Beneath a Southern Sky (29 page)

Thirty-Three

C
ole was beside Daria when Nicole René Hunter came screaming into the world at six o’clock on a brisk April morning, eleven days after Daria had been admitted to the hospital.

The baby was a tiny four pounds, five ounces, but her lungs were strong and healthy, and the doctors were optimistic that she would be fine. Daria had always pictured this baby as a little boy. Perhaps she thought a son would heal the wounds little Carson’s death had inflicted on Cole. They had planned to name him Colson, after Cole. But they had also chosen a name for a little girl—Nicole, also after her father. Daria wondered now if it had been wise to give both her daughters their fathers’ names.

Forty-eight hours after the delivery, she walked down the hallway toward the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, still sore and aching from the birth. The nurses in the outer room greeted her with the same mix of compassion and pity that had been the hallmark of her stay in the hospital. Their situation was no secret to any of the employees here since the press had tried continually to breach hospital security to get pictures to go with their stories. The Associated Press had picked up the story, and they’d heard reports that it had run in one form or another all over the nation. Daria knew they could not escape the press’s insatiable curiosity about this story forever.

Daria scrubbed and put a sterile gown over her robe before she went into the room where a sea of Isolettes, radiant warmers, and plastic bassinets stretched. Each vessel cradled the tiniest, most precious cargo imaginable, and the rhythmic
beeps
and
whooshes
of the various monitors and respirators reverberated through the room like waves against a rocky shore. Over the two days since Nicole’s birth, Daria had learned many of the other babies’ names and had shared a bond with the other parents who visited this room daily. It had torn her apart to come in the first morning after Nicole’s birth to find that one baby hadn’t made it through his first night. She hadn’t thought she had the energy to grieve anymore, but she had cried bitterly for the young single mother, a girl she’d never even met.

Now Daria made her way to Nicole’s Isolette and reached in to stroke her tiny back. The baby was lying on her side, naked save for a diaper that dwarfed her in spite of its miniature size. At Daria’s touch, the infant stretched slowly and her eyelids fluttered ever so slightly. Love for this child welled up within her, but sorrow welled up alongside it. The doctors were optimistic that she would grow and develop normally, but what would life hold for Nicole Hunter? Would she know the blessing of a mother and a father who loved each other and tucked her into bed together each night? Or would hers be a life of being shuttled from one home to the other, with secrets about her circumstances whispered everywhere she went? And what about Natalie? Oh, how Daria ached for her firstborn.

Natalie had not even met her baby sister yet. Daria’s parents had come to Kansas City to get Natalie when they heard that Daria had been admitted to the hospital. However, they hadn’t gone back to Bristol before hearing Vera Camfield’s protests. Though she felt mildly guilty about it, Daria had finally resorted to using her tenuous condition to persuade Vera to give up the fight and quietly allow Natalie to go back home. She was certain that Vera was afraid that Cole would have ready “access” to her granddaughter. With some reassuring from Jack and Nate, Vera had conceded that in the interest of Daria’s health and the baby’s, Daria’s wishes should be granted where Natalie was concerned.

As it turned out, Vera needn’t have worried about Cole—not regarding Natalie anyway—for even before Nicole’s birth, he had been staying in Kansas City with his college friend and lawyer, Dennis Chastain. He’d visited Daria every day until the baby’s birth, and now he went to the Neonatal ICU nursery with her several times each day, holding Nicole every chance he got. The tender mixture of joy and sadness Daria saw on his face every time he picked up his tiny daughter broke her heart.

Nathan hadn’t been to see Daria in the hospital since Nicole’s birth. Daria wondered if the pain of seeing her with another man’s child was too strong, too searing for him to ever forgive. Vera, however, had called to check on her several times. She never asked about the baby, but only inquired about Natalie and tried to find out when Daria would be released. She always made it a point to tell Daria what Nate was up to, going on and on about how well he was recovering and how anxious he was to “get settled.”

Her doctor had informed her early that morning that he would be discharging her the following day, but Nicole would need to remain in the Neonatal ICU at least an additional week. Of course Daria would remain in Kansas City until Nicole was discharged, but even if she’d desired to do so, her insurance wouldn’t allow her to remain a patient. Vera had offered her a place in their home. But even though she would only be there to sleep, she felt funny about staying at the Camfields’ with Nathan there. It didn’t seem fair to him, and it certainly didn’t seem fair to Cole. Finally she’d decided to get a room in a hotel near the hospital. She could walk the short distance to the hospital to nurse the baby several times a day.

To complicate matters, Daria’s father had fallen off a ladder and broken his collarbone, which meant that her mother had her hands full caring for him and Natalie. Margo would not be able to make the planned trip to Kansas City to be with Daria.

Daria still did not know what was going to happen with Nate and Cole. She had been too wrapped up in Nicole’s birth and her own rather tentative condition to think about the decisions that still loomed. Now she wanted to put the decision off as long as possible.

She reached into the radiant warmer bassinet and picked Nicole up, carrying her gingerly over to the large overstuffed chair that sat ready nearby. Already the baby felt sweetly familiar in her arms. And though Nicole was still featherlight, Daria imagined that she could feel the weight of a few added ounces. Barring any unforeseen complications, she would bring her daughter home from the hospital this time next week.

Home
.

But where was home? And more important,
who
was home?

Cole and Daria sat side by side on a comfy sofa in the Neonatal ICU nursery. Little Nikki—as Cole had taken to calling her—lay on her mother’s lap, her wide eyes staring at the bright lights overhead.

“Look, Cole! She smiled! Did you see that?”

He turned to meet her gaze and smiled. “I think the nurses would tell you that’s just gas.”

“Well, they can say what they want, they’ll never convince me. Why wouldn’t a baby smile? Really now?”

“It looked like a real smile to me,” he said. In spite of the dark circles under her eyes, Daria looked beautiful. He resisted the urge to reach out and brush her hair away from her face.

Daria sighed. “Oh, Cole, I’m so anxious for Natalie to meet her. She’s going to be so excited. I miss that little scamp.”

Cole saw tears gather in the corners of her eyes, and in them he saw an opening for an idea that had been brewing. “Daria, I’m heading back to Bristol tonight to help Travis with some calves. It’ll probably take us most of the morning tomorrow, but when I come back I could bring Nattie with me.”

“Oh, Cole, that would be wonderful!”

“Daria, it will be a gift for me to have the time with her.”

“Of course it would,” she said softly.

He opened his mouth to ask—he wasn’t sure what. Daria had stayed in a nearby hotel since the day she was discharged from the hospital. Of course, she needed to be near the hospital since she was nursing the baby, but they could have transferred Nikki to Wichita, and then Daria could have stayed at home in Bristol. Cole couldn’t help but wonder how much her decision had to do with being near Nathan. He had given up hoping that things could ever go back to the way they’d been before. He just wanted some reassurance that no matter what happened he could remain part of little Nikki’s life—and part of Natalie’s life.

Now, before he could say anything, he saw a nurse making her way toward them through the rows of Isolettes and bassinets. She waved to get their attention. “Daria, you have visitors,” she said, pointing toward the nursery’s anteroom.

“Oh?”

“Mr. Camfield—and Mrs. Camfield,” the nurse said.

Daria looked at Cole.

“Do you want me to leave?” he asked.

“No, of course not,” she told him. “I’ll go talk to them in the waiting room. I wonder what they want?”

The nurse waited while Daria juggled Nikki into Cole’s arms.

“I’ll be back in a little bit.”

Cole watched Daria walk away, then looked down into his daughter’s bright eyes and wondered how many more times he would get to hold her like this.

In the hallway Daria was surprised to see Nate and his mother. She had expected Jack and Vera.

“Hello,” she said, a question in her voice.

“Hi, Daria. How is everything going?” Nate asked.

“Good. I think they’re going to let the baby come home in a couple of days. At least that’s what the doctor said this morning.”

“That’s great, great. Listen, Mom had an idea we wanted to float by you. I know Natalie hasn’t met the baby yet. And since you can’t leave the hospital long enough to get her, we thought we could drive to Bristol and pick Natalie up at your folks’ and bring her back here. Then she could just stay with us for a couple of days until the baby is ready to go—to be discharged.”

Vera had stood uncharacteristically silent behind Nate, but now she jumped in, “We can keep Natalie while you’re at the hospital. It sounds like it would only be for a few days anyway.”

Daria hesitated. “Oh, Vera, Nate, that’s so thoughtful of you, but, well, Cole has already offered to bring Natalie. In fact he’s here right now, but he has to go back to the clinic in Bristol tonight. He’s planning to bring her back with him late tomorrow afternoon—”

“Oh, heavens no. That won’t be necessary. We’ll go,” Vera interrupted. “We can leave first thing in the morning and have her back in time for lunch. We could even go today,” she said brightly.

“Well, I appreciate the offer, really, I do, but like I said, we’ve already made other plans.”

“Why don’t you just tell, uh, Cole that you’ve found another ride for Natalie. We really would like to have the time with her.”

“I understand that, Vera,” she said, measuring her words carefully.
The woman can scarcely bring herself to speak Cole’s name
. She took a deep breath, trying to keep the anger she was feeling from creeping into her voice. “It’s just that Cole would like some time with her too. And Natalie needs to see him. They haven’t had a chance to be together for a long time.”

Vera sniffed. “Daria, I don’t think this is wise at all. It will only make it harder on Natalie in the end.”

“Mom! Stop!” Nate stepped forward, shaking his head in apology. “I’m sorry, Daria. It sounds like you have everything worked out. We’ll—”

Vera spun toward her son. “Nathan, are you just going to let this go? There is no reason in the world why you shouldn’t be able to go get your daughter in Bristol if you want to! This tiptoeing around has gone on long enough. It’s time we got some things out in the open, and if you won’t do it, then I will.”

“Mom—” Suddenly Nate looked beyond Daria, and his face registered surprise. Daria turned to see that their raised voices had drawn Cole from the nursery.

“Hello, Cole,” Nate said.

Cole nodded a greeting. “I heard my name,” he said carefully.

Nate looked at the floor. “Yes.”

Cole cleared his throat. “Is there a problem?”

Vera glared at him. “We just came to let Daria know that we would be picking Natalie up in Bristol tomorrow.”

Nate scolded, “Mom, stop. That’s enough!”

“Nate?” Vera said, her voice wounded.

Now Nathan took charge. He took his mother’s arm firmly and turned her toward the hallway. Like a repentant child, Vera went to the outer hallway, her sobs muffled by a wad of tissue she’d dug from her purse.

“I’m sorry to interfere,” Nate said quietly when his mother was out of earshot. “I didn’t realize you’d made other plans.”