August Unknown (34 page)
Authors: Pamela Fryer
Emily stood before him, wearing nothing more than a hospital
gown, OR room shoe covers, and a new, hot pink cast on her left arm.
She smiled. “Hi.”
He glanced over her shoulder. Mike leaned against the driver’s
door, grinning.
“Do you still want to marry me?” she asked.
He snapped his gaze back. Was that a trick question? Of course
he wanted to marry her! He sought an answer, but couldn’t manage a single word.
She stepped through the doorway. Geoffrey stood back and
allowed her to take his hand.
Say something, numbskull
.
She knelt down on one knee. “Geoffrey Barthlow...uh oh.” She pulled
her hand free and reached behind herself to close her hospital gown. Mike laughed
and turned away.
“Geoffrey Barthlow, will you marry me?”
“Say yes, dude.”
He nearly jumped out of his skin when Derek spoke immediately
behind him.
“Yes!” He pulled her to her feet and hugged her, picking her
up to spin around. “I want nothing more in this life than to marry you, Emily
Atkinson.”
Happily Ever Later
Geoffrey leaned out of the hospital room’s doorway at the
sound of Jocelyn’s voice. She saw him, gave a tiny squeal, and ran the rest of
the way down the hall.
“Uncle G!” He scooped her up and she wrapped her arms around
his neck. “It’s a girl!”
“How did you know that?” He kissed her cheek.
“Mom told me.”
Leah shrugged. “She promised she wouldn’t tell, and she
didn’t, did she?”
“She sure didn’t.”
They had let Dr. Carlson—
Mrs
. Dr. Carlson—tell Leah the
results of the ultrasound after she promised to keep it to herself. Emily
wanted to be surprised, and so did he. Secretly he’d hoped for a girl, but
being surprised had been wonderful.
“We brought flowers,” Jocelyn announced.
“For me?”
“No!” She giggled. “For Emily.”
They entered the recovery room. He set Jocelyn down and she
tiptoed over to the bed. “Oooh! She’s so pretty!”
“Just like her mother.” Geoffrey returned to the seat he’d
occupied for most of the morning on the other side of Emily’s bed.
“You’re glowing.” Leah set the spring bouquet on the bedside
table. “Six hours of labor wins the record for this family.”
“It was tough.” Emily smiled down at her tiny bundle, sleeping
contentedly in the crook of her arm. “But worth it.”
“So what-cha gonna name her?” Jocelyn asked.
Emily gazed at Geoffrey. “I don’t know. We didn’t even know
she was a girl until this morning.”
“Well, you could name her April, for her birthday,” Jocelyn
said. They all stared, and she giggled. “What? It’s a name, you know.”
Other books by Pamela Fryer
One Snowy Night Before Christmas
And historical romance written as Ava Bradley
