UnBreak My Heart_A Snow Valley Romance Page 3

  “Well,” her mother stretched out the word. “Rayna is on bed rest. Premature contractions and she still has two months to go.”

  “That’s too bad.”

  “She also has the Bed & Breakfast to run there in Snow Valley.”

  “Oh, right,” Caitlin said, beginning to get an inkling of where this conversation was headed.

  “Her husband is the Fire Chief and his hours on the road “out in the boonies” as you call it, are a killer. Rayna insists on keeping the B&B, but it’s tough. Of course, it’s their home, too.”

  “It’s probably pretty quiet right now though. I mean, nobody vacations in a place like Snow Valley during the winter unless they’re crazy, right?” Caitlin was trying to ward off the inevitable plea she knew was coming.

  “Some people are avid skiers. Avid, I tell you! And don’t forget that December with the Christmas holidays is huge in Snow Valley. So yes, she’s usually got a few hotel guests. Rayna usually does most of the indoor repairs in January because the weather is often terrible. Three feet of snow right now.”

  “Multiple feet of snow? I can hardly stand the fog and rain here.”

  Her mother ignored the weather commentary. “Bed rest is proving a real problem. When Aunt Norma called I volunteered you! It’s perfect. You’re a midwife. You’re so capable at crisis management, sweetheart.”

  “Not if you saw me the last week,” Caitlin said drily. “And I have a job. I’m employed, Mom. There’s nothing for me to do for Rayna until her delivery time.”

  Caitlin crumpled her candy wrapper and tossed it across the room toward the wastebasket, missing the shot by an inch.

  Her mother lowered her voice. “I was thinking you might want a change of scenery. I know it’s been difficult, honey.”

  Difficult didn’t even begin to convey the pain Caitlin had been experiencing. Like getting divorced without ever being married. It was one thing to learn your fiancé had cheated, quite another to discover him in the act.

  “Caitlin?” her mother said. “You still there?”

  “I’m processing,” she retorted. “I can’t afford to take a leave of absence. You know I have tons of school debt, and if I leave, the hospital may let me go permanently.”

  “Rayna and her husband plan to pay you for your time. That’s without question.”

  “I have no idea how to run a Bed and Breakfast! Besides, doesn’t Rayna have a niece who helps her out? Rebecca, or something?”

  “Becca. But only during the summers. And she’s married now to a nice young man who is a rancher.”

  “Mom, I just can’t drop my entire life and go to Montana. It’s out of the question. ”

  “Please just think about it.” Her mother paused. “This may be Rayna’s only chance for a child. Norma gave me the impression they’re worried she’ll lose the baby.”

  “I’ll think about it, but I’m not promising anything. Surely they can find a local person to run the B&B, or another midwife in the area.”

  “It’s a skeleton staff at the local clinic during the winters. Maybe it’s an actual hospital, but that town is small. Really small.”

  “Goodbye, Mom. Hanging up now. Talk to you later.”

  Caitlin drained her water bottle and went back on the floor, her mother’s phone call hanging over her. Leaving her job was impossible, despite the fact that difficult pregnancies were what she had trained for. Caring for a woman in a higher risk pregnancy was a chance to expand her knowledge and experience.

  When she got home after her night shift, she fell into bed and slept for seven hours straight, only waking when a car horn honked outside and the rumble of the trash truck cruised by.

  Caitlin dragged herself vertical, drinking OJ straight from the bottle out of the fridge.

  She turned on the news while she jumped into the shower, suddenly wishing she could see Stefan. Caitlin knew it was obsessive, but she couldn’t stop wondering what he was doing each day.

  Was he still with Sophia? When was Painted City leaving on tour? Did Stefan miss her?

  If Lila knew Caitlin’s thoughts, she’d probably tell her to go scrub her brain with Clorox.

  A huge part of her life was suddenly gone. Her wedding plans and future scraped like leftovers into a garbage can.

  Maybe getting out of town for awhile would help clear her mind. But it could take weeks to do the paperwork for a leave of absence—and Rayna might deliver before she could get there. Besides, would the hospital keep her job open for her? She didn’t have that much seniority. Not like the nurses and midwives who’d been with the medical center for years.

  When her cell rang, Caitlin was toweling dry. She went searching and finally found the phone at the bottom of her purse, smashed down by a notebook. A small red notebook. For a moment, she wondered if she’d accidentally swiped it from the hospital. But there were no hospital markings on it.

  The missed call had come from Susan at HR at the hospital. That was strange.

  That’s when it hit Caitlin. The notebook!

  Perching on the edge of her bed, Caitlin opened it up to see the notes Lila had scribbled from Madame Tallulah.

  She read through them briefly, and then sucked in a gulp of air about the prediction of traveling to a distant land. That was an odd coincidence, although Snow Valley Montana certainly wasn’t Paris or Rome.

  After throwing on jeans and a sweater, Caitlin got out a large sheet of paper. She was going to write down the predictions just to prove how silly they were.

  #1. A cheating musician boyfriend with a girl whose name began with the letter S. S for Sophia.

  That had already come true. But the specific details were disconcerting. As though Madame Tallulah was trying to prove her powers.

  #2. She’d take a trip and have an encounter with a diesel truck.

  Shivers ran along Caitlin’s arms. Snow Valley Montana was full of ranchers—with trucks. “Please God, don’t let me die from a truck.”

  Lila had written down the next one exactly as Madame Tallulah had said it:

  #3. “From the cusp of death a new day will dawn and all your dreams will come true.”

  Sounded like a bunch of phony-baloney.

  #4. An unexpected fortune will come your way.

  “Typical prediction,” Caitlin said aloud. “Not impressed yet.”

  #5. The man of your dreams will be strong and tough, but not what you expect.

  “If you think I’m going to go to Snow Valley and marry a cowboy, you are seriously mistaken, Madame Tallulah!”

  Lila had also written, “No name for this mysterious man of your dreams. She says that you’ll figure it out. P.S. Caitlin, this is soooo ridiculous.”

  “Very funny, Lila.”

  The prediction of a mysterious “man of her dreams” was much too convenient.

  “Nope,” Caitlin said, punching in the numbers to return Susan’s call. “Finding your true love is the one thing in life that is completely unpredictable and inconvenient.”

  3

  Half an hour later, Caitlin was stunned into silence, reaching blindly for a candy bar that wasn’t there.

  It had happened. She was going to Snow Valley, Montana. Susan had told her that the hospital had provisions to grant unpaid leave for a six to eight week period, and that her job would be held for her upon her return to San Francisco. After some simple paperwork, she could leave.

  Getting up, she stood at her bay window that hung out over the street. The rows of attached houses were painted in pastel yellows and blues. Down at the corner, she could see the neighborhood market with its ethnic foods and the Indonesian restaurant next to it.

  She loved living here—and now she needed a Snickers, even a mini size, but her candy bowl was empty.

  Susan had begun the conversation by telling her that they were experimenting with a new aspect of the midwife program and, with her request to care for a 40+ high risk pregnancy, they said it would be a great opportunity.

  “We’d like ou
r midwives to gain more experience away from big hospitals where the maternity wards are predictable and doctors are on call at all times. Often, the doctors take over because they’re used to being in charge. Therefore, our midwives are not getting a varied work experience. We want you to be more prepared to meet emergencies, especially if there are women who want to deliver at home, or find themselves unable to get to a hospital in time. The situation with your cousin in Montana sounds perfect for this program.”

  “I—I don’t know what to say,” Caitlin had said.

  “While you’re in Montana, make yourself available to the local doctors too. See what other pregnancy situations are going on.”

  “This has a Wild West feel to it. Don’t all hospitals have the necessary equipment and training?”

  Susan had laughed. “You wouldn’t believe the stories I hear about traveling nurses going out to small towns throughout Wyoming, Montana and Nebraska. Brutal winters and tiny clinics.”

  “On second thought, maybe I don’t want to be stuck in the outback.”

  “It’s not Australia, but maybe close.” Susan had laughed. “Do you know when the baby is due?”

  “Early March.”

  “Guess we need to process this quickly then. We’ll do the paperwork tonight when I see you during your shift.”

  ________________

  A week later, the paperwork had been filled out and processed and Caitlin was landing at the Billing’s Montana airport in an hour. She drummed her fingers along her leg, staring out the airplane window at a land covered in snow and frost. A few days earlier, she’d gone shopping with her mother for a heavier coat, muffler, gloves, hat, and thermal underwear.

  “I’ll look like a snowman in all these clothes,” Caitlin had said when she saw herself in the mirror.

  Her mother inspected Caitlin’s figure. “Goodness, how do the women in Montana ever attract a man?”

  “I’m not going to Snow Valley to attract a man, Mother! I’m going to become a more experienced midwife and help out dear cousin Rayna.”

  That last part was only a little bit sarcastic.

  “You’ll love Rayna. Enjoy your time away from all the heartbreak of Stefan, sweetheart.”

  “Please don’t say his name. I’m trying to forget.”

  Mom nodded, kissed her, and then produced her charge card. Generous parents were certainly a blessing.

  When Caitlin was trying to pack for two months—and keep it to only two suitcases and a carry-on—she kept having the nagging idea that she was forgetting something.

  Searching through the piles of paperwork and bills, Caitlin found Madame Tallulah’s predictions in bold, black marker. Feeling only slightly silly, she folded it up and tucked it into a side pocket of her handbag.

  “Let’s see just how good you are, Madame Tallulah Alabama,” Caitlin had muttered.

  Later that night, she’d handed off the keys to her apartment to her parents who were going to keep watch over it. “No wild parties, okay you two?”

  A sudden tug came at her heart when she hugged them goodbye. She’d miss them. Miss the city. Despite that, her eagerness to get away from the memories of her ex-fiancé was rising. Hopefully, when she returned to San Francisco, she could put Stefan Rivas behind a closed door forever.

  When her Delta flight touched down on the tarmac, Caitlin thought, “Madame Tallulah’s Prediction #2 has come true.” She’d taken a trip to a place she’d never been. Somewhere so different from San Francisco she could be in a foreign country.

  People traveled for work all the time. The woman had merely made a lucky guess.

  After securing her luggage from Baggage Claim and the keys to the rental car she’d reserved, Caitlin hauled her stuff into the trunk.

  Her stomach was in her throat when she pulled out of the airport and set off for Snow Valley with a map from the very nice Hertz Rental car man. His snowy white hair and friendly, country wink, reminded Caitlin of her dad, and that just gave her a wave of homesickness.

  The landscape was blindingly white from a fresh storm. The snow matched the thick white fur coat she’d bought.

  For the next hour Caitlin saw stunning mountains and valleys while passing through a few small towns. And she saw snow. And more snow.

  What had she gotten herself into?

  Where were the international restaurants? The street vendors and musicians? The sparkling windows of the office buildings and high-rises? The salty tang of the ocean on a breezy day.

  “It is quiet and peaceful,” Caitlin said aloud. “Maybe I need some meditation time without all the distractions of the city.”

  But would so much quiet time make her grieve for Stefan even more? Tending to Rayna who was on bed rest wasn’t going to be terribly exciting or challenging. Hopefully Snow Valley had a library, but she’d brought her Kindle with her just in case.

  Deep down, Caitlin knew that she could read a hundred romances and her heart would still have a great big hole in it.

  Taking a narrow two-lane road off Highway 94, Caitlin slowed as the curves grew tighter. Ranchland as far as she could see. Drifts of snow taller than her car.

  Twenty minutes later she saw a “Welcome to Snow Valley” sign and breathed a sigh of relief as she made the final turn into town.

  Caitlin passed rodeo grounds and the high school. Turning onto Main Street she cruised past the public library, a Dove’s store, Tina’s Bakery, and further down, the Snow Valley Community Church. A sign outside the church read:

  There are Some Questions that can’t be Answered by Google

  This little town had a sense of humor. She decided to explore a little further, slowing the car when she spotted an unusual wooden sculpture in front of the elementary school. It was a ring of life-like children playing; two boys and two girls in various poses of running, jumping, and swinging.

  One of the girls hung upside down on the monkey bars, her hair cascading past her shoulders in perfectly crafted tendrils that looked incredibly real. Their features were lifelike. The sculpture of wood and metal, with touches of bronze, was a combination of a classic and modern technique.

  Someone in this town was an artist. Caitlin was impressed. More likely, it was commissioned by an outside artist.

  The next instant her neck whipped around when she saw another sculpture, this time in front of the town park. A beautiful whorl of swooping, polished oak formed into a tree complete with branches and leaves.

  Seeing the sculptures made her want to cruise further to see if there were others, but nothing came to light when Caitlin realized that she was in the town center and needed to pick up a few things at a drugstore before heading to the B&B.

  Craning her neck, she slowed to read the storefront signs, hoping for some kind of store like Walgreen’s. It wasn’t long before she spied a Dove’s variety store and pulled into the parking lot.

  She’d just wrangled herself out of the car and began navigating the snow and ice in the parking lot. Caitlin hadn’t gone more than two steps before she was wobbling on an icy patch when an obnoxiously loud sound broke the peacefulness of the late afternoon.

  She whirled around, trying to find the source and clutched the hood of her car to keep from falling. Definitely the roar of an engine, and not a lawnmower, but no planes were passing overhead.

  Seconds later the culprit came speeding into view. A dually truck with gigantic double tires and a double cab made a quick left into the parking lot of Dove’s.

  The truck swerved on the icy entrance and headed straight for her.

  “Watch out!” Caitlin screamed. Then she proceeded to do the most stupid thing ever. She closed her eyes and braced for impact, still screaming bloody murder.

  Snow Valley women probably drove trucks and flatbeds and horse trailers and all she could do was trip on her high heels while trying to purchase hairspray.

  Why hadn’t her mother mentioned that she’d need snow boots! She was so cold she couldn’t feel her feet any longer.

&nb
sp; The driver slammed on his brakes, his truck squealing like a stuck pig. The enormous red vehicle slid sideways to avoid impact, coming to a stop two inches from her nose.

  Heaving with terror, her heartbeat was like thunder in her ears. Madame Tallulah had assured her she wasn’t going to die, right!

  Then Caitlin glanced down at her brand new white fur coat and screeched again.

  The truck’s tires had collided with the parking lot pond of slushy, brown snow. She’d been showered in a gush of dirty water.

  “Ah-ah-ah!” Caitlin screamed. “My coat!” Her jeans were also soaked through. The freezing temperature suddenly felt like twenty-five below zero.

  Her brand new white coat was covered in slimy mud. If the driver behind the wheel of the obnoxious truck wanted to skyrocket her anger to a ten on the Richter Scale, he couldn’t have done anything more aggravating.

  The truck door opened and slammed and the driver came around the hood of his still rumbling vehicle. She swore she’d be deaf in another sixty seconds. Couldn’t the man turn off his engine?

  He was tall and wide-shouldered, wearing a heavy brown coat and a scarf around his neck. A black knitted cap pulled over his ears and Caitlin estimated that he was somewhere between thirty and thirty-five years old. Some jerk out joy-riding through puddles. Remarkably, he was parked in the stall next to her—perfectly aligned, too.

  “What the heck are you doing, woman?” he yelled.

  “Me?” Caitlin sputtered. “Me? You just tried to kill me!”

  “I was trying to park and you were in the way.”

  Caitlin stared at him, flabbergasted. Royally pissed was a better way to describe her mood now. “In case you’re completely blind, I’m standing on the pathway to the front door. This piece of concrete is not the parking lot.”

  The man squinted under the glare of the sun sparking off the snow. “Is that your purse in that puddle of mud?”