The Baby Gift. Bethany Campbell
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of his jittery pulse, once again he loved her, and she loved him.
But he knew it was an illusion and he knew that it couldn’t and wouldn’t last. There were some things in life so broken they could never be fixed. His marriage was one of them.
CHAPTER THREE
FOR A MOMENT Briana’s gaze locked with Josh’s. There was a wildness in his hazel eyes, a desperation she’d never before seen. In that look she read the depths of his love and fear for Nealie.
She understood his feelings, shared them. She had an impulse to join him and Nealie in their crazy embrace. But she did not. Instead she turned away and let them have their moment.
She bit her lower lip and wished her heart wouldn’t beat so hard that its every stroke felt like a stab wound. The airport looked blurry through her unshed tears, and she gave all her will to blinking them back.
But then she felt Josh’s touch and, helpless, she turned to him. Nealie clung to his neck, and he carried her in his left arm. His right hand gripped Briana’s shoulder.
He said nothing, only stared. His looks had always been a paradox to her, his face both boyish and rough-hewn. The jaw was pugnacious. The nose had a thin scar across the bridge from having been cut in a street fight when he was twelve.
But the eyes under the dark brows were alert and sensitive, and she had never seen such vulnerability in them. Still, his mouth had a crooked, slapdash grin that she knew he put there for Nealie’s sake.
His brown hair was long and not quite even. He had a close-trimmed beard, and the harsh winter had burnished his cheekbones and etched fine lines at the corners of his eyes.
He put his free arm around her. “Briana,” he said. He bent and kissed her on the mouth. His beard tickled and scratched. He smelled of Scotch and airline peanuts. His lips were chapped.
None of it mattered. Something turned cartwheels inside her, and to steady herself, she put her hand on the thick gray fur of his parka.
He drew back too soon, or maybe not soon enough.
He shook his head in mock disapproval. “You weren’t supposed to come for me.”
“She insisted,” Briana said, giving Nealie a shaky smile. “You think I could keep her away?”
Nealie’s arms tightened around his neck. “You came all the way from Russia. We just came from Illyria.”
He shifted her to hold her closer. “It doesn’t matter where we started out, does it, shrimp? We ended up together.”
She smiled and buried her face in his shoulder. He hugged the child and pressed his cheek against her hair. “I love you,” he said. “I’ve missed you. Every day, every night, I’ve missed you.”
NEALIE CHATTERED on the way home, bombarding Josh with volleys of questions. “The people really have reindeer that pull their sleds?”
“Indeed they do.”
“Just like Santa Claus?”
“Pretty much. Except Santa lives in one place. And these people move around.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re nomads.”
“What are nomads?”
“People who move around,” Josh said. “They have to hunt. They have to have fresh grazing for the reindeer. They change places when the seasons change.”
“Why do the seasons change?”
“Because the earth goes round the sun.”
“Why?”
“Because of gravity.”
“What’s gravity?”
“It keeps things fastened down.”
“Why doesn’t it keep the nomads fastened down?” Josh darted a helpless glance at Briana’s profile. She had a strange, sad little smile, but she kept her eyes on the road.
“That’s a good question,” Josh hedged. “I’ll have to think about that one. Ask me again tomorrow.”
Nealie settled more comfortably into her booster seat. She was growing tired, he could tell. He held her hand, and her head lolled against his shoulder.
“Daddy?”
“What, Panda Girl?”
“Why do you always call me Panda Girl?’
She knew the answer to that. It was a game they played. “Because when you were born, you had an extra thumb on one hand. Pandas have extra thumbs.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re special. Everybody loves pandas.”
“Then why’d the doctor cut off my panda thumb?”
“So you’d match on both sides.”
She held out her left hand, staring at it. A small white scar marked the operation. “Why didn’t the doctor put another one on my other hand?”
“He couldn’t find one. Panda Girl thumbs are very rare.”
“I wish I kept the one I had.”
“Naw,” he said and kissed her ear. “Then everybody would have been jealous.”
“Rupert says I was born a freak. That I had too many thumbs and a hole in my heart.”
He resisted to the urge to say what he thought of Rupert. “See,” he said. “Rupert’s clearly jealous. Too bad. Poor old Rupert.”
“Too bad,” she echoed. “Poor old Rupert.”
She dozed off. For a time neither Josh nor Briana spoke. The only sound was the soft stroking of the windshield wipers.
Josh shifted so the child leaned more comfortably against his arm. He took off her glasses and slipped them into the pocket of his travel vest. His parka lay in the back seat, flung atop his bags.
“Does your family know I’m coming?” he asked, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.
“Of course,” Briana said, eyes on the road. “I had to tell them as soon as Nealie knew. She couldn’t keep it secret. Not possibly.”
“Do they know why I’ve come?”
Briana shook her head. Her dark hair swung about the shoulders of her white sweater. “No. I told everybody your assignment was done and you wanted to come back to the States to see Nealie. That’s all.”
He cocked his head, examining her. Oh, she was still something, all right, with her golden skin and exotic eyes. When she was serious, like now, she was a pretty girl. But when she smiled, he remembered, she was dazzling. She had the best smile he’d ever seen. He wondered how long it had been since she’d really used it.
“So,” he drawled, “how’d your family take the news I’d be here? Great wailing and gnashing of teeth?”
“Poppa was polite,” Briana said. “He said you could stay in his guest room if you want.”
“No, thanks,” Josh said and looked out the window on the passenger’s side. Leo Hanlon was a deceptively amiable man, but his true feelings for Josh were as cold as the ice that glittered in the trees.
Josh had almost succeeded at the unthinkable—he had almost taken Briana away from Leo. But the old man had won. He’d won with one of the oldest plays in the game—just when Briana had to choose between the two men, Leo had gotten sick.
“How’s his health?” Josh asked. This time he couldn’t keep the edge out of his tone.
She stared straight ahead. “He’s doing well. He went to the cardiologist last week. His heart’s