Enchanting Baby

“That cabin is also fairly remote,” Megan inserted quickly, going back to her point. “What if something happens and you need emergency care? Think of all you’ve been through to get this baby, think of—” Megan’s voice choked with threatened tears for a moment before she sputtered on with her argument against this plan—for the hundredth time.

Ashleigh listened to Megan’s diatribe, thinking that she didn’t need her sister undermining her resolve. Megan—a worrier, a crier, a sentimental sap—drove Ashleigh right up the wall with her roller-coaster emotions. But when it came to this baby, she supposed Megan was entitled to a little angst. From the start, this pregnancy had been incredibly emotional, for all of them. Ill-conceived. Ashleigh wondered if Megan realized how apropos her wording sounded.

Ashleigh had made her decision, firmly, six months ago, and in her heart, she knew Chad would support it. Ashleigh closed her eyes and bit her lip. She couldn’t allow herself to go into meltdown now. Her obstetrician in Denver had warned her about that. A woman battling preterm labor had to remain calm. Calm. Don’t think about Chad now, she warned herself. Think of the baby. His baby. At least you have his baby. Thank God they had decided to freeze Chad’s sperm before he had started his chemotherapy.

“Listen, Megan,” she said, finally interrupting her sister. “I’ll be fine. The local cops have been alerted. And when we drove through town we even stopped to see Lydia Kane at the clinic.”

“Oh. The Birth Place? How was it?” This diversion worked. Like her sister, Megan was fascinated by anything that had to do with babies.

“It’s adorable! Quaint. Real adobe, nestled in pine trees.”

“But do the midwives seem competent?”

“I’m sure Lydia runs a first-rate operation.” It hadn’t been easy, convincing her Denver obstetrician to transfer her to the care of an isolated clinic. But when Ashleigh had told Dr. Hill that the clinic was run by Lydia Kane, the impressive midwife she’d interviewed on her show a year earlier, he agreed to her plan. Ashleigh thanked her lucky stars she’d had Lydia Kane as a guest on the show and that when she needed a place to hide, Enchantment had come immediately to mind. It was geographically close enough to make a cautious road trip without stressing her system, but remote enough that the Denver media wouldn’t follow her. The story of the baby guru becoming pregnant with her dead husband’s sperm wasn’t exactly breaking news anymore, but it was bizarre enough to attract a dogged follow-up.

She didn’t blame the media. Their pursuit of her was nothing personal. Ashleigh herself had hounded sources to the ends of the earth to get something fresh, something startling.

Most important, hiding in Enchantment put distance between herself and this nutcase stalker.

“Lydia even came out to the Suburban to talk to me—” Ashleigh continued to try to sound upbeat for Megan “—so I didn’t even have to walk in. Isn’t that sweet?”

“I remember when you had her and those two midwives as guests on your show.”

“Yeah. Remember that?” Ashleigh encouraged her sister as Megan’s tone became less glum. “She’s a real earth mother. She listened to the baby’s heartbeat with a handheld device she called a Doppler, and she said a midwife named Katherine would come to the cabin this evening to get the home monitor set up. I’ll send in a reading by phone every morning and then I’ll go into the clinic tomorrow, and then once a week a midwife will check up on me here at the cabin. The cops and the staff at the clinic are the only people who will ever see me. The clinic has a private entrance in the back that leads straight to the birthing rooms. I guess it’s so the moms in labor can arrive in their nighties and robes if they want to. When I’ve safely reached thirty-seven weeks, I can even have a home delivery with a midwife if I want. In the meantime, I’m getting plenty of rest. Right now, I’m stretched out on the biggest old leather couch you’ve ever seen, and that’s where I’ll stay until Mom fixes dinner, so stop worrying.”

Again, Megan sighed dramatically. “I’ll try. I just wish this were over. You know we’ll do anything we can to get this baby here safely,” Megan reiterated. “Anything.”

Ashleigh smiled and felt a wave of pure love for her little sister. “Right now, getting this cabin for me was the best thing you could have done. If I’m going to be on restricted activity, this is certainly the place for it. Lots of windows looking out over the mountains. Wonderful light. Very peaceful, you know?”

“I thought you’d like it. It’s about as far from urban chaos as you can get.”

“Are you sure I can stay here until I have the baby? Three months is a long time to use somebody else’s house.”

“The Colemans are good friends and they don’t mind. They hardly ever go to that cabin now that their kids are grown. And they can be trusted to keep a secret. How does Mom like the place?”

“You know our mother. She can cheerfully adapt to anything. She’s in there cramming the cabinets full of nutritious food even as we speak.”

“God, Ash.” Megan’s voice grew quiet, sad. “Three months. I’m sure going to miss you. I wish I could come and rub your back or your feet or something.”

Ashleigh knew that Megan meant it. But they could not risk a visit from Megan or even from Ashleigh’s dad. The stalker might try to locate Ashleigh through her family.

Now that Ashleigh and her mother had made it to this remote New Mexico town, the plan was to stay put until the baby came. No one, except for Megan, their father, the local cops and people at The Birth Place, would have the slightest clue to their whereabouts.

“You just take care good of little Tyler and Justin, sweetie. When my baby is safely delivered, he’ll want to play with his cousins.”

“Oh…” Megan’s stifled squeak at the mention of the baby sounded as if she might start to cry again. “Don’t…don’t let anything h-happen,” she choked, “to either one of you.”

“I won’t. I’ll be careful, and Mom will be careful, too, okay? I’ve got really good medical care. Now, don’t cry. We’ve got to hang up now. This phone bill will probably be ridiculous.”

“Okay.” Megan sighed dramatically one last time. “Bye, Sis. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

When they hung up, Ashleigh felt immediately bereft. She scooted down on the couch and turned onto her left side, as her doctor had instructed her. She cradled an arm under her growing abdomen and tried to imagine Chad’s face, wondering if the baby would look like him. But after five years, she couldn’t clearly conjure up his features without the help of a picture. With a pang, she realized she hadn’t brought a picture of Chad with her. She consoled herself by thinking that soon she would see their baby’s face, and that was all that mattered. All she had to do was hold on and stay safe for the next thirteen weeks. Thirteen weeks that already felt like thirteen years.

She looked at her surroundings and felt like an ingrate with her grumpy attitude.

As she’d assured her sister, the Coleman cabin was exceptionally comfortable, built to accommodate a large family on ski vacations. It wasn’t as if the place was claustrophobic. A high deck wrapped around the great room and master suite, facing the mountains, and several upstairs bedrooms were connected by open walkways that looked down over the great room. At the back of the long, sunny kitchen, down a short flight of steps, there was a large, airy mudroom, with coat hooks and storage lockers for skis and winter apparel, a deep enamel sink, even a washer and dryer. She surveyed the beautiful but foreign surroundings again, then closed her eyes and steeled her emotions, ordering herself not to give in to self-pity.

She hadn’t closed her eyes for long when the phone rang. Megan, she thought, stop your worrying.

But the caller wasn’t Megan. It was Ashleigh’s new midwife from The Birth Place, Katherine Collins.

“Ms. Logan, there’s a man here at the clinic,” she explained in a rush. “He’s looking for you.”

“Oh, my gosh,” Ashleigh breathed. “You didn’t tell him where I was, did you?”

“Certainly not. Lydia’s on another line, calling the police right now.”

“Oh, my gosh.” Ashleigh sat upright, fighting to stay calm, for the baby’s sake. She placed a protective hand on her belly. “Did he say what he wants?”

“No. But don’t panic. He could just be somebody from the media or something.” But Katherine’s voice didn’t sound too sure.

“What does he look like?”

“Tall, muscular, dark hair. Early thirties, maybe. Actually, he’s sort of decent-looking—handsome, even. Except he’s dressed kind of rough. Threadbare flannel shirt. Worn jeans. Scuffed boots. A heavy five o’clock shadow. But he’s driving a new-looking champagne-colored Lincoln Navigator. I’m looking at it out the window of Lydia’s office, but I can’t make out the tag. Hold on.”

Ashleigh heard Katherine talking to someone, then the midwife came back on the line.

“Lydia just told me that an officer is on his way up to your cabin.”

“Good,” Ashleigh said confidently.

But after she hung up she and her mother waited for the police to arrive like two women anticipating a jury verdict. Pensive. Intermittently clasping hands. Finally Maureen insisted on making hot tea, her cure for everything, but Ashleigh couldn’t even swallow a sip.

What if Megan was right? What if this whole plan to go into hiding turned out to be…ill-conceived? What if her fanatical stalker had traced her to this remote town? Where could she go to be safe then?

It occurred to her that she should have asked Megan for a description of the strange man who had appeared at her door. What was his name? Greg Glazier? She was about to call Megan back when they heard a car engine outside.

Her mother went to look out the front window of the cabin. “It’s the police,” she assured Ashleigh.

The officer, an older guy with a paunch, told the women not to worry, that Officer Eiden had taken the man at the clinic into custody for questioning. He told them he’d stay parked outside until they got word.

The next time the phone rang, Maureen answered it. She said the caller was Miguel Eiden, the handsome cop who’d talked to Ashleigh and Maureen when they’d first arrived in town.

Maureen McGuinness took the phone out on the deck so Ashleigh couldn’t hear. After the cop had assured her he’d keep a close eye on the Coleman cabin while Ashleigh was hiding up there, his tone had shifted, as if he had bad news. Now he was informing her that a man named Gregory McCrae Glazier had tracked her daughter all the way to Enchantment, New Mexico.

And when Officer Eiden told Maureen why Greg Glazier had tracked Ashleigh here, she was glad she’d retreated to the deck. Because it was all she could do to keep from dropping the phone.