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Chapter Thirty-Two

S eth trembled as he held the sweet baby girl, so tiny in his hands. Once he’d helped Jetta remove her jeans and underwear, the birth had progressed like lightening. “She’s perfect. All fingers and toes accounted for.”

He wrapped the infant in one of the sweatshirts and laid the bundle in Jetta’s arms, umbilical cord still attached. A knock at the window startled him. He glanced up to see flashing blue lights and the figure of someone standing by the back door.

“I think it’s a police officer.” He used the second sweatshirt to wipe his hands before opening the door and stepping out into the cool night, closing the door quickly behind him.

“License and registration, please.” The officer shone his flashlight over Seth, illuminating the blood and fluids covering his clothing.

“This is not my car.” His body shook as the adrenaline began to drain. “But that’s not important. We need an ambulance.”

“Are you hurt?” The suspicion in the other man’s voice doused Seth with the equivalent of cold water.

“No, but the woman in the backseat just gave birth to a girl.” The miracle of that awed Seth, but he focused on getting the officer to believe he was telling the truth. Later, he could bask in the joy of what the arrival of Jetta’s baby meant for him. It was enough she’d trusted him to deliver the infant. “She needs medical attention.”

To his credit, the officer didn’t argue. “Sir, please move to the hood of the car and place your hands on the vehicle.”

Seth did as the officer said, waiting while the man shone his flashlight through the driver’s side window and into the backseat. He opened the back door and spoke to Jetta, their conversation too low for Seth to hear. The officer must have called for an ambulance because a wailing siren soon became discernable. Seth sagged against the SUV, his legs turning to spaghetti, grateful more help was on the way.

The officer backed out of the vehicle and closed the door. “There’s a hospital five minutes down the road, so the EMTs will be here soon. She and the baby appear to be doing well.”

Seth nodded and slipped into the driver’s seat of the SUV. “Ambulance should be here soon. You okay?”

“Yeah, thanks to you.” She offered him a sleepy smile, one more beautiful than any he’d ever seen.

Flashing lights and loud sirens heralded the arrival of the EMTs. “Things will likely get a little crazy, so I’ll say this now, while it’s only the three of us. Thank you for trusting me to help bring your daughter into the world. It’s the most precious gift anyone’s ever given me.”

“Oh, Seth. I—”

The opening of the back driver’s side door made him miss whatever Jetta had been about to say. He slid out of the vehicle to give her privacy as the EMT did her job. While Jetta and her baby were cared for by the paramedics, Seth filled in the officer about the evening’s events, including the fact that two kidnappers might still be wandering around the woods several miles from the fairgrounds. When they loaded Jetta and her infant into the back of the ambulance, Seth promised to call her mother as soon as he could. As the ambulance drove away, Seth once more said a silent prayer of thanksgiving for bringing the littlest Ainsley into the world safe and sound. He couldn’t wait to plan a future with what he already considered his girls.

* * *

Seth adjusted his grip on the vase of pink roses, then lowered the three pink balloons to exit the elevator on the maternity floor. Nerves zinged through his body, nearly overpowering him, but he soldiered on, telling himself to stop second-guessing his decision to come despite Jetta’s ignoring his texts. A restless night’s sleep hadn’t helped his mood, and waiting for visiting hours had further tied his insides in knots. But the Scripture about all things being possible with God looped in his mind, giving him the courage to face Jetta and see if the amazing woman of last night who delivered a baby—a baby!—in the backseat of their kidnapper’s SUV still wanted him in her life. While her words about trusting him had sounded sincere, he well knew how the cold light of day could wash away good intentions. Hadn’t his own mother proven that time and again?

But Jetta wasn’t his mother, nor did he wish her to be. She was a woman who had been deeply hurt by another man, a blow he prayed she would be able to work through one day and accept Seth into her and her darling girl’s life. He had never wanted anything more than he wanted to be Jetta’s husband and her baby’s father. He didn’t care about the circumstances of the infant’s conception or that he wasn’t the biological father. He had fallen in love with the baby as he’d fallen in love with her mother. The two where a package deal, one that he had no intention of separating. If growing up in foster care had taught him one thing, it was that families could be created as well as made, that the important thing wasn’t genes but love and respect for one another. He prayed once again that Jetta would give him a chance to show her and her daughter how much he cared for them both.

The door to Room 2345 stood ajar, and he knocked gently on the frame. “Come in,” sang out Emily. Good, maybe her mother would help ease any awkwardness between them.

He entered to find Emily sitting in the bedside chair holding the baby. Something looked different about his neighbor, then he smiled. “Your leg cast is off.”

Emily’s grin stretched wide. “I bullied the doctor into getting it off sooner since I had to see my latest granddaughter in person. He’s a grandfather himself, so he understood, but I have to wear this leg brace and use a walker for a few weeks.”

Seth turned to the bed where Jetta’s attention appeared to be directed toward her mother and the baby. He approached with his offerings of flowers and balloons. “Hey, how are you?”

“Tired.” She met his gaze briefly before ducking her head.

At her short response, he faltered. Maybe he shouldn’t have come after all. His hope things would be different after the drama of last night’s birth shattered, but he wouldn’t give up so easily. However, his nervousness made his palms slick with sweat, and he feared he would drop the vase if he didn’t set it down soon. “I thought pink was an appropriate color, given the baby’s gender.”

Jetta made no response, nor did she tell her where to put the vase. This wasn’t a good sign at all, but maybe fatigue and the shock of the birth were responsible for her less-than-hospitable welcome.

Emily glanced toward the bed, but when her daughter didn’t make a suggestion, she sighed. “I think there’s space by the window.”

Seth stepped around the bed and carefully set the vase on the wide sill. The balloons, attached to the vase, danced as they floated toward the ceiling, stopping when the ribbons became taut. He returned to the foot of the bed. “The baby is all right? And you? I stopped by but wasn’t able to see you because visiting hours were over and I’m not…” He couldn’t finish the rest of the sentence—that he wasn’t granted access to Jetta and her baby because he wasn’t family. “But I came as soon as I could this morning.”

“Thank you for the flowers and balloons.” Her words had a perfunctory tone, which hurt worse than dropping a dumbbell on his foot.

“You’re welcome.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and wondered how long he should stay, given the cool reception.

“Seth, please give me a hand.”

He welcomed Emily’s directive and stepped closer to where she sat.

“Take the baby so I can get out of this chair.”

“I probably shouldn’t…” But Emily thrust the infant into his arms before he could finish his thought. He gathered the precious bundle, wrapped in a white blanket with blue and pink stripes at the top. A little pink cap covered her head. Her rosebud mouth puckered as she slept.

She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

“Hey, little lady.” He shifted the baby in his arms, tucking her in close to his chest. “You gave us a scare last night. Guess you wanted to be on the outside to see what all the fussing was about.”

Emily stood and pulled a walker forward. “I’m going to get a cup of coffee. You two need to sort out whatever”—she waved a hand in a circle—“this is, or I’m bringing back a knife to cut the tension.”

Seth cuddled the baby as Emily left the room. So it wasn’t him imagining things. Even Jetta’s mom could feel the tension between them. The silence built between them like a brick mason adding to a wall. He rocked the sleeping infant back and forth, wishing he knew the right words to say. The wall clock ticked off two minutes before he couldn’t stand it any longer and decided a softball question might loosen things between them. “Do you have a name picked out for her?”

“No.”

He snuck a glance at the bed, but Jetta had turned her head toward the window, away from him and her baby. Her stiff posture and crossed arms gave him scant hope things would thaw between them. Maybe talking about what he’d learned about the case might help. “I spoke with a detective after the ambulance left last night and gave them a description of the two men who grabbed us. They had the vehicle, which had been stolen. No surprise there.”

No reaction from Jetta.

He directed his words and attention to the baby cuddled in his arms. “The police called me while I was driving to the hospital to say they’d picked up the two men who’d taken us, along with the cop you said had put you in the vehicle.”

“Someone from the Loudoun County Police Department came by for my statement this morning.”

She’d spoken an entire sentence—that was encouraging. He had so much to tell her, but her withdrawn demeanor locked the words inside him.

A nurse came in into the room, glanced his way, then headed over to Jetta. “What do you need, Ms. Ainsley?”

Seth’s heart sank at the implication Jetta had pushed the call button rather than ask him for assistance.

“I’m very tired. Can my baby go back to the nursery for a while?”

The nurse nodded toward Seth, a smile tipping up the edges of her mouth. “Your husband seems to be handling baby just fine.”

The misunderstanding brought heat to his cheeks, and he dipped his head toward the infant, sensing now was not the time to let Jetta see how pleased he was to be mistaken for her spouse. Maybe one day…

“He’s not my husband.”

The harsh words doused his happy haze with the finesse of a bucket of ice water. He whipped his head up, but Jetta spoke to the blanket on her bed. Please, look at me. If she would only meet his gaze, he was sure they could figure this out, whatever this was, together.

“In fact, I don’t want him in my room or around my baby.”

Seth froze, shock at her blatant rejection turning him into a statute. He opened his mouth but couldn’t push any words past the lump blocking his throat. He wasn’t sure what he could say to that statement anyway.

The nurse frowned, her head swinging from Seth to Jetta. “Has he done something wrong?”

“No, I just don’t want him around.” Jetta hunched down in the bed, turning on her side away from Seth.

“Okay.” The nurse approached Seth, holding out her arms for the baby.

Seth didn’t try to fight it. Jetta had determined to shut him out, and he wouldn’t argue, not here in front of the nurse. Maybe later, when Jetta had regained her composure or had more time to think, she would realize her mistake and they could work through things.

For now, he dropped a kiss on the baby’s head much like he’d done with her mother last night. Then he carefully transferred the precious bundle to the nurse and hustled out of the room, tears dampening his cheeks before he’d taken more than two steps. At the elevator bank, he swiped at the moisture on his face before punching the down button with more force than necessary.

“Leaving so soon?”

The teasing note in Emily’s voice sliced into him, making the wound her daughter had inflicted bleed even more fiercely. Hurt once again clogged his throat, but this time, he got the words out. “Jetta told me she didn’t want me around, that I had to leave.”

“Oh, Seth. I’d so hoped…”

“Me too.” He couldn’t hear what Emily had hoped for him and Jetta, not when his heart resembled raw hamburger. The hurt mixed with anger, filling him with the driving need to pummel something until he could make sense of Jetta’s actions. Maybe someone would be up for sparring at the gym. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. “I’ve got to go.”

Without waiting for an answer, he slipped into the waiting car. Forty-five minutes later, he strapped on boxing gloves and stepped into the ring to meet his opponent, a muscular man nicknamed The Beast. He bumped gloves with The Beast, then took the first swing, connecting solidly with the man’s jaw.

As they traded punches with Clancy refereeing, Seth tried to give his anger and frustration over Jetta’s decision to excise him from her life to God. But the thought that wouldn’t leave him alone was an old friend, one who reminded him of the many times the women in his life had deserted him. First his grandmother kicked him and his mother out of her house, which exacerbated his mom’s downward spiral. Then his mom refused to work her plan to get him back. Now Jetta shut him out of her and her daughter’s life.

The Beast landed a vicious uppercut, sending Seth against the ropes with a split lip. He spat out the blood, then nodded to Clancy he would be returning to the fight. The older man shook his head as he allowed them to continue.

Enough with these useless thoughts. Seth would pummel this guy until he rammed those thoughts away, physical pain his only companion. Maybe then his heart wouldn’t ache so much.