Cinderella's Secret Agent

“Nothing. That was such a lovely thing to say.”

“You’re crying.”

“It’s the hormones. I can’t seem to stop.”

He took his hands from his pockets and grabbed a fistful of tissues from the box on the tray table. As matter-of-factly as he helped her the day before, he dabbed the tears from her cheeks. “The tears are nothing to worry about. I heard that every time my sister went through this, my brother-in-law ordered tissues by the case.”

“I’m just so—” Her voice caught on a sob. “So happy.”

“I have to confess the whole business left me a little choked up myself.”

“Crazy, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” They smiled at each other for a moment. Then he pushed his hand into his windbreaker pocket and withdrew a black and white object. “Here. I brought this for the baby.”

“What…” She looked at the toy on his palm, then picked it up with her free hand. It was a velveteen panda bear with big blue embroidered eyes, a black velvet nose and a pink satin bow tied around its neck. “Oh, it’s adorable!”

“The lady in the store said it would be safe for an infant if you removed the bow. There aren’t any other parts that could come off, and the bear’s washable, too.”

“She’ll love it. I love it. Thank you, Del. That was so sweet.” Her chin trembled again.

Before the tears could fall, he had a tissue poised and waiting.

Sniffing, she set the toy on the tray table and took the tissue from Del. “Thanks again. You must think I’m an idiot.”

“No, I think you’re a mother who loves her daughter very much.”

Shaking her head, she gave a watery laugh. “If you keep saying things like that, I’ll never stop crying.”

“Sorry.”

“No, no. I don’t mind. I’m savoring every second of this. Honest.” She wadded up the tissue and tossed it toward the wastebasket. “But you really didn’t have to bring anything—”

She drew in her breath as she caught sight of the back of his hand. The skin from his knuckles to his wrist was an angry, shiny red scattered with painful-looking gouges. “Oh, my gosh. What happened? Oh, no. Did I do that?”

“It’s nothing. I burned myself last week, that’s all.”

“How?”

He waited half a beat before he answered. “An accident at work.”

“An accident?”

He lifted one shoulder in a dismissive shrug. “A coffeepot broke.”

“I’m sorry, I hadn’t noticed yesterday,” she said, her gaze on the injured skin. “And you let me hold your hand. I’m so sorry, Del. That must have hurt.”

“Maggie, compared to what you went through, I barely noticed,” he said easily.

She had a strong urge to reach out and stroke his hand. She didn’t, of course. She might have held on to him yesterday, but those were special circumstances. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been there, Del,” she said. “I mean, I took all the prenatal classes, but reading books and seeing videos can’t come close to the real thing. It’s a good thing you were so calm.”

“I’m glad I could help, although you were the one who deserves all the praise. You never let out so much as a whimper.”

“I couldn’t have. It would have driven away all of Laszlo’s customers.” Taking a steadying breath, she turned her gaze to the baby. “I was right about having a girl.”

“Yes, you were.”

“Did you say that your sister has six children?”

“Uh-huh.”

“How did she come up with six names? I can’t even settle on one.”

“She chose names from our family. Altogether we have thirteen aunts and uncles.”

“Wow. Big families must run in—” She chuckled. “I was going to say they run in the family.”

“It’s an old Missouri homesteader tradition, raising your own farmhands,” Del said dryly.

“You’re from a farm?” Maggie asked, intrigued.

“A long time ago,” he answered.

So he wasn’t a cowboy after all, she thought. He was a farmer. Well, both professions involved dealing with animals and squinting at the horizon, so it was close enough. Before she could pursue the topic, she sensed a flutter of movement against her arm. She looked at her daughter. The baby’s eyelids were flickering. “Oh, Del,” she murmured. “She’s waking up.”

“Sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to disturb her.”

“She’s been asleep for an hour—that’s a long time for a newborn. She’s such a clever girl. I told you she’s a genius, didn’t I?”

“No, not yet.”

“Well, she is.” As her baby’s eyes blinked open, Maggie felt a rush of warmth. Would she ever tire of looking at this little miracle? She shifted on the bed to sit up straighter, smiling gratefully as Del rearranged the pillows behind her back. “Hello, precious,” she cooed. “How’s my little sweetie pie?”

Del leaned closer. Just as he had earlier, he hesitated for a moment, as if debating what to do next. Then he extended his index finger and gently stroked the baby’s cheek with his fingertip.

It must be the hormones, she thought, watching Del watch her baby. But the special warmth she felt flowing between her and her daughter expanded to envelop him, as well.

Simply saying thank-you hadn’t been anywhere near enough. He had delivered her baby, for God’s sake. Even the greeting-card companies didn’t have anything that covered that situation.

Would she have felt this way about the paramedics if they’d gotten there five minutes earlier and been the ones to deliver the baby? Or about her doctor if she’d given birth in the hospital? Somehow, she doubted it.

“Del,” she said.

He glanced up. His face wore a smile that on anyone else would be called sappy, yet on his starkly masculine features it could only be called…endearing. “You’re right, Maggie,” he said. “She’s beautiful when she’s awake, too.”

“Del, I—” She stopped suddenly, struck by a thought. “Delilah! That’s it.”

“What?”