Lone Star Baby (McCabe Multiples Book 5) (10 page)

Gavin nodded in greeting. “Hey, Tara.” He curved a warm hand over Violet’s shoulder. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

She nodded, not at all sure what Gavin was planning to do that was going to help. But she had to let him try. She shut the door behind Tara. “So what’s up?” she asked her fellow oncologist.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but over half your former patients are refusing to see me.”

“That doesn’t sound...”

“Good?” Tara teared up again. “It isn’t.”

“Did they say why?” Deciding to try to put Ava down yet again, she eased her into the baby buggy and pushed it gently back and forth.

“Apparently you’re a hard act to follow. And they’ve all come to the conclusion that if they hold out, you’ll change your mind and decide to stay.”

If that wasn’t emotional blackmail, Violet didn’t know what was. That also went to prove her sense that she had blurred the boundaries and gotten way too close to all her patients was correct. Violet sighed. “What about Carlson Willoughby?”

“He’s decided he’s too old to break in a new oncologist. He’s at home, waiting to die.”

Oh, no. “How is Wanda?”

“Defeated. Resigned. Heartbroken. Upset. She said the only person who had even a smidgen of a chance of talking sense into her husband would be you.” Tara began to look a little green around the gills. “She came to the hospital a little while ago and begged me to try to talk some sense into you.”

Violet rolled the buggy into the kitchen and took out a sleeve of saltines. She handed them to Tara. “I’m sorry.”

Tara opened the package and munched on one. “I’m a good doctor, Violet.”

“Obviously.” Still pushing the buggy back and forth, she took out some ginger ale. “Or you wouldn’t have been hired.”

Tara took a seat at the table. “I’ve never had patients react to me this way.”

Violet sat, too. Still rocking Ava gently, she soothed, “It’s not your fault. It’s a pitfall that comes with working in a rural county. Everyone knows everyone else. The bonds that are forged are deep and long-lasting.”

“That’s why my husband and I wanted to move here. We wanted to raise our family in a small-town environment. But if I can’t make inroads with the people here...” Tara shook her head, looking on the brink of tears again.

“Do you want me to talk to the Willoughbys and the other patients again?”

“Would you?”

“I’ll have to work it in around caring for Ava, but yes, I’d be happy to.”

“Thanks.” Tara stood.

Violet put her arm around her. “We’ll find a way to work this out.” And in the process get the boundaries that should have been set up all along reinstated.

* * *

T
O
V
IOLET
’
S
SURPRISE
, a victorious Gavin passed Tara on the porch.

The oncologist did a double take. “Is that a...?”

Gavin hefted the small bed as if it was nothing. “Hospital nursery bassinet?” He winked. “Yes, it is.”

Waving goodbye to Tara, Violet followed Gavin inside, shutting the door behind them. “How did you manage that?” She kept her voice low, so as not to wake the still-sleeping Ava.

He set the wheeled infant bed down against the wall, well away from any draft, straightened and dusted off his hands. “I threw myself on the mercy of the nurses.”

Violet planted her hands on her hips and shook her head at the tall, imposing man standing in front of her. “I’m surprised they let you walk out with that.”

He chuckled. “They probably wouldn’t have had the chief of pediatrics not been there to okay it on a temporary emergency basis.”

Oh, dear heaven.
Violet cringed. “My
mother
knows about this?”

He draped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in, his body heat every bit as soothing as his sturdy presence. No wonder Ava had calmed as soon as Gavin had held her in his arms.

“Your mom said she’d come over to help out but they were getting ready to deliver a high-risk infant by C-section. She said to call one of your sisters instead, if this—” he inclined his head at the infant bed “—doesn’t work. And, for the record, she seemed to think it wouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

He strode to the window and looked out toward the street. “Apparently most newborns and new parents have a little trouble adjusting their first twenty-four hours at home.” He turned and slid her a look. “Not that we’re new parents, exactly.”

It felt like it, though. And that was probably precisely why her mother had wanted them to have a chaperone. Violet flashed a grim smile and worked to curtail her mounting aggravation. “I don’t need their help.”

Gavin consulted his watch. “That’s what I said. Still, I wish I didn’t have to go in tonight.”

“I’ll be fine.” Violet looked at the buggy, where Ava was stirring again. With a sigh, she began easing it slowly back and forth.

Outside, a car door sounded. “What’s that?” she whispered.

“Hopefully, dinner,” Gavin murmured in the same low tone. Soundlessly, he eased open the front door. “I called for takeout on the way back here.”

Sure enough, the local Italian Villa restaurant delivery car was parked at the curb. Gavin hustled out to the sidewalk and returned with three white paper bags. As he neared, Violet caught the whiff of something delicious.

He read her mind. “Lasagna Bolognese, house salad with Italian, focaccia bread and tiramisu.” He carried the bags to the table and set them down. “I hope you’re hungry.”

“Starved. Thank you.”

He bussed her temple and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Hey. Who am I if I don’t take care of my women?”

If only they were both his family.

Pushing her wistfulness aside, she patted his bicep and teased in the same amiable tone, “Gallant to the core.”

Basking in the compliment, he brought out the plates and silverware. Violet parked the buggy within reach of the table and took two bottles of water from the fridge. Together, they sat. No sooner had they ladled food onto their plates than Ava opened her eyes, looked around and began to cry.

A curl of exhaustion swept through Violet. Was this why new mothers looked so worn-out?

Still fresh from his post-work nap, Gavin said, “You eat first.”

“You have to go to work.”

“Not for three hours. Plenty of time.”

Violet couldn’t deny she needed fuel. Nor did she want to waste time arguing, so—albeit a little guiltily—she dug in while he got up to feed and change Ava.

By the time she had finished gulping her meal, Ava was asleep. Gavin handed her to Violet. This time she bypassed the baby buggy and settled Ava in the borrowed bassinet, then sat opposite Gavin.

And this time, to their amazement, Ava stayed asleep.

“What do you know,” Violet mused, “the right crib was all she needed.” Well, that and a little cuddling from Gavin, the daddy figure in her life.

Chapter Ten

“Are you sure you want me to go to work tonight?” Gavin asked when the dishes were done.

Although Ava had been asleep for the past hour, she was starting to stir again; it was nearly time for her next feeding. The baby had been home only ten hours and Violet already looked exhausted.

Gavin paused just outside the laundry closet on the other side of the kitchen, clean towel in hand. “I could call around to see if I can get someone to switch shifts with me.”

For a second Violet hesitated, as if almost tempted to take him up on the offer. But she waved off his concern as she walked to the fridge for a bottle of prepared formula. “Don’t be silly. You go ahead and get your shower or whatever it was you were planning to do. We’ll be fine.”

Realizing he was acting more like a brand-new dad than a temporary guardian, and that Violet was suddenly looking as if she were feeling a little crowded in the small space he called home, Gavin nodded.

The plan hadn’t been to do this together, but rather in shifts. Hence, he took his time shaving and showering. As he dressed, all seemed calm—at least from what he could hear on his side of the bedroom door. Finally, he eased open the door and emerged.

Violet had baby Ava propped against her shoulder, as if attempting to burp her, and was walking the intermittently fussing infant back and forth. She was, in that instant, the picture of the brand-new mom. Her face was flushed with a combination of fatigue and joy, her hair swept up in a messy knot on the top of her head. Tendrils escaped to frame her pretty face and the elegant nape of her neck. Boots off, her shirt untucked over her jeans, she was gently rubbing the newborn’s back, murmuring softly all the while.

“It’s a lot to take in, sweetheart, I know. Big changes happening here, with more to come...”

Wasn’t that the truth? Gavin thought, enjoying the view from the vantage point of the galley kitchen.

Who would have known his life could be turned upside down so quickly? Or that he would enjoy everything that was happening this much?

Violet paused in front of the picture window that fronted the house. The blinds were still open and they could see the welcoming lights of other homes on the street.

“Luckily, you’re too little and inexperienced to understand everything that is going on,” Violet continued thickly. “Because if you did, you would know that you should have had what my sisters and their babies all had today. Family, here to greet you upon your arrival. A big, colorful banner with your name on it. A nursery all set up just for you.”

Guilt hit Gavin like a punch to the chest.

Was this what Violet had wanted for Ava? Why she’d gone all out to find a special coming-home outfit for the baby? If so, why hadn’t she said something?

Surely she would have known as a single guy, he wouldn’t have had a clue.

“But it didn’t quite happen that way, did it, little one?” She rested her cheek against the baby’s downy-soft head and murmured ruefully, “Instead, you were stuck with two guardians who are severely deficient in the baby skills department.”

Gavin winced at the accuracy, at least where he was concerned. Violet seemed to be picking up the skills she needed fast.

Violet shifted Ava to her other shoulder and walked over to the bookshelves where he kept his family photos. Still oblivious to the fact Gavin was within earshot, she cuddled Ava closer. “But one day, sweetheart, you will go to your forever home.” Her voice caught on a little sob that sent an arrow straight to Gavin’s heart.

“And I’m sure your new daddy and mommy will give you all of those things.” Violet’s voice hitched again. “And much, much more.”

* * *

A
VA
HAD
JUST
delivered a resounding burp when Violet heard the bedroom door swing open, followed by heavy male footsteps. She had just enough time to pull herself together before Gavin met up with her and Ava in the living area.

Dressed in the blue hospital scrubs and sneakers he sometimes wore to work, he smelled of soap and mint and the masculine fragrance unique to him.

“You two going to be okay?” His gaze roved her casually.

Forcing herself to be the independent “mom” the situation required, she nodded. “We’ll be fine. Our little darlin’ is half asleep already now that she’s finally gotten the air out of her tummy.”

She froze. Had she really said,
“Our little darlin’”
out loud? Given the look on Gavin’s face, she had.

“You know what I mean,” she corrected hastily.

He was quick to say, “I do.” He smiled tenderly. “At least for now.”

He stepped back abruptly, looking as if he needed to get a grip on the situation every bit as much as she did. He glanced around for his wallet, phone and keys. “You’ll text me if you need anything?”

Not sure she trusted her voice, Violet nodded and walked him as far as the front door, working to contain herself all the while. “See you tomorrow.”

His gaze roved the infant in her arms. Leaning forward, he kissed the top of Ava’s head, then Violet’s cheek. The affectionate gesture sent an even stronger wave of sentimentality roaring through her.

He looked at her for a long moment. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he vowed softly.

“Really,” Violet stressed again, ignoring the tears gathering behind her eyes, “we’ll be fine.”

Except, as it happened, as the very long night wore on, she and Ava weren’t exactly fine.

The little darlin’ ate, burped and took care of business, waiting with increasing patience through the required diaper changes.

The one thing she would
not
do was sleep for more than five or ten minutes at a time.

Unless
she was in Violet’s arms.

And though, as a physician, Violet was used to going without sleep, by dawn she was so weary she could barely hold her head up.

The wimpy part of her wanted to call for reinforcements. Or at least to phone her mother or sisters for advice.

But since her parents already thought she’d made the wrong decision in electing to stay at Gavin’s, instead of their place—where they would have been around to help her—she resisted the urge.

She’d allowed them to rush in and take command once before when Sterling had been sick and she’d been at a loss. She wasn’t doing it again.

* * *

“H
EY
,
THANKS
,
MAN
,”
Gavin said to the ER doc who’d come in to cover for him. A real family man, Barry had half a dozen kids and a wife at home.

“No problem.” Barry slapped him on the shoulder. “I’m just surprised you were able to make it in, given the guardianship thing you have going on.”

He probably
shouldn’t
have come in, Gavin thought guiltily.

His fellow physician shrugged on his white coat. “Is Violet doing okay?”

Hard to tell, he thought, given the fact that she hadn’t answered a single one of his texts all night. “I haven’t heard differently,” he said, embarrassed to admit just how worried he was, never mind how little Violet had leaned on him thus far. He’d expected this experience to bring them closer, but instead they seemed suddenly further apart than they had ever been.

A fact that made him feel like even more of a failure in the relationship zone. As if, maybe, he really
didn’t
have a romantic bone in his body?

Barry looped a stethoscope around his neck. “Then they’re probably both sleeping. At least for a few hours at a time.”

Gavin hoped that was the case. His gut told him otherwise. Fortunately, thanks to Bridgette and Meg Carrigan, and a whole host of others, he was armed with knowledge on what to do next.

As he suspected, Violet was wide-awake when he walked in, an hour later, carrying a rocking chair that had seen its fair share of fussy babies.

Unable to completely mask her happiness to see him, she blinked. “Where did you get that?”

He removed his jacket and went to wash his hands before taking the baby. “From Erin,” he said, easing Ava from her arms.

Violet stood, looking a little woozy. “You left work and drove all the way out to the ranch to get it?”

“I left work to make sure the two of you are okay. Not to worry...I’m going back in at six this evening to finish out the rest of my sub’s shift. And Mac, Erin’s husband, met me halfway with the chair. So it wasn’t that much of a drive for either of us. She been fussing like this long?”

She returned his gaze, her expression carefully shuttered. “On and off, all night. I think she’s just overtired.”

Was the puffy redness around Violet’s eyes from tears? Wishing he’d been there to hold her, he murmured, “So are you, from the looks of it.”

Swaying on her feet, Violet walked to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water from the tap. “Ha-ha.”

He followed her, an increasingly sleepy Ava still cradled in his arms. “I’m serious. When was the last time she had a bottle?”

Her brow furrowed warily. “Thirty minutes ago.”

“A diaper change?”

Violet sighed. “Five minutes after that.”

Gavin looked down at the little darlin’ in his arms. Ava was struggling to hold her eyes open. “Has she burped?”

Another long beleaguered sigh. “Twice.”

He nodded with the force of his newfound knowledge. “Then it’s time.”

She looked at him in consternation. “For...?”

“Swaddling.”

* * *

“S
WADDLING
,” V
IOLET
REPEATED
,
not sure whether to be relieved Gavin had come to rescue them or insulted. It would have been one thing had she not failed so miserably all night long to ace this whole temporary mommy thing or sent out an SOS. She hadn’t.

For reasons she didn’t completely understand, she wanted to be as competent in this arena as every other, especially in Gavin’s eyes.

She wanted him to think what a great mother she was—and just how nuts was that? It wasn’t as if they were anything to each other but friends, and bed buddies, and even those two things might be short-term.

So why did it matter if he thought she was marriage material or not?

They weren’t headed down that road. And given how different they were, would never be.

Still, it was worth seeing where all this action was headed.

Her emotions in turmoil, Violet watched as Gavin handed Ava back to her and then strode away just long enough to spread a receiving blanket out on the sofa and fold back one corner. He took Ava, carried her over to the blanket and gently placed her so her shoulders were along the fold. Soothing her gently all the while, he brought one triangle of the blanket over across her body, lifting Ava’s arm so it was free. He then tucked that end of the blanket beneath her. The other end of the triangle was brought back across her body and tucked in behind her. He pulled the bottom of the blanket up across her tiny feet and tucked it in, too.

“Where did you learn to do that?” Violet asked, feeling rather awestruck. Gavin took a seat in the rocking chair, cuddling the swaddled Ava in his arms. “Last night at the hospital. I was telling some of the nurses about our problem, between patients...”

Violet winced.

He continued rocking, slowly and gently. “’Course, they’d already heard about it—”

Ava’s eyes were already drifting shut.

“—because of the fact I had borrowed a bed from the hospital. And someone asked had I taken the newborn care class that the hospital offers. And of course I hadn’t.”

Violet perched on the edge of the sofa, kitty-corner from him, unable to help but admire his newfound skill as a daddy. Even if it was a woefully temporary one. “Me, either.”

“So one of the pediatric nurses on duty showed me some tricks. Swaddling being the most important.”

Lo and behold... Violet gasped. “She’s asleep.” Soundly, it seemed.

“Here goes.” Rising smoothly, Gavin gingerly transferred Ava to her bed. He freed his hand from beneath her while keeping the one on her chest there, barely touching, gently comforting.

A minute passed. Then another. Ava didn’t move. Violet barely breathed. Finally, Gavin eased his hand away and stepped back. Waited. Still nothing. Ava slept on. And on. And on. The ache in Violet’s throat intensified.

“Well, I’ll be darned. It really does work,” Gavin whispered when another five minutes had passed. He turned to her.

“Good work, ‘Dad,’” Violet said. And, to her horror, promptly burst into tears.

* * *

G
AVIN
HAD
FIGURED
Violet would appreciate his efforts. To find he had added to her distress, crushed him. “Hey, what’s wrong?” He gathered her in his arms.

Violet laid her head against his chest. “It’s just been a long twenty hours.”

“It’s more than that,” he insisted quietly. She just didn’t want to tell him.

And that was okay, too.

For now.

As long as she let him comfort her.

Stroking his hands through her hair, he brushed away her tears, then tilted her face up to his. And in that instant, her mood changed. Her irises darkened. Her whole body leaned into his.

He moved in to claim the kiss. Whispered, “Are you sure about this?”

She gazed at him, as if realizing the same thing he had—that whatever this was starting up between them was beginning to be very, very good. “Oh, yes.”

Her hands moved from his chest to his shoulders and clasped behind his neck. With a soft, breathy sigh, she rose on tiptoe and fused her lips to his.

Basking in the gentle surrender of her body, he kissed her deeply, savoring the warmth of her body, the evocative taste of her tongue. As the softness of her breasts pressed against his chest, he inhaled the sweet scent of her skin and the lingering fragrance of her perfume.

Blood thundered through his veins.

Her hips pressed against his.

And still it wasn’t enough.

Kissing wildly, they danced their way through the kitchen, as far as the laundry closet. Impatient, he pressed her up against the dryer.