Sheila sighed and lay back in the minivan. Daniel checked and grinned at her. “I can feel the head. This is happening. Now. Like, right now.”
Alarm filled her eyes.
“It’s going to be fine.” He glanced out the window. “We’re almost there, but we’re getting started here.”
“I need to push, Daniel.Jim!I need to push.”
Daniel was in work mode. His voice was calm and his movements were swift and efficient. Everything was clear to him. He hadn’t lied: hehaddelivered many babies before. Just none in a moving car.
“You’re fine, Sheila. Let Jim drive. We’ll be there soon.”
Sheila inhaled and did her breathing, Jim counting from the front.
“Okay,” Daniel said, “when I say, go ahead and push.”
Sheila groaned out the next contraction and pushed. Daniel got the head. He swept the baby’s mouth. “Okay, Sheila. One more good push.”
The next contraction came before he finished. Daniel held on while Sheila pushed out her baby. He wrapped the baby in Sheila’s sweater just as they approached the ER bay. Jim slammed on the brakes and turned back to Daniel.
“What do you want me to do?”
Daniel grinned. “Come back here and meet your son.” He couldn’t remember the last time he was this happy. Ababyhad done that. “I’ll get help.”
“Son? It’s a boy?” Jim ran around the car to the back seat and got in next to Sheila. Daniel walked into his ER and called for a gurney, ignoring the fact that he was covered in blood.
In no time, Sheila was in a bed, her little son cleaned up, with Jim beaming beside her. Daniel washed up and went to check on her.
“Want to hold your godson, Daniel?” Jim held the baby out to him.
Daniel wanted nothing more, and no one was more surprised than he was. “I haven’t agreed—”
Jim smiled. “It’s all over your face. It’s okay to hold him.”
Daniel reached out with trembling hands and took the bundle from Jim. His hands had been steady when he delivered the child, but now his nervousness took over. Daniel gingerly cradled the infant in his arms and looked down at his face.
He gasped. “Sheila, he has her eyes.”
Tears of joy fell to her cheeks as she nodded, but Daniel caught a fleeting sadness, as well. It occurred to him again how hard this must be for Sheila. Wonderful, but not without difficult memories.
“I mean, they’re your eyes.”
She grabbed Jim’s hand and interlocked their fingers. “They’rehereyes.” Her grief for Sara and her joy for her new son were intertwined all in the same moment.
He had been so very wrong. A new baby didn’t take away from Sara—a new baby helped to keep her alive. He returned his attention to the now sleeping baby in his arms. Daniel inhaled that baby smell and allowed himself to be taken back in time to Sara’s birth. He really hadn’t known what he was going to do with a baby. His excitement had been interlaced with apprehension.Overwhelmeddidn’t even begin to describe it. Each day his heart had swelled with love he hadn’t even known he was capable of, and he had followed it, hoping he would be a good father. He kissed Sheila’s forehead. “You make beautiful babies.”
She flushed and turned to her husband. Jim’s eyes filled with new-dad tears as he took in his son. Daniel reluctantly put the baby into their arms and stepped back. Jim kissed Sheila, and they both spent the next few minutes gazing at the wonder that was this newborn child.
“You got a name?”
Jim beamed. “Aaron. It means strength.”
Daniel nodded, a calm and peace coming over him that he hadn’t experienced in some time. Without consciously doing so, he imagined a similar scene with a baby whose eyes were so brown and soft they were almost black. He imagined creamy brown skin, and perfect little red lips. He imagined a baby that was his. His and Annika’s.
The pit in his stomach was gone. It was replaced by an intense longing, as if a dam had broken, and what came through was thatthiswas what he wanted. His fear had blocked him from seeing it, but this was what his life should be, risks and all.
CHAPTER THIRTY
ANNIKA
