safe from the storm outside. Comforted by that knowledge, she closed her eyes and gave in to the exhaustion.
“Are you sure she’s only sleeping?”
“She’s been through a traumatic experience,” a vaguely familiar voice replied. “That sort of thing would wear anyone down.”
Hannah struggled to push away the haze of sleep as arms moved beneath her, lifting her. “Garrett?” she said sleepily, trying not to wince as her abdomen suddenly constricted, the pain slightly more intense than it had been before.
“I’ve got you,” he replied.
“You need me to take her?”
“I’ve got her,” Garrett said as he pivoted away from the truck. “Can you see to the door?”
“She doesn’t look to weigh much more than a bale of hay. I think my bum leg could have handled it.”
“Maybe so, but I promised to see her safely to your place and I intend to do just that.”
The passenger door slammed shut behind them as Garrett carried her toward what she assumed was his brother’s house, rousing Hannah more fully. She forced her eyes open, her gaze first settling on Garrett and then drifting over to the man keeping pace beside her rescuer. He was holding a large umbrella up over her and Garrett, heedless of the rain soaking into his flannel shirt.
As they neared the house, light from the porch spilled out across the man’s face. A face very like the man who held her in his arms. “You must be the butterfly,” Hannah said, trying not to show the worry she felt as the possibility that she might truly be in labor settled in.
He looked down at her in confusion and then cast a worried glance in his brother’s direction as they ascended the wide porch steps. “Are you sure she didn’t hit her head on the steering wheel or something when the bridge dropped out from under her car?”
Garrett hesitated, glancing down at her. “I don’t think so.”
“I didn’t,” Hannah replied with a slight shake of her head.
“But you heard what she just called me, right?” the younger man insisted. “Butterfly.”
“Oh, that,” Garrett said as they stepped beneath the protective covering of the porch roof. “She got that from me,” he explained as they crossed the porch. “I said you were a social butterfly,” Garrett added in clarification and then added impatiently, “Can you get the door?”
His brother yanked the screen door open and then stepped aside, holding it in place until Garrett had her safely inside the house. Then he followed with a frown. “You couldn’t have compared me to something else, like a wolf, for instance?”
Ignoring his brother’s muttered complaint, Garrett carried her into one of the rooms off the entryway, where he lowered her onto a large brown overstuffed sofa. Then he kneeled to slide the rain-soaked sneakers from her feet. “Best get these wet shoes off you.” He glanced back over his shoulder at his brother. “Got a thick pair of socks she could borrow?”
“Be right back,” his brother said.
“I don’t need...” she began, but he was already moving through the entryway in long-legged strides, his gait somewhat off.
“Yes, you do,” Garrett said firmly as he set her wet shoes aside and then adjusted the bottom of the blanket to cover her stockinged feet. Then he stood and took a step back. “You can’t afford to catch a chill.”
Too tired to argue, she said, “No, I suppose not.”
His brother hurried back into the room, a thick pair of wool socks in hand. “These might be a little big on you, but they’ll be plenty warm.”
She reached for them. “Thank you.”
“If you haven’t already figured it out,” Garrett said as she removed her socks and pulled on the pair she’d been given, “this lanky cowboy beside me is my brother Jackson Wade. Jackson—” his introduction was cut off as Hannah let out a soft gasp. His worried gaze shot to her face. “Hannah?”
She sank back into the sofa, a hand pressed to her swollen belly. “It’s okay,” she said shakily. At least, she prayed it was.
“Another pain?” he asked with a frown.
Jackson’s gaze dropped to the blanket covering the rounded swell of her stomach and his thick brows shot upward, clearly noticing her condition for the first time since she’d been carried in. “Is that... I mean is she...?”
“Pregnant?” Garrett finished for him. “Yes. And, despite her reassurance otherwise, I think she might be in labor.” He looked down at her. “Hannah? Should I call 911?”
His brother’s eyes snapped up, some of the color leaving his tanned face. “Labor? As in, having her baby right now?”
Dear Lord, I hope not. Hannah shook her head, refusing to believe that was the case. “I don’t think there’s any need to do that. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately. And then getting caught up in that flood, well, I’m sure they’re just false labor pains. I’m not even close to my due date yet.”
Jackson looked relieved. Garrett, on the other hand, didn’t appear to be as accepting of her reply.
“We should call your husband,” Garrett said. “Let him know you and the baby are safe.”
“I’m not married,” she replied.
“I see,” he said with a quick glance at her rounded abdomen.
Warmth blossomed in her cheeks. “The baby’s not mine.” The second the words left her mouth she realized how untrue they were. The child growing inside her womb was hers now, for as long as the good Lord willed it to be.
The two men exchanged glances. Not that she blamed them. She knew how that last statement had to sound to them.
“The baby was my sister’s,” she explained, tears filling her eyes. “She and her husband had tried for so long to have a child, but she could never carry to term. So, when the doctor suggested they look into finding a gestational surrogate to carry their baby for them, I knew I wanted to do this for her.”
“Was your sister’s?” Garrett replied with a gentle query.
Her hand went protectively to her stomach as she choked out the words, “Heather and Brian died three months ago in a car accident.”
“Hannah,” Garrett groaned. “I’m so sorry.”
She brushed a stray tear from her cheek. “I’ll manage.”
“Alone?”
“Women raise children alone every day.” She ran her hand over her stomach, a knot forming in her throat. “This child is all I have left of my sister. I’ll do whatever it takes to make his life one filled with love and happiness.”
“Is there someone else we could call for you?” Jackson asked.
Her
