Rico took Teresa’s hand again as they followed Sean along the corridor and she had the feeling he hadn’t even noticed doing it. The move had just come naturally. As if he’d needed to be linked with her for the occasion. That nugget of hope grew just a bit in spite of the fact that she tried hard to prevent it.
The hospital was small, so it didn’t take long to get to the nursery. There were only three newborns nestled into clear bassinets. And only one of those three was a boy. While Sean stared at his son with the bemused expression of someone who had survived a battle when he hadn’t expected to, Teresa just looked at the baby. He was perfect. Tiny and pink-cheeked and so beautiful she felt a knot of envy lodge in her throat.
“He’s a good-looking baby, Sean,” Rico said softly and his hand tightened imperceptibly on Teresa’s.
“Yeah.” Sean rocked on his heels and finally tore his gaze from his son. “He really is. You want to go see Melinda?”
They did and once in the private hospital room, Teresa and Rico stood on either side of the new mother’s bed.
“He’s beautiful,” Teresa said.
“I know!” Melinda smiled and sighed, then unnecessarily smoothed the blanket and sheet covering her. “I can’t believe he’s finally here.”
“What’s his name?” Teresa asked, looking from one new parent to the other.
“Stryker,” Sean announced with a secretive smile for his wife.
“It was my father’s name,” Melinda added, beaming at Sean. “My grandfather was really pleased when we told him what we were going to name the baby. And it means a lot to me, too.”
“It’s a big name for such a little guy,” Sean mused.
“I think he will grow into it,” Rico told him, with another slap on the shoulder. “Stryker King. It sounds strong.”
“Yeah.” Sean had a silly grin on his face. “It does.”
Teresa watched Rico and his family and wished that she really belonged in that circle of familiarity. But she was a temporary blip on the King family radar. She wouldn’t be here to watch Stryker grow up. She wouldn’t be here to build on the friendship she and Melinda had begun. In less than a month, she would be gone and the island would go on without her. As would Rico.
She took a breath and held it. To distract herself, she glanced around. The private room was a pale yellow and a single bedside light glowed, throwing soft shadows across Melinda’s features. She looked tired, but more happy than Teresa could have imagined.
Melinda grinned up at them and reached for Rico’s hand. “I’m so glad you guys stayed. But you must be exhausted.”
“You’re the one who did all the work,” Teresa pointed out.
“Hey, I was here too, you know,” Sean chimed in.
His wife gave him a smile usually reserved for heroes. “You were, sweetie, and you were great.” Then she sighed and leaned back into her pillow. “I am tired, but I’m so wired right now there’s no way I could sleep, you know?”
“Well, if you are not tired, I’m willing to bet that you are at least hungry,” Rico said.
“Oh, God.” Melinda laughed. “I’m so hungry if I had any chocolate syrup to drown them in, I’d eat the sheets right off the bed.”
Teresa laughed.
“But the nurse tells me that breakfast isn’t served for another couple of hours…” She glanced at her husband. “I’m going to get Sean to go home and bring me a nutrition bar. Or a bag of cookies. Or both.”
“I think we can do better than that.” Rico leaned over the metal bed rail and kissed Melinda’s forehead. Then he straightened and looked at Sean. “I will have our chef prepare something and it will be here within a half an hour.”
“Oh, boy! You are a god among men, Rico,” Melinda said on a sigh of gratitude.
“That has been said,” he allowed.
“That’s breakfast for two, right?” Sean put in hopefully.
“Of course.”
“Feel better already.” Sean grinned. “Of course, making himself the hero here, there’ll be no living with him now. Good luck to you, Teresa.”
A strained silence erupted suddenly as everyone in the room remembered at once that Teresa was on Tesoro only temporarily. Taking a breath, she swallowed hard and said, “Congratulations again, Melinda. Your baby is gorgeous.”
“Thanks.” She took Teresa’s hand and held it for a second or two, offering silent support. “Once I get out of here, come to the house. I’ll tell you all of my horror stories.”
“Can’t wait.” Teresa smiled, then walked around the end of the bed to join Rico.
“We will see you soon.” Rico lifted one hand to Sean and slipped out the door, drawing Teresa with him.
As they walked down the hall and passed the nurses’ station for the last time, Teresa said, “That was nice of you. Sending them breakfast, I mean.”
“It is a small enough thing to do.” He tried to shrug it off and hit the elevator button for the ground floor. In moments the doors had opened again and they were striding out of the hospital into the cool of early morning.
“You really don’t like being told you’re nice, do you?” She studied his profile.
“Only because I’m not. And you would have said the same yesterday.”
Her steps faltered a bit, but she caught herself and hurried on. True, after he’d climbed out of bed the day before and looked at her with ice in his eyes, she wouldn’t have called him nice. But he had a heart, she knew he did. She’d just seen evidence of it. And five years ago he had offered that heart to her.
Was she solely to blame for the changes in Rico? And if so, how could she undo it?
Once they were in his car and buckled up, she asked, “How will Sean get home? We brought him here.”
“I’ll have someone bring his car to the hospital for him.”
Teresa smiled. “Nice again.”
He blew out a breath and glanced at her. “Expedient.”
“You can’t convince me, Rico.” She shook her head and relaxed back against her seat, giving in to the fatigue that had suddenly begun to drag at her. “You’re a nice guy and that’s not a bad thing.”
“Don’t make me what I’m not, Teresa,” he warned and fired up the engine. “It won’t serve either of us.”
Sunrise streaked the sky with soft colors that grew bolder nearer the horizon. The ever-present wind sighed through the opened car windows.