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“No, Trudy!” David ran after his wife.
Cliff ran to help.
Before either man got to her, she climbed up on the banister and stood with her arms out wide.
David reached for her a moment too late.
Trudy leaned forward and plummeted to the ground.
Cliff and David leaned over the rail, then ran back through the nursery, down the stairs and outside to Trudy’s twisted body.
When they reached Trudy, Cliff knew before he checked for a pulse that she was gone.
Police cars and an ambulance arrived.
Detective Schwope found Cliff and Jenna standing in the front entryway.
Jenna leaned the baby forward for him to see she was alive.
Blakely whimpered, stretched and slept.
The emergency medical technicians checked her over but insisted a pediatrician see her.
Jenna gave the detective an abbreviated version of what had happened and Trudy’s confession. But she was eager to leave and get the baby to the hospital, where she could be checked over and fed.
“I’ll file my report tomorrow,” she told the detective. “Tonight, I want to make sure my niece is taken care of.”
Cliff walked her out to the truck and held the baby while Jenna climbed into the back seat. Once she had her seatbelt buckled, he handed the baby up to her.
He stared up at her, his heart only now slowing to a normal pace. “You scared me.”
She laughed. “You scared me.”
He climbed up on the running board, leaned in and kissed her full on the mouth. “I’ll be negotiating a lot more of that.”
“Deal,” she said and settled against the seat, a smile on her face, a baby in her arms.
Cliff climbed into the driver’s seat and pulled away from the Waters’ house. He shot a brief glance at her in the rearview mirror. “By the way, you…holding a baby…looks natural. Feels right.”
She continued to smile. “Mmm. It does.”
EPILOGUE
Two weeks later…
“Hurry up,” Jenna urged. “Open another one. The sooner you’re finished, the sooner we all get to eat.”
Brittany laughed. “I’m doing the best I can. There are so many presents to open, I could use some help.”
Cliff glanced around at the people gathered in the West Yellowstone Lodge. Men he’d served with on Navy SEAL teams and the women they loved all pitching in to give Brittany and Baby Blakely a good start on a new life.
The baby shower had been Jacob Stone’s and his fiancée Kyla Russell’s idea.
Jacob’s father had offered Brittany a job at the lodge, helping with registration and event planning. He’d made the job offer conditional on Brittany going to college part-time online, working toward a degree in business management. He’d pay her tuition as long as she kept up her grades.
Along with working at the lodge, she had her own suite where she and Blakely had moved in.
Blakely had been declared none the worse for her bumpy start and had already gained half a pound, thriving on breast milk and love from the people on Cliff’s new team.
