Slow Ride (Riding with Honor) (6 page)

“I dropped the book I planned to read this morning behind the shelf and I can’t get it,” she said looking at Gretchen.

“I’ll get it
, Miss Atkinson!” Gretchen said, letting go of his hand, dropping her bag on the floor and then running over to Dana.

“You’ll probably have to pull all the books out to get to it and then put them back
,” she said to Gretchen.

As Gretchen began pulling out the books and stacking them up
, Dana stood up and walked over to where he waited.

“I wanted to let you know
that I called the hospital to check on the baby this morning.  The nurse on duty said she slept well for about three hours last night but went back to crying and not holding down food again when she woke,” she said. “I’m going to be leaving around lunch time to go and check on her.  Susan Radcliff will be covering my class for the rest of the afternoon.”

“Can I go
to the hospital with you?” he asked.

“Umm… sure.  Do you just want to meet me there?”
she asked.

“Yea….I…uh…I wanted to apologize for yesterday.  I…umm…I’m not sure what came over me but I won’t…you know…again.  I promise.  I think we got off to a weird start and she’s going to need us and I don’t want things to be awkward…you know
?” he said looking uncomfortable.

A small part of Dana was a little disappointed at his words.  Though she wasn’t sure what nonsense she’d conjured up that a man, especially one like him
, would possibly think of
her
…in that way. 
Stupid really.

“You’re right, it would not
do for us to feel awkward or out of place since we are going to have to deal with one another often where the baby is concerned,” she replied.

“Ok
, so I’ll meet you there around noon,” he said and then looking towards Gretchen he continued, “I’ve got to go Gretchen, I’ll see you later.”

“Ok
, Daddy, bye,” she yelled from half way in the bookshelf.

He looked back at Dana and she smiled awkwardly at him and then
she walked away.

He waited a moment for Gretchen to realize that he was leaving and throw her normal fit about wanting to go with him.  After several
seconds he realized that Gretchen must not really have been paying attention to him when he said he was leaving.

“Did you remember your bag from the truck?”
he asked.

“Yea, it’s over there
,” Gretchen replied, pointing behind her.

“Ok, I just wanted to make sure before I left…”
he hinted.

Glancing at Dana he noticed she had a knowing smile on her face as she looked back at him.  Feeling stupid he said
, “Ok, then I’ll see you after school.”

“Ok
, bye,” Gretchen said again.

As he headed out to the truck he almost turned around to go back in and offer to take Gretchen with him to work.  A part of him worried that she wouldn’t want to go…it was like she didn’t need him as much…that there was something more or someone else in her life besides him.  He was her Daddy! 
Not Ms. Atkinson.

Dana kept an eye on Gretchen as the other students came into the class and got situated. 
Gretchen kept to her task and retrieved the book that Dana had purposefully dropped behind the bookshelf.  Sometimes distraction was a great tool for dealing with separation anxiety.

When morning play time rolled around and the boys were busy playing with trucks on the rug of the play area, Gretchen made her way over to where she sat at her desk.

“Are you going to visit the baby again today?” Gretchen asked her.

“Yes
.  Actually I wanted to go over at lunchtime too but that would mean leaving the boy’s with Miss Radcliff.  That is an awful lot to ask of her without any extra help,” she said, eyeing Gretchen hopefully.  Perhaps if the child thought she was helping her behavior for the other teacher would be good.

“I could go with you so that only the boys have to go with Miss Radcliff
,” Gretchen offered. 
Smart little cookie.

She was impressed with Gretchen’s ability to logically offer a solution that wasn’t necessarily what she’d been trying to get from her. 

It showed the child’s ability to think for herself and not go along with the most obvious solution. 

“That’s just it.  If I was taking the boys with me I wouldn’t worry because I know as a student leader I can count on
you
to behave, but they can get pretty rowdy…” she said.

“I guess I can stay here and be the student leader for them in Miss Radcliff’s class and then I could go later.  Ok?”
she asked hopefully.

“That’s a great idea
, Gretchen!  I’ll go at lunchtime while you help Miss Radcliff and then you can visit the baby later,” she said. “I knew I made a good choice making you the student leader,” she whispered to her in confidence.

Gretchen smiled and before she knew it the child hugged her waist and then ran over to where the boys were playing.  This was the child that Susan and Tina had been so leery about?  It just didn’t make sense. 

The child was downright sweet at times and way too cute.  Sure she could be a handful but what child didn’t have moments.  Dana was an
adult
and had moments…like yesterday when she’d nearly assaulted the hottest man…the only man…to ever
really
kiss her.

As she got off the elevator on the NICU floor Tommy was pacing as though he had been waiting for her to arrive.  He looked worried and she hurried over to him.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“She’s the same as last night, not keeping her food down and crying.  The nurse is checking to see if we can visit
,” he said running his hand through his windblown hair.

One of the nurses that had been working the night before came out and upon seeing him she smiled.

“Did you bring your guitar this time?” she asked.

“Um no…it’s in the truck though.  I didn’t’ think the
doctor was serious,” he replied.

“Well it can’t hurt to try, singing to her last night worked so well that Doctor McGinis signed off that he would allow it if it worked.  At this point, it can’t hurt.  We have tried the radio and it does work for little bits at a time but not as well
,” she said.

“Ok
, it’ll just take me a minute but I’ll be right back,” he said.

She followed the nurse into the secured area and after washing up she headed into the small room and over to the incubator where the child lay.  The baby was crying but not quite as badly as the day before.

“Do you want to hold her?” the nurse asked.

“Yes, please
,” she replied, pulling the rocking chair over and sitting down.

The nurse lifted the baby out and tried for a few minutes to calm her and then realizing that it was not working, gave up and laid her in Dana’s arms. 

She began rocking in the chair and humming which did little to calm the crying infant.  She stood up and tried walking with the baby to get her to quiet which also had little effect.

After several minutes more she finally looked out the window of the NICU area and noticed Tommy washing up at the sink with a guitar bag slung across his back. 

After finishing up he made his way into the room and pulled a stool over near the rocking chair.  He pulled his guitar out of the bag and strummed the strings then adjusted the knobs slightly.

She could feel the child’s tense body begin to relax.  When Tommy began to play and sing she was so impressed by his talent that she stopped in front of him
to stare and listen. 

He was quite good and when he grinned at her it seemed to weaken her knees
, so she made her way to the rocking chair and sat down.  She felt like she was in grade school all over again, mooning over the latest teen heartthrob. 

The nurse came back in the room with a tiny bottle only a quarter of the way full of formula.  It didn’t look like enough to keep a bird alive
, let alone a growing child, but she didn’t say anything. 

“That is absolutely amazing
,” she said to them. “Let’s see if we can get her to suck from the bottle.”

The nurse knelt down next to where she sat and quietly gave her instructions on how to try and get the child to suck.  Dana pushed on the baby’s chin and when her mouth opened she placed the bottle inside and gently moved it around as the nurse instructed. 

The baby would suck and then stop.  She would move the bottle around again and the baby would again suck for a moment and then stop.

She kept repeating the process and after a couple more songs, she realized the baby had taken almost all that was in the bottle.

“We’re just going to have to work with her whenever she’s not so upset.  She did really well for the first time, but I think we will go ahead and tube feed her a little more,” the nurse said as she hooked up the syringe to the line that went up the baby’s nose.

She rocked her while Tommy sang and played his guitar.  It was hard for her to look at him so she just kept her eyes on the baby.  Between his breathtaking good looks and a natural born talent he seemed like the stuff dreams were made of. 

As if those things weren’t enough, the lopsided grins he gave her whenever she did look at him were enough to nearly stop her heart.  It was like when he had kissed her…slow and intimate.

She couldn’t help but notice the other nurses coming and going from the room.  She shifted the baby to her shoulder and the baby snuggled its face into her neck.  It was a wonderful feeling and all the tension from earlier was gone.  Within minutes the baby was sleeping.

“Do you want to hold her?” Dana asked him as he finished a song.

“Yea, one minute
,” he said as he put his guitar back in the case as quietly as he could.

She gently stood up
making an effort not to jostle the baby too much as Tommy sat in the rocking chair.  She handed him the baby and he held her for a while just staring at her.  As much as it was killing her to admit, this child belonged with him…just like Gretchen.

“Have you thought of a name for her yet?”
she asked.

“What do you think of Melody?”
he asked in return.

She laughed quietly and said
, “I think that’s a perfect name for her.”

“Melody it is then
,” he said as he continued to stare at the sleeping baby.

Tommy jerked awake at the sound of his cell phone ringing.  He realized it was already light outside and knew immediately he’d overslept.  It had been a long week of trips to the hospital every morning, at lunchtime and then every night. 

He and Dana had decided after the second day of visiting that the visits were necessary to ensure that she kept down her food and did not spend too many calories crying.

He had forgotten what it was like running on little sleep from having an infant and it had caught up with him.  Now Gretchen would be late for school and he would be late for work. 

Rolling over, he groaned when he noticed the time.  Grabbing his cell phone he pushed the button and said, “Hello”

“Tommy?” Dana said
.

“Yea, I overslept
,” he replied.

“I wondered what happened since you didn’t show up at the hospital this morning for Melody’s feeding and then when you weren’t here…Gretchen’s usually here by now
,” she said.

“I’m sorry.  How was she this morning?”
he asked, feeling guilty since singing to her seemed to be the ticket to her slow but steady increase in weight.  He hoped he hadn’t cost her precious ounces of weight she’d struggled to gain over the past couple of days.

“Well
, if you can get Gretchen here before recess I may let you open for my
next
performance,” she said proudly.

“
You
sang to her?” he asked with a smile.
And he’d missed it!

“Yes and it worked!”
she said and Tommy liked the excitement he heard in her voice. “I tried humming at first but she would have none of it so I had to go all out.  I don’t think the nurses enjoyed it as much as they enjoy you but…”

“Do you enjoy me Dana?”
he asked before he could stop himself.

Silence cut through the line until he began to wonder if she’d hung up on him.

“I…uh…yea, I like it when you sing too…” she said breathlessly. 
Well that certainly didn’t help his morning wood.

“We’ll be there shortly…sorry I overslept
,” he said.

After hanging up he scrambled out of bed and finding some clothes for Gretchen he went in
to the kitchen only to find her eating dry cereal out of the box.

“Why didn’t you wake me up Gretchen?”
he asked.