Lone Star Baby. Cathy Thacker Gillen

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СКАЧАТЬ she might be a little more interested in him, too, than she’d previously let on.

      Violet grabbed the dolly and headed back out to the truck, her hips swaying provocatively beneath her shorts. “Let’s just say I find it highly unlikely,” she shot back. “Unless you’ve managed to get by on zero sleep the past four years—”

      So she did know exactly how long it had been since his engagement to Penelope had ended.

      “—and, the occasional cursory date aside, skirt around without detection. Which would be an even larger feat, given what an eligible bachelor you are.”

      Clasping a palm to his chest, as if he had just taken an arrow to the heart, he drawled, “Women find me eligible?”

      She mimed exasperation at his clowning around. “Please,” she said in an unamused voice that completely belied the twinkle in her eyes. She paused to put the two parts of the lamp together. “Like they don’t come into the ER and hit on you every day.”

      They did. But a lot of single guys on the EMT, fire and sheriff’s squads came in just to flirt with her, too.

      “Besides...” Bending, and giving him a very nice view of her luscious derriere, she rummaged through another box marked Fragile and emerged with a cardboard sleeve of lightbulbs. With an indignant sniff, she finished putting together the lamp. “Between your extended family and mine, and the nonstop demands of our residencies and fellowships, neither of us has had time to pursue anything remotely meaningful on our own.”

      Which was, Gavin thought, yet another problem that had to be addressed.

      Their residencies were over now.

      Yes, they were still doctors with crazy work schedules, but they also deserved more of a personal life. He intended to find one.

      He hoped she would, too.

      “And,” she continued, brushing a hand through her sexy, side-swept bangs, “I don’t know if that will ever change.”

      The unmistakable ache in her tone caught him unaware.

      He studied her, for the first time realizing she might also be a little lonely, deep down. As well as privately longing for more, too. Despite her avowals to the contrary.

      “So you’re thinking that because we both have so little spare time and energy on our hands, that we should just say no to Tammy’s request and hand the baby over to Dallas social services?”

      “No.” Violet looked at him long and hard. “I’m saying we should say yes to temporary guardianship. Bring Ava here, make sure she gets absolutely everything she needs medically and then—once we’re sure she is okay—have Mitzy help us find her a loving family who will welcome us as godparents and allow us to watch over her as she grows up.”

      Gavin heaved a sigh of relief, glad to find her being as pragmatic, compassionate and levelheaded as the situation demanded. Having been orphaned himself, albeit when he was about to enter medical school, he couldn’t live with himself if he turned his back on another parentless child.

      It was bad enough the way he had let his own family down, by not being as available as he should have been in that difficult time.

      He’d tried to make up for it since—by returning to Laramie for his residency and taking a permanent job there.

      But if he had it to do all over again, he would have done what was right for everyone—not just him.

      “That’s what I think we should do, too,” he said firmly.

      “Then it’s decided?” Violet asked.

      Gavin nodded. The idea of raising a child with such a sweet and sexy woman had been a nice, brief fantasy—but that was all it was; a tantalizing idea. One he was far too practical to waste any time pondering.

      “I’ll call Mitzy and tell her that we’ve talked and decided what we want to do.”

      * * *

      “WHO KNOWS? THIS might be just the change you’ve been looking for,” Lacey McCabe told Violet two days later.

      Violet looked at her mother. An accomplished physician and neonatologist, and head of the pediatrics department at LCH, she had come down to the ambulance bay to await the arrival of baby Ava.

      Violet refused to encourage her mother’s hope that all six of her daughters would end up with children of their own, in marriages just as solid and strong as hers. “It’s just a temporary guardianship, Mom.”

      “I know you think that now, but babies have a way of latching on to your heart.”

      “Not in this case,” Violet insisted.

      She wasn’t ready for motherhood.

      She certainly wasn’t the best choice, long-term, for an orphaned newborn.

      But with the help of her family, and Gavin’s, she could do the right thing, in the short run. That, she knew.

      “Just don’t confuse the love you and Gavin will no doubt feel for this child for anything else,” her mother continued.

      Violet blinked. “Like what?”

      Lacey shrugged. “Babies in jeopardy have a way of bringing people together in other ways, too.” She paused, concern in her eyes. “Ways that don’t last.”

      Was her mother intimating that she and Gavin would become closer, too, as a consequence? “You don’t need to worry about that,” Violet huffed, folding her arms across her chest. “Gavin and I know how to work together for the good of a patient—or in this case, a ward—without crossing any boundaries.”

      Lacey nodded, her maternal gaze cautious. “In any case,” she went on, with an approving hug, “I want you to know your father and I are proud of the way you and Gavin are stepping up to take on this unexpected responsibility.”

      Gavin joined them. He’d been on the midnight-to-noon ER shift. Clad in surgical scrubs with a shadow of beard on his face, he looked as ruggedly handsome as always. He smiled at Violet and her mom. “Jackson said the same to me a little while ago,” he confirmed.

      Lacey’s dad was not just LCH’s chief of staff, he was also famously protective of all six of his daughters. He never hesitated to offer encouragement or to step in with a word of caution if he thought one of them was headed down the wrong path.

      “In fact, I think everyone at the hospital is interested in doing what they can for the little one.” Gavin hovered closer. “How much longer until they get here?”

      Violet dutifully consulted her watch. “Should be any minute now. In fact, Mitzy should be here shortly, too.”

      Right on cue, the social worker appeared. She had a clipboard full of papers to be signed.

      The next few minutes were spent filling out the appropriate paperwork. By the time they’d finished, the ambulance pulled up beneath the portico. The doors opened and the incubator containing baby Ava was brought out. They caught only a distant glimpse of the newborn as she was whisked through a series СКАЧАТЬ