Gavin’s face twisted in anguish. “I didn’t save her; she died. I was trying to keep the baby alive.”
“You tried, Gavin. You gave her baby a fighting chance, which is more than they had before you stopped.”
Gavin shuddered as if he was freezing cold. He stared off into space as if he was in another place and time.
Wrapping her arms around him, she hugged him tightly. “I love starry nights. When Leah and I were little, we would climb out of our father’s window and stare up at the sky, waiting for shooting stars so we could make a wish. That’s how I experienced my first and only spanking. We didn’t care it was on the second floor and the overhang was just a few inches wide.
“Do you see that tree with the little limbs?” Ginny nodded toward a little sapling not far from them. “Freddy made Leah and me go pick two limbs, then told Silas to spank us with them when we brought them back. Our faces turned as red as that truck parking over there to your left. We thought we were too old to get spanked. Pa told me I would never be too old for a spanking, then handed the switch to Silas for him to spank us.”
“Why didn’t he do himself?”
Ginny lowered her head to Gavin’s shoulder in relief that his mind was coming back from the dark place he had gone. “Pa couldn’t harm a fly, much less two little girls crying their eyes out before he laid a hand on them. Unfortunately, Silas didn’t have that problem. He was the one who found us, and he had warned us a dozen times not to climb out onto that overhang. We didn’t listen. After that, our stargazing was confined to lawn chairs that Silas put out for us. Every night that was as beautiful as this, I remember stargazing with Leah.”
“How can you say it’s a beautiful night?” he croaked out. ”A woman died, her baby will need a miracle to survive, and they don’t exist.” His body started to shake again.
Ginny further tightened her arms around him, slipping her hands under his jacket to rub his back in soothing motions. “Sweet man, it’s beautiful because you were a gift to her. You kept her child alive until help could arrive, and her husband didn’t have to bear the agony of losing his wife alone. You didn’t fail tonight, Gavin. You did what you could. Whether the child lives or dies, no one could have worked harder to save them than you did.”
“You shouldn’t be touching me. We don’t know what killed her. It could have been the infection—”
“Or it could have been a complication from her pregnancy,” Ginny finished for him. “You told me it isn’t in the States.”
“I said we can’t know for sure. I need to call Viper.”
Ginny moved away from him, giving him space to talk privately. She used the opportunity to stretch her legs, and as she did, Gavin walked behind her, keeping her within eyesight as he talked, close enough to react if something happened.
When another car pulled into the rest area, Ginny turned and walked back to the car to wait inside, even though the vehicle was parked farther ahead.
As Gavin remained outside, still talking to Viper, she was pretty sure she knew what they were discussing.
Nervously buttoning her jacket, Ginny waited for Gavin to end the call. When he got back inside five minutes later, he didn’t immediately start talking.
“You can tell me. I already know.”
He gave her a startled look. “Were you listening?”
“No, I didn’t have to. If you weren’t comfortable with me being near Jesus because of his sister, it stands to reason Viper would have the same hesitation about us, especially since we came in contact with someone who died.”
Gavin shook his head. “To be on the safe side, we’re in limbo until a cause of death is determined. Viper thinks, and I agree, we can’t stay at the clubhouse until we’re symptom-free for nine days. We have to take into consideration that Lily is pregnant, as well as the health of the brothers and their wives.”
“Which means me staying with Willa is off-limits, also. She’s expecting too. She told me just before I left.”
“Yes.”
Confirming her other assumption, Ginny didn’t blame them. This was her fault because she had taken off.
“If you get sick because of me, I’ll never forgive myself,” she whispered into the dark interior. “I shouldn’t have left Nashville.”
“If we get sick, it’s on me. I should have figured out you were about to run. Shade had warned me. Especially when you gave an encore and had never done that before. I didn’t plan on you making it out of Nashville, much less half away across the country.”
“Where will you stay?” Ginny wasn’t going to listen to him blame himself.