Pregnancy Countdown Read online

  Nora didn’t tell her that just because it did for her didn’t mean it would for her.

  She was having enough trouble. Once she’d seen Mark, her memories went on overload. Not just the memory of his hand sliding across her breast, but also the taste of him.

  She feared it would be easier to go without coffee than to go without Mark.

  Chapter Twelve

  Could Nora be having triplets? She was healthy, wasn’t she? She didn’t look as if she could safely carry that much weight. He was afraid that morning if she leaned over any farther she’d fall over.

  Questions raced through Mark’s mind as he kept replaying those few seconds in his mind.

  The crew had gone out for a morning run. Mark was grateful for the physical release after the last weeks of nonstop work and little rest. He was convinced he’d never get the smell of wood smoke out of his clothing. He’d volunteered to help out at fires before. As fully trained paramedics, Mark and Brian treated firefighters and volunteers for smoke inhalation, burns, a few broken bones and even treated one volunteer who suffered a heart attack. Time to think wasn’t an option. He only ate if someone pushed him toward the food tent and slept when steered toward a cot. He only saw Jeff and the others when they returned to the camp for much-needed rest and food.

  Mark knew he should have tried to call Nora more when he was up north. Except free time hadn’t been an option. It seemed whenever he had an extra five minutes, he spent it sleeping, as did everyone else there. When he’d mentioned his worries to Brian, his brother had assured him Nora knew the score.

  “You don’t think I don’t worry about Gail?” he’d said late one night when they were seated near one of the patio heaters that had been set up around the camp area. “You’ve volunteered before, Mark. When we’re in situations like this, we have more things to worry about than those we left behind. We know they’re safe. That’s what counts.”

  Except the day after they returned home, they went on duty to relieve those who’d doubled up to cover those who were gone. The men were relieved the shift was slow. If nothing else, they were able to catch up on their sleep in between their station duties.

  Now that Mark was feeling more human, he had time to think about Nora.

  “Hey, Walker number three, your turn for kitchen cleanup tonight,” Eric reminded him.

  “Yeah, yeah.” He continued staring off into space, then turned to Brian. “Did Nora look all right to you? I mean, she looked so—so—”

  “Big?” Jeff was the one to finish his sentence for him. “Remember when Abby was pregnant with the twins? She gained sixty pounds. Her mother told her she’d never get the weight off and tried to get her to diet all through her pregnancy. Abby told her as long as the doctor said she was healthy, she wasn’t going to worry. Once she stopped nursing the girls, she was out running and pushing the stroller. I think Abby’s the perfect mother. Keeps the home running smoothly. The woman is amazing.”

  “The man can be as romantic as a tree stump,” Brian muttered, shaking his head.

  “Hey, Mark, your mama-to-be looks as if she’s having sextuplets,” Eric joked. “What does the sonogram say?”

  “And here we thought you’d be the last guy to get caught in the fatherhood trap,” Rick inserted. He looked at his buddies. “There must be something about the Walker men that drives women crazy and gets them pregnant.” His grin turned to mock terror as Mark advanced on him. His pleas for help were ignored by the others. They told Rick he was on his own.

  There was nothing they enjoyed more than watching one of their own get soaked with a bucket of dirty wash water.

  MARK STOOD on the sidewalk looking inside the salon. Late afternoon had turned dark, so the lights were on.

  He could see Nora energetically brushing a woman’s hair and wielding her magic with a curling iron. Had her smile always lit up her face like that? Did looking at her always give him such a jolt to the solar plexus?

  Nora was having his baby.

  How could he have let her get away from him?

  He stood there not feeling the cold night air as he watched her.

  He wanted her. He wanted the whole package. Nora, the baby, even her crazy dog. Now all he had to do was convince her. He took a deep breath.

  “It’s a public place, she can’t throw me out,” he muttered, heading for the door and pulling it open.

  In another life, Mark would have flashed the lovely receptionist one of his charm-filled smiles. Tonight, his attention was centered on someone else in the middle of the salon. He quickened his step when he saw her reach for the set of drawers by her station. “What are you doing?” he growled, grabbing the cabinet a millisecond before she did. “You shouldn’t be moving furniture.” The cabinet almost slid from his hands.

  Surprise at his appearance lit up her eyes then amusement took over. “As you can see, it can be moved with the touch of one finger.” She demonstrated by gently pushing the cabinet with her forefinger.

  “You’re pregnant, you have to be careful,” he insisted, unable to take his eyes off her protruding tummy.

  “I am careful.” Nora lowered her voice. “What are you doing here? Mark!” Her voice sharpened when he didn’t respond.

  His head snapped upward. “Are you sure you still have about four months to go?”

  Her jaw worked furiously. “What exactly are you asking?” she asked, tapping one foot.

  He didn’t need a knock upside the head to realize his error. “Oh no!” He held up his hands. “It’s just that you’re so—so—”

  Nora crossed her arms in front of her chest.

  “Well proportioned,” Mark settled for the safest set of words.

  “Hi, Mark,” Cheryl greeted him as she walked past. She glanced past him toward Nora.

  “Good night, Cheryl,” Nora said pointedly.

  Tell me everything tomorrow, Cheryl mouthed at her.

  “Was that your last client?” Mark asked.

  Nora nodded.

  “Do you want to go get some dinner?”

  “It has to be a quick one. It’s been a long day and I’m tired,” she told him.

  “If you’d rather, I can pick up something and bring it to the house,” Mark suggested. “Is there anything in particular you might like?”

  Nora thought for a moment. “Coconut shrimp and jasmine rice from Syd’s Place,” she replied.

  “I’ll call in the order while I’m driving there,” he promised.

  “And their garlic cheese bread,” she called after him.

  Mark walked back and grabbed a pen and a sheet of paper from her station and began writing. “Garlic bread,” he muttered.

  “And see if you can get a couple bottles of their key lime sparkling water,” she suggested. “None of the stores carry the stuff and I love it.”

  “Water.” He kept on writing.

  “And see if they have any peanut-butter-cup cheesecake left.” Nora smiled brightly.

  Mark wrote furiously then looked up. “Anything else?”

  She thought for a moment. “Just a green salad with their dressing.”

  “That’s it?” He sounded unsure.

  “Of course it is. I’m supposed to watch my weight. I’ll see you at the house then.”

  Mark tucked the paper in his jacket pocket. “I hope the truck can hold all this,” he muttered as he left the salon.

  Nora smiled at Mark’s departing figure. She had missed him. She’d been angry and upset when he’d canceled their dinner at the last minute without any explanation. She’d understood when Ginna told her the reason for his abrupt leave-taking. She just wished he’d told her himself.

  “Not that I won’t let him suffer a little,” she murmured to herself as she gathered up her coat and bag.

  Brumby greeted Nora with doggie growls and ecstatic howls when she walked in the door.

  “As if you don’t use your door when I’m gone,” she told the bulldog, bending over awkwardly to scratch the top of his head
.

  She figured she had enough time to change her clothing and replaced her knit dress and flat-soled half boots for sage-colored soft knit pants and a roll-necked tunic.

  She rubbed the aching small of her back as she set out glasses, plates and silverware then fed Brumby. She hadn’t been home more than twenty minutes when Brumby’s excited barks as he scrambled for the front door alerted her to Mark’s arrival.

  “Just in time,” she greeted Mark as she opened the door. She sniffed the appetizing aromas coming from the bags and boxes he carried.

  “I thought I’d need a forklift to get all this out to the truck,” he grumbled, walking into the kitchen. After he set the bags on the counter, he shed his jacket.

  Nora noticed his shirt was a little more sedate today. Pineapples scattered across a dark green background.

  Nora rummaged through the bags and set the contents out on the table.

  “I have been craving their shrimp for the past few days,” she said. Easily guessing the steak sandwich was Mark’s, she set it on the second plate.

  Mark tossed Brumby a French fry, which the dog nearly inhaled.

  “I got some onion rings too,” he told Nora.

  “They’re one of the things I had to give up along with coffee for the obvious reason, along with chocolate and anything barbecued. They give me heartburn,” she replied, looking at the crispy-fried rings wistfully.

  “Then why the cheesecake? You know, the chocolate one,” he reminded her.

  “Some things are worth the gallons of antacid I’ll have to drink tonight.” She stole a slice of garlic cheese bread and bit into it. “Mmm.”

  Nora concentrated on her food while Mark shared small bites of his sandwich with Brumby.

  “Didn’t you eat any lunch?” He watched her eat with ladylike precision.

  “Once the morning sickness left, my appetite seemed to have doubled,” she replied.

  “I can tell. So you’re feeling fine?” Something occurred to him. “You had your sonogram, didn’t you?”

  She shook her head. “I had to reschedule my appointment.”

  “Then I can still be there?”

  “Of course.” She picked up another shrimp. “Why couldn’t you tell me where you were going?”

  Mark hesitated. “I didn’t want you to think I was trying to impress you.”

  “Why would you think that?”

  “Because some guys like to show off. They’ll do the ‘Gee, babe, I’m leaving tomorrow to fight a big fire. Anything could happen to me’,” he said wryly, tossing the last piece of steak to Brumby, who caught it in midair. “We went up there because they were shorthanded.”

  Nora noticed Mark hadn’t looked at her during his recitation. She knew most people would assume his lack of eye contact meant he wasn’t telling the entire truth. She sensed that wasn’t the case with him. She could see the hint of color along his cheekbones.

  Mark was embarrassed!

  “Mark, I know you, Jeff and Brian have volunteered at the big wildfires before,” she said softly.

  He picked up one of the bags they hadn’t emptied. “I bought two pieces of cheesecake,” he told her. “I almost asked for three pieces so I’d be assured of getting one.” He slanted her a grin.

  Nora studied Mark. When had he changed from the kid at heart he’d always been? She had seen him as her father’s clone, but her father wouldn’t have bothered helping out strangers in need. But she was still wary. Sometimes people who were too good to be true were just that: too good to be true.

  “I can make coffee to go with the cheesecake if you’d like,” she offered.

  “You can’t have coffee,” he pointed out.

  “Don’t remind me,” she groaned. “At least I can smell it.”

  “Does it help?”

  She shook her head. “But I take what I can get.” She got up and moved around the kitchen. Pretty soon, the rich aroma of coffee filled the air and the cheesecake slices were on plates.

  Nora used the side of her fork to slice a bite off. She closed her eyes in bliss as the rich flavors of chocolate and peanut butter exploded in her mouth.

  “I can’t believe you ate everything.” Mark hunched over, his arms protectively guarding his plate. “You didn’t even leave a grain of rice behind.”

  “Eating for two has its advantages.”

  “And you’re feeling all right?”

  “Feeling perfect. Brumby and I take walks every day down to the dog park or just to the park here if we don’t feel like going too far.”

  Mark didn’t even say anything when Nora swiped the last bite of his cheesecake. He helped her clean up the kitchen after they had finished.

  Nora leaned against the counter as he put away the glassware.

  “My sonogram is day after tomorrow,” she said. “If you’d still like to go.”

  Mark’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, I would.”

  “It’s at 8:00 a.m.”

  “I’ll pick you up,” he offered. “Maybe we could get a late breakfast afterward if you don’t have any appointments.”

  “I kept my morning free since I didn’t know how long the procedure would last. Breakfast sounds good.”

  He held the ends of the dish towel between his hands.

  Nora knew it wasn’t due to his not knowing what to do with it. Cathy Walker had trained all of her children to be self-sufficient in the home. Mark grew up doing more than his share of kitchen duty along with his tasks at the fire station.

  “I’m sorry it happened this way,” he said slowly. He grinned crookedly. “I mean, here we’d been split up for the past couple of years and then…” He gestured awkwardly toward her swollen stomach. “I feel like I should apologize. I should have taken precautions that night.”

  “Maybe it’s one of those things that’s meant to be.” She rested her hand on her stomach. “I consider the baby a gift,” she murmured. Then she laughed. “This little one is very active.”

  “Kicking?” He kept his eyes directed on her stomach.

  “And punching and rolling.” She took his hand and laid it against her then slowly moved it around. “Ah, right there.” She looked up. “Do you feel it?”

  Mark kept his hand against her belly. “Do you think he’ll go for football or soccer? Maybe volleyball or hockey.”

  “Whatever she wants to play is fine with me.”

  Mark grinned. “Fifty-fifty chance we’ll have a boy.”

  “And fifty-fifty it will be a girl.”

  “Are we going to let them tell us what the sex is?”

  “For a while I thought I wanted to wait and be surprised, then I decided I’d rather know,” Nora said. “Is that all right with you?”

  “Sure. Then I’ll know whether to pick up a pitcher’s mitt or ballet slippers.” He kept her hand on her belly, but now his touch was warmer, more caressing as his palm traveled along the womanly curve.

  Nora heard that a woman’s sex drive could be heightened during pregnancy. All those extra hormones had something to do with it. She’d felt it that day Mark had taken her to the obstetrician’s office. First when he’d zipped up her jacket and lightly kissed her. She’d felt it even more when he kissed her again.

  Tonight, she felt the heat moving through her like a river of white-hot lava and all he’d done was touch her stomach. How would she feel if he touched her bare skin?

  Fingers light as a butterfly’s wing sliding across her collarbone. Palm, lightly callused, cupping her breast, moving slowly down her stomach. Feathery touches everywhere as if knowing exactly what would make her sigh with pleasure. She would want to reciprocate in kind, but her muscles would feel so relaxed she wouldn’t be able to move.

  That’s how she would feel.

  She raised her head. She could see the same look mirrored on Mark’s face.

  Ask him to stay the night.

  Oh sure, ask him to see you looking like a walking and talking beach ball. That would ruin the mood!

  She moved
away, allowing his hand to fall away.

  “I’m pretty tired,” she murmured. “It’s been a long day for me.”

  If he was disappointed by her rejection, he didn’t show it.

  “Then I’ll see you day after tomorrow.” He picked up his jacket off the chair he’d draped it around.

  Nora followed him to the front door.

  “Thank you for dinner.” She smiled, but it felt like an effort.

  Mark reached for the doorknob then stopped the motion. He spun around and had her in his arms before she could react and his mouth was on hers before she knew his intent.

  She didn’t think of pushing him away. Not when she wanted him so badly. She parted her lips and allowed him entrance as she slid her arms around his waist. Her belly wouldn’t allow them to get as close to each other as they’d like, but it didn’t stop their mouths from feasting on each other.

  Ask him to stay!

  Not a good idea!

  Sure, it is.

  Mark leaned back slightly and smiled at her. “I have told you how beautiful you are, haven’t I?” He then stepped back. “No matter how hard it is.” He grinned wryly at his own joke. “I’m going to be a gentleman and leave now.” He stole another kiss then walked out the door. “Don’t forget to secure the dead bolt,” he said over his shoulder.

  Nora’s fingers trembled as she shot the dead bolt. She knew she was in for a sleepless night.

  MARK COULDN’T BELIEVE a woman could be so pregnant and not burst open like an overripe melon. Thoughts of every science-fiction movie that had an alien bursting out of a human being came to mind.

  “Now, this will feel a little cold,” the technician warned Nora just before she smoothed a colorless gel across her bare stomach.

  Mark noticed that even though she was prepared, Nora still sucked in her stomach as the gel touched her skin. She turned her head and looked at him. He walked over and took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers.

  “Now let’s see if the little one will pose for us.” The technician moved the scanner slowly over her belly. “Just keep your eyes on the monitor and you should be able to get a good look at your baby.”