An ashen-faced Lucas, barefooted with his shirt unbuttoned and hanging open and his dark hair tousled as if he’d combed it with a fork, stood in the doorway. Nikki couldn’t help thinking that despite his distress, he looked rather sexy, rumpled. Heather, crying for all she was worth, was propped on his left hip. He was subtly rocking her, but the normally soothing motion seemed to have no effect on his daughter.
Nikki was surprised that he could even hear the doorbell with all this noise.
The relief she saw on Lucas’s face was almost palpable. He looked at her as if he expected her to perform a miracle.
“You got here quickly.” Lucas practically shouted to be heard above Heather’s wails. He backed up and opened the door farther.
Crossing the threshold, Nikki raised her voice and said, “I don’t live that far away.” Putting her bag down, she gently took Heather from him. “Let’s have a look at the patient.” Tears slid down Heather’s chubby cheeks but her wails went down half a notch as the baby looked at her curiously.
Heather was waiting for a miracle, too, Nikki thought, feeling for the anguish the baby was experiencing.
The wails started up again in earnest, stronger than before. “I know, honey, I know. You hurt. But we’re going to make you feel all better. I promise.” Raising her eyes to Lucas, she asked, “Where can I examine her?”
“Her room’s upstairs, but you can use the sofa.” He gestured toward it.
There was a pink blanket, half on the floor, half draped over the cushions, hiding most of the soft, navy leather sofa from view. From what Nikki could see, it was a finely crafted piece of furniture but its importance, like everything else in the very cluttered room, had fallen by the wayside, taking a backseat to his sick daughter’s needs.
Glancing swiftly around at the surroundings, Nikki took it all in. The living room looked like a tornado had hit it. There was no reason to believe that the clutter was isolated to one room.
Either Lucas hadn’t yet gotten the hang of being a father, or ministering to a sick baby had completely undone him. Most likely, it was a little bit of both, topped off with the burdensome fact that the man was still trying to deal with the cross-country move and settling into his new home. Sealed boxes stamped with a moving company’s logo were shoved into various corners.
“Sofa it is,” Nikki agreed.
But when she went to deposit Heather on to the blanket, Nikki bit back a gasp. Heather had managed to grab fistfuls of her hair, holding on for dear life. The pain went shooting across Nikki’s scalp.
Very carefully, Nikki coaxed the baby’s hands open, detangling herself from Heather in order to put the little girl down on the sofa. It wasn’t easy.
“C’mon, Heather, let go of the doctor,” Lucas urged, managing to help loosen the baby’s grip.
Finally free, Nikki commented, “You weren’t kidding about her being hot.” Just holding the baby against her had allowed the extreme difference in body temperature to register.
The anguish in Lucas’s eyes intensified. “Should I call 911 for an ambulance?” By the time the question was out of his mouth, he was halfway across the room, reaching for the telephone.
But Nikki raised her hand to stop him. “We’re not there yet.” Not wanting to shout over the baby’s cries, she beckoned Lucas over to the sofa. “Watch her for a minute for me.” They traded places and he sat down, using his body to barricade Heather on the sofa. “Where can I wash my hands?” Nikki asked.
“Kitchen’s right over there.” Lucas pointed to the doorway on the left.
“Be right back,” she promised. Her words were addressed to the baby.
More clutter met her when Nikki walked into the kitchen. Dishes were piled up in the sink, empty boxes of take-out food overflowing the steel garbage container. It looked as if the man hadn’t had a moment to himself since he’d moved in.
She washed her hands and used one of the last sheets from the paper-towel rack to dry them. Returning to the living room, Nikki reclaimed her place on the sofa beside the baby.
“If you could bring my medical bag to me,” she told Lucas as she sat down, “I’ll get started.”
The request caught Lucas off guard. He looked around the room, at a loss. “Where…?”
The man really was tired, Nikki thought, amused. But even worn-out, he still looked damn good. With his shirt hanging open like that, she could see that there were ridges where most men had the beginning of a gut. Somewhere along the line, he had to have found time to work out. Either that, or he was just very blessed.
“It’s right by the door.” She pointed to where she’d dropped the bag.
The expression on his face said he vaguely remembered that she’d come in with it. “Oh, right.” Lucas fetched the navy blue bag and hurried back with it. A rueful smile came and went from his lips as he held it out to her. “Sorry, I’m not usually so scattered.”
Her smile was warm and reassuring as she glanced up at him. “It takes a bit to get the hang of it. Nobody’s born knowing how to be a parent and unfortunately, babies don’t come with instruction manuals. Even if they did,” she laughed softly, “it would all change the second they popped out.”
Opening the bag, she took out a pair of rubber gloves and pulled them on. Nikki debated for a moment between using a strip thermometer and going with the more accurate rectal kind. She opted for the strip. No point in making the baby even more uncomfortable, she thought. She could make allowances for the point difference.
Lucas stared at what looked like a strip of colored paper. “What’s that?”
“It’s a different kind of thermometer,” she told him. “Noninvasive.”
He regarded the rectangular strip dubiously. “Is it any good?” And then, laughing shortly, he dismissed his own question. “Of course it has to be good. You wouldn’t be using it if it wasn’t.” Trying to see what had registered on the strip, Lucas stood beside her and leaned in to read what number had been reached. The angle made it difficult to make out. “What does it say?” he asked.
Despite the situation, Nikki realized how aware she was of Lucas standing next to her, as close as a breath, with his shirt just hanging open, an impressive physique for the viewing.
But, just like with the overly cluttered living area, she managed to block it out.
Removing the strip from Heather’s forehead, she raised her eyes from the thermometer to Lucas’s face. “It says ‘take a deep breath, Mr. Wingate,’” she deadpanned.
For a second, Lucas looked at his daughter’s doctor, confused. And then he got it—and felt like an idiot. “Oh, you’re kidding.”
“Obviously not very successfully,” she conceded. Looking at the strip, she announced the numbers. “It’s 103 point seven.”
“103 point seven,” he echoed, his throat all but closing up on him. His eyes darted toward Nikki’s face. How could she be taking that in so calmly? Lucas tried not to panic, but he barely succeeded. “Shouldn’t we be putting Heather into a tub filled with cool water or something?”
“If it starts to climb higher or doesn’t break in an hour or so, yes, we could do that. But only if it’s absolutely necessary.”
He bit his tongue to keep from saying that he thought it was necessary now.
As Lucas watched, the doctor methodically and swiftly checked Heather’s ears, her nose and her throat, all under the most vehement protests, the type that could have jarred all the teeth of an enraged bull.
Listening to Heather’s chest was a particularly tricky feat. Nikki got an earful, mostly of the baby’s loud cries. Nikki felt as if her head began to vibrate. Removing the stethoscope, she dropped it into her medical bag.
Finished with her quick exam, Nikki came to what she felt was an appropriate conclusion. Not one to draw things out for a dramatic effect, she asked Heather’s father matter-of-factly, “Have you noticed Heather drooling the last few days?”
Since Heather had come into his life, Lucas found himself going through a
lot more shirts than he used to. Several of them had been so heavily stained, they had to be thrown away.
“She always drools,” he told the pediatrician with a dry laugh.
Nikki rephrased her question. “Have you noticed her drooling a lot more in the last few days, then?”
About to say no, Lucas stopped and thought for a minute. Unsettled by her exam, Heather was crying even louder than before and it was difficult for him to concentrate. When he finally managed to, he suddenly remembered.
“Now that you mention it, yes, I have. Why?” His eyes widened warily as fear reappeared, darker and bolder than before. “What does it mean? What does Heather have?”
Nikki noticed Lucas was holding his breath. He was obviously afraid of what she was about to tell him. Now that she’d made her diagnosis, the first order of business was to calm him down. Quickly.
“Nothing dangerous,” she assured the man with feeling. “From all indications, Heather is cutting her first tooth.”
“A tooth?” he repeated incredulously. All this fuss over a tooth? It just didn’t seem possible. “Isn’t Heather a little too young for that?”
“Not at all. Most babies get their first tooth sometime between four months and seven months, although some are even older and occasionally, the rare baby is born with teeth. When that happens, they usually have to pull them.”
It didn’t make sense to Lucas.
“Why?”
“Several reasons, actually,” she told him. “Babies wind up biting their tongues, sinking their teeth into their lips, things like that. It’s safer for the baby—and the poor mom if she’s nursing—if they’re toothless for the first few months of their lives.”
He glanced down at his daughter, who was sniffling and appeared to be gearing up for another round of wailing. Just how many tears were in that little body? Why hadn’t she worn herself out yet? Heather had certainly worn him out.
“So, this is what the fever and the crying is all about?” he asked Nikki. “Teeth?”
“Tooth,” Nikki corrected. “Just one. But it hurts like anything. The tooth is struggling to erupt through the gum. That makes her gum extremely sore.” She smiled at him. “But I’ve got something for that.”
“You do?”
She hadn’t thought that it was possible to cram in so much relief and joy into two words. “Yes, and you can get it in any pharmacy, but I usually have some available in my medical bag—just in case.” She noticed just a touch of sorrow in his expression as Lucas regarded his daughter. “Face it, Daddy. It was bound to happen. Your little girl is growing up.”
Nikki reached into the medical bag and took out a small bottle filled with an amber liquid. Putting a little on the tip of her finger, she gently inserted her finger into the baby’s mouth and then rubbed the solution along her gums, both upper and lower for good measure.
Heather momentarily closed her gums over her finger, biting down. After a few moments, the baby’s tears stopped flowing. Nikki carefully removed her finger from the girl’s mouth.
She drew in a long, cleansing breath and then released it. Her finger was throbbing. “She’s got good jaws, I’ll give her that,” Nikki quipped.
“And that’s it?” Lucas asked. “She’s going to be better?”
“To be on the safe side, I’m going to give Heather a shot of Tylenol to lower her fever, but for the most part, that should do it. You’ll need to rub more of this on her gums in the morning. And you might want to give her a teething ring as well. Keep it in the freezer until you give it to her. The cold’ll soothe her gums as she chews on it.”
Lucas seemed a little confused. Nikki read his expression correctly. “You don’t have a teething ring, do you?”
Lucas raised his shoulders in a helpless shrug. “I didn’t think she was going to need one for at least another few months.”
She thought as much. “Lucky for you, I have one of those, too.” Rummaging through the medical bag, Nikki found a teething ring, still in its original package, and took it out.
“Here, take it out of the package and put it into the freezer for the time being. You’re going to need it later.”
He took the ring from her. “You certainly do come prepared,” he marveled.
“That comes with practice,” she told him with a smile. “After a while, you learn.”
He had his doubts about that though as he went into the kitchen to put the teething ring into his freezer. Just as he walked back into the living room a couple of minutes later, Heather let out another wail.
He immediately stiffened, braced for something new. “What?”
“Like most little people, your daughter doesn’t like getting shots,” Nikki told him as she put a cap back on the needle she’d just used. There was a small container in the bottom of her bag where she inserted used needles to keep them apart from the rest of her things.
Slowly, Heather’s fussing abated. Lucas ran a hand over his daughter’s downy head. The way he felt about the child, despite his exhausted expression, was evident in his eyes.
“I don’t know how to thank you, Dr. Connors.” Reaching into his back pocket, Lucas took out his wallet. “How much do I owe you? Because, whatever it is, it isn’t enough.”
Picking the baby up, Nikki began to rock her slowly and pat her back. Heather had already stopped wailing and had finally settled down. Won’t be long now, Nikki silently promised, then turned to look at the baby’s father.
“We’ll talk about that later,” Nikki told him. She studied him for a moment, although she really didn’t need that much time to come to a conclusion. The man was dead on his feet. “When was the last time you slept, Mr. Wingate?”
“I’m not sure.” He took in a long breath. Man, he was tired. “What day of the week is it?”
“That’s what I thought. Why don’t you get some rest?” she suggested. He began to protest, but she cut him off. “I’ll stay here and monitor Heather for a little while, make sure there’s nothing else going on.”
Lucas looked at the woman who had just done the equivalent of walking on water as far as he was concerned. He was torn between a desire to take her up on her offer and knowing that her offer went far beyond anything he had a right to ask.
Making up his mind, he shook his head. “No, I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You’re not asking,” Nikki pointed out. “I offered.” Before he could turn her down again, she added, “If I’d wanted to avoid calls in the middle of the night and everything that came with them, I would have become a skin doctor, not a pediatrician. Now please, stop arguing and get a little sleep—you’ve already wasted at least three minutes arguing.”
He didn’t have the energy to argue. And, he reasoned, Heather couldn’t be in better hands right now. If he didn’t get some sleep soon, he would wind up being a danger to not just himself, but to Heather as well.
“Okay, you win. I’ll just close my eyes for a few seconds. That’s all I need,” he told her, sinking down into a recliner.
She continued swaying, holding Heather against her chest. The baby was definitely falling asleep. She kept her voice low. “You’ll feel better in bed.”
“I’ll feel guiltier in bed,” Lucas countered, his eyes closing just as his daughter’s had. “This way,” he continued, his voice growing softer, his words more spread apart, “if Heather starts to fuss again, I’ll be right here to take over.”
She was about to answer, but then she stopped. Holding the dozing Heather against her and still patting the baby’s back gently, Nikki drew closer to Lucas in order to get a better look.
And then she smiled to herself. Just as she thought. The man was out like a light.
“You’ve really been giving your Daddy a hard time, haven’t you, Heather?” she asked softly, moving away from the recliner and the sleeping man. “You’re going to have to lighten up on him a little, sweetheart, or he’s going to wear out before you’re a teenager and the real fun begins.”
The
baby curled into her, her small head nestled against her neck. All sorts of warm, liquid feelings spread out through her limbs.
Nikki sighed.
“You’re right, Mom,” she murmured quietly under her breath. “I’d really love to have one of these of my own. But there’s not much chance of that happening anytime soon, unless I wanted to go the test-tube route—and that wouldn’t be fair to the baby. So, as long as I keep picking men who leave something to be desired in the relationship department—like participation—you don’t get to be a grandmother.”
Nikki sighed, remembering the last few dating disasters, including Larry, the ob-gyn. “None of them would have made a decent father.” She glanced over toward Lucas, who was now definitely asleep. “Not like this guy. You’re a lucky little girl,” she said to Heather. “You know that? A very lucky little girl.”
Nikki took in a deep breath. There was no use in rehashing the past. Except to learn from it. The one thing she had learned was that some people just weren’t meant to get married.
In this case, that meant her.
Chapter Five
Lucas didn’t remember falling asleep. Moreover, he didn’t know exactly what it was that finally woke him up. What he did know was that, for once, it wasn’t his daughter’s crying.
It wasn’t any sort of noise at all.
If anything, his dream had startled him into wakefulness. Even that was strange. Ever since Carole had died, he hadn’t dreamt at all. But this time around, inexplicably, he had.
He dreamt that he, along with someone whom he recognized as his best friend, were doing their best to negotiate their way through an active minefield. The farther into the field he went, the harder his heart pounded.
And then there was an explosion.
His “best friend’s” luck had abruptly run out and he’d stepped on a mine. The misstep had cost the man his life.
Sweating, his heart pounding hard enough to all but crack a rib, Lucas awoke with a start.
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