Kim Watters - And Father Makes Three

While her faith hadn’t waned over the course of Jordan’s illness, the trips to the hospital and doctors’ offices had superseded attending church. That was going to change. Just yesterday, she’d again seen the power of belief when a five-year-old accident victim came through the E.R. doors and the family and friends kept up a silent vigil during the successful three-hour surgery.

Another quick prayer slipped through Elizabeth’s lips.

With the decreasing activity on the children’s floor of the hospital, stillness crept into the room. Elizabeth massaged her daughter’s bony shoulders. So far this bout of leukemia had robbed Jordan of three months of a normal childhood. Yet some of the other children on the floor faced far worse battles. She prayed that they would find a compatible bone-marrow donor and that the doctors here would find cures for the rest of the children.

“Now in bed with you.” Elizabeth helped her daughter slide between the white sheets and settle against her favorite purple-and-pink butterfly pillow. Elizabeth sat on the side of the bed and leaned over to give her a kiss. “Good night, sweetpea. I love you.”

“Good night, Mom. I love you, too.”

Elizabeth caressed Jordan’s cheek. So soft, so innocent, so young. This illness had to be part of God’s plan. He’d drawn her into medicine so that she could assist others, and with His help, she’d find a way to save her daughter.

But did that include Blake Crawford?

Elizabeth folded back the blanket and smoothed out the creases. “We’ll get through this, Jordan. I promise.”

“I know. We did before.” Jordan gave her a tired grin.

“Yes, we did. And this time, we’ll make sure it doesn’t come back.” Rising to her feet, Elizabeth turned off the lights and left the room. Once outside, she leaned against the wall.

Maintaining a positive attitude around Jordan drained her. Overhead, the fluorescent lights dimmed, signaling the end of visiting hours. The harsh, institutional glare made her miss the warm, inviting atmosphere of their two-bedroom townhome. A townhome which stood vacant now because Elizabeth had moved into the doctors’ quarters downstairs while her daughter remained in the hospital.

If only Blake knew how close he was to Jordan when he came to see her today. Did he really want his daughter? Was there anything she could do to stop him?

She squeezed her eyelids shut, glad the hallway was empty. The sound of rustling sheets inside Jordan’s room caught her attention and Elizabeth strained to hear her daughter’s soft, tired voice floating into the hallway.

“Please, God, bring me another daddy before I die. Then Mommy won’t be so lonely anymore. Good night.”

Before I die.

Jordan had lost her will to live, and they still had a long way to go to beat the leukemia. Dipping her head, Elizabeth lost her hard-won composure. She bit her lip as a tear slid down her cheek. Jordan’s nightly prayer still hadn’t changed, not that she expected it would.

Had God been listening? Is that why Blake had shown up when he did? Or did his appearance have another meaning—one that might not have a happy-ever-after ending after all?

Chapter Two

“Let’s go.” Blake motioned to his partner, Corey Abrahamson, the following morning. He wheeled the stretcher toward the emergency room doors that led outside to the waiting ambulance. The accident had been a fender bender, yet they’d brought the elderly man to the hospital to be checked over as a precaution.

Now that the call was over, Blake had nothing but time on his hands and a daughter on his mind. He helped Corey lift the stretcher into the back of the ambulance, figuring that Elizabeth Randall was off today because he hadn’t seen her in the E.R. Maybe she was with a patient.

Suddenly he realized that outside Kingfisher, he had no way of contacting her. After closing and securing the doors, he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and quickly scribbled a note.

“Hang on. I forgot something.” He strode back through the doors and left the note with the nurse behind the desk. Elizabeth wouldn’t get his phone number until Monday, but there was nothing he could do about that. Sweet-talking the young intern had only resulted in finding out the doctor’s next shift.

A doctor. Now that he’d met the woman and reality was setting in, dread pounded in his heart. Tessa had given their daughter up for adoption to a doctor.

Not that his late ex-wife would have known about his aversion to doctors, because they’d met in med school when Blake was still trying to gain his father’s approval. In their whirlwind courtship and brief marriage, Dr. William Crawford—the cutting-edge heart surgeon—had never been mentioned. It didn’t take long for Blake to realize he didn’t want to be a doctor, and he quit. After Tessa left him, he enlisted in the army instead of returning home to face his father’s wrath. And right about that time, he started living for the moment and seeking out every thrill he could find. While others went out and saved the world, he spent his money and time trying to save himself from the demons of his youth. With a daughter now, he had to start thinking of someone else. It rocked him to the core.

“All set now?” Corey leaned against the side of the ambulance.

“Yes.” Blake strode to the driver’s side of the cab. Once inside, he snapped his seat belt into place and flipped the switch to let dispatch know they were available for another call. Blake pulled air into his lungs, yet suffocation still threatened to pull him under. “What’s it like being a dad?”

His question startled the other man. No surprise there—sports and food usually dominated their conversations.

Corey gave him a dubious look.

“Did Karen put you up to this?”

“No.”

Blake started the engine, put the ambulance in drive and pulled out into the parking lot. Once the numbness had worn off, the anticipation he’d felt earlier when he’d read the letter from Tessa returned. Another generation of Crawfords existed. Responsibility weighed on his shoulders, but he knew the right thing to do. He would meet Jordan and be a part of her life, despite the adoption. Dr. Randall couldn’t keep him from her forever.

But what would happen then? Apprehension gripped his heart.

Would Jordan reject him like everyone else in his life?

“I just found out last week I’m a father.”

“How’d you find out?” His partner whistled as Blake stopped the ambulance at a red light. As he tapped the steering wheel impatiently, waiting for the signal to change, both Tessa’s and Elizabeth’s faces rose in his mind’s eye. How different they were, yet his late ex-wife had changed his life in one way, and the doctor would as well when she allowed him to see Jordan. “I received a letter from my ex-wife’s attorney last week.”

“I never knew you were married.”

“Not many people do. It’s not one of the highlights of my life.” Blake sighed.

“What happened?”

“We were too young. I didn’t understand what it took to be a good husband. Tessa probably didn’t have any confidence in me as a father either, because after she split she never told me she was pregnant.” Blake hit the gas and stared out the window as streets and houses replaced strip malls. Tension tightened his neck muscles and bracketed his mouth. “I want to meet her, but I’m scared I’ll blow it. I don’t know how to do it. What’s it like?”

Corey didn’t answer until they’d stopped at another light. “I think you’d make a good father. You’re there for people when they need it and that’s what matters. This’ll sound cliché, but being a parent is one of the most rewarding and frustrating jobs there is. There’s no instruction manual, you just kind of wing it.”