Wyatt continued to hold her up, but shock rendered him speechless. He wanted to toss the lot of them out on their fancy backsides. They had some nerve showing up when Casey was an emotional wreck at this stage in her pregnancy.
Suzette Sinclair, a tall, elegantly groomed woman, set her designer handbag right on top of Wyatt’s photos while she removed her leather gloves. “Casey, dear. Dane only arrived home from his travels yesterday. Imagine Richard’s and my shock to learn you two are expecting a baby. We know our son can be impetuous. But I’m very surprised by you, Casey. Why on earth didn’t you tell us?”
Casey sagged against Wyatt, who tightened his hand on her waist and hugged her to him more closely.
“And who is this?” Suzette asked, running a dismissive eye over Wyatt.
“Uh, this is Wyatt Keene. He owns the studio. Wyatt, meet my ex-husband and his parents. Dane, Suzette and Richard Sinclair.” Casey struggled to be polite. She clung to Wyatt, grabbing his arm tightly when he tried to release her after the introductions.
Richard Sinclair clamped a beefy hand around the back of his son’s neck and pushed him forward. Dane continued to stare angrily at the floor. Richard’s lips thinned. “Casey, you’re exactly what this young idiot needs. A wife and child will ground him. He’s assured me he has the wanderlust out of his system. Tell her, Dane.”
But the minute Dane looked up at her, Casey knew not one thing about him had changed. She’d never seen a man less eager to be saddled with a wife and baby. Not that she would ever take him back.
Suzette stepped forward and laid a hand on her son’s shoulder. “Yes, tell her, Dane. Tell Casey about the deal you and your father worked out. She comes back to Dallas, you remarry, and we’ll see you have a nice place to live. And Casey,” she chirped, “Dane’s agreed to work in the family business. There’s no need to rely on that silly pub anymore. We understand you two may need to patch up some hard feelings, but Richard and I will do everything we can to help you salvage your marriage. After all, you’ll soon be giving birth to our first grandchild.”
Wyatt let go of Casey so quickly, it was as if it hurt him to touch her. He shoved Mrs. Sinclair’s expensive handbag aside and hastily scraped together his photographs. Dumping them under the counter, he grabbed his camera and left the studio without a word.
Casey recognized the flash of raw pain in Wyatt’s eyes. But she had to deal with the immediate problem first. She was furious with Dane. His surly attitude, and the fact that he didn’t so much as say hello, shouted that there was no chance he wanted to mend his ways.
“Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair, I’m so sorry we hurt you by keeping this from you. I felt Dane should be the one to tell you. I’m also sorry you’ve wasted your time driving down here. It’s over between Dane and me. There is no marriage to salvage.”
Dane shot her a dirty look, but he snatched up his mother’s purse and gloves. “I told you both that, but you wouldn’t listen. Can’t you see she doesn’t want to marry me again, any more than I want to marry her? You saw that guy, her boss. I’ll bet he’s not just her boss,” he added with a sneer.
“Shut up, Dane.” Casey pounded a fist on the counter. “Don’t you dare criticize Wyatt. It’s thanks to him I have food on my table and a roof over my head. Did you tell your parents how you left me—and your unborn baby—with no money and no income?” She held fast to the counter as Dane quickly herded his parents out of the studio before she could say more.
Casey was already sobbing in fury and frustration when a pain tore through her abdomen. Crying out, she sagged against the counter. She needed to calm down. She’d been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions on and off for the past week. She hadn’t told Wyatt, but she’d mentioned them to Tori Evans at their last class. Tori explained that the contractions were from the baby moving into position for delivery. So Casey was fairly confident that this new intensity had simply been caused by the confrontation with the Sinclairs.
Nevertheless, Tori had said that if there was any change, Casey should go to the clinic to be checked out. She scribbled a note to Wyatt, in case he came back to the studio. If she didn’t hear from him by the time she finished at the clinic, she’d track him down. She needed to set him straight about what had just happened.
Propping up the note where Wyatt was sure to see it, she reached for her jacket. A second pain struck, even more intense than the last. It nearly drove Casey to her knees. She felt a ripple of fear. If these were actual labor pains, they were two weeks early.
She needed Wyatt. No matter how many times she’d accused him of being over protective, she was scared, and he was the only person whose help she wanted.
She’d already reached for her phone when her water broke. Her baby was going to make his or her entrance early. Casey fought pain and fear, yet all she could think was how badly she needed Wyatt. As another pain tore through her, she pressed the speed dial button with shaking hands and prayed he’d take her call.
WYATT HAD DRIVEN FOUR or so blocks from the studio when he asked himself what he thought he was doing. He was acting like a jerk—no better than Dane. Casey hadn’t wanted him to go. She’d clutched his arm, and he’d seen the pleading look in her eyes. He knew he was going back. His love for Casey and her baby was strong enough to stand up to the Sinclairs.
After making an illegal U-turn, Wyatt was on his way to the studio when his cell rang. He glanced at the call display and his heart leaped as he saw Casey’s name.
The strain in her voice as she told him she was in labor made him press harder on the accelerator. “Hang on, babe. It’s okay. It’s okay. Breathe deep. Casey, honey, I was already on my way back.”
Wyatt roared into the parking lot, and left his car door standing open. He burst into the studio, ready to do battle with the whole Sinclair clan. He found Casey alone, curled up on the floor, chanting his name.
“Here, let me help you up. Calm down. Did you call an ambulance? What do you need?”
“I need you, Wyatt. I…my water broke a few minutes…several minutes ago. The pains are really close together now. Will you phone the hospital and let them know to expect me? I’m sorry…so sorry to put you through this.” She broke off and started the breathing they’d practiced.
Wyatt cradled her in his arms. Using the techniques he’d learned in the classes, he calmed himself and Casey, then called for an ambulance.
Wyatt soothed her with encouraging words, and held her hand as the ambulance arrived minutes later and sped them both to the hospital.
He tried not to panic as nurses whisked Casey away and ordered him to wait until they had her settled. He shoved his hands in his pockets and felt the ring he’d bought. He pulled it out, but dropped it and it bounced across the floor. He retrieved it and when the nurse beckoned, he tucked it in his shirt pocket and hurriedly followed her down the hall. He took a seat in the chair next to Casey’s bed. “It’s okay, sweetheart,” he murmured, wiping the sweat from her pale face. “We’re going to get through this together. And everything’s going to be okay.”
“I trust you, Wyatt. There’s no person in the world I trust more.”
That was the last of their private conversation as things moved quickly. The doctor on call, not the doctor Casey knew, came in, checked her and announced she was crowning. Within minutes, the OB passed Wyatt a pair of scissors to cut the cord of the red, squalling infant.
“You have your girl,” Wyatt whispered, kissing Casey’s forehead as the nurse set the baby on her chest.
“Is she okay?” Casey asked shakily.
“She’s small, but she has great lungs,” the doctor said with a grin. “We’ll get a weight and measure. If her appetite is as healthy as her lungs, you two can take her home in a couple of days, and enjoy being parents.”
“Oh, but I’m—” Wyatt started to say he wasn’t the baby’s father, but Casey gripped his hand so hard, he broke off midsentence.
“You are the only father my baby has, Wyatt. You stood by me when I
needed you. You helped usher her into the world.”
He hesitated, watching two nurses bustle about, cleaning the baby, weighing her and bundling her to tuck into the crook of Casey’s arm.
Listening to Casey coo lovingly at her daughter, Wyatt couldn’t hold back his concerns another moment. “What about the Sinclairs? Do you want me to notify them?”
“I assume they went back to Dallas. I don’t know for sure. Tomorrow, if you have time, you can hunt up their home number, and inform Suzette and Richard they have a granddaughter. I should tell Dane myself, though I made it very clear he and I are finished. I’m willing to bet everything I own that he’ll never make an effort to see me or his child again. I’m sorry for him that he won’t know his daughter, but I have to believe we’re all better off this way.”
“And how are you? I can’t even tell you how scared I was when you called, and then to find you on the floor like that…”
“It’s over, Wyatt. It was nowhere near as bad as I’d feared.”
“I’m glad. Really glad.” Relieved, Wyatt squeezed her free hand and said, “If you have a cell number for the Sinclairs, I’ll call them now.”
“Hang on. I’ll see if I can remember Suzette’s number.” She thought a moment and rattled it off.
“Sure you don’t want to call them yourself?” Wyatt asked one last time.
Casey shook her head. “I don’t want to talk to them right now. I think their visit started my labor. I won’t restrict their rights as grandparents, but I’m also not about to go out of my way for them. If you’d rather not call, Wyatt, I’ll write a note and send them a picture when I get home. Oh, where’s your camera? I already bought a baby album. I can’t wait to start filling it. She’s so beautiful, isn’t she? Will you also phone the Howells?”
“She’s the spitting image of you, Casey,” Wyatt said with feeling. “Uh, I’ll go make those calls. Then it’ll be done. I apologize for roaring off like that, leaving you to deal with Sinclairs. I thought…”
Casey broke in. “I know what you thought, Wyatt. But how could you believe I’d take Dane back after the way he treated me?”
“I realized that a few blocks from the studio. I have a lot of making up to do, Casey. When I come back I’ll try and explain.” He hurriedly left her room. She watched him go, and sighed as he disappeared.
Dropping a kiss on her daughter’s forehead, she let herself wonder how, with the baby’s early arrival, she could continue to work for Wyatt. She’d expected to have another two weeks or so, and their appointment calendar was full.
Wyatt wasn’t gone more than a few minutes. “I reached Mrs. Sinclair. They haven’t made it to Dallas yet.”
“Oh, no. They aren’t coming back, are they?” Casey clasped the sleeping infant more tightly.
“No. She thanked me for the call, said they’d send flowers. After I indicated you weren’t going to ask Dane for monetary support, she said she and her husband are still interested in being long-distance grandparents. It wasn’t exactly a lengthy conversation. As you might have expected, Dolly and Len are ecstatic and will be here as soon as they can.”
Wyatt held up a disposable camera. “I bought this at the gift shop.” He snapped several shots of Casey and the baby. “Not exactly professional, but you’re both so beautiful, it doesn’t matter.”
“Flatterer. I look a sight. Wyatt, while you were out, a nurse poked her head in and said she’d be back in a few minutes to help me feed the baby. I won’t ask you to stay. I don’t want to embarrass you. But…would you like to hold her until then? Of course, you don’t have to.”
Wyatt swallowed repeatedly, fighting back emotion as he reached out to take the baby. “I’m not embarrassed. And I wouldn’t miss it for anything. Oh, she’s lighter than a puppy.”
Casey laughed, but then her eyes got dewy when Wyatt’s face softened with love as he cradled her baby.
The nurse came in, and Wyatt hated to end the moment. “Nurse…Lewis, is it? Would you give me a moment to say something to Casey before you help her feed the baby?” He passed the infant to the nurse, and dug to the bottom of his shirt pocket.
“We can’t keep calling her ‘the baby,’ Wyatt. Before you leave, will you help me name her?”
Wyatt produced the engagement ring he’d been carrying around for weeks. “I know you’re talking about the first and middle names.” Wyatt’s voice cracked as he held Casey’s left hand. “Last time I asked you to marry me I went about it all wrong. I’m asking again, out of love. Please, will you and your little princess do me the honor of leaving the hospital as Keenes? Last time, I was too afraid to say I love you. I was afraid I’d lose you. When I came back to the studio today, I knew I’d do anything it took to keep you and your baby. Our baby,” he corrected.
Casey cried, and held out her hand so Wyatt could slip the ring on her finger. “I love you, too, Wyatt. With all my heart. I accept.”
He bent to kiss her, but the nurse said, “Wait!” Continuing to sway with the baby, she pointed. “I see a camera. If this isn’t a picture moment in your lives, nothing ever will be.” She handed Casey the newborn. Wyatt happily relinquished the camera.
Some time later, when the two of them were again alone with the baby, Wyatt took pictures of her sleeping, and of Casey smiling happily.
“I predict this will be the most loved, and most photographed child in the universe. We’ll fill a dozen albums.” Bending over Casey, he kissed her, then sat on the edge of the bed and stroked the infant’s tiny, curled fingers. “I’m not sure I can articulate how much I love you and her,” he said, his voice choked with emotion. “Will you marry me before it’s time to leave the hospital? I wish the birth certificate could show I’m her father. It can’t, but I will press Dane to let me adopt her.”
“A hospital bed beats getting married in a microbrewery. Will you invite Brenda and the others? I want our friends to be our witnesses, not strangers. And…I’d like my foster parents here,” she said. “Tomorrow. Can we get married then?”
Wyatt squeezed her hand. “We will. Casey, it’s important for me to say I knew as early as the Torreses’ dinner party that I loved you. Maybe before. I…I—”
“Hush. Better late than never. That’s in the past.”
“All right. Shall we talk about names?”
“You first,” Casey said, turning her head to watch her sleeping child.
“I know it’s technically not the holiday season anymore, but the name Merry Joy just seems fitting. The Christmas spelling of Merry.”
“Merry Joy Keene.” Casey linked her fingers with Wyatt’s. “It’s perfect, because I knew on Christmas Day that I wanted you to be her father.”
Tears sprang to Wyatt’s eyes. They kissed and he murmured. “One day we’ll tell her the good parts, how she began life with only a mother’s love and ended up with two doting parents.”
Casey slid the hand with the sparkling ring around his neck, tugged Wyatt closer and smiled against his lips. “Doting parents forever,” she said lightly.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3859-7
THE BABY ALBUM
Copyright © 2009 by Rosaline D. Fox.
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The Baby Album Page 19