Worth the Fall (28 page)

Physician, heal thyself.

She was interrupted from her sub-par self-analysis by Darío coming into the lounge area and their collective group rising to their feet.

“
Everything’s fine. She did great. She’s exhausted, but good.” He eyes glazed over and his Spanish accent was thick as he added, “My
gata
, she is amazing.”

Alison sagged with relief.

“And the baby?” Lizzie and Katie’s mother asked at the same time.

Oh, the smile that came over Darío
’s tired face. It caused everyone in the room to light up as well and Alison’s heart to clench in envy.

“
She.
She
is beautiful. And healthy.”

Katie
’s mother started crying and her father patted her back. Alison and Lizzie put their arms around each other’s waists. “Seven pound, three ounces. Twenty inches long.” He paused and smiled even more. “And her mama’s good looks.”

They all laughed, some through tears.

“Have you named her yet?” Lizzie asked.

“
Sí
. Sofia Peach Luna.”

“
After your mother,” Lizzie said, and Darío nodded.

“
Sí
. And I need to call her.” He was starting to pull his phone out of his pocket when Katie’s mom rushed to him and gave him a big hug, which he quickly returned. Katie’s father shook Darío’s hand, then the whole family gathered around for hugs and hand shakes.

“
Can we see her now?” Katie’s mother asked.

“
Yes. But they said for only a few minutes. She’s feeding Peaches now, and then she really needs to get some rest. It was a very long night.”

Her parents nodded and then rushed from the room, the rest of the family trailing after them.

Darío came over to her and Lizzie. “She wanted you two to come back later, if that’s okay with you. She wanted to get the family out of the way. But she definitely wants to see you both.”

“
We’ll come back this afternoon, right Al?”

Alison looked at her watch. She had patients starting in a half hour.

“Yeah. That actually works better. I won’t have to cancel any appointments. I can be back around two.”

“
That’d be great,” Darío said. He gave them both a quick hug and then hurried out of the room, his phone once again raised in his hand.

“
Well,” Lizzie said in a teasing voice. “Two down, one to go, as far as joining the ranks of motherhood.” She tweaked Alison’s shoulder then started to walk out of the room. “I’m going home for a while and relieve Finn from Sam duty. I’ll see you later?”

Alison nodded and watched her friend leave the room to go home to her husband and children.

A husband she had nothing in common with, had incredible sex with (according to Lizzie’s giggling confessions over drinks at the Commodore), and with whom she was living a life of peace and stability.

If you could count 2am feedings, a daughter with ongoing health concerns, and a son entrenched in his teenage years as peaceful.

And Alison was sure that Lizzie did.

Hockey players wear numbers because you can
’t always identify the body with dental records.

~ Anonymous

She just beat her first patient to her office. Beverly was a woman going through a divorce after thirty years of marriage. She listened as her patient raged on about the injustice of
“doing her time” only to have her husband leave now. Alison tried to lead her to more constructive insights, but it wasn’t happening today. Bev needed to vent.

Alison got that and let her go on. She did give her some things to think about for the next week and even a relaxation exercise to try.

She could have recommended hot sex with a professional hockey player to help take the edge off, but she wasn’t about to share her “release” secret.

Her next patient was Brian, a middle-aged man who was struggling with his first bout of SAD. It was a good session, and she felt encouraged when he left. That was why she did what she did. For the small victory of seeing someone walk out feeling better about life than when they
’d walked in.

James was late for his session, which wasn
’t unusual, so she updated Bev’s and Brian’s files. She made herself another cup of coffee, sat at her desk, and stared out the window at the falling snow. They were on track to match the record snowfall for the area.

When James was over half an hour late she felt a little sliver of alarm. She pulled up his file on her computer to get his phone number and called him. The call went straight to voicemail. She reminded him of their appointment and asked that he call her to reschedule and to let her know he was okay. Not strict procedure for a therapist, but she felt there was a need for the call where James was concerned.

She debated calling his parents to see if they’d talked to him in the past two days, but she didn’t want to alarm them.

James was troubled, yes, and battled severe depression. But he was also a college kid who sometimes slept in and missed class or appointments.

Where was the balance?

She waited a full hour past his scheduled time, then decided to pack it in and head back to the hospital. First she called her mother
’s place and talked to Sherry about details of the movers coming in a few days to transport what would fit into the assisted-living apartment. Things had started off rocky with Sherry, and Alison had to admit she was a little peeved that her sister had only swooped in at the last minute when Alison could have used help many times in the past year. But she was grateful for the assistance now, and it had considerably eased the load.

She tried James
’s number once more, left another message, and bundled up and made her way back to the hospital.

She went to her father
’s room first since it was her normal visiting time and routine seemed to help him.

“
Hi, Daddy,” she said when she entered his room. She divested herself of her coat and scarf and threw them onto the chair in the corner. Then she crossed to his bed and gave her father a kiss on the cheek.

“
We were just talking about you,” he said, taking Alison’s hand, patting it in both of his.

She looked around at the empty room.
“We?”

With confusion in his eyes, her father looked to the side chair where no one sat, to the door and then back to Alison.
“Umm…yes. We were just.…” He looked to her for assistance.

“
What were you saying about me?” she said in a teasing voice, trying to take the emphasis away from the fact that he was probably remembering a conversation he’d had decades ago.

“
Oh, I don’t think I should say,” he responded, playfulness in his voice. It’d been a long time since she’d heard that tone coming from him.

“
Why? You weren’t talking about how brilliant your daughter is?”

He chuckled.
“Well, partly. And of course you are, my whiz kid.” He’d called her that as a child when it became obvious that she was an early developer on the intelligence scale.

Didn
’t keep her from acting like an idiot lately.

“
But being brilliant doesn’t mean you’re always smart.”

A chill ran up her spine. It was a thought she
’d had many times, but she never realized others had it about her.

“
What do you mean?” she said as lightly as she could.

Her father waved a frail hand.
“Oh, you know. How somebody can be so smart, and can see the things in others that keep them from having a better life—like you do with your patients. And yet can’t seem to figure out her own issues.”

Issues? That did not sound like father-speak.

“Daddy, was somebody really here?”

“
I told you that.”

“
Who?”

“
Jimmy. He’s shipping out tomorrow, you know. And he’s just crazy about you, Sally.”

Back to the
‘50s. Well, at least it was Sally and her issues that her father had been discussing with Jimmy.

Still.…

She stayed with her father through his afternoon meal. He never came back to Alison and present day—if he’d ever even been there at all.

As her visit wound down, she texted Lizzie to see when she
’d be coming back to the hospital.

“
Just left Kat’s room. She’s sleeping. Baby’s back in nursery. Heading home. Will be back after Sam goes down tonight.”

Not wanting to disturb Katie, she figured she
’d just come back for her evening visit with her father a little earlier so she could see her friend.

She thought about texting Petey to see if he wanted her to bring anything home for dinner, but decided not to.

His words this morning after they’d had sex were still unsettling to her.

And the sex…it
’d been so different. Slow and tender and yet still so…right.

She pocketed her phone without texting him and headed for the elevators. When she entered, her hand hovered at the button. Instead of choosing to go down to the ground floor and the exit, she chose the up button, to the nursery.

Once the elevator opened, she stepped out and followed the signs to the nursery viewing area, where she had to sign in at the nurse’s station. Not many baby snatchers in the Copper Country, but you couldn’t be too careful.

She rounded the corner and saw Darío and Petey standing at the viewing window. Petey was leaning on his crutches, making his head even with the much shorter Darío.

She stood where she was. Their backs were to her, unaware of her presence.

“
She’s beautiful, man,” Petey said and clasped a hand on Darío’s shoulder. She couldn’t hear the new daddy’s response but Petey patted him on the back a few time and then brought his hand back to the crutch.

“
I knew she was coming. Obviously. But until I saw her, you know? I don’t think it really…”

Alison had read a study once about men and women and their acceptance of parenthood. It concluded that women felt they became mothers the moment they realized they were pregnant. Men, on the other hand, felt they became fathers the first time they saw their child.

It seemed Darío confirmed the study’s results.

“
Yeah. Well. Is anybody
really
prepared to become a father?” Petey said.

Darío shook his head.
“I wasn’t. A year ago I hadn’t even met my
gata
, and now here I am.”

There was a deep happiness—almost awe—in his voice.

Yes, Sofia Peach Luna hadn’t been planned, but she was definitely wanted.

She must have made some sort of noise because Petey looked over his shoulder at her. He smiled at her. Not his trademark grin, but a genuine smile.
“Come and take a look at baby Peaches, Al.”

Darío turned at Petey
’s words and smiled at Alison as she walked toward the men. He moved aside so that she ended up standing between them. Her eyes scanned the row of babies in the nursery window. There were three, but only one was wrapped in a pink blanket.

“
Oh my God, is that a bunch of black hair showing from under her cap?”

Darío nodded, looking both proud and embarrassed.
“
Sí
. She
is
half Spanish, you know.”

Alison laughed. Peaches was definitely going to stand out amongst her cousins when Katie
’s Nordic-looking family got together.

“
I’m going to run home while Katie’s sleeping and get some things she asked for,” Darío said. “Will I see you when I get back?”

Alison nodded.
“I was going to stick around for a while.” They all said their goodbyes and Darío reluctantly left his perch in front of his new baby girl.

When it was just the two of them in front of the window, she turned to Petey.
“How’d you get here anyway? And should you even be here?” She motioned to his leg, which was held firm and straight by the brace.

“
My dad picked me up and brought me here during his lunch hour. And yes, the doctors said it was okay to start moving around more, as long as it felt good.”

“
And does it?”

Now he pulled out the grin.
“Oh, yeah. I’d say I haven’t felt this good in an awfully long time.”

“
The knee, dickhead. How’s the knee feel?”

“
Oh. That’s good too,” he teased.

She rolled her eyes and turned back to the window. Katie
’s baby was breathtakingly beautiful. Emotions bubbled through Alison. Happiness for her friend. Joy at the birth of this healthy baby. And yet there was pain. Deep and cutting, it flowed through Alison like a poison entering her bloodstream.