The Boss's Baby Surprise. Lilian Darcy

and prune a branch.

      Celie had the phone number of her mom’s neighbor Mrs. Pascoe in her address book, and she’d called a couple of times in the past to ask Mrs. Pascoe to check next door.

      “Sure I’ll go across, honey,” Mrs. Pascoe told her today. “Just don’t you worry, okay?”

      But when Mrs. Pascoe called Celie back a few minutes later, her voice sounded very different.

      “Thank heaven you called me when you did, Cecilia!”

      Her mother had fallen from her step stool two hours ago while trying to change a lightbulb in the kitchen. She’d broken her leg, and she hadn’t been able to get to the phone.

      “I’ve already called 911,” Mrs. Pascoe told her. “The ambulance is on its way.”

      Celie hung on the line, shaky and hardly able to breathe, and it seemed like an hour before the other woman came back to the phone again to report, “She’s going to be okay, although the paramedics say it looks like a bad break. They’ve just left, and they’re taking her to Riverside. You can probably hear the sirens in the background. She’s in shock, after lying on that cold floor for so long.”

      Mrs. Pascoe hung up, but Celie’s fingers were curled tightly around the phone and she couldn’t seem to let it go. Nick appeared in the doorway while the receiver still hung in her hand.

      “Kyla said—” Nick stopped, midsentence. “Heck, what’s wrong, Celie? You’ve gone white.”

      “My mother’s broken her leg. She had to lie in pain on the kitchen floor for two hours, with no help on its way. I dreamed about it. Which is just so weird.”

      “You dreamed your mother broke her leg?”

      “Yes. I saw a figure lying on a floor, only I didn’t know who it was. Someone in the dream told me, ‘Call her in the morning.’ I remembered the dream just now, so I did call her, and when I did…” She took a shuddery breath. “Thank heaven I called!”

      “Celie, it’s all right. Keep remembering to breathe, okay? Are you going to faint?”

      “No.” She’d never fainted in her life, and didn’t intend to start now.

      “Help is with her now, right?”

      “She’s in the ambulance.”

      “So it’s okay. And for heaven’s sake, don’t worry about a little thing like a dream!”

      “No. Of course. You’re right.”

      Celie felt herself sway. She didn’t think she would have fainted, since she never had before and was so determined not to, but when Nick’s arms came around her for support, strong and warm, she clung on to her boss for dear life and whispered hoarsely, “Don’t let go.”