Newborn Needs a Dad by Dianne Drake Read Free Book Online Page B

being his little assistant, walking along with him carrying his medical bag, pretending to be a doctor, too. It wasn’t the way most of my friends were growing up, but I never really missed out on anything, because I loved my life, loved it that my dad included me in his medical life whenever he could. It made me feel special…important.” She blinked hard, fighting back fat tears welling in her eyes. “Anyway, I know Walt Graham had his ways, but I have mine, and I don’t think there’s a need to keep healthy pregnant women from working, as long as they want to work, and they’re physically able.”
    “Are we talking about Angela Blanchard, or you?”
    “Both. I want her to work because she wants to work. And I want to work in the emergency room like everybody else does when it’s their turn. But I got the impression that you might not want me there. If that’s because you don’t know me, I totally understand. But if it’s because I’m pregnant…”
    “I do know you. At least what I can know from a background check. You come with glowing references, Gabrielle. The kind that would make me want to put you on the emergency schedule if I had room. But I’m scheduled two weeks out, and unless there’s an emergency, I usually don’t change the schedule. That’s why you’re not there right now. The only reason. Because I am a full-fledged supporter of women, pregnant or not, doing what they want to do. Maybe we got off on the wrong foot when I told you to go put your feet up and rest, and when I tried showing you back to the lodge, butthat was just me, doing a poor job of being a gentleman to a pregnant woman who seemed to be lost.”
    “I wasn’t lost. In fact, I was on my way in when you came outside. And you’re not that bad at being a gentleman,” she teased. “Maybe a little more old-fashioned than you think you are, but it’s nice.”
    Not to hear Karen talk about it. His ex-wife had accused him of so many things over the course of their marital breakup, and he was pretty sure his skills at being a gentleman had probably fallen in there somewhere. “Let’s just say that I’m out of practice, and for the foreseeable future I don’t expect to be getting much practice.” Work was easier. It didn’t betray him the way his wife had.
    “This is the part where I don’t ask questions, right? Because I’ve never been very good at the distinctions. Some people say something leading, like you did, then drop it, hoping to really drop it. Others say something leading, then drop it, hoping the other person will pick it up. But I’m sensing that you don’t want me to do that…to pick it up and ask questions.”
    “Failed marriage. In and out quickly with a lot of ugliness in the middle. That’s about all there is to say about it.”
    “Even though I’ve never been married, I know that’s never all there is to say about it, Neil, but I won’t ask.”
    She really did fascinate him. There were so many complex layers to her, it could take a lifetime to peel them all back to reveal the full essence of Gabrielle Evans. What an astonishing lifetime that could be for some lucky man. “Are you always so direct?” he asked.
    She nodded. “I attribute it to my relationship with my dad. He was a busy man, didn’t have time to waste, and he’d always tell me that if I wanted to know, ask. If I wanted to be heard, speak up. Worked for him, works for me.”
    “Your dad was right, and being direct is oddly becoming on you.”
    She wrinkled her nose, forcing back an almost shy smile.
    “You don’t take compliments very well, do you?”
    “In my experience, compliments often come with conditions. So let’s just say that the one offering the compliment has to grow on me before I’m comfortable with the compliments.”
    “Am I growing on you yet?”
    “Sprouting,” she said.
    Yes, she was very direct, and he liked it more and more. In fact, he seriously doubted that Gabrielle could ever lie, or be even