Betrothed for the Baby. Kathie DeNosky
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much of a coffee drinker.” He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but if he never drank another drop of the bitter brew, it would be all too soon.
She shook her head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. I’m the only one working here who likes coffee.”
As Hunter grabbed his suitcase and followed her through a doorway and down a hall toward the back of the hangar, he suspected the others’ reluctance to drink Mary Lou’s coffee had everything in the world to do with self-defense and nothing to do with not liking coffee.
“This is your office,” she said, passing a door on the way to the back of the building. Pointing to a door across the hall, she added, “And this is the on-duty crew’s sleeping quarters. We have three crews working rotating twenty-four-hour shifts—two days on duty and four off. Of course, on the outside chance that we get a call while one crew is out, the first two days that a crew is off duty, they’re on call.”
“What about you? What are your hours?”
“I’m here round the clock. When I’m not dispatching a crew, I’m cooking and handing out advice that nobody seems to listen to.” She laughed as she pointed to a door next to the crew quarters. “This is my room. I have a ringer in here that wakes me up when we have a night call or I decide to take a nap.”
Hunter frowned. “Who’s the dispatcher on your days off?”
She continued walking toward a door at the end of the hall. “On the rare occasions that I take a day off, one of the members of the off-duty crew fills in for me.”
“You don’t have regularly scheduled time off?” He didn’t like the sound of that. Aside from Emerald taking advantage of Mary Lou, he wasn’t sure that it was even legal for the woman to be working that much.
“Don’t get your shorts in a bunch, Hunter,” Mary Lou said as if she’d read his mind. “I don’t have family, and working here at Life Medevac is what makes me happy and keeps me going. I love what I do, so don’t go getting any ideas about making me take time off on a regular basis, because I won’t do it.” She opened the door to his room, then, stepping back, pointed to his luggage. “Are all your things in that one suitcase?”
He nodded. “I stored the rest of my things until I find a place in Devil’s Fork.”
“Good idea.” The woman nodded her approval. “Now go ahead and get your gear stowed away while I radio Evac II and find out the status of their patient and what time they estimate they’ll get back to base.”
Hunter stared after Mary Lou as she breezed out the door and down the hall as if her working without regular days off was a nonissue. But he wasn’t so sure. It wasn’t just a question of the labor laws. Her age and well-being had to be taken into consideration, as well. She might seem like a dynamo with boundless energy, but working 24-7 would be hard on a much younger person, let alone a woman close to seventy.
As he lifted his suitcase and placed it on the edge of the bed to unpack, he decided there were several things he needed to do right away. Not only did he need to order the correct size flight suits for everyone, he’d have to check into Texas labor laws.
Putting away the last of his clothes, he looked around. It was a good thing he always traveled light. The room was barely big enough for the twin bed, small chest of drawers and bedside table. There was no way he’d have had room for anything but his clothes.
But then, he didn’t need a lot of room. For the past five years he hadn’t cared how spacious his accommodations had been or even where they’d been located. After working construction so hard each day that he’d been too tired to think or remember, all he’d needed was a place to sleep, shower and change clothes. With any luck, there would be enough work to keep him just as busy at Life Medevac.
At the sound of a helicopter landing outside, he walked down the hall to the dispatch room. “They weren’t gone long.”
Mary Lou nodded. “Juanita Rodriguez thought she was going to have her baby, but it turned out to be false labor.” Smiling, she added, “She’s only nineteen and it’s her first pregnancy. She and her husband, Miguel, are worried they won’t make it to the hospital in time.”
“I hear that’s a big concern for most first-time parents.” A twinge of regret ran through Hunter. Anticipating the arrival of a child was something he would never experience.
But he didn’t have time to dwell on the disturbing thought as the flight crew from Evac II entered the dispatch room. Besides Callie, the crew consisted of a sandy-haired man who looked to be in his forties and a fresh-faced kid of about twenty.
“The name’s George Smith,” the man said, smiling as he walked over to shake Hunter’s hand. Almost as tall as Hunter’s own six-foot-three-inch frame, George was built like a heavyweight prizefighter, and if his grip was any indication, as strong as one. “I’m the pilot for the Evac II team.” He nodded toward the younger man. “And that kid over there is Corey Timmons, the EMT on our crew.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. O’Banyon,” Corey said, stepping forward to pump Hunter’s hand enthusiastically. “We’ve been looking forward to you taking over.”
“Call me Hunter.” He wasn’t surprised to hear the employees had been looking forward to a change in administration. From the file he’d been given, when Emerald bought Life Medevac, the employees hadn’t been paid their wages in several weeks.
Grinning, the young man’s brown eyes danced mischievously. “We’re glad to see you survived the drive across town with Callie behind the wheel.”
Hunter chuckled. “Was there doubt?”
“After flying into Devil’s Fork with Crash Jenson at the controls of that little four-seater prop job, we kinda wondered if her driving wouldn’t finish you off,” George added, laughing.
“If you two keep joking about my driving, I’ll stop making those chocolate-chip-oatmeal cookies you love so much,” Callie warned good-naturedly as she crossed the room to the kitchen area, where Mary Lou was putting the finishing touches on the crew’s dinner.
“We take it all back,” Corey said earnestly as he walked over to grab a plate for Mary Lou to fill with a generous helping of stew.
“You bet,” George said, nodding vigorously. “We were just joking around, Callie. Whatever you do, don’t stop making those cookies.” Turning to Hunter, he confided, “You’ve never tasted anything as good in your entire life as her chocolate-chip-oatmeal cookies.”
“I’ll look forward to trying them,” Hunter said, enjoying the easy banter.
As George moved to get a plate of stew, Hunter watched Callie open the refrigerator to remove a carton of orange juice and once again noticed the way her flight suit fit. The navy-blue fabric was fairly loose everywhere but in her midsection and she looked as if…
A sudden cold feeling of intense dread began to fill Hunter’s chest and he had to swallow hard against the bile rising in his throat. Callie Marshall wasn’t just carrying a few extra pounds around the middle. She was several months pregnant.
Two
As she walked past Hunter to sit down in one of the chairs in front of Mary Lou’s desk, Callie wondered what on earth she’d done to come under such close scrutiny. His intense stare had followed her from the moment she’d walked into the room and caused her skin to tingle as if he’d reached out and touched her.
Shaking her head to clear it, she decided her uncharacteristic reaction to him had to be because her hormones were all out of whack due to her pregnancy. It was the only reasonable explanation she could think of to explain it.
His concentrated stare had probably been nothing more than the result of noticing her thickening midsection. He was no doubt trying to figure out whether she was just a bit plump or expecting a baby.
Careful to keep