She was in a bed with a rough white sheet. There were cabinets, a door. Her eyes drifted closed, her head aching. The last thing she remembered, she’d been at the college, walking outside with Latham. Snatches of memory drifted up...an ambulance...sirens.
Her eyes snapped open and her hands searched out her tummy, where Ada grew, and tears slid down the side of her face as she realized the baby was still there. Ada Jane moved under her hands, and she breathed, Thank you, Jesus.
Her belly was wrapped in two wide elastic bands. She looked around to see if she could figure out what they were hooked to and saw the tiny heart blipping on the monitor. Thank you, Jesus, thank you.
The door opened and Latham came in, dressed in scrubs. He was at her side in a second. “Hey, you.”
“Hey.” Her voice sounded raspy, muffled by the plastic on her face. She looked up at him, and the sweet concern in his eyes undid her. She pulled the oxygen mask off as the tears started again. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure. One minute you were talking, the next you were falling.” His voice shook, and she reached for his hand.
“You called the ambulance?”
“Yes.” He looked down at their hands, tracing the lines of her palm with his thumb.
“Ada Jane’s okay?”
He met her eyes. “Her heartbeat’s strong. I think they’re going to do an ultrasound, too.” He looked away for a second, and she knew there was something else. He took a deep breath. “There was some bleeding—a lot of bleeding—and they have to figure out what was causing it.”
“Okay.” There were feelings spinning in her head that she couldn’t even bring together as coherent thoughts. She was responsible for this little life growing inside her, and she could’ve lost her. How did you put that into words?
“Your family’s on their way. They might be here now, if you want me to get them.”
She tightened her grip on his hand. “No, not yet. Will you stay with me until we know?”
He brushed her hair away from her face with a tender and gentle hand. “I’ll be right here as long as you want me.”
Forever. She wanted him forever. The thought popped into her head, but in her heart, she knew it was true.
The door opened, and Mary Pat Haney came in, dressed in light blue scrubs, and pushing a portable machine. “Hey, you’re awake. Good. We’re going to do an ultrasound and see what’s going on with your little one.”
“Any idea what happened?”
“The ambulance brought you in. According to the EMT, you lost a good bit of blood and passed out.” Mary Pat checked the flow on the IV. “We’re giving you some fluids now, which should help.”
“How lucky did I have to be to get you as my nurse?”
Mary Pat grinned as she checked the strip scrolling out of the fetal monitor. “Not that lucky. I work in the ER here four days a week.”
“Am I having contractions?”
Mary Pat held out the strip and pointed to a couple of small waves. “Yes, here and here. Those are contractions, but not the kind that lead to premature delivery. We’ll keep an eye on them and make sure, but most likely, these are due to the general irritability of the area.”
“I’m so out of my league here. I haven’t even started childbirth classes yet.”
Her nurse laughed and pulled Wynn’s shirt up over her tummy. “I think you’ll have plenty of time. Do you need some privacy, or are we good?”
Wynn’s eyes darted to Latham’s and back to Mary Pat. “We’re good.”
“Okay, then. Ready to see this little girl?”
“Yes.” Wynn was suddenly scared again. Her palms went sweaty, her eyes glued to the monitor.
Latham squeezed her hand. “I bet she’s grown since the last time we saw her.”
Mary Pat typed in a few things, then squirted the gel on and started sliding the wand around on Wynn’s stomach. She lifted the wand and tried again. “Ah, there’s Baby Girl’s heart. It looks perfect.”
Wynn wanted to be strong, but the sound of that heartbeat filling the room made her cry again. It was so beautiful and steady.
Mary Pat squinted at the screen, moving the wand, holding it, tap-tapping the keys, taking measurements. “The amount of fluid around the baby looks good.” She ran the wand around the side of Wynn’s belly. “Okay. Let’s see if we can get a look at her face, just so you can rest easy.”
She ran the wand across Wynn’s upper abdomen and around. “There she is.”
The image wasn’t as clear as with the ultrasound at the doctor’s office, but Wynn could see the little eyes and nose and mouth.
Latham’s eyes were on the monitor, too. “Thank God.”
His voice was shaking with emotion, and Mary Pat glanced over at him with a curious look. She didn’t ask, though, just took the wand off of Wynn’s belly, wiped the gel away and handed her a tissue.
Her old friend backed out the door with the portable ultrasound. “You rest, Wynn. The doctor will be in to talk to you in a few minutes.”
Before the door had closed completely, it opened again and Bertie rushed in, concern for her own child on her face. “The people at the desk said I could come back. Are you okay, baby?”
Wynn burst into tears, and the worried look on Bertie’s face softened. She took Wynn’s other hand. “You and my granddaughter are going to be just fine.”
Bertie looked at Latham over Wynn’s head, the question in her eyes. He nodded. “She’s going to be okay.”
A soft knock sounded at the door just before it was pushed open by a doctor in scrubs and a white coat.
“I’m Dr. Dearling.” He shook hands with Bertie and Latham and patted Wynn on the leg before checking the strip on the monitor. He looked at it for a couple of seconds and then stepped to the side where he could see Wynn’s face. “So, here’s where we are. The baby’s looking good. Your vital signs are good. I looked at the ultrasound film. The ultrasound showed that your placenta is low in the uterus—a condition called placenta previa. The bleeding was probably caused by your exam at the doctor today.”
“Will the condition affect the baby?”
“No. She’ll continue growing just like she has been. The hope is that the condition will resolve itself. If it doesn’t, you’ll be scheduled for a C-section a few days before your due date.”
It wasn’t the way she’d imagined it going, but if she could deliver a healthy baby, she didn’t care.
The doctor pulled the computer monitor close to him and started typing while he talked. “We want you to rest and stay off your feet for the next couple of days and then take it easy for the rest of your pregnancy. No heavy lifting or strenuous exercise. Got it?”
“I’m going home?”
He glanced up from the computer monitor where he’d been typing and smiled. “Yes, we’re cutting you loose. Once you sign the discharge papers, you’ll be good to go.”
“I’ll take you home and stay with you tonight,” Bertie said, her tone leaving no room for argument.
Wynn looked at Latham. There were things that she wanted to say—needed to say. If nothing else, today had shown her that life wasn’t a given.
She didn’t want to wait any longer.
As if she suddenly realized the tension in the room, Bertie said, “I’m gonna run out and share what’s going on with Jules and Joe. I’ll be right back, Wynn.”
With Bertie gone, Latham sat on the edge of the bed, facing Wynn. He hadn’t let go of her hand since he first came in. “I don’t want to take my eyes off of you. That twenty minutes or so between the time the ambulance took you and the time I saw you again was the longest twenty minutes of my life.”
“I love you, Latham.” The words came easily to her now, and she wondered why she’d waited so long to just tell him how she felt.
His eyes went glossy and he looked a
way, and for a second she froze. But his gaze came back to hers, and his face was so full of love that she could barely breathe.
He smiled down at her. “Do you remember when we were in eighth grade, and I fell out of Ash’s tree house and broke my arm?”
She nodded.
“You wouldn’t leave my side until Gran got there, and you threatened to punch Ash in the face because he laughed when I cried a little. I fell in love with you that day. I haven’t stopped loving you since.” He brushed his fingers down her cheek, sliding them around to cup her neck as he leaned forward to kiss her, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
His lips hovered over hers, and she held his face with both of her hands, just breathing.
The door opened, and her mother came in, took in the scene and backed out into the hall again.
Latham smiled into Wynn’s eyes and kissed her. “Can I come see you tomorrow?”
“Yes, if you bring doughnuts.”
He laughed as he opened the door. “I wouldn’t dare show up without doughnuts.”
* * *
The next morning, Latham picked up their favorite twists at Take the Cake and got to Red Hill Farm around nine. He knew it was early. Wynn might even still be asleep. He just couldn’t wait to see her.
He picked up the bag of doughnuts, walked around the pond and knocked on the door to Wynn’s cottage.
Bertie answered, her purse over her shoulder. “Hey, Latham. I was just heading over to the Hilltop. You’ll be able to stick around today?”
“I plan on sticking around a lot longer than just today.”
Wynn’s mom laughed. “Well, then. I wish you luck.”
Wynn appeared in the door as Bertie was leaving. She looked a little tired, a smudge of purple under her beautiful blue eyes, but she had color in her face again. “Hey, I thought I heard you out here.”
“You’re not supposed to be on your feet.”
“Well, I had to answer the door.” She took the bag from his hands and opened it. “Oh, these smell so good.”
“Want to sit on the porch swing? It’s quiet out here. Kids are in school.”
“Sure.” She grabbed a long sweater from the chair beside the door and wrapped it around her, settling in the swing beside him, putting her feet on the wooden crate he nudged over in front of her.
He offered her a doughnut, and they swung and ate for a minute. The morning was peaceful. The pond was still, the surface shiny, the grass beginning to green up as the weather warmed. Birds chattered in the trees, and a soft breeze whispered through the pine trees. He realized with Wynn beside him, he was content. “I didn’t sleep much last night. I kept replaying all that happened and just praying, thanking God that you and Ada are okay.”
“I know. I slept but every time I woke up, I kept remembering waking up in the hospital and not knowing how I got there.”
He swung them for a few beats. “I love you, Wynn. I know I said it last night, but I want you to hear me say it in the light of day. I love you. No qualifications, no reservations. I just...love you.”
Wynn sniffed, and he handed her a napkin out of the doughnut bag to wipe her eyes. “I got a job. It’s here in Red Hill Springs.”
“Where?”
“I’m going to be working with Garrett Cole in his law practice. It’s different from anything I’ve ever done, but I’m having a baby. My life would be different anyway.”
His heart was so full. She’d made a choice and she was staying. “That’s great, Wynn. Congratulations.”
“I told Mayor Campbell that I’d take Charlie’s position on the town council, too. It doesn’t pay anything except a small token honorarium, but I want to contribute.” She turned to him. “This is silly, but I’ve always thought of myself as having wings. Red Hill Springs might be a home base, but I’d fly off to other places to live my life. I know now that Red Hill Springs is also where my roots are, and those roots are deep. I want my daughter to be grounded here.”
She paused. “I didn’t know I could love a person as much as I love you. I fought so hard against it. It didn’t seem right or fair to bring my crazy, messed-up life into yours. But the more I tried to fight it, the more I realized that you’ve always been it for me. All the years in between disappeared as soon as I saw you again. I’m not leaving.”
That was all he needed to hear.
He dug in his pocket with trembling fingers and pulled out the ring his grandpa had given him. “You don’t have to promise me that. If you decided to leave, I’d figure out a way to go with you. If it’s all or nothing, I choose all. Please marry me, Wynn.”
She was openly crying now, but she held out her hand for him to slide the ring onto her finger. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
His leather satchel was next to the swing on the porch floor. He reached into it and pulled out a box and handed it to her. “This is for you, too.”
She pulled the top off and breathed a slow, “Oh!”
He’d fashioned a bird’s nest and had carved three smooth, shiny eggs out of mahogany. Attached to the nest was a brown kraft paper tag. She pulled it out and read the words on it out loud, “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.” She turned, searching out his eyes. “Jane Eyre?”
“You said you liked the book. I’ve been reading it.” He took a deep, shaky breath. He wasn’t sure he was going to say this well, even now. “The nest is home. The three eggs—those are you and me and Ada—our family.”
Her lip trembled. “And the quote?”
“The next part of the quote, the part I didn’t write there, says, which I now exert to leave you. You’ve always had a vision beyond yourself, Wynn. That certainty about your calling is what drew me to you all those years ago. I don’t want you to change that part of you. Our home is here because you choose it, not because I would force you to stay. It’s important to me that you know that.”
She grabbed his face between her two hands and kissed him—a warm, solid, tear-salty kiss. “I love you. You make dreams come true that I didn’t even know I had. I can’t wait to see the adventures we’ll have together.”
His hand slid around her tummy, cradling it in his big palm. “Our Ada Jane is going to be very loved.”
“And so are you.” Wynn smiled and kissed him.
With Wynn in his arms to stay, Latham knew that the years of waiting in between their first kiss and the first kiss of their new life together had been worth it.
Epilogue
Once again, Latham stood beside a hospital bed wearing scrubs...and the most adorable expression of abject love Wynn had ever seen, as he looked down at Ada Jane’s tiny red face.
Wynn smiled up at her husband and brand-new baby girl. “Less than an hour old, and she’s already got you wrapped around her itty-bitty finger.”
“She does, and that’s absolutely as it should be. Baby girl, you had Daddy’s heart from the first second I saw you.” He kissed Ada’s forehead and gently lowered her into Wynn’s arms. “Just like your mama. Oh, honey, you did so good.”
The door opened. Claire and Joe came in with a giant bouquet of pink balloons. Penny skipped beside them, but when she saw Latham, she ran to him, giggling as he lifted her into his arms and tossed her in the air.
“A certain someone insisted that her baby sister would like balloons better than flowers.” Joe tied them to the edge of the rolling tray beside the bed and grinned down at his sister and new baby niece. “She’s pretty cute. You did good, sis.”
“You want to see her?” Latham asked Penny, who nodded her head vigorously, blond ponytails bobbing. When Penny became free for adoption a few weeks after Wynn and Latham got married, they’d moved quickly to add the sweet little girl to their family. A week later, a judge had given them custody, and they’d be finalizing the adoption
next month.
She might not have been born to them, but Penny was their daughter in every way that counted, and she was thriving as permanency became more of a reality. And she wasn’t the only one—Pop doted on her, now that he truly was her grandpa.
Latham set Penny down on the bed beside Wynn, who snuggled the little girl into her side and eased the baby over so Penny could see.
“She’s so sweet,” Penny said, as she touched Ada’s hand with one fingertip, the nail painted pale pink.
Latham kissed Wynn on the head. “I’m the luckiest man in the world to have my three girls.”
Claire snapped a photo with her phone and shook her head. “I can’t argue with that. You’re pretty lucky—but so are they.”
With her husband and two daughters gathered around her, Wynn knew she was a part of an amazing family. She remembered the night she’d come to visit Claire and Joe when their baby was born. That night, she’d felt so alone and wondered if she would ever have a family of her own.
Penny liked to say she’d found her forever family. Wynn knew she’d found hers, too. They might not have become a family in the traditional way, but they were a family who loved each other enough to choose that love every single day.
* * * * *
If you loved this story, pick up the other books
in the FAMILY BLESSINGS series,
THE DAD NEXT DOOR
A BABY FOR THE DOCTOR
from author Stephanie Dees
Available now from Love Inspired!
Find more great reads at www.LoveInspired.com
Keep reading for an excerpt from AN UNEXPECTED AMISH ROMANCE by Patricia Davids.
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Dear Reader,
I knew Wynn was a larger-than-life character when she first appeared in A Baby for the Doctor. She’s a world-changer with big dreams...and she’d made a big mistake. She needed a hero who could show her that even big mistakes can be redeemed by the God of restoration! Thankfully Latham (and his grandpa) were up for the job!
Their Secret Baby Bond Page 17