Chapter Eighteen
IT WAS THE DEAD OFnight when Merrick bolted upright from bed.
Fumbling for his pocketwatch, he noted the hour to be half past two in the morning. He sat there a moment, blinking and trying to determine what caused him to wake at such an hour, when he heard a shuffling from across the room.
Eleanor was wide awake, and somehow she’d managed to slide out from under the bedcovers and begin . . . whatwasshe doing? Merrick sniffed the air, detecting a hint of something sweet.
“Eleanor,” he said in a groggy voice as he stood. “It’s the middle of the night. Are you baking?”
The dim lantern light from the kitchen area grew brighter as she lifted the lamp. “I am,” she said in a cheerful voice.
“Whatever for?” He crossed the room, bracing himself against the chill in the air. The fire must have gone out hours ago. It was February, and winter continued to hold its grip on the valley.
Eleanor, however, was wrapped in a shawl and mixing away at some kind of batter while something else created a delicious scent from the oven. “I couldn’t sleep,” she said. “This little one was awake, and—” She broke off, laughed, and placed a hand against her rounded stomach. “I don’t know if that’s kicking or dancing, but this baby is very busy tonight.”
Merrick rubbed a hand over his beard. She hadn’t asked him to try and feel the baby move since she’d first felt it a couple of months earlier. He wanted her to ask again, so badly. He drew his gaze back up to the bowl in her hand. “And so you decided to make . . .?
“A cake. Or two cakes, really. One is for Clara and Roman.”
It smelled delicious, and despite the late hour and his desire to crawl back into bed, his stomach rumbled at the scent.
He leaned against the wall. “You ought to try to sleep. Didn’t the midwife say that if you were calm, the baby would likely be calm too?”
“I will, as soon as this is finished.” She went back to mixing, and Merrick frowned. It would take time before this was all finished—time that would be better spent sleeping.
He stood there for a moment, trying to figure out how to persuade her to forget the second cake, when she laughed again.
“The baby?” he asked.
Eleanor nodded, her smile brightening the entire room. His feelings must have reflected on his face because she swallowed, glanced down at her stomach, and then said, “Merrick, do you want to—?”
He didn’t even give her the chance to finish the question. “Yes. If you don’t mind . . .?” He hated how unsure of himself he sounded, but he wasn’t certain at all of anything where Eleanor was concerned.
Her smiled grew wider. “Of course I don’t mind. Here.” She held out her hand for his. Her touch was like a jolt of lightning against his skin. It had been so long since that had happened, and while he hadn’t forgotten what it felt like, the sharpness of the feeling was almost new.
He held his breath while she nudged his hand into the right place against her stomach. A couple of seconds passed, and then—
“That was it! Was that it?”
Eleanor grinned. “It was. Give it a moment, and it might happen again.”
He waited patiently, eager to feel the baby’s kick again. It was hard to fathom that this was a child—and not just any child, but one that was to behis. A hundred different emotions swirled through his mind as the little one pressed against his hand again.
“Did you feel that?” Eleanor asked.
Merrick nodded, not trusting himself to speak just yet. His eyes caught hers, and she looked away quickly, back down at his hand against her stomach.
“I can’t believe that’s our child,” he finally said, the edges of his voice rough with every feeling coursing through him at that moment.
Eleanor nodded, not looking up. She made a sniffling sound, and Merrick gently pulled his hand away.
“Eleanor?” he asked, all that uncertainty coming back.
She brought a hand up to her face, but before he could think through his actions, Merrick caught it. Holding her wrist gently in his grip, he waited until she looked up, second guessing his actions the entire time.
But he hadn’t been wrong—she was crying.
The memories of that day by the creek came crashing back, and he almost let go of her—until he realized she wasn’t pulling away from him.
