Seeing Forever (16 page)

Chapter
Nineteen

Sadie watched the rain slide down the window pane in
her Boise office. She glanced at the papers for
Katey
and Luc, and then fingered their signatures. She wouldn’t give up on these two
despite the fact that
Katey’d
left town and had now
been in Coeur D’Alene for close to four months.

This wouldn’t be the first Perfect Pairing failure.
She, like Jake and Gen, had sensed that
Katey
and Luc
were meant to be together.

She’d been watched closely for the last month or so
and was pretty sure that Ted had reported seeing her use a spell while he’d
been here working on the accounts. They’d sent representatives from the
Department of Love on two separate occasions under the guise of just seeing how
things were running, but Sadie guessed they were trying to catch her
red-handed. She loved this job and Perfect Pairing too much to fall into a
trap. However, every witch got desperate now and then, and she had to intervene
and put a spell into the universe for these two lost loves. And there was even
more urgency with this pairing, as a baby was due soon.

Sadie stood and walked over to the cupboard.
 
Maybe the baby would be the perfect person to
bring
Katey
to her senses, send her back to Luc, and
fate could take it from there.

She pulled out her silver mixing bowl and took down
two spell powders.
Just enough to get a baby active and make
mama think about how much she missed its daddy.

****

Katey
wondered what her body would look like when she got to nine months. She was
sure she’d been gaining weight by the hour since she’d moved out of her dad’s
house. Of course, her Aunt Jean’s cooking might have something to do with it.
She bent over to rub the tops of her toes and stopped suddenly. The baby had
moved. She sat back up and rubbed her belly and closed her eyes. She’d felt
minute stirrings before now, but this had been different. It felt like the baby
had shifted position inside her.

How she wished that Luc had been around to feel it.
A tear slipped down her cheek. She missed him. Not a minute had passed when she
hadn’t thought about him. Sometimes she’d considered driving back to Boise and
letting him have his way, but she couldn’t.

The baby moved again and it almost took her breath
away. She stood up and walked across the room. Was it doing somersaults in
there and was it normal?

Maybe she should call the doctor. No, on Friday she
was having her first ultrasound and she’d ask then if a suddenly overactive
baby was something to worry about.

She glanced
down,
sure she
could see the baby moving under her skin. Her heart beat fast and how weird was
this? She thought she heard the baby telling her she needed to get back to
Boise because Luc needed her.

Chapter
Twenty

Willow led him along the street as he sensed a car
was pulling up by the curb. Maybe it was one of the neighbors wanting to say
hi. At least he was used to people stopping him now and they’d gotten used to sometimes
saying the wrong thing, like did you see the sky last night? Have you seen Mrs.
Hodges’ yard and how nice it looks?

“The two of you are doing great.”

He pulled on Willow’s harness to stop. Was he
dreaming, because it sounded just like
Katey
…

“
Katey
?”

He turned his head in the direction he thought he’d
heard her voice. Something he was getting pretty good at now.

“Yes, it’s me. I decided it was time to come back to
Boise.”

She didn’t know how much that meant to him. He’d
gone out of his mind the last three months while she’d been gone.

“So what are you up to?” she asked.

“I thought Willow should get some exercise in the
park,” said Luc.

“You mind if I walk with you? I could do with some
exercise.”

“Sure, we’d both love the company.”

He heard the car engine die, followed by the car
door slamming. And then
came
the smell of her perfume.

“Willow, walk,” he said as they set off down the
road again. “So, are you doing okay?”

“Yep, the morning sickness finally stopped but my
blood
pressure’s
on the high side.”

“It’s not pre-
eclampsia
,
is it?”

“Pre-what?”

“I had Josie bring me some audio books on
pregnancy.”

“I don’t think so.”

“And cat litter. You haven’t been changing any cat
litter, have you?”

“No, I’ve been answering phones and making
appointments.”

“Good, because there’s so much out there that can
hurt babies.”

Willow barked, signaling they were at the park.

“The baby’s fine. In fact, it moved for the first
time yesterday morning.”

Luc lifted his hand and as if she knew what he
wanted, she took it and set it on her belly. Wow, she was already big and
round. He ran his hand over it. His son or daughter was in there.

“You want me to give Willow a good run?”

“I think he’d appreciate it. I have his ball here in
the bag.”

Luc unzipped the pouch he had tied around his waist
and took out the tennis ball and held it out to her.

“We’ll be over here if you want to sit and
sunbathe.”

She took the ball and he heard her unclip Willow’s
harness. He felt the bench hit the back of his thighs, and sat.

Willow barked and then
Katey
called to him. He put his face up in the air and let the sun beat down upon it.

He must have dozed off because Willow’s non-stop
barking jarred him awake.

“You and Willow ready to go?”

There was no response from
Katey
,
just Willow’s insistent barking.

“What are you barking about?
 
Katey
won’t give you
the ball?”
Willow barked again and this time slammed himself into Luc’s knee.

“Hey, that hurt, what are you playing at?
Katey
, what’s gotten into him?”

No response.

Willow barked again and nudged him harder.

Luke stood. “
Katey
,
Katey
?”

There was something wrong, and he knew it.

“Willow, come here.”

He heard Willow pound toward him. He reached down
and hooked his hand through the dog’s harness. “Take me to
Katey
.”

Willow hurried, almost pulling him over. In the end
Luc lost his footing and hit his head on a rock as he fell. He sensed it was
bleeding because he felt something sticky oozing
down
his cheek.
 
He got up.

 
“
Katey
?”

Willow pulled him again and then stopped and barked.
Luc got down on his hands and knees and tapped the ground around him, but there
was only grass. What was Willow trying to tell him and why hadn’t
Katey
answered? Luc edged back and felt around some more.
Still only grass, but then as he moved his leg he felt something. He turned and
patted his hands in front of him, a foot,
a
leg. He
moved them swiftly upwards and then he felt her hair.
Katey’s
soft
hair,
and her face.
Had she passed
out, fallen over something?

Was there anyone else around? Was there any point in
calling for help?

His cell phone.
Luckily as he was on his own with Willow, he’d put it into the pouch along with
the ball.

At first and in his panic, he was all fingers and
thumbs and couldn’t get it out. Finally he pulled it free.

“Dial 911.”

“Hello, what is your emergency?”

“I need an ambulance because a pregnant woman has
passed out in the park.”

“Is she breathing?”

Shit, was she?

He felt around and put his hand near her mouth. He
could feel her breath.

“Yes, but I’m blind, so please hurry.”

“Sir, I’ve just dispatched the paramedics, someone
will be with you very soon.”

“Thank you.”

Luc touched
Katey’s
face.
She felt cold, despite the sun being out.

He heard sirens a few minutes later and then voices
approaching him.

“It’s okay, we’re here now. Sir, what’s your name?”

“Luc.
Is
she okay?”

“Luc, I’m sure she’s going to be just fine. How many
months pregnant is she?”

He wasn’t sure, but it had to be at least four.

“At least four, maybe more.”

“Does she have any medical conditions, epilepsy,
diabetes
?”

“Not that I know of.”

“And you’re the baby’s father?”

“Yes, yes I am.”

“Okay, we’re going to take
Katey
to the ER.”
“Then I need to be with her.”

Chapter
Twenty-One

If he was able to see, he’d be pacing up and down.
Instead he sat and tapped his fingers on his knees. He wasn’t sure if there was
anyone else in the waiting area. If there was, he was probably irritating the
hell out of them, but it was the only thing he could do to let go of the pent
up energy.
 
They’d promise they’d come
and get him as soon as the doctor had checked on
Katey
but that had been hours ago, or at least it seemed like it. He didn’t need his
sight to tell him that he was in a hospital. How he hated the odor. It made his
stomach turn. And if it wasn’t for
Katey
being here,
he’d get out as quickly as he could.

He sensed that Willow was lying in front of him
because he felt him on his foot. Poor guy was probably wondering what was going
on, but he’d been the hero today. Without him, Luc would never have found
Katey
, or known something was wrong with her.

“Luc?”

He turned his head to the left when he’d heard the
woman’s voice.

“Yes.”

“Do you want to come along with me and I’ll take you
to
Katey
?”

He stood and reached down for Willow’s harness.

Whoever it was took his arm and led him on what
seemed like the longest walk of his life.

“Here we are.”

“Luc.”

He heard
Katey’s
voice and
reached out for her hand.

“I’ll leave you two alone and the nurse will be back
shortly.”

“How you feeling?”

“Better than I did in the park. I suddenly got
light-headed when I was playing with Willow, and then fell to the ground.”

“Did the doctor figure out what’s wrong?”

“He’s pretty sure it’s gestational diabetes.”

“Shit, you’re a diabetic.”

That was bad right? She’d need insulin and
shots?
 
How would he take care of her?
How could either of them take care of a baby?

“My mom had it but the doctor thinks mine will go
away once I’ve had the baby. They’re keeping me in overnight so I’ll need to
call my dad. And they thought I might as well have the ultrasound done while
I’m here. The nurse has just gone to get the machine and I wanted you with me
just in case something’s wrong.”

Luc squeezed her hand. “Hey, the baby’s fine and
you’re going to be fine.”

They both had to be.

****

“Would you like to know if it’s a boy or girl?”

The ultrasound technician’s voice had made this seem
so suddenly real.

Did they want to know the sex of the baby? Did it
really matter, if he’d never see it?

“I want to. Is that okay with you?” asked
Katey
.

If she wanted to then he had no problem with it.

She got hold of his hand, squeezed it, and burst
into tears. Something had to be wrong.

“Luc, our baby is beautiful.”

A tear ran down his cheek and he couldn’t get rid of
the lump in his throat.