AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What makes you think that?”
“Oh, come on, Jordan, you couldn’t be more obvious. You’ve referred to the baby as Bethany several times. You’ve only called him Richard once.”
“Would you mind a daughter?” he asked.
Molly hadn’t given the subject much consideration. She had no preference, she’d believed, but now she wasn’t so sure. Was she looking for a son to replace the one she’d lost? A son to ease the ache of her loss?
As soon as the thought went through her mind, Molly knew that wasn’t true. No child could ever replace Jeffrey. He held his own distinct place in her heart.
“All I want is a healthy baby,” she answered.
“That’s what I want, too,” Jordan assured her.
Molly turned her head to one side so she could look up at him. “Do you want this child?”
“Yes, Molly, I want this baby as much or possibly even more than I wanted Jeffrey.”
His words confused her and she wondered if she could trust him. “I want to believe you so badly,” she whispered, “but I don’t know if I dare.”
“Dare,” he whispered, kissing her temple.
When it came time for Molly to be moved into the delivery room, Jordan left her. She tried to hide how disappointed she was that he’d decided to stay away for the final stage of their child’s birth, but couldn’t.
“Don’t look so depressed,” Barbara said, patting herhand. “Your husband will be right back as soon as he’s changed his clothes.”
Molly all but wept when Jordan reappeared a few minutes later, wearing a green surgical top and pants. She didn’t realize she was crying until he wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“It won’t be long now,” Doug Anderson said.
Once everyone was in place, Molly heard Jordan and Doug chatting again. She hadn’t realized they were such good friends. Leave it to Jordan to talk golf scores with her physician. Both men were so involved in their conversation they seemed to have forgotten all about her and the baby.
“Push,” Doug urged Molly.
“What do you think I’m doing?” she snapped, then gritted her teeth and strained for all she was worth.
“I wouldn’t advise you to cross her just now,” Jordan said to his friend, and Doug laughed.
“You’re doing great,” he told her, and Jordan squeezed her hand.
This was hard, so much more difficult than she remembered.
“Molly, look, you can see the top of her head.” Jordan sounded as excited as if he’d won the lottery.
“It could be a boy,” she reminded him.
“No way,” Jordan said confidently, “that’s the hair of a beautiful baby girl. No boy would be caught with soft blond curls.”
“You don’t know that she’s going to be blonde.”
“Ah, but I do,” he said, bending forward and whispering close to her ear. “Just like her mommy.”
“Not long now,” Doug told them both.
“You said that an hour ago,” Molly reminded him waspishly.
“It just seems like an hour.”
Molly glared up at her husband. “Do you want to trade places?”
