Trusting Love, page 12
Mrs. Hanlon waved her off. “Baking is something I do when I’m thinking, frustrated or angry. Over the years, I’ve gotten very good at it. Today, I was thinking.”
“Too bad you won’t be around for the Paradox Lake Fall Festival. Mrs. Stowe would certainly appreciate your contributions to the bake sale.”
“Well, I may be around. Tell me, is the woman you’re referring to Jon having a lot of difficulties? Is there a danger he could lose her or the baby?”
“Mrs. Hanlon, you know I can’t answer that.”
“It was worth trying. I’m going to tell you something about Jon. He likes the challenges of high-risk pregnancies, or thinks he does. What he really needs is some happy normal births so he can see the real joy of new life. Birth isn’t an enemy that has to be conquered.”
Autumn didn’t know how to respond. From what she’d seen, she couldn’t disagree. Jon did like the challenge of high-risk pregnancies and births and took joy in making the births successful. There had to be something behind Mrs. Hanlon’s words. Whatever that something was, she’d leave it to Jon to share if he chose to. Maybe once they’d worked together longer.
“I like that you took Jon with you on a home visit. That opened his eyes some.”
“I don’t know about that, but he did say that he has a home follow-up with one of his mothers tomorrow.”
“Yes!” Mrs. Hanlon fist pumped, a reaction Autumn would more expect from her eight-year-old brother than a woman of Mrs. Hanlon’s age and position.
The rumble of Jon’s bike approaching the house caused both of the women to look out the door.
“I’ll slip out the back,” Mrs. Hanlon said. “Enjoy your dinner. If you’re looking for something to do after your meeting, that Sherlock Holmes program Jon likes is on tonight.”
She liked the program, too. Maybe…No. As she’d told his grandmother, Jon was coming over to talk business. She’d wait for him to make the first move if he wanted more.
“Thanks. I’ll bring the tart pans back tomorrow,” Autumn said.
“Any time.” Mrs. Hanlon disappeared into the kitchen.
“The door’s open,” Autumn said when Jon jogged up the steps.
He walked in and his gaze went directly to the tarts that filled Autumn’s hands. “Nana?”
“Yes, she thought they'd go perfectly with our dinner, whatever I was making.”
“I should have been clearer when I called. You’ll like the tarts. They’re my favorite dessert.”
“Mine’s chocolate-vanilla swirl soft-serve ice cream. My family celebrates everything with a trip to the soft-serve stand.” One of those healthier family dynamics Mrs. Hanlon wanted Jon exposed to? “I’m sure I’ll love the tarts, as much as I did the cookies. If your grandmother stays much longer, I’ll have to buy an all-new wardrobe in a larger size.”
Jon looked her over, sending a ripple of pleasure through her. “Or I could roust you out at six in the morning to run with me.”
“Six a.m.? No thanks. I’ll come up with some other way to work off the calories.”
“Don't say I didn’t offer to help. I thought we could eat first. I ordered a hot sub. Then we can discuss the case.”
Autumn cringed hearing Kari referred to as a case. But she wasn’t going to let semantics get their collaboration off on the wrong foot. “Kitchen or patio for eating?”
“Kitchen. I wouldn’t put it past Nana to be ‘supervising’ us on the patio from the yard while she worked on the flower beds.”
“She does watch out for you. Are you her only grandchild? I was for a long time, and it is quite a responsibility.”
Rather than the laugh Autumn expected, Jon’s expression went dead serious. “No, there are—were—five of us. My cousin Angie died almost seven years ago. And one great grandchild. Angie had a little boy.”
“How sad. How old is he?”
“He’s six. When I was downstate, I tried to see him as often as I could and take him to Nana’s house. Angie and I spent a lot of time there when we were growing up.”
“Me, too, about spending a lot of time at my grandparents’. Dad and I lived with them until I went to college.”
“I thought you went to the community college.”
Jon remembered what kind of pizza she liked and where she’d gone to college? She shifted the weight of the tarts. “A friend and I had an apartment in Ticonderoga.”
His stomach growled. “Enough talk. Time to eat.”
They went into the kitchen and had their subs. Autumn crumpled her wrapper when she’d finished. “I’m stuffed. Would you mind having the tarts after we talk? I could make coffee or tea.”
“Fine with me.”
“My iPad is in the living room.”
Jon pulled out his notebook and sat in the center of the couch. Autumn mentally measured the distance between the chair and where he sat on the couch. If she was going to share Kari’s records with him, she’d have to sit on the couch next to him. Had Jon sat there on purpose or was she being silly? Autumn decided the last choice was correct. She picked up her iPad and sat next to Jon.
“What did Kelly tell you about Kari’s pregnancy?”
“Not much. She said Kari was your patient and you’d fill me in. I got the feeling that she didn’t agree 100% with your assessment that Kari’s risk factors required a doctor’s care.”
“Kelly thinks I’m being overly cautious. I had a mother last year who developed complications during the birth that could have been avoided if we’d been more cautious earlier in the pregnancy.”
He nodded.
“But I haven’t even gone over the details.”
“My…I had an experience where earlier intervention and proper care would have made the difference between life and death.”
“I’m so sorry. Did you lose the mother or the baby?”
“The mother died.” His voice was flat. “It helped me decide to change my specialty from surgery to obstetrics.”
“You weren’t doing the delivery, then?” She spoke in a voice barely above a whisper.
“No." He cut the thread short with a shake of his head. “It’s history. Tell me about Kari.”
Autumn’s heart went out to Jon for sharing a part of himself with her. To cover the show of sympathy she didn’t think Jon would want, she tapped Kari’s records open on the iPad and explained the situation.
“Unless I misunderstood, I thought you weren’t doing deliveries.”
“I’m not. Kari is more than a co-worker. She’s a close friend and second cousin by her first marriage. When she and Eli found out they were pregnant, they asked me to do her prenatal care. I’ve known her since I was in high school. Her first husband, who was killed in Afghanistan, was a friend of Dad’s. I want her to have the best care, not that I don’t try to give all of my mothers the best care I can.” She stopped. “As my grandmother would say, I’m running at the mouth. It’s a problem I’ve had since kindergarten when I…No, you don’t need to know that.”
“I might like to.” Jon’s eyes were soft. “I imagine you were quite a lot like your sister, Sophie.”
Autumn dropped her head and let her hair fall forward. She’d decided to leave it down. “Too much like Sophie. It must be Dad’s influence. Now, as Gram would say, back on topic.”
“I certainly will take Kari on.”
“I’d hoped you would, but there’s more. Kari is insisting that I continue to see her.”
“You’ve lost me. I thought Kari had agreed to the referral.”
“She has. She wants us to work together.”
Jon jotted in his notebook. “I see. You’d be working under my supervision.”
“No, more of a collaboration.”
“Even better.” He moved to the edge of the couch and leaned toward her.
A rush of relief and gladness ran through her. Jon didn’t have to say yes, but he was more than agreeable. He wanted to work together.
“We can learn from each other. The more experiences you have, the better prepared you are for any complications that might arise.”
She wasn’t looking for complications. That was the purpose behind referring Kari to Jon, to avoid complications.
“I’d like to take a closer look at Kari’s records and your notes before I see her.”
“I had her sign the release before she and Eli left on vacation.”
“Great. Have her call or stop in to make an appointment.” He closed his notebook. “We can celebrate our collaboration with Nana’s tarts or go out for soft-serve ice cream.”
Autumn sat up straighter. “Let’s save the ice cream celebration until after you talk with Kari. She and Eli have a definite birth plan they’ll expect you to stick to. Eli is a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, used to giving orders. And I have to warn you Kari knows too much about pregnancy and obstetrics. She’s not an easy patient, and that’s coming from a close friend.”
“With you collaborating, I’m sure Kari and I will get along fine.” Jon’s lips curled up in the famous Hanlon smile.
If he used that smile on Kari enough times, they probably would. It was almost starting to get to her.
CHAPTER 11
“Welcome back from vacation,” Autumn greeted Kari when she ran into her at the Grand Union grocery store in Schroon Lake.
“It’s good to be back, if only to get a little rest and relief from the heat. Do you know what Washington in late July is like? No wonder we got such a good deal on the vacation package. Then the kids each wanted to do different things first, Eli included.”
Kari paid for her groceries and Autumn pushed her cart up to the register and started unloading. “You didn’t have a good time?”
“No, we had a lot of fun. Eli got everyone in line, and I took it easy.” Kari made a face. “Eli threatened to rent me one of those scooters if I didn’t. I watched what I ate, got in my recommended exercise in the morning and lounged around in the afternoons, letting the others do their own thing. I haven’t been this caught up on my reading in years. I made everyone do their own unpacking and laundry when we got home.”
“Good work.”
Kari rested her hand on her baby bump. “Do you have some time to go talk somewhere?” Her gaze flickered to the teenage cashier and the woman behind Autumn.”
“Sure. I’m free until two. The trivia group changed our bi-weekly social to this afternoon since Tessa has someone to cover the Saturday matinee this weekend but not the Sunday one.”
“How’s the group going? Any new members?” Kari asked. “I keep meaning to get back into it.”
“Pretty well, and not really. Josh is working on a couple of the guys he works with.” Autumn helped the bagger pack the last of her things. “How does the soft-serve stand sound, one of the outside tables?”
“Fine. What are we celebrating?”
Autumn groaned. Her father must have shared the family tradition with Kari, or maybe she had.
“We’re celebrating your return from vacation. Kelly has been particularly difficult the past couple of weeks. I think her daughter Stephanie going away to college is bothering her.”
They pushed their carts out into the parking lot.
“You’re too kind. Some days I wonder why you stay with her. You’ve got the credentials, the experience, you could go somewhere else.”
“I could ask you the same.”
“Do that when we get to the soft-serve stand.”
They went their separate ways to their cars. After they got their orders, Autumn and Kari sat at a shaded picnic table away from the other patrons.
“Mmmm.” Kari relished a spoonful of chocolate ice cream. “See how good I am, I only got one scoop, not two, and no cone.”
“A paragon of pregnant mothers, for sure.” Autumn looked at her double scoop cone and thought about all of the baked goods Mrs. Hanlon had brought her the past weeks.
“Now, ask me again,” Kari said.
“Ask you what?”
“Why I stay with Kelly.”
“Okay, why?”
“I’m waiting to see what you do when your contract with Kelly is up in the fall.”
Her contract. It was always in the back of her mind. As a midwife who didn’t deliver babies, she didn’t have many options open to her within commuting distance of Paradox Lake, unless she took a delivery nurse job at Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake. Gratitude toward her friend filled her. “You can’t know how much that means to me, but you should do whatever’s best for you and your family.”
“I hear one of the birthing center staff nurses may be leaving,” Kari said.
“Signing on with the center would mean working with Dr. Hanlon.” Autumn wasn’t sure why she’d said that as if she were warning Kari. So far, she hadn't had any problem working with him.
“The scenery would be nice,” Kari said.
It looked like Jon had added Kari to his list of admirers. “Speaking of Dr. Hanlon, be prepared to redo the glucose test and have another ultrasound. The orders are in your records.”
“What’s with that?” As if to challenge the orders, Kari jammed her spoon into the last bit of ice cream left in the dish. “My blood sugar counts since your last test have been within the acceptable range. Why redo them?”
“Give Jon some slack. It’s his way. He likes to have his own tests and his own notes. He was concerned about a birth he covered for Maureen while she was on vacation. He felt he didn’t have enough background on the pregnancy. I’m not surprised he wants to get as much as he can get on you.”
“That doesn’t bother you? It’s like he’s questioning what you’ve already done.”
Autumn stopped mid-lick. Surprisingly, it didn’t bother her. “No. We’re not in a competition. We’re collaborating. If Jon feels he needs additional tests, that’s his call.”
“Very interesting. I’ve seen you make far less than this into a competition.”
Autumn looked over her cone at her friend, choosing to ignore that comment. “The additional tests. They’re not a problem with your insurer, are they?”
“No, Eli has good coverage through the school. Now, back to your non-competition pact with Dr. Hanlon. Does that mean you’re softening toward him?”
“I didn’t realize I was hardened against him.”
“Come on, you weren’t thrilled when you found out he was the new center director.”
“We had some history I needed to get past.”
“And you have?”
She had. “I’ll admit that if I’d first met Jon this summer, we’d get along fine.” For whatever reason, his grandmother’s words came back to her. What he really needs is some happy normal births so he can see the real joy of new life. Birth isn’t an enemy that has to be conquered. “We are getting along fine, for that matter.”
“Do I detect a maybe better than fine?”
Autumn shifted on the hard picnic table bench to get more comfortable. “No, you detect two colleagues, friends, getting along fine.”
“Fine enough to join him?”
“Aren’t you full of questions today. Is that what we get for letting you take vacation? If by joining him, you mean dating him, no not that fine. Not that he’s asked.” Since we were at Samaritan, that is. “And don’t ask if that’s a possibility.”
“I won’t, not today. What I mean is join him at the center. The scuttlebutt is that Adirondack Medical Center is shopping the birthing center as a comprehensive women’s health center, based on your gynecological care and Dr. Craven’s satellite office here.”
“That’s a stretch.” Autumn snapped a bite of the cone off.
“Agreed. But you might want to stretch it to your advantage by talking to Dr. Hanlon about your joining the staff as a woman’s clinician, if you’re serious about not doing births anymore. Except mine.” Kari smirked.
Adirondack Medical Center was shopping the birthing center? Jon just happened to be chosen director. His grandmother shows up for an extended visit. The sugar cone tasted dry in her mouth. In Autumn’s head, it was all adding up to one thing. JMH Health Care, Jon’s grandfather’s company, taking over. She’d heard and read enough about his takeovers to know that a post-takeover birthing center wouldn’t be somewhere she’d want to work.
“Yoo-hoo, you still with me?”
Autumn wrapped what was left of her cone in a napkin to toss it in the garbage. “Yes. I’ll think about what you’ve said.” After she asked her friend Jon a few questions.
The attendance at the trivia group’s second social buoyed Jon’s spirits about the trivia group. All of the regulars had come, along with several guests who seemed interested in joining them. Autumn's arriving early and asking if she could talk with him afterwards had added to the buoyant feeling.
He finished walking Josh and Lexi, the last of the group members, to the door. “Bye.” Jon pushed the screen door shut and joined Autumn. “Alone at last.” He waited for her to respond to his tease with an exasperated smile and got a frown instead.
She perched on the edge of the chair. “I’ll get right to the point. Did you take the position as director of the birthing center to help your grandfather take it over?”
“Never.” He pushed himself from the seat he’d just taken and paced the length of the couch. “Who told you that?”
“No one in particular. I’m just connecting the dots. I heard that the medical center might be putting the birthing center on the market. It hasn’t met financial expectations.”
Jon knew it hadn’t. That had been part of the challenge of taking the job. “I haven’t heard anything official about selling the center.” It didn’t sit well with him to have the center staff speculating.
“Let me finish. You take over the birthing center. Your grandmother appears for an apparently unending stay. Today, Tessa said your grandmother had contacted her friend’s real estate firm to view some high-end vacation properties, preferably ones that have been winterized.”
“Nana did what?” He banged the back of the couch with the palm of his hand.
