A Forever Family: Reunited By Their Baby. Rebecca Winters

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СКАЧАТЬ relaxed enough to want her semi-solid food again. Once she’d been put in a private room at the hospital, the nurse hadn’t been able to get her to eat anything. Fran had to see the transformation and think twice about turning him down when he asked her again.

      “Well, look at you,” she said to Demi with a big smile. “I didn’t know you were such a good eater.”

      Demi beamed back at both of them. Nik had never actually fed Demi before. Aided and abetted by Fran, he found himself having more fun than he could remember. Some turkey clung to the baby’s upper lip, making her look adorable. Both he and Fran chuckled in delight to see her behaving normally.

      Soon she finished her food while the family looked on in varying degrees of interest and curiosity. They weren’t used to seeing Nik feed her. But most of all, they were shocked at the way Demi responded to Fran. The hurt in his parents’ eyes had intensified. It didn’t surprise him when Nik’s father eventually got up from his chair and walked over to give his granddaughter a kiss on the cheek.

      “One would never know what you lived through, Demi,” he spoke in Greek. “Come to your grandpa.” He wiped her mouth with the bib, then untied it and picked her up to take her over to Nik’s mother.

      Demi adored her grandfather, but the further he took her from Fran, the more she squirmed and kept turning her head to find her. Nik’s mother got to her feet and held out her hands to Demi, but the baby started to cry.

      “What’s wrong, darling?” his mother talked to her in their native tongue, attempting to cuddle her. “Tell me what’s the matter.”

      Nik knew the answer to that. She wanted Fran. It really was astonishing to see that even with the entire family surrounding her, Demi wanted a stranger if she couldn’t have her own mother and father. He eyed Fran covertly, daring her to close her mind and heart to what was going on here.

      His stomach muscles tightened as he watched the looks of surprise and confusion from everyone, but especially at the pain on his parents’ faces when Demi started crying in earnest.

      They’d lost Melina, but it had never occurred to anyone that Demi wouldn’t soak up the love they were ready to heap on her. Nik believed it was a passing phenomenon. It had to be. But right now something needed to be done to calm the baby down.

      “You know what I think?” he said in English. “Demi’s barely out of the hospital and needs to go to bed.” So did his parents who needed to rest to get through this ordeal.

      “Of course,” his mother concurred.

      “Fran and I will take her and put her down, then we’ll be back.”

      He clutched the baby to him and started for the villa. Fran got up from the swing and followed him to the apartment. Earlier he’d asked the housekeeper to get it prepared. With the help of the staff, they’d moved the crib and other things from the nursery in Melina’s apartment to the spare room. For now it would serve as a nursery while Fran took care of Demi.

      Together they got the baby ready for her afternoon nap with a fresh diaper and a white sleeper with feet.

      “You look so cute in this,” Fran said, kissing her cheeks several times. Once again Nik marveled how natural she was with Demi, almost as if the baby were hers. Neither of them were bilingual, but it didn’t matter. They spoke a special language of love that managed to transcend. Watching Demi, you’d think Fran was her mother. How could that be? Unless…

      Was it possible that the baby’s head had suffered an injury when she hit the earth and she’d developed amnesia?

      Were there cases of such a thing happening to an infant? Amnesia might explain her connection to Fran. She’d been the first person Demi saw when she’d awakened in the hospital.

      But if that were true, then why did she respond to the family, to Nik? Though it was half-hearted, she did recognize everyone. He was baffled and anxious to talk to a doctor first thing in the morning.

      Nik drew a bottle of premixed formula from the bag. When Fran put the baby in the crib, he handed Demi her bottle. Speaking Greek to her, he told her he loved her and wanted her to go to sleep.

      Before she started drinking, the baby made sounds and stared up at the two of them with those dark brown eyes that could have been Melina’s.

      “Come on, Fran,” he whispered. “Let’s go.”

      “See you later, sweetheart.” Fran patted her cheek, then started to follow Nik out of the room. They’d no sooner reached the door than Demi burst into tears.

      Fran looked at him with pleading eyes. “I can’t leave her yet.”

      Nik had been counting on that. “She loves you.”

      Again Fran averted her eyes because she knew what he’d just said was true. “You go on and be with your family, Nik. I’m sure you have things to discuss before the funeral tomorrow. Tell Kellie to come and keep me company while Demi falls asleep.”

      “I will. Maybe when she sees how much the baby wants you, she’ll tell you the vacation can wait a few more days.”

      “I—I don’t think so.” Her little stammer indicated she wasn’t quite as confident as she’d been on the plane.

      “We’ll see,” he murmured.

      She gripped the bars of the crib. “The baby’s worn-out from all the excitement, but still needs time to settle down and get sleepy. I’ll join you on the patio later.”

      This extraordinary woman was right on all counts, but if the truth be told, Nik would rather stay in here with her. “All right, but I’ll be back soon to relieve you if she proves too restless.”

      He strode swiftly through the villa to the patio and sought out Kellie. “Fran wants to talk to you. I’ll show you to the nursery.”

      She spoke to Leandros who nodded his head, then she followed Nik through the house. Before they entered the apartment he said, “I’m not sure there wouldn’t have been a catastrophe tonight if Fran weren’t here to take charge of Demi.”

      Kellie smiled at him. “After college she went into hospital administration, but they soon found out she’s a remarkable people person for the young and the old. That’s why they put her in the position she holds now. I wager she’s sorely missed already. I’m lucky she could take off these two weeks for our vacation.”

      Having seen her in action with Demi, Nik agreed. He also got the message from Kellie not to count on Fran’s generosity beyond tonight. In fact, he was sure he’d been warned off, in the nicest way possible. While cogitating on that thought, he was more determined than ever to prevail on Fran to remain longer.

      They reached the door to the apartment. “Come find the family after my niece has fallen asleep.”

      A half hour later Fran tiptoed out of the nursery with Kellie and they went into the bedroom. “I think she’ll stay asleep now. Tell me what’s happened with Leandros?”

      “If anything, things are worse. But before we get into that, tell me what’s going on with Nik.”

      “What do you mean?”

      Kellie СКАЧАТЬ