Читать книгу Dylan and the Baby Doctor - Sherryl Woods, Sherryl Woods - Страница 6

A half dozen yelling, laughing toddlers raced around the backyard of pediatrician Kelsey James. They were definitely on a sugar high after consuming enough birthday cake and ice cream for twice as many kids.

Maybe they hadn’t actually consumed it, she concluded after a survey of the mess. An awful lot appeared to have been smeared over shirts, spilled on the dark green picnic table or dumped in the grass, along with trails of ribbon and shredded wrapping paper. Melting pools of vanilla ice cream were everywhere. Having the party outside had been a very smart decision.

“Obviously, the party is a success,” Lizzy Adams-Robbins declared, conducting her own survey of the damage. “I can’t imagine why you were so worried.”

Finally, after days of ridiculous anxiety over throwing a kid’s birthday party, Kelsey actually allowed herself to relax. She listened to the laughter and smiled for the first time in days, maybe longer. The tight knot in her stomach eased and something that felt a lot like contentment replaced it. It was such a fragile, unfamiliar sensation, she basked in it for just a moment before responding.

“It is wonderful, isn’t it?” she said finally. “I know I was acting like a nutcase over this, but Bobby’s been through so much these past few months—leaving his dad, moving to a new place, making new friends. I just wanted his birthday party to be special. The Western theme was his idea. Ever since we stayed out at your father’s ranch, he’s really taken with the idea of being a cowboy.”

“Well, the new boots were definitely a big hit,” Lizzy said.

“They ought to be. Custom boots for a three-year-old.” Kelsey shook her head. “I must be overcompensating.”

Lizzy, whom she had known since med school in Miami, squeezed her hand. “Kelsey, stop with the guilt this instant. You had no choice. You had to divorce Paul. He was a creep. And you were absolutely right to get out of Miami and come here. The clinic needed you. I needed you. And Bobby is fitting in just fine.” She clasped Kelsey’s shoulders and turned her to look at the chaos. “You can stop overcompensating. Does that look like a little boy who is unhappy?”

Kelsey found herself grinning again at the sight of her son, his chubby little legs pumping furiously to keep up with the older children, his face streaked with chocolate frosting and vanilla ice cream. He looked like a perfectly normal little boy who was having the time of his life.

“He is having a good time, isn’t he? And the presents…” She shook her head in bemusement. “Your family really didn’t have to go crazy with the presents. There are too many toys. He doesn’t play with even half of the ones he has now.”

Lizzy rolled her eyes. “Tell that to my father. He doesn’t believe it’s possible for a child to have too many toys. Nothing makes him happier than spoiling his babies, and as far as he’s concerned you and Bobby became part of the family the minute you arrived in town.”

Harlan Adams truly was remarkable. Kelsey had heard all about him from Lizzy, of course, but even all those old tales of a doting father hadn’t prepared her for the incredible eighty-nine-year-old patriarch of the Adams clan. She had never known anyone as generous or as wise. Or as meddlesome, she thought fondly.

When he’d first heard about Kelsey’s decision to leave Miami and the reasons for it, he’d called her himself and added his invitation to Lizzy’s. Once she was in Los Piños, he’d welcomed her warmly, taking her and Bobby into his own home at White Pines until they could find a place of their own. He’d allowed the two of them to leave only when he’d checked out the new house for himself and concluded that it was suitable. He’d even insisted she raid his attic for furniture, since she’d taken very little from the Miami home she had shared with Paul.

Harlan Adams had also extracted a promise that they would go on joining the family for Sunday dinner at the ranch. He was as indulgent and attentive with Bobby as he was with all of his own grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Bobby had basked in the masculine attention, a commodity that had been all too rare in his young life. His own father had been too busy scoring business deals and pills to pay much attention to him.

With her own parents far away in Maine and not nearly as generous with their love or their time, Kelsey was more grateful for the Adamses than she could ever say. She owed them all, but especially Harlan, his wife Janet, and of course Lizzy, the best friend any woman could ask for. Lizzy had made it all possible and acted as if Kelsey were the one doing her a favor, rather than the other way around.

“Have I told you how grateful I am?” she asked Lizzy.

“Only about a million times,” Lizzy said. “I’m the one who’s grateful. We needed a pediatrician here and I can’t imagine anyone I’d rather work with than you. The timing couldn’t have been better.”

“Still—”

“Stop it,” Lizzy said firmly. She studied Kelsey intently. “Are you really doing okay, though? No second thoughts? No regrets over divorcing Paul? Los Pin˜os is a far cry from Miami and our little clinic would fit into one tiny corner of the trauma center back there.”

“Definitely no regrets over Paul. And you were the one who was hell-bent on being a big trauma doctor. I just love kids. It doesn’t matter where I treat them. I couldn’t be happier right here,” Kelsey reassured her, meaning every word.

The differences were all good ones. There was a sense of community here that was never possible in a bustling, urban environment like Miami. While she might have made a difference in Miami and while the medical challenges might have been greater, here the rewards came in the form of sticky hugs from her pint-sized patients and warm, grateful smiles from people she was getting to know as friends.

Most of all, Los Pin˜os was far away from Paul James and the disaster he had almost made of both their lives. Hopefully, he would never discover her whereabouts. Hopefully, her ex-husband would forget her existence—and Bobby’s. That was the deal they had made. She would forget his deceit, his illegal use of her prescription pads to get narcotics, and he would leave her and his son alone.

Forgetting hadn’t been easy. At the end, Paul’s behavior had been so erratic, so unpredictable, she hadn’t been convinced he would stick to his word…or even remember he’d given it. It had been nearly a year now, and so far she hadn’t heard so much as a peep from him. She was finally beginning to relax her guard a little. She’d stopped panicking whenever the phone rang or whenever a strange car drove past the house.

She glanced at Bobby, who was adding grape juice to the stains on his face and clothes, and smiled. He was all boy, a miniature version of her ex, with the same dimpled smile, the same light brown hair and dark brown eyes. But while her son’s eyes were bright and clear and most often twinkling with laughter, Paul’s had been shadowed or too-bright with the drugs she hadn’t guessed he was taking until way too late.

She felt Lizzy squeeze her hand, looked up and met her friend’s concerned gaze.

“Don’t go back there,” Lizzy advised. “Not even for a minute. You couldn’t have changed anything. It was Paul’s problem, not yours. If he didn’t care enough about himself or you to get off the pills, nothing you could have done would have helped.”

Kelsey was amazed by Lizzy’s perceptiveness. “How did you know what was on my mind?”

“Because it usually is. Besides, I always know what you’re thinking, just the way you could read my mind back in med school. You knew how I felt about marrying Hank practically before I did.”

Kelsey chuckled. “Not possible. You knew you were in love with Hank Robbins from the time you were a schoolgirl. From the moment we became roommates, all I ever heard about was Hank this or Hank that. It didn’t require major deductive reasoning to figure out you were crazy about the guy.”

“I knew I was in love with him, yes, but not that I was ready to marry him and juggle a baby, marriage and med school,” Lizzy said. “I was scared silly when I found out I was pregnant. You helped me to see that I had to take that final leap of faith, that we could make it work.”

Lizzy wasn’t exaggerating her panic. Kelsey recalled exactly how upset Lizzy had been when she’d first realized she was pregnant with Hank’s baby. There had never been a doubt in Kelsey’s mind what the outcome would be, especially once Hank had found out about the pregnancy. Lizzy’s handsome, totally smitten cowboy had pursued her with relentless determination, ignoring her doubts, finding solutions and compromises that Lizzy had claimed were impossible.

“It’s worked out fine, hasn’t it? No regrets?”

“Better than fine, smarty.” Lizzy grinned, then leaned closer to confide in a whisper, “In fact, we’re going to have another baby.”

“Oh, my.” Kelsey sighed, trying to hide any hint of envy. She had wanted a whole houseful of kids herself, but if Bobby was all she ever had, he would be enough. She gave Lizzy a fierce hug. “Congratulations! That’s wonderful. Does Hank know yet?”

Lizzy gave her a rueful look. “You may have found out before he did last time, but this time I thought Hank ought to be the first to know. I told him last night.”

“And?”

“He’s over the moon. He’s wanted this for a long time. I was the holdout. While I was finishing my residency and getting the clinic started, I didn’t think he should carry all the burden for child care, even though he seems to love it. I figured it was about time I pitched in, too. The clinic’s hours are a whole lot more consistent than my hours at the hospital in Garden City. I might actually get to see this baby’s first step and hear his or her first word. I missed so much of that with Jamey.”

“I am so happy for you.”

“Will you be a godmother to this one?”

Kelsey was enchanted with the idea of becoming an even more integral part of the extended Adams family. “Nothing would please me more,” she said at once. “Of course, with the two of us to influence this baby, he or she won’t have any choice but to be a doctor.”

Lizzy shook her head. “Not a chance. Girl or boy, Hank wants a rancher. He says Jamey already spends too much time wanting to cut up frogs like his mama did in school.”

Lizzy glanced around at the half dozen kids, most of whom were beginning to fade from all the partying. Her gaze sought out Jamey, who was tanned and had his daddy’s rich brown, sun-streaked hair. He was five now and had a definite mind of his own. The stubborn streak was Lizzy’s contribution, according to Hank, along with the fascination with cutting up dead critters.

“Well, I think it’s time to get the troops home before they all wind up sound asleep in your backyard,” Lizzy said.

“Thank you again for helping today,” Kelsey said.

“Anytime. If you need any of us for anything ever, all you need to do is call. Day or night, okay?”

It was something Lizzy never failed to remind her of, Kelsey thought, as her friend left with a carload of exhausted Adams kids. Although she appreciated the gesture of support, too often it only served as an unnerving reminder to Kelsey that as unpredictable as Paul James was, there very well could come a time when she would desperately need their help.