Thatcher

“I don’t trust anyone with the knowledge of how much money I have. And who my insurance is with. Can you imagine what an attorney would do with that information if he wanted? I’d be dead before you could get me to the hospital.” There was that. Thatcher looked at the sums of just property alone that she had gotten for herself. “I have money, so I don’t need to work. Neither do you, for that matter. The house is paid for, and you can either take the job that the new board offered you or not. Just don’t take it because it’s a great deal more money. We don’t need for you to work a job that you don’t want.”

“I do want it. There are perks with it too. I’d be home more through the evening. I won’t have to work weekends unless there is an issue, or I’m needed for an emergency.” He thought of the job he was taking. Physician to the president would have been quite a feather in his hat. But it would take him from his family, and he didn’t want that. Being head of surgery at his current location would be something that he wanted more. Just to be able to spend more time at home and with the kids that would soon be coming along.

“You want to remain here? You’re sure about that?” Thatcher felt a great weight off his shoulders as he nodded yes to Rogen. “Thank goodness. I wanted to support you all the way, but I didn’t want you to be gone from me anymore than you have to. I love you.”

“And I love you. When do we go to the hospital?” Rogen looked down at her notes. “And you don’t mind raising a cougar, then?”

“No. I mean, a cat is a cat, I think. Sure, the little boy will be different from us, but we won’t have to explain to him that we’re shifters and such. Besides, I think this little guy will be perfect for this family. A lot of uncles to teach him how to have fun and chase the girls.” She was still laughing when she looked down at her notes again. “We have to be there in an hour. I know she decided to come here to have him, but I want to go now and help her to hurry along.”

“I’ve seen women in labor, love—you do not want to hurry her along if you can help it. And I’m sure that her being only fifteen, she’d be really snarly and nasty to you.” Rogen got up off the bed they’d been sitting on. “You still think this is a good idea to not tell the family about him?”

“I do. What if she changes her mind? Or something happens to her? Tillson is very happy that we’re going to raise him, but if something happens to his sister during this, he might change his mind.” There was that. It had happened before when he’d been a resident. “Besides, I’d like to be able to do one thing that your parents don’t know about until it’s a done deal. My mom and brother are going to be there for tomorrow’s dinner, so it’ll be family time and the perfect time to spring a grandchild on them. Jamie will love being an uncle as well. Do you think your brothers will too?”

“Yes, and hell yes. I think that we’ll have the best babysitters in the world, and the child will be safe with them.” He looked at her notes and saw that they still hadn’t picked out a name. “You asked me what I wanted to name the baby. I think I have a name to put into the hat, if you’re willing. James Thatcher Robinson. That was your father’s first name, wasn’t it?”

She nodded, her eyes filled with tears. He knew that it would be a perfect name for both parents, and he was glad that he’d looked up her dad’s name. He’d gone by Jimmy for so long that even Rogen had had to look it up for her mom when she’d needed paperwork filled out.

The ride to the hospital was nerve-racking. They’d had to stop for a car seat and a diaper bag, so they’d left the house a little earlier than planned. Thatcher was nervous too, not having any idea what to expect. Yes, he’d held babies before, even delivered a couple. But they were going to be responsible for a tiny person, and he was a little overwhelmed.

The staff at the hospital knew him and Rogen, of course, so they took them aside and gave them both a gift. It was couple of bags filled with diapers, formula, as well as sleepers and other baby things. He was glad to see the sleepers. They’d completely forgotten to get clothing for little Jimmy.

The little girl was still in labor, so they sat in the waiting room, talking quietly. It wasn’t but ten minutes later that Tillson—his first name was Roger—came to sit with them. He handed a blue folder to Rogen and spoke as quietly as they had been.

“That’s all I have on the father of the child. I’m going to tell you what happened, but no one else knows or can know. She was raped, repeatedly, over a six day period. I haven’t any idea how she conceived his child, but it matters little now. He was a member of my leap.” Rogen asked him if he’d killed his family too. “No. I didn’t have to. I would have, because they knew about it. Before he killed them, that is. He killed his mother then father so that he could have the bigger bed with my sister. Once she was able to get away, she told me who it was and what he’d done to her. She isn’t doing well with having this child, I’ll tell you that now.”

“Is that why you and your wife didn’t take him in?” Rogen knew a great deal about this man, and Thatcher liked him for his candor and his honesty. He didn’t know what he would have done had it been his child or anyone else he knew. Roger told her that he had said he would, but his sister had said no.

“I mean, to the point she told us that if we did, she’d kill the baby and herself. She wanted no reminders of him.” He handed her a second file. “Please put both of these in your safe. It’s all the bloodwork and allergies that Angel has. Also, she wants no contact with him or you. She might change her mind later about seeing him, but I doubt it very much. Angel wants to move on with her life, and she can’t do that if she thinks she might see him.”

“How do you think that is going to work if we’re neighbors?” Thatcher apologized for his tone. “I’m a little overwhelmed.”

“It’s all right, Thatcher. You’ve only had a few days to deal with this, I’ve

had almost a year. But I have all the faith in the world in the two of you. I can’t think of better parents for my nephew to go to.” He looked down at his hands, then back at them. “At her request, my wife and I are sending Angel to a private school across the country. There no one knows her, and she can start her life over, so to speak. And before you ask why we didn’t take him anyway, Angel made us promise. We can look in on him, but she does not want us to raise him. And really, after talking to a few doctors, I think her way is the smartest way.”

“I’m so sorry for you, Roger. But you can come and visit him whenever you wish.” Roger said that he might not, at first. “Anytime, I promise you. Is there anything you need from us? Besides raising up Jimmy as a good boy and wonderful man?”

“Jimmy. Believe it or not, my father’s name was James. Is that his name?” Thatcher told him the full name. “That’s a good powerful name, you guys. Thank you.”

The nurse came back to tell them that Angel was in recovery and that their son was in the nursery getting cleaned up. Then she asked Thatcher if he’d like to come back and assist, with his wife. They both nearly knocked her down to get to him. As soon as he saw the little fellow in the nursery cart, he fell head over heels in love with the little guy.

“He weighed in at nine-pounds-six ounces. Twenty-one inches long and had a wonderful Apgar rating.” Rogen asked her what that meant, and Nurse Kelly told her without being mean about it. “It’s a test that was invented by Virginia Apgar, an obstetric anesthesiologist in nineteen fifty-two, to rate how a baby is holding up after being taken from his or her mother’s womb. We take the test when the child is one minute old, and again at five minutes. Little Robinson here, he rated a five on both. Which is wonderful and means he’s tolerating well.”

When Rogen was allowed to pick Jimmy up, she looked at him with complete terror in her eyes. A woman who could guide a missile to a specific place was terrified of a nine-pound baby. Looking down at him, Thatcher realized while he wasn’t terrified, he was a little scared. Thatcher’s hands could cover his entire head, and he was afraid of crushing him.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake. I can see why she’s a little nervous, but you, Dr. Thatcher? You’ve had peoples’ brains and hearts in your hands, not to mention those two little Conrad children, and this baby is intimidating you?” Nurse Sally picked up the baby while still fussing at him. “What are you going to do when he’s ill? Send him to another doctor? If I hear you doing that, I’ll come take him away from you.”

“He won’t. I promise.” Rogen took Jimmy from Sally and held him in her arms. “Oh, he’s not as heavy as I thought he’d be. I don’t know what I expected, but nine pounds sounds like a lot for a baby.”

“It is. They usually come out being around seven to seven and a half pounds. But we get them in larger and smaller.” Rogen was given a tiny bottle and a rocker to sit in. “Go on, Mom. Feed him his very first food.”

Rogen cried the entire time he took his bottle. It didn’t take him long to suck it down, and when she tried to burp him, he laid his little head in the crook of her neck and breathed deeply. He could tell she was like him in some ways—a cat. When she was ready to hand him over, Thatcher sat in the rocking chair and held him on his lap.

“Look how tiny his fingers are. And hands.” He pulled away the blanket he was wrapped up in and showed Rogen his feet. “All his toes and all his fingers.”

“I love his little fat knees. They’ll not be this scar free when he gets a little bigger, I’m betting.” Rogen touched her fingers to his cheek, and he tried to take them to his mouth. “He acts like he’s still hungry.”

“You gonna be an on a schedule or when he’s hungry sort of parent? Either way is fine. Just when he’s hungry and you feed him, I’d still make a note on the time. Too much will make his belly hurt, and too little will not make him a happy camper.” Thatcher looked at Rogen, and they decided to let him be his own gauge of when he was hungry. “Good for you. Whatever you did was going to be the right way, because he’s your son. All right. When you guys are ready to get out of here, I can show you how to get him in the car seat and anything else you have questions on. But I’m thinking that when your momma finds out you have a baby in the house, Doctor Thatcher, she’s not going to give you a minute’s peace until she can babysit for you.”