LITMIR.BIZ

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      “Your balance is zero, Miss Davenport,” the woman said cheerfully.

      “How can that be? I haven’t paid anything.”

      “Oh, your baby’s father paid everything. We’re supposed to bill him if there are any other charges. So, you have nothing to worry about.”

      Emma hung up the phone without answering. Nothing to worry about. She had put Ryan’s name on the birth certificate because she knew how much that meant to a child later in life. She hadn’t known either her father or her mother’s name. Her child would know.

      But she hadn’t done it so Ryan would feel forced to pay for the baby…and her. She’d always known he was a good man. And she’d found out about his wife and son afterwards. As much as his words had hurt her, stunned her, she’d understood.

      She should’ve carried out her plan to have the baby in Buffalo, but it was an hour’s drive away, and she’d got frightened that she wouldn’t be able to make the drive by herself.

      Seven months ago, she’d even considered giving up the job she loved and moving away then, while she could still have managed. But she hadn’t, because she’d harbored a foolish hope that Ryan would change his mind. That he’d walk back through the doors of the library and ask her out to dinner again.

      Foolish, foolish Emma.

      With tears in her eyes, she pushed up from the pillow and surveyed her room. Her suitcase was on the floor by the window, still packed, though standing open. Last night the nurse had helped her don her own nightgown. While not fancy, at least it didn’t have gaps down the back, like the hospital gown she had worn.

      So, all she’d have to do was make her way to the chair beside her suitcase, get dressed, toss in her nightgown, and leave. Stopping to collect Andrea on the way, of course.

      The thought of walking to her car alone was enough to exhaust her. Carrying a suitcase and her baby seemed an impossibility. But she didn’t want Ryan paying any more.

      He didn’t want them, either of them.

      As she was contemplating what she had to do, the door opened and the nurse entered with a breakfast tray. She raised the head of the bed, then put the tray on the bed table and slid it in front of Emma.

      “You’ll feel stronger once you eat your breakfast,” she advised cheerfully. “And Doctor will be in soon to visit with you. He came last night, but you were already asleep and he didn’t want to wake you.”

      “Oh, I’m sorry,” she whispered. She barely remembered him from the delivery, but she’d liked him when she’d visited him two weeks ago to ask him to deliver her baby.

      “No problem. He thought you getting some rest was more important than him poking around on you. Actually, you’re doing much better than any of us expected. You were in labor a long time. Why, Beth Kirby came in after you and delivered a couple of hours before you did.”

      “Beth’s here? She had her baby?” Emma asked, joy on her face. She’d loved Beth almost as much as Ryan, feeling she’d finally found a sister. “Are she and the baby all right? What did she have?”

      “Mercy, if I’d known that information would’ve cheered you up, I’d have told you at once,” the nurse said.

      Emma blushed, embarrassed by letting her emotions show. She hoped the nurse didn’t tell Beth she’d been so eager for news. It would shock Ryan’s sister after Emma had rejected her offer of continuing friendship.

      “I—I know her.”

      “Well, of course you do. She’s your baby’s aunt. She had a little boy, and both are doing just fine. You’ve never seen a prouder daddy than Jack Kirby. He hasn’t left the hospital since they came in except to buy the biggest bouquet of roses in town. These daddies, you know how they…” She broke off abruptly, a stricken look on her face.

      Emma knew what had caused her to grow silent. There were no flowers in her room. More importantly, there was no proud father watching his daughter through the nursery window, hovering over the mother’s bed.

      “I’m so sorry, I—”

      “Don’t worry about it, please. When will you bring my baby to me?”

      “After you see the doctor.”

      Emma nodded, but she was anxious to hold her baby again. “Then I’d better get started on my breakfast.”

      The nurse, still embarrassed, tried to respond in a normal voice. As soon as she made sure Emma had everything she needed, she hurried from the room.

      Ryan stood at the nursery window, staring at the pink bundle. The baby hadn’t moved or shown any sign of life since he’d arrived. When a nurse entered the nursery, he rapped on the window and pointed to the baby girl.

      The nurse smiled and moved the baby to the front row of the window. Wouldn’t she have noticed if something was wrong? Ryan wanted to be reassured that the baby was breathing.

      Just as he decided to knock on the window again, one little baby fist, clenched, moved to the rosebud mouth and the baby made some sucking motions.

      Maybe she was kin to him. Dinnertime had always been high on his list. A small smile slipped across his lips, until he heard footsteps in the hallway.

      Steve Lambert joined him. “Little miracles, aren’t they?”

      “Uh, yeah. I don’t see Beth’s baby.”

      “He’s probably in the room having breakfast with his mom.”

      “Isn’t Emma—I mean, it—the baby seems hungry.”

      “Emma indicated she wanted to breast-feed, but I had them give the baby sugar water until this morning. Emma will probably try today.”

      “What did she say when you told her last night she was going to the ranch with me?” That question had filled his mind even as he and Billy set up the nursery last night. He didn’t think she’d easily agree.

      “I didn’t talk to her. She was already asleep when I got to her room last night.”

      “You were here that late? What happened?”

      “An emergency. Barney Landers cut himself and had to have stitches. I got to Emma’s room by seven-thirty. But she’d already had her dinner and gone to sleep. I decided not to wake her. The nurses said she was doing all right. She needed the rest.”

      “Are you going to see her now?”

      “Yeah. Want to join me? We’ll face her together.”

      Ryan would’ve liked to say no. He thought she’d agree with the doctor more easily than she would with him there. But it felt cowardly to hide behind his friend. “Sure,” he agreed and walked down the hall with Steve.

      He dreaded every step that brought him closer to Emma.

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