When he reached the room, Lucy was asleep and he settled Emma in her own small bed to sleep alongside her mother.
When he came out of Lucy’s room, Caroline caught him. “Mike wants to talk to you. He said he could come here if that would help.”
“Yeah, it would. Shall I call him?”
“I’ll let him know.”
“Okay, I’ll be in the waiting room.”
After letting Lucy’s nurse know where he’d be, he settled on one of the sofas in the waiting room, glad his parents had gone home. At least now they knew he hadn’t brought a woman pregnant with his child to the hospital as a surprise. But he almost wished Lucy was his woman. She seemed so gentle and caring and…lost. He felt a need to be responsible for her.
Mike walked into the waiting room. He must’ve driven down to get there this fast.
“Did that old man talk to you?”
Mike came to an abrupt halt. “Did you have something to do with that?”
“He’s the one who brought us to town.”
“I didn’t know that. But I wanted to talk to you about the woman you brought in.”
“Didn’t Caro tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Who she is. She’s Harry’s sister.”
Mike stared at him blankly. “You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Did you ask her for proof?”
“No, I didn’t. I’m not a lawman.”
“Damn it, John, you can’t just take her word for it.”
“Do you know her married name? I don’t. Well, I do now, but I didn’t then.”
“Maybe her driver’s license has her maiden name on it. A lot of women do that, for some reason.”
“Do you want me to go get her purse? I know where it is. I’ll be back in a minute.” John felt kind of bad about getting Lucy’s wallet while she was sleeping, but Mike had to see the proof.
When he came out, Caroline was talking with her husband.
“Why didn’t you tell me she’d been beaten, John?”
“Hell, you wouldn’t even believe who she is without proof. I figured we should prove her identity to you before we discussed what she’d been through.”
“Caro just told me about her bruises.”
“Yeah, and I took her by the shoulders and she winced. She said she was bruised there, too. When I told her to take off her coat so I could see, she said he didn’t hit her where other people could see.”
“Sounds like a pro.”
“She said he only hit her one other time, and he apologized and told her it wouldn’t happen again.”
“Did she say why he beat her this time?”
“She said he didn’t want the baby…and then she broke down in sobs.”
“Poor thing,” Caroline said. “Being pregnant is hard enough when both of you want the baby. When one of you doesn’t, it’s nearly unbearable. To have him try to destroy her baby is inhuman.”
Mike Davis put his arm around his wife. They’d been thrilled with both their children, but Mike knew she felt a lot of sympathy toward women who suffered at the hands of their husbands.
“What’s she going to do?” Caroline asked.
“I talked to Mom and Dad and they’re willing to welcome her to our house. Mom was planning what she would do to make them happy.”
“And she agreed to do that?”
“I haven’t actually talked to her about it. She thinks she should go away where her husband won’t find her. But she doesn’t know where to go. That’s why she was calling Harry. But he didn’t answer.”
“No, he’s on vacation, but I think he’d want us to help her. We could take her if you can’t,” Mike said.
John grinned. “Mom would never forgive me if she got away.”
“You do realize her husband might come after her.”
“Yeah. If he does, we’ll call you, Mike, but Dad and I will be ready.”
“Good. The MO of these kind of men is to keep hitting their wives. They don’t stop at two beatings. I’m glad she got out.”
“Me, too.”
“When you talk to Harry, tell him we’ve got the situation covered.”
“I will, Mike. He’ll know he can rely on both of us. And Mom is so excited. She’s looking forward to having a baby in the house again.”
“Are you going to stay available until she settles down? She seems to need reassurance for a while,” Caroline said.
“Yeah, I’m going to stay here until she’s okay with everything. I may stay until she can leave. Dad has offered to handle any problems with the ranch until I bring her and the baby home.”
“I just want to warn you, John, that her emotions will be all over the place. It happens after childbirth.” Caroline studied him and John dropped his gaze.
“I’m just offering protection, like Harry would want me to do.”
Mike clapped him on his back. “All right, we’ve got everything squared away for now. When she’s doing better, we’ll ask her if she’ll file charges.”
When he left, John went back to Lucy’s room, wondering if either of the ladies he was in charge of would be awake. A nurse was changing Emma’s diaper and he asked if the baby had woken up.
“Yes, we had the intercom on so she wouldn’t wake up her mother. She’s going to take a bottle.”
“Can I feed it to her?”
“Sure. You’ll have to coax her to eat but usually babies catch on pretty quickly. I’ll wait and see if she does.”
“Great.” He slid his hand beneath the baby and lifted her against his chest. “Hey, little girl, you get a bottle so you can grow. Will you be a good girl and eat it all?”
With blue eyes like her mother the baby stared at him as if he were saying something important.
The nurse handed John the bottle and he tried to insert the nipple in Emma’s mouth. After a moment, he succeeded. When she chewed down on the nipple, she realized
