Concealed Attractions (Cedar Island Tales) (48 page)

“
Sorry
.
I was distracted. I’m listening.” H
e sat down in the rock
ing chair
, the baby on his shoulder.

“
I’d
like to hold off g
oing back to school this spring.” S
he held her breath about what he would say.

“
Okay
.”
H
is voice was calm as h
e
began to
pat
the baby’s back.

“Is that all?”

His sea-green eyes locked on hers
.
“What do you want me to say? It’s your decision.”

“But
I thought you wanted me to go back to school.”

“I did. I do. You can go back as soon as you’re ready. Maybe you’re no
t ready yet.
” H
e
cocked his head and beam
ed.
“Good boy!” he cheered
when Jimmy rewarded him with a burp
. He
looked
back
at
Danni
. “Let me guess.
You don’t want to leave
Jimmy
yet
.”

“How’d you
figure that out so fast
?”

“You’re
dee
p into early motherhood. You can go back in the summer
. By then h
e’ll be
,
let
’
s see. T
hree
, almost four
months old
. That’ll give you more time between feedings and I know your mom will help you.”

She let out her breath
with a whoosh
, suddenly aware she’d been holding it.
“What made
yo
u so smart, Benjamin the T
all?
”

“
I got smart from t
he
sam
e thing you’re giving Mr. James
L
og
an
Kelly
—
mama’s
milk
,” he grinned
.
“
My mom breastfed me. P
lus, she made me stu
dy so I could get ahead in life,
just like when you go back to school. You’ve got plenty of time
.
Summer’s soon enough if you want to
wait
ti
l
l then.”

“I’m glad
you approve.
”
She
gave him
a quick kiss, pleased that he seemed to want more when she pulled away
.

“I
just
agreed with
you
.
You don’t need my approval.”

Just inside the tree
line,
David
edg
ed closer to the
vacant
beach house against which he was leaning
before moving
dee
per into the trees
.
He
stumbl
ed
slightly
and caught himself on a nearby
stump
.
Alone
in the darkness
,
David
worked his way slowly
toward
Danni’s
cottage
, where a light
was
on in one of the bedrooms.
Through the window
, he
saw his daughter
,
her
hair
a
n
ebony
curtain
almost to her waist
, longer than he remembered.
The vet was hugging her.
After several minutes, the light inside the room
was extinguished
.

H
e slammed his fist into a nearby tree, and swore under his breath.
I still
love
you, girl. I just hate what you’ve done.
He felt
sorry
he’d
said
the things he did to her. But it wasn’t right, her keeping that bastard kid. He needed to help her find a way to get rid of it. Then she’d come to her senses and they could be a family again, like they were before.

He
slowly
retraced
his steps by the light of a new moon in the
late
winter sky,
returned to his car
,
and drove away.

Chapter 13

Joel
looked
up at the
wall
calendar then
stared again at his notes on
t
he
extern candidate resumés
.

“Come
on in, Ben,
”
he
said. He
rubbed his
temples
and
opened his center desk drawer, fumbling for the bottle of aspirin he kept there
.
“
I
’m
no
t
very
impressed with these guys.
Do you know
either of
them?” He shoved the papers in Ben’s direction.

“H
m
m. Let’s see. This guy
, Ed
,
is a year behind me. He was short on clinical
skills
when we shared a class, but he’s nice and I th
ink he’d
improve quickly
. E
xcept
h
e’s really focused on
a small animal hospital. I’m not sure he’d
appreciate the
large animal work we
’ve developed.”

Ben
scanned the other resumé,
rubbed his chin
and frowned
.
“T
his
other
guy is a loser—don’t even consider him. He thinks he’s God’s gift, and he doesn’t admit his mistakes when he makes them. Two of my study
partners kick
ed
him out of the group
when he tried to take
credit for work that wasn’t his
.
” He
sli
d the papers back to Joel
’s side of the desk
.

Joel snorted.
“Tell me how you really feel
, Ben
. Anything else?”

“
I don’t want him anywhere
near
Danni
.”
Ben stood and began to pace between the window and the door.

Joel raised his eyes to meet Ben’s. He was raking a hand through his hair
and frowning
.

“He thinks he’s a ladies man
. He’ll
put the m
oves
on her
for sure. And I won’t be here to stop him
.”

Joel grinned.
“
Don’t
you trust
Danni
to
let him know
she
isn’t
interested? Give her credit for good taste, Ben. She picked you, didn’t she?”

“
It’s
Harry
I’m worried about. I don’t trust
him
.”

Joel stretched his arms
behind his head and leaned back in his chair
, one foot on the edge of the desk
.
“
Then
I guess I better ask
Wally
for other candidates.” H
e sighed. “This first guy isn’t available until
late
July
anyway
, and I really need someone as soon as possible
.
When did you say you were taking off?”

“
I’m supposed to leave in
late
May.
I was going to ask you about that.
Could you use me through the summer?”

“I thought you had to start your last
batch
of
advanced
clinicals
in June.”

“I do—but I
wr
ote
my advisor to see if I could apply some of
my
work here toward that clinical
experience
.
I haven’t heard back yet. I
t mean
s
you’
d have to write up
separate
evals on each procedur
e. I didn’t want to mention
that
unless
he
approves
my request
.”
Ben
sat down in the chair.

“Hm
m
.
Which
clinical
s
?”

“I
’ll
get you the list
.”

Joe
l
straightened
in his chair
and dropped his foot to the floor
. “
I’ll let you know what we can
arrange. You being here throu
gh summer would be a great help,
particularly since you know all the customers and the farms we’re now working.”
He pushed his glasses up on his nose
. “There wouldn’t be any other, uh,
personal
reason
s
why you want to delay your departure, would there?”
He grinned.

“You can probably guess.
”

“I thought so. I’ll give it serious consideration
after I see that list
.
” He pointed toward the reception area. “
Bronnie’s calling you.
When
you want me to talk to your advisor,
give me the high sign
.”

“
Jimmy certainly is growing well.
” Angela
weighed and measured
Jimmy
as he
crie
d
in
protest. “You can get him dressed while we talk.”

“Do y
ou think he’s gaining fast enough?”
Dannilynn
asked.

“I think so. Most babies his age put on about a pound a month, and he’s
almost two pounds over his birth weight
.
Look
how his littl
e legs are starting to fill out,
and he’s g
et
t
ing
a bit of a double chin.
He’
s doing great.
It
look
s like you’re slightly below the weight you were when I first saw you. Are you eating
enough
?”

“Everything I co
ok
or Ben co
ok
s
.
Whenever
the baby nurses, I feel thirsty, so I’m drinking lots of water, too.”

“
Nature’s way.
Time to
talk about birth control.”

“I don’t need it.
I’m not, you know,
doing it, and I don’t intend to.”

“F
ine, but there may come a time when you make a different decision
and I want you protected.
How long do you plan to keep nursing
Jimmy
?”

“I haven’t decided. My mom says
I should keep nursing
until he weans
on his own
. That’s what she did. I’m just going from day to day.”

“Listen to your mother. She knows how to make a good, healthy baby
.
” Angela
rummaged
through a pile of
brochures. “
Now, a
bout
birth control.
As soon as you start giving
Jimmy
solids,
your fertility will return
. Right now, you’re not ovulating.
And
I don’t
recommend
the pill
just yet
. That leaves you with two
good
choices: condoms
—with foam, too,
preferably
—
or an
IUD
. Which do you prefer?”