LITMIR.BIZ

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sounded like Madeline.

      “What happened?” Summer asked.

      “She passed out at work. Hit her head when she fell. The bleeding seems to have stopped.”

      “She was bleeding?” Summer asked.

      “Too heavy to be considered spotting.”

      Oh. That kind of bleeding. “And the pregnancy?” Summer whispered.

      “We’re waiting for the results of blood work. A few minutes ago Madeline told me she doesn’t feel she’s lost the baby.”

      That sounded like Madeline, too.

      Apparently Riley realized that Kyle was still standing beside him. He glanced at him, and said, “Summer, this is my brother Kyle.”

      “Hello, Kyle,” she said.

      “We meet again,” he said at the same time, only slightly louder.

      “You two know each other?” Riley asked, looking sideways at his brother.

      “Remember when I told you I slept like a baby last night? It was at her place.”

      “At my inn. In Room Seven. Alone. At least I assume he was alone.” Summer shot Kyle a stern look before turning back to Riley. “Where is Madeline now?”

      Double doors clanked open and a man wearing scrubs pushed a gurney through the doorway. A television droned on the far wall in the waiting area. A little girl was crying, and a teenaged boy was holding his wrist. Other bored-looking people dozed or fidgeted, waiting for their turn to see a doctor.

      “She’s in Room Four,” Riley answered quietly. “Talya’s performing an examination.”

      Talya Ireland, pronounced like Tanya, only with an l, was a midwife and Madeline’s new employer. She’d stayed at the inn when she first came to town several months ago. If Madeline was with her, she was in good hands.

      Summer lowered herself into a nearby vinyl chair. Before she’d even finished smoothing her skirt, Riley said, “Madeline asked me to send you in the minute you arrived.”

      She was on her feet again and halfway to the door when she thought of something. “Riley?” she said.

      Both Merrick brothers were watching her.

      “If Madeline feels she’s going to be okay,” Summer said, “I believe her.”

      Relief eased the strain on Riley’s face. Kyle’s expression was more difficult to decipher. He stood looking at her, his shoulders straight, the collar of his shirt open, cuffs rolled to his forearms. He was one of those men who played hard and cleaned up well, and he sent her stomach into a wild swirl. He was ruggedly attractive from the waves in his coffee-colored hair to the toes of his Italian-made shoes.

      She forced her eyes away but felt his gaze until she disappeared on the other side of the heavy metal doors. The vinyl flooring beneath her feet muffled the sound of her footsteps. From behind curtain one came the mechanical blip of a heart monitor. Behind curtain two, a child cried forlornly. Hushed voices and a few groans that didn’t sound like pain were coming from behind curtain three.

      Summer stuck her head inside room four. The hospital bed took up the majority of the narrow cubby; monitors and IV racks competed for space with an efficient-looking midwife.

      “Hey,” Summer said, drawing Madeline’s gaze.

      From her pillow, Madeline gave Summer a weak smile. “Hey yourself.”

      Summer looked at the third woman in the room. In her late thirties, Talya Ireland had exotic gray eyes and five shades of brown hair beauty salons would love to replicate. If there was an ounce of Irish blood in her as her name suggested, it wasn’t readily apparent.

      While Talya studied the blood pressure printout and fussed with a switch on the IV, Summer sidled closer to the bed and studied Madeline. The two of them were identical in size, yet today Madeline seemed slight and pale and smaller somehow.

      “How are you feeling?” Summer asked.

      On a shuddering breath, Madeline said, “Oh, Summer. All these sounds and smells and people scurrying around. I used to work here, but this morning all I could think about was the day Aaron died.”

      Summer took Madeline’s hand. Madeline and Aaron Andrews had been childhood sweethearts and inseparable until nearly two years ago when a motorcycle accident cut his life tragically short. Madeline had been with him when he’d taken his last breath in a hospital room similar to this one. It was only natural that the horrors would come back at a time like this.

      With a sniffle, Madeline pointed to the thin wall between her room and the room next door, from which came another creak and a muffled moan. “Are they doing what I think they’re doing?” she asked.

      Nobody could make Summer smile like Madeline.

      “Are you blushing?” Madeline asked.

      Smoothing the sheet at her patient’s waist, Talya said, “Summer is such a lady.”

      “Take that back.” But Summer knew she was smiling again. Friends made life so rich.

      “We’re talking about you,” she said to Madeline. “And you haven’t answered my question.”

      “I’m scared and shaken but better, I think.”

      Sinking to the edge of the bed, Summer sighed. “You’re really okay?”

      Madeline nodded. “Talya wants me to stay off my feet for a few days.”

      “At least a few days,” came a stern voice from the other side of the bed.

      “And the baby?” Summer asked quietly.

      “I’m not far enough along to have an ultrasound, but Talya is guardedly optimistic that my pregnancy is still viable and will continue to be so for a good long time.”

      Talya said, “Sometimes spontaneous bleeding occurs early in a pregnancy. It isn’t normal, but it isn’t altogether uncommon, either. It’s possible her placenta has attached a little low in her uterus. If that’s the case, I’ve seen it spontaneously move up a little to a safer holding place. Right now all we can do is wait and see.”

      A nurse who used to work with Madeline bustled into the room. “Here’s your lab results,” she said, handing the report to the midwife. “Hi, Madeline.”

      Talya read the report. “Your beta levels are elevated. That’s a good sign.”

      The moment she grinned, Summer jumped to her feet. “I’ll get Riley.”

      “I’ll go,” Talya said. “I like to deliver good news.”

      With a swish of the curtain, she was gone, only to pop her head through the folds again. “Those sounds coming from your neighbors? Two twelve-year-old girls texting their grandma in Spokane.” She made a tsk, tsk, tsk sound with her tongue. “I know what’s on your minds.” She pointed her finger at Madeline. “None of that for you until I see you again in my office.” She winked at Summer. “You are under no restrictions.”

      An instant later the curtain fluttered back into place. In the ensuing silence, Madeline burst out laughing. It was music to Summer’s ears.

      “I’ll call Chelsea and Abby,” Summer said. “We’ll contact the caterers, Reverend Brown and everyone on the guest list.” Since there hadn’t been time to follow normal wedding protocol, most of the invitations went out via email, so it wouldn’t be difficult to send another. “We’ll tell them the wedding is being postponed for a few weeks.”

      Madeline was shaking her head. “I want to talk to you about that.”

      Summer had known Madeline for more than six years. This stubborn streak had begun to emerge after she’d discovered newfound happiness with Riley

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