Baby's First Christmas. Cathy Thacker Gillen

on his side in the Plexiglas crib. By the time he turned to Kate, she was just as he’d left her, fast asleep. His heart going out to her, Michael slipped her arm into her gown and tucked the covers around her.

      “Timmy wasn’t the only miracle today,” he murmured. Knowing she needed her sleep, he gently touched her cheek. Wishing he could kiss her, he slipped from the room.

      “YOU’RE LOOKING chipper this morning,” Lindy said as she came in at ten o’clock the next morning with a brimming shopping bag in one hand, a coffee and bake shop bag in the other.

      Kate knew that was true. “Maybe because I feel almost human again,” she said. She’d had a long, hot shower and shampoo and changed into her own robe and slippers. Sitting up in bed, she was smoothing the silky blond ends of her hair with a cordless curling iron. She shot Lindy a grateful glance. “Thanks for bringing my stuff over last night, by the way.” It would be a treat to face Michael Sloane in something other than maternity clothes or a hospital gown. “I don’t remember you coming in.”

      Lindy opened the decaf cappuccino she’d brought for Kate and put it on the bed tray. “That’s because you were sound asleep, and I didn’t want to wake you.”

      Kate nodded, grateful for the extra sleep. “I only woke to feed Timmy.”

      Opening her coffee, Lindy kicked off her shoes and settled in, cross-legged, at the foot of Kate’s hospital bed. “Why isn’t he still in here with you, by the way?”

      “He will be later. Right now he’s down in the nursery, getting his own bath. They’re going to keep him there for a while.” She had to force herself to remain calm as she took a sip of cappuccino and admitted, “He’s being circumcised this morning.”

      Lindy groaned in sympathy.

      Kate nodded. “Yeah, I know,” she commiserated with her sister. “It sounds like it hurts to me, too, but Michael and Timmy’s pediatrician swear he won’t feel any discomfort. They’re going to use a local anesthetic, and Michael will be with him the whole time the procedure is done. And,” Kate sighed, “in the long run, it’s supposed to be better, health-wise, so we’re going to stick with tradition and have it done.”

      Lindy pulled two light and flaky Danishes out of the bag. “This was a joint decision?”

      Finding she was famished, Kate accepted one of the flaky buns. “Uh-huh.” The only surprise was how good it had felt, sharing that decision with Michael. What she’d thought would turn into an utter disaster had instead turned into something good.

      Lindy took another sip of coffee. “I stopped by the nursery on my way to the room, and I have to tell you, I saw the name on Timmy’s bassinet.” Lindy leveled a warning look at Kate. “I don’t know what Mom will say, but Dad is going to flip when he sees it.”

      Kate had figured as much. It didn’t change anything.

      “It’s one thing to be grateful,” Lindy said sternly, for once being more sensible than hopelessly romantic. “It’s another to link lives with him this swiftly.”

      “I know. If it had been anyone else coming into the shop yesterday, telling me something like that, I probably would have panicked and felt the need to get a whole team of lawyers immediately. But it was Michael, and he was so…reasonable in the light of such a complete and utter disaster.”

      “Not to mention the fact he later delivered your baby and got you both to the hospital.”

      Kate recalled how kind and wonderful and good Michael had been as he coached her through childbirth and showed her how to nurse. “And that experience brought us together very quickly,” Kate explained. It had also left them feeling unbearably close, despite the fact they were virtual strangers to each other.

      She shrugged. “I don’t know. I really can’t explain why I trust him as much as I do, I just do.” And somehow she knew, in her heart, that was not going to change. Even if her romantic past was telling her to proceed a lot more cautiously.

      Lindy studied her. “Maybe you don’t have to explain it, maybe you just need to go with your instincts.”

      Unfortunately, Kate thought, as she watched Lindy retrieve the shopping bag with a Thanksgiving turkey and a popular area mall insignia on the front of it, her instincts regarding the people closest to her had failed her more than once. But she didn’t need to think about that now.

      “What have you got there?” she inquired.

      Lindy beamed. “Gifts, of course, for you and the baby, from your employees at the shop. And a sample gift catalogue from Dulcie. She said you need to check this over and make sure it’s the way you want it because you need to give the printer final approval by Friday if you want the catalogues in the mail before Thanksgiving. And she also said to tell you they finished the deliveries that were supposed to be done last night, and retrieved the van, which was still in perfect shape.”

      Kate thought about the upcoming holidays. Though she had planned well for the season and her very brief maternity leave, as she thought about Thanksgiving, which was roughly two weeks away, and Christmas, which was another six, she felt a little daunted. “How are things at the shop this morning, by the way?” she asked curiously.

      “Busy. Can you believe you had fifty more orders for semester exam care baskets in yesterday’s mail alone? Sending out brochures to the parents of students was a great idea.”

      Kate did some rapid calculations. “This brings the shop total to well over a thousand.”

      “Dulcie thinks that given the increase in holiday business and your being out on maternity leave, you may want to hire some more seasonal help.”

      Kate nodded. “Absolutely. I’ll call the newspaper and get an ad put in immediately.”

      “Someone else could do that for you, you know,” Lindy chided. “You just had a baby.”

      Kate grinned at her baby sister’s protectiveness. “As well as a great night’s sleep. I feel fine. Really. In fact, I’m raring to go home.”

      Lindy frowned. Her green eyes grew troubled. “Just don’t push too hard, okay?”

      “I agree with you there.” Michael pushed the Plexiglas bassinet into the room. He picked up Timmy, who was wide awake and wrapped in a blanket, and put him into Kate’s arms. “New mothers need a lot of rest.”

      Lindy sighed contentedly at her new nephew. “He is so precious,” Lindy enthused while Kate held her baby close and glanced at Michael questioningly.

      “The circumcision is done. He didn’t cry at all.”

      Kate breathed a sigh of relief.

      Lindy rose reluctantly. “Well, I better get going or I will never get that doctorate in mathematics.”

      “Kate said you were a teaching assistant at Chapel Hill.”

      Lindy nodded happily. “It’s a family tradition, haven’t you heard?” Lindy grinned as she bent to kiss Timmy’s cheek. “My mom and dad both went there. So did Kate.”

      “So did I,” Michael said. “For undergrad and med school, which makes it even better.” Before either woman could say anything, he held up a staying palm. “Wait here a second.”

      He left and came back carrying a white teddy bear with a powder-blue felt shirt emblazoned with the Carolina logo and a huge bouquet of flowers. “For you.” He handed the flowers to Kate. “And for Timmy.” He took the flowers, put them on the bureau, and put the teddy next to Kate.

      “Nice,” Lindy said.

      “Very nice,” Kate agreed as Timmy studied the teddy bear with wide baby-blue eyes.

      “I’ll talk to you later.” Lindy gave Kate a one-shouldered hug and was off.

      Kate and Michael looked at each other. Kate found herself wishing he could