by Anna Cove
MJ stood next to Sky with an open-mouthed smile on her face. "Are you sure you haven't done this before?" she asked.
"You've been holding out on us, Wilson." Kell punched Dylan in the shoulder.
Dylan didn't know why, but for once she wasn't annoyed by Kell. Her muscles were spent, but for the first time in a very long time, her mind was blank. There was nothing there. No underlying tension. No self-berating thoughts.
"I swear I didn't know she was going to be this good." Sky shook her head, her eyebrows stilted high in the sky. "Now, you have to join the team."
For the chance to feel like this even a fraction of time, Dylan couldn't think of a good reason to say no. The woman she had been an hour before seemed miles away. That woman was old and heavy and stiff. This one... she could row. Even having to tolerate Kell wasn't reason enough to stay away. And she could use a hobby. With an arm heavy with spent muscles, she ran a hand through her hair. "Well, sure. Okay."
"That's Dylan's version of yippee," Skylar said.
Dylan blushed and shook hands as everyone congratulated her on joining the team.
When she left, she felt like she was on top of the world, and she knew exactly what she would do next.
SHE WENT STRAIGHT TO Love Falls Hospital.
She did not stop at home to change or shower. She didn't trust herself to go through with her spur-of-the-moment plan if she stopped somewhere. But she did change out her sweatpants for a pair of slacks, put a blouse over her T-shirt, and attempted to finger-comb her short hair into a hairstyle that resonated with her. In the tiny visor mirror of her car, she caught a glimpse of what she had looked like before Katie died.
Dylan had taken pride in her hair and how she looked back then, but that stuff just didn't matter afterward. Nothing really had mattered. Now she could see she could use a trim, not to mention a shower, but she wasn't going to the hospital for a fashion show. She was going to find out how Laura Munro was doing. That was all.
It was a warm mid-April day. Dylan felt tired, but more invigorated than she had in years. She strode into the hospital, uncertain of how she would get into the tightly guarded maternity unit. But maybe she didn't need to get in, really. All she needed was to find out if Laura Munro was alive. Once she had ascertained this piece of information, Dylan would be okay. Then she could drop the whole thing and forget about Laura Munro and move on with her life.
She made her way up to the third floor of the hospital but lost a little of her confidence as she saw the prison-level security door.
Do not give up now. You'll only be more miserable, a little voice told her.
Before the doubts could win, Dylan rang the buzzer.
"Please state your name and who you're here to visit."
Dylan cleared her throat, finding it suddenly dry. "This is Dylan Wilson. I'm here to see Laura Munro."
"Ms. Munro doesn't have any visitors on her guest list."
"Oh." Dylan kept her finger on the call button, scraping her brain to try to come up with an excuse. But she couldn't. She never could come up with the right words unless she was under the pressure of a call. She also couldn't leave, though. Leaving would drive her down the path toward crazy, she just knew it. She wouldn't be able to do her job properly, and people depended on her focus. She decided on just going for the truth. "I was the nine-one-one operator on her call a couple days ago. I just wanted to make sure she was all right."
A static silence was the only sound that answered her in return. "Did you say your name was Dylan Wilson?"
"Yes," Dylan said.
A buzz sounded at the door and Dylan lunged to open it before the nurse changed her mind and locked it again.
A petite young woman with red hair and freckles met her on the other side of the door. She took Dylan's hand and shook it warmly. "My name is Molly McGregor."
"McGregor." Dylan raised her eyebrows, recognizing the name.
"Yes, Alva McGregor is my mother. You took her call the other night and changed her smoke alarm batteries? I do what I can for her, but I've had to take on more shifts lately... and she's been lonely since my brother died and... well I really appreciate your help. I wanted to thank you in person."
Dylan blushed with the attention and the warmth of the girl's hand. She couldn't be older than twenty-three. Dylan knew how hard it was to take care of a parent at that age. "I'm happy to help, and I'm sorry for the loss of your brother."
"You're incredible at your job," Molly McGregor said. "You go above and beyond. I don't know many people who care like that, you know?"
"Naw, I don't... it's not a problem, really."
"Well, I want to give you something in return." Molly looked over her shoulder, but it was unnecessary as the maternity unit was quiet. "I'm not supposed to tell you this. It violates all kinds of rules and could put my job in jeopardy, but I don't see how it could hurt. Mother and baby are doing just fine. They're keeping her here for observation, but plan to send her home either tonight or tomorrow. I would take you to see them, but they're very strict about visitors around here and she's sleeping right now. So I hope—"
Just then an older nurse exploded out of the room. "Molly, get Doctor Hamilton now for room three forty-two."
The older nurse rushed back inside the room from which she had emerged. Molly glanced back at the nurses' station, shook her head, set her thin lips in a line, and efficiently jogged in the opposite direction, leaving Dylan alone at the reception desk.
There were three wings to the maternity ward. Laura could be in any of them. Since Dylan knew she was making a good recovery and the baby was fine, she could leave and get on with her life. She'd done what she'd come here to do. Except now that she was here, she really wanted to see Laura. To make sure she was okay with her own two eyes.
Before she could act on the urge, Molly emerged with a short, gray-haired man. They walked quickly toward the room to which they had been summoned and slipped inside.
Dylan was once again alone.
It was as if her body didn't quite believe what her brain knew. She couldn't make herself go. She waited and finally gave in.
She squinted at the signs outside the doors. Some of the rooms had names on the outside, but from her position Dylan couldn't see a Munro. Maybe, since she was apparently a famous actress, they were using a pseudonym or keeping her presence as private as possible.
What was possessing her to snoop like this? Usually, she followed the rules and kept in her lane, but there was something calling to her. Maybe if she just peeked her head in and took one glance, then she could leave. If Laura was asleep as Molly said, she would never know. No harm done.
The hallways remained empty. Dylan strolled toward the wing opposite to where Molly and the doctor had disappeared. A few of the rooms were vacant, and the last two were occupied by women in various stages of labor, too focused on what they were doing to notice a passer-by. Unseen, Dylan slipped back to the desk and chose the other wing, the one that went straight back from the entrance.
She hurried now, as it was inevitable that someone would come out of a room at some point and discover her illegal entry. She peered in the rooms with open doors, but none of them contained Laura. As she was tiptoeing away from the second room, she heard wheels behind her and dashed behind a cart containing towels and cleaning solutions. Dylan's sore muscles screamed as she squatted in hiding, but there was no way Dylan could explain her presence, so she remained still and silent. Her heart thudded in her throat.
A nurse Dylan hadn't seen yet rolled a bassinet down the hall, cooing at the baby inside. Dylan watched her as she disappeared into the last room on the left, remained inside for a moment, and then peacefully exited the room. She waited an extra beat until she was sure the silence in the hallway meant it was empty, then stood and padded down to the last room.
She felt drawn to the room for some reason.
If she's not in there, I'll give up.
The nurse had left the door cracked open. Dylan touched
it with her fingertips, and it opened further. She slid inside. This is crazy, she thought. But she pressed forward nonetheless.
The room was warm and dark, the shades drawn. A jumble of sheets hid most of the figure in the bed, except for a spray of blond hair, flowing like a stream of molten gold over the pillow. Dylan knew right away. It was Laura.
Dylan felt the obscene urge to run her fingers through that hair, to touch her face, to see with her hands and her eyes that she was really there.
You didn't lose her.
She'd never felt like this about a caller before. It was as if she had been going along a track, and by meeting this woman she'd flipped a switch and diverged. Dylan couldn't yet make out her new direction, but she could see how it forked from her earlier path. Joining the crew team, Mrs. McGregor, this... now. They were all things she wouldn't have done two weeks earlier, but here she was, doing them all. She watched Laura for what must have been minutes as she slept.
Then a little noise drew her attention. Next to the bed was the bassinet with a little bundle inside. Barely daring to breathe, Dylan padded silently to the edge of the bassinet and looked down. The little bundle had eyes, and those eyes seemed to stare right at her. Dylan couldn't help but smile at the perfect little nose and lips, at the eyes that looked so big and alien. She hadn't seen a baby this small in her life, and she so badly wanted to pick him up.
The tag on the bassinet said Aaron.
Dylan mouthed the name. It fit. She reached down and let her finger trail across the edge of Aaron's cheek. "You're so beautiful," she said.
What happened next took her so much by surprise that later she would wonder what had happened to her Spidey senses. But there was a throaty cry and a flash of movement just behind Dylan, and then a hard object connected with her head. She blinked, but saw only a flash of white, so bright that everything else dimmed in the room.
Then the hard object slammed into her head again, and the white shriveled to an all-consuming black.
CHAPTER SEVEN
LAURA WAS DONE.
She was done with people. Done caring about her image. Done. She'd defended herself and her baby in that hospital—a hospital she'd never planned to visit in the first place—and whoever it was deserved it. She'd learned a valuable lesson in the process. No one could protect her. Not Cal, not the hospital—no one.
After she awakened to the second stranger in her room, and taken care of that stranger, she insisted they let her go immediately. When they hesitated, she threatened to sue. Discharge papers arrived five minutes later.
Now, she was glad to be in the place she was calling home.
Sunlight streamed through the tall first-floor windows of the cabin, soaking the concrete floor, bathing the bulky woven blankets on the back of the living room couch. Dust particles sparkled in the air. Laura leaned against the front door, so thankful to see this place after the torturous days in the hospital. Glad for the peace after the constant noise, the natural warmth after the fluorescent greens. Glad to be alone with Aaron.
She would admit, Nurse Ellen had been right. It wasn't easy. It had taken almost all her strength to get from the hospital room to the taxi, and from the taxi into the cabin. Now the path to the couch from the doorway stretched in front of her like a long red carpet. It looked so welcoming over there on the couch, so cozy. The midwife, Pam, had set up the bassinet for Aaron nearby. The blanket was pre-warming in the sun. The snacks and the diapers were all ready for her.
See? People can be nice sometimes.
What was next for her? She could see the series of intrusions from the last few days had just been bad luck. They could have happened anywhere. They certainly would have happened if she was still in the city. She didn't even want to imagine what having a baby there would be like. Leaked photos to the paparazzi? A gaggle of them outside her hospital room door? She shuddered at the thought.
At least Love Falls was quiet. With the spring sun streaming in, strong through the winter-barren trees, she thought, if I'm going to refresh my life, it might as well be here. No one knew about her cabin in the woods. They would be safe as long as they stayed home.
It took her a while to release the clasp on the car seat—were these things designed by an astrophysicist?—and to transfer Aaron into her arms. His form was still so foreign to her. Squishy and floppy, she didn't seem to have enough arms to pick him up properly. But eventually she secured him across her forearms and, slowly, limping slightly on her sprained ankle, made her way to the sun-drenched couch.
As soon as she settled in, the doorbell rang.
She let her eyelids drop down. What if she just let it be? Who could be out here on the mountain anyway? Nothing was due for delivery, and she had a post office box for that purpose. Cal was the only one who knew her location and she hadn't even told him about the baby yet. There was no reason for him to visit so soon after he left. It couldn't be anyone she knew.
Had someone followed her up here?
"Just let it go," she whispered to herself.
The door was locked, and no one could get in, anyway. If Laura was quiet, the person would eventually go away and then she could get back to what she was doing. What was she doing? She had never had so little planned in her entire life. The weeks stretched ahead of her, and if it was anything like her time in the hospital, she was in for a cycle of sleep, eat, diaper change, repeat. For now, the sleep option seemed so enticing, especially as Aaron grew heavy in her arms. She eased him down into his bassinet, inch by inch, and stretched herself out on the sofa. The doorbell rang again.
"Go away," she whined to herself, unable to find the energy to express it much louder. Thankfully, the baby slept through the noise.
The door was quiet for another minute before she heard a different sound. A grating. Her brain couldn't figure out what the sound was until the door opened.
"Halloooo," said a voice. "I hope you don't mind I let myself in."
Adrenaline spiked and Laura sat up too quickly, sending a shooting pain through her abdomen. A woman, thin and athletic and in her sixties, carrying a rectangular dish, walked in like she owned the place. Maybe she does. That was the only thought that kept her from chasing her back out the door. Cal had secured the house, handling all that communication for her, and Laura hadn't yet met the owner.
The woman went right to the kitchen counter and placed her foil-covered dish on top. Then she turned to Laura and opened her mouth, a stream of words coming out. Laura could almost picture them in the air, flowing out of the woman's mouth and filling the space. "I'm Colleen O'Connor. I live right through the trees behind your house. The owner gave me a key and I saw you come home with that sweet little bundle of yours and I just had to welcome you to the neighborhood."
Laura opened her mouth to speak, but Colleen held up a hand sporting a ring on almost every finger.
"I won't stay long, and I won't ask to hold the baby. Not yet, anyway. I just had to bring over this lasagna for you. It's got meat in it so I hope you're not a vegetarian."
Laura blinked, all the fight whooshing out of her like air in a deflated balloon. How had this woman made a lasagna in the time since she got home? Did she just have fully prepared dishes ready to go? Had she been watching the house? Laura didn't quite know how to feel about all this.
"If you need anything, let me know. My name is Colleen, if you couldn't remember. I know you must have a lot on your mind. I'm going to write my name and number down on this pad of paper, and you just call whenever you need something, okay, dear? And I mean anything at all," she said, emphasizing the words with a dot on the paper and the drop of her pen.
The more Colleen spoke, the less Laura felt like she had to say. At first, she'd been ready to chase her out, to attack, but this woman was just bringing her lasagna. She didn't even seem to know who Laura was. This was normal life. This was what you did for your neighbors in the country.
They stood, staring at one another for a few moments. Colleen's hair was curly and
pulled up into a ponytail. Tiny strands of gray spun around her face. She had a kind smile, and despite how thin she was, she had a hearty glow about her. She seemed to be waiting for something.
You can be normal, Laura. This is your chance.
"Thank you." Laura eased her way back into the soft cushions of the couch, her eyes never leaving Colleen.
But Colleen didn't move like Laura expected her to. What was she waiting for? Laura didn't feel any danger from the woman, but she also didn't want to visit. She wanted to be alone, but if she kicked her out using the words that were surfacing in her mind—the blunt, acerbic words that came far too easily to her—then she would burn the bridge of a kindly neighbor. And she wasn't stupid enough to alienate her neighbors when she lived alone in the mountains.
Laura had never lived in a place like this, but she could feel its sense of community in her bones. If she was going to be alone, it might not hurt to have someone she could call. Just in case.
Finally, the woman spoke. "You've been through a lot, haven't you? And you're still carrying it all on your shoulders."
So she did know who she was. With that, Laura found the energy to speak, to form polite but firm words. "Thank you so much, Colleen, for the lasagna. I'll return the dish when I'm done, but now I'm tired and need to rest."
"Of course," Colleen said. "I'll get out of your hair. Toodleloo!"
Then she left. It took a moment for the air to settle back into its natural place, for Laura to feel like she could lie back. And then she got exactly what she asked for. Peace and quiet.
There was no noise in the house except the gentle purring of Aaron's breath as he slept. It was sweet, at first. So precious and special, but then Laura's mind began to drift. She thought about Cal, and the project she was supposed to pitch to him. She hadn't thought she'd be ready to work right after Aaron was born, but here she was, now. She couldn't sleep. Her brain was raring to go. And she no longer had to worry about delivering a baby.
