Unforgettable Christmas Dreams: Gifts of Joy Read online

  “He was in pain.”

  “We’ve got that under control. And he’s sleeping again. It looks like we’d better continue his sedation for the next few days.”

  “Yes, thanks,” she answered.

  She expected the tech to click off, instead his image continued to hover over the tabletop.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Is there something you want to tell me?”

  She went very still, “What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.

  “Can I help you in any way?”

  Fear sizzled through her. He was a trained medical observer, and he’d seen her bulging stomach. He must know she was pregnant, but there was no way for him to know when she’d gotten that way—without a medical exam.

  She clenched her fists, hating her options. Finally, she murmured, “No.” Her breath clogged in her chest as she waited for him to challenge her.

  All he said was, “See you in the morning.”

  “Thank you,” she managed to answer.

  She went back to her bed and lay down, shaken by what had just happened. Gabe had woken up. He’d been in pain. He’d remembered how he’d gotten hurt. And he’d lashed out at her.

  He hated her for moving in with him as his wife when she was carrying another man’s child, and nothing was going to change that simple fact.

  On the way to Palomar, she’d told herself she could fool him. She hadn’t been able to utter the lie. And she hadn’t thought anyone else would know about the pregnancy. Now it seemed that Harrison was on to her. But maybe he understood that it really wasn’t any of his business.

  Chapter Seven

  The next day, the med tech called to say he wanted to look at the wounds under all of Gabe’s bandages. She took off the wrappings and held the comms unit close as he directed.

  “He’s looking better,” Harrison sad.

  “What about his arm?”

  “Pick up his hand and slowly raise the arm.”

  She did and felt it move almost normally.”

  “It looks good,” the tech confirmed.

  “Thank the fates—well, and your technology.”

  “Of course, he’ll need physical therapy for the muscles.”

  “Yes.”

  “I think we can leave the dressings off,” he added.

  “So he’s almost healed?”

  “Yes. We’ll give it another day or two, then see what happens when we wake him.

  The casual words sent fear jolting through her as she recalled what had happened the last time he’d awakened. But she had to think about what was best for Gabe—not for herself.

  “You can dress him in a gown,” the tech said.

  “A gown?”

  “There’s one in a packet at the side of the bed. Feel in the slit on the right near his feet.

  She did as instructed and pulled out a thin garment like a long shapeless shirt with ties instead of buttons.

  “How do I put it on him?”

  “Usually, the opening is in the back. And that’s the easy way for you to do it. Sit him up, lean him against your shoulder and pull his arms through the sleeves.

  It was awkward dressing an unconscious man, even in the shapeless garment. But she felt a guilty pleasure holding him close in her arms while she dressed him. Before she lay him back in the bed, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, then looked toward the comms unit. Harrison was watching.

  “You’re taking good care of him.”

  “The bed’s doing most of it.”

  “The process wouldn’t work without you.”

  She gave a little nod, then looked down at Gabe who was completely unaware of anything that had happened.

  “He’ll be up and around soon.”

  “Good,” she answered, fighting a mixture of emotions. She wanted to see Gabe back to his normal self, but she was wary of his reaction to her.

  When the tech had clicked off, she turned back to Gabe. The gouges had healed on his face, but long red marks remained. Hopefully, they’d improve, but she wondered what his reaction would be to seeing them. He didn’t strike her as the kind of guy who worried a lot about his appearance, but maybe she was wrong. At the very least, the scars announced that he’d been mauled by a granling. Would the men he knew see that as a badge of honor or a failure?

  ***

  By the time the technician called to say they would start the process of bringing her husband back to the world, she was almost ready.

  “We’ll do it gradually. And we’ll make sure he has some of the pain medication in his system. But we want him up now before his muscles are too badly affected.”

  “Yes, good,” she gave the only answer she could before clearing her throat. “I was out in the barn when you called. Is it okay if I take a quick shower, and change my clothes?”

  “That’s fine. Is twenty minutes enough?”

  “Yes.”

  She quickly showered and dressed in one of the pairs of pants that she’d altered to accommodate her growing tummy. She topped it with one of Gabe’s old shirts, hoping he wasn’t going to mind her wearing it. Her hand brushed down to cup her middle. She was bigger. Of course, Gabe would notice, and she fought to keep a small sob from escaping her mouth.

  When she felt a little calmer, she gave her face a quick inspection in the mirror and caught her breath. Her skin was pasty, and she had huge circles under her eyes. She thought about trying to cover them with a little makeup, then figured her appearance wasn’t going to make any difference.

  Hurrying back to the medical bed, she settled on the floor beside Gabe and waited with her heart pounding.

  This time was different from when the bed had malfunctioned and Gabe had startled awakened in the middle of the night. The process was more controlled, gentler. She wanted to reach out and hold her husband’s hand. Instead she kept her fingers clasped in her lap.

  When Gabe’s eyes blinked open, she held her breath. For long moments, he simply lay there before his gaze darted around the room, lit on her for a few seconds, and flicked away.

  She watched his tongue sweep across his lips, then he was still again, his eyes closed.

  Was he thinking about everything that had happened? The attack? Then the time he’d woken up—and their brief conversation. She tried not to cringe. When he reached for the sides of the bed, Harrison’s voice warned from the comms unit, “Gabriel Cooper, don’t sit up yet.”

  Gabe startled as he heard the words coming from somewhere to his left. “Who the hell was that?”

  “Med tech Harrison. I’ve been in charge of your case—using your wife’s comms link.”

  “Okay,” Gabe said cautiously. He turned to focus on the man whose image hovered over the tabletop.

  “You were mauled by a granling. You’ve made excellent progress since the attack. Your vital signs are good, and we’ve decided to wake you.”

  Gabe’s eyes swung toward Carin. “Could you give us some privacy?”

  She flushed and reached for the chair that she’d been using to help her get off the floor.

  Before she could move away from the bed, the tech said, “Your wife has been integral to your recovery. She found you out in the field and killed the granling that attacked you. Then she called us, and we’ve been working together to save your life—and save the use of your left arm. She still needs to be part of the process.”

  Carin felt her flush deepen as the man explained all that to Gabe.

  “Okay,” he clipped out.

  “I’d ask her to help you out of the bed, but I think she’s probably too ungainly to do it,” the tech went on in a matter-of-fact voice.

  Now her face flamed like she’d stuck her head in an oven door.

  Harrison was still speaking, giving Gabe instructions. He turned his head away from her as he sat up cautiously. She held her breath while he pulled over the chair she’d been using and leaned on the seat, pushing himself up to a standing position. The breath stayed frozen in her lungs as he reache
d for the chair back. His right arm gripped it tightly and his left slipped away.

  “What’s wrong with my damn arm?” he asked.

  “It was almost ripped off. But it’s healed enough for you to move it.”

  He made a low sound and reached for the chair back again, putting more weight on his right side. This time the grip held.

  When he stepped out of the bed, he made a surprised sound as he looked over his shoulder and saw that his ass was hanging out of the back of his one garment.

  “What the hell?”

  “You’re wearing a medical gown. You can change into something more modest when you’re ready,” the tech said.

  “I’m ready now,” he answered. When he wavered on his feet, Carin caught her breath, but he managed to stay upright, and she took a small step back.

  “The advanced medical management system we used on you is very effective,” Harrison continued. “It healed the gouges all over your body and regenerated severely damaged tissue in your arm. The downside is that lying in the med bed for almost a week has weakened your muscles.”

  She watched Gabe flex his leg. “Yeah.”

  “You’ll have to take it easy for a few weeks.”

  “A few weeks!” Gabe objected, obviously unprepared for the statement. “There’s a lot of work to do around this place.”

  “Yes, but your wife has been keeping the farmstead going. She can still handle most of the duties, and you can slowly resume your work.”

  “But. . .”

  “You’re lucky to be alive, and you need to make sure you don’t damage your health in the next few weeks. There is a packet of pain medication in the side of the bed. You can take the tablets every six hours, if needed. You were getting nourishment through an IV line, and you must be cautious about adding food back into your system. I suggest that you start with hot cereal and see if you digest it properly.”

  “I can make that,” Carin murmured as she remembered a mix they’d used a few times.

  Gabe nodded, then said to the technician, “Switch your communications to my comms unit.”

  “Noted. I will check back later to see how you are doing. Physical therapy instructions will be in your message box.”

  “Wait,” Carin interrupted. “What should he drink?”

  “Milk would be good.”

  Gabe wrinkled his nose.

  “Or water.”

  “No coffee?” he asked.

  “I wouldn’t advise it for now.”

  Carin looked toward the large medical device which still lay in the middle of the lounge. “And what do we do with the bed?”

  “There are other people who will need it. After you remove the medications in the side pocket, deflate it and pack it back into the drone. There are instructions inside the lid for sending the plane back to base.”

  “Okay.”

  Harrison was looking at her. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes.”

  “You need to make sure you have proper rest and nourishment, now that Gabe can help you with the farmwork again.”

  She answered with a small nod, her gaze darting to Gabe, then back to the screen.

  The tech clicked off, and Carin and Gabe were left standing together in the room. She wondered what he was thinking and wondered what he was going to say to her. The thought flitted through her mind that she guessed he couldn’t send her back to Port City if he still needed her to help keep the farmstead running.

  “I did the morning chores,” she murmured. “You can sit down, and I’ll fix us some cereal.”

  “After I put on some pants.”

  He walked a little unsteadily into the bedroom, and she got out the cereal and read the directions, then began to heat water in a pot on the cooker.

  Gabe was gone longer than she expected, and she had to stop herself from going into the bedroom to make sure he was okay.

  When he came out, he was wearing a work shirt and pants—and a stony expression.

  “You can tell I’ve been mauled.”

  “It will get better.”

  “It won’t go away. I’ve seen guys with marks on their faces.”

  “It doesn’t make any difference to me,” she said, then immediately wished she’d kept the comment to herself. Probably he didn’t care what she thought about it.

  “Everybody will know I was careless.”

  “Don’t make assumptions.”

  “You don’t know how guys talk around here.”

  “You’re right,” she murmured.

  He pulled out a chair and sat down abruptly, probably because he wasn’t entirely steady on his feet.

  As she busied herself fixing the simple meal, she sensed his gaze on her. Feeling self-conscious, she stirred the cereal as it cooked. When it was ready, she turned off the heat and brought milk and sugar to the table before filling two bowls.

  She added milk and sugar to hers, spooned up a little of the cooked grain, and blew on it before taking a bite.

  Gabe did the same. She kept her head down, looking up at him from under lowered lashes. Partly it was because she didn’t want him to think she was staring at the marks on his face and partly it was because she didn’t know how to deal with this man across the table who might as well have been a stranger.

  He still didn’t say anything. Because he was still mentally back where he’d been when he’d stormed out of the house? Or because he didn’t know what to say?

  Well, why should anything have changed? The situation was the same as it had been a week ago. She was still carrying another man’s child. She could say that she’d been raped, but probably Gabe wouldn’t see it that way, since she’d agreed to sex in exchange for getting a place on the bride ship. And he’d accused her of carrying on with the prison guards for favors.

  She kept eating, struggling not to start crying.

  When Gabe cleared his throat, she was afraid to look up lest he see the tears in her eyes.

  “I’m going to check the barn.”

  “He said for you not to do too much.”

  “I said—check.”

  “Okay,” she managed to say, staying where she was at the table until he went outside.

  Seeing the kitchen through a film of tears, she cleaned up after the meal and stored the rest of the cereal in the fridge. Her chest tightened when he didn’t come back right away—and she realized she was doing the same thing she had when he’d gone into the bedroom. Finally, she splashed cold water on her face, dried it off, and went outside.

  When she didn’t immediately see Gabe, she walked around the drone that had turned into a fixture in the farmyard. When he wasn’t in the barn, she exited swiftly. She finally spotted him out in the pasture where he’d been attacked. He was standing beside one of the cows, stroking his hand along its back and staring at the place where she’d repaired the fence.

  When he looked up and spotted her, she slowly walked closer, prepared to have him tell her to mind her own business.

  He didn’t speak, and she gestured toward the fence. “Did I do it right?”

  “Yes. You did a good job. And the animals are in good shape.”

  “Thanks.”

  “We should pack up the bed. Like he said, someone else might have done something stupid and could need it.”

  “You didn’t do anything stupid.”

  His eyes blazed. “Of course I did.”

  He sounded like he wanted to say more, but he didn’t share the thought with her, and finally she said,

  “The bed came all rolled up. I hope I can put it back. I wasn’t paying much attention at the time.”

  “Yeah.”

  He started back toward the drone. She was thinking that at least he was happy with her work. Maybe that meant he wasn’t going to throw her out.

  Was that the best she could hope for? The question tore at her. She wanted a whole lot more with Gabe Cooper, but he still had to decide if he was willing to go ahead with the marriage.

  After lunch she lay
down, grateful that she didn’t have to run the farm by herself. She was thinking she would just rest for a little while—then woke with a start hours later.

  Rushing outside, she found Gabe moving the cows back inside. The chickens were already locked up for the night. And the drone was missing from the farmyard scenery.

  “You packed it up and sent it off?” she asked, realizing that was a stupid question.

  “It wasn’t hard to figure out.”

  “You’re not supposed to do a lot of stuff,” she said. “Especially with your left arm.”

  “Rolling up the bed wasn’t hard work. And it helped me work my muscles.”

  “Okay. Did you do the chicken feed?”

  “I scooped out some, but not for any of the other animals.”

  “I’ll do the rest.”

  She fed the remaining stock.

  When she came back in, he was sitting at the table. “He says I can have soup for dinner.”

  “Harrison?”

  “Yeah. I found some in the fridge and had some for lunch.”

  Her hand flew to her mouth as she realized she’d slept through lunch. “I’m sorry; I just realized how late it is.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  She got out the soup pot. There wasn’t quite enough for the two of them to eat for dinner, but she added more broth and vegetables, along with more of the granling meat that she’d stored in the freezer.

  “What is this?” he asked as he spooned some up.

  “The granling,” she answered, waiting for him to object.

  Instead he said, “Good choice.”

  When she looked up and found him staring at her, she stopped eating.

  He cleared his throat. “You’ll probably be more comfortable if I sleep in the other bedroom.”

  The flat way he said it made her go very still. Obviously, he was pulling away from her. “Okay,” she managed to say, thinking about how they often ended up rolling toward each other in the middle of the night. And then they ended up making love. Now he was ensuring that didn’t happen. Or did he think making love wasn’t okay for a woman who was as big as a small hauler?

  Chapter Eight