Because of the Baby.... Cat Schield

it the way it sounds. It’s just that with Skye coming home, my parents are stressed out and things around the hospital have been really challenging since the tornado. I moved from the surgery team to ICU so I could be closer to Skye and am having a hard time with the nurses I’m working with. Everything I say gets twisted around. I feel as if I’m constantly walking on eggshells. It’s exhausting.”

      “Sounds like you need a break.”

      “I’m taking a week off when Grace comes home.” She gave a happy sigh. “I’ll need it to get her settled in.”

      With the crib paid for and the delivery arrangements finalized, Keaton and Lark headed back to his truck. He scanned Lark’s face as she buckled herself in. She looked worn to the bone.

      “Can I buy you dinner before I take you home?”

      She gave him a weary smile. “I’m too tired to be much company.”

      “How about takeout?”

      “Are you always this persistent?”

      Yes, when something was important to him, and Lark’s well-being was rapidly climbing his priority list. “I don’t feel right taking you home without feeding you.”

      Besides, he wanted to spend more time in her company. She intrigued him. They’d been neighbors most of their lives, their families had been at odds with each other for generations. He knew little about her beyond what was common knowledge, but had long harbored a sense that they could be kindred spirits if circumstances were different.

      “Obviously you are not going to take no for an answer and I’m too tired to argue.” She leaned her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes. “But just because I gave in this once, don’t think you can get your way every time.”

      He felt a smile tug at his lips as he started the car, but refrained from pointing out that ninety-nine percent of the time people did as he indicated because he was right. She’d figure that out soon enough.

Three

      “I’m taking Grace home today,” Lark told her comatose sister as she finished up her last shift for a week. “I hope you’re okay with that. She’s ready to leave and I’m her closest relative.”

      The closest one that wanted her, anyway.

      “I wish we could get in contact with Jake and let him know about you and Grace. It would be nice if you could wake up and tell us where he is.” She paused as her throat closed up.

      The hope that Lark had clung to while her sister’s coma had been medically induced had wavered in the days since the doctor had taken Skye off the Pentobarbital and she hadn’t awakened. As a medical professional, Lark was well aware her sister’s chances of ever waking diminished with each day that passed.

      A couple deep breaths allowed her to go on. “Since Jake hasn’t shown up yet, Keaton has offered to help me take care of her. We’re going to trade off watching her at my house. Since the tornado demolished the Holt family ranch house, he’s been living in a hunting cabin on the property and I’m sure it’s no place for Grace.”

      Lark fussed with the sheet that covered Skye, hating her sister’s stillness. Skye had always been so vivacious. So beautiful. So outgoing and personable. So not like Lark. Sometimes she wondered if they were really sisters or if one of them was the victim of a switched-at-birth scenario.

      Skye’s golden hair looked lank and listless against her pale skin. There were shadows beneath her closed eyes. After three months in the hospital the bruises and scrapes that had marred her face and arms were long healed, as was her left earlobe, probably torn during the same impact that had caused her head wound. She’d lost the diamond out of her earring, but the screw back had kept the stud in place. The hospital had given Skye’s jewelry to Lark for safekeeping, and because Skye’s phone and luggage had never been recovered, the earrings were her only possession. The lack of any sort of ring continued to dismay Lark. What had happened between Skye and Jake these last four years?

      “I bought her a crib and a changing table,” Lark continued. “Keaton picked up her bedding. All by himself. It’s really cute. Yellow with jungle animals. I set up the furniture in my sitting area, but it’s pretty cramped. For the time being, I’m going to keep her in a bassinet. I think she’ll feel more secure in a smaller space. Eventually I’ll transition her to the crib. Or you can just wake up and take care of that yourself.”

      Holding her breath was fruitless and silly, but Lark issued the challenge at least once a day and hoped that her sister would respond.

      “I don’t want to fail you,” she whispered. “I did four years ago and I’ve regretted it every day since.” Lark wiped at a trace of moisture at the corner of her eye. “Did I mention what an annoying know-it-all Keaton is?” She needed to change the subject or risk further tears. “He seems to think if he researches something thoroughly enough that he becomes an expert.”

      A smile tugged at Lark’s lips as she recalled how he’d looked the first time he held Grace. “And he’s bossy. He decided that we were going to use a diaper service instead of disposable. Didn’t even consult me. Of course, I like the idea that we won’t be loading up the landfill, but I should have at least been given an opportunity to agree.”

      The wife of Skye’s nearest neighbor came to visit. Her husband was suffering from sepsis, and his condition had been touch-and-go for the last week. Lark was happy to see he’d turned a corner toward recovery.

      “I’d better get going,” she murmured to Skye. “I’m supposed to meet Keaton in a few minutes. I’ll bring Grace by to see you before we leave and then visit in a few days once I’m sure she’s settling in okay and that Keaton is comfortable taking care of her. Before this he hadn’t had any experience with babies, and I think he’s intimidated by how tiny Grace is. But he’s been handling her quite a bit these last few days and I’m surprised how deftly he manages her diaper and dressing her.”

      With a last squeeze of Skye’s hand, Lark left the ICU. She waved to her coworkers as she walked by the nurses’ station, but only Jessa gave her a smile and it was quickly gone. As Lark rode the elevator to the pediatric floor, she wasn’t surprised how relieved she felt to have a weeklong break from the ICU nurses.

      From the beginning they’d mistaken her shyness for superiority and now did everything in their power to shun her. Lark had a hard enough time opening up to people without having to overcome hostility.

      As she stepped out of the elevator, it occurred to her that she’d never felt the least bit shy or uneasy with Keaton. The feud between their families should have made her anxious around him, yet from the moment she’d run into him in the hospital, she felt as if they’d known each other for years. Weird when he was the son of her parents’ enemy. Or maybe she felt the connection more closely because of the bad blood between their families. Heaven knew she’d thought about him often enough. Him and Jake. Especially after Skye ran off with Jake and Lark spent a lot of time wondering what was so special about a Holt that would cause her sister to choose him over her family.

      Her pulse kicked up a notch as she approached the NICU, but she didn’t see Keaton. A glance at the clock showed it was fifteen minutes before their agreed-on meeting time. She’d caught a ride to the hospital with Julie. Since she was taking Grace home after her shift, Keaton was giving her and the baby a ride home. When Lark assured him she would be fine on her own, he’d insisted on being there. His steely determination had left her torn between relief and annoyance.

      Lark approached Grace’s basinet. She was wearing a pink dress one of the NICU nurses had crocheted. A matching pink headband encircled her head. This wasn’t a normal practice, but nothing about Grace’s situation had been normal thus far and Lark was one of their own.

      “Thank you all so much,” Lark said to her colleagues as she blinked back a rush of tears that flooded her eyes. “You’ve taken such great care of Grace.”