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the events from last night. She certainly didn’t want to miss seeing the family off. But if she followed Michelle up to the fifth floor neonatology ICU, chances were she would run into Brendan. Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. After all, the entire Lewis clan would be there, the attention focused on the Granger baby. A good place to get lost in the crowd. Besides, she enjoyed being around the close-knit family even if the matriarch, Jeanie Lewis, was a bit on the flighty side. At least Michelle and Brooke had a mother, despite her flaws.
Cassie did want to see little Matthew Granger finally free from the constraints of IVs and other equipment that had brought him to this moment. If Brendan happened to be there, she would simply deal with it.
‘‘Okay, give me a second.’’ For some reason Cassie felt the need to do a quick touch-up. She pulled a mirror and a tube of lipstick from her desk drawer. Unfortunately, her hair looked like the product of a screwdriver rammed into an electrical outlet. Not much she could do about it now.
‘‘Hurry up, Cassie.’’
Cassie shoved the drawer closed on the reminders of her bad-hair day and followed Michelle out the door. Michelle’s husband, Dr. Nick Kempner, joined them on the elevator along with two teenage girls.
‘‘Hey, where have you been all my life, beautiful?’’ Nick gave his smile and a kiss to Michelle. The girls giggled; Cassie grinned. She couldn’t help it. The couple’s joy over seeing each other was contagious, serving as fuel for Cassie’s fantasy that someday she might be as lucky as Michelle.
The elevator seemed too small to contain Michelle’s overt enthusiasm. She rocked back and forth on her heels and muttered, ‘‘This thing is so slow.’’
‘‘They’ll wait for you, Auntie Michelle,’’ Nick teased.
‘‘I know. But I can’t wait to get my hands on him.’’
After the teens exited on the second floor, leaving only Cassie and the Kempners, Cassie regarded Michelle with a curious stare. ‘‘Are you getting some maternal urges, Michelle?’’
Michelle and Nick exchanged a look. ‘‘I have some urges all right,’’ Nick said. ‘‘Cassie, mind getting off on three and walking up to five? I was thinking maybe I’d take advantage of my wife in this empty elevator.’’
Michelle sent him a playful look. ‘‘Nick, we just got back from our honeymoon yesterday.’’ She turned her grin on Cassie. ‘‘The man is greedy.’’
A bite of envy mixed with embarrassment fired up Cassie’s face. She felt like an intruder horning in on two lovers’ private moment.
‘‘Cut it out, you guys,’’ Cassie said when Nick buried his face in his wife’s neck. ‘‘This isn’t a nice thing to do to a single woman with no prospects.’’ She immediately thought about Brendan and fought back a rush of excitement and apprehension about seeing him again.
Nick looked at her with surprise. ‘‘Hey, Cassie, I happen to know more than a few guys—’’
The elevator pinged and the doors slid open, saving Cassie from Nick Kempner’s offer to rescue her from the cesspool of self-imposed celibacy by finding her ‘‘a man.’’ They traveled down the hall and pushed through the double doors and into the area immediately outside the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. In the nearby waiting room they found Dr. Jared Granger standing over his wife, Brooke, who was seated in a chair holding a bundle of soft blue blanket. Next to Jared stood Jeanie and Howard Lewis, proud-grandparent smiles plastered on their faces.
Cassie released a breath of relief when she noted that Brendan wasn’t anywhere around. That fact also brought about disappointment. Just as well, she supposed.
Michelle hovered over the baby, cooing like a mourning dove. Cassie made her way to Brooke who pulled back the blanket, revealing the tiny baby boy with a small cap of downy blond hair and one hand curled against his cheek, his eyes struggling to focus against the harsh fluorescent light.
Warmth flooded Cassie’s chest, and longing gripped her heart. ‘‘He’s beautiful, Brooke. I know you’re thrilled to finally be taking him home.’’
Brooke looked from her son to Cassie, her eyes misty. ‘‘Two months is a long time to wait. But it was worth it.’’ She gazed at her husband with adoration. ‘‘We did good, didn’t we, Daddy?’’
‘‘No, we did great.’’ Jared leaned down and brushed a tender kiss across Brooke’s cheek, then did the same to his son.
A few people might overdose on all the love radiating from this family, but not Cassie. She craved being a part of something so special. Thoughts of the mother she had never known filtered into her consciousness as she watched the group gather round to discuss who little Matthew Granger favored. The general consensus was Howard Lewis, due to the baby’s sparse hair and chubby cheeks.
Cassie shared in the laughter while wondering what her own mother had been thinking when she’d left three days after Cassie’s birth. Had she realized that her careless disregard had left her then-husband a bitter man who’d never been able to make an emotional commitment to his only child? And in turn, Cassie had tried to find love in all the wrong places, a mistake she still paid for even after years of trying to right that wrong by being a success in her career, a faithful daughter. Futile attempts to earn her father’s respect, even if she couldn’t earn his love. She never had, and she’d finally come to realize that she never would.
She had also come to terms with the fact that she’d never know her mother after learning through relatives that the woman who’d borne her, then deserted her, had died two years ago.
At least the Granger baby would never have to experience such heartache, never lack in the love department.
‘‘You ready to go, Brooke?’’ Jared asked, drawing Cassie out of her melancholy remembrance.
‘‘Sure, but I want to thank Dr. O’Connor first.’’
‘‘No thanks needed. Just send me a picture now and then to add to my collection.’’
Cassie looked from the baby to Brendan, and her heart took a plunge. She routinely came in contact with him on a daily basis, but today was different. He looked the same, still gorgeous with that even-tempered aura everyone had come to respect and admire. His staff adored him and so did his patients’ parents. Though the stress level in the NICU was off the scale, morale was high on that unit, all because of Dr. Brendan O’Connor’s grace under fire.
Brendan shook Nick and Jared’s hand then his gaze met Cassie’s. He gave her a slight smile and a guarded look that told her he was remembering last night, too. Or maybe she was reading too much into it.
After handing Jared a vinyl case, Brendan said, ‘‘Here’s the apnea monitor. Any questions?’’
‘‘Millie gave us instructions,’’ Jared said. ‘‘We’ll let you know if anything comes up.’’
Jeanie Lewis stepped forward, wringing her hands. ‘‘Doctor, do you think he’s well enough to go home? Since his lungs—’’
‘‘He’s fine, Mrs. Lewis.’’ Brendan sent her a reassuring smile, revealing his little-boy dimple. ‘‘The monitor’s a precautionary measure. It’s only for a little while to make sure everything’s okay. Try not to worry.’’
Howard Lewis laughed, taking Cassie by surprise. The man rarely got a word in edgewise with his wife’s penchant for chatter. ‘‘That’s like telling a politician not to make promises.’’
They all laughed then, except for Jeanie Lewis. But the laughter died when a nurse rushed through the NICU doors. ‘‘Dr. O’Connor. The Neely baby’s crashing.’’
Brendan spun around and said, ‘‘Good luck,’’ then disappeared through the unit entrance.
A heavy silence settled over the group until Jared said, ‘‘Let’s get out of here.’’