hold of him yesterday but he didn’t answer the text I sent him. I guess he was busy.’ The message “I need your help” had been direct and to the point without revealing anything. Her voice was quiet, thoughtful. Her hands rubbing up and down her stomach. ‘How is it?’ she asked as Lynn unwound the blood-pressure cuff. She knew the answer before Lynn spoke but her head was currently in another place. There was only one person in the world she trusted right now to take care of her baby.
Lynn frowned. ‘Actually, it’s a little higher. I’m sorry, Amy, but as a fellow professional I’m not going to beat around the bush. With your other symptoms, it’s definitely looking like borderline pre-eclampsia. The good thing is we’ve caught it early. It’s time to see your obstetrician. And from one colleague to another, I definitely think it’s time to stop work.’
Amy nodded her head, tears prickling at the sides of her eyes as she swallowed the lump in her throat. ‘I can’t let anything happen to this baby,’ she whispered. ‘He’s my only chance.’
Lynn wrapped her hand around Amy’s. ‘I know that.’ She hesitated, glancing towards the television. ‘Maybe it’s time to ask a friend for help?’ Lynn’s eyes fixed on the television screen. ‘If I knew my baby was going to come early I’d want the finest neonatologist in the world to be at the delivery.’ Her voice was firm and strong. ‘Wouldn’t you?’
Her phone beeped and she reached into her pocket. Two words. Anything. Any time.
Their eyes met. Amy bit her lip and took a deep breath, the shine of unshed tears visible in her eyes. ‘Exactly how far away is Pelican Cove?’
CHAPTER ONE
LINCOLN burst through the doors to the adjoining office and wrenched the scarlet tie from his throat. The force popped the button on his shirt and sent it flying across the floor.
David Fairgreaves strolled in behind him and lifted one grey eyebrow. He took off his suit jacket, hanging it on the chair behind him. ‘Problem, Lincoln?’ He looked vaguely amused, another irritation to add to Lincoln’s list.
Lincoln stalked over to a nearby shelf and pulled down a pair of green scrubs—he wasn’t wearing this damn too-tight suit a second longer.
Washington’s finest shirt lay in a crumpled heap at his feet as he pulled the scrub top over his head and turned to face David. ‘How can they ask questions like that?’
David gave a little shrug of his shoulders, picked up an apple from the nearby table and crunched into it, putting his feet up on the desk. ‘They’re animals.’
Lincoln shook his head. ‘How can you stand it? How can you sit there and smile at those idiots?’
‘You’ve got to give it some perspective. I’ve just looked after the First Lady. It’s news that they’ll report all around the world. And they’ll all be looking for their own spin—their own edge to make them stand out from the pack. Truth be known—I really don’t care what any of them think. The only thing I care about is my patient.’
Lincoln stared at him. David was the only reason he’d come here in the first place. The chance to work with the man who’d been the first to retrieve stem cells was too good an opportunity to miss. The irony of it was—he looked like a bumbling old fool but was probably the most forward-thinking clinician Lincoln had ever met.
David caught him with his sharp gaze. ‘What’s with you anyway? You’ve been like a bear with a sore head all afternoon.’
Linc sighed. The man missed nothing. ‘I got a strange text message last night from someone I haven’t seen in years—at least, I think that’s who it was from. I’ve texted back but I can’t seem to get a signal right now, so I don’t know if she’s replied.’ He held his cellphone up near the window and turned in various directions. Still no signal.
David gave him a knowing look. ‘I take it this was a female someone?’
Linc nodded and smiled. ‘Let’s just say it was an unexpected blast from the past.’
‘A good one?’
‘She certainly wasn’t that easy to forget so I hope so. But with everything that’s happened in the last two days I’ve just not had a minute.’ He ran his fingers through his dark brown hair. ‘I can’t remember the last time I actually slept.’
David nodded. ‘Having the head of White House Security turn up at your door at three in the morning and tell you to pack up to deliver the President’s baby would flatten most men.’ He frowned. ‘Your text. Was it from a real friend? Or a fair-weather friend? I’ve experienced lots of those—people who the minute you appear in the media have apparently been your “best friend” or “closest colleague” for years—even though they don’t know when your birthday is or what car you drive. Fame does funny things to folks—you need to be careful, Lincoln. This is a whole new ball game for you.’
Lincoln looked thoughtful. He gestured towards the door. ‘Well, that was my first official television appearance, so she can’t have known anything about it. She sounded—I don’t know—in trouble.’
‘Just what every man loves—a damsel in distress.’ David flashed him a smile. ‘Come on, Lincoln, let’s go and look after our girls.’ He tossed his apple core into a trash can on the other side of the room.
‘I told you to stop calling me that. It’s Linc. My friends call me Linc.’
David looked aghast. ‘Linc? Certainly not. You, my friend, are named after the finest President we’ve ever had and you should wear that name with pride.’ He put his hand on the doorhandle as a frown puckered his forehead. ‘Just don’t tell Charlie Taylor I said that.’
Lincoln laughed. ‘I may well use that as blackmail material.’
Amy glanced at her watch as the cab seemed to meander up the coastal road. The traffic was almost at a standstill and she watched as only a few vehicles got through the cordon in front of them. The rest were directed to turn and head back down the hill. Her stomach churned. This had to be the worst idea she’d ever had.
A uniformed officer approached the cab and rapped sharply on the window. He glanced in the back seat towards Amy. ‘Where are you headed?’
The taxi driver gestured behind him. ‘Got a pregnant lady to drop at the hospital.’
The cop gave a little start. He looked like a man who had heard every line in the book today but he leaned forward a little to get a better look. He obviously hadn’t heard this one yet. ‘Can you step out the car please, ma’am?’
Amy fumbled for the doorhandle and stepped out into the warm sea air. She pulled some money from her purse and handed it to the driver. ‘Thanks very much.’
The cop ran his eyes up and down the length of her body. It was almost as if he was checking she actually was pregnant. Her white tunic and expanding trousers flapped in the wind, exposing every part of her body, including the currently out-turned umbilicus. She pressed her hands self-consciously over her stomach.
‘Your name, ma’am?’
‘Excuse me?’
‘You have to give me your name—and the name of the doctor you have an appointment to see.’
Amy hesitated. ‘I don’t exactly have an appointment, but I’m here to see Dr Lincoln Adams.’
The cop looked down at the list in his hand and stared at her. ‘This isn’t exactly the time for social calls.’ His eyes narrowed suspiciously, ‘Dr Adams, he’s a neonatologist, isn’t he?’ He nodded towards her stomach. ‘What do you want to see him for? You haven’t had your baby yet—shouldn’t you be seeing an obstetrician?’
Amy sighed. The sun in Mendocino Valley was strong. She could feel it beating down on the pale skin at the parting in her red hair. A parting she usually always kept covered—too bad she’d forgotten