Pregnancy Countdown

Nora chuckled as the object of their conversation turned toward them, smiled and winked.

“Now I can die happy,” Lucie sighed. “Right after you turn me into a blonde.”

“And we want this because…?”

Lucie’s smile dimmed. “We want this because I’ve come to realize life is much too short. Just the idea of having that engine come so close to wiping me out started me thinking about my priorities. I realized a majority of my outside contacts consist of being the helper mom at Nick’s school, chaperoning his class’s field trips, and being a voice over the phone when someone is booking a trip. Other than occasional recharge days here at the spa, I haven’t done much for myself. I don’t mean that I hate being known as Nick’s mother or Zach’s sister or even so-and-so’s travel agent. But, there are days when I’d like someone to think of me as Lucie, Wild Woman.”

“Well, Wild Woman, you don’t have to be blond to change your life. Besides, going totally blond wouldn’t suit your coloring,” Nora explained. “What if we intensify your highlights? That won’t be as drastic.”

Lucie stared in the mirror at her reflection. “Whatever you think best.”

“Carte blanche. I love it.” Nora combed her fingers through the other woman’s hair. “Don’t worry. You’ll look great when I finish.”

She brightened. “Maybe the new me will tempt the sexy Australian.”

Nora chuckled. “Oh, honey, stand in line.”

Two hours later, Lucie surveyed her new image. Shades of dark blond, gold and copper added more light to her hair. Nora had trimmed a few inches off the ends, giving her a more casual look.

“I like it,” Lucie said. “Now to buy some new clothes to go with the new image.”

“Are you sure Nick can handle having a sexy mom?” Nora teased.

“If I can handle that sky-high IQ of his, he can handle this.” She quickly stroked dark coral lip gloss across her lips. “Yep, just what I needed.”

“You’ll be beating the men off with a stick,” Nora predicted.

Her face lit up. “You know, that wouldn’t be so bad.”

After Lucie left, Nora glanced at the empty station that belonged to Ginna. She missed having her best friend there. Then she mentally reminded herself that Ginna knew her only too well. The last thing Nora wanted her friend to hear was that Nora had slept with her brother.

Even if a tiny voice deep inside reminded her that sleep hadn’t been exactly high on their list that night.

“HEY, buddy, Magnum called. He wants his shirt back!”

Mark rolled his eyes at the reference to the famed television private detective operating out of Hawaii.

“Ha, ha, very funny. I never heard that one before,” he said with perfect deadpan delivery. He opened his locker door and pulled out a navy blue polo shirt with the fire department’s insignia embroidered on the upper left-hand corner of the chest. He hung up his short-sleeved shirt on a hook inside the locker. He didn’t care what anyone else thought. The shirt with swaying palm trees and hula girls dancing under the trees across the white cotton fabric was one of his favorites. He tossed his well-worn khaki shorts into his locker after pulling out navy twill pants that finished his uniform, identifying him as a paramedic.

“I hate to think where you find those shirts,” his older brother Jeff said as he also changed into his uniform. His locker door slammed shut with a metallic clang. “I worry about you, baby brother. I’m thinking in forty or fifty years you’re going to be one of those little old men with the knobby knees, eye-blinding plaid Bermuda shorts, black socks and sandals who’ll be chasing sweet young things.”

“As to that horrifying little-old-man picture you drew, there’s no way I’d steal that pleasure from you, big brother. Don’t worry, Jeff, I’m leaving that up to you and Brian.” Mark clapped him on the back. “I can see it now. You two will be wearing shirts that match Abby’s and Gail’s dresses,” he said, referring to his brothers’ wives. You’ll all take cruises together and play shuffleboard and bingo. Maybe you two will even go wild playing a few hands of canasta. Lights out at nine,” he snickered. “You’ll be real party animals.”

“Grandma would whomp you upside the head if she heard you describe her lifestyle that way,” Brian, Mark’s other older brother, warned. “That woman can party all three of us combined under the table and you know it. That’s why Gramps quit traveling with her. He couldn’t keep up with her.”

“I thought Theo had agreed to go on that Alaskan cruise with Martha and her bridge club,” Eric, one of the brothers’ friends and co-workers, commented as he walked past them.

“Grandma said Gramps could stay home, which makes him happy since he doesn’t like cruises. But he didn’t like it when she told him he cramps her style,” Jeff replied.

“She is the grade-A party animal,” Eric agreed. His head whipped up when a piercing signal echoed over the speaker system. “Time to roll!”

Mark and Brian exchanged telling looks as they heard information about a multivehicle traffic accident. They knew their skills as paramedics would be needed.

At the station, Mark was known as the party animal. If there was a practical joke played, he was most likely behind it. He was the one to plan any celebration. But when it came to his work as a paramedic, he was all business. Anyone who was familiar with the lighter side of the man would not recognize his more serious demeanor.

The two brothers climbed into their EMT truck and rolled out with the fire engines. Their day was just beginning and it was promising to be a long one.

MARK COULDN’T STOP thinking about Nora. He was convinced his fingertips could still feel her silky skin. He even imagined her subtle scent was imprinted on him. He could feel the touch of her lips on his mouth, his jaw, his shoulder and just about everywhere else on his body.

He remembered once reading about a fever in the blood.

That’s how he thought of her. She was a fever that never let up.

So if they had something that good, why hadn’t she returned any of his calls in the past couple of weeks?

No wonder he was parked outside her house at six o’clock in the evening.

He hadn’t realized before just how isolated Nora’s house was. While its location on the end of the street was ideal for privacy, the nearest house was set some distance away with a small park in between. He frowned at the open grassy area set between Nora’s house and her neighbor’s. Most of the area was set up with a variety of playground equipment. He thought it was a nice little neighborhood park where mothers could take their kids for playtime. But he didn’t like it for Nora’s sake. With evening coming on quickly and the old-fashioned–style streetlights spaced far apart, he felt she was too vulnerable to a home-invasion robbery.

“Why did she pick a house that doesn’t offer very much protection?” he muttered, sitting slouched behind the steering wheel. “Any pervert could sit out here watching her.” He didn’t stop to think that anyone might view him as the kind of unwanted intruder he was visualizing.

Finally realizing it might not be a good idea for him to just hang around there, Mark switched on the truck engine with the intention of leaving. He was getting ready to pull away from the curb when he noticed a light turn on by the front door. The door opened and a tan-and-white bulldog walked out. He slowly made his way down the front walk in a bowlegged waddle while Nora stepped out onto the porch. She leaned against the front post and watched her dog walk across the street and over to Mark’s truck. He stopped by the front tire and awkwardly lifted his leg.

“Damn dog,” Mark muttered, throwing open the door and climbing out. He scowled at the damp spot on his front tire. The dog looked up at him and gave a canine grunt.

“Are you lost?” Nora called out with a mocking tilt to her lips.

“I just happened to be in the neighborhood,” he said, offering her one of his patented killer smiles while inside he winced at the use of an old line that hadn’t lost any of its idiocy over the years. Judging from her set expression, it wasn’t working. He forced himself not to flinch when Brumby attached himself to his leg. “Ah, would you call off your dog, please?”

Nora’s gaze shifted downward to her dog then back up to meet Mark’s eyes. “Brumby has a mind of his own.”

“And that was a fact I’d happily put in the back of my mind.” Mark shifted from one leg to the other. Damn! He hadn’t felt this awkward since fourth grade, when he’d asked Julie Chambers to sit with him at the class picnic. She had turned him down flat and elected to sit with Ryan Miller instead. Payback had come in the form of a nice juicy-looking lizard showing up inside Julie’s hamburger. The teacher had had no trouble nabbing the culprit. And Mark had suffered detention after school for three weeks. He hadn’t minded. It had been worth it.

“Can I come in?”

He didn’t miss the indecision shadowing Nora’s eyes before she finally gave a brief nod. She called out to her dog and waited as the bulldog lumbered back up the walkway. Brumby rotated his head just enough to look back at Mark with a gaze that was suspicious at best.

“I was invited,” he informed the dog as he followed Nora into the house.

“One of my neighbors called me to say there was a strange man lurking across the street from my house. She was ready to call the police, but I informed her you were fairly harmless,” she told him as she made her way to the rear of the house. “Of course, if you’d rather have the police hauling you in I can call her back and tell her to feel free to make the call. She loves nothing better than to call in anyone she considers a pervert. You’d make her day.”

“Gee, thanks for saving my dignity. Such as it is.” He found himself walking carefully as Brumby still tried to keep himself plastered against Mark’s leg.

Nora eyed his shirt covered with swaying palm trees and hula girls. “Have you ever had a parrot try to built a nest on you?”

“Not lately.”

Mark sniffed. If he wasn’t mistaken, he could smell cinnamon and a few other scents that could only add up to one thing, cookies fresh from the oven. He closed his mouth before he embarrassed himself by drooling. There was no hiding his hopeful expression.