Читать книгу Accidental Family - Joan Elliott Pickart - Страница 12

Just before dawn the next morning, Patty crawled back into bed after feeding Sophia. She wiggled into a comfortable position, closed her eyes and waited for sleep to come, knowing she needed all she could get to provide energy for the busy day ahead.

But just as they had after she’d returned from the hospital the previous night, David’s words spoken in a voice ringing with sincerity echoed in her mind.

I’m very glad that you came into my life when you did, Patty Clark. Very, very glad.

Oh, drat, she fumed, why was she being haunted by that statement? It was very clear what David meant when he said it. She was caring for his daughter during a stressful crisis in his life. Also, because of his amnesia, she was the only person he felt a link to, someone he sort of knew, and that helped his anxiety a tad considering he didn’t even recognize Sarah Ann from her picture. So, yes, at the moment, David Montgomery was glad that Patty had come into his life. It was very simple really.

But…

She couldn’t forget the warmth that had suffused her when David said what he’d said. She’d felt special and important and…and womanly. The very essence of her femininity had seemed to come alive, emerge from the dusty corner where she’d pushed it after Peter had left her. A virile, masculinity-personified man was very glad she had come into his life and…

“No,” she said, pressing her palms to her temples. “Just stop it right now.”

She wasn’t in David’s life in that context, not even close, nor would she want to be. No. She was finished with man-and-woman relationships, with having to once again face her inadequacies in that arena.

She was staying where she belonged, where she excelled, in the role of mother, and that was what David had meant by what he had said.

“Have you got that yet?” Patty said. “Go back to sleep while you can and knock off the nonsense, Patty Sharpe Clark.”

But sleep wouldn’t come and she finally left the bed when she heard Tucker and Sarah Ann giggling down the hall. Her day had officially begun.

In the middle of the afternoon, after naps, including one taken by Patty, she asked Sarah Ann if she would like to talk to her daddy on the telephone.

“No,” Sarah Ann said, folding her little arms over her chest. “I want to go get my daddy right now.”

“I know you do, sweetie,” Patty said, “but he can’t leave the hospital yet because of his boo-boos. Wouldn’t it be nice to say hello to him, though?”

“Guess so,” Sarah Ann said, nodding. “’Kay.”

“I want to talk to him, too,” Tucker said.

“Well, we’ll see,” Patty said.

A few minutes later, David answered the telephone in his hospital room.

“Hello?”

“David? It’s Patty. I have a lovely little girl here who would like to say hello to her daddy.”

“Really? Oh, geez, wait a minute, Patty. What do I say to her? I don’t know how I chat with her. Have you ever heard me call her a nickname that she’ll be expecting to hear? Like princess? Or pumpkin? Or whatever?”

“No.”

“What do I say?”

“Yes, you’re right,” Patty said, glancing at Sarah Ann, “that was a pretty picture she colored for you and I’m sure she’ll be pleased to know you liked it.”