like?
Chuckling, Jess seated herself next to Nate. “Here you go,” she said, pointing to a folded piece of vinyl.
When Nate didn’t move fast enough, Jess snatched up the changing pad and unfolded it on the surface of the couch, then gently removed Gracie from Nate’s arm and arranged her on the surface.
“Diaper?” she queried, lifting an open palm.
Nate knew what that was, anyway. He handed her a fresh diaper and the box of wipes he’d purchased.
He belatedly realized he was allowing the woman to take over, but he brushed it off, knowing it would be useful to watch an expert change Gracie’s diaper for once, and certainly the baby would appreciate it. His own attempts to change the infant during the drive to Colorado were questionable at best, to which Gracie’s current saggy baggies attested.
And he hadn’t even known about the changing pad. He’d just changed her on a blanket.
Jess had Gracie’s diaper off in moments, despite how the baby girl wiggled and kicked. Her soft, sweet voice affected Nate more than he cared to admit, so it wasn’t any surprise to him that Gracie responded with happy smiles and coos.
He just wished the baby girl would respond to him that way.
“Oh, you poor little thing,” Jessica told the wriggling infant, before glancing back at Nate. He might be considered handsome in a rough-cut sort of way, with his military-short light brown hair and gold-flecked eyes, but he obviously knew nothing about taking care of a baby.
“What?” Nate queried. Jessica thought he sounded slightly defensive, and that, for some reason, embarrassed her. She felt her face warm under his intense gaze, hating that she was so easily ruffled.
“Gracie has a diaper rash.” She tried not to make it sound like an accusation, but thought it probably sounded like one, regardless. Her face went from warm to burning hot, and she was concerned that her countenance would reflect how she was feeling inside. She had to be as red as a cherry.
Pursing her lips, she deliberately softened her next words. “Do you have any ointment?”
“Ointment,” Nate repeated, digging haplessly through the diaper bag. “What exactly am I looking for?”
“A tube, like toothpaste,” Jessica said with a laugh. Now that she wasn’t the only one flustered, she could relax about it.
Nate continued his search, but to no avail. After a moment he gave up rummaging and shrugged at her.
“I don’t think I have any,” he admitted at wryly. He flashed Jessica a rueful grin. “I’m afraid I’m not as armed and organized as I need to be. I didn’t know what Gracie would need, so I thought I bought a little bit of everything I could find. Obviously I missed something.”
“Babies require a lot of gear,” Jessica informed him, efficiently wrapping Gracie in a clean diaper with the ease of experience. “I’d be happy to go into Boulder with you tomorrow to help you stock up on basic supplies.”
Nate flashed her a lopsided smile. He was a handsome man, she thought again. If she were looking for that sort of thing.
Which she definitely wasn’t.
She wasn’t looking for any kind of man at all—now or ever. Military men included, even if they looked ridiculously heartwarming and adorable as they toted around cute little baby girls.
Especially if they toted around cute little baby girls. Even the thought choked her up emotionally, and she was immediately on the defensive.
“In the meantime,” she suggested, refusing to dwell on the past and reluctantly turning her mind back to the problem at hand, “we need to do something for Gracie’s rash. I think I have some petroleum jelly back at my cabin. That will do in a pinch.”
“Petroleum jelly? I would never have thought of that,” he admitted with a low whistle and a shake of his head. “I’m definitely a newbie.”
He laughed, obviously comfortable enough with himself to smile at his own weaknesses. Jessica admired that, and wished her own personality was more like that. “And there are no doubt many things I haven’t thought of, where a baby is concerned. Like what I’m going to do with her while I am out looking for a job, for starters.”
“We have an opening at the day care,” Jessica replied, jumping in more quickly than she should have. She had her reasons for being hesitant, yet her mouth opened before her brain had a chance to get in edge-wise. But as it was too late to take back the words, she continued.
“I’d be happy to care for Gracie on weekdays if you want to drop her by.”
Nate smiled again, at once both a charming and disarming gesture. “I’ll do that.”
No, no, no, no, no! the voice inside of her railed.
Not now.
Not this baby, who reminded her all too much of a similar tiny, smiling infant; one little baby she would never forget.
She had come to Morningway Lodge in part to escape from her memories, not indulge them with someone else’s baby. And though she’d cared for several infants since taking the position here, none had affected her the way Gracie had, from the first moment Jessica had seen her.
The memories were still far too painfully fresh and easily goaded to the forefront of her mind. Her own sweet baby, Elizabeth, had had big brown eyes and curly black hair, as well. Maybe that was it.
Maybe it was that the children in her day care, who belonged to the families who resided at Morningway Lodge while their loved ones recuperated at the nearby physical rehabilitation hospital, never stayed around for more than a few months.
It was safe, relatively, not to get emotionally involved. But Nate—and Gracie—were Morningways. They could be around forever.
By offering to help Nate Morningway, she realized with a sharp stab of pain to her heart, she had potentially just become her own worst enemy.
Chapter Three
Nate never appeared.
Jessica stared out the large bay window overlooking the front side of the day care and sighed. Absently she noted the long shadows of the pine trees that signaled that the sun would soon be setting.
Friday afternoon, and not a word from Nate, other than the time he’d called—at the last minute—and canceled their trip to the baby store in Boulder. In the week since, he’d not once brought Gracie by the day care. In point of fact, Jessica hadn’t seen Nate—or Gracie—at all. Not even in passing.
She didn’t know why it bothered her, but it did nonetheless.
Actually, she knew exactly why it bothered her.
Gracie.
That little baby girl had captured Jessica’s heart the moment Nate had walked into the lodge with her in his arms. What a sweetheart.
Melancholy drifted over her like a black storm cloud and burst into rain, flooding
