Trusting Love, page 6
“I don’t have much experience with children, once they’ve been born, that is,” Jon admitted.
She pressed the brake for the stop sign at the corner of Route 9. “I noticed.”
“It was that obvious?”
Autumn laughed remembering the look on his face when she’d handed him the baby. “I’m afraid so. And you didn’t seem all that comfortable with the kids at the camp lodge on Saturday. By the way, Anne apologizes for the way Sophie and Alex kept pestering you with questions until she laid down the law to them.”
“It was okay, just different. My family isn’t very close, and only one of us in my generation has had a child.”
A shadow clouded his eyes, making him look vulnerable and less full of himself than he often did. She’d seen the same look of pain in his eyes last week when he was touring the center and she’d told him medical intervention wasn’t needed with a normal birth.
“Kelly and I like to involve the whole family, including any siblings, in the pregnancy.”
He dropped his gaze to the note pad and kept it there while he made a notation. He was hiding something. Something that Autumn suspected might make him a little less mechanical and more likeable.
“At the birth, too?”
“Yes.” She waited for him to ask about keeping the birth area sanitary with all the family members there and was surprised when he didn’t. “I can lend you some of my reference books if you want to read up on the protocol we follow.” She and Kelly didn’t call their routine a protocol, but Autumn figured it was a term Jon would relate to.
“Definitely. I’d like that.”
The eager note in his voice warmed Autumn. After the way he’d seemed to be judging the situation at Megan’s, she hadn’t expected this interest in how she and Kelly worked.
He made another note on the pad and looked up. “Your holistic approach, does it include general education for the family?”
Autumn slowed for the left turn onto State Route 74. “I’m not sure I follow you.”
“What to expect. The responsibilities and economics of being parents.”
“I guess. Although I wouldn’t have framed it in those words.” As Hazard Cove Road and the Hazardtown Community Church came into sight on the left, Autumn checked the car clock. There was no way she’d make it to Ticonderoga to drop Jon off and back to pick up the twins by noon.
“Megan seems very young.”
“She looks younger than she is. Megan is 22 and Dave’s a little older. Not so young to be parents. Dad was 17 when I was born. A senior in high school.”
Jon’s surprised expression was exactly what she expected.
“Your mother?”
Autumn ignored the dull pain she always felt at any mention of the woman who’d abandoned her and Dad when Autumn was a few months old. “She was a sophomore in college.”
That silenced him for a moment. “Because Megan is young, I wonder if she understands the priorities of being a parent, if that’s part of your family education.”
She couched her answer. “We talk about all kinds of things with our prospective parents. Remember, neither Kelly nor I had seen her before Saturday.”
“It’s just that those solar collectors on the house had to have been expensive. The money they spent on them might have been better spent on house repairs, like painting. Those peeling paint chips will be a danger when the baby is older. They may contain lead. And the steps need replacing, badly.”
What made him think he was qualified to judge Megan and Dave? Autumn wanted to believe that his experience outside of his social strata was so limited that he didn’t know better. But that was a stretch.
He cleared his throat. She went on before he could interrupt. “The solar water heater will save them money in the long run. And as Megan said, we’ve had a lot of rain. When the weather is good, Dave has to work long hours and doesn’t have time to help her with home repairs like replacing the steps and painting the house. Believe me, they can’t afford to pay someone to take care of things they could do themselves.”
Jon folded his arms across his chest. “You can’t argue that the changing table and cradle in the bedroom aren’t an extravagance Megan and Dave apparently are ill-able to afford, that the money spent on handcrafted furniture couldn’t have been used for better family purposes. I know what custom pieces like that go for downstate. I don’t imagine they fetch much less up here, given the tourist trade.”
As she came upon Hazardtown Community Church where the twin’s childcare was, Autumn made a split-second decision. She flicked the directional and turned into the church parking lot. Hitting the break harder than necessary, she brought the car to a halt.
Jon raised an eyebrow.
She’d explain the stop after she answered his question. “Yes, I can argue with that. Megan’s mother is a friend of Kelly’s. She told me all about the pieces while Megan was in labor. The cradle is a family heirloom that Dave’s grandfather made for Dave’s father and his siblings. So that didn’t cost them a dime. Dave’s grandfather helped him make the changing table, so all that cost them was the wood.” She paused and took a breath.
He opened his mouth as if to say something and then closed it.
“Can I give you a bit of advice? If you want to successfully direct the birthing center, which I assume is your goal, you need to realize that people here are different than you may be used to. The Adirondacks are not an affluent area by any stretch of the imagination. People here depend on family, and we make do with what we have. To answer your earlier question, yes. If I had a family that appeared to have its priorities, financial or otherwise, skewed away from the baby’s best interests, I’d talk with the parents. That description doesn’t fit Megan and Dave from what I know of their families and what I’ve seen of them.”
“I see.”
She hoped he did. Autumn fervently wanted the center to be successful to prevent the Adirondack Medical Center from having to close it or, maybe worse, sell it to JMH. Her gaze traced the rigid set of Jon’s jaw. Of course, the plan could be for Jon to rescue the center for his grandfather to buy. But now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that nor her precarious work situation, her soon-to-be-expired contract with Kelly or the possibility the center might close.
The sound of a car pulling up beside them drew her attention. Her aunt Jinx waved as she got out and Autumn rolled down her window.
“Hi, Autumn, Jon,” Jinx said. “You here to pick up Sophie and Alex for swim lessons?” She tilted her head to the side so Autumn would block Jon’s view of her and raised an eyebrow toward him.
“Sort of.” Autumn glanced sidewise at Jon. “Jon came on a home visit with me, and I was on my way to take him back when I realized it’s almost time for their swim lesson.”
“Do you want me to take the twins to swim lessons with Izzy and Sam? I can bring them to you afterwards since I need to go into Ticonderoga and pick up some supplies for work this afternoon.”
Autumn bit her lip. “That would work, but you might have two unhappy children on your hands. I don’t have any appointments today and told the twins we’d spend the whole afternoon together.”
Jinx waved her off. “It’s only an hour or so. They’ll get over it. Or, I have another idea. If you don’t mind taking my kids down to Sunrise for swim lessons, I’ll drive Jon to Ticonderoga, pick up my supplies and be back not too long after lessons are done.” She looked at Jon.
“Works for me,” he said.
Autumn hesitated. Jinx’s offer was a good solution. But it left Jon with the last word in their conversation, which didn’t sit well with her natural competitiveness. Not that she and Jon were in a competition. She didn’t work for him, so it didn’t matter if they had different ways of pursuing their mutual profession. “Your kids won’t mind?” she asked.
“Not at all. I’ve been told more than once that you’re much more fun than I am.”
“All right. I’ll stick around the camp until you get back. That’s what the kids and I were going to do anyway.”
“Sounds good. Ready, Jon?”
He kept his gaze on Autumn as he answered Jinx. “Ready. As much as I might enjoy an afternoon at the lake with Autumn and the kids, I should get back to my office.”
She searched his words for a double meaning but didn’t come up with one.
“I appreciate your taking me on the home visit,” he said as he reached for the door handle. “I’ll send you my notes in an email.”
“O-kay.”
He was going to write a report on this morning? She didn’t know how else to respond to his statement. Or if it needed a response. Autumn climbed out of the car and watched Jinx pull away. As much as she tried to use his promise of his own home-visit report to refuel the irritation she’d felt toward him earlier, her thoughts kept coming back to his saying he would have liked to spend the afternoon at the beach with her and the kids. She stomped to the church hall where the daycare center was. What was with her? He’d only been making conversation with Jinx. Who wouldn’t want to spend a beautiful day like today at the beach?
Jon closed the file on his computer. He was all caught up on the patient records for the center and ready to start his expectant mother appointments tomorrow. Not that it looked like a very busy schedule. Nothing like the downstate practice he’d been with prior to coming here. Some days, he’d felt like he was on an assembly line. He’d had so little time on each case. Autumn and Kelly’s approach to patient time struck him as a good safety net to help pinpoint potential problems with a pregnancy and address them before delivery. His thoughts went to how he could integrate their approach in his practice. Coupling it with technology could improve outcomes.
Jon opened his report on the home visit and added that observation. Leaning back in his chair, he skimmed what he’d written and contemplated whether to add a comment about Autumn’s baby scale. To him, it had looked a lot like a high-end digital sports fishing scale. He leaned his elbow into the padded arm of his chair and rested his head against his thumb and forefinger. He wondered how the accuracy compared to the digital scale he had in his office. He straightened. Rather than say anything in the report, he’d do some research and share the results with her. Surely she’d be interested. The thought warmed him. He’d benefited from their time together this morning. Why not reciprocate?
The sharp ring of his desk phone jerked him from his thoughts. He spun the chair around and picked up the receiver. “Dr. Hanlon.”
“Jay, it’s Grandfather.”
As if he wouldn’t recognize his voice.
“I can’t make our dinner at the Sagamore. There’s a facility in Broome County that I want to check out. Acquisitions sent me a report yesterday.”
On Sunday? He didn’t know why he was surprised.
“The facility is still struggling to recover from the flooding there last year. We’d be able to pick it up for much less than it’s worth.”
Jon bit his tongue and offered a silent prayer for help to stop himself from telling Grandfather what he thought of his business practices. He knew his words would fall on deaf ears. Grandfather didn’t care.
“JMH has to strike while the iron is hot if we’re going to best Unified Health Care,” his grandfather said. “Did you read their last quarterly report? They’re gaining on us in acquisitions in the Northeast.”
Jon couldn’t stop the longing triggered by his grandfather’s use of “us” as if Jon were part of the family business, as if they shared more than a set of familial genes. “No, I haven’t.”
“You should. I’ll e-mail you a copy.”
Jon ignored his grandfather’s offer. “Will Nana still be coming?” He’d been looking forward to seeing her. They could have a nice dinner together without Grandfather.
“I told her that you’re too far out of the way now. I’ll be coming back through Binghamton, not Albany. And she’s not happy. But business is business. You understand.”
What Jon understood was that he wasn’t worth his grandfather’s time and Nana’s feelings weren’t worth his consideration. He swallowed the bile that rose to his throat.
“I’ll give Nana a call. Maybe invite her to come and visit here for a few days. She could take the Amtrak Adirondack train.”
“Sure, you do that.” His grandfather clicked off without saying goodbye.
Jon dropped the phone receiver into the cradle and struggled to contain his anger. This was the man who used to lecture him as a kid on good manners, proper behavior, and consideration of others? Jon grasped the edge of the desk, squeezed hard and released his grip to tap down his anger. Guess Grandfather’s lessons don’t apply when business is involved.
When it came to his family, finding any warm feelings could be extremely hard. Except for Nana and Brad. He’d enjoy having Nana come for a few days over a weekend so he could spend time with her. He picked up his cell phone and pressed her contact picture. As the phone rang, he pictured Nana and him having coffee on the patio at the duplex—with Autumn. Nana would like Autumn. His chest tightened against the hollow that opened in it. A hollow that he had no rational explanation for and no idea how to fill.
“Autumn, rate my splash,” her seven-year-old cousin, Isabella, shouted. She did a cannonball off the family dock located up the beach from the camp’s aquatics area.
“Me, too. Me, too,” Autumn’s twin siblings said as they copied Isabella.
Autumn’s aunt Jinx plopped down beside her on the blanket she’d spread on the stony beach. “It’s not enough that she’s the oldest and the biggest, she also has to come up with challenges she has to know she’ll win.”
“I wonder where she gets that from,” Autumn said. “Wait, I have this aunt that used to often set me up for—”
“Stop. That was learned behavior from your father. And I have a niece of mine who tends to do only those things she’s best at.”
A pall rolled over Autumn. Was that why she’d stopped delivering babies? Because she wasn’t perfect at it? She put her hand to her forehead as much to hide her expression as to shield the sun as she watched the kids do another round of jumps. “Guilty as charged. I’m a Hazard.”
Jinx laughed. “Something we all have to live with.” She followed Autumn’s gaze to the dock. “Where’s Ian?”
“At the library. There’s some program this week where kids can write and produce their own books. He’s going to a friend’s afterwards.”
“Funny how much he’s like Anne. You wouldn’t have caught my brother inside on a day like this when he was Ian’s age, and he would have considered inside at the library a punishment.”
“Dad would still see the library as a punishment on a beautiful day like this.”
“I think it’s interesting how many of Anne’s and Neal’s traits Ian has picked up. But he was only two when her friends were killed, and she and Neal adopted him.”
Autumn nodded. Anne and Dad had both readily accepted Ian as their own. “While we’re on the subject of family, what do you think of Grandpa’s idea of giving Gram a surprise birthday party?”
“Not like him at all. Anne must be behind it. She really soaks up all the family stuff. But who can blame her? Her family is so cold and distant.”
Like Jon’s, from what Autumn could tell. “Yes, the e-mail invitations were totally Anne, right down to my ‘and guest.’”
“Isabella, give the inner tube to Sam,” Jinx shouted. “It’s his turn.” She turned back to Autumn. “Do you have someone in mind? Dr. Dreamy, by any chance?”
Autumn’s heartbeat quickened. “Not you, too?”
Jinx wrinkled her nose. “What do you mean?”
“The Dr. Jonathan Mitchell Hanlon fan club. He smiles and women swoon for miles around.”
“You have to admit that he’s easy to look at. You’re not interested, even a little?”
“There’s got to be more to a man than looks.”
“Right, like important things in common. You deliver babies. He delivers babies. So you’re both used to crazy work schedules.”
Except she didn’t deliver babies anymore, and she had a strong feeling Jon wouldn’t understand why not.
“Admit it,” Jinx said. “There’s a spark. I saw it Saturday and again this afternoon in the church parking lot.”
Autumn wanted to give her aunt a flat-out “no, there’s nothing between us,” except she didn’t lie. And while maybe not a spark, she did feel some connection to Jon. “We’re colleagues, possibly working on being friends. That’s all there is.”
“Come on,” her aunt prodded.
Autumn flicked a pebble off the blanket. “When we worked together at Samaritan, Jon had a reputation as a player. He dated my roommate, Kate, and dumped her for no apparent reason. Broke her heart. She really liked him.”
“That’s the Kate you used to refer to as the drama queen?”
“Yes.” Kate had been high strung. “But she seemed truly hurt, and Jon wasted no time after the breakup before asking me out. When I said no, he moved on to another nurse. His actions upheld his reputation.”
“People change,” Jinx said, “and there are usually two sides to every story.”
Autumn stared out at the lake. Her aunt was right, but she’d need some definite sign Jon had changed before she could even think about the possibility of them ever being anything more than friends.
CHAPTER 6
Yesterday’s warm sunshine had been replaced by a chilly downpour. Autumn opened the door to the birthing center and tapped her umbrella on the entry way rug before closing it. A flirty laugh drew her attention to the front desk, where Jon was lounging against the wall talking with the receptionist and a woman Autumn didn’t recognize. The woman gazed up at him with a look Autumn had seen all too often at Samaritan.
She clenched the umbrella and ducked down the hall to her office. Jon had e-mailed her his report on yesterday’s home visit, and she wasn’t ready to talk about it, not until she’d had time to give it a good read. She hadn’t been able to resist opening the report and skimming it at home. It had seemed surprisingly complimentary, considering the direction their conversation had been going when Jinx had interrupted them.
