“Sam?” Dr. Blaine repeated in alarm. The curtain was suddenly drawn back, and a man dressed in a camouflage hunting shirt glared at him. “Shit! I didn’t know anyone else was here!”
Sam looked at Willa, who was staring up at the ceiling, blinking tears back furiously. “Shit,” Sam echoed, standing up to go to her. His IV fetched him up again. “Damn,” he yelped, and ripped it out of his hand.
“Hey!” Dr. Blaine stepped toward him just as the door opened again.
“I didn’t see you head in here, Ken,” Dr. Zeus said, skidding to a stop and taking in the scene. “Shit!” he said, rushing over to Willa. “I got called to Exam Room Three and didn’t get a chance to warn him your boyfriend was in here,” he explained. “I’m sorry, Willa. I screwed up.”
“I’m not pregnant.”
“My test said you are.”
“I’m not pregnant!”
“Okay, okay. We’ll run it again.”
“I can’t be pregnant,” she said. “I had my tubes tied four years ago.”
All three of them stared at her in silence.
Dr. Blaine finally cleared his throat. “Yes. Well,” he said, walking over to her. “I’m afraid tubal ligations don’t come with guarantees, Miss Kent . There’s a one-in-two-hundred chance that your tubes might not have stayed tied. There’s also a chance the pregnancy is in the fallopian tube, and, well, ectopic pregnancies aren’t viable,” he said softly. He touched her shoulder. “Let’s rerun the pregnancy test, okay? Then we’ll know what we’re dealing with.” He turned to Sam. “Would you be the father?”
“If she’s pregnant, yes, I’m the father.”
Blaineturned back to Willa. “You’re too early along to see if the baby is in the uterus, but we need to know if you are pregnant before you go up to surgery.”
“Can…can we have a minute alone please?” she asked.
“I’ll give you the time it takes to run the pregnancy test again,” Dr. Zeus said. “Because the OR team is in place now, waiting for you.” He looked over at Sam. “And then I hand you back to Malcolm. I sure wouldn’t want to be you when he sees you’ve pulled out your IV.”
When the door closed behind them, Sam walked over to Willa. “You had your tubes tied four years ago?” he asked gently. “Why?”
“I was crazy with grief over what happened to Jen,” she whispered to the ceiling. “And I was going through my divorce.” She lifted her left hand to wipe her eyes and finally looked at him. “And I was so scared of ever having my own children and having something happen to them that I started searching for a doctor to tie my tubes. I went to nine before I found one inBoston who would do it. The others
refused, saying they wouldn’t sterilize a woman my age who hadn’t had any children yet.”
“DoesShelby know? And Emmett?”
“Nobody knows.”
“When were you going to tell me?”
“I never said anything when the will was read, because not having children was my decision—not Abram’s and not anyone else’s.” Her lower lip quivered, and her eyes filled with tears again. “I knew that if I loved my own child even half as much as I love Jennifer and something happened to it, I would…I would…”
“Shh,” he crooned, touching his nose to hers. “Everything’s going to be okay, Willa. You’re not alone anymore.” He pulled back just enough to see her eyes. “Remember that a burden shared is reduced by half? I have really broad shoulders, honey, and I can carry as much of your burden as you need me to, for as long as you need.”
“And if the tubal ligation worked? Warren Cobb will still get Tidewater.”
Sam let out a deep sigh, cupping his ribs at the sharp pain it caused. “Emmett assures me there’s a loophole in Bram’s will. We’ll put an end to this mess. And then we’ll get married because we love each other.”
“You’re willing to spend your life childless if this test comes back negative?”
“I’m not after your eggs, woman,” he said with a chuckle, again having to cradle his ribs. “It’s you I want.”
She actually smiled at that, and he thought she tried to roll her eyes. “You’ve been hanging around Phil Grindle way too much.” She turned suddenly serious again. “I suppose I might marry you,” she whispered. “If you get me out of that stupid bequest first, so everyone, especially the seniors, will know we’re doing it out of love.”
“Deal.”
“And if you agree to help me restructure Kent Caskets so I actually get to run it.”
“I can do that.”
“And you pay Craig Watson the seven hundred forty-three dollars I owe him.”
“And sixty-four cents,” he said. “Consider it done.”
“And you send Barry Cobb packing.”
“Happy to.”
“And you stop this feud between the seniors.”
“I’ll lock them in a room and let them duke it out.” He placed a finger over her lips. “And just what will
you be doing while I’m running around putting out all the fires you’ve set?”
“And you help me straighten out Jen’s thinking,” she continued past his finger, apparently on a roll. Sam sighed. “Is your list much longer? Because I think I have to sit down,” he said, grabbing the rail on her gurney and eyeing his wheelchair across the room.
“We’re having a baby, folks!” Dr. Zeus said as he came through the door, followed by a small parade of people. “Two positives equal a few thousand diapers and twenty years of saving for college.” He took one look at Sam and laughed. “It’s about time that sedative kicked in. Malcolm said he gave you enough to knock out a horse.” He rolled the wheelchair up behind Sam. “Okay, people, let’s get this show on the road. It’s opening day of spring hunting, and I’ve got a plump little turkey in the orchard behind my house with my name on it.”
“Turkey?” Sam said, collapsing into the chair with a laugh. “I’ve always been more partial to partridge, myself.”
Epilogue
Rosebriar, four months later
Sam sat straddling thegranite bench facing Bram’s and Grammy Rose’s graves, his arms wrapped around Willa and his hands resting on her slightly rounded belly. They’d come to the cemetery to escape the chaos that had arrived at Rosebriar last night, and they’d been sitting in blessed silence for the last ten minutes, gazing at the bouquet of roses they’d set in front of the massive gravestone. “A penny for your thoughts,” Sam said, caressing Willa’s belly through her coat.
“I’m worried about Ben,” she said with a sigh. “He’s been acting strange ever since we got here four days ago. He seems preoccupied.” She titled her head back to look up at him. “Do you think taking over Tidewater has been too much for him, now that you’re living inMaine ?”
Though there hadn’t been any need to use it, since Willa had married him two weeks after their accident and she definitely was pregnant, the loophole to secure Tidewater had turned out to be so simple Sam was still kicking himself for not seeing it sooner. The three grandsons had had the power for years to override Bram’s vote any time they wanted. Even if Warren Cobb had gotten hold of their grandfather’s shares of Tidewater, if Sam and Ben and Jesse had combined their own shares, they would have had complete control of the company.
That spoke volumes about how much Bram had trusted them and how they’d never once thought about combining their votes against him.
“Too much for Ben?” Sam kissed her nose, then snuggled her in the warmth of his embrace. “He loves the challenge of stepping into Bram’s shoes. No, I believe something else is bothering him. Emerson told me Ben started acting funny about a week ago, around the time he received a letter. Emerson said it came here to the house, which is unusual, since Ben gets most of his mail at the office. The letter didn’t have a return address, but Emerson did see it was postmarked fromMaine .”
“Maine?” she repeated, tilting her head back to look at him again. “From Keelstone Cove?” She smiled.
“Maybe Ben turned the head of someone in town when he came up on one of his visits.” She gasped. “I bet it’sDoris ’s granddaughter! She couldn’t take her eyes off Ben at our wedding.”