Noelle was bundled up in an infant carrier that doubled as a car seat. Only her knit cap was showing, above a yellow blanket. Mack hurried to meet Mary Jo and took the heavy carrier from her hands.
He moved the blanket aside, smiling down at the baby. Noelle stared up at him and gurgled a greeting—at least, he chose to interpret the sound as one of recognition and greeting. A smile broke out across his face. He was sure that what he felt for this baby was love, pure and simple. He’d read about the bonding phenomenon and wondered if he’d been susceptible to it, since he’d brought her into the world. Maybe she’d imprinted herself on his heart when she was born.
And Mary Jo…He found himself thinking about her far more than he should. Over the years he’d gone out with plenty of women, but no one had captivated him the way she had. He realized she wasn’t ready to enter into a new relationship, but he wanted her to understand that he was nothing like Noelle’s father.
“I’m so glad you could meet me,” Mary Jo said as they reached his truck.
“I am, too,” he murmured. He tucked the baby carrier in the back and buckled it in place, then helped Mary Jo climb into the passenger seat and got in himself.
Once they were inside with the heater blasting warm air, he waited for Mary Jo to tell him why she’d found it necessary to escape in the middle of the week. “So, are you here for any particular reason?” he asked, which was probably more direct than he should’ve been.
“Nothing really,” she said. “I needed to get away for a while. I hope I didn’t interfere with your plans. I remember you telling me you had Tuesdays off this month. Was I being presumptuous?”
“Not at all.” He wanted her to know her company was always welcome.
“It’s just that…well, an afternoon out sounded like a good idea.”
“Your brothers?” Mack asked. Linc, Mel and Ned were often a topic of conversation between them.
Mary Jo fastened her seat belt and, without glancing in his direction, nodded.
“I thought so.”
“I hope you don’t mind. I haven’t been back to Cedar Cove since the night Noelle was born and…” She let the rest fade. A moment later she resumed the conversation. “I’ve kept in touch with Grace and Cliff. They’re the nicest people.”
Mack shared her opinion. He was beginning to make friends in Cedar Cove, and the Hardings were people he wanted to know better. “I was surprised—but definitely pleased—to get your message,” he told her truthfully.
Her smile was shy. “I’m glad. I like texting you,” she said. “It’s as if I’m talking to a good friend.”
“I feel the same way.” Generally she initiated their conversations, which was fine with him. He knew he had to let Mary Jo set the pace.
“Anyplace you’d like to go?” he asked.
“Would it be all right if we stopped at the library and visited Grace?”
“Of course.” Grace had opened her home and her heart to Mary Jo on Christmas Eve; it was only natural that she’d want to see the woman who’d been so kind. “Off to the library we go.”
The drive around the cove took about thirty minutes, and Mack used that time to draw Mary Jo out regarding her three brothers. She didn’t say much other than that they were suffocating her with their concern. Mack was properly sympathetic but careful not to seem too critical. The baby slept the entire way. According to Mary Jo, Noelle seemed to be suffering less with colic these days. The doctor had said it could last as long as three months but rarely beyond that.
When they entered Cedar Cove, Mack pulled up in front of the library and helped Mary Jo and Noelle out. Then he went in search of a parking spot in the adjacent lot. By the time he returned, he found Mary Jo at the checkout desk chatting with Grace, the head librarian. Grace smiled at him.
“I called Olivia,” she said, “and told her Mary Jo was coming in for a visit. She asked to join us.”
“Great.” He tried to sound enthusiastic, but he was slightly jealous that these ladies would have Mary Jo and Noelle to themselves when he’d been looking forward to being alone with them.
“I arranged for tea and cookies in the break room,” Grace added. “I hope you’ll stay.”
Now he was expected to be part of a tea party. If the crew at the fire station heard about this, there’d be no end to the razzing. The whole situation was just too…feminine. “Why don’t the three of you visit while I run a few errands,” he suggested.
Mary Jo’s eyes begged him to reconsider. “Please stay.”
“Well…okay. Unless I’m intruding.”
“You wouldn’t be,” Grace told him.
Mary Jo touched his arm, mutely imploring, and Mack didn’t see how he could decline. Without further protest, he joined Grace and Noelle in the back room.
As Mary Jo unbundled Noelle, Olivia Griffin arrived. She wore a knit cap over a head scarf, but it was easy to see that she was bald underneath. Still, despite the cancer, despite the treatments she was undergoing, the judge exuded vitality. He’d met her Christmas Eve, the night of the birth, and he’d always heard good things about her. His parents only had praise for Olivia, as a friend and as a judge; he could certainly understand why. This was one impressive woman.
Grace and Olivia paid plenty of attention to Noelle. The baby laughed and cooed, and Mack experienced a sense of fatherly pride he had no right to feel. Noelle gripped his finger, apparently determined not to let go.
“I asked Mack to pick me up at the Bremerton ferry this afternoon,” Mary Jo explained as Grace poured tea all around. “I had to get away for a few hours. The boys are driving me crazy.”
“Her brothers,” Mack said, leaning forward.
He left his tea and unfastened Noelle from her carrier, adeptly scooping her up as if he’d done exactly this dozens of times. While the women chatted, he walked around the room, gently stroking Noelle’s back. Her head wobbled a little; then she rested it against his shoulder and promptly fell asleep. Every once in a while, he met Mary Jo’s eyes and they smiled at each other.
“So, what’s going on with your brothers?” Grace asked, holding out a plate of oatmeal cookies.
Olivia shook her head, while Mary Jo accepted one.
She sighed. “Oh…they all seem to know what’s best for me and the baby. Before I met David, I was saving money to get a place of my own. I had quite a bit set aside. Then I found out I was pregnant. After that, with all the stuff I needed for the baby, I didn’t have any choice but to stay with my brothers.”
“You’re feeling the need to move out?”
Mary Jo nodded. “Oh, yes. They mean well and I appreciate everything they’ve done for me, but…it’s time. Noelle’s almost two months old and I need to think about getting a job again.”
“It’s too bad you can’t return to the place you worked before,” Grace said.
“Why not?” Olivia asked. “They can’t fire you for having a baby!”
“The insurance company had to downsize, and my position disappeared right after the first of the year. I got a severance package, but that won’t last forever. I have to find a way to support Noelle and me and still be a good mother.”
Although he wasn’t part of the conversation, Mack interjected his opinion. “You could always move to this side of Puget Sound.” He’d probably come across as too eager but he couldn’t contain his enthusiasm.
“You could,” Olivia agreed.
Grace nodded and brushed her hands free of cookie crumbs.
Mary Jo glanced from one to the other. “I’d like that, I really would, but as I said I’d need a job and a place to live, and it all seems impossible at the moment.”
“I saw my brother last week,” Olivia said. “And he mentioned that he’s looking for part-time help.”
Mary Jo’s eyes brightened and then just as quickly dimmed. “I’d need more hours if I was going to pay for child care and our living costs. Babies are expensive.”
Olivia seemed undaunted. “Will said the position would expand as the gallery picked up more business. Do you have accounting and office skills?”
“I do,” Mary Jo told them. “In fact, I worked in the accounting department at the insurance company.”
“Wonderful!” Olivia clapped her hands delightedly.
“But there’s day care and rent…and who’s to say your brother would find me a suitable employee?”
“I’m sure he will,” Olivia said.
“As for day care—” Grace jumped into the conversation “—my younger daughter told me just this morning that she’s looking for a means of adding to their family income. Kelly’s a stay-at-home mom with a baby of her own. Taking care of Noelle would be perfect for her.”
“And I know of a place to live,” Mack said. “A duplex that’s about to become available. The rent’s extremely reasonable.” He hadn’t consciously thought of this before, but maybe the idea had been there all along….
Everything was obviously moving much too fast for Mary Jo. “I’ll have to think about this.”
“That would be wise,” Olivia said as Grace nodded. “This is a big step.”
“But a necessary one,” Mary Jo murmured. Glancing up at Mack, who still held Noelle in his arms, she said, “And there’s someone other than me to consider now. A move will affect Noelle, too.”
“In a good way,” Mack said.
“I hope so.” Mary Jo spoke hesitantly. “I’ve made so many wrong decisions in my life that if I do move to Cedar Cove, I’ll have to work everything out beforehand. Just to be sure…”
The women talked for another ten or fifteen minutes and then Mack noticed that Olivia seemed to tire. Grace noticed it, too, and got up to carry the tea things to the staff kitchen while Mary Jo bundled up Noelle. Mack had reluctantly handed over the sleeping infant, hoping he’d have the chance to hold her again.
When they left the library, Mack drove them to his apartment. It was small, but the view of the cove was unbeatable. While he hurried about straightening up the place—he wished he’d done that earlier—Mary Jo stood in the living room, gazing thoughtfully out at the water with the navy ships gleaming in the distance.
“Do you want to tell me what’s really going on with your brothers?” he asked.
Abruptly she turned to face him. “They want me to go after David,” she said.
Mack frowned. “Go after him?”
“For child support. I understand what they’re saying, and they have a point. On the surface, anyway. David has a responsibility to support Noelle. She is his child and a blood test will prove it.”
An automatic objection formed, but he managed to quell it. Biologically—and in no other way—David was Noelle’s father. The man was nothing more than a sperm donor.
“The thing is, I don’t want David in my life,” Mary Jo said emphatically, “and I certainly don’t want him to have access to Noelle.”