff,” she said helplessly as a miniature baseball league sweater landed on top of a pile of baby gear a mile high.
“You were maybe considering teaching your son cricket?” Michael teased. “You have a green card now, Mrs. Lord. This baby grows up playing American sports.”
“Then we need a baseball bat,” Dylan said decisively, and swooped off to the other side of the store to find one. “Like Greg has.”
“No!”
Michael lifted the bat Dylan found and inspected it with approval, ignoring Jenny’s protest. “This is more like it. Do you have a ball, Lana? Let’s try this out for size.”
While Jenny watched helplessly, and Lana made piles of diapers and undershirts and sleepers, Dylan and Michael set up an impromptu baseball game in the crowded store. Luckily it was a foam ball. Customers came and went, eyeing the pair with amusement, but Dylan and Michael carried right on.
“It’s good advertising, Lana,” Michael told his sister. “Bet you sell a ton of these today.” And she did. By the time hunger hit, Lana didn’t have a miniature bat left in stock.
Then, with the guys still in charge, they carried the sleeping Greg to the car and ended up in Shelby’s diner for lunch-where the baseball game started up again. A few stunned residents and nurses from the clinic were promptly organized into teams, and the foam ball flew from booth to booth.
“You’re all nuts,” Shelby told them. “Get out of here.”
Michael gave his sister a hug and turned to watch his wife take the bat. “Sorry, Shelby. We seem to have turned this place on its ear.”
“Jenny seems to have turned you on your ear,” Shelby said softly, and hugged him back. “I was wrong to be worried. She’s special, Mike.”
“She… It’s only for a bit.”
“It can be for as long as you like, as far as I’m concerned,” she told him gently. “If she makes my brother look like this.”
After lunch, Lana and Dylan headed back to Lana’s store with Greg, and Shelby disappeared into the kitchen. Michael and Jen were left with the afternoon in front of them.
“It’s only three,” Michael said. He frowned. He wasn’t used to spare time.
“Socks will need a walk. You must have things to do. If you drop me off at home, then I’ll take him.”
“Take him by yourself? You should put your feet up.”
“I don’t want to.” Jenny flashed him a shy smile. “To be honest, I’ve had so much fun, I don’t want it to end.”
And neither did he.
So they drove home, unpacked their packages, held up each item for Socks’s approval-the only thing Socks was interested in was the foam ball-and then rigged up a leash and took their dog to the river.
It was another gorgeous autumn afternoon. Socks greeted it with joy, but Jenny found the warm sun made her sleepy. She was tired. Michael had found an ordinary tennis ball and was throwing it for Socks, and after the tenth throw she sank onto a park bench and watched her husband and her dog wear themselves out.
She felt at peace with the world. Gloria was gone, and she was safe now. Whatever she had to face in the future, Michael would be there with her.
She was where she wanted to be.
And she slept.
