crying, Aunt Meg?" Stace tugged at her hand. "Why are you crying?"
"I'm not crying, Stace." Megan blinked, wishing little girls didn't have such sharp eyes. "It's my allergies."
"You were crying," Stace persisted, very much the forthright Ingrid's daughter. "I saw you."
Oh, Stace, you'd cry too if you were watching a miracle unfold right before your eyes.
The look on Jake's face was unmistakable. Something had happened on that carousel, some wondrous incredible event that had cracked open his heart and let his daughter creep inside. Jenny was holding Jake's hand and talking animatedly while Jake leaned toward her, listening intently. They looked so perfect together. Right down to the way she tilted her head, Jenny was her father's daughter. People used to comment on the resemblance between Megan and her own father. Megan would beam with pride each time her handsome father pulled out the chair for her in a fancy restaurant and ordered up a Shirley Temple, "on the rocks." Despite everything there were still many happy memories and she wondered if it was fair to deny Jenny the chance to know her own father.
"I rode the pal-o-mino, Mommy." Jenny's face was aglow. "And Jake held the lea--" She stopped and looked up at Jake. "What was that called?"
"Remember your joke," he prodded. "The one about clouds...?"
"The reins!"
"Way to go, Jenny."
Jenny. Megan's heart flipped over inside her chest at the sound of their daughter's name on his lips. She was foolish to feel this way and she knew it. She and Jenny were doing fine on their own. They didn't need any complications.
"Aunt Meg." Stace tugged at her hand. "You said we could go see mommy and my brother now."
Jake met her eyes. "What about lunch?"
"Stace can't wait any longer. I figured we would stop by the hospital for a visit then go on to lunch from there."
"Aw, mommy, do we have to?" Jenny looked disgruntled.
"I thought you wanted to give Aunt Ingrid the flowers."
"After lunch," Jenny said, "not before."
"But you said we could, Aunt Meg!" Stace's big blue eyes welled with tears. "I want to see Charlie."
"Charlie's a dumb name for a baby," said Jenny. "I don't want to go."
"You're dumb!" said Stace.
"You are!"
"One more word, Jenny, and you're going home." It was just a kids' squabble but Megan was embarrassed that it was happening in front of Jake.
"I don't care," Jenny said, lower lip jutting forward. "I--"
Megan watched in amazement as Jake bent down and said something to Jenny in a quiet voice. Jenny's ears reddened and she shook her head. Jake said something more and Jenny nodded.
"I'm sorry," Jenny mumbled. "I want to see the baby, too."
Stace thought about it for a few seconds then smiled. "Okay."
They all started for the parking lot, the two little girls holding hands and walking a few feet ahead of Megan and Jake.
"I won't even ask what you said to her. A wise woman never questions magic."
"A little Aussie charm goes a long way."
"Apparently so."
"She's a smart kid. She didn't want to hurt Stace. She's just put out because Stace has a new brother."
Megan started to laugh. "And if her mother had told her that she would have thrown a tantrum right there in the middle of the mall. Children always seem to listen to strangers--"
#
Conversation stopped cold. If Megan had been looking for a way to bring him back to reality, she'd found it with one sentence.
A stranger, he thought as he drove toward the hospital. His blood ran through Jenny's veins and it didn't matter a damn in the scheme of things. He hadn't seen Megan's belly grow large with their child or felt the child move beneath his hand. He hadn't been there for Jenny's birth, heard her first cry, watched her take her first step. All of the sentimental milestones that marked a family's life and he hadn't been there for a one of them.
When Megan walked out on him she'd changed the course of three lives forever.
One day wasn't going to make a difference.
He'd walk away with a handful of memories and by this time tomorrow Jenny wouldn't remember he existed.
#
"I must say you look disgustingly beautiful for a woman who gave birth less than twelve hours ago." Megan embraced her partner. "You give the pain of childbirth a bad name."
"You should have seen me a few hours ago," Ingrid said with a laugh. "It was not a pretty sight."
In truth Ingrid never looked anything but splendid. And, Megan noted, never more lovely than she did