The Doctor's Baby

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A cold chill stole over July. Relief that she hadn’t slept with a married man was miniscule compared to the stark realization that the tables had turned. She was now the one who needed to apologize. She’d told David to his face that Adam wasn’t his son. Not just once. Many times.

Tell him you’re sorry. Tell him you made a mistake. He’ll understand. You thought he was married.

July opened her mouth but the words wouldn’t come. Her heart pounded hard and fast in her head, making it impossible for her to think, much less form a coherent sentence.

“July.” David’s voice, soft but insistent, broke through the maelstrom in her head. “Will you consent to the test?”

She tried to speak but settled for a jerky nod.

“The test is easy.” Though his tone was professional, she could hear the undercurrent of excitement and relief in his voice. “A simple buccal swab. One to Adam’s cheek, one to yours.”

“Mine?” Her voice broke on the word.

“It’s recommended,” he said quickly. “But if you don’t want—”

“No problem.” July took a glass of water from the tray table and chugged it past her dry throat. “Just give me a call when—”

“We can do it now.” He pulled two vials from his pocket along with an official-looking paper. “But first I need your signature.”

The room closed around her neck like a noose. She took the paper from his hand and sweat trickled down her back. “Once we do this, how long before you get the results?”

“Three to five days.”

The noose tightened.

July pretended to study the consent form but the words blurred. After a moment, she folded the paper in half and dropped it into her purse.

“What are you doing?” Confusion blanketed his face. “You said you’d do it.”

Though her heart now beat like a trapped butterfly in her chest, she somehow managed a nonchalant air. “I’m sure you understand wanting to read a legal document. I’ll be in Jackson Hole for at least another month. We’ll definitely do the test before I leave.”

“Why wait so long?” His brows pulled together. “It doesn’t take a month to read the authorization.”

“Because I know what the answer will be, and I’m in no hurry.” Because I need to tell you the truth before you get the results.

“But you’ll have it done before you leave.”

“Absolutely.” July wished she could bring herself to tell him the test wasn’t needed. After all, he was the only one she’d been with in over three years. But every time she tried to bring the words forth, tentacles of fear slipped around her, squeezing out the air.

She would tell David. In her own time. In her own way. But it had to be soon. Before the DNA test. Before he became even more suspicious. Before he found out the truth on his own….

David left July’s room, feeling more unsettled than when he’d walked through the door. Last night, while tossing and turning in bed, he’d considered his options. He could take July at her word that Adam wasn’t his son. But if she was lying, once she left Jackson Hole she’d be taking his flesh-and-blood out of his life forever. Or he could be proactive and find out for sure if that baby in the nursery was his.

He’d told himself her response to his request for a DNA test would reveal the truth. If she refused, it’d confirm his suspicions that she was lying. But she hadn’t refused. At least not directly.

“Can I help you, doctor?”

David looked into the eyes of Rachel Milligan, the emergency room nurse who’d been at July’s side during the delivery. He glanced around the nursery. “What are you doing here? This isn’t the E.R.”

“Very perceptive.” Rachel smiled. “It was slow downstairs so they sent me up here to help out.”

He didn’t know Rachel all that well—she’d only started in the E.R. several months ago—but like everyone in Jackson Hole, he knew of the tragedy that had rocked her world a couple of years earlier. Since she never mentioned the murder of her husband and death of her baby, he hadn’t felt comfortable bringing up the subject.

“What brings you to the nursery?”

David glanced around. He hadn’t consciously planned to make a detour to this part of the hospital but now that he was here he might as well assuage his curiosity. “I stopped by to check on the Greer baby.”

“Of course.” Rachel smiled and he suddenly realized with her honey-blond hair and big blue eyes she was quite pretty. But it didn’t matter. There was no sizzle. Not like there was with July….

While she was retrieving the baby, David scrubbed his hands and put on a gown, wondering why he insisted on tormenting himself. For all he knew this little boy was someone else’s son.

“Here he is.”

David held out his arms and Rachel placed the baby in them. Wrapped securely in a blue blanket and wearing a cap of the same color, the infant didn’t cry, just stared at him with serious eyes.

The rush of emotion took David by surprise as did the powerful connection he felt to this tiny baby. He tightened his arms protectively around the child he’d brought into the world barely twenty-four hours earlier. “He’s so light.”

“He’s small,” Rachel agreed, “but doing really well. Once we get his bilirubin down a bit more, he’ll be able to go home.”

Dave gazed at the tiny face, searching for a family resemblance. Other than the dark hair—now covered—the baby could belong to anyone.

“I only wish the Simpson baby was doing as well.” Although they were alone in this part of the nursery, Rachel spoke in a low tone. “It looks like she’ll have to go home with the feeding tube. Kayla started crying this morning when the doctor told her.”

David had grown up with Kayla Simpson and her husband. This long-awaited pregnancy had been trouble-free, but their little girl had been born with several congenital anomalies. “Has Lexi been up to talk with them?”

Since joining the hospital staff five years ago, the social worker had proven to be a valuable member of the hospital team.

“She’ll be here once she’s done in the ICU.” A look of sadness swept across the RN’s face. “She’s talking to the Evans family about organ donation.”

The six months David had spent at Hennepin in Minneapolis had made him appreciate just how different it was to practice emergency medicine at a large trauma center versus a community hospital like this one. Here, other than tourists, most of the people he treated were ones he knew. Tim Evans, a gregarious high school baseball coach, belonged to his church. The guy had taken a turn too fast on his cycle and had cracked his un-helmeted head on the concrete.

“A life ends.” David dropped his gaze to the baby and stroked the soft cheek with his finger. “Another begins.”

When he looked up and saw the pain in Rachel’s eyes he realized the simple observation had opened an old wound. But before he could say another word, Rachel’s expression cleared and she lifted a hand in greeting. “Here’s Lexi now.”

David shifted his gaze to the social worker. Her smile never wavered, but her eyes filled with curiosity at the sight of the blue bundle in his arms.

Resisting the urge to shove the baby back into Rachel’s care, he met the social worker’s smile with one of his own. “Rachel mentioned the Simpson baby is going home with a feeding tube,” he said in lieu of a greeting. “Sounds like Kayla is taking the news hard.”

“This has been such a shock for both of them,” Lexi said. “But Kayla is a strong woman. She and John will weather this crisis. I’ll make sure they have the support they need.”

David nodded then casually handed the baby back to Rachel. “I have to get going.”

Lexi took a step forward and peered at the baby. “Who’s this little guy?”

“This is Adam Greer,” Rachel explained. “Our emergency room baby.”

“I thought Dr. Watson was following him.”

“He is,” David said, trying not to get defensive. After all, it was a logical assumption. “I don’t get a chance to deliver many babies, so this one is sort of special.”

Lexi lifted a brow. “How’s he doing?”

“Jaundiced, but he should be able to be released in a day or so,” David said.

“I wonder where he’ll go home to,” Rachel mused.

“What do you mean?” Lexi asked.

David’s ears pricked up.

“His mother had been living in the motel across the street from the Community Playhouse before she delivered,” Rachel said. “Hardly a suitable environment for a baby.”

“I agree with you,” Lexi said. “I’ll add post-discharge housing to my discussion list. After I finish here, I’m headed to her room.”

Chapter Five

July stared at the birth certificate application the nurse had left for her to fill out. Apparently she had to complete and turn it in before she was dismissed.

The section asking for her information had been easy. The field for the baby’s name was completed without hesitation. She’d had almost five months—since she’d first learned she was carrying a boy—to decide on his name. But it was the section asking for the father’s information that had stopped her cold.

How could she put David’s name on the application before she’d told him Adam was his son? Still, she couldn’t bring herself to write the word that had been on her own birth certificate.

She’d found hers the summer she’d turned thirteen, stuffed inside a drawer. Though her mother had always maintained her father could have been any one of a number of men, July had thought she was exaggerating. But when she’d seen “unknown” on that birth certificate, her dreams of a father one day appearing on a white horse to rescue her had disappeared like a puff of smoke.

July took a deep breath then let it out slowly. She picked up the pen, still unsure. Unlike her mother, there was no doubt in July’s mind about Adam’s father. But what if David got hold of the certificate? Or some staff member noticed his name on the application and mentioned it to him?

The form was still incomplete when the door creaked open and the social worker stuck her face in the room. “Can I come in?”

“Certainly,” July said.

“I’m sorry about the delay.” The brunette’s heels clacked loudly on the shiny linoleum as she hurried across the room. “I didn’t think I’d be so long.”

“No worries.” July dropped the pen, thankful for the diversion. “I’m still waiting for Dr. Fisher to stop by and release me.”

“What are you working on?” Lexi asked.

“The birth certificate application,” July said, trying not to sigh.

Lexi’s gaze dropped to the form, taking in the part still not completed. “It can be hard to decide what to put there. At least it was for me.”

“You have a child?”

“Addie is seven.” Lexi’s perfectly painted lips curved up in a slight smile. “It might sound corny, but she’s the light of my life.”

It didn’t sound at all corny. Though her son was only a day old, July understood. She returned Lexi’s smile.

“Does her father live in Jackson?” From a previous comment July knew the social worker wasn’t married, but that didn’t mean the guy wasn’t in her life.

“Drew lives in Columbus, Ohio,” Lexi said matter-of-factly. “He’s not involved at all.”

“Is his name on her birth certificate?” The minute the question left her lips, July wanted to call it back. Though the social worker had been forthcoming about her personal life, the question was way too personal.

“It is.” Lexi took a seat in the chair by the bed with a gracefulness July envied. “I considered leaving it off. After all, once he found out I was pregnant he didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“Yet you put his name on her birth certificate.”

“Drew is her father and him being a jerk doesn’t change that.” Lexi spoke matter-of-factly, without a hint of emotion on her face. “Putting ‘unknown’ would have been a lie. And I didn’t want Addie’s life to start off with a lie.”

July leaned back against the pillow and considered the words. She’d never thought of it that way. But that’s what she’d be doing if she left David’s name off the birth certificate.

“One of my concerns is that Adam’s dad is from Jackson,” July found herself admitting. “I don’t want anyone knowing that he’s my baby’s father.”

Lexi’s expression turned serious. “I can assure you that the hospital places a high emphasis on maintaining confidentiality. This application will immediately go into an envelope and be mailed.”

Yeah, but who puts it in the envelope?

Lexi must have sensed July still wasn’t convinced because she leaned forward and placed a hand on her arm. “If you like I can take care of it myself. No one else will see it.”

July cocked her head. “How about you? Will you look?”