either Autumn or his mother could reply, she gasped, and then clutched at the mound beneath the blanket he’d covered her with while they had waited for his mother to get there. Her pretty face contorted in pain, and her breaths became panicked, coming short and fast.
His mother nudged him from the chair. “Time for you to go join your brothers out on the porch.”
He nodded and stood, knowing his mother was right. He needed to leave the room, but it was killing him to do so. His gaze moved once more to Hannah and the pain he saw there grabbed at his heart. Lord, please find it in Your heart to ease her pain. He looked to his mother. “Call me if you need my help.”
“I will,” she said calmly.
“Garrett,” Autumn said softly from behind him.
He turned to look at his sister-in-law.
She offered a calming smile and said in that sweet, Texas-accented voice, “Your momma and I are gonna take real good care of Hannah and her little one.”
“Honey,” his mother said as she settled into the chair he had just vacated, “ask Jackson if he has a hair dryer. I don’t want Hannah catching a chill with her damp hair. We’re going to be needing some clean towels, and something to cut and then clamp the umbilical cord with. Sterilize them with rubbing alcohol, if your brother has a bottle of it on hand. And please ask Jackson to bring us that water Tucker put on the stove to boil.”
“I’ll see to it,” he replied, grateful to have something to do other than just stand around wondering when the ambulance was going to get there. He just prayed it would be soon.
“Thanks for calling to let me know,” Garrett said, relieved to hear that Justin had been able to help his mare deliver her foal safely into the world. Now he just prayed Hannah would be able to do the same with her baby.
“Keep me updated on Miss Sanders,” Justin said. “In the meantime, I’ll see to it the road to the washed-out bridge is closed.”
“I will,” Garrett said, ending the call. Then he turned and started back across the porch, shoving his cell back into the pocket of his jeans.
“You’re going to pace a hole right through my porch floor,” Jackson grumbled as Garrett passed by the rustic wooden chair in which his brother was seated.
Tucker nodded in agreement from where he sat stretched out in the matching high-back bench. “If he paces any faster, the floorboards are likely to spark into a trail of flames.”
How could his brothers just sit there, sipping at their coffee and making jests as if it were just another ordinary day? It wasn’t. Truth was, riding bulls and climbing atop broncs during his rodeo days had been less nerve-racking then this. “Do either of you realize how serious this situation is?” Garrett demanded as he continued pacing. “It’s not time for her baby to come.” He looked toward the door. “I should be in there with her.”
“She’s in good hands,” Tucker said soberly.
“Best thing you can do for her right now is pray,” Jackson suggested.
“And what if those prayers go unanswered?” he asked, as they hadn’t been with Grace. “Hannah’s too young to die.”
“Hannah isn’t going to die,” Jackson said firmly. “She’s young and healthy.”
“She’s been in labor for nearly three hours.”
“Babies come out when they’re good and ready,” Tucker replied, “If God planned to call Hannah home, He wouldn’t have seen to it that you were there to save her and the child she’s carrying from those flood waters.”
He prayed his brother was right. Yet, despite his brother’s reassuring words, Garrett couldn’t quell the restless energy that filled him. So, he continued pacing the length of the porch which ran all the way across the front of the cedar-sided ranch house.
The front screen door creaked open, bringing Garrett’s steps to a halt and drawing all three men’s gazes that direction. Autumn stepped out onto the porch and Garrett swallowed hard. It had only been forty-five minutes since he’d left Hannah in his mother’s and Autumn’s safekeeping, minutes filled with searching glances toward the distant road for an ambulance that had yet to arrive, minutes filled with anxious pacing and fervent prayers. Why wasn’t his sister-in-law still inside helping his mother? Unless...
Garrett’s heart thudded as he zeroed in on Autumn’s face. Hannah had said herself that it was too soon for her baby to be born. Not that babies didn’t arrive early all the time, but usually they were delivered in a hospital with medical equipment readily available to care for a premature baby. His fears were laid to rest the moment he realized that his sister-in-law was smiling.
“Hannah?” Garrett asked, the word coming out of a raspy croak.
“Tired, but doing well.”
Jackson sat upright and pushed to his feet. “And the baby?”
“He’s tiny,” she said, and then seeing Garrett’s worried frown, added, “but that’s to be expected seeing as how he came early. And he’s breathing on his own.”
“Thank the Lord,” all three men muttered in unison.
“No sign of the ambulance?” she asked.
“Not yet,” Tucker answered with a shake of his head.
A slight frown pulled at her lips at hearing that.
“I’ll call and see if I can find anything out,” Jackson offered.
“That would be good,” she said with a nod. Then she looked to Garrett. “Hannah’s asking for you.”
“She is?” he said, feeling a surge of something he couldn’t explain move through him. And then, without waiting for a reply, he hurried into the house. Long strides carried him down the hallway to his brother’s guest room. He needed to see for himself that Hannah was all right. That her baby was all right.
His mother looked up from where she sat watching over Hannah when he stepped into the room. “Perfect timing,” she said with a smile as she rose from the chair. “I’m parched. While you sit with Hannah and her little one, I’m going to go fix Autumn and myself a cup of tea and call your father.”
Garrett looked to the bed where Hannah lay, her face blessedly pain-free. She looked tired—understandably, after all she had been through—but there was a glow about her that hadn’t been there before. Her long hair, now dry with the exception of a few sweat-dampened spirals, fell about her face and down over her shoulders. It was the most vibrant shade of copper-red he’d ever seen, reminding Garrett of a fall sunset. Something he hadn’t picked up on in the dark of the storm.
His gaze fell to the towel-wrapped bundle Hannah held in her arms as she lay there and the tiny face peeking out of it. So very tiny.
“He doesn’t bite,” Hannah said with a sleepy smile as she looked down at the babe in her arms. “You can come closer.”
“He’s perfect,” Garrett said in awe as he moved to settle into the straight-backed chair his mother had just vacated. Despite his slightly wrinkled,
