Mission Creek Mother-To-Be

“Oh, she’ll probably be thrilled when the baby comes along,” Melanie said. “Who wouldn’t be?”

Jared shot her a look, but smiled. “I’m sure she will. And your point is taken.”

Melanie feigned innocence. “My point?”

“Press the button,” Jared said to Lily, who proceeded to press it about ten times in rapid succession. “Yes, your point,” he said to Melanie. “How are you enjoying working with the kids?”

“Piece of cake,” she said.

He looked from her to Dan and back again, clearly trying not to smile. “That so?” The elevator arrived and they stepped on.

Her face grew warm. “Okay, maybe it’s not quite as easy as I thought it would be. But you have to admit working in day care is very different from having a child of one’s own.”

“We’ll see.”

We’ll see? Her heart lurched. Did that mean he was going to give her the okay? She knew better than to ask. Instead she just nodded. “I feel as confident as I ever did. Maybe even more.”

He raised an eyebrow. “More?”

“Sure. Look, already today I’ve learned that you can feed babies rocks and metal and they can, hopefully, just poop it out.”

Jared watched the digital numbers change over the door as the elevator went up. Although he didn’t exactly smile, she recognized a lightening of his expression. “That should come in handy if you should ever go broke.”

There it was again. Was he hinting to her that he was going to approve her as an artificial insemination candidate?

The doors opened and they stepped out.

“Luckily my parents left me with enough to provide for my children,” she said. “I don’t think we’ll have to resort to eating the elements, but it’s good to know that we can.”

To her amazement, he laughed. “You’re resourceful, I’ll give you that.” They stopped. “X-ray is down that hall and to the left. You can’t miss it. They’re expecting you.”

“Thanks,” Melanie said, thanking him as much for easing up on her as for giving her directions.

“Sure. Come on, Lily,” he said. “We’re going to pick something up then go to my office.” He reached his hand out to the little girl, and she took it. Something in the gesture made Melanie’s heart ache. She watched them walk away for a moment before following his directions to the X-ray department.

Everything went smoothly, although the waiting took longer and was more nerve-racking than Melanie had anticipated. When they finally took Dan in, they allowed Melanie to come with him. Part of her felt she didn’t have the right to be there, that she should have called his mother for this, but Em had specifically told her to call Linda afterward, when everything was all right. And Em had been confident that everything would be all right, so there was probably no sense in getting Linda worried for nothing.

In the X-ray room, Dan fussed and complained at first, but he held still long enough for them to take the picture. Afterward, when Melanie took him back in her arms, he was happy again.

The technician took the film out of the machine and clipped it onto the light board to take a look. “There it is,” he said, pointing to a small dark shadow in Dan’s stomach. “Yum.”

“Is he going to be all right?” Melanie asked fretfully.

“Looks like it,” the attending doctor said. “He didn’t suffer from any gagging or choking on its way down, so it didn’t get lodged in his windpipe. The rest is pretty easy. With any luck it should come out painlessly.”

Melanie sighed in relief.

“Is he going to be here in the hospital for the rest of the day?” the doctor asked.

“No, his grandmother is supposed to pick him up in about half an hour.”

“See if you can keep him in the day care instead. You’re going to have to watch for the earring to come out. If it hasn’t by the end of the day, we might do another X ray.”

Melanie swallowed. “All right. How will I know when it’s come out?”

The doctor smiled. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to inspect the contents of his diaper.”

She tried not to appear appalled by the notion, and nodded mutely.

Next she had to call Linda Darrow and tell her what happened. She screwed up her courage and went to the white house phone on the wall. The minutes seemed to tick by extra slowly while she waited for the operator to page Linda.

Finally Linda picked up the line and, with great trepidation, Melanie told her what had happened.

When she finished, Linda sighed heavily. “I can’t believe this.”

“I know,” Melanie said miserably. “I’m just so sorry about it.”

“How much is it going to cost?”

“Whatever it is, obviously I’ll cover it,” Melanie said, glad she could at least do that much.

There was a pause, then Linda asked. “I’m sorry, what do you mean you’ll cover it?”

“The medical costs, time you take off from work, anything.”

“I meant the diamond,” Linda said. “How much will it cost me to replace it for you?”

Melanie couldn’t believe her ears. “You’re not worried about Dan?”

“You just told me he was all right, didn’t you?” Linda asked. “We see this kind of thing, and much worse, all the time around here. Last week we had a girl in the ER who had swallowed one of those little lightbulbs. That was harrowing.”

Melanie gasped. “Was she all right?”

“Oh, sure. They got it out easy. Now about this earring, I don’t think I can buy a new one outright, but maybe if the jeweler has some kind of installment plan—”

“Please, Linda, no. I don’t care about that at all. The important thing is that Dan’s okay.” Knowing Linda’s objection was coming, she added, “I really have to insist.”

“I appreciate that, Miss Tourbier—”

“Melanie, please.”

“Melanie, then. Now I’d better call Mom and tell her not to come, then I’ll come down to see Dan in the day care as soon as I can get away.”

“I’ll hold on to him until you get there.”

Linda clicked her tongue against her teeth. “You’re just the sweetest thing. I hope you stay in Mission Creek for a good long time.”

I hope it doesn’t take a good long time for Jared Cross to decide I can be a mother, Melanie thought, but she said, “I hope so, too.”