Christmas Babies (12 page)

Behind the delivery man holding a
warmer bag, Nick fiddled with his video camera. “I think I’m coming just on
time.” He helped Madelyn with the boxes and gave the man a tip.

“The babies ate and they’re
sleeping again.”

“No, they’re not,” Barbara said
coming from the living room with a wide-awake Liana. “If you take her, I can
cook something.”

“Don’t worry, Barbara. We have
dinner here.” He opened the boxes and transferred the gyros, salad, garlic
bread and hummus to plates. Grabbing forks and knives, he set the food on the
table. “Ladies, dinner is served.”

Celia chose this moment to cry.
“I’ll bring her.” Nick walked to the bedroom.

Barbara bobbed her head
approvingly. “Don’t take too long to appreciate your luck, Maddy. Santa Maria,
he’s a doctor, smart, handsome, and helpful. I can see many women trying to
snatch him from you.”

Madelyn gasped, but didn’t have
time to protest. Nick had already returned with a pink bundle nestled in his
arms. Her heart somersaulted at the lovely picture they presented. He’d make a
wonderful father one day. Mom was right. Kathy Raynes, Hailey and several women
in their staff had dated him. None had succeeded in keeping him.

Now he seemed to enjoy holding
babies. In spite of his talk about no commitment, maybe he’d want to have his
own family soon. Children...and a wife.

Darn, Madelyn’s mood tanked.

“How do I look with a baby?” Nick
paused and grinned.

“Gorgeous,” Barbara said, without
smiling.

“Very nice,” Madelyn added.

“So why are you frowning?”

“Just remembered something.” With
effort, she wiped away the depressing thoughts. For the moment, Nick was her
friend. A fantastic friend. “Want me to videotape you?”

“Sure. This is a first for me. I
hold a lot of newbies in Delivery, but I’ve never really held one in my arms.
Like this.” He lowered his gaze to the sweet doll and brushed his lips on her
forehead.

“So cute.” Her pulse racing,
Madelyn pressed the button on the camera and recorded the scene.

“Let’s eat before it gets cold,”
Barbara called. Nick brought the stroller and tucked the twins in.

“Who’s going to say grace?” he
asked.

“You’re used to saying grace?”
Barbara’s head snapped toward him.

“Madelyn taught me.”

“Good girl.” Mom smiled.
First
compliment she gave me
. “You come from a Catholic family, Nick?”

“No. My mother was an actress,
and my father a movie director. I never saw them go to church.”

“Which actress?”

“Anne Lee Meyer.”

Barbara visibly melted. Her hand
flew to her chest. “Oh my God, you’re her son?” Stars twinkled in her eyes.
“Anne Lee Meyer’s son?” She turned to Madelyn resolutely. “I will say grace.”

Madelyn froze, bracing herself.

Mom recited the prayer. “And
Lord, please bless my daughter’s place. Make it a real home. Give us a happy
Christmas, complete with health and joy for her, for the babies she generously
adopted, and for those who love her and share her goals.” Mom’s gaze settled on
Nick for a few seconds.

“Amen,” he answered in his baritone
voice.

Mom smiled to her ears and
Madelyn scampered to the kitchen. She had to take a deep breath and swallow her
medicine before her stress escalated.

Contrary to her worries, dinner
went smoothly. Nick asked a lot of questions. To Madelyn’s embarrassment, Barbara
regaled him with multiple stories about her daughters, their childhoods and
adolescences. She also sniffled a bit as she reminisced about their father.

Nick grinned, laughed, and
completely conquered her mother’s heart. At the end of the dinner, Mom brought out
Madelyn’s favorite cookies. “I hope you like them, Nick.”

Sure enough, Nick loved them, and
begged her to bake some more while in Fort Lauderdale. Madelyn wondered if her
mother was going to swoon with glee. A cartoon played in Madelyn’s exhausted
mind, with Mom dropping to her knees to ask Nick’s hand in marriage for her
daughter.
Oh God
.

“I’m going to feed and change the
babies, and put them to bed. You two can relax on the balcony to watch the boat
parade Nick talked about.”

Madelyn should be pleased with
her mother’s offer to give them some private time. Instead, Mom’s too obvious
effort got on her nerves.

“I don’t think so, Mom. I’m too
tired. We have scheduled deliveries tomorrow.”

Barbara shrugged and pushed the
stroller to the bedroom.

They both cleared the table. “I’ll
let you rest,” Nick said when the kitchen was clean. “It’s been a long,
difficult day for you.”

“I don’t know how to thank—”

 “Don’t start with the gratitude
thing. I don’t need your thanks.” He grabbed her shoulders and held her against
him. The intensity of his gaze scorched her to her toes.

She linked her fingers around his
neck and tried to smile. “I’ll say it with a kiss.”

But he didn’t smile. He kissed
her hard, until she couldn’t breathe. “You still don’t trust me,” he groaned
against her hair.

“You know I trust you. You know I
care about you.”

“I’m not going to push. I’ll wait
for you, Madelyn. I’ll wait till you’re ready to come into my arms.”

“I can’t. Nick, you know my
problem. And it’s not fair to you.” Tears tickled her eyes.

“Darling, you’re worth the wait.”
He kissed her again and rushed to the door.

She leaned on her kitchen counter
and dropped her head into her hands.

He’d done everything to make her
happy. Today they’d projected the image of a real family. But nothing was real.

The babies would be staying with
her for three months only. And then, her heart would break when she lost them.
And lost Nick.

Never
. When she tried to
picture him with another woman, her insides clenched and her heart ached.

She couldn’t afford to lose Nick.
Not when she’d enjoyed so much his presence and his kisses. Not when she wanted
more.

Did she have the right to keep
him waiting?

Did she have the right to take
advantage of his kindness and deprive him of a real family?

Chapter Nine

Madelyn pondered the difficult
questions for a good part of the night. Friendship with Nick? She snorted.
Certainly not the simple camaraderie she shared with Greg and her male
colleagues. Not when her pulse raced at his touch and her body yearned for him.

Her relationship with Nick was
special and precious. And heading toward a feeling she was afraid to
acknowledge. How could she fool herself into thinking she was immune to Nick’s
attraction? Should she trust him with her heart and stop smothering her
emotions?

What about him? He showed
friendship
—or whatever it was—with his help and his kisses. And he was ready for the next
step.

Mom was right. A man can’t live
by bread and friendship. Unless it came with special benefits.

Annoyed at the direction of her
thoughts, she turned and tossed in her bed, and hit her head on the board. A
wailing responded to the thump, grew louder, and earsplitting. She glanced at
the digital clock—11 pm—and jumped from the bed, glad for the distraction. Celia
was crying and Liana pouting, ready to suckle.

While the bottles warmed up,
Madelyn changed the babies, and transferred them to their stroller. It would be
easier to feed them at the same time. She sat on a chair and stuck the nipple
of a bottle in each tiny mouth. Soon, the sucking slowed and stopped.

“Don’t sleep until you burp,
little pumpkin.” She raised Celia up against her shoulder and rubbed her back.
Without batting an eye, the baby let out a loud belch that made Madelyn laugh.
“Now, you can relax. Your turn, Liana.”

A moment later, Madelyn too
stretched in her bed. Her adorable foster daughters had brightened her mood.
Determined not to let stupid questions clutter her mind at the wrong time, she
closed her eyes. A shuffling noise jerked her up.

“Mom?”

“I was coming to check on the
babies. They must need their bottles.”

“I fed them and changed them.”

“Already? I didn’t hear you.
You’re a wonderful mommy. So committed to your babies. Good night, sweetheart.”

A wonderful mommy
. The
compliment swelled her lungs with pride. She had three months as a foster
mother. She didn’t mind being committed to her babies. Or even to Nick. Committed
for three months or better, forever. Hugging her pillow, she smiled.

A picture of Nick cuddling Baby
Celia played in her mind. And another of Nick kissing her with a passion she’d
never met before. Maybe it was time to take a chance on life.

****

The week went by at incredible
speed. Mom had transformed Madelyn’s condo into a social club where six
neighbors met daily at 10 am for coffee and cake, and stayed till 5 pm. The
ladies chatted, while knitting, crocheting, and sewing. And of course, they
took turns, feeding, changing, and cooing to Celia and Liana. When awake, the
babies smiled nonstop, and the club of foster grandmothers melted with
ahhs
and
hos
. The girls had now a full wardrobe of handmade clothes, either pink
or Christmassy.

Madelyn changed them into pretty
dresses and matching slippers. The babies held their naked legs up trying to
get the slippers off. “Now let’s go see what grandma is cooking for Uncle
Nick.”

Madelyn settled her babies in
their double-stroller and wheeled them to the entrance of the kitchen where
Barbara prepared dinner. Since Mom’s arrival the condo continuously simmered in
sweet scents of chocolate cookies and buttery cakes, most of them baked for
Uncle Nick.

“Madelyn, I’m leaving in two
days,” Barbara reminded her as she supervised the pots on the stove. “But don’t
worry. My friends asked me if you could give them your schedule regularly. They
will come two at a time and babysit when you are at the hospital. I trained
them well. They know they have to wash their hands, scrub with sanitizer, and
wear a mask while feeding or holding the babies.”

“Thank you, Mom. You’re the
best.” Madelyn gave her a big hug.

“We’re almost finished with the
afghans.” Mom had told her friends about Nick’s mother. Each woman had brought
pictures of Anne Lee Meyer. Together they started a new project—a big surprise
for Nick—and crocheted afghans for their favorite actress’s nursing home.

“I’m sure Nick will be very
touched.”

“Oh, and I have a dozen more
boxes of cookies to give him.” The famous boxes of cookies
made especially
for dear Dr. Preston
had multiplied.

While
dear Dr. Preston
devoured his cookies like a happy boy, Madelyn sighed, and wondered if Nick
wasn’t going to propose to her just to keep savoring his daily plate of
cookies.

Except that Nick had been far
from proposing. He hadn’t kissed her during this past week. As if his passion had
dimmed a little more every day under the pounds of sweet he’d swallowed. Although
he was his usual charming self with the ladies and complimented Barbara on her
motherly skills when he received his daily dose of carbohydrates.

The twins recognized his voice when
he checked on them after work. They chirped and jerked their little legs as
soon as he approached their cribs. Without the slightest effort, he carried
them both in his brawny arms and gave them the grand tour of the living room
and balcony. He cooed to them silly sweet words and sprinkled light kisses on
their cheeks and foreheads. Like every female around, Celia and Liana looked at
him with adoration.

With a harem of old ladies and
tiny ones at his beck and call, Madelyn seemed forgotten.

Not a single kiss in the whole
week.

Granted she and Nick were always
surrounded by people at the hospital and at home, but he didn’t come to her
office and didn’t make any effort to seek her on her own. Had he given up on
her?

Just when she had decided to
throw caution to the winds and follow her heart’s directive toward Nick.

As far as she could see, there
was no one else in the picture. So why was he avoiding her?

“Honey, do you mind if we throw
an early Christmas party on the 23rd, here in your condo?” Mom’s question
interrupted Madelyn’s musing.

 “Not at all. Actually, I should
be the one inviting you all out to thank you.”

“Out of the question. I’ll cook
and my friends will bring the dessert. And—” Mom looked around and frowned.
“Honey, you need a Christmas tree here and some decorations.”

“My little tree is in the girl’s
room.” It wasn’t her room anymore with so many people in and out of it at all
hours of the day. “They love to look at it.”

“Too small. Get us a decent one
so we can put presents under it.”

“Oh no, Mom, please. I don’t have
time to buy presents. The girls were my Christmas gift to myself. By the way,
Sandra knows a student who needs to earn money while studying to become a
nurse. Vicky will come here tomorrow to meet you and the twins. So the babies
will be well taken care of.”

“Good. I’ll write her a list of
do’s and don’ts.” Madelyn bit her lips not to comment.

“I’ll bring the girls to the
hospital on Christmas Eve. Nick and I are both on call. Vicky will babysit them
while we are busy. Later, we’ll have a celebration at midnight.”

“Good, good.” Mom nodded
approvingly. “I’ll prepare a box of cookies for Nick.”

“Enough cookies. He’s gaining
weight and spends longer hours at the gym.”

“My dear, my Italian grandmother
used to say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” Mom fussed
with the wooden spoon and swirled it in the pot of tomato sauce. A secret
recipe she’d never shared with anyone.

Madelyn sighed. Maybe she should
start baking.