Page 25 of A Mommy for His Daughter

It touched him. Deeply.

There was much to admire about Evelyn Saunders.

Dammit. It was going to be hard to treat her like all the others who’d come before her.

“Well, I’m truly sorry if I’ve been cold to you. Thank you for coming here and making Mo’s night—despite the fact you think I’m an intolerable grump.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Would you like a glass of wine?” he asked.

“Sure.”

“Take a seat in the living room and I’ll bring it out.”

Evelyn nodded and headed to the living room while Derek pulled down two wineglasses from a cupboard. He opened the red wine she’d brought and poured two glasses. He looked at the label and was surprised she’d been able to get such an expensive bottle of wine in Wolf’s Harbor.

He picked up the glasses and set them on a tray that also held some cheese and crackers.

Evelyn was sitting on the large sectional couch that was set in front of the fire that he’d started. She was staring up at the wooden beams in awe. Or at least he hoped it was awe and not something like boredom.

He thought again how it really had been a while since he was on a date.

This isn’t a date. Remember that.

He cringed inwardly. This wasn’t a date. He was not on a date.

“This still looks the same,” she remarked. “I’m glad you kept this the same.”

“I didn’t really change this room. I liked it cozy,” he said as he set the tray on the coffee table and then handed her a glass.

“Wow,” she said.

“What?” he asked, sitting down next to her.

“You are so neat and organized. Your house is immaculate. Very smooth compared to what Dr. Pearson left me.”

He breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled.

“Well, my mom has a very successful catering company in Chicago so I grew up learning how to entertain, I suppose. I was a waiter for many years when I was working my way through college. As for the cleanliness—that’s thanks to a cleaning lady and the fact that Mo and I don’t spend much time here. I’m sure if I were a stay-at-home dad this place would be a lot more disorganized.”

“Order is something you can control.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“The clinic is immaculate too. You like to be able to control things, and when things are out of your hands you don’t like it. I get it. I respect it. Because I’m the same way.”

“I’m glad,” Derek said quietly, and they sat in silence, listening to the fire crackle and trying to ignore the awkward silence between them.

“Thanks for your help today and for cleaning up the mess I left,” she said.

“It’s okay. It’s just…it was intense today, but you were there for Christina and you were amazing.”

“Yeah, she’s stable now, and they fixed the tear in her uterine wall. She had a fibroid, and with the force of her labor and a frank breech birth it tore. I didn’t know she had fibroids. Of course, she was supposed to have the baby turned by Dr. Pearson and that never happened.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not too impressed with him.”

“There’s something else.” Evelyn set her wineglass down on the table. “Jennifer Yazzie’s measurements have been small.”

“Are you still concerned about intrauterine growth restriction?”

“Yeah.” She sighed sadly.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know a lot about that. You don’t encounter it much up here.”

“It’s okay. It’s just that you seemed bothered by it before when I brought it up,” she said.

“Well, I worry about… My wife died here after giving birth to Mo. If she’d been in a city she would’ve survived.”

“I’m sorry.”

And she reached out to touch him, placing her delicate hand on his thigh. There was no pity in her beautiful deep brown eyes. Just heartfelt sympathy.

He shrugged, but said nothing else. It still ate at him. He should’ve got Vivian to a hospital, but her pregnancy had been textbook and she’d wanted a home birth.

It’s your fault. You should’ve convinced her to go to Juneau.

“So is there anything else?” he asked, ignoring that voice in his head—the voice that kept him up at night, reminding him how he’d failed Vivian.

“Well, I see that Dr. Pearson suspected intrauterine growth restriction, but I don’t think he told her.”

“No, he probably didn’t.” Derek rolled his eyes.

“Well, I’m going to speak to the medical board, because that’s two patients here that were not dealt with properly. What else has been missed?”

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