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“Crash here all weekend?” I asked.
“Long story,” Jordan replied. “Thanks for coming.”
Something in his tone confused me: it was like I was doing him a favor. “No problem. What’s going on?”
“You’ll see in a minute,” Jordan said wearily. Now that I got a good look at him, he appeared exhausted and disheveled, like he hadn’t gotten any sleep. His shirt had a pale white stain on it, like ranch dressing. And his beard had gotten longer.
“I thought Derek didn’t want you to let your beard get any longer,” I said with a friendly finger-wag.
“Been kind of busy,” he replied.
I frowned. “Did you end up working all weekend? Your shifts are already crazy, but making you work a week straight like that…”
“No, no, it’s not that.”
“Then what’s going on?” I asked, alarm growing. “Why did you invite me here?”
He guided me into a room markedCaptain Dahlkemper. Inside, Derek was standing in the corner. He turned around and scowled when he saw me.
But I ignored the look on his face, because there was ababyin his arms.
Jordan gestured. “Thisis why I asked you to come over.”
7
Clara
I gawked at the baby cradled in Derek’s muscular arms. My brain took a few seconds to reboot. A baby was thelastthing I expected to see when Jordan invited me over to the firehouse.
Then my maternal instinct took over.
“Aww! What’s your name, little girl?”
“He’s a boy, actually,” Taylor chimed in. “I don’t know why the Chief bought a pink blanket.”
“Because it was on clearance,” he replied dryly.
“His name is Anthony,” Jordan said.
I froze.
Anthony was my father’s name. Anthony “Tony” Ricci.
A memory from a year ago flashed in my head, still painful after so long. I was in the hospital with Dad, and I complained to him that I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do with my life.
Even on his death bed, Dad was good at dispensing wisdom. “Clara,” he had told me, “if you don’t know what you want to do, then settle down with someone and start a family. Raising you and Jason was the most fulfilling part of my life. It’s what I’m most proud of.”
“Maybe,” I had said. “I have to find the right guy, first.”
“As long as you give your mother grandchildren,” he said. “Lots and lots of grandchildren!”
I remember smiling at him. “I promise, Dad. And the first boy I have? I’m going to name him Anthony.”
Dad smiled at me. “A little baby named Anthony? With a promise like that, I might beat this cancer after all.”
I blinked, and suddenly I was back in Captain Dahlkemper’s room at the firehouse, staring at a pudgy little baby. I felt dizzy, so I sat on the edge of the bed.
“He was dropped off on Friday,” Jordan explained. “The mother’s identity is protected due to Safe Haven laws.”
