The Doctor's Baby. Cindy Kirk

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СКАЧАТЬ their maternal grandmother, Fern, and supersized cockapoo, Henry. “Logan was so excited to see you.”

      “Three little boys throwing cake at each other.” David winked. “Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

      Actually, this evening the terrible trio had been fairly well-behaved. And the war-whoop the twins and Logan had let loose when he’d walked through the door had warmed his heart. Of course, with his parents on a European cruise, his only competition was Granny Fern. And while the boys loved their great-grandmother, they’d stuck tight to his side all evening.

      After the spaghetti had been eaten and the two candles blown out on the cake, Granny had gone to her room for some well-needed “shut-eye.” Last week she’d tripped over the dog and cracked a rib.

      Though Granny loved helping with the boys and watching them while Mary Karen worked an occasional shift at the hospital, David worried about her. The older woman needed more rest than she was able to get in this busy household. That was one of the reasons he’d stayed and helped Mary Karen get the boys bathed and in bed. But that wasn’t the only reason. Keeping busy kept thoughts of July at bay.

      “You’re so good with the boys.” Mary Karen turned to the rail and stared out into the darkness. Far off in the distance, a coyote wailed. She pulled her coat tight around her. “You and Celeste should have had children.”

      Celeste had liked Mary Karen as much as she’d liked anyone in Jackson, but David knew his sister had hoped more closeness would come when they had children in common.

      David wasn’t sure it would have made a difference. Celeste had been so different from his down-to-earth sister. Different than most of the women in Jackson. He smiled. His wife had been a hothouse rose in a field of wildflowers.

      It wasn’t an exaggeration to say Celeste had been the most beautiful woman in Jackson. Men would stop on the street and stare when she walked by. She’d been a city girl to the core, a woman who’d loved shopping, travel and him. When they’d left California and moved to Jackson, she’d kept her job as a marketing rep for a company based in Los Angeles. He’d worried about her being on the road so much, but accepted the fact that she loved her job too much to quit.

      Then two years ago, on her way to the airport for a business trip, her sports car had been broadsided by a drunk driver. She’d been killed instantly. When he’d heard the news, a part of him had died with her.

      At the time Mary Karen had just delivered Logan. Connor and Caleb, the twins, had just turned two. While his sister’s household had always been chaotic, to add to her stress, her husband of three years had started making noises that he’d rather be single.

      “I wish we’d had a baby, too,” David murmured into the quiet stillness. “But we wanted to wait for just the right moment. We thought we had all the time in the world.”

      The darkness surrounding them made it easier to speak of the past.

      “I think we’ve both learned there are no guarantees. Life can be going along just fine then poof … everything changes.” The pain in her voice made David long to slam a fist into his ex-brother-in-law’s face.

      “You’re right.” David reached down absently and scratched the head of Henry, the large cockapoo standing beside him.

      “But change isn’t always bad,” Mary Karen said, her optimistic nature shining above the gloom. “Sometimes it can be good. Unexpected doesn’t always mean unwanted.”

      David thought of the woman in the maternity wing and the baby boy who slumbered in the nursery. His baby? Or the child of another man?

      He hadn’t planned on being a father, but if that child was his, he wouldn’t walk away. Because like his sister had said … just because something was unexpected, didn’t mean it was unwanted.

       Chapter Three

      July pulled on her maternity jeans and slipped a dark green cotton shirt over her head. Although she’d gained only twenty pounds with this pregnancy—and had lost a good chunk of it yesterday—she wasn’t quite ready for skinny jeans and a fitted sweater. Thankfully most of the simple styles she’d purchased while pregnant didn’t have a “maternity” look.

      But dealing with clothes was the least of her concerns. Where to go once she and Adam returned to Chicago, now that had her worried. Before she’d started on her four-national-parks-in-four-months photo shoot, her home had been the basement of a friend from her newspaper days. A woman who’d made it clear she could live there only until the baby arrived. Apparently the husband had a strong aversion to crying infants.

      A.J. had told her she could room with him once his roommate moved out May 1. That date would have been perfect if the baby had come late as the doctor predicted.

       When a door slams shut it means God is pointing to an open door farther on down.

      The verse had been on a needlepoint pillow at the home where she’d stayed when her mom had been in rehab for the third time. The mother in that family had been a needlepoint fanatic who never met a saying she didn’t want to stitch.

      July took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Everything would work out. She’d made good money photographing wildlife in some of the most beautiful national parks in the United States. Yellowstone had been the final one on the list and she’d finished shooting less than forty-eight hours earlier.

      Nylah, the woman who was her liaison with Outdoor Life magazine, had gushed over the images.

      A sense of satisfaction rose inside July. When she’d lost her job at the newspaper due to cutbacks, she’d been devastated. But it had turned out to be an unexpected blessing.

      Photographing nature had always been her passion. Whether it was a single flower growing out of a crack in the concrete or an imposing Bighorn on a rocky ledge, she was happiest outdoors with a camera in her hand.

      The tension in her shoulders had begun to ease when the cell phone in her pocket buzzed. July pulled it out and glanced at the readout. Nylah. Her heart picked up speed. Hopefully the woman was calling to tell her the magazine had approved the Yellowstone shots.

      Moving slowly to the door, July closed it all the way before hitting the talk button. “Hello, Nylah.”

      “Ohmygod, I can’t believe it’s finally you. I was starting to think you’d been abducted by aliens.” The words ran together, tumbling out one after the other. “I’ve been calling the motel since last night. When I finally reached the guy at the front desk, I panicked when he told me he hadn’t seen you since yesterday morning. He told me to call your cell, but it kept going straight to voice mail.”

      “I forgot to charge it.” A sick feeling rolled around in the pit of July’s stomach. While Nylah had loved the photos, July knew final approval would come from someone at Outdoor Life magazine. “Is this about the photos? Is something wrong? If they want me to reshoot—”

      “No, this isn’t about them. The photos were marvelous. Love them. Love them. Love them.” Nylah paused. “Now that I think about it, the reason I’m calling does involve the pictures, but only in the very best of ways.”

      Now thoroughly confused, July took a seat on the edge of the bed. “So Outdoor Life approved the Yellowstone СКАЧАТЬ