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“We sure can!” the girl said, looking like she wanted to pick a pitchfork up that very second.
“All right.” He started talking about where the feed was, explaining that the horses didn’t have names, and discussed the times that he expected them to be there. He really didn’t have specific times, but he wanted the kids to do it around school.
He got things settled, and the kids worked with him for a bit before they finished up. They finalized the details and discussed when they’d be back, then he watched as the kids walked down the beach.
He made a note to himself that he wanted to walk down himself and see what kind of houses were down there. He hadn’t realized that anyone lived in that direction. Not for miles anyway. And there was just something nagging about the kids. Maybe if Kim and Kathleen weren’t in the hospital, he would follow up on it right away, but as it was, he went in, took a shower, threw clothes from the washer into the dryer, putting more in the washer before he texted Kim that he was on his way to the hospital, asking if she wanted him to bring anything.
The doctors had said that she would probably be released today, and he knew she was feeling more pain. He wished there was something he could do to help, but he knew it was just going to take time for her to heal.
She texted back that there was nothing, and he smiled, eager to go see her.
Chapter 24
Kim carefully handedKathleen back to the NICU nurse. After almost a week of this, she was getting to be an expert at untangling herself from the wires and tubes and making sure they didn’t get caught on anything.
She still was only allowed a limited amount of time to hold Kathleen, but she ate up every second.
Davis, waiting for her in the hospital cafeteria, hadn’t been around any time that they’d been allowed to hold her. Today, he hadn’t even come up because the NICU was buzzing with people since they’d gotten several babies in a short amount of time. When he called earlier, and she told him what the place looked like, he suggested that he’d come up later, just to keep the extra people down to a minimum, and be considerate of the nurses and doctors trying hard to save other people’s children’s lives.
“She’s doing really well today, unlike yesterday.” The nurse lifted her eyes as Kim shared a glance with her.
Kathleen had been restless and irritable all day the day before. But thankfully, especially since today was so busy, she had been much calmer and had slept soundly most of the day. Kim had learned in the short week she’d been there that things were usually touch and go - she had good days and not so good days.
The staff preferred not to move her much, since it affected her blood pressure and other vitals, but they also acknowledged that the bond between a mom and baby needed to be fostered, and that children responded best to their parents' touch.
“Maybe things will calm down here in a little bit, and daddy can come up and hold her.” The nurse, Glenda, had been assigned to their area of the NICU almost every day Kim had been there, and they started to get to know each other well. Glenda had seen how Davis had come and cared for her.
“He would love that,” Kim said, knowing it was absolutely true. Davis couldn’t have been any better. Taking care of Kim, doing her laundry, making sure she ate, helping her, as the pain from her C-section limited her movements, and just generally making sure she got enough rest, and didn’t overdo it. He basically took care of everything so that all she had to think about was healing for herself and caring for Kathleen.
As she walked slowly out of the NICU, the pain from her C-section still bothering her, tears pricked her eyes as she thought about how much more difficult it would have been if Davis hadn’t been so amazing.
It was like he dropped his entire life and picked up hers.
As she walked into the cafeteria she could see him sitting at a table, using his laptop to work on the website that he had started for the riding stables not long after Kathleen was born. That’s what he did in his free time, when he was at the hospital, with nothing to do other than sit and look at the baby who, at first they weren’t even sure whether she would live or die. Davis had been there, encouraging, supportive, helpful and completely content to occupy himself when they couldn’t do anything but look at the baby.
Kim hadn’t even asked him to do a website. He’d just done it.
