Teresa Southwick

The Doctor's Secret Baby


Скачать книгу

followed her, then looked back at the teens. “If you have any questions…”

      “Thanks, Doctor,” Patty said. “I really appreciate you looking at him.”

      “You’re welcome.”

      He followed Emily into her apartment next door. As she bent over to pick up a toy, his attention was drawn to her shapely body. In her sleeveless, white-cotton sundress and matching low-heeled sandals, she looked like an angel. Although there was just enough wickedness in her windblown dark hair to speed up his heart. The wispy silky strands around her face reminded him of all the times he’d run his hands through it while loving her. Something tightened low and deep in his gut, and his hands ached to pull her against him, just like old times. Then he got a good look at the expression on her face.

      “What are you doing here?” she asked again. “And we both know this neighborhood isn’t your usual stomping grounds.”

      “I stopped by to see Annie.” Mostly.

      She set their daughter on the floor. “It would have been nice if you’d called first.”

      It would have if he’d actually planned ahead for this. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

      As if registering her protest was enough, the indignation seemed to drain out of her. “Thanks for taking a look at Henry.”

      “No problem.”

      “The girls are barely getting by on welfare, food stamps and small subsidies from a children’s foundation. Without Helping Hands, they’d probably be in a women’s shelter. If they were lucky. The street is the only other option.” A dark look slid into her eyes. “So you can see that private medical insurance isn’t in the budget.”

      “They told me.”

      “And there’s not enough money to pay for an office visit.”

      “Where are the kids’ fathers?” Cal asked.

      “Lucy hasn’t seen Oscar’s dad since telling him about the pregnancy. Her parents kicked her out when she broke the news to them.” The disapproval on her face and contempt in her voice said loud and clear what she thought about that. “Henry’s dad, Jonas Blackford, is making minimum wage working for one of the local hotels and he’s taking college classes. An education is the only way to get ahead and make a better life for his son. Financially he does what he can and stops by to see the boy every day. They’re not married, but doing their best to raise Henry together. You have to respect that.”

      Did he? When you made a mistake, you tried to do the right thing. That’s the way his parents had raised him. Annie was watching him while she chewed on the yellow plastic key that was hooked to a red, blue and green one. She took it out of her mouth and banged it several times, blinking as if she’d surprised herself. Then she threw them down and crawled over to where he and Em were talking, the first time she’d voluntarily come this close to him. Although from what he’d seen she had no problem with the teens next door. The baby put a hand on her mother’s dress and pulled herself to a standing position while staring up at him.

      “So,” he said, “Annie seems pretty comfortable with Lucy.”

      “Patty, too. She’s over there all the time. They watch her for me if I have to run to the store, or I get an unexpected call to work and haven’t lined up child care.”

      “I could help with that.”

      “You have to work, too,” she pointed out. “But I appreciate the offer.”

      He smiled at Annie who was blinking up at him and out of the blue, she returned his smile. A big, warm feeling swelled inside him, followed by a free fall into never-ending tenderness. And a sensation of wanting to keep her safe from anything and everything that could hurt her.

      “You know Henry’s probably contagious,” he said.

      “Poor baby.” She sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

      “Annie should keep her distance.”

      “Of course. But it’s hard.” She reached a hand down to steady the little girl, then eased her to a sitting position. “She loves those little boys. The three of them are like siblings.”

      And like a lot of what was going on lately he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. An instant later words came out of his mouth before he could think them through or stop them.

      “You and Annie should move in with me.”

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4RYgRXhpZgAATU0AKgAAAAgABwESAAMAAAABAAEAAAEaAAUAAAABAAAAYgEbAAUAAAABAAAA agEoAAMAAAABAAIAAAExAAIAAABjAAAAcgEyAAIAAAAUAAAA1YdpAAQAAAABAAAA7AAAARgACvyA AAAnEAAK/IAAACcQQWRvYmUgUGhvdG9zaG9wIENTNSAoMTIuMHgyMDEwMDExNSBbMjAxMDAxMTUu bS45OTggMjAxMC8wMS8xNTowMjowMDowMCBjdXRvZmY7IG0gYnJhbmNoXSkgIFdpbmRvd3MAMjAx MjowOToyOSAyMjo1MzoyNwAAAAAAA6ABAAMAAAABAAEAAKACAAQAAAABAAAFeKADAAQAAAABAAAH iwAAAAAAAAAGAQMAAwAAAAEABgAAARoABQAAAAEAAAFmARsABQAAAAEAAAFuASgAAwAAAAEAAgAA AgEABAAAAAEAAAF2AgIABAAAAAEAABSiAAAAAAAAAEgAAAABAAAASAAAAAH/2P/tAAxBZG9iZV9D TQAB/+4ADkFkb2JlAGSAAAAAAf/bAIQADAgICAkIDAkJDBELCgsRFQ8MDA8VGBMTFRMTGBEMDAwM DAwRDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAENCwsNDg0QDg4QFA4ODhQUDg4ODhQRDAwM DAwREQwMDAwMDBEMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwM/8AAEQgAoAB0AwEiAAIRAQMR Af/dAAQACP/EAT8AAAEFAQEBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAMAAQIEBQYHCAkKCwEAAQUBAQEBAQEAAAAAAAAA AQACAwQFBgcICQoLEAABBAEDAgQCBQcGCAUDDDMBAAIRAwQhEjEFQVFhEyJxgTIGFJGhsUIjJBVS wWIzNHKC0UMHJZJT8OHxY3M1FqKygyZEk1RkRcKjdDYX0lXiZfKzhMPTdePzRieUpIW0lcTU5PSl tcXV5fVWZnaGlqa2xtbm9jdHV2d3h5ent8fX5/cRAAICAQIEBAMEBQYHBwYFNQEAAhEDITESBEFR YXEiEwUygZEUobFCI8FS0fAzJGLhcoKSQ1MVY3M08SUGFqKygwcmNcLSRJNUoxdkRVU2dGXi8rOE w9N14/NGlKSFtJXE1OT0pbXF1eX1VmZ2hpamtsbW5vYnN0dXZ3eHl6e3x//aAAwDAQACEQMRAD8A 58KSipBJ6ULkwEzQXFM+YUgQ1qKeqUbWCAl6iAHypApJ4kweVMPUGDRSLUFwtK2DxoU7XEGCgsdB RnatnwSXApW6qHquqeQdWp6XSpW17hI5SX6kWEzHNcJCRkajUeCq0vLHQrYMiUF8ZcQ8Vt4iUktj Zn8Ekk6v/9DniSAna4HyKUSEM6FJ6S6TgSIUXCAQkx/iiDa4QdUV27XB1RGFTOMCdHQiNorHJJSQ IlevUIjojzTF4AgJhJKDKqEWsyCPEIZ0U6OUlDdnj8u8kdvJHzQqRDJ8SicWN89EmWOgCG1u16sU ulqhkN0BTUHWEuihpJOkl3SQZH//0efCctBURKkCk9Ix2EJ2khSlSG3uEU14qDyFIFzuFf6PhdLz 7hi32ZNWS/1HMNTK3VbKq3ZB3Otsbb6rm1WfmbPoIteL0Z+FZ1A35rcRt1ePW0VU+qXvrfkFz2+r 6Xp7Wfm2JI9wAkG7FbCX6Xyue1oHxU2iFepw+k+hTdfflN+2ZFmPiiuup7gGGprX31b99j3faGfo 8VStwcDEqc7qN2QHtyr8QDEZW5pOPsD7JybK3fpPU9qC73YjTW7oCj03c1xkwESsbWlxVtmBg04V GVl2ZM5vqHF9Flfpj03up25Flz/fc9zPdTR/NsUqOnfaumZGW23ZZTvdRRH862gVOzn7z/oGZDdn 7+yxJd7kQOI9+AafpfL/AM1BT/NjzScf0rB5qTRAAHZCJm4eRSZjoB9E9w9ihSNQiW/QUKuQh0XH 5k0az5JJJJL3/9LnwnDmngz8Fp/VnGxMvqwpyWNtcKbX4uNadtd2Q0A4+Nc7/Rv979v5/pp8u7qO bk09IysLGwsyy+trNuMMe1vqH0GVkt/nMTdZv/l+n/OpPQ+56uHsOKRJ6OZvaOe6kHD91bfUOoYv S86zp3S8PFdRhvNNtuXS2+3IsZ7b3X2WH2Veq17WV07P/Rdd/p/TemX9d6FnUY7W4HV23mzBsAsr ZdRXazIrY187qPV99P7np/mfzdZQc3DHilEgGMpR8eGPucJ/dlwRcPouXRidTqyL/wBHSxlwc+C6 C+m6mv2sDne6yxjVY6Tnej0azEb1E9LynZNdu9ouO6ptLqns34bLP8K5v01U6P6FnVen1WNFjLMq pj2ES0tdY1rmva72ubtW1hZ9LfrKekHp+DZjO6hdTusx2usDPVthgsn6Nf0Kv0f6OtJOYi5bn0iR rh+XEZS/SjJBiddyem1YwxMs3PrzLr8whpi6uw0e9zslm/8ATNbkf8Mz/MRa8rGx8M4vT+qu6dVV mZFjNMj30Wen9lLnUVn3Maz/AA3vU+m59fUPrLjdPuwMGvHblXNIqx2sc5tbMhjGWmXNsZ7d+zZ/ OLPwOj9Xf1TEGR07JNH2qv1BZj2en6fqt3+puZs9L0vp7vzEFv6oXxDhkB7h+T18XufNxR9XD6k3 Tc/EwyXWZ7bsGwWfa+melcTcfcxga2xn2X9Ntpt+1+rTZV/hFZwerY2I7ptLKKcjGwqm1232Me62 b5d1R1Evp9n6aytm+j9J6ajm4WK/D602qmuqzpnU94e1rWn7Na52MKGlo/marP0npqzl4WLV9Wqi 2pjczFZRmZNwA3mvLdexlL3fS/Q/oUkj25nimJHjkMdaRrjj6Z+nh/RzQh/1Rxb