Love Inspired March 2014 - Bundle 2 of 2: North Country Family\Small-Town Midwife\Protecting the Widow's Heart (34 page)

“I'm so sorry,” Autumn said.

“Thanks. Your birth wasn't like Angie's. She had no one who could help. Your friends had the best care possible, you.”

“But I should have...”

“No shoulds,” he interrupted. “Maybe God has a different plan for your friends.”

A thoughtful look replaced some of the pain on her face. “Jamie said that Suzy and Jack have applied to become foster parents.”

He nodded in reassurance. “See? And your quick action got Christie to Albany Med for the care she and her baby needed.”

“My action, along with your help.”

Help that Jon longed to continue to give Autumn until she regained her faith in herself, until she could confidently go back to catching babies for the women in her hometown who needed those services.

Autumn's lips turned up in a weak smile that called him to taste their softness again. He pulled her into his arms and did just that.

When he released her, she smiled up at him. “We do work well together. In more ways than one,” she said, restarting the double-time tattoo of his heart that had finally started to slow.

“We need to investigate those other ways.”

“How do you propose we do that, Dr. Hanlon?”

“We might try putting our kissing into a more appropriate setting by going on a date.”

He loved the way her cheeks pinked when he'd said “kissing.”

“I do hear that's how other people do it.”

He took her hands again. “Seriously, I care for you and want to see if whatever is going on between us is something real.”

“Me, too.” She rose on her toes and gave him a peck on the lips.

Her sweet response was almost enough to make him forget that a relationship with Autumn didn't fit into his plans right now.

* * *

Autumn had fallen asleep on the drive back from Albany with the taste of Jon's lips on hers and his admission that he reciprocated her feelings humming in her heart. They'd parted ways with another toe-curling kiss when they'd reached the duplex. Now, two days later, she still couldn't get Jon's kisses off her mind, although the anticipation of moving their relationship forward was waning. He'd yet to actually ask her out on a date.

She took extra care braiding her hair into a French braid and applying her makeup, telling herself that her particular attention to her appearance was because she and Kelly had a meeting with potential new parents after Jamie's appointment and not because she'd be seeing Jon.

Enough!
She dropped her mascara wand in her makeup bag. Who was she kidding? She wanted to look nice for Jon. He'd finally won her over. It hadn't been his movie-star good looks or the killer smile that made other women swoon. It was getting to know him as a man who could be depended on, a man who wasn't the cad her former roommate had made him out to be, nor the player he was reputed to be at Samaritan. A caring man she could share her personal and professional life with if her future in Paradox Lake were more certain.

Chapter Fourteen

“W
hew!” Jamie fanned herself as she and Autumn walked back to their office from Jon's after Jamie's appointment. “What was that?”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Autumn said. After she'd told Jon that it would be better to see Jamie the first time without her, Jamie had insisted she come this time. Autumn couldn't very well tell Jamie she didn't want to sit in on her appointment because Jon had kissed her, said he wanted to date her and then hadn't asked her out. It was all too high schoolish.

“You, Jon. The electricity in the air. I was afraid it would short out all of the electronics in the room.”

Autumn lifted her hand and placed it on Jamie's forehead palm out.

“What are you doing?”

“Did Jon's nurse take your temperature?”

“Ye-es.” Jamie drew out her answer.

“I was checking to see if you have a fever that's making you delirious.”

“I'm not delirious. Admit it. There's something sparking between you two.”

Autumn bit back the “there is not” that leaped to her tongue. She didn't want to sound like she was protesting too much. “Jon and I shared a harrowing birth on Sunday. My childhood friend Christie was vacationing at the house Dad rents out at the lake. Her baby wasn't due for five more weeks, but her water broke and the baby was coming fast. We had to transport her to Albany Med. Everything turned out fine, but the experience brought us together.” Autumn touched her finger to her lips.

“It's about time,” Jamie said.

Autumn ignored her comment and pushed the door to their office open.

Lexi looked up from the computer. “Jon called. You forgot your meeting with him.”

“Our meeting? I just came from Jamie's appointment with him.” Autumn looked at Jamie, who grinned back at her.

“I don't know.” Lexi shrugged. “He sounded like he was expecting you. I said I'd send you right down,” she prompted when Autumn made no effort to leave.

Send her down? If he'd wanted her to stay, he could have said something. As Autumn turned to leave, she heard a stifled giggle from Lexi followed by a “shush” from Jamie. Were Jon and them up to something? Her heartbeat quickened along with her steps.
No.
She stopped herself. He'd probably assumed she'd stay to go over Jamie's appointment, and her friends were making more of it than there was.

Jon met her in the hall outside his office and opened the door so they could enter.

“We can talk here.” He motioned to the couch in the waiting area.

Autumn sat. “Are you going to get your notes? I assume you want to talk about Jamie.”

“No, this is personal.” He made himself comfortable on the couch next to her; the clean, crisp smell of his aftershave emphasized his nearness.

Autumn clasped her hands in her lap. Was this where he said he didn't want to see her after all? That his admission Sunday evening had been a let-down reaction to the tension of Christie's emergency delivery?

“I finished my research on the center's need for a gynecological nurse practitioner on staff and sent the request to HR.”

That's what he'd wanted to tell her? How was that personal?

When she didn't respond, he added, “I recommended you for the position, assuming it's approved.” He leaned back into the couch, a Cheshire cat smile on his face.

Nothing about their kiss or date or relationship? “Thank you,” she got out.

“Stunned you, didn't I?”

“Yes. Yes, you did.” Stunned was right. If Jon's request went through, her job situation here would be a lot more secure. And it could mean the birthing center's financial situation was better than the center grapevine thought. In which case, she should be feeling more than stunned. Or it could mean the medical center was finessing appearances for a sale.

“I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything from HR.”

“Please do.”

“And, now...”

The office door opened and Jamie and Lexi wheeled in a utility cart with a luncheon for two.

“I wanted to take you out to lunch,” he said, “but didn't have enough time between appointments, so I ordered in.”

So that's what Lexi's giggle had been about. “My favorite. Seafood Cobb salad from the Corner Café. How did you know?”

Jon nodded toward Jamie, who was slipping out the door behind Lexi.

“I should have known.”

He placed their meals and two glasses of iced tea on the table in front of the couch. “Surprised?”

“Yes.” And pleased at the pains he'd taken to surprise her.

“I knew telling you about the staff position would throw you off.”

“You did that with your message to Lexi about our meeting I knew we didn't have.”

He leaned back and gave her the famous Hanlon smile. Today it seemed different, more intimate, and went right to her core, melting her from the inside out.

Jon dug into his salad, giving her time to recompose herself.

“This is really good,” he said. “It's not something I'd normally order. I tried it because Jamie said you loved it.”

Autumn almost choked on her shrimp. “Isn't that laying it on a little thick? The lunch is enough for me.”

He shrugged and grinned. They talked about nothing and everything while they finished their lunch.

“Before we have to get back to work,” he said, “would you like to take a cruise of Lake George some evening next week? It would give us an opportunity to broaden our kissing horizons beyond medical facilities.”

“When you put it that way, how can I refuse?” Autumn had been on various cruises of Lake George. None of them had had the appeal or promise of Jon's invitation.

“I'll see what night I can get tickets for and let you know.” His office phone rang. “Excuse me.” He walked to his desk and picked it up. “Yes, we just finished.” He hung up and turned to her. “My next appointment is here.”

As if on cue, Jamie and Lexi reappeared and swept the lunch dishes away.

“I'll let you know about the cruise and see you Sunday.”

“Sounds good.”

As she headed back to her office, it struck her that today was only Tuesday. He'd said he'd see her Sunday. Maybe he was taking some time off. But why wouldn't he have mentioned it to her?

* * *

So that's why Jon had said he'd see her Sunday. She slapped her copy of the
Times of Ti
against her leg as she stomped over to his place to give him a good piece of her mind. While she'd been acting like a high schooler, all jazzed about the Lake George cruise, and daydreaming about her and Jon working together to make the birthing center a premier facility, he'd been destroying that possibility. This was the same man who'd said he'd broken up with her former roommate because Kate hadn't been straight with him?

“Hi, you're just in time to sample my crullers,” Mrs. Hanlon said when she opened the door. “I made them for coffee hour at church tomorrow.”

“No, thanks. I need to talk to Jon.”

Mrs. Hanlon ushered her in. “He's not here. Didn't he tell you?”

“No, he didn't.” She dropped the newspaper open on the coffee table.

“I'm sure he meant to. He's had a lot on his mind.”

She eyed the newspaper on the table.
I'm sure he has.

Mrs. Hanlon pulled the door closed. “He's been gone the past three days on his annual birthday canoeing trip in the Catskill Mountains with a couple of his college friends and my grandson-in-law, Angie's husband.”

Apparently there were a lot of things he hadn't told her.

“He didn't mention it to me. Nor did he say anything about this.” She pointed at the front page story in the
Times.

Adirondack Medical Center to Sell Ticonderoga Birthing Center.

“It's to your husband's company.”

Rather than the surprise Autumn expected to see from Mrs. Hanlon, the woman dropped her gaze to the newspaper, then picked it up and skimmed the article.

She folded the paper and put it back on the table. “The article says the sale isn't finalized.”

“It says it's being finalized.” Mrs. Hanlon's hairsplitting made Autumn's heart sink. She couldn't believe the woman would have lied to Jon about not knowing anything about any sale of the birthing center. But her demeanor indicated she knew something now. Autumn's thoughts jumped from Mrs. Hanlon to Jon. What did he know?

“Would that be so bad, the center being spun off?” Mrs. Hanlon asked, twisting her diamond ring back and forth on her finger.

“No offense. But your husband's business model isn't one I could work under.” And, from what Jon had said to her, she'd thought he couldn't, either.

“No offense taken. I don't agree with the direction my Jon has taken the company.”

Mrs. Hanlon got a faraway look in her eyes. “He was different, more like Jay, your Jon, when he was practicing surgery.”

Autumn ignored the possessive Mrs. Hanlon had put on Jon.
The way he's acting, he's not my anything,
she thought, her heart shrinking in her chest.

“My Jon once took great satisfaction in helping people and started JMH to help keep medical facilities open in areas where there are health professional shortages. He surprised me by curtailing his surgery practice to devote time to JMH. He loved surgery.”

Autumn didn't know why Mrs. Hanlon was telling her all of this. She wanted to cut to the chase and find out when Jon would be home. But she wasn't about to interrupt. Mrs. Hanlon seemed to need to talk.

“He became bitter when the arthritis forced him to stop practicing. He was too young. Not ready to retire. He tried to hide it, but his partners noticed. After they asked him to step down from doing surgical procedures, he poured all of his bitterness into making money, with JMH as his moneymaking vehicle.” Mrs. Hanlon wrung her hands. “What am I doing, dumping all of this on you?”

“It's okay.” Autumn put her arm around the older woman. She couldn't say that she felt any warmer toward Jon's grandfather or JMH as it was now. But she could sympathize with Mrs. Hanlon and wondered how much of this, if any, Jon knew. From his outburst when she'd asked him about JMH buying the birthing center, she knew he'd disagree with his grandmother that he and his grandfather were anything alike. Or—she eyed the newspaper—could that outburst have been staged for her? She didn't want to believe that.

Mrs. Hanlon caught her gaze when she raised it from the newspaper. “You did read that the sale isn't entirely to JMH.”

“Would your husband and JMH take a minority interest?” Autumn shook her head. “I have trouble believing that. It goes against his and the corporation's cutthroat reputation.”

Hurt passed over the older woman's face.

“Sorry,” Autumn said. “I'm upset, although that doesn't excuse me.”

The older woman rubbed her temples. “I'm starting to get a headache. It must have been the heat from the deep fryer.”

Or the way she'd stormed in and insulted the woman's husband. “Sit down.” Autumn stepped to the side so Mrs. Hanlon had access to the couch. “Can I get you aspirin?”

“No, I'll get it and go lie down for a while. That is if you can pick up Jon at the train station for me.”

Talking to Jon had been her purpose for coming over here. But uncertainty about his knowledge of, and possible role in, the sale of the birthing center made a part of her rebel against being trapped in a car with him for the half hour drive home. Since she'd let down her barriers against falling for him, it could be too painful.

Mrs. Hanlon's pale complexion quelled the rebellion. Autumn couldn't let the older woman drive if she was unwell. She was a big girl. She could get past her disappointment. “Of course. Will you be all right until we get back? I can call Gram, and I'm sure she'd come and stay with you.”

“I'll be fine.” She checked her watch. “Jon's train is due in a half hour. I'll call and let him know you're on your way.”

“Okay.” Autumn picked up the newspaper. She'd almost told Mrs. Hanlon not to call, to let her surprise Jon. On second thought, though, whether he was part of the birthing center sale or not, telling him she'd found out about it would probably be enough of a surprise.

* * *

Jon didn't know what was wrong with him. He always looked forward to the guys' annual canoe trip and had been disappointed that he could only take three days off for it this year. The weather had been fabulous, the company good and the food great. What more could a guy want? He looked out of the train window, but instead of the mountain scenery, he saw Autumn looking up at him, her eyes bright with the relief that Christie and her baby were fine.

If only they'd reconnected two years from now, after his mission in Haiti was complete and he'd done his part to make sure his cousin's death wasn't in vain. Would Autumn understand why he had to leave the birthing center when his contract was up next year? Could they build something between now and then that would be strong enough for him to ask her to wait for him to return?

The train pulled into the Ticonderoga stop and Jon made his way to the door, the only passenger getting off. He looked around the small waiting area for Nana. When he didn't see her, he sat on the wooden bench and checked his cell phone.
No service.
The station door opened a couple minutes later, and Autumn, not Nana, walked in. He grabbed his duffel bag and met her midway across the room. Autumn's thin-lipped expression raised hairs on his neck. “Where's Nana? Is she okay?”

“I think so. She has a headache and wanted to rest so she asked me to pick you up. Didn't she call you?”

“She did and left a voice mail. When I tried to check it, I had no service. Did you take her temperature?”