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The ER nurse backed away from Jake, and Donna covered her mouth to suppress a giggle. The poor woman’s face had gone deathly white and her brown eyes bulged.
Tallie, Peyton and Sheila flew into the ER behind Jake and Donna. Tallie grabbed Jake’s arm and the nurse gasped as if she thought the big cowboy might strike the woman who had dared touch him.
“What’s going on?” Tallie asked.
“Hank brought us to the wrong entrance,” Sheila explained. “We need to go around to Admitting and fill out the paperwork so they can admit Donna.”
The nurse sighed heavily, then smiled weakly at Sheila. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell this, er, gentleman. But he doesn’t seem to want to cooperate.”
“Cooperate be damned!” Jake roared the exclamation. “Donna’s in labor!”
Cringing, the nurse backed farther away from Jake. Tallie shook her finger in her brother’s face. “You’re scaring the daylights out of—” Tallie examined the nurse’s name badge “—Ms. Rivers. There are rules and regulations that she must—”
Donna moaned loudly as yet another pain ripped through her. Jake’s mouth tightened, his jaw clenched. His dark gaze zipped around the room in a search mode. He spotted someone he assumed was a doctor.
“Hey, Doc! I’ve got a woman in labor here—” he hoisted Donna a few inches higher to dramatize the situation “—and we need some help for her now, not later.”
“Dr. Keifer, I tried to explain to this man—” Nurse Rivers said.
“First-time father?” the slender, bespectacled, young doctor asked as he approached Jake.
“Yes,” three feminine voices replied—Sheila, Tallie and Donna.
Dr. Keifer grinned. Jake grunted. The doctor placed his hand on Jake’s shoulder.
“I’m Stan Keifer, Mr...?”
“Bishop. Jake Bishop.”
“Mr. Bishop, we’re going to get a wheelchair for Mrs. Bishop—” The doctor motioned to the stunned nurse, who nodded and raced off to follow his instructions. “—And they’ll take her on up to her suite while you go around to Admitting and fill out the paperwork.”
“I’ll have to fill out the paperwork,” Donna said. “The insurance is in my name and—”
“Just give your husband your insurance card—” Dr. Keifer said.
“He’s not my husband!” Donna turned to Jake, glaring at him. “You can put me down now! I’m perfectly capable of handling this myself.”
Jake eased her onto her feet, but kept one arm around her.
The nurse returned with a wheelchair. Donna pulled away from Jake and sat immediately. “Let’s go to admissions and get this show on the road.”
Jake stood in the doorway, big, brooding and mouth agape.
Tallie grabbed the wheelchair handlebars and looked over her shoulder at her brother. “Let’s go get Donna admitted before she has this baby in the hallway.”
Jake felt like a fool. He was in unknown waters here, sailing an uncharted course. All he wanted was help for Donna—for the woman who was about to give birth to his child. The very thought of fatherhood overwhelmed him. The last thing on earth he had expected when he showed up for Hank’s wedding was to find his weekend lover on the verge of childbirth.
Tallie tapped her foot. “Well? Are you coming with us or not?”
Without saying a word, Jake fell into line beside Peyton and Sheila and followed his sister as she wheeled Donna down the hall.
Fifteen minutes later the Bishop clan took up residence in Donna’s suite in the hospital’s separate maternity division. Jake stood in the corner, silent and sullen, refusing to answer any questions from his two younger brothers—and grateful that Tallie was too absorbed in Donna to harass him. Nobody could harass and needle better than his little sister. She’d been a hellcat even as a child. Maturity had mellowed her only slightly.
He watched with curiosity and concern as the nurses followed what was obviously standard procedure as they prepared Donna for childbirth. Before the family had been allowed into the suite, Donna had changed into a blue-and-white-striped cotton gown. She was now hooked up to a bag containing some kind of intravenous fluids—and to an electronic fetal monitor. That’s what the nurse had called it when he’d asked.
“Dr. Farr!” Donna held out her hand toward the middle-aged man who entered the room.
The doctor took Donna’s hand, patted it in a reassuring manner and smiled broadly. “Looks like we won’t have to induce labor, after all. I’m glad this young lady decided to make her entrance into the world before she grows any larger. We wouldn’t want you delivering an eleven pound baby, would we?”
“Eleven pounds?” Susan asked.
“When they’re full-term, Bishop babies tend to be large,” Sheila said. “Danny weighed almost ten pounds.” She patted her belly. “Lord only knows how big this one will be.”
“Yes, mine came in at over nine pounds,” Tallie said, then glanced accusingly at Jake. “Since this little girl’s daddy is six-three and a pretty big guy, she’ll be lucky to weigh less than ten pounds.”
While Jake’s mind whirled with the news that his child would be a girl, the nurse shooed him and the Bishop clan out of the room while Dr. Farr examined Donna.
He’d never thought much about fatherhood, had never actually considered having children. But the few times the notion had crossed his mind, he’d imagined his child being a boy. After all, boys ran in the Bishop family. Caleb had a son. Tallie had two boys. Now Hank had a son.
Even though Jake had a difficult time picturing himself as a father, he supposed he’d figured that helping raise a little boy was something he could handle. But a little girl? God help him, a little girl was a different matter altogether. A baby girl would need gentleness and tenderness, probably more than a boy. And any daughter of Donna’s would be a little lady. Jake would be the first to admit that he didn’t know a damn thing about ladies, little or otherwise.
Dr. Farr stepped out into the hallway and glanced at the seven adults waiting there. “Donna’s labor is progressing quickly. I don’t think we’ll have a very long wait. Sheila, since you’re Donna’s coach, you should go on in and be with her now.”
Sheila glanced over at Jake, who stared back at her in bewilderment. “I think the baby’s father should be with her for the delivery.”
“The baby’s father?” Dr. Farr questioned. “I didn’t realize that Donna had any contact with the father.”
“She does now,” Tallie said. “The father is here—” she pointed to her eldest brother “—and he’s the type who ikes to take charge of situations.”
“I’m Dr. Farr, Mr...?”
“Jake Bishop.”
“Hank and Caleb’s brother?” the doctor asked.
“That’s right.”
“And you’re the father of Donna’s baby?”
“Looks that way.”
“Do you want to be with Donna during the remainder )f her labor and the delivery of your child?”
Did he? Could he? “Yeah, I want to be with her,” he answered finally. No woman should go through childbirth without the baby’s father, Jake thought. And no kid should grow up without a dad, the way he and his brothers and Tallie had.
Jake followed Dr. Farr back into Donna’s room. The atendants turned and stared at him.
“This is Jake Bishop.” The doctor introduced him.
‘He’s the baby’s father.”
All the women smiled warmly and moved aside to allow him space next to the bed.
“What are you doing here?” Donna glared at him. “Where’s Sheila?”
“Everybody thought I should be present for our daughter’s birth,” Jake replied.
“She’s my daughter!”
“She’s our daughter, sugar.” Jake took Donna’s hand in his and lifted it to his lips.
She narrowed her eyes and glowered at him. “You didn’ t even know she existed until a few hours ago! You have no right to make claims on my baby. You weren’t supposed to be a part of her life. You’re totally unsuitable to be Louisa Christine’s father.”
Jake kissed Donna’s hand, then sat in a chair one of the attendants scooted over to him. “Louisa Christine sure i a mouthful for a little baby. Maybe we should call he Christy or Lou.”
Donna jerked her hand away. “We will do no such thing I’m naming her in honor of my grandmothers and I’m go ing to call her Louisa!”
“Sure thing. You call her whatever you want to cal her.”
“Don’t you patronize me, J.B.! Dammit, I mean Jake.’
“I don’t mind you calling me J.B.”
“That’s not your name, is it? If you’d told me you were Jake Bishop the night we met, I wouldn’t be in this situation now.”
Jake leaned over, lifted his hand to Donna’s face and caressed her moist cheek. “Are you sure about that, sugar As I recall, nothing short of an act of God would have prevented what happened between us.”
“Why you...you...you...” Donna spluttered furiously.
“Calm down,” Jake said. “What will these fine folk here think if we keep fussing with each other?”
Donna glanced around the room at the attendants, who tried to pretend they weren’t listening to every word of the not-so-private conversation. “Right this minute, I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks.”
Dr. Farr motioned to Jake. “Are you ready to be a father, Mr. Bishop?”
Was he ready to be a father? Hell, no! He’d been a renegade and a black sheep all his life. A hell-raiser, who had avoided responsibility and commitment for as long as he could remember. The last thing on earth he was ready for was fatherhood.
But prepared for the awesome task or not, he was about to have fatherhood thrust upon him. Without prior warning. With no preparation.
Jake stood, leaned over and kissed Donna’s forehead. “I’m here for the duration, whether you want me or not.”
Donna grabbed Jake’s hand. He grasped tightly. They gazed into each other’s eyes for a brief moment.
“I want you here,” Donna admitted, doing a sudden about-face in attitude. “Don’t leave me, Jake.”
Two
Following the last of Dr. Farr’s instructions, Jake cut the umbilical cord. His heartbeat thundered in his ears as an exhilaration he’d never known rushed through his body.
“How about a good look at your daughter, Donna?” Dr. Farr indicated for the nurse to lay the newborn on Donna’s abdomen. “She seems to be perfect in every way.”
Jake stepped back, took a deep breath and gazed at the woman who had just given birth to his child. Despite the time in labor and with her makeup melted away, Donna was still beautiful. So beautiful that at that precise moment the sight of her and his infant daughter hit him like a sledgehammer to the gut.
Tears trickled down Donna’s cheeks as she smiled. “Oh, my, isn’t she beautiful?”
“Looks just like her daddy,” one of the attendants said. “All that black hair and those big brown eyes. It’s unusual for a baby to be born with such dark eyes.”
A lump formed in Jake’s throat and his heart skipped a beat. That tiny, wet, pink bundle that the nurse lifted from Donna’s belly and held up for his inspection did look like him. This little girl was a Bishop, through and through.
The nurse cleaned Louisa Christine and dried her off, rubbing her briskly, then weighed and measured her. “Nine pounds, five ounces! And twenty-one inches long. She’s a big girl.”
The nurse quickly wrapped the baby in a warm, pink blanket and placed a cotton cap on her head. Jake watched in amazement as his daughter opened her little mouth and let out a piercing wail.
“Nothing wrong with her lungs, huh, Doc?” Jake said.
Dr. Farr nodded. The attendants laughed softly. Donna turned her head so that she could see her child while the doctor finished his work. Then she gazed up at Jake. “Will you go out and tell everyone that I’m all right and that Louisa is just perfect?”
“Sure thing.”
“Will you come back after you’ve told them?”
Jake paused, walked over to the bed and wiped several damp strands of cinnamon hair from Donna’s forehead. “I’m not going to leave you, sugar. I’ll be around for as long as you need me.”
Her smile was faint and the look in her eyes questioned his sincerity. He supposed she had no reason to trust him. After all, they barely knew each other. He was scarcely more than a stranger to the mother of his child.
“I’ll let the folks know that there’s a gorgeous new addition to the Bishop family.” Jake headed for the door, stopped abruptly after he opened it, and glanced back over his shoulder. “I think maybe we should get married.”
Before Donna had a chance to reply, he walked into the hall and closed the door behind him. Within seconds the Bishop clan surrounded him, bombarding him with questions.
Warding them off with hand motions, Jake laughed. “Hey, cool it, y’all. Mother and daughter are fine. Donna came through like a trooper. And our daughter is one hundred percent Bishop. She weighs nine pounds and five ounces and she’s twenty-one inches long. And she’s got a mouth as loud as her aunt Tallie’s.”
Tallie punched his shoulder. “Smart aleck,” she teased.
“When can we see them?” Sheila asked.
“As soon as they get through in there with Donna, I guess,” Jake replied.
“Then you’ve got time to do some explaining,” Tallie said. “Just how is it that our friend Donna wound up pregnant with your baby and nobody knew you were the father?”
Hank and Caleb laughed. Their wives gave them warning glances, which sobered them immediately.
Peyton Rand put his arm around his wife’s shoulder and said, “Tallie, honey, I think it’s fairly obvious that nine months ago Jake and Donna were together. And if I understand correctly what Susan has told us, Donna and Jake didn’t bother to exchange last names or past histories at the time.”
“Is that right?” Tallie tapped her foot on the shiny, wood-look tile floor.
“Yep,” Jake said sheepishly. “Donna and I spent one weekend together and parted company. We didn’t plan on ever seeing each other again. Believe me, I was startled when I saw her at Hank’s wedding reception and shocked when I noticed she was very pregnant.”
“Well, what do you plan to do about this situation?” Tallie crossed her arms over her ample chest and continued tapping her foot.
