The Trooper's Treasure by Liz Isaacson

Author:Liz Isaacson [Isaacson, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AEJ Creative Works

Chapter Eight

Dawn wasn’t sure where she parked or how she made it up to the third floor in the hospital. All she knew was she now stood at the counter with a sign that said Maternity behind it. “Wren Fuller?” She shook her head and took a deep breath. “Curtis. Wren Curtis.”

The nurse looked down at a planner in front of her. “Room 3491.”

Dawn palmed her way through the plastic door and turned right, according to the sign. “3491, 3491,” she muttered. Of course it had to be the room in the very corner.

She paused outside the door and calmed herself again. The whole family had probably crammed themselves in this tiny room, and no one would notice her anyway. She knocked as she entered, and she found the room dark except for the sliver of light from the window and the flashing light from the television in the corner.

“Hey,” Tate said as he rose from the chair in the corner. He bounced their newborn as he bent toward his wife. “Wren, Dawn’s here.”

Wren, lying in the bed, opened her eyes, a smile coming almost immediately. “Hey.”

Dawn crossed the small room, surprised no one else was here. “How are you?” she asked her sister. She looked terrible, even in the dim light, with dark circles under her eyes and a weariness in her expression that only hours of sleep could erase.

“Good.” She returned Dawn’s quick squeeze. “Tate’s got the baby.”

He came around the end of the bed to let Dawn see the infant. “You want to meet one of your aunts? This is Aunt Dawn.” He cooed at the baby in a very un-police-like fashion, and Dawn marveled at the change in the tough military man who’d scared her the first time she’d met him.

“What did you name her?” Dawn asked.

“Henrietta, after Tate’s mom,” Wren said. “We’re going to call her Etta.”

“Etta.” Dawn said the name with reverence, and she swept her fingers across the baby’s bald head. “No hair.” She grinned at Wren and then Tate.

“You want to hold her?” Tate offered the baby to her, and Dawn balked completely.

She backed up a step. “Uh, no, I’m good.”

Tate looked at her with questions in his eyes, but Wren saved her by saying, “I’ll take her, sweetheart.” She pushed herself higher in bed and extended her arms for her daughter.

Dawn’s heart felt like someone had ripped it from her body and thrown it in a blender. Somehow it kept beating, but it was irregular and so, so loud. Wren handled the baby with ease, like she’d had years of practice, and Etta gave a little groan that made her and Tate grin like they’d just achieved world peace, right there in a hospital room in Brush Creek.

She saw the love and adoration for their daughter, felt it permeate the whole room. Dawn had spent several evenings with McDermott and Taya, and while she liked the little girl, it was nowhere near the level of love both Tate and Wren exuded.

Tears gathered in her eyes at the realization.

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