Special Delivery (A Valentine's Short Story)

SPECIAL DELIVERY

A Valentine’s Short Story

By

Ginny Baird

Published by

Winter Wedding Press

Copyright 2013

Ginny Baird

Smashwords Edition

ISBN 978-0-9895892-5-3

All Rights Reserved

This ebook is licensed for your
personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away
to other people. If you would like to share this book with another
person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient,
unless this book is a participant in a qualified lending program.
Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain
permission to export portions of the text, please contact the
author at
[email protected]
.

Characters in this book are fiction
and figments of the author’s imagination.

Edited by Linda Ingmanson

Cover by Dar Albert

From the time that she could talk, romance
author Ginny Baird was making up stories, much to the delight—and
consternation—of her family and friends. By grade school, she’d
turned that inclination into a talent, whereby her teacher allowed
her to write and produce plays, rather than write boring book
reports. Ginny continued writing throughout college, where she
contributed articles to her literary campus weekly, then later
pursued a career managing international projects with the US State
Department.

Ginny has held an assortment of jobs,
including school teacher, freelance fashion model, and greeting
card writer, and has published more than ten works of fiction and
optioned nine screenplays. She has additionally published short
stories, nonfiction and poetry, and admits to being a true romantic
at heart.

Ginny is the author of several bestselling
books, including novellas in her
Holiday Brides Series
.
She’s a member of Romance Writers of America (RWA), the RWA
Published Authors Network (PAN), and Virginia Romance Writers
(VRW).

When she’s not writing, Ginny enjoys cooking,
biking, and spending time with her family in Tidewater, Virginia.
She loves hearing from her readers and welcomes visitors to her
website at
http://www.ginnybairdromance.com
.

The Christmas Catch

The Holiday Bride

Mistletoe in Maine

Beach Blanket Santa

The Holiday Brides Collection

(Books 1—4)

Baby, Be Mine

Must-Have Husband

My Lucky Groom

The Wedding Wish

A Summer Grooms Selection

(Books 1—3)

The Ghost Next Door

Real Romance

The Sometime Bride

Santa Fe Fortune

How to Marry a Matador

Real Romance and The Sometime Bride

(Gemini Edition)

Santa Fe Fortune and How to Marry a
Matador

(Gemini Edition)

Special Delivery

(A Valentine’s Short Story)

Amanda awoke to the sound of a foghorn
wailing across the water. It was going to be another gloomy day,
and snow was predicted this evening. But Amanda trusted her
two-bedroom bungalow to keep her safe and dry. They’d had gas heat
installed and a backup generator at the ready. Plus, there was a
cheery brick hearth by which she could warm her fingers and toes
when the winter chill cut in. She and Luke lived three miles from
the river and forty minutes from the world’s largest naval base in
Norfolk, Virginia. Theirs was a cozy community of starter homes,
nestled among tall oaks and pines with suitably private lots and
cul-de-sac streets that lent themselves to children playing. A
group of them was always outdoors, engaged in a makeshift soccer
game or shooting hoops through the stand-up net the neighbors had
erected at the end of their drive. While some folks might find it
annoying, Amanda didn’t mind the thump-thump-thumping of the
basketball against the pavement, or the hoots and hollers that rang
out each time another kid scored. The hubbub and laughter were all
part of the joy of living in a family neighborhood. She and Luke
would be starting a family of their own soon.

She felt a stirring inside her and laid her
hands atop her big, round belly. Through her flannel nightie, she
felt a hard lump rise beneath her skin. Ouch, that was sharp! Maybe
an elbow? A smile creased her lips as she thought of how feisty
Little Bean had become. That was the nickname her husband Luke had
given the baby. During that very first ultrasound, he’d commented
that the tiny embryo wasn’t much bigger than a pinto bean.
“The
kind that you put in chili.”
Amanda could still see the wry
twist to Luke’s lips as he’d said it. He was an incredibly handsome
man, with a buff six-foot frame, dark hair and eyes, and shoulders
broad enough to take on the world. And often he did. Luke was
fighter pilot stationed aboard the
USS Liberty
. He was gone
for months at time, and Amanda never knew exactly where. His
standard line was to tell her he was going on a training mission.
This was likely because he thought it would worry her less than the
truth, if he were destined for someplace dangerous.

Amanda threw back the covers and scrambled
into a sitting position. It was hard to maneuver these days.
Carrying the extra thirty pounds was no easy task for her slight,
five-foot-five frame. Yet it was a burden she happily endured. Each
ache and each pain only reminded her of her love for Luke and how
much closer this baby had brought them. Even with him being so far
away. Oooh, what was that twinge? Amanda reached her hands behind
her to massage the tension sprinting from the small of her back and
racing around her belly.

She inhaled deeply and breathed through it.
Braxton Hicks. Had to be. She’d suffered from enough of these
preparatory contractions to let them startle her. They were
uncomfortable but would lead to a positive end. She’d Skyped with
Luke just last night and told him she thought it would be soon.
Amanda was three days past her due date already. They didn’t yet
know whether it was a girl or a boy. Both had made a pact not to
ask either the obstetrician or ultrasound technician for an
interpretation. They wanted it to be a surprise. Emotion welled
within her, clouding her eyes. If only Luke could be here… But she
knew he couldn’t. She also knew he had no control over his schedule
or the navy’s needs. She’d have to stay strong for her own sake as
well as the baby’s.

Amanda was grateful she had her close friend
Katie to lean on. Katie was her birthing coach in reserve. Now that
Luke’s mission had been extended and Katie’s role had moved to the
forefront, Katie checked on Amanda daily: at least two times by
phone, and four times by text message. Sometimes she even e-mailed
as well. Amanda knew she was blessed to have a friend like that.
Her mother had passed away when she was in high school, and Amanda
didn’t have any sisters, only two older brothers who lived on the
West Coast. While both were supportive, each was married with a
busy job and family of his own. Chet and Jared would most certainly
send cards and phone with congratulatory messages, but neither was
prepared to fly across the country to hold Amanda’s hand. Not that
she’d want them to, anyway.

Once the contractions passed, Amanda grabbed
a hair tie from the nightstand and pulled her shoulder-length,
blonde hair into a ponytail. She’d make herself some decaf coffee,
then start her day. Amanda was glad it was Saturday. She had
thank-you notes to write for the baby shower the nice women had
given her at the preschool where she taught four-year-olds. It was
such an exciting age. With the little ones preparing to enter
kindergarten the following year, there was so much for them to do
and learn, from their ABCs to the structure of a daily routine. A
few of her students were already starting to read! They were the
self-taught, precocious ones, and it was incredible to see how they
were coming along. Though, in truth, Amanda loved them all—from the
timid and tentative to the bold and brazen, and all styles of
personalities in between. Kids were so much fun, and a challenging
thrill to manage. The parents said Amanda had a special gift for
it, and she hoped this was true. Now that she was about to become a
mom herself especially.

Amanda padded to the kitchen in her slippers.
After she finished her letters, she wanted to concentrate on her
Valentine’s Day message to the baby. Luke had sent his to her by
e-mail, and she was to inscribe both notes in the brand-new baby
book Katie had given them. There was a section for
First
Holidays
, and even though the baby wasn’t quite here yet,
Amanda and Luke had decided that this February fourteenth counted.
If Little Bean had cooperated and been born on his or her due date,
he or she would be here already. That was Luke’s argument,
anyway.

Amanda’s motivation was different. Though
she’d been speaking to her child all along, she could hardly wait
to get to do so in person. Writing the baby a very personal note
seemed the next best thing. It was like a conversation she could
record for their child to play back later at any time he or she
wished. Luke had sent his contribution by e-mail attachment and
asked her not to read it until after she’d written hers.
No
cheating!
he’d warned, including the emoticon for a wink.

She recalled the first time Luke winked at
her, causing her knees to go weak. They’d been stopping in the same
coffee shop during one of his shore leaves and had happened to run
into each other an uncanny number of times. One of those times,
she’d just cut her fairly long hair into a new style that was
layered and fell just past her shoulders. Luke reached for his
tall, nonfat latte and grinned. He had an asymmetrical smile that
tilted up higher at one corner, causing Amanda’s heart to do a
heady flip-flop.

“New do?” he asked her.

She nodded numbly, unable to find her tongue.
When one spent one’s mornings talking to small children, responding
to open interest from a red-hot stranger didn’t come naturally. She
mumbled something barely intelligible like, “Uh, um…yeah.”

He returned a thoughtful look before shooting
her a wink. “I
like
it.”

Then he was off and out the door, leaving
Amanda’s pulse fluttering. It took the person behind her in line
nudging her for her to realize the barista was staring at her from
the other side of the counter, waiting on her order.

Amanda was flustered beyond embarrassment.
“Sorry,” she told the coffee server. “I just lost track of…”

“No worries, doll,” the older woman said with
a knowing look. “Luke Holiday has that effect on everyone.”

“Everyone?” Amanda asked lamely. She couldn’t
help but feel disappointed. As inane as it seemed, she’d somehow
hoped the increasing attention Luke had paid her during their early
morning run-ins was meant for her.

“Not everyone,” the girl behind her insisted.
“He’s never noticed anybody’s hair before.”

Later, Luke assured her it was true. He found
her blonde tresses mesmerizing. And the way they played about her
pretty face? Enticingly awesome. He’d also noticed her eyes. He’d
never seen any so blue. And her hands
—
so fine and delicate. He could tell she was a
compassionate person by the careful way she’d cradled her coffee
cup. Amanda accused him of laying it on thick, but he’d simply
chuckled in response swearing to goodness it was true. And
precisely why he’d gone back to the coffee shop at the same time
the next morning in hopes of asking her out. He suggested meeting
for coffee to start. It only seemed natural. They already had a
regular place.