CHAPTER ONE

      DIM LIGHTS AND the sound of soft waves crashing against the shore had created an atmosphere of a calm retreat, but midwife Lana Sanders knew that her patient had long passed the point of caring.

      “You’re doing great,” Lana said as she coached Kim through another contraction and watched the fetal monitor. She watched the fetal heart-rate accelerate, then come down to its baseline. So far this had been a perfect labor.

      “You’re going to be late,” Jeannie whispered to Lana as she arranged the delivery table.

      “It won’t be long now,” Lana said, as much to reassure the labor and delivery nurse as well as her patient.

      “Push. Now.” Kim ground out.

      “Wait, I’ve got to get the camera!” Kim’s husband Tom called out as he turned his back and started going through a duffle bag laid upon the bedside table.

      “Wait?” said Kim. Her voice rose an octave and took on that gravelly sound that only a woman in transition, or one possessed, could reach. “What have you been doing all this time?”

      “It’s okay, Tom, we have a couple minutes,” Lana said.

      A deep growl escaped from Kim.

      “Okay, maybe we don’t,” Lana said as she watched a circle of dark wet curls crown.

      She positioned the delivery table so that it would be within easy reach, then undraped it, letting the protective covering fall to the floor.

      “Kim, we’ve done this before, right?” Lana waited till she had Kim’s attention. “The baby’s starting to crown so whenever you’re ready go ahead and push.”

      “Now!” said Kim, then took a fast breath.

      Tom rushed to his wife’s side and helped her get into position as she curled her body and pushed down. Lana watched as the couple worked together for their child. Kim’s face was flushed and glowing with color as she concentrated on nothing but this moment—the moment she would bring a new life into the world. It was both beautiful and heart-wrenching for Lana to watch this miracle.

      “Take another breath,” Lana said. “Is the contraction gone?”

      “No,” Kim said, before she took a deep breath then returned to pushing.

      “Okay, Kim, I need you to listen to me,” Lana said.

      She waited as Kim looked up at her.

      “Next push we’re going to have a baby, okay?” Lana watched as both excitement and fear filled her patient’s tired eyes. “You can do this. I promise.”

      Kim nodded her head and grabbed Tom’s hand as she positioned herself again, then pushed.

      Seconds later a screaming, squirming baby boy was delivered. Lana carefully suctioned the baby’s mouth, then handed Kim her new baby and watched as the experienced mom caught him close against her body, putting him skin to skin to keep him warm while Jeannie dried him off with some fluffy towels. She clamped then cut the umbilical cord that had been the baby’s lifeline. Seeing both mom and baby meeting for the first time, she was amazed, as always, by the miracle of life that she was blessed to witness.

      “You did wonderfully,” Lana told Kim.

      Lana delivered the placenta, then made sure her patient’s bleeding was controlled. A quick glance at the clock above the bed had her suddenly feeling a sense of panic. She had to get out of the hospital in the next twenty minutes or she was never going to make it to court on time.

      She gave the new mom a hug, then posed for a picture with the rest of the Callahan family once they were allowed in the room. She headed to the nurses’ lounge for a quick change of clothes, then headed out of the hospital. This was going to be one of the most important days of her life. Today she would officially become a new mom herself—something that until a year and a half ago she had thought would never happen.

      There was no way she was going to be late.

      * * *

      Lana white-knuckled her way through the nightmare of Miami traffic. The multiple lanes all seemed to be going nowhere, and Lana was short on both time and patience. For the first time she was scared she really was going to miss her appointment with the judge who would be finalizing Maggie’s adoption.

      The thought of her sweet, adorable little toddler had her taking a deep breath and relaxing. It would be okay. She was cutting it close, but she would make it. After over twelve months of social workers’ visits and court appearances, there was no way fate would fail her now.

      It had been fate that had brought the little girl into her life, after Lana had just happened to take on her young mother as a patient. When Chloe had later decided she couldn’t handle the responsibility of a new baby and showed up on her doorstep, handing Lana the child along with a notarized letter saying she wanted Lana to adopt her, it had been nothing short of a miracle.

      A lane opened up to her right and she swung into it and followed it to the next exit. Fifteen minutes later she made it to the judge’s chamber where her appearance was scheduled to be. She was surprised to see that neither her lawyer nor her babysitter and Maggie were outside the room, waiting for her. She had texted both of them to let them know she was going to cut it close.

      A note on the door explained that there had been a change in where the session would be held. Lana rushed down the hall to the courtroom. As she reached for the handle of the door a large hand reached around her.

      “Let me,” said a male voice in a slow drawl that almost curled her toes.

      Lana turned and followed the outstretched arm up to the man behind it. The sight of coal-black hair curling around an angular face with a pair of deep blue eyes was startling. Forgetting that she was blocking the door, she let her gaze continue down the tailored black suit to the pointed toes of black leather cowboy boots peeking from beneath his pants leg.

      A cowboy in Miami?

      The thought had Lana smiling as she looked up at the handsome man and with a quick “Thank you” continued into the courtroom.

      A frantic Amanda waved at her from the front of the courtroom, where she and Lana’s lawyer Nathan had taken their seats. As soon as Maggie got a look at Lana the toddler started protesting. She wanted to get down and see her “mama” right then.

      Amanda had dressed her in the new pink sundress Lana had recently bought, and with her dark curls and big deep blue eyes she looked like a china doll come to life. Lana reached over and took her little girl. She gave her a big tight hug that had Maggie giggling and squirming in her lap.

      “Why the change to the courtroom?” she asked Nathan as she scooted into the seat next to him.

      “Shh...” Nathan whispered back as he studied some of the papers in his hand.

      Amanda looked at the two of them, then shrugged her shoulders, letting Lana know that she didn’t have a clue about what was going on.

      Nathan was always a little uptight-looking, which Lana put down to his job in family law. She knew that sometimes his cases were very stressful, with emotions riding high, but there was something about the way he was studying the papers in his hands that told her something was wrong.

      Suddenly her heart kicked