Slow Ride (Riding with Honor) by Rebecca Avery Read Free Book Online Page A

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.

Chapter Five
     
    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