Baby's First Christmas

Michael’s eyes darkened as myriad emotions crossed his face. “I think nothing would make me happier.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think something was going on between you two,” the EMS worker teased.

Michael and Kate flushed simultaneously.

“Whoa,” the EMS worker said.

Exactly, Kate thought, as heat crept into her face. When word of this got out, people were going to think she and Michael had made this baby the old-fashioned way. And to tell the truth, they’d shared so much intimacy in such a short time, it almost felt as if they had. Except she didn’t even know how he kissed. Might—because of circumstances—never know.

Michael looked at the EMS worker. “If you wouldn’t mind moving up front with your partner—” he nodded at Kate and the baby “—maybe we could have a moment alone?”

“Sure.” Knowing Michael was a physician from the Chapel Hill emergency room, the EMS worker easily granted the request. “No problem. Take all the time you need.” He smiled at the happy trio, his glance resting on the blissfully sleeping baby nestled in Kate’s arms. “I’ll just radio the hospital and let them know both mother and baby are doing fine.”

Michael waited until the EMS worker was out of earshot then turned to Kate. He knelt beside her and took her hand in his. “Kate, this is a big step.” He searched her eyes. “Are you sure?”

Kate nodded. “Yes. If you hadn’t been there to bring my—to bring our—baby into the world—” Well, she didn’t even want to think about what might have happened. “Michael, I owe you so much,” she said softly, meaning it. “Timmy and I both do.”

It was swiftly apparent gratitude was not what he wanted from her, but it would do for now. “I’m the one who owes you, Kate,” Michael told her softly. “Not just for now.” Again, he looked at their sleeping newborn son and released a wistful sigh. “But for a lifetime.”

Thinking about it, Kate knew he was right. Through Timmy—and fate—she and Michael were going to be connected forever.

“IT’S ALL OVER the hospital,” Kate told Michael an hour later, after she and Timmy had been settled into a private room in the maternity ward.

“No kidding,” Michael drawled, even as he marveled at how pretty and together Kate looked after all she’d been through. “It’s bigger news than the original virgin birth.”

Kate sighed, her full breasts rising and falling beneath the soft cotton of her hospital gown. Her lips thinned to a soft, rosy line. “I don’t know how I’m going to tell my parents.”

Michael paced to the Plexiglas bassinet beside Kate, where their baby slept. Because she had requested the rooming-in arrangement, Timmy would be with her as much as possible during her stay in the hospital. Reassured their son was undisturbed by their low voices, Michael edged to Kate. He could imagine how difficult it was going to be for her to tell her parents about the mix-up at the fertility clinic. He hadn’t told his parents, yet, either.

Sliding his hands in the pockets of his trousers, he brought her quickly up to speed about her family. “They’ve both been called, by the way.”

“What?” Her expression incredulous and upset, Kate rose halfway off her hospital bed.

“When you registered for the birth, you listed both your parents as next of kin, but there were two phone numbers, your father’s law office and your mother’s home. The emergency room nurse asked me who she should call. I didn’t know, so the clerk called both.”

“Oh, no.” Kate covered her face with her hand. “Did they reach both my parents?” She looked at him from between spread fingers.

Michael nodded, wondering what the big deal was. “They’re on the way to the hospital as we speak.”

“Oh, no,” Kate moaned again, looking even more distressed.

“Something wrong?”

Kate nodded vigorously. “The two of them can’t be in the same room together.”

Kate’s sister, Lindy, who had been called to come to the hospital, walked in. Kate looked at her, distressed, and swiftly explained. “You have to do something.”

Evidently agreeing with Kate’s assessment of the situation completely, Lindy sprang into action. “I’ll head off Dad downstairs in the lobby. Meanwhile, when Mother gets here, you do your best to make her visit as snappy as possible. And then I’ll bring Dad up when the coast is clear.”

“What’s going on?” Michael asked curiously, figuring if he was going to land in the middle of some familial calamity, he should know the reason for it.

“My parents separated last summer, at my mother’s insistence, shortly after I told them I was pregnant with Timmy. My mother said she just needed some time and space to herself, but that doesn’t make any sense.” Kate shook her head and sighed. “I never thought either of my parents would have a mid-life crisis, and that goes double for my mom, who made the family her whole career.”

“Any chance she’s suffering from the empty nest syndrome now that you’re having a child of your own and your younger sister’s about ready to graduate?” Michael asked kindly. He’d seen it in other families.

Kate looked perplexed. “My dad and Lindy think so, but I’m not sure it’s quite that simple. Unlike my dad and me, my mother has always been ruled by her emotions. And right now her emotions are running at an all-time high. Add to that the fact my dad’s protesting her petition for divorce and feeling pretty hurt and angry. My mom is being really stubborn and closemouthed about whatever it is that is going on with her and—well, you can just imagine how awkward it is when they do see each other. Right now, it’s stretching it for them to say a civil word to each other. Suffice it to say—” Kate paused to draw a ragged breath “—I don’t want them up here together.”

“Too late,” a pale but elegant-looking blonde in a tailored suit said as she swept into the room, a well-dressed man in a business suit and Kate’s sister, Lindy, fast on their heels.

“Mom—Dad.” Kate flushed scarlet as Michael looked at Kate’s parents and took in the unmistakably stiff body language of a couple at war.

Kate’s younger sister lifted her hands in a helpless gesture. “I tried, but neither was willing to let the other go first.”

“There are some things parents should do together,” Kate’s mother said.

“This is still one of them,” her father agreed.

“Hello, Kate.” Kate’s mother bent to kiss her, her deep and abiding affection for her daughter evident. “Congratulations, darling.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Kate’s voice was muffled against her mother’s silvery blond coif.

She headed for the bassinet to look at her new grandson. “He is so darling,” she murmured proudly.

Kate’s father hugged Kate, too, then approached the bassinet from the other side. He regarded his new grandson with affection, finally murmuring, “He looks a lot like you did at that age, Kate.”

Kate beamed. “You think so?”

Her father nodded. “Absolutely.” Straightening, her father turned to Michael. He extended his hand. “I’m Ted Montgomery. This is my wi—this is Kate’s mother, Carolyn Montgomery, her sister, Lindy. And you must be Michael Sloane—the doctor who helped deliver Kate’s baby.”

“Right.” Michael shook her father’s hand, not sure this was the time to get into the details.

Ted gave him a look of sincere gratitude. “We’re very lucky you came along when you did.”

“I’m not so sure about that, if everything I just heard from the head nurse is true,” Carolyn said. She looked at Kate, then Michael. Her gaze zeroing in on him suspiciously, she asked in a low tone, “Is it true? Are you the father of Kate’s child?”

SILENCE REBOUNDED in the room. Even Lindy looked completely, thoroughly shocked. “I can explain,” Kate said, flushing.

“I think you’d better.” Kate’s father sat on the window ledge while her mother continued to pace, her high heels making a staccato sound on the polished linoleum floor while Kate filled them in on the mix-up at the lab.

“I just found out about it myself,” Michael told them.

“And he told me,” Kate added.

“I see.” Kate’s father looked grim.

No doubt he was thinking about all the legal and familial complications. Her mother looked upset, too. Whereas her matchmaking sister looked intrigued. “Michael and I have already talked about it. Everything’s going to be fine,” Kate hastened to reassure them.

Again, her parents exchanged uneasy glances that needed no verbal delineation, then her dad looked at Michael. It was obvious, divorce or no, he was speaking for both of them. “I assume that means you’re going to be reasonable about this.”