Take a Chance on Me

  Take a Chance on Me

  A Misty River Romance Novella

  Becky Wade

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2020 by Rebecca Wade

  Kobo Edition

  Cover Design © Sarah Hansen/Okay Creations

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who wishes to utilize brief passages in connection with a review or article.

  My very sincere thanks to the following people, who all gave of their time to assist me with the creation of this novella: Charlene Patterson, Group Captain Willy Hackett, Debb Hackett, Joy Tiffany, Crissy Loughridge, Shelli Littleton, and Natalie Walters.

  I’m truly grateful to each of you!

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Sneak Peek of Stay with Me

  Romances by Becky Wade

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  About the Author

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  Chapter One

  The hospital’s electronic doors whooshed open as Penelope Quinn rushed toward the emergency room.

  She’d been at Cork & Knife, having dinner with friends in downtown Misty River, when she’d received a terrifying call from her older brother, Theo. Breaking every speed limit between the restaurant and the hospital, she’d made it here in just twelve minutes.

  Immediately upon reaching the ER’s waiting room, she spotted Theo. Her tall sibling stood like a tree in a field of linoleum and chairs. He’d married his sweet-natured blond wife, Aubrey, three years ago. And ten days ago, Aubrey had given birth to their first child. A snowy white burp cloth rested over his shoulder and he held his new baby, Madeline, against it as he turned toward Penelope. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “Tell me more about what happened.”

  “One of Aubrey’s legs swelled up and then she started having chest pain. She was dizzy, coughing, struggling to breathe. I called 911. As soon as the ambulance took her, Madeline and I got in the car to come here. That’s when I called you.” Worry had turned his even features pale and bleak. His hand appeared rigid against Madeline’s tiny, rounded back.

  “Did they tell you what caused her symptoms?”

  “They think a blood clot formed in her leg and traveled to her lungs. It’s called a pulmonary embolism, and, apparently, a woman’s at greater risk for it after delivering a baby.”

  Penelope flinched. A blood clot had killed Aubrey’s dad a few years ago. If something happened to Aubrey . . .

  Nothing could happen to Aubrey. She was a brand-new mother and the cool, quiet breeze of their passionate, emotional family. The only outcome of this emergency: Aubrey recovering and returning home to be a mother to Madeline, wife to Theo, website designer to her employer. That’s it. That’s what must happen.

  “I need to go back and check on her,” Theo said. “But I don’t want to expose Madeline to even more germs than I am already.”

  “Exactly. I’ll take over with Madeline so you can focus on Aubrey.”

  “I forgot to bring her diaper bag. I’m sorry. She’s sleeping now but I’m sure she’ll be hungry soon.”

  “Don’t worry about a thing.” Without Aubrey to calm this terrifying situation, it was up to her and her brother to keep it together. “I’ve got this.” It was what people said to pump themselves up when they suspected, like Penelope suspected now, that they did not have this. “I’ll drive Madeline back to your house and get her situated.”

  “Take my car. It has the base for the baby seat.” He fished his keys from his pocket and handed them, and then his daughter, to her.

  Penelope carefully settled her niece’s warm weight against her.

  “Oh, and I also called . . .” His attention latched onto a point behind her. “Good. Here he is now.”

  “Who?”

  “Eli. I called him after I called you.”

  Nooooo. That one word magnified and lessened in volume within her skull like a tornado siren. The very last person she wanted to deal with at present was her brother’s friend, fighter pilot Eli Price. He’d been deployed to Syria for five months. Then the Air Force had given him a month off, which he’d spent with family in his home state of Montana. No one had told her he’d returned to Georgia.

  It would have been better for her peace of mind had he set himself up with a home, a lawn, a dog, and citizenship overseas.

  She braced herself and slowly swiveled to look. A smattering of people inhabited the waiting room. All the female heads in the place, even the ailing ones, were also tracking Eli’s progress.

  He’d dressed his lean six-foot frame in a simple black polo shirt and jeans. He was thirty years old and, already, hard proficiency marked his forehead, the set of his eyebrows, and the positioning of his straight nose. His jawline formed a wide, very determined V. Yet, his deep-set brown eyes and his lips were soft in the most irresistible way. His dark blond hair, which he kept as long as Air Force regulations allowed, looked as if it would soon be in need of a trim. Charmingly so.

  His intelligent gaze took her measure. “Penelope.”

  “Eli.” She pretended interest in smoothing the burp cloth beneath Madeline’s face.

  The two men exchanged a brief, masculine hug and stepped apart. “Thanks for coming,” Theo said.

  “I’m glad you called.”

  “I’m not sure what’s going on or how long Aubrey will be here.” Theo motioned between himself and Penelope. “Our mom and dad and Aubrey’s mom were all here for Madeline’s birth and for several days afterward. But our folks are back in Boston and Aubrey’s mom is back in Arizona. I figured Penelope might need a hand with Madeline.”

  “Right. I’m happy to help.”

  God love you, my very excellent brother. But I do not need the help of this particular man when caring for Madeline.

  “I was also hoping you could coach my basketball team for me,” Theo said to Eli. “One of Aubrey’s friends talked me into coaching her son’s second grade team. We have a game tomorrow and my assistant coach isn’t capable of taking the lead.”

  “Sure.”

  “Thanks. I’ll text more information about that to you when I have time.” He threw a glance toward the ER. Hesitated. “I should check on Aubrey. Are you guys set? Need anything else?”

  “Yes, we’re set and no, we don’t need anything else,” Penelope assured him. “I’ll take fantastic care of Madeline. Just let me know when you have more information about Aubrey, okay?”

  “’Kay.” He gave her a side-armed hug, kissed Madeline on the head, then walked through swinging metal doors.

  Ever since Theo had mentioned germs, Penelope had been wishing she could cover her niece’s face with a gas mask. “How about we relocate to fresh air?”

  “All right. Do you want me to take her?”

  “No, thank you.” She gestured with her chin toward Madeline’s baby seat, sitting on a nearby chair. He grasped it and she led the way from the build
ing.

  On this second-to-last day of June, the hours of daylight per day had recently hit their annual peak. Bronze sun still graced the North Georgia mountains at this hour of the evening. It dappled her shoulders as she stopped several yards from the entrance, beneath a tree. It slanted across Eli’s eyelashes as he came to a halt facing her.

  Her senses struggled to adjust to the reality of him after six months of distance. He was, to her ever-loving irritation, more appealing than she’d remembered. His eyes more perceptive, his manner more assured.

  Should she just bluntly state that she didn’t want or need his help—

  “I missed you,” he said.

  The statement surprised her to such a degree, was so, so . . . absurd, that she released a gasp of laughter. “No, you didn’t.”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “No.”

  “I think I know what I felt while I was gone better than you do,” he said good-naturedly. “I missed you.”

  “Fine.” But her tone communicated that’s ridiculous.

  “It’s really good to see you.” The affection in his expression gave weight and breadth to the statement.

  She could not, however, let the affection she saw there soften her. “When did you get back?”

  “Three days ago.”

  “Welcome,” she said stiffly. She did not say welcome home because Misty River was not his permanent home. He was simply stationed here short term. “You’ll be pleased to hear that I’m issuing you a babysitting hall pass when it comes to Madeline’s care.”

  “You’re mad at me.”

  “It was sweet of Theo to arrange backup for me, but I can handle Madeline by myself until Theo and Aubrey come home.”

  He tilted his head. “You’re mad at me,” he repeated.

  “I’m not invested enough to be mad.” She sniffed. “I’m marginally perturbed at best.”

  He gave her a slow, lopsided smile, which immediately caused the backs of her knees to tingle. Drat!

  “I want a second chance with you,” he said.

  “No, no.” She spoke the words breezily. “There will be none of that. You and I have Theo in common and that’s enough.”

  “Not for me.”

  “I’ll be taking Madeline now. Good day to you, sir.” She reached for the car seat, which he still held. But he didn’t let go of its handle. She released her grip on it, drawing her brows together in frustration.

  “I’ll help you babysit Madeline,” he said.

  “No, indeed.”

  “It’s what your brother wanted.”

  “And I’m using my veto power against my brother’s wishes. I’ll be caring for Madeline on my own. Most definitively.”

  “What if Theo has to stay overnight?”

  “Then I’ll care for her overnight.”

  “What if he has to stay here all day tomorrow?”

  That gave her pause. She owned Polka-Dot Apron Pies, Misty River’s first and only mobile pie shop. Tomorrow was Saturday, and Saturdays were busy. She’d need to begin baking in her commercial kitchen at seven thirty in the morning so that she could deliver the first round of pies to the camper trailer by opening time, at eleven.

  “What time tomorrow do you need to get ready to go to work?” he asked, reading her mind.

  “Six forty-five.”

  “Unless I hear from you or Theo between now and then, letting me know that something’s changed, I’ll take over for you with Madeline at six forty-five.”

  “Do you have experience with babies?”

  “I just spent a month with my two infant nephews.”

  He was too polite to add, and that makes me more qualified than you, Penelope. Madeline was her first niece, which meant she had a sum total of a week and a half of aunt experience under her belt.

  “If you end up staying with Madeline overnight, will you stay at your apartment or Theo’s house?” he asked.

  “Theo’s house. May I have the baby seat now?”

  He set it on the ground. Since she was too nervous to attempt to carry a mini-human in one arm and a car seat in the other, she carefully laid the sleeping girl into the seat.

  Madeline had been born with downy, light brown hair that stuck up at odd angles like ruffled bird feathers. In the way of newborns, she was gorgeous and, at the same time, slightly homely. Her forehead seemed to take up too much of the real estate on her face. This meant her eyes, nose, and mouth (which all appeared to be a size medium) had to jockey for space on the bottom half of her size-small head.

  As Penelope wrestled with the seat’s harness, Madeline stirred, her lips creasing with displeasure, her arms flashing outward. Penelope paused, biting her lip. Madeline, dressed in a lavender footed sleeper patterned with smiling panda faces, remained blessedly asleep. When Penelope finally slid the buckle into place it gave her finger a stinging pinch. She yelped and shook out her hand.

  “Baby seat injury?” Eli asked mildly.

  She had a wayward urge to push him and his handsome face and perfectly fitted shirt off the side of a waterfall.

  “I can carry her to the car for you,” he offered.

  “Thanks, but no thanks. We’re fine. Farewell, Eli.” Gah. As she walked away, she forbid herself from sneaking one last, greedy peek at him.

  As she ventured into the parking garage, she suddenly could see herself from the perspective of a camera zooming farther and farther away. Twenty-something woman of average height with slender limbs and curly brown hair, in charge of a helpless, fragile newborn baby. She’d done her best to project moxie to Eli. But in her own mind’s eye, she looked intimidated and alone.

  She shook her head to scatter the image. At the moment, she couldn’t afford anything but confidence.

  Wandering through the parking lot, she clicked the unlock button on Theo’s key fob again and again until she finally pinpointed his car.

  “Sorry about this, sweetheart, you adorable miniscule person you,” she whispered to the sleeping baby as she turned the car seat this way and that, trying to attach it to the base. “Don’t you worry. Auntie Penelope is going to figure this out and take good care of you until Mommy and Daddy come home. Ah.” It clicked. “There. We’re off.”

  She hurried around to the driver’s seat and steered them toward Theo’s house.

  Penelope had been enamored with Madeline since the moment the infant had been placed in her arms. She’d stopped by Theo and Aubrey’s house every day since. She’d wanted to be helpful, but so many grandparents had been on hand that showing up at her brother’s house had been like showing up for a church project alongside five other volunteers for a job that only required one. She’d handled the baby just enough to know the basics of her care.

  This was the first time Penelope had been solely responsible for the well-being of a child since her short-lived career as a babysitter in middle school. Back then, she’d sometimes become so immersed in the activities she’d started for the kids—craft projects, watercolor painting, walking the backyard in search of flowers—that she’d continued the projects after the kids lost interest, only to abruptly realize she had no idea where the children had gone. For the safety of all involved, it had been a very short-lived career.

  She eased into Theo’s cute neighborhood of pre–World War II homes and pulled into the garage of the two-bedroom, one-bathroom house he and Aubrey had purchased shortly after discovering they were expecting their first child. She toted Madeline into an interior Aubrey had decorated in farmhouse style—lots of white walls and warm wood. She’d just set the baby seat on the kitchen floor when her phone chimed.

  A text from Theo. The blood test and ultrasound confirm pulmonary embolism. She’s stable, but this condition’s serious. They’re going to keep her overnight, at least. Can you stay with Madeline?

  Yes, absolutely.

  Penelope tapped the toe of her Vans slip-ons and googled information on blood clots. Theo had been correct when he’d said that clotting occasionally happened to wome
n after childbirth. Hospitalization was more likely for those who’d had surgery recently (Aubrey had had a C-section) and also for those with a family history of blood clotting.

  Taking a deep breath, she considered the spiky rack that held clean bottles. Aubrey and Theo had been feeding the baby a combo of breastmilk and formula, so she had reason to hope Madeline would accept a bottle from her without a fuss. Carefully, she read the directions on the tub of formula. Once she’d washed her hands as thoroughly as a surgeon, she measured out the correct amount of water and mix so that she’d be ready to roll when Madeline woke.

  In the nursey, she took a quick inventory, assuring herself that she knew where everything was located. Diapers, clean clothes, swaddling blankets, pacifiers. Check.

  She gently freed Madeline from the seat. Still, her niece slept. This eight-and-a-half-pound, fully formed, perfect little human had no idea of the calamity that had overtaken her mom and dad.

  Clasping Madeline in her arms, Penelope settled into a living room armchair and let her head tip against the chair’s back.

  Almost immediately, her exchange with Eli at the hospital slid to the forefront of her thoughts. Which, in turn, tugged her dating history forward.

  Ricker, the Air Force base where Eli was stationed, was set like an apple in an upraised apron inside a valley embraced by some of North Georgia’s tallest mountains. Misty River was situated on the far side of the valley, just twenty minutes from the base. With that kind of proximity and a population of only 5,500, her small town had always been impacted strongly by those who lived and worked at the base.

  Mom, Dad, she, and Theo had followed Mom’s banking job to Misty River around the time that Penelope entered middle school. At that age, she’d been oblivious to the handsome airmen walking Misty River’s streets. But a few years later, not so oblivious. She’d noticed them often—in the service dress light blue shirts and Air Force blue pants. Wearing camouflage combat dress. Leather flight jackets. Even in civilian clothing, one could spot them from a block away.