The Marine's Baby

“I feel so helpless.” Elbows on his knees, Nate clasped his hands together and leaned his scruffy chin on them. “I just wish there was more I could do,” he admitted roughly.

“There is,” Jessica whispered, reaching for Nate’s hand. When he glanced up at her, a question in his eyes, she smiled softly. “We can pray.”

Nate stared at her for a moment, and then nodded, his jaw tight.

Jessica bowed her head and closed her eyes. “Heavenly Father, we are thankful that Gracie is in Your tender care. Watch over her and keep her safe. Lord, we ask that You restore Gracie to health and give her little body strength to work through this fever.

“And be with Nate, Lord. Give him wisdom and peace. Amen.”

Jessica looked up and caught Nate staring at her, wide-eyed. She wondered if he had prayed along with her, or merely watched her as she prayed. She felt a little self-conscious for a moment, then brushed it off.

What mattered was that she had prayed. And God was good. She prayed once again, silently, this time, that Nate would be able to see the grace of God.

Chapter Five

Instead of the peace for which Jess had petitioned, Nate was filled with an inexplicable sense of unease. Still seated in a hard-backed kitchen chair placed next to the playpen, his muscles clenched and ached.

Stifling a groan, he lifted his arms over his head and stretched from side to side, working the knots and kinks out of his shoulders. He wasn’t the kind of man to just sit around and wait, and every fiber of his being was itching to move.

He’d been sitting still far too long, watching the even rise and fall of baby Gracie’s breath as she slept. She hadn’t budged in a couple of hours. Nate didn’t know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, but he took encouragement from the fact that Jess no longer hovered over the baby.

In fact, to his surprise, Gracie wasn’t the only one sleeping.

Nate’s gaze drifted to the sofa—a two-person love seat, really, as that was all that would fit in the confines of the small cabin—where Jess had curled up and nodded off. Her face had softened during sleep, her arm curled around her neck and a lock of her wavy blond hair lightly brushing her cheek.

His brow furrowed when he noticed her lips turning down, as if she were having a bad dream. In the short time Nate had known her, Jess was nearly always smiling. Her radiant grin was the first thing he’d noticed about her, and it bothered him that somehow she’d lost her peace during sleep.

His fingers tingled with the unfathomable urge to brush that lock of hair off her cheek and smooth the frown from her lips.

Nate had told her it was fine for her to leave, now that the crisis with Gracie appeared to have passed, but Jess wouldn’t hear of it. Her chin, which gave the point to her heart-shaped face, had jutted out stubbornly at the mere suggestion.

She was the sweetest, kindest woman he’d ever had the pleasure to know; yet it occurred to him that he might like her to have his back in a fight. Her strength of character, which Nate thought made her faith so vibrant, was remarkable.

And, at the moment, much appreciated.

Secretly, Nate had been glad of her stubborn insistence that she stay, though he’d never admit it out loud. Gracie might be out of immediate danger, but her temperature had spiked very quickly before. He didn’t want to go through that kind of a scare again.

Ever.

Not alone, at least. With Jess here, circumstances didn’t feel quite so black.

He knew he should be taking the lead from Jess and rest while the baby was sleeping, but try as he might, he couldn’t shut off his brain. Usually he exercised his way to exhaustion, but that was impossible given the circumstances.

What he wouldn’t give for a nice, long, head-clearing run. It sure would beat sitting here over-thinking everything.