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“How is she?” he asked as he sat beside Maggie and peered in her carrier.
“A little bit worse than she was when I arrived this morning. She wouldn’t eat and seems listless. I’m glad we had this appointment scheduled today.”
Hadley was obviously distraught, and Liam badly wanted to offer her the comfort of his embrace, but yesterday she hadn’t believed him when he’d told her there was more to his proposal than his determination to seek custody of Maggie. What made him think that a miracle had occurred overnight to change her mind?
“Do you think the jaundice is causing this?”
“More likely the jaundice is a symptom of something more serious.”
“Damn it.” The curse vibrated in his chest as anxiety flared. He stared down at the sleeping baby. “I can’t lose her.”
“Liam, you’re not going to lose her.” Hadley reached across Maggie’s carrier and set her fingers on his upper arm.
The light contact burned through him like a wildfire, igniting his hope for a future with her. She loved him. The proof was in her supportive tone and her desire to reassure him. But as he reached to cover her hand with his, she withdrew. When she spoke again, her voice had a professional crispness.
“She’s going to be fine.”
He hated the distance between them. He’d been wrong to propose to her as part of a scheme to win custody of Maggie. Even though it hadn’t been his only reason for asking her to marry him, she’d been right to feel as if he’d treated her no better than Noah.
But how could he convince her to give him another chance when she’d rejected everything he’d already said and done? As with the subject of Maggie’s paternity, she was either going to believe him or she wasn’t. She’d been burned before, and her lack of trust demonstrated that she hadn’t yet moved on. He’d have to be patient and persistent. Two things he was known for when it came to horses, but not in his personal life.
“Hadley, about what happened last night—”
A nurse appeared in the waiting room and called Maggie’s name before Hadley could respond. Liam ground his teeth as he and Hadley followed the nurse into an exam room. He refocused his attention on Maggie as the nurse weighed and measured her. After it was determined that her temperature had climbed to 102, the nurse left to fetch Dr. Stringer.
Liam’s tension ratcheted upward during the wait. Hadley sat beside him with Maggie cradled in her arms. She’d fixed her gaze on the door to the hall as if she could summon the doctor by sheer will.
After a wait that felt like hours but was less than ten minutes, Maggie’s doctor appeared. Dr. Stringer made a quick but thorough examination of his patient, returned her to Hadley’s arms and sat down, his expression solemn.
“I’m concerned that she’s running a temperature and that the jaundice hasn’t gone away after the phototherapy treatments,” Dr. Stringer said. “I’d like to draw blood and recheck her bilirubin levels. If they continue to remain high we may want to look at the possibility of doing a blood transfusion.”
Liam felt rather than heard Hadley’s sharp intake of breath. She had leaned her shoulder against his as the doctor had spoken. The seriousness of Maggie’s medical condition was a weight Liam was glad not to have to bear alone.
“Maggie is a rare blood type,” Liam said. “AB negative. Is that going to pose a problem finding donors?”
The doctor shook his head. “Not at all. In fact, where O is the universal donor blood type, AB is the universal recipient. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m going to have the nurse draw some blood and then we’ll see where we’re at.”
Maggie’s reaction to the blood draw was not as vigorous as Liam expected it to be, and he took that as a sign that she was even sicker than she appeared. This time as they sat alone in the exam room, Liam reached for Hadley’s hand. Her fingers were ice cold, but they curved to hold fast to his.
Their second wait was longer, but no less silent. Liam’s heart thumped impatiently, spreading unease through every vein. Beside him, Hadley, locked in her own battle with worry, gripped his hand and stared down at Maggie. Both of them had run out of reassuring things to say.
The door opened again and Dr. Stringer entered. “Looks like it’s not her bilirubin levels that are causing the problem,” he said, nothing about his manner suggesting this was good news.
“Then what’s going on?” Liam asked.
