Page 16 of A Mommy for His Daughter

Evelyn kept one eye on the monitors and one eye on the baby. Twenty years ago she’d have been putting Christina under and delivering the baby via C-section, but a frank breech—if the mother and baby were healthy—could be delivered the old-fashioned way. If the baby had been a footling breech it would be a different story.

Still, this was going to be a hard birth.

Janet continued encouraging Christina, and Derek supported their patient as Evelyn guided a beautiful baby girl into the world—bum first.

The baby didn’t cry right away, but that wasn’t unusual, and Evelyn suctioned the mouth while Janet rubbed the baby vigorously.

There was a fraction of a moment when Evelyn worried, just for a second, that the baby wouldn’t cry and she’d have to resuscitate. She shifted her brain to focus on the protocol for that—especially since they weren’t in a hospital. But it was only for a fleeting moment, because then the baby took a breath and cried out at the indignity of being cold and pestered.

Evelyn’s heart swelled and she smiled behind her surgical mask. This was her favorite part. Life. A healthy baby. She held the little one carefully to get a closer look. Her heart raced as a secret pang of longing coursed through her.

So wonderful. Pure. A new life safely arrived in the world.

The possibilities for this baby were endless. It was thrilling, as always, to be there on day one of a child’s life.

“It’s a girl!” she announced. “Do you want me to cut the cord?”

Christina nodded. “Tom was going to do it…but, yeah.”

Evelyn cut the cord and the placenta was delivered soon after. Janet took the baby to the warmer to rub ointment in her eyes, weigh her and do the heel stick. Everything that needed to be done. But it wasn’t long before the baby was brought back to Christina, to be held skin to skin with the relieved mother.

“Excellent work, Dr. Saunders,” Derek said as Evelyn finished cleaning up. He was beaming at her. Those intense eyes sparkling with pride. “Seriously—excellent job.”

“Thanks to you, as well,” she said. “I couldn’t have done that without you.”

He looked stunned. “I did nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing? You have a well-stocked clinic and I didn’t have to give you instructions. You knew what to do.”

“Still, you did all the work,” he whispered.

“I don’t do much,” Evelyn said. “I just catch them.”

Derek chuckled and then left the room.

Evelyn passed on the post-op care to Janet. If all went well Christina and the baby could go home today. For a breech birth, it had been almost textbook. And she was relieved that the first birth she’d had to attend to in Wolf’s Harbor had been easy.

As she peeled off her gown and gloves Nancy opened the door to the exam room. “Look who I found!” she announced.

A man in flannel and denim, who looked a bit wide-eyed and dazed, stumbled in. “Did I miss it?”

“Tom, I presume?” Evelyn asked with a smile.

“Yeah. I missed it, didn’t I?” He rubbed his hand over his head. “I knew I shouldn’t have gone to work today.”

“Everything is fine, Tom. Go meet your daughter.”

Tom grinned. “A girl?”

Evelyn watched as Tom went to Christina and bent down to see his newborn daughter. A happy family.

That pang of longing for something she could never have washed over her again.

But you could have it if you want.

She forced that thought away and left the exam room to clean up. The birth had happened so fast. It was only lunch time and they could see their patients in the afternoon. She could still get Jennifer Yazzie in.

Evelyn went to find her file, worried suddenly, because if Dr. Pearson hadn’t tried to turn Christina’s baby before he left, what was going on with Jennifer and her small measurements?

Nancy was back at the front desk.

“Can you reschedule Jennifer Yazzie for later this afternoon, Nancy?”

“Sure, Dr. Saunders.”

Evelyn thanked Nancy and headed to exam room three, which had a desk and was obviously the office for a rotating specialist. It was cramped, and a bit dark, but it worked and that was where she set up her computer.

There weren’t many pregnant women in Wolf’s Harbor, but there were a couple of six-week check-ups and everyday women’s health stuff to deal with. For the most part it was going to be an easy job.

Evelyn fired up her laptop and frowned because the clinic did not appear to have high-speed internet access.

“Have I gone back to the time of dial-up?” she murmured under her breath.

“Yeah, the Wi-Fi here is really not reliable.”

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