Emergency: Parents Needed by Jessica Matthews Read Free Book Online Page B

same, though, because they still had their father as the one constant in their life. Still,” she mused, “we had plenty of bad moments when the boys only wanted their mother, but they were too little to understand she wouldn’t be coming home again. She’d died of cancer.”
    “I rest my case.”
    “The point is,” she insisted, “you’ll have rocky days and you’ll have good ones, but you’ll get through them. Now, if I were you,” she said with a soft smile, “I’d grab some sleep. It’s hard to say if she’ll sense she’s in a strange place and will wake up during the night so we can go through this again, or if she’s so tuckered she’ll sleep until morning. But never fear…” She moved to the coat closet where she’d hung her windbreaker. “I’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early.”
    “You can’t leave, Maggie,” he said. “If she wakes up crying, you have to be here.”
    “If she wakes, change her diaper and heat another bottle. There are extras in the refrigerator, ready to go.”
    “You can’t leave,” he repeated. “I can’t comfort her like you just did and that’s what she needs.”
    She understood his fear but it only proved that Joe had more fatherly qualities than he wanted to admit. If he’d truly been uncaring, she would have seen something other than worry in his eyes—something like irritation or anger perhaps, not concern or fear that he couldn’t meet Breanna’s needs. “You’ll do fine.”
    “Please, Maggie? I’m begging you. For tonight.”
    She wanted to refuse in order to protect herself, to use distance to help her stay emotionally detached.
    “You can have my bed,” he said. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”
    “This isn’t a good idea,” she began.
    “If she wakes up, I’m calling you,” he warned, “regardless of the time. If you don’t come over, we’ll drive to your place.”
    She wanted to run away as much as Joe wanted her to stay because she already knew she would have a difficult time leaving this precious baby in a few weeks. How could she not? A motherless baby was bound to tug on a childless woman’s heart, especially after she’d already lost two children she’d once thought of as her own.
    “You have to start dealing with her some time, Donatelli.”
    “I know and I will. Just not tonight. Please?”
    Certain she wouldn’t relax if she went home anyway because she’d spend what was left of the night wondering what Joe was doing and how he was coping, she gave in. “OK. I’ll run home and grab a few clothes—”
    “What’s mine is yours,” he said. “T-shirts, sweatpants, jeans, whatever. I’ll even lend you my razor if you want it.”
    Knowing how her brothers always complained if their wives dulled the blades, she quipped, “The supreme sacrifice.”
    A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth and his deer-in-the-headlights look eased. “How about it, partner?”
    She thought about all the chores she’d planned to do on her day off and decided these two needed her more than her dust bunnies did. “Only if I can go home after breakfast tomorrow.”
    He stepped forward and hugged her. “Thanks, Maggie. This means a lot to me.”
    Maggie had never allowed herself to imagine what it would feel like to be in Joe’s arms. It would only have led to problems, but now that she was where she’d occasionally allowed herself to fantasize, she had to admit this spot was quite satisfying. Heady, in fact.
    She noticed the strength in his biceps, felt his heartbeat against her cheek, breathed in his unique scent, a blend of Joe Donatelli and soap, and realized something unexpected.
    Breanna wasn’t the only person capable of breaking her heart. Without any effort at all, Joe could do the same.
     
    After his shower the next morning, Joe hesitated on the kitchen threshold to watch the two girls who’d entered his life without warning, one wearing a fuzzy pink sleeper and the other still wearing the clothes he’d given her