A Baby For The Doctor

His hand dropped to his side and she felt him give a big sigh. Eyes drifting closed, he relaxed against her.

The privilege of being the person who got to hold this baby and offer him safety was not lost on her. He was beautiful, those long, dark lashes an inky smudge on his cheek. As the bottle slid out of his mouth, a milky peace settled on his face.

What a strange feeling it was to have someone else’s child in her arms, completely dependent on her. She didn’t want to risk him waking up, so slowly she moved one leg and then the other onto the couch and laid her head back, letting the sleepless night catch up with her.

* * *

Ash knocked on the door of Jordan’s cottage. The place had been falling down when his brother, Joe, moved in, but he’d repaired it. Now with Jordan’s touch, there were dark purple and gold pansies spilling out of pots on the whitewashed front steps. The front door was painted a bright coral and the ceiling of the porch a contrasting pale blue.

He would never have imagined that the colors would work but they did, and the eclectic place seemed to suit Jordan. He tapped lightly on the door. No answer. Glancing at his watch, he confirmed that it was nearly noon.

Maybe she was at the barn?

He knocked again, a little more loudly, and heard shuffling on the other side of the door. A few seconds later the door flew inward.

Jordan, the baby on her hip, squinted into the noonday sunlight. She rubbed the heel of her hand in one eye. “Wow. Bright.”

“I’m so sorry I woke you up. I brought food?”

“I could kiss you.” She grabbed his wrist and pulled him in the door. Two bright pink spots of color appeared in her pale cheeks. “But I won’t. I mean, obviously I won’t.”

He laughed. “You might want to reconsider when you see what’s in the bag. I brought cinnamon bread from my sister Jules’s bakery. Mom sent you sandwiches from the Hilltop for lunch and my sister Wynn is in town and made you a chicken casserole for dinner.”

“You guys.” She pushed the door open wider to let Gus out and Ash in. “Come on in. I assume you knocked more than once? I’m sorry. We were up most of the night.”

“How’s he doing today?” Ash laid the armload of supplies onto the kitchen island and began to unpack them into the refrigerator.

“He took a bottle, which I know he’s technically too old for, but it just felt right. He’s been asleep ever since.”

Ash held up a brown paper bag. “Toddler formula. I think your instincts are on target. Even if he’s three, he’s probably developmentally delayed. Trauma and neglect have serious consequences. And... I’m not telling you anything you don’t know already.”

“He didn’t sleep until around four, I guess. He doesn’t seem as scared as he was when I first got him home, but he doesn’t cry so it’s hard to tell.” She brushed a hand over the dark curls. Levi flinched.

Ash shook his head. “Poor kiddo. He’s had such a rough time.”

Dark brown eyes opened and scowled at Ash. Jordan was right, though. He didn’t seem terrified like he had in the hospital.

“You may not know it now, Levi, but we’re going to be friends, you and I.” Ash pulled a construction vehicle sticker out of his pocket.

Levi curled into Jordan’s side, but his eyes were on the sticker.

Jordan idly ran a hand over the baby’s arm, gentling him. He wondered if she did it on purpose or if it was just instinct to her, like the bottle. The morning sun poured in through the windows, touching her red hair with fire. She really was something.

“Have you taken him outside? We could take him on a walk, get him out of the house for some fresh air.”

“Good idea. Let me throw some jeans and boots on. Don’t want to be walking around the barn in...” Her voice drifted off as she noted his leather loafers.

He laughed. “A little horse manure won’t kill me. I’ll take him while you change.”

Jordan shifted Levi to hand him to Ash, but the toddler was having none of it, and his arms locked around her neck in a vise grip. She sighed. “I’ll sit him on the couch. Don’t let him fall off.”

“Yes, ma’am.” As Jordan disappeared into the bedroom, Ash studied Levi. With his thumb in his mouth and big, dark eyes trained on Ash, he wasn’t letting anything get past him. “I thought we made progress. Remember the lollipop last night?”

No response. They were going to have to do some testing on this little guy to see where his deficits were. Ash wasn’t even sure that Levi could hear.

Jordan opened the door of her bedroom, her hair twisted into braids, a ball cap on her head and black Hunter boots over her jeans.

Levi’s eyes followed her as she moved around the room. She smiled at him, her eyes shining. “Little man, you ready to go for a walk outside?”

When the toddler looked at the door as Jordan picked him up, Ash figured that answered his question about hearing. He could at least hear and understand some things. “Have you seen him crawl or walk?”

“No. I put him down on the floor a few times with a toy during the night but he didn’t play. No crawling or walking. He sat in one spot and sucked his thumb, watching every move I made.” She opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. “Wow, it’s really nice out here this afternoon.”

He grinned. “Spring in Alabama. Severe weather, freezing cold, warm, hot. It changes by the hour.”

They walked along side by side. The farm was peaceful, in its way. Pastoral, he guessed, was the right word for it. The pond was pretty—clear and spring-fed. Chickens wandered the yard. Goats, horses and a couple of spoiled donkeys grazed in the pasture. Because it was Saturday, though, half a dozen kids, who looked like they might have multiplied, raced around the yard.

Ash loved kids. Kids were awesome. It was one reason he had chosen to work with them when it came time to select a specialty. He did not, however, want kids of his own. He was going to leave that up to Joe, because his brother now had enough kids for the entire family, certainly enough to assuage his mother’s desire for grandchildren.

Gus, Jordan’s dog, loped up, circling them, nosing Levi’s jammie-clad foot. Jordan uttered a low “Heel” and Gus dropped into place by her side.

She stopped at the fence to the pasture. Claire’s horse Freckles was closest and the most curious. He lifted his head and snorted. She laughed. “He wants his apple, Levi. What do you think we should do?”

The little boy bounced once in her arms, the most animated Ash had seen him. He popped his thumb out of his mouth and pointed at Freckles. Jordan dug a piece of an apple out of her pocket and held it out to Freckles, whose soft lips plucked it gently from the palm of her hand.

A cat twined through Ash’s legs and around Jordan’s.

“Mama Kitty,” Jordan said to Levi. He pointed at the children climbing on a play gym that Ash had helped Joe build. “Kids.” Levi nodded and stuck his thumb back in his mouth. Jordan watched the kids, who were screaming in laughter. “You know my sister and I were in foster care for a while. We were relinquished by our biological parents and placed with a family for adoption, but it didn’t work out.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“I had a heart defect when I was born and had to have heart surgery before I was a year old. I don’t think the adoptive parents were prepared for a sick baby. They wanted to keep Claire, but the adoption agency refused to split us up. We were placed in a foster home.”

“How long before you were adopted?”

“Our foster mom adopted us when we were about eighteen months old. I’m not sure why it took so long, but that’s the system for you. Not everyone can have an idyllic childhood with Bertie and Frank as their parents.”

“Yeah, not so much.” As soon as the words were out in space, he regretted them. He didn’t like to talk about his childhood, at least what he remembered of it. Too many years had been spent in a drug-induced haze after surgeries, chemo and radiation. “When kids are sick, it puts a real strain on the family.”

Jordan silently fed another piece of apple to Freckles. When she finished, she looked at him, a quizzical expression in her ocean-blue eyes. “Are you speaking as a doctor?”

It was the perfect out. He could say yes and she would never question it, but what good would that do? “I had cancer when I was a kid. I spent most of two years in the hospital and then I was in and out all through school.”

“That must have been so hard.”

Her hand on his arm surprised him. He smiled, slid his fingers through his hair and looked away, embarrassed. “It was. No one in the family really talks about it much. Even me. Especially me, I guess.”

“We don’t have to talk about it, Ash.” Her voice was gentle, but he knew she meant it. Being with her was easy, and maybe that was why he found himself wanting to stay. To watch the sun travel the afternoon sky, talk to Jordan, watch the little guy’s eyes lose some of the wariness.