Because of the Baby...

скачать книгу бесплатно


The hope that Lark had clung to while her sister’s coma had been medically induced had wavered in the days since the doctor had taken Skye off the Pentobarbital and she hadn’t awakened. As a medical professional, Lark was well aware her sister’s chances of ever waking diminished with each day that passed.

A couple deep breaths allowed her to go on. “Since Jake hasn’t shown up yet, Keaton has offered to help me take care of her. We’re going to trade off watching her at my house. Since the tornado demolished the Holt family ranch house, he’s been living in a hunting cabin on the property and I’m sure it’s no place for Grace.”

Lark fussed with the sheet that covered Skye, hating her sister’s stillness. Skye had always been so vivacious. So beautiful. So outgoing and personable. So not like Lark. Sometimes she wondered if they were really sisters or if one of them was the victim of a switched-at-birth scenario.

Skye’s golden hair looked lank and listless against her pale skin. There were shadows beneath her closed eyes. After three months in the hospital the bruises and scrapes that had marred her face and arms were long healed, as was her left earlobe, probably torn during the same impact that had caused her head wound. She’d lost the diamond out of her earring, but the screw back had kept the stud in place. The hospital had given Skye’s jewelry to Lark for safekeeping, and because Skye’s phone and luggage had never been recovered, the earrings were her only possession. The lack of any sort of ring continued to dismay Lark. What had happened between Skye and Jake these last four years?

“I bought her a crib and a changing table,” Lark continued. “Keaton picked up her bedding. All by himself. It’s really cute. Yellow with jungle animals. I set up the furniture in my sitting area, but it’s pretty cramped. For the time being, I’m going to keep her in a bassinet. I think she’ll feel more secure in a smaller space. Eventually I’ll transition her to the crib. Or you can just wake up and take care of that yourself.”

Holding her breath was fruitless and silly, but Lark issued the challenge at least once a day and hoped that her sister would respond.

“I don’t want to fail you,” she whispered. “I did four years ago and I’ve regretted it every day since.” Lark wiped at a trace of moisture at the corner of her eye. “Did I mention what an annoying know-it-all Keaton is?” She needed to change the subject or risk further tears. “He seems to think if he researches something thoroughly enough that he becomes an expert.”

A smile tugged at Lark’s lips as she recalled how he’d looked the first time he held Grace. “And he’s bossy. He decided that we were going to use a diaper service instead of disposable. Didn’t even consult me. Of course, I like the idea that we won’t be loading up the landfill, but I should have at least been given an opportunity to agree.”

The wife of Skye’s nearest neighbor came to visit. Her husband was suffering from sepsis, and his condition had been touch-and-go for the last week. Lark was happy to see he’d turned a corner toward recovery.

“I’d better get going,” she murmured to Skye. “I’m supposed to meet Keaton in a few minutes. I’ll bring Grace by to see you before we leave and then visit in a few days once I’m sure she’s settling in okay and that Keaton is comfortable taking care of her. Before this he hadn’t had any experience with babies, and I think he’s intimidated by how tiny Grace is. But he’s been handling her quite a bit these last few days and I’m surprised how deftly he manages her diaper and dressing her.”

With a last squeeze of Skye’s hand, Lark left the ICU. She waved to her coworkers as she walked by the nurses’ station, but only Jessa gave her a smile and it was quickly gone. As Lark rode the elevator to the pediatric floor, she wasn’t surprised how relieved she felt to have a weeklong break from the ICU nurses.

From the beginning they’d mistaken her shyness for superiority and now did everything in their power to shun her. Lark had a hard enough time opening up to people without having to overcome hostility.

As she stepped out of the elevator, it occurred to her that she’d never felt the least bit shy or uneasy with Keaton. The feud between their families should have made her anxious around him, yet from the moment she’d run into him in the hospital, she felt as if they’d known each other for years. Weird when he was the son of her parents’ enemy. Or maybe she felt the connection more closely because of the bad blood between their families. Heaven knew she’d thought about him often enough. Him and Jake. Especially after Skye ran off with Jake and Lark spent a lot of time wondering what was so special about a Holt that would cause her sister to choose him over her family.

Her pulse kicked up a notch as she approached the NICU, but she didn’t see Keaton. A glance at the clock showed it was fifteen minutes before their agreed-on meeting time. She’d caught a ride to the hospital with Julie. Since she was taking Grace home after her shift, Keaton was giving her and the baby a ride home. When Lark assured him she would be fine on her own, he’d insisted on being there. His steely determination had left her torn between relief and annoyance.

Lark approached Grace’s basinet. She was wearing a pink dress one of the NICU nurses had crocheted. A matching pink headband encircled her head. This wasn’t a normal practice, but nothing about Grace’s situation had been normal thus far and Lark was one of their own.

“Thank you all so much,” Lark said to her colleagues as she blinked back a rush of tears that flooded her eyes. “You’ve taken such great care of Grace.”

“If you need anything or have any questions,” Amy, the senior NICU nurse said, “just call.”

“Thanks.” She’d grown accustomed to leaning on each of these women for support and guidance. It was terrifying to be heading out on her own.

Except she wasn’t alone. Keaton would be there to help her. Her skin prickled. She hadn’t quite gotten used to the idea that he would be spending time in her private space. Buying a house and living alone for the first time in her life had been blissful. No more worrying about saying the wrong thing to her roommate’s friends or hearing their whispers and knowing they were talking about the weird girl who rarely came out of the second bedroom.

“You’re going to do great,” said Nancy. The nurse with the most experience in the NICU, she’d been the one Lark had turned to about her anxiety.

“I don’t know why I’m so emotional.” Lark laughed self-consciously. At the hospital she worked hard to appear confident. Letting anyone glimpse her shy awkwardness might make them question her ability to do her job. “I guess I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.”

“Oh, honey.” Nancy wrapped her arm around Lark’s shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “With your sister in a coma and this precious baby still so delicate, you’ve got a lot on your plate. Frankly, we’d be surprised if you weren’t feeling that way.”

Through the NICU’s large window, Lark spotted Keaton. Her pulse gave a little leap as their eyes met. He nodded in acknowledgement, his grave expression and compelling gaze easing her turmoil a little. His presence reminded her that she wasn’t alone.

Amy spoke up. “And it looks like Keaton Holt is going to be a big help.” Her tone was sly, matching her wicked grin. “It’s nice to see you two could put aside your families’ differences.”

Had they? Lark wasn’t sure. A lifetime of hostility and accusations stood between them. Just because she and Keaton weren’t at war with each other didn’t mean they were going to get along. He was determined to the point of obstinacy and laser-focused when he decided he wanted something. While it might make him a successful rancher, it made fighting with him an exhausting enterprise. Lark tore her attention away from the tall, imposing ranch owner and redirected her thoughts to the five-pound bundle she held. For Grace’s sake she and Keaton were just going to have to play nice.

Telling her pulse to settle down, Lark cradled Grace in her arms and gazed around the NICU for the last time. Burdened with a well-stocked diaper bag and the responsibility of her delicate charge, she threw back her shoulders and walked the gantlet of smiling nurses who’d gathered to wish her and Grace well.

“How is Grace this morning?” Keaton asked as she approached.

“Doing better than I am.” Lark shifted her grip on the baby as Keaton slid the well-stocked diaper bag off her shoulder, lightening her load. “Thanks.”

“Don’t tell me you’re nervous.” His genuine surprise bolstered her confidence.

“I owe it to Skye to make everything perfect for Grace.”

“It will be.”

The hand he set on her back caused a shiver of awareness to travel up her spine. His touch was at once reassuring and stimulating. She wanted to lean into his strength. The urge gave her much to contemplate. For as long as Lark could remember she’d been a solo act. Growing up, she’d enjoyed solitude. Smart and independent, she’d been neither a leader nor a follower, but one of those quirky types who loved books and was perfectly content doing her own thing. Looking back, Lark wasn’t sure if her isolation had been the cause or the result of her social awkwardness.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to stop by the ICU before we leave the hospital,” Lark said as they walked down the hall to the elevators. “This is Grace’s first time outside the NICU, and I want her to see her mother before we leave.”

Lark didn’t add that she was hoping that Grace’s presence would somehow miraculously awaken Skye from her coma.

“Of course.”

As always, she was discouraged by the sight of her beautiful, vibrant sister lying so still, the only sign of life the beep and electronic readouts coming from the machines that measured her vitals. But Lark’s reaction today was worse than normal. Her throat closed up as misery swamped her. What if Skye never woke up? What if Grace never got to know how amazing her mother was?

“Damn,” she muttered, wiping away the moisture that escaped the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said to Keaton.

“For what? Being sad that your sister is like this? It’s terrible.”

She wanted to smile in appreciation of his understanding, but her facial muscles were controlled by the ache in her heart, so she settled for a nod.

“Skye, this is Grace. You haven’t had a chance to meet her because she’s been too tiny to leave the NCIU. She’s so beautiful. I wish you would open your eyes and see for yourself.” Staying away from the wires that connected Skye to the monitors, Lark fitted Grace into the hollow between her sister’s arm and her side. “She needs her mommy.”

As soon as Lark finished speaking, Grace punched outward with both fists and opened her eyes. Lark half expected her face to screw up in distress, but the baby blinked and relaxed in a way that Lark had never seen before. Was it being snuggled against her mother for the first time in three months?

Keaton leaned forward to peer at Grace. His shoulder pressed against Lark’s back. “She looks happy.”

“The mother-daughter bond is alive and well.”

How comfortable it would be to rest her head against his broad chest and pull his muscular arms around her body. The longing for his touch was so compelling, Lark had to dig her fingernails into her palms to keep from acting on the impulse. What was happening to her? She’d never been so physically drawn to a man before. Usually the men she dated were intellectually stimulating, but not exactly fantasy material. Not that they were unattractive, but their allure had been mostly cerebral.

Grace yawned and her eyes drifted shut. She knuckled one cheek. Her other hand rested on her mother’s arm.

The anxious knot in Lark’s chest tightened. “What if Skye never wakes up?” It was the first time she’d spoken the fear out loud.

“She will.” Keaton’s big hands settled on her shoulders. “As Grace gets stronger, so will her mother.”

Keaton’s words couldn’t have been any more perfect. Lark’s optimism surged.

“You’re right.” As much as she was loathed to disrupt the rapport that had bloomed between her and Keaton, she needed to get Grace home and settled. “Say goodbye to your mommy,” she said to the baby, lifting her away from Skye. It hurt Lark’s heart to separate mother and daughter, but she told herself it was only temporary. Before she left Skye’s bedside, Lark turned to Keaton. “I want you to know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done. I realized this morning that I’d underestimated how much I needed to get ready for Grace’s homecoming. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Her father would be furious to hear her say those words. But if he and her mother refused to step up and be grandparents to Grace, they had no right to criticize Lark for accepting Keaton’s assistance. Unfortunately that wouldn’t stop them from bombarding her with their opinions. Lark cringed away from thinking about her father’s ire. Always volatile where the Holts were concerned, he’d become a powder keg since the tornado leveled his tree farm.

“You don’t need to thank me,” Keaton said. “We’re doing this for Grace, remember?”

“For Grace,” she agreed.

With Keaton a step behind her, Lark headed out of the ICU. As she neared the door to the hall, two people came into view. Her parents. They stood at the nurses’ station, speaking with Lark’s coworker Jessa and hadn’t spotted Lark or Keaton yet.

She slowed her pace, all too aware of Keaton’s towering presence behind her. In the rush of getting prepared for Grace’s homecoming, Lark had neglected to mention to her parents that Keaton would be helping her with Grace. Or maybe she’d dodged the issue to put off dealing with her father’s ire as long as possible. Lark gathered a breath to bolster her courage. This encounter promised to get ugly.

Her mother spotted her first. “Lark?” Her gaze bounced from her daughter to the man shadowing her. “What’s going on?”

At Vera’s sharp tone, Tyrone Taylor glanced around. His expression twisted with disgust when he saw Keaton.

“Grace is coming home with me today,” Lark explained, stopping a good fifteen feet away from her parents, hoping distance and a soothing tone would keep her father’s temper from flaring. “I brought her to see Skye before we left.”

“And him?” Lark’s father demanded. “What’s he doing here?”

“I’m driving Lark and Grace home.” Keaton’s level reply was neither defensive nor aggressive. His body radiated calm confidence at Lark’s side, but her tension didn’t ease.

Lark had let Keaton take on the role of Grace’s caretaker because her parents hadn’t stepped up. Was that dawning on Tyrone and Vera or were they too consumed by their needs and desires to realize they would never be nominated for grandparents of the year?

“Since when are you two so chummy?” Tyrone demanded, his attention fixed on his daughter.

Lark felt her chin lift to a defiant angle in response to her father’s hostility. “Keaton is Grace’s uncle. We are both concerned about her welfare.” She glanced down at the tiny bundle of pink sweetness they all should be concerned about, but failed to refocus her father’s attention.

“I don’t know why you’ve accepted Jake as Grace’s father. He sure as hell isn’t acting like it. What sort of man abandons his baby and the woman he claims to love?” Tyrone shot Keaton a hard look. “What does your brother have to say for himself?”

“I haven’t spoken with Jake.”

Lark’s father made a dismissive noise, but his next words were for Lark. “I told your sister four years ago that Jake was going to ruin her life.”