Jessie wasn’t entirely sure why she was being so stubborn. One devastating, spine-tingling kiss hardly constituted a declaration of love.
Still, with every single bit of intuition she possessed, she believed that Luke was in love with her. That kiss was a symptom of stronger emotions. She was certain of it. She simply had to wait him out. Sooner or later, he would see that she wasn’t afraid of the consequences if she stayed. He would see, in fact, that she welcomed them. Eventually he would realize that together they could even conquer all of the opposition they were likely to arouse.
The unexpected ringing of the cellular phone startled her so badly, she pricked her finger with the needle she’d been using to stitch buttons back onto Luke’s shirts. Should she answer it? Or take it to Luke in his office? Of course, by the time she carried it through the house, whoever was calling would probably give up thanks to her indecisiveness.
It was guilt over her own failure to call Harlan and Mary that finally convinced her to answer on the fifth ring.
“Hello,” she said tentatively.
“Who the hell is this?” Harlan Adams’s unmistakable voice boomed over the line.
An odd mix of pleasure and dismay spread through her. “It’s Jessie, Harlan. Merry Christmas!”
“Jessie?” he repeated incredulously. “You’re okay. What the devil are you doing over at Lucas’s? Why haven’t you called? My God, woman, Mary’s been out of her mind with worry.”
Jessie decided that rather than responding to the questions and the barely disguised accusations Harlan had thrown out at her, she’d better go on the offensive immediately.
“I went into labor on the way to your house,” she explained. “I was scared to death I’d deliver the baby in a snow drift. Luke’s ranch was the only place nearby. You have a beautiful granddaughter, Harlan. I’ve named her Angela.”
As she’d expected, the announcement took the wind out of his sails. “You’ve had the baby? A girl?”
“That’s right.”
“Mary,” he called. “Mary! Get on the other line. Jessie’s at Luke’s and she’s had the baby!”
Jessie heard the echoing sound of footsteps on White Pines’s hardwood floors, then the clatter of a juggled, then dropped, phone. Finally, Mary’s breathless voice came over the line. “You had the baby?”
“A girl,” Jessie confirmed. “Angela. She is so beautiful, Mary. I can’t wait for you to see her.”
“But why are you at Luke’s? Why not a hospital?”
“Angela was too impatient to get here. With the blizzard and everything, I figured this was my best bet.”
“But the doctor did get there in time?” Mary asked worriedly.
Jessie hauled in a deep breath before blurting, “Actually, Luke delivered her. He was incredible. Calm as could be. You would have been so proud of him. I don’t know what I would have done without him.”
The explanation drew no response. Jessie could hear Mary crying. Eventually, Harlan spoke up.
“I don’t get it, girl. That was three days ago. Why haven’t you called before now?”
“The phone lines are down and Luke had misplaced the cellular phone. He hunted all over for it. It finally turned up this morning, buried under some papers.” It was a stretch of the truth, but Jessie had no intention of filling them in on her own battle with Luke over this very phone.
“No wonder we couldn’t reach him,” Harlan grumbled. “That boy would lose his head if it weren’t tacked onto his neck.”
Jessie sighed. She’d never noticed that Luke was particularly absentminded, not about anything that mattered. The observation was just another of Harlan’s inconsequential put-downs, uttered without thought to their accumulated cutting nature. She’d practically bitten her lower lip raw listening to him do the same thing to Erik. If she had thought it would help, she would have told him to stop, but she had known the order had to come from Erik.
“Well, it doesn’t matter now,” Harlan said. “Now that we know where to find you, I’ll have my pilot pick you up in an hour. There’s a landing strip not far from Luke’s. He should be able to get you there.”
“No,” Jessie said at once.
“Beg pardon?” Harlan said, sounding shocked by her unexpected display of defiance.
“Jessie, darling, you must be anxious to be away from there,” Mary protested. “We know how difficult it was for you to see Luke after what happened to Erik. Please, let Harlan send for you. We want you here with us and we can’t wait to see the baby. You should be with family now.”
“Luke is family,” she reminded them.
“Yes, but...well, under the circumstances, you must be under a terrible strain there.”
“No,” Jessie insisted. She took a deep breath and prepared to manufacture an excuse that not even strong-willed Harlan Adams could debate. “The baby has no business being dragged around in weather like this, not for a few more days anyway. By then the roads will be clear and I can drive the rest of the way.”
“Oh, dear,” Mary promptly murmured. “She is okay, isn’t she?”
“She’s just fine, but she’s a newborn and it’s freezing outside. I’ll feel better about bundling her up and taking her out in a few days, I’m sure.”
“Well, of course, you must do what you think is best for the baby,” Mary conceded eventually, but there was no mistaking her disappointment.
“Nonsense,” Harlan said, heading down the single track his mind had chosen with dogged determination. “I’ll send a doctor along in the plane to check her out. The baby ought to be seen by a professional as soon as possible, anyway. I’m sure Luke did his best, but he’s not a physician. Don’t worry about a thing, Jessica. I’ll have Doc Winchell at Luke’s before nightfall. Then you can all come back together. We’ll have you here in time for the party Mary has planned. It’ll be a celebration to
