Small-Town Midwife. Jean Gordon C.

“I heard the door open and close and came out to see if she was here and found Jon.”

      Autumn lifted her mocha and handed the tray with Jamie’s coffee to Kelly.

      “Why don’t you take Jon to your office and fill him in on the birth while I get ready for my appointment?” Kelly said.

      Autumn pressed her lips into a pink-tinged slash.

      Jon set his jaw. Evidently, talking with him was that distasteful.

      “Maybe he’d like to go with you on your home visit with the new mother this morning,” Kelly said.

      “Was there a problem?” he asked. Autumn had said Saturday that she didn’t know whether the mother had had any prenatal care.

      “No.” Autumn drew out the O. “Why?”

      “The home visit. Or do you do that with all of your home births?”

      The office door opened, and a visibly pregnant young woman in a calf-length navy blue skirt and three-quarter-length-sleeved white cotton maternity T-shirt walked in, followed by two little girls. Jon guessed they were about two and three. The little girls wore matching sundresses with white T-shirts underneath.

      “Hi,” the woman said. “Am I seeing you, Kelly or Autumn today?” She dropped her gaze as soon as she noticed him.

      He’d have to ask Autumn if this was a family from the traditional religious sect his delivery nurse had told him about. Apparently, Dr. Ostertag had experienced problems with a couple of the families because they insisted on using only female midwives or doctors. He’d had concerns about an emergency arising when he was the only doctor available. Fortunately for Dr. Ostertag, none had.

      “You’ll be seeing me,” Kelly said. “Let’s make sure your information is up to date.” She and the mother-to-be stepped over to the desk.

      “Getting back to your question,” Autumn said as she turned on her heel and led Jon down the short hall to her office, “we make a home visit after all of our births, even the ones here at the center.” She halted at the door.

      He didn’t know what he’d said to prompt the irritation in her voice. He was interested in the extra degree of care. “That must involve a lot of time. Have you found it cost-effective in the long run?”

      She pushed the door open and motioned him to a couch that matched the ones in the waiting room. A coffee table was positioned in front of it. He sat at the far side. She placed her mocha on the table, opened the messenger bag slung over her shoulder to remove her iPad and sat at the opposite end.

      “I haven’t done a cost analysis. Kelly may have. It’s her practice.”

      Autumn worked for Kelly? That surprised him. He’d assumed she was a partner since Autumn had always said she wanted to practice near her hometown.

      “I’m sure she’d be happy to share with you if she has.” Autumn touched the iPad screen to open her notes.

      Jon pulled a paper pad and pen from his pocket. He knew digital medical records and notes were the way, but he still preferred pen and paper for his personal notes.

      She rattled off the details of the birth while he scribbled on the paper.

      He looked up. “The Apgar scores assessing the baby’s physical condition?”

      “Seven at birth, eight at five minutes and nine at ten minutes.” Autumn read the results of the test.

      * * *

      As he recorded the Apgar scores, Autumn couldn’t help feeling he was scoring her, too. On what, she wasn’t sure. She tried to read the rest of his notes, but the combination of reading upside down and his handwriting made them indecipherable.

      “I like that you did the third test. Seven isn’t a bad score, but you can’t be too careful with a new life.”

      Or a mother’s life, Autumn thought, a flashback to her friend Suzy’s delivery filling her mind.

      “You don’t agree?” he asked.

      “No.” She cleared her throat. “I mean yes, I agree.” For the first time since he’d arrived in Ticonderoga.

      “You frowned.” He shook his head. “Never mind.”

      Autumn closed her notes. “That’s it.” She waited for him to stand and leave.

      “About that home visit Kelly mentioned—”

      “I understand if you have other things to do.”

      “Nothing I can’t do later. What time are you leaving?”

      She checked her watch. “In about twenty minutes. They live a half hour away, and the visit will take a couple of hours.”

      “That long?”

      Autumn’s mood lightened. The visit would take up the whole morning. This was his first official day on the job. Surely he couldn’t give up that much time. “More or less.”

      Jon pressed his lips together as if trying to come up with a response.

      She suppressed a smile waiting to hear how he’d work his way out of going on the home visit with her.

      “You’ll have to drive,” he said. “I rode my bike.”

      Her thoughts jumped to her clutter-strewn car. As if it mattered. She didn’t need to impress him. But he would need to sit somewhere. “I know. I heard you take off.”

      His eyes sparked and the corner of his mouth tugged up.

      A tingle started in her stomach and bubbled through her, giving Autumn an inkling of why all of the female staff at Samaritan Hospital had fawned over him. No! She mentally doused the feeling. She was not about to become the newest member of the Jonathan Hanlon fan club.

      “I was up getting ready for work. I couldn’t help but hear.” It wasn’t as if she was keeping track of his comings and goings, if that’s what he thought.

      Jon stood. “I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”

      “Meet me in the parking lot.” That would give her a chance to move the towels and swim gear she’d stashed in the front seat to the trunk and toss out the remnants of her fast-food breakfast and miscellaneous trash. She had the twins’ car seats in the back, since she was picking them up at day care today for Anne on her way back from the home visit and taking them to the lake. “The blue Outback.”

      “I know.”

      She warmed before it struck her. Of course he knew. Her car had been parked in front of the duplex for most of the weekend. “Right.”

      He let himself out of the office and Autumn went in search of a plastic trash bag—ditching the brief thought she’d had of ducking into the ladies’ room to touch up her makeup and check her hair.

      * * *

      Jon pushed the back door to the birthing center open to see Autumn standing by her car stuffing things into a canvas bag with a mountain logo on it. The morning sun brought out silvery highlights in her pale blond hair. She set the bag on the pavement next to a white plastic bag and leaned into the open door. When she stood, she had two swim noodles in one arm and an inner tube in the other. She tossed the noodles over the seat into the back of the car and pressed her key tag to open the trunk.

      “Need a hand?”

      Autumn dropped the tube and it rolled toward Jon. He caught it and walked it back to her.

      “You want it in the trunk?”

      “Yeah, but I’ll have to rearrange a few things first.” She brushed by him and lifted the back hatch door, standing to one side as if she wanted to block his view of the storage area.

      His curiosity got the best of him and he stepped behind her and peered over her shoulder. “Interesting collection