The Snow Leopard's Baby (Glacier Leopards 2)

"Let's get your feet into this," Jeff said hastily, looking down again. "Just lift them up for a second..."

Leah lifted her knees high, feeling a little silly as she tipped back into the couch cushions. Emily was distracted for a second by the sudden collapse of her lap, at least.

"Okay, now lower them slowly. It's going to sting a little."

Leah's breath hissed between her teeth as she lowered her feet into the water. It felt like burning needles were attacking her skin. "Are you sure this is good for frostbite?" she asked between gritted teeth. "That's more than a little sting."

"Sorry, I should've phrased it differently. It'll sting a lot. And yes, this is definitely the right thing to do—trust me, I have a lot of experience with exactly this type of first aid. Glacier National Park sees a lot of cold hikers, so the rangers have to be prepared to deal with any kind of medical condition that comes from exposure to cold."

"Of course you do." Leah felt silly for saying it at all. "Sorry. I didn't mean I doubted your expertise."

"No need to apologize." He smiled at her. "I should've said it better. When someone says something's going to sting a little, and then there are a thousand stabbing pains attacking your nerves, it makes sense to think something might be wrong."

Emily squawked again, tugging harder at Leah's shirt. Thankfully, Leah was wearing a couple of layers, instead of the loose top she usually wore at home, so Emily wasn't able to get at what she wanted that easily.

"Um," she said again. "I think Emily's hungry."

"Oh, sure," Jeff said. "I saw some baby food in the backpack, let me get it..."

"Um, no," Leah said, and he paused, looking back at her. "I mean, she wants to nurse."

Emily yanked at her shirt again, making her wants extremely clear.

"Oh," Jeff said blankly. "Oh. Uh. Well, I'll just...I'll just chop some wood." He looked over at the fireplace. "Yeah. We definitely need wood. There has to be an axe around here somewhere, and I'll just go find it and...chop some wood. Does it take a while? I don't want to invade your privacy when I come back in."

Invade your privacy. It was such a nice, courteous way to say it. “No,” Leah reassured him. “She never eats for more than fifteen or twenty minutes. I guess chopping wood probably takes longer than that?”

Jeff nodded firmly. “Definitely longer than that. Let me go find the axe.”

Emily started to cry for real as he walked off, and Leah glanced after him. He was very purposefully not looking over at the couch, so she quickly tugged up her layered shirts and unclasped her nursing bra.

Once Emily was in place, happy now that she had her dinner, Leah grabbed her scarf, which fortunately was the kind that unfolded into almost a shawl, and draped it over herself. It made a decent nursing cover, and Emily thankfully didn’t get annoyed and try to pull it off.

Jeff walked back into view, holding an axe, his eyes still firmly averted. It was a sight—this imposing male figure, tall and broad and holding the heavy axe casually in one hand, politely turning his head to preserve her modesty.

“You can look,” Leah assured him.

He looked over at her, but he kept his eyes steadily on her face. “I’m going to go look for wood. It’ll need to be dry enough to burn,

so it might take me a little while to find it, especially in the snow. I’ll come back to the cabin every ten minutes to check on you. If you need help, just come to the window and wait for me. If there isn’t an emergency, keep your feet in the water for at least another twenty minutes or so.”

Leah nodded, matching his serious tone. “Okay.”

“You’re going to be okay? Is there anything you need before I leave?”

This man had saved her and her baby from certain death, carried them to shelter, built a fire, treated her injuries, and was going out into the freezing cold again to make sure they stayed warm, and he wanted to know if there was anything else she needed?

“I’m just fine.” And despite the burning in her feet, despite her useless car, despite the storm raging outside, for the first time in a long time, somehow Leah did feel like everything might be okay.

***

Jeff shut the cabin door behind him and blew out his breath in a long sigh.

He’d never seen a woman breastfeeding before. His sisters and sisters-in-law always retreated to a separate room to do it.

Not that he’d seen anything. Leah had had her scarf draped over her, so there hadn’t been any more exposed skin than before. But Emily’s shape had been clear under the scarf, her little feet kicking as she nursed, and it had been very clear what was happening, even though Jeff had tried not to look anywhere but into Leah’s eyes. He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable at all.

Women were amazing. The way they could nourish their children directly from their bodies...Jeff had to marvel at that. It seemed almost magical.