The New Baby

“Oh?” Curiosity played with her emotions as Amanda chastised herself for her silly suspicions. If the man wanted to take advantage of her, he’d had plenty of opportunity the other night in the dark cover of the woods surrounding Granny’s cabin.

They walked toward the center of the park, stopping halfway between the picnic tables and playground equipment. A gazebo Amanda had admired on her last trip here stood, still under construction, encircled by bright orange mesh fencing.

“My cousin and I built this,” Ian said.

“Really?” She looked at him, surprised. “I thought you were a welder.”

“I am. But I’m sort of a jack-of-all-trades. We should have the gazebo finished by this coming weekend.”

“Just in time for ‘Good Neighbor Days.’” Her coworkers had been talking about the upcoming annual pre-summer celebration and town picnic, held the first Saturday of June.

“That’s right.” Ian nodded. “Are you going to come?”

Amanda hesitated. Too much of a good thing—in this case, being around Ian—might prove not to be such a good thing after all. And besides, she’d come to Boone’s Crossing to hide, to heal, not to socialize. “I don’t know.” She avoided his gaze. “I’ll have to see what’s going on.”

“Well, I hope you can make it. I plan to bring Papaw, but I’ll probably have to wheel him over in his chair. My pickup sits too high off the ground for him to get in with his hip and all.”

“I’m sure Zeb will enjoy the outing.” She looked at the gazebo once more, with its intricate woodwork. “You and your cousin did a good job. I’m impressed.”

“Thanks. I’ll tell her you said so.”

“Her?” Amanda raised her eyebrows.

“Yep. Samantha Jo was always handy with a hammer and nails.” He grinned. “She raises a few eyebrows around here with the good ol’ boys.”

Amanda laughed. “I’m impressed. Your family seems to be multitalented. Zeb told me he used to run your welding shop with you.”

“More like the other way around. He and Dad had the shop when I was a kid. Papaw taught me everything I know when it comes to building or fixing things.” He gestured toward the playground equipment. “I built those monkey bars for the kids to climb on. Welded each piece together to make it extra strong. Safe. And I did the ladder for the slide, and the frame and all for the swing set.”

“Wow.” She’d had no idea he was so skilled, and had somehow pictured him welding something of a more generic, shop-related nature. “Are those wooden seats?”

“Yeah. Come on, I’ll show you.”

She followed him to the swing set and stopped in front of it. The frame was made of heavy steel piping, but the swings themselves were indeed old-fashioned-looking wood, suspended from chains. Amanda ran her hand over the surface of one of the brightly painted red-and-blue seats. “It’s so smooth.”

“No splinters that way,” he said. “And the chains are small enough to hold, but big enough not to pinch any little fingers.”

“The nurse in me gives you an A-plus for safety,” she said, with a thumbs-up gesture.

He laughed. “Sounds more like a teacher.”

Sudden melancholy gripped her. “My sister teaches kindergarten,” she said. “Back in Colorado.”

“Yeah?” He nodded approval. “Seems like you’ve got a well-rounded family. Any other siblings?”

“Nope. Just me and Nikki. And you?”

“I’m an only child. Mom’s gone—we lost her to breast cancer some years back—and Dad lives in Virginia.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your mom,” Amanda said. She focused on some distant point beyond the playground equipment. “Unfortunately, death doesn’t discriminate.”

“No, it doesn’t. What about your folks? Do they live in Colorado?”

She faced him once more, curling her fingers around the chain on one of the swings. “My parents divorced when Nikki and I were too young to remember. I have no idea where my father is. Mom lived in Colorado for a while, when Nik and I were in high school, then she took off again.”

“Again?”

“Yeah.” She quirked her mouth. “She never stays in one place long. That’s why Nikki and I spent our summers with Granny. She was our roots, the one home we knew would always be there. Mom drove us nuts growing up, always making us change schools. We’d barely make friends at one, then move on to another. So we made her promise to stay in one place while we finished high school, and that turned out to be Colorado. But as soon as we were both in college, she took off for Texas, and from there she went to Oklahoma and finally recently ended up in Montana.”

“Wow. I’ve never been out of state, unless you count driving across the line into Kentucky or Virginia.” He paused. “What made your mother want to move around so much, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Amanda sighed and sank absentmindedly onto the swing. Gripping the chains in both hands, she pushed it with her foot enough to make it sway. “Mom’s a dreamer. One time she moved us to Nashville, hoping to become a country star.”

“No foolin’?”

She nodded. “Another time she decided to become a pilot. It only took one flying lesson before she realized that wasn’t her cup of tea. She was always struggling to take care of us and see that we had everything we needed. Nikki and I did what we could to help out with after-school jobs. But each time Mom seemed to think things would be better in the next town, at the next job, and that her dream career was somewhere just out of her reach. Guess you can’t fault her for trying.”

“Nope.” Ian’s face took on a faraway expression. “It must’ve been rough for her, going it alone without your dad.”

“It was.” She wondered if he was thinking about his own son, and if he’d given the child up to make sure the boy had all he would need. How old had Ian been when he’d become a father? Probably not old enough to handle the responsibility. A sudden measure of irritation welled up inside her. “I can’t fathom how some people can walk away from their children while others would give anything to have a baby of their own.”

He turned his head sharply to look straight at her, and immediately she realized how her comment sounded. She’d been thinking of Nikki, and how much she’d wanted to be a mother. And of the many times they’d discussed heartbreaking stories heard on the news, in which some frightened teenager abandoned her baby in a Dumpster.

“Some folks don’t walk away,” Ian said, his tone thick with pain. “There are people who give up their child because it’s the right thing to do.”

“Oh, Ian, I didn’t mean you.” Amanda felt the color flood then drain from her face. “Really, I didn’t.” She swallowed, not wanting to get into an explanation behind her comment—one that would lead to personal issues. She had no desire to talk about the baby she’d lost. The pain was still sharp and fresh, eating her up inside.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Sorry if I sounded short. I know you were talking about your dad.”

“Yes.” Amanda nodded, letting him draw the wrong conclusion.

He was silent a moment. “Hey, how about I push you?” With obvious effort, he’d lightened his tone.

“Push me?”

“Yeah.” He took hold of the chains, above where she gripped them. “When was the last time you played on a swing?”

She laughed in spite of herself. “I don’t know. Longer ago than I care to think about.”

“Well, then you’re overdue for some fun.”

Before Amanda could protest, he pulled the swing backward, lifting her feet off the ground. Her stomach gave a sharp jump at the sudden motion, and she tightened her hands on the chains, letting out a little yelp. Her hair lifted away from her face as Ian let go, giving her a push, sending her forward. She chuckled, feeling silly, and tucked her feet out of the way so they wouldn’t drag. At five-five, she wasn’t exactly tall, but she was still too big for the child-sized swing. Too big, but apparently not too old.

Joyful anticipation rose within her as the swing arced backward once more, and Ian’s hands came firmly into contact with her back, sending her skyward. Higher and higher he pushed the swing, and Amanda clung to the chains, letting the silliness enfold her, leaning back to let her hair fly wildly away from her shoulders as he sent her sailing into the air over and over again. She shrieked with laughter when the swing hit a point so high it bounced on the chains, and Ian gripped her waist as she came back down, his hands steady.

But she’d been ready to thrust forward again, and the momentum of the swing, coupled with his holding on to her, sent her sliding backward instead.

“Whoa!” Ian slipped his arms around her, lost his balance and pulled her off the swing. The two of them tumbled to the ground, and he put out a protective hand to stop the swing from coming back to whack her in the head.