A Baby for Lord Roderick by Emily Dalton

Author:Emily Dalton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Half the restaurant must have heard Allie’s frightened exclamation. By the time she ran out of the place, crossed the street, unlocked the car door with shaking hands, unbuckled a crying Jake and lifted him into her arms, a dozen people were standing around.

“He’s not hurt, Allie. Just got woke up with a little jolt, that’s all. Calm down, hon. It’s all right.”

Through a haze of fear, Allie finally registered that her grandfather was beside her, one hand resting comfortingly on her shoulder. She’d buried her face in Jake’s sweet-smelling hair and when she looked up and felt the cool evening air on her damp cheeks, she realized she’d been crying.

“Gramps, I must not have put the car in parking gear,” she confided miserably. “How could I have left him in the car? I knew I shouldn’t. I—”

“Don’t fret about it, Allie,” Gramps soothed. “No harm came to him.”

“But something could have happened to him! A car could have come along and rammed right into—”

“But it didn’t.” Now Gramps’ voice was less consoling and had taken on a no-nonsense tone. “Pull yourself together, Allie. I’ll have someone drive you and Jake home, then arrange to have your car towed out of the ditch and brought to the house. Right now Jake needs you to be calm. It’s the only way he’ll settle down. Now, take a couple of deep breaths.”

Gramps was right. Allie needed to calm down. As she closed her eyes and took the deep breaths her grandfather recommended, she heard the murmuring crowd dispersing. Gramps and Mary were shooing them gently away. In addition to her own painful recognition of having used extremely poor judgment and been uncharacteristically careless, Allie was aware that the murmurings coming from the crowd weren’t all sympathetic. She was sure she’d heard the word irresponsible more than once.

Now Allie was filled with doubt. Not just because other people were questioning her ability to care for a baby, but because she was. Kayla was right. When you were the sole support for a child—financially, physically, emotionally—and there was no one to help out when you were tired or sick, single parenthood was hard.

Allie’s eyes filled with tears again, but she forced them back and bounced Jake gently on her shoulder, rubbing his back and softly singing her grandmother’s little ditty. Hi-dumma, do-dumma, hi-dumma-diddle-dumma. Soon Jake quieted and rested his head against her chest.

“Dr. Lockwood?”

Allie turned and saw Joseph Martinelli, Rosie’s husband, walking toward her. “I told your grandfather I would drive you home.”

“Oh, okay. Where is Gramps?”

“He’s inside, calling someone to tow your car. He said he’d check with you first thing in the morning. Are you ready?”

Allie smiled weakly. “Yes, Joseph. More than ready. Just let me get Jake’s diaper bag.”

“I’ll get it,” Joseph offered. “You just hold on to that baby, okay?”

Joseph was trying to be kind, but his words just made Allie feel even more guilty. She should have been holding on to Jake when she’d gone into the restaurant. Her mind kept returning to thoughts of what might have happened.

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