LITMIR.BIZ

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blinking Christmas lights around the front door as snow swirled around them.

      “I can’t believe how much snow has already fallen,” Brittney said, looking out after them.

      Before Devin could answer, Callie appeared. “There you are. We just got a call from Dispatch. Paramedics are on their way to the scene of a three-car accident and they’re warning us to get ready for multiple injuries.”

      So much for her relatively quiet evening.

      She put the very sexy cowboy and his cute kids out of her mind so she could focus on the job at hand.

      * * *

      SHE DIDN’T HAVE the chance to check on Tricia again until several hours and two more weather-related accidents later.

      Devin’s friend had been moved to a room on the obstetrics floor, the third floor of the hospital, where each room had big windows offering lovely views—in daylight, anyway—of the Redemption Mountains and the beautiful unearthly blue waters of Lake Haven.

      On a quick break, Devin took the elevator up and headed to the obstetrics nurses’ desk. She found Tricia’s chart and saw that the contractions appeared to have stopped. Dr. Randall, the ob-gyn, had made a visit a short time ago and Devin sighed when she read his recommendation. As she had feared, Dr. Randall agreed with her and thought this was one of the rare cases when hospital bed rest was indicated.

      That wouldn’t be easy for anyone—especially not Tricia.

      Thinking she would just take a peek inside to see if her patient was sleeping, she cracked the door only a little. A light was on above the bed, she discovered. Tricia sat upright in the bed with her leg propped on a couple of pillows, hands clasped over her distended abdomen.

      When she spied Devin, she gave a small smile and quickly tried to wipe away the tears on her cheeks.

      Devin didn’t give another thought to the peanut butter and honey sandwich she had planned to eat during the break. Her patient was in distress and that was far more important.

      She pushed the door open and walked inside. “Oh, honey. What’s wrong? Are you having pain? How’s the ankle?”

      Tricia shrugged. “It hurts, mainly because I don’t want to take any heavy pain medication that might harm the babies. But at least it’s not broken. Mostly I’m upset because this isn’t the way I planned to spend the last few weeks of my pregnancy. Alone, on bed rest in a strange hospital.”

      “I’m so sorry.”

      Tricia sniffled and Devin handed her the box of tissues that was just out of reach on her bedside table. She grabbed one and wiped at her eyes. “So you heard?”

      “I was just reading your chart.”

      “Dr. Randall thinks I should stay here on hospital bed rest for the next week so they can continue monitoring things. I’m dilated to a three and twenty percent effaced, which makes the risk of premature labor high, and now I can’t even walk to the bathroom on my own. The stupid ankle is complicating everything.”

      “I know it’s hard but this might be the best thing for all of you. You want to keep those little ones inside there as long as possible, trust me. In just a few weeks, they’ll be considered full-term and the risks of neonatal complications drop considerably.”

      “I know. But I don’t have to like it. It stinks.”

      “You won’t get an argument from me. I get it, believe me.”

      She didn’t, really. She could understand and empathize on a clinical level but she didn’t really know what it was to be pregnant and frightened. That was something she would never be able to appreciate, except theoretically.

      The ache in her chest was as familiar as it was unwelcome.

      “I’m sorry I bothered you,” she said quietly. “Sleep is really the best thing for you and those kidlets.”

      “I was sleeping until a short time ago, but then I had a bad dream that woke me.”

      Devin tried to lighten the mood. “I hate that. A few nights ago, I dreamed I was the grand marshal of the Lake Haven Days parade but instead of riding on a float, I had to do cartwheels the entire parade route, all the way down Lake Street in front of everyone in town. My hands were killing me, even in the dream.”

      As she hoped, Tricia smiled a little at the ridiculousness of Devin’s subconscious. “The mind is such a strange thing, isn’t it?”

      “You said it, sister.” Devin slipped into the visitor’s chair next to the bed.

      She felt a comfortable kinship with the other woman, though they had been separated for years and hadn’t stayed in touch. Some friendships were like that. Despite time and distance, coming together again was like slipping on a favorite shirt you misplaced for a while in the back of your closet.

      “Is it still snowing out there?” Tricia asked. “I spoke with my brother before I fell asleep and he said they passed a couple of slide-offs on the way home. He said they already had four or five inches on the road up to Evergreen Springs.”

      “We’ve had weather-related accidents all night. This is the first chance I’ve had to slip away to check on you. Your brother and the children made it home safely, though?”

      “Yes. He said it was slick and they slid a little, especially going up the driveway, but nothing serious.”

      “That’s a relief.”

      Tricia was silent, her fingers tangled in the edge of the nubby hospital blanket. “I hate that I’ve complicated everything for him. As if everything wasn’t tough enough already—now he has to worry about me, too.”

      “Why are things tough?”

      Tricia made a rough sound. “I could paper the walls with all the reasons, starting with the kids. Jazmyn and Ty have only been with him a few months and they’re all still trying to find their way together.”

      “Is that right?” She didn’t want to be nosy but she couldn’t deny she was curious about the situation.

      Tricia sighed. “Their mom, Cole’s ex, was killed in a car accident just after her third marriage.”

      “Oh, no. Those poor children.” Perhaps that explained some of Jazmyn’s surliness and the shadows in poor little Ty’s gaze.

      “I know the kids miss her. My heart breaks for them. I don’t think Ty, at least, really gets what’s going on, but Jaz was super close to her mother and she’s devastated. It’s been so tough for all of them. I’m sad for the kids but I can’t honestly say I’m sorry Sharla is dead.”

      Devin blinked a little, surprised by the other woman’s rancor. “Okay.”

      “I know that makes me sound like a terrible person but I don’t care. She was a vindictive witch who did her best to keep Jaz and Ty away from Cole as much as possible, unless it was convenient for her to dump them off on him. She hopped from man to man, town to town, and put him and those kids through hell.”

      “That doesn’t sound like a good situation for anybody.”

      “It wasn’t. I hope things will be a little easier for all of them now. Maybe they can have some kind of stable home life for the first time, at least after Cole finds a housekeeper who will stick around for longer than a few weeks. You don’t know anybody looking for a job, do you?”

      “As a housekeeper?” Devin asked. “I don’t, but I can certainly ask around.”

      “He needs a nanny more than a housekeeper, really. He just can’t keep up with the ranch and the house and the kids by himself. He’s hired a couple of people to help but neither of them really clicked with the kids. Jaz can be...moody and difficult sometimes. As for Ty, he’s the sweetest thing, but he can be energetic when he’s in a mood. Neither of them has ever had any kind of structure or discipline. I’ve

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