Rainier Drive (Cedar Cove #6)(91)

Joseph hardly seemed able to speak. Between deep breaths, he explained. “Katie was playing hide-and-seek, and she went into the woods.” Joe gasped for oxygen. His skin was ashen and his lips blue. “She got too close to the edge. I saw her slip and fall in, so I went after her.”

Maryellen could picture the older man, racing down to the creek, stumbling over rocks and fallen trees in an effort to catch his granddaughter before she was swept away.

“I slipped, too,” he choked out as he leaned forward, his hands on his knees, fighting for breath.

Jon ran into the house and got a blanket to wrap around his father. Maryellen could see the barely restrained anger in his movements as he spread it over his father’s back.

“Ellen,” he said sternly, “get Dad to emergency now.”

His stepmother hurried into the house for her purse.

“Do you need me to drive you?” he asked when she returned.

Ellen seemed to be in a daze. She hesitated, and then declined, shaking her head. “No. Just take care of Katie.”

“Have them check his heart.”

“I’m fine,” Joseph insisted. “As long as Katie’s all right, then I am, too.”

“Do what I say,” Jon barked, and Ellen nodded obediently.

Refusing to listen to any protest, Jon took his father to the car and helped him inside. Ellen was already behind the wheel and had started the engine.

Jon stepped away from the vehicle as Ellen pulled out, the wheels spitting dirt and gravel. He stood there watching until she turned onto the road.

When he joined Maryellen on the deck, Jon looked about to collapse. “Katie?” he asked.

“She’s shaken up but she’s fine.”

“Thank God.” He closed his eyes and lowered his head.

Maryellen did thank God. They’d almost lost their daughter. If Joseph hadn’t gone after her when he did, Katie could have drowned—probably would have drowned.

After a few deep breaths, Jon reached for the child and hugged her tight. Then he carried her upstairs for a warm bath and fresh clothes.

Maryellen changed her muddy top and when she sat down realized she was still trembling. She was shaking from the inside out, her knees literally knocking against each other.

They’d come so close to losing Katie, she thought again. So close.

When Jon reappeared, she was afraid he was going to chastise her or declare that his parents were no longer welcome in his home. From the moment Joseph and Ellen had arrived, he’d looked for any small infraction as an excuse to send them packing. He’d never said so, but Maryellen knew.

This afternoon, Joseph had given him the perfect reason. And yet…Jon had called him “Dad.”

Warm and dry now, Katie acted as if the events of the afternoon hadn’t distressed her in the least. Maryellen felt ready for a mental ward while their daughter chattered happily away.

“Are you all right?” Maryellen asked Jon.

He grimaced and took her hand. “I don’t ever want to live through another afternoon like this one.”

“Me, neither.”

“When I saw Joseph holding her, I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to rant at him and berate him for letting Katie out of his sight.”

“You didn’t?”

“No. I think he was on the verge of having a heart attack himself.”

“Oh, no…” She wanted to ask Jon how that made him feel but she couldn’t. His father had saved Katie’s life, yet Jon couldn’t acknowledge that, not explicitly, not in so many words.

An hour later, Ellen phoned to report that Joe had been seen by Dr. Timmons at the medical clinic and his heart was fine. His blood pressure was elevated but that was understandable. They were both back at the hotel and resting comfortably.

Grace phoned, and after she’d learned of the frightening episode, she and Cliff came over with dinner. Maryellen barely touched the chicken-and-rice casserole. She assumed it was because of the terror she’d felt earlier, but her appetite was nonexistent.

After straightening the kitchen, her mother was getting ready to leave, and Maryellen clambered up from the sofa to hug her mother and Cliff goodbye. She suddenly noticed how much her back ached. Then and only then did she recognize what was happening.

She was in labor.

“Can you stay for a while?” she asked her mother.

Grace glanced at Cliff, then nodded. “Of course.”

“Jon.” Smiling, she stretched out her arms to her husband. “I think it would be a good idea if you took me to the hospital now.”

Thirty-Nine

Charlotte spent the morning with her friends at the Senior Center. The knitting group get-together had included a lunch of sandwiches and coffee—and a thoroughly enjoyable gossip fest. Although it was a lovely afternoon—the official first day of summer—and the house was only a few blocks from the center, she drove. She usually enjoyed the short walk, but today she needed to run errands.

Ben had decided to remain at the house, which meant he wouldn’t be playing bridge with his friends while she visited with hers. It meant he wouldn’t be running errands with her, either. From the moment they’d started seeing each other, Ben had willingly accompanied her on such routine tasks, and Charlotte had come to rely on his companionship.

Something was bothering him. Had they been married longer, she might have known instinctively what it was. She was becoming familiar with his moods, but this latest one was new—and it worried her.