Reckless Love (Cowboys & Angels 7)

I wiped my tears away and nodded. Dad sat behind us and placed his hand on my shoulder. The warmth from his love filled my body and eased my fears slightly, but not much.

“I’m scared,” I whispered.

“I know you are, son. I know you are.”

I closed my eyes and prayed to God. I tried to make deals with Him at first. Then I went to pleading. Then I simply went to reciting prayers I remembered from Bible school.

The doors to the chapel opened and the three of us spun around. Dr. Buten was standing there. He didn’t wear a smile like he had when Tripp’s kids were born. No, he wore a grim expression and his eyes looked tired.

I stood, wringing my hands. I swallowed hard and watched as he walked closer to us. My father placed his hand on my shoulder while Tripp placed his hand on the other shoulder.

My entire body trembled, and I wanted to run. In that moment, I wanted to turn and run away. I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to hear what was about to come from this man’s mouth.

“Scarlett is doing good. She’s sleeping from the surgery. We had to sedate her. She was pretty upset, and it was making her blood pressure spike.”

I felt sick to my stomach; I should have been with her.

“She should be up and walking later this evening, and I’d like for you to be in the room when she wakes up, Trevor. She’s going to ask you a lot of questions.”

Dread washed over me. He was about to tell me we lost our child.

“The baby?” My father asked when I attempted to open my mouth, and nothing came out.

“The baby is doing…okay. She’s in an incubator and we’re helping her breathe. She weighs three pounds, four ounces. She’s fourteen-and-a-half-inches long.”

My heart started pounding in my chest.

Scarlett and the baby were okay.

Closing my eyes, I shook my head to gather my thoughts.

“The baby is okay?” I asked in barely-there voice.

Dr. Buten smiled. “She is, but she has a long road ahead of her, Trevor. She’s going to need help breathing for a bit, help eating until she can learn to suck, and we have to keep a close eye on her. Her body temperature and oxygen are key right now. I don’t want you to be shocked when you see her. She’s hooked up to a lot of things that are monitoring her.

Your pediatrician is with the neonatologist right now. Both of them will go over her treatment plan with you and Scarlett, but I believe she’s going to be fine. What we need you and Scarlett to do is start bonding with her as soon as possible. That means skin-to-skin contact with both of you. Since the baby got taken right away from Scarlett, she didn’t have that connection. Some parents may feel a bit distant from their baby because they didn’t get the chance to experience her coming out and immediately holding her.”

“I don’t care about that. When can I see her? Hold her?”

He smiled. “Let’s get you to Scarlett, then the nurses will take you to the baby. We didn’t know the name, so right now she’s called baby girl Parker.”

It was then that it hit me that he’d told me the weight and length and said that it was a girl. “Wait. It’s a girl? We had a girl?”

Dr. Buten laughed, knowing the history behind me telling Scarlett I knew we were having a girl.

“Looks like you were right, Trevor. She’s a pretty special little girl.”

My father pulled me into a hug and slapped my back. “They’re okay, son. They’re both going to be okay.”

The moment he let me go, Tripp pulled me in.

“Trevor,” Dr. Buten said, his voice turning serious. “I need you to understand that the baby is still in the NICU. She is strong, and I expect a favorable prognosis, but nothing is a guarantee. The next few days will be touchy, but I think she’ll be okay. I just want you to understand that sometimes things…happen when we’re dealing with preemies.”

I nodded. “I understand. Do we know why Scarlett went into labor so early?”

Dr. Buten shook his head. “About twenty-five percent of women who go into preterm delivery have no known reason for it. Scarlett was fine medically, and the baby was too. I wish I had a better answer for you, Trevor.”

Taking in a deep breath, I tried to wrap my head around everything.

“You ready to go see Scarlett?” Dr. Buten asked.

“I’m more than ready,” I answered.

“Good. Let’s get you to Scarlett’s room before she wakes up.”

Her eyes slowly opened, and she smiled when she saw me. Then her smile faded. Fear quickly etched on her face.

“The baby is okay,” I quickly said.

Her hand reached down to her stomach.