Free On Blue Falls Pond by Susan Crandall Page A

newborn son, he dashed up and down the aisles, looking for unfamiliar things like Desitin, nursing pads, baby wipes, newborn diapers, and sanitary napkins. He was down to the last item. He juggled the load in his arms and ventured into the uncharted territory of the Feminine Hygiene aisle. There he stopped dead in his tracks.
    What appeared to be several thousand varieties lined a multitude of shelves. Hundreds of combinations of shapes and sizes, fragrances and various “duty” ratings stretched endlessly before him.
    Feeling as out of place as he had when he’d accompanied Jill to the obstetrician and been the only male in the crowded waiting room, he glanced up and down the aisle. He was alone.
    Scanning the labels quickly, nothing jumped out and said “obvious choice.” So he stepped closer and began to read more carefully. He leaned forward and the box holding the tube of Desitin tumbled off his stack. When he stooped to pick it up, the nursing pads bounced onto the floor. He picked them up, and while he was down there, decided to read the packages on the bottom shelf.
    “You look about as comfortable as a cat in a car wash.” A soft, teasing voice came from behind him.
    He looked over his shoulder, his cheeks warming with embarrassment—which was ridiculous after all of the things he’d been through with Jill in the past few weeks.
    Glory Harrison stood there with a smile on her face. Not an “I’m laughing at you” smile, but a sympathetic “I can get you out of this” smile.
    “Out of my depth,” he admitted.
    “Did she say what brand?” Glory asked matter-of-factly.
    He stood up, managing to keep his load from toppling to the floor. “She did . . . and I can’t remember. It seemed easy enough when she told me.”
    She stepped around him and quickly selected a package and handed it to him. “This should be middle-of-the-road enough to get her by.”
    As he took the package from her, he noticed she wasn’t looking at him, but at the baby items in his arms. There was something like yearning in her eyes.
    He said, “Um, well, thank—”
    “There you are!” Andrew interrupted as he strode down the aisle toward them. The look on his face was not one of cordial greeting. He stopped beside Glory and gave Eric a curt nod.
    “Andrew.” They could hardly pretend they didn’t know one another, as much as Eric wished they could. They’d been friends in high school—before everything changed. But no one knew of those changes except Eric and Andrew. He said, “Glory helped me out of a jam. Sorry to hold her up.”
    Andrew grasped Glory by the elbow and said, “We’re going to be late.” He propelled her toward the front of the store.
    “Congratulations,” she called over her shoulder.
    He must have looked puzzled.
    “On the new baby,” she added.
    “Thanks,” he said, his eyes focused on the grip Andrew had on her arm.
    Andrew leaned close to her ear and said something. Glory cast her husband an affronted look. Then she tried to pull her arm away, but Andrew must have tightened his grip as he propelled her more quickly out of the store.
    Outside of Eric’s office, the wind suddenly kicked up, whipping a tree branch across the window, startling him back to the present. If only he’d had the gift of foresight, he could have read the significance of that encounter. But he’d been a harried new father with much more than Andrew Harrison on his mind.
    He ran his hands through his hair. “Maybe I’m way off base,” he muttered to himself.
    But he’d ignored his instincts after that fire, taking what was before him at face value. And he’d been able to put it out of his mind . . . until Glory showed up.
    He sat down at his desk and opened the file. As the gloom gathered outside, he reread the facts he’d recorded eighteen months ago.
    Glory entered the town limits with none of the dramatic reaction she’d experienced two days ago when she’d crossed into Tennessee. She credited Granny for