Reclaiming the Rancher's Heart by Lisa Carter

Author:Lisa Carter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-10-07T16:18:10+00:00

* * *

The wind had picked up in intensity. Hailstones clattered against the old farmhouse. Kate jolted. CoraFaye should have returned by now.

Gripping the plastic liner in her fists, AnnaBeth moaned, seized with another sharp contraction.

“I’ll be right back.” Kate patted her arm. “I’m going to scrub up in the kitchen.”

AnnaBeth clutched her hand. “I really need to push.”

“Try not to push yet, A-B. Not until you can’t resist the urge any longer.” She extricated her hand from AnnaBeth’s death grip. “Breathe through the next contraction and try to stay calm.”

Worry for the old woman and concern for the mother-to-be gnawed at the outward professional calm she’d been trained to display no matter the situation.

She should have never agreed to let CoraFaye go out to the car for her midwife kit. She’d wanted to go herself, but CoraFaye insisted AnnaBeth needed Kate more. If anything had happened to Jack’s grandmother, she’d never forgive—

Clothes and hair askew, CoraFaye burst into the kitchen, brandishing the small navy blue backpack. “A blessed coincidence, or do you always keep a midwifery kit in your car?”

Kate zipped open the backpack, checking her supplies. “Force of habit. Always had it freshly stocked in the jeep at the compound in Africa. Never knew when we might be called out.”

She rolled her sleeves and scrubbed her hands to her elbows. “You should probably scrub up, too.”

CoraFaye handed her a couple of paper towels. “And sing ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat’ while I do?”

“Something like that.” Lips twitching, she dried her hands. “I see where Jack gets his sense of humor. Let’s leave the doors unlocked so the EMTs can get in quickly once they arrive.”

“About that...” CoraFaye sighed. “The ambulance is en route, but they were finishing another emergency call farther afield than Truelove.”

She hung the fetoscope around her neck. “How much farther afield?”

“The highway ’tween Truelove and the county seat.” CoraFaye washed her hands. “The high winds turned two tractor trailers over like they were nothing but a bunch of matchbox cars.”

Kate’s eyes widened. “Casualties?”

“Minor bumps and bruises says Nadine at the firehouse. Some eedjit tourist also thought it would be a good idea to roast marshmallows in this wind.” CoraFaye shook her head at the folly of flatlanders. “Set the national forest ablaze. Chief MacKenzie and the rest of his boys took the call to help the rangers put it out.”

“So no help there, either.”

“Kate!” AnnaBeth called.

“Coming!”

Jack’s grandmother slung the backpack over her shoulder. “We’re on our own till the paramedics arrive.”

“Did you reach Jonas?”

“Racing toward us as we speak.”

Kate slipped on blue disposable gloves. “For AnnaBeth’s sake, I hope he gets here in time.”

“Ready or not—” CoraFaye followed her down the hall “—that baby’s a-coming.”

Entering the bedroom, Kate plastered a big smile on her face. Positioning herself at the end of the bed, she checked the progression of AnnaBeth’s labor and then laid a blanket across her knees.

CoraFaye pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down. “Hold on to my hand, sweetie pie. Squeeze as hard as you can.

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