Summer Obsession (The Townsends Book 1) Read online

  Summer

  Obsession

  The Townsends

  Book 1

  Angie

  Campbell

  Copyright 2016 by Angela Campbell

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or events is merely coincidence. Any unauthorized distribution of this work or its characters is not permitted.

  Cover by:

  Erin Dameron-Hill

  Award-Winning Cover Artist

  www.edhgraphics.blogspot.com

  Table of Contents

  Prologue-Thursday, February 14

  Chapter 1 – Friday, April 27 (twenty-one years later)

  Chapter 2 – Saturday, April 28

  Chapter 3 – Sunday, April 29

  Chapter 4 – Monday, April 30

  Chapter 5 – Tuesday, May 1

  Chapter 6 – Thursday, May 3

  Chapter 7 – Friday, May 5

  Chapter 8 – Saturday, May 19

  Chapter 9 – Friday – Saturday, June 2 – 9

  Chapter 10 – Wednesday, July 4

  Chapter 11 - Thursday July 5

  Chapter 12 – Friday, July 6

  Chapter 13 - Saturday July 7

  Chapter 14 - Monday July 9

  Chapter 15 - Tuesday July 10

  Chapter 16 - Thursday July 12

  Chapter 17 - Friday July 13

  Chapter 18 - Saturday July 14

  Chapter 19 - Sunday July 15

  Chapter 20 - Monday, July 16

  Chapter 21 - Thursday July 19

  Chapter 22 - Saturday July 21

  Chapter 23 - Sunday July 22

  Epilogue - January 1 - Wedding Day

  Excerpt from Oh, Baby! :

  Prologue-Thursday, February 14

  “Jamie, I know you’re getting ready, but I think we’re going to have to cancel our dinner reservations. It’s only been snowing for thirty minutes, but there’s already a really thick blanket of it, and it’s still coming down really hard. I don’t think it’s going to be stopping anytime soon,” Carl said, walking into the bedroom to find his wife sitting on the bed. “We need to call Mrs. Slatter, and tell her not to bother coming. Hopefully she hasn’t left yet,” he added before he realized Jamie was breathing strangely.

  When he finally looked down at her, his eyes grew huge with concern. “Baby, are you in labor?”

  Jamie didn’t say anything at first. She just nodded her head. She really didn’t want to tell him she had been in labor since six thirty this morning.

  When she finally spoke, she looked a little guilty. “I’ve been in labor all day. I thought I had more time, and I didn’t want to freak you out until I had to. The contractions had been pretty light and stretched far enough apart, I was sure I wouldn’t be having her until really early tomorrow morning. But my last two contractions weren’t even seven minutes apart, and they were really hard,” Jamie said, feeling like she had used all the breath she had left in her body to say that much.

  “Oh, God. Where’s your coat? Where’s the bag?” Carl asked, instantly starting to panic.

  “Carl, calm down. Panicking is not going to help,” Jamie said, trying to sound normal. “Hand me the phone.”

  She noticed he had brought the phone to the bedroom with him, but had apparently forgot. When he looked down at his hand, he seemed surprised to see it there. He handed it to her so fast, a person would have thought it was a hot potato.

  “I’m going to call Mrs. Slatter, and let her know what’s going on. Why don’t you go check on the kids?” she asked, hoping the distraction would help calm him down.

  He wasn’t gone two minutes, and he came back almost at a run. “Mrs. Slatter just pulled up. Where’s your coat? We need to go,” Carl said, still sounding like he was panicking.

  “Sweetheart, calm down. Have you spoken to Mrs. Slatter yet?”

  He didn’t even answer. He just spun around and started back down the hall. Jamie managed to push herself up off the bed and follow slowly behind him.

  By the time she reached the living room, Mrs. Slatter was trying to calm him down. “Carl, everything’s going to be fine,” she said, using a very soothing tone.

  “The kids are in the toy room,” Carl said, sounding distracted.

  “I know. You already told me. Don’t worry about the kids. Just be careful and get Jamie to the hospital. Call me when you know something,” she said, once again using that calming tone she always had. She had been through this with them, the last three times. She knew how bad Carl freaked out when Jamie went into labor.

  “Yeah, sure,” he said, spinning completely around in the middle of the living room floor like he was looking for something. When he finally saw Jamie’s coat, it was laying on the couch with her bag for the hospital. He breathed a sigh of relief, and grabbed it. “Here, Baby, put this on.”

  Once Jamie had her coat on, Carl went to grab the bag off the couch, but Jamie stopped him. “Carl, you need your coat, too.”

  “Oh, yeah,” he said, his eyes bugging out. “Crap. Where’s it at?”

  “Baby, it’s in the coat closet,” Jamie said, trying not to laugh. She couldn’t help it that she found the way he always freaked out when she went into labor very funny. Normally he was very levelheaded. She hadn’t found anything else he couldn’t handle.

  “Oh, yeah,” Carl said, turning to the closet by the front door.

  Once he had his coat on and fastened, he grabbed her bag and turned to pick her up in his arms. At first, she couldn’t speak, because she was in the middle of another contraction. By the time they made it to the front porch, she was speaking again. “Carl, put me down. I can walk.”

  “No. I’m freaked out enough as it is. And quite frankly, holding you in my arms helps to calm me down. You’re just going to have to deal with it. And besides, you still have your house shoes one. You can’t walk through the snow,” he said, finally sounding a little more like his normal self.

  They weren’t on the road five minutes, and Jamie realized the baby was coming a lot faster than she had expected. “Carl, you’re going to have to speed up.”

  “I can’t, Baby. It’s too dangerous,” Carl said, glancing at his wife with concern.

  “Come on, Carl. Faster, or I’m going to have this baby in the car.” She was getting close to hysterics, and it was starting to show in her voice.

  The weather report had said they were supposed to have ‘clear skies with mild temperatures’. There is no way this is mild for Missouri in the middle of February. “Mild,” she snorted to herself. “This weather might be mild if you lived in Alaska.”

  “What, Honey?” Carl asked, giving her another look of concern.

  “Nothing, Baby. It’s just this weather,” Jamie said, trying to breathe and talk through a contraction. “It’s a freaking blizzard.”

  It was fifteen degrees outside, and it looked like there was almost two feet of snow on the ground. She was sure her imagination was getting carried away with her. The flakes were getting so large she was sure she could see the patterns in the ones landing on the windshield.

  “Carl, you have to go faster,” she said, trying not to scream, but finding it very difficult, because she was nearly panicking.

  “Honey, please. You’re worried about having the baby in the car. I’m worried she’s going to be born in the ditch. The road’s getting worse.”

  The strain of trying to keep the car on the road was making his shoulders ache, and the snow was so white it was making his eyes hurt. He needed to concentrate on his driving, but his beautiful wife was screaming so loud, it was making his ears ring. He was certain by the time they got to the hospital, he would be eit
her deaf or sick with a thumping headache.

  The snow was coming down extremely fast and visibility was zero. Carl couldn’t see two feet in front of the car. There was no way he could go any faster. They’d end up in a ditch for sure. They were less than a mile from the hospital. They would make it, if he didn’t get crazy.

  Jamie braced herself against the door of the car with her right arm and put her other hand on the roof. “Oh, please, hurry! The contractions are getting worse. You have got to hurry.” Jamie knew she was panicking, but she couldn’t stop herself.

  “Carl, this baby is coming. Now!” She was screaming, with every word getting louder than the last. If I tell him my water just broke, he’ll probably freak out and drive off in the ditch.

  “Honey, I’m trying to get us there in one piece. Please, stop screaming. I want to hear the baby when she gets here.” His head was starting to pound now. It was bad enough that his own voice was hurting his head.

  “Well, she’s going to be here any second now,” Jamie said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God. That’s the most wonderful sight in the world.” They could finally see the hospital in the windshield of the car. She’d never felt so relieved in her life.

  She was certain Carl wouldn’t have been any help if she had, had to have the baby in the car. He had gotten sick with all four of the others, and even passed out the first two times. He simply went into panic mode while she was in labor.

  Carl pulled the car up near the emergency room entrance. He opened the door to get out, and just before he sprang free, Jamie grabbed his arm. She gripped him so hard, he was sure if it wasn’t for his heavy coat, she would have drawn blood. He was certain her eyes were spinning around in her head, and there was steam coming out of her ears.

  “Get a nurse! NOW!” she screamed, getting even louder. His ears were ringing, and he was afraid they were going to start bleeding. “I’m not moving without being checked first.”

  “Okay, I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere,” he said, then ended up wondering at his own level of sanity. He was wondering if he would ever be able to go through this without falling apart.

  “Go,” she screamed at the top of her lungs as another contraction hit her.

  He looked at her once more. Her eyes are definitely spinning around in her head, and I can see the steam rolling out. If I don’t hurry, her head is going to blow off.

  This time when he made to get out of the car, she let him go. He leapt out of the car and started toward the doors. His feet slipped on a patch of ice and he almost fell. He landed on the car. He stood back upright, and this time when he started, he watched where he put his feet.

  When he reached the front desk, the clerk looked at him like his eyes were spinning around in his head. “My wife is having a baby, and she needs a nurse,” he said, hearing the hysteria in his own voice.

  The clerk got up to come around the desk. “I’ll get you a wheelchair,” she said, trying to calm him with her voice.

  “No, you don’t understand. She needs a nurse. She says the baby is coming now. She said she won’t move without a nurse,” he screamed at the top of his lungs. Now he was really starting to sound hysterical. “I know my wife. If she says she won’t move, she won’t move.”

  “I’ve seen this a lot. She’s probably just panicking over nothing. It’ll be all right,” she said, trying to use the calm voice again. “The first baby is always a little scary.”

  “This is our fifth child, and my wife doesn’t normally panic.” Now, he was really starting to freak out. “We need to get back out there to her. Now!”

  The clerk’s eyes got huge, and she turned and ran back behind the desk where a woman in a nurse’s uniform was standing. “Nurse Baker, this young man needs your help outside. Now!” The older woman’s voice was much higher than before, and now she looked a little wild.

  The nurse put the file she had been looking at down on the desk and looked at Carl, and very calmly said, “Lead the way.”

  Carl ran back out the automatic doors, yelling on the way, “Watch for ice.” Just then he hit a patch of ice and went sliding all the way back to the car.

  When Nurse Baker made it to the car, she found Jamie trying to lie down in the seat. The nurse had brought a wheelchair with her, but Jamie refused to get in it.

  “I’m not getting out of this car until she checks me.” She had grabbed Carl’s hand. He felt like his bones were being crushed to powder.

  “Sweetheart, I’m not that kind of nurse.” Now Nurse Baker looked a little nervous.

  “If you don’t check me, I’m not moving. You’ll at least be able to tell if it is safe for me to move or not,” Jamie said, nearly screaming.

  “Check her, please.” Carl was getting desperate. “We need to get her indoors. They’re going to freeze to death out here.”

  The cold was starting to get to him, and he was worried about Jamie and the baby. Jamie had on a dress and her coat wasn’t fastened. She had to be colder than he was.

  “All right, I’ll try. I’ve had four kids of my own. I know how it works.”

  Once she had cut Jamie’s underwear off, so she could check her properly, she looked back up at her. “Try to spread your legs.” Nurse Baker started making small talk to try to put the couple at ease. “You look lovely. What were you all dressed up for?”

  “We had dinner reservations. We were going out for Valentine’s Day. This sure isn’t where we were planning on being today.” Jamie started to calm down immediately once Nurse Baker had agreed to check her.

  When the nurse looked back up at Jamie, all the blood had drained from her face. “You might need to call and cancel your reservations,” she said, her voice sounding strained. “The baby is crowning. Do you feel like pushing?” Nurse Baker sound a little scared to Carl’s way of thinking.

  “Are you crazy? Of course, I feel like pushing!” Now Jamie was screaming again.

  “Then push.” Nurse Baker worked to once again pull herself back together. She had only been working in the ER for three years. It was her first nursing job. She hadn’t had to deliver a baby yet. Well, there’s a first time for everything, she thought to herself.

  “Wait! We’re going to do this out here? It’s fifteen degrees out here,” Carl said, really getting freaked out. The baby will freeze to death.

  “We can’t move her. The baby has already come too far.” Nurse Baker was all business now, and she didn’t even look up at Carl to answer him.

  Jamie had already started to push for the second time. Carl could hear the nurse’s voice cut through the white noise in his mind.

  When he came back to earth, she was looking at him once again, and she was starting to sound irritated. “You need to go back in and have the lady at the desk send the ER doctor. Explain what’s going on. Do you think you can do that?”

  Carl just nodded his head yes, and ran back for the doors, slipping on ice once again. He told the clerk that Nurse Baker wanted the ER doctors help, then stood there shaking from nerves and cold while he waited for the elderly lady to return with the doctor.

  Carl followed behind them. This time when he hit the ice patch, he landed on the seat of his pants. He seriously thought about crawling the rest of the way. He decided his pants were wet enough from the fall, and he used the car to pull himself up.

  When he managed to get around the door to see what was going on, he almost passed out. He turned, and walked to the end of the car and threw up. Once he was in an upright position again, he shook his head at himself. What is my deal? I normally have a very strong stomach. It has to be the nerves.

  The baby’s head was out, so the nurse had traded places with the doctor. He helped the baby’s shoulders out, then she slipped the rest of the way out. He cleared her nose and mouth and she started to cry.

  When Carl heard his baby cry for the first time, he came back to reality. Remembering how cold it was, he yanked his coat off and handed it to the doctor without even looking, not wanting to
get sick again. The doctor wrapped the baby in the coat and laid her on Jamie’s stomach. Then he pulled the stretcher up beside the car, and started helping Jamie. “We don’t have time for anything else right now. We need to get them inside.” Between the doctor, Nurse Baker and Carl, they were able to move Jamie and the baby to the stretcher.

  By the time Carl had called the house to catch Mrs. Slatter up and check on the other four kids, Jamie was in her room waiting on him. Now that they were alone, he walked over to her and sit down on the edge of the bed. “Honey, I’m sorry. I keep falling apart when you’re having a baby.”

  “Oh, Baby. It’s not your fault. You’re strong at everything else you go to do. So, what? You have one weak spot. You can’t help me deliver a baby.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek. “So, it’s a good thing I seem to be pretty good at it all on my own.”

  Jamie looked down tenderly at the baby. “So, what are we going to name her? It’s your turn.”

  “Mindi Rae.”

  Chapter 1 – Friday, April 27 (twenty-one years later)

  “Oh, that’s just great! Of course, I’m going to break down today.” Mindi Townsend kicked the tire of the old car in frustration. “Today of all days.” The irritation bubbled up inside of her, almost bringing her to tears.

  She had been trying to make it home from Springfield for summer break. She had just completed her second year of college, where she was going to school to be an elementary art teacher, and she had been so homesick, she had spent more time in her dorm room than anywhere else except classes. She just hadn’t felt like going out much.

  The only friend she had made was Jeff Donovan, a thirteen-year-old genius in medical school. None of the other students would ever talk to him, and he had just really needed a friend. He reminded her a lot of her younger brothers. It helped ease her homesickness a little. She guessed, she kind of needed him as well. They made an odd pair, but they had become quite close over the last two years.