sip of the sharp creamy brew. “I swear I’m chilled to the bone.”
“What are you going to do when winter gets here, on the twenty-second, woman?” Kip teased with a lazy half smile.
“If it’s this cold, I’m going to shake and shiver like I did last year, but I’ll love every minute of it. Last winter I arrived straight from Doctal in the middle of a snowstorm. What an initiation back into the States! I loved it. Will we get a lot here?”
Kip shrugged. “Some winters it seems to snow a few inches once a week just to be annoying. Then other winters we get socked with a couple of big ones. Those pretty much shut everything down for a few hours—at most a day. Those are the fun ones. It winds up that everyone has extra time on their hands because they can’t go anywhere. But that makes time for snowball fights. Building snowmen. And sledding. If I know one’s going to hit, I try to stay at one of my sisters’ houses and borrow the kids for a few hours.” He laughed. “An adult just can’t play in the snow without kids along or we look demented!”
Sarah nodded and smiled but inside she was heartily confused. She sipped her coffee and slid a sideways glance at Kip. According to Miriam, he said marriage and kids weren’t for him. That he was sick of them and women because he’d grown up in a house overflowing with both. But he couldn’t seem to turn down an appeal for help involving them either. If he wasn’t ferrying a sick child to a needed hospital, he was coaching a team, mentoring a troubled boy or babysitting for his nieces and nephews.
It made no sense.
She and Kip arrived at the hospital by five and rushed up to the neonatal intensive care unit so she could squeeze in every last minute with Grace. At the entrance to the scrubbing room Sarah stopped when Kip said, “I’ll meet you in the green room. I think it’s down the hall and around the corner.”
The thought struck her that Kip should spend time with Grace, too. She wouldn’t be at CHOP at all were it not for his generosity. “Do you want to come in with me?”
Kip smiled. “Yeah, if it’s allowed. She sort of stole my heart the day I flew her here.”
“I noticed,” Sarah told him and smiled, too, in spite of her nerves. The first of the nurses she’d met, Leslie Washington, was back with Grace. Sarah knocked on the window and motioned to Kip. Leslie nodded her permission with a wide smile.
They scrubbed up, donned the sterile gowns and made their way to Grace’s corner of the NICU. Just as before, Kip didn’t look at her child with horror but with wonder as he bent over Grace. “I can’t believe how tiny she is yet every part of her is so perfectly formed already. Look at those tiny nails! And I swear she’s gained weight!”
“She was two pounds this morning,” Grace’s nurse, Leslie said. “She’s doing so good!”
“You hear that, Amazing Gracie,” Kip said, making Sarah smile at the nickname that just seemed to pop out of his mouth. “You’ll be home in your own pretty crib before you know it. This time next year your mama’s going to have her hands full with you cruising all over the place.”
“From your lips to God’s ears,” Leslie said. “You know, I have an idea.” She pursed her lips. “You wait right there,” she ordered then rushed away. A few minutes later she was back and as she approached them she grabbed a rocking chair. “Sit, mama. It’s time you held this baby of yours.”
Terror struck Sarah’s heart. Because of the ventilator she’d never been allowed to hold Grace. Was she being given this opportunity because Leslie thought after surgery it might be too late because Grace would be gone? But she sat, not wanting to put Leslie in the position of saying something so difficult. Leslie lifted Grace from the warming bed and settled her on Sarah’s thighs. She covered her and left them alone for a little while.
It seemed only minutes had gone by when she returned to say it
“What are you going to do when winter gets here, on the twenty-second, woman?” Kip teased with a lazy half smile.
“If it’s this cold, I’m going to shake and shiver like I did last year, but I’ll love every minute of it. Last winter I arrived straight from Doctal in the middle of a snowstorm. What an initiation back into the States! I loved it. Will we get a lot here?”
Kip shrugged. “Some winters it seems to snow a few inches once a week just to be annoying. Then other winters we get socked with a couple of big ones. Those pretty much shut everything down for a few hours—at most a day. Those are the fun ones. It winds up that everyone has extra time on their hands because they can’t go anywhere. But that makes time for snowball fights. Building snowmen. And sledding. If I know one’s going to hit, I try to stay at one of my sisters’ houses and borrow the kids for a few hours.” He laughed. “An adult just can’t play in the snow without kids along or we look demented!”
Sarah nodded and smiled but inside she was heartily confused. She sipped her coffee and slid a sideways glance at Kip. According to Miriam, he said marriage and kids weren’t for him. That he was sick of them and women because he’d grown up in a house overflowing with both. But he couldn’t seem to turn down an appeal for help involving them either. If he wasn’t ferrying a sick child to a needed hospital, he was coaching a team, mentoring a troubled boy or babysitting for his nieces and nephews.
It made no sense.
She and Kip arrived at the hospital by five and rushed up to the neonatal intensive care unit so she could squeeze in every last minute with Grace. At the entrance to the scrubbing room Sarah stopped when Kip said, “I’ll meet you in the green room. I think it’s down the hall and around the corner.”
The thought struck her that Kip should spend time with Grace, too. She wouldn’t be at CHOP at all were it not for his generosity. “Do you want to come in with me?”
Kip smiled. “Yeah, if it’s allowed. She sort of stole my heart the day I flew her here.”
“I noticed,” Sarah told him and smiled, too, in spite of her nerves. The first of the nurses she’d met, Leslie Washington, was back with Grace. Sarah knocked on the window and motioned to Kip. Leslie nodded her permission with a wide smile.
They scrubbed up, donned the sterile gowns and made their way to Grace’s corner of the NICU. Just as before, Kip didn’t look at her child with horror but with wonder as he bent over Grace. “I can’t believe how tiny she is yet every part of her is so perfectly formed already. Look at those tiny nails! And I swear she’s gained weight!”
“She was two pounds this morning,” Grace’s nurse, Leslie said. “She’s doing so good!”
“You hear that, Amazing Gracie,” Kip said, making Sarah smile at the nickname that just seemed to pop out of his mouth. “You’ll be home in your own pretty crib before you know it. This time next year your mama’s going to have her hands full with you cruising all over the place.”
“From your lips to God’s ears,” Leslie said. “You know, I have an idea.” She pursed her lips. “You wait right there,” she ordered then rushed away. A few minutes later she was back and as she approached them she grabbed a rocking chair. “Sit, mama. It’s time you held this baby of yours.”
Terror struck Sarah’s heart. Because of the ventilator she’d never been allowed to hold Grace. Was she being given this opportunity because Leslie thought after surgery it might be too late because Grace would be gone? But she sat, not wanting to put Leslie in the position of saying something so difficult. Leslie lifted Grace from the warming bed and settled her on Sarah’s thighs. She covered her and left them alone for a little while.
It seemed only minutes had gone by when she returned to say it
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