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“Thank you,” she whispered unsteadily. “This means so much to me, Cal.”
He pressed kiss to her hair. “Listen, this home is your nest, Mama Bird. Fix it up any way you see fit.” Cal leaned away from Sky just enough to catch her glistening gaze. “This is YOUR home. It’s a place of safety, love, and happiness for you. I would think that if you’re happy, the birth will be quicker and less painful for you. Less stress on the baby, too. Don’t you?”
Nodding, Sky sat up and released him. “I have another request. And I’m not sure how you’ll feel about it.”
“Okay,” Cal murmured, leaning his hip against the island, holding her gaze.
“I want Alex and Lauren here when I give birth, Cal. When I was in that hut with malaria and Alex was taking care of me, I remember one time when I came to, he told me…” She chewed on her lip for a moment. Sky lifted her gaze to Cal. “He told me his greatest joy on earth was helping the Peruvian mothers birth their babies. I saw tears in his eyes when he said it. It meant that much to him. And it touched me in ways I can’t even begin to put into words.”
Cal reached out, grazing her cheek with his fingers. “I’m fine with it, Sky. Have you asked Alex what he thinks, yet?”
“No, I wanted to see how you felt about it first. I’ll just feel better if Alex is HERE. I want YOU to be the one to catch our daughter when she’s born, Cal. I just want him near because he makes me feel safe. He knows so much about medicine. He’s delivered a lot of babies.”
“That’s fine with me,” Cal murmured, watching Sky’s eyes shine with joy. “Alex is a part of our family. He saved you. Later, he saved both our hides. I know how much he cares for you, Sky. You’re like a little sister to him,” and Cal smiled fondly, glad that Alex was another positive male influence in her life. Sky trusted few men. Between himself and Alex, he hoped they would, in time, ease her fears around them. Maybe, and Cal hoped this from the bottom of his heart, he and Alex could restore her faith in males, help her understanding not all of them were out there to harm women.
“And Lauren?”
“Why do you want her here with you?”
“She’s my best friend,” Sky said with conviction. And then she smiled softly up at Cal. “You’re my BEST friend for life, but she’s a close second. If it weren’t for Lauren caring enough to drive up here and talk to me about my experience down in Costa Rica, I wouldn’t be where I am today, Cal.”
“I know that. And I’m all for Lauren being with us. Have you asked her yet?”
Shaking her head, Sky said, “No… but I will.”
Cal smiled a little. “You know her, and Alex are still at wary odds with one another?”
“Yes, I know that.” Sky reached out, stroking his lower arm that was sprinkled with dark hair. “But Alex is good for Lauren, like you are good for me. There’s just something rock solid about him, Cal. He’s so much like you in that way; an anchor for us in a healing way. I know Lauren doesn’t see him that way, but honestly, she is warming up to Alex a little at a time. Don’t you think?” and she earnestly searched his gaze, caring deeply for Lauren.
Cal’s smile dissolved and he became serious. “Lauren could be your twin sister growing up,” he told her quietly. “She’s been badly wounded by a man like you were. And yes, she’s afraid of Alex because he IS a man.”
Worried, Sky said, “Do you think I’m asking too much of Lauren, then? I don’t want her to feel stressed out if Alex is here with me, too.”
“Listen,” Cal said, sliding his fingers through her hair, a gesture that always soothed Sky, “your ideas are sound. They would be coming here because they love you and they want to support you and celebrate the birth of our daughter with us. I think both of them are mature enough to set aside any personal squabbles and focus in on what’s important: you and the birth of Makayla.”
Reaching out, Sky slid her arms around Cal’s neck. “You are so wise,” she murmured. “Thanks for supporting my perspective on it. I’ll talk to each of them tomorrow…”
CHAPTER 23
August 5
“Why do youthink Sky and Cal are asking us to drive up together for dinner with them?” Alex asked Lauren. He sat in the passenger seat of her red Jeep Wrangler. The ride had been tense, to say the least, much to his chagrin. Every time he tried to start a conversation with beautiful Lauren, she made it clear she wasn’t interested in talking to him. She wore a burgundy pant suit with a pale gold tee that glittered in the late afternoon sunlight as they drove toward the cabin. Her red hair was released from her always present ponytail, and he felt like a salivating Ukrainian wolf. She was stunningly beautiful though she wore absolutely no make-up. Her red hair glinted, shades of copper, gold, and darker strands of bronze woven into it. Alex tried to gird himself for her green glare. Instead, he saw her mouth purse, eyes on the highway and traffic ahead of them. Her long fingers moved a bit on the steering wheel. Alex was cataloging all her reactions.
“I don’t know,” Lauren said, finally. She followed the two-lane highway that would soon have them at Cal and Sky’s home. It was a half hour trip from Alexandria to their cabin in the Virginia woods. She was feeling as though she wanted to leap out of her skin, the drive with Kazak had put her at such a high stress level. Lauren was sorry she’d agreed to Sky’s pleading request for both to come for a visit and dinner. She should have at least told her they’d drive up separately. Alex Kazak was a huge man. His shoulders were so damn broad, his chest so wide, that she felt scrunched up in the driver’s seat of her Jeep. He took up space like the Goodyear blimp in too small a hangar. In this case, her Jeep.
Opening his large hands, Alex murmured, “I think it is important.”
“Did Sky say that when she called you?” Lauren refused to look in his direction. Every time she did, she got pulled into his large, intelligent hazel eyes. She swore she could read emotions in them, even though his large, square face remained neutral. And when she met his gaze, her heart did funny things in her chest, making her highly uncomfortable. For whatever damned reason, Kazak affected her. Deeply. Constantly. He was a like a burr under her proverbial saddle.
Alex shook his head. Thrilled Lauren spoke to him in that husky, low voice of hers without anger attached to it, he breathed a sigh of internal relief. “No.”
“Then how do you know it’s important?”
Alex touched this chest, hand over his heart. “I feel it here.” And then he laughed a little awkwardly, allowing his hand to fall to his lap. “I do not think you can be an operator and not have a very finely sharpened intuition. Do you?” and he turned, searching her profile. He knew Lauren avoided looking at him. According to what Cal had said, when she did, Lauren saw the big man in her past who had hurt her, her predator, and not the real him. He’d mulled that conversation over a lot and found that it might be true. That hurt because Alex would never harm Lauren. But she didn’t know that she was unable to separate him from her predator. And she wasn’t going to give him a chance to show her otherwise, either. Sadness moved through his heart as he realized that he was at an impasse with Lauren.
“You’re right,” she admitted. Even his voice, always quiet and somehow soothing to her, made her heart respond. It was crazy! Lauren never had a man affect her like this, and it scared the hell out of her. Alex had not touched her or made any move to do so. Yet, when he was around, her heart, her body, wildly responded to him. Nothing like that had ever happened to her before, and Lauren simply didn’t know how to handle it. He made her nervous, tense, and uncomfortable.
“I sense it is something good, Lauren. I do not think you need to worry so much about it.”
