A Lawman for Christmas

“Thank you,” she said as warmly as she could manage. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. It’s just when I saw you looming over my mother—I mean, standing over her like that—I just—”

Morgan waved away her halting apology. Kate’s daughter appeared far too uncomfortable. “No need to apologize. If it makes you feel any better, I was following her to give her a ticket. When I noticed her ahead, she was weaving erratically on the road. My first thought was that she was driving under the influence.”

Kelsey’s temper was back, flaring before she could rein it in. “At ten o’clock in the morning?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised,” he told her. “It’s always five o’clock somewhere.”

Kelsey didn’t bother acknowledging his statement. Instead, she asked her mother, “You’re not taking any new medication, are you?” Kelsey had moved out of the house three months ago and had been busy setting up her new life. That meant she was no longer privy to her parents’ day-to-day lives. She felt a sudden pang at that. Maybe if she were still living at home—

Kate laughed softly. “Now you sound like the attending physician.” She went over the same thing she’d said to the E.R. doctor. “No, no meds, no fever, no explanation. I only fainted once in my life and that was when I was first pregnant with you.”

“Well, then—”

Kelsey stopped abruptly, her mind brought to a skidding halt by the thought. Her mother wasn’t—No, she couldn’t be.

The next moment, she banished the very idea as being far too ridiculous to voice out loud. “Maybe it was something you ate.”

Kate pressed her lips together, nodding. “Maybe.” There was no conviction in her voice.

Kelsey took a deep breath. “So, can I spring you now?” The sooner she got her mother out of here, the better they would both feel.

Kate was anxious to leave herself. She looked out toward the aisle. “Just as soon as the doctor discharges me.”

Kelsey glanced around, but the only hospital personnel she saw in the general vicinity were nurses. “And what’s the doctor waiting for?”

“He said he wanted to examine the results of a few lab tests and the X-ray he had me take,” Kate said.

Was it her imagination, or did her mother sound evasive? Kelsey thought.

Across from her, the stony-faced policeman seemed to come to life. “Well, there’s no point in my hanging around any longer. I’m still on duty,” Morgan told Kate. “Be careful out there, Mrs. Marlowe,” he said politely. Casting a side glance at Kelsey, he looked down at her left hand before adding, “You, too, Ms. Marlowe.”

Turning on his heel, Morgan was about to leave when the E.R. physician on call, Dr. Samuel David, came to join them. Seeing the doctor, Morgan decided to linger a moment longer. Closure was something he was ever striving for.

Dr. David smiled at his patient. If he was remotely curious as to the identity of the woman beside her, he didn’t show it. “Mrs. Marlowe, I’ve just confirmed our suspicions.”

“Suspicions?” Kelsey echoed.

“About why she fainted.” As if suddenly becoming aware of her, the doctor paused, looking from the woman in the bed to the one standing beside her. “My God, you look just like her.”

“I take that as a compliment,” both Kate and Kelsey said together then laughed. For just the briefest of moments, the tension they both felt eased.

“And well you should,” Dr. David agreed, his tone not sure which of them he was speaking to. And then he cleared his throat. “Well, back to the diagnosis—”

Kelsey felt her heartbeat quickening. Oh God, please don’t make it anything bad. Out loud, she whispered, “Is it serious?” as she looked at the doctor.

“Depends on how you view this kind of thing,” Dr. David said. “Personally, I think it’s very serious.”

Kelsey reached for her mother’s hand again. She willed her mother her strength, but in reality Kate Marlowe was always the strong one. Her mother was the foundation of her family.

She held her breath, waiting to hear the doctor tell them something that could quite possibly change their lives forever.

“Bringing a child into the world is a very serious business,” Dr. David continued, his black eyes sweeping from mother to daughter and then back again.

“A child?” Kelsey cried, stunned, confused. “What child? Where?”

Without realizing it, she tightened her grasp on her mother’s hand, squeezing it so tight that her own fingers began to ache.

“Your mother’s child,” the E.R. physician said, and then he chuckled. “And I would think the ‘where’ is self-explanatory.”

Feeling as if the floor had just melted away beneath her feet, Kelsey stared at her mother. “You’re pregnant?” she cried. Before her mother could say anything, Kelsey shifted her eyes to the doctor. “She’s pregnant?” she cried incredulously.

Dr. David smiled kindly and nodded. “It would seem so.”

Kelsey felt as if she’d just leaned against the mirror and fallen through the looking glass. “But that’s not possible.”

“Why not?” the policeman asked.

Kelsey didn’t know what stunned her more: the fact that her mother was pregnant at fifty or that the muscle-bound cop with the X-ray vision had the audacity to question her reaction.

Her eyes flashed as she said, “Because—because she’s my mother and she’s already got five kids and this part of her life was supposed to be over.” Pushing past the policeman, she rounded the foot of the bed to get closer to the doctor. “Doctor, I don’t mean to doubt you, but are you sure there’s been no mistake? Lab results get switched all the time. Maybe you got my mother’s tests mixed up with someone else’s.”

“Granted there are mix-ups on occasion,” the doctor allowed, “but I’m happy to say, we have a low incidence of that. Blair Memorial has been ranked one of the leading hospitals in the country for the last ten years in a row now.” He turned to face Kate. “You are pregnant, Mrs. Marlowe,” he said with finality. “You’ll need to start right away with pre-natal care. I could give you the name of an excellent doctor—”

“I already have one,” Kate replied, her words coming out slowly, impeded by the half dozen scattered thoughts racing through her mind. Taking a deep breath didn’t help steady her nerves. She looked at Kelsey. “Your father’s going to be stunned.”

“He’s not the only one,” Kelsey replied. Try as she might, she couldn’t visualize her mother “in the family way.” There were photographs in the family albums of her being pregnant, but that was a long time ago. And, at the time, her mother had been younger than she was.

Breaking the tension, Morgan leaned forward and took Kate’s hand in his. “Congratulations, Mrs. Marlowe. A baby is a wonderful thing,” he told her with feeling.

Kelsey laughed shortly. “Spoken like a man who’s never had one.” Where did he get off, anyway, voicing an opinion? He was a stranger.

To Kelsey surprise, Morgan looked as if he was about to say something in response, then obviously changed his mind. Instead, he merely nodded at Kate. “Good luck to you,” he said as he began to withdraw.

Sensing that the E.R. physician wanted to go over a few more things with her mother before she was signed out, Kelsey stepped to the side.

The policeman had turned around to leave. Kelsey suddenly remembered something.

“Wait,” she called after the departing policeman, then hurried to catch up to him. “Officer Donnelly, was it?”

Morgan stopped and turned around. “Morgan,” he corrected. He liked things to be professional and formal, but in her case, something prompted him to be more familiar.

“Morgan,” Kelsey repeated, inclining her head. “Where’s my mother’s car now? You didn’t have it towed away, did you?” If it had been towed away, there would be a mountain of paperwork and red tape before she could get the car back, not to mention that there would be a hefty fine.

“No, it’s still where she left it. Just a little past the intersection of University Drive and Campus Road.” Morgan paused, debating.

It had been a slow morning. No reason to believe the afternoon wasn’t going to be the same. Bedford was deemed one of the safest cities in the country. Helping out a citizen came under the heading of good public relations. The chief was always after them to work with the citizens and promote goodwill.

“I could take you over there if you like,” he volunteered, “and then you could drive it to your mother’s house.”