When they walked out, Kellie touched Fran’s arm. “I think we’d better eat something now.”
“Agreed.”
After a quick breakfast, they returned to the E.R. lounge. “If the baby lives, it will be thanks to you and your quick thinking. Had you been even a couple of minutes later arriving at the patio the baby might not have had the strength to cry and no one would have discovered her in time.”
Hot tears trickled down Fran’s cheeks. “She has to live, Kellie, otherwise life really doesn’t make sense.”
“I know. I’ve been thinking the same thing.” They both had. Kellie had been praying to get pregnant and it had been Fran’s fate not to be able to conceive. What a pair they made! She found two seats and they sat down.
“I wish Leandros would get here. After seeing this baby, I’m worried sick for what he’s had to deal with. Lives were lost in that tornado. He’ll take their deaths seriously.”
“It’s too awful to think about. I’m still having trouble believing this has happened. When I saw her lying in those bushes, I thought I was hallucinating.”
Before long, two police officers came into the lounge to talk to them. There was still no word about the parents. After they went out again, Fran jumped up. “I can’t sit still. Let’s go into the E.R. Maybe someone at the desk can tell us if there’s been any news on the baby yet.”
Kellie got to her feet. “While you do that, I’m going outside to talk to Yannis. Maybe he’s heard from Leandros.”
Quickly, Fran hurried through the doors to the E.R. and approached one of the staff at the counter. “Could you tell me anything about the baby we brought in a little while ago?”
“You can ask Dr. Xanthis, the attending physician. He’s coming through those doors now.”
Fran needed no urging to rush toward the middle-aged doctor. “Excuse me—I’m Mrs. Myers. I understand you might be able to tell me something about the baby my friend and I brought to the hospital.” Her heart hammered in fear. “Is she going to live?”
“We won’t know for several hours,” he answered in a strong Greek accent.
“Can I see her?”
He shook his head. “Only family is allowed in the infant ICU.”
“But no one has located her family yet. She’s all alone. I found her in the bushes in the garden behind the hotel.”
“So I understand. It’s most extraordinary.”
“Couldn’t I just be in the same room with her until her parents are found?”
The man’s sharp eyes studied her for a moment. “Why would you want to do that?”
“Please?” she asked in a trembling voice.
“She’s a stranger to you.”
Fran bit her lip. “She’s a baby. I—I feel she needs someone,” her voice faltered.
All of a sudden a small smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “Come. I’ll take you to her.”
“Just a moment.” She turned to the staff person. “If my friend Mrs. Petralia comes in asking for me, please tell her I’m with the baby, but I’ll be back here in a little while.”
“Very good.”
The doctor led her through the far doors to an elevator that took them to the second floor. They walked through some other doors to the nursery area where he introduced her to a nurse. “I’ve given Kyria Myers permission to be with the baby until the police locate the mother and father. See that she is outfitted.”
“This way,” the other woman gestured as she spoke.
“Thank you so much, Dr. Xanthis.”
His brows lifted. “Thank you for being willing to help out.”
“It’s my pleasure, believe me.”
FRAN FOLLOWED THE NURSE to an anteroom to wash her hands. She was no stranger to a hospital, having worked in one since college to follow up on patients who needed care when they first went home.
When she’d put on a gown and mask, they left through another door that opened into the ICU. She counted three incubators with sick babies. The baby she’d found in the garden was over in one corner, hooked up to an IV. She’d been fitted with nasal prongs to deliver oxygen. A cardiopulmonary monitor on her chest tracked the heartbeat on the screen.
She was glad to see this hospital had up-to-date equipment to help the baby survive, yet the second she spied the little form lying on her back, so still and helpless, she had to stifle her cry of pain. The precious child had cuts everywhere, even into her black curls, but they’d been treated. Mercifully none of them were deep or required stitches. With the dirt washed away, they stood out clearly.
The nurse pulled a chair over so Fran could sit next to the incubator. “Everyone hopes she will wake up. You can reach in and touch her arm, talk to her. I’ll be back.”
Finally alone with the baby, Fran studied the beautiful features and profile. She was perfectly formed, and to all appearances had been healthy before this terrible thing had happened to her. All the cuts and hookups couldn’t disguise her amazingly long black eyelashes or the sweetness of her sculpted lips.
With such exquisite coloring, she looked like a cherub from the famous painting done by the Italian artist Raphael, but this cherub’s eyes were closed and there was no animation.
She put her hand through the hole and touched the baby’s forearm. “Where did you come from? Did you fall out of heaven by accident? Please come back to life, little sweetheart. Open your eyes. I want to see their color.”
There was no response and that broke her heart. Even if the baby could hear her, she couldn’t understand English. “Of course you want your mommy and daddy. People are trying to find them, but until they do, will you mind if I stay with you?”
Fran caressed her skin with her fingers, careful not to touch any cuts. “I know you belong to someone else, but do you know how much I’d love to claim a baby like you for my own? You have no idea how wonderful you are.”
Tears trickled down her cheeks. “You can’t die. You just can’t—” Fran’s shoulders heaved, but it wouldn’t do for the baby to hear her sobs. By sheer strength of will she pulled herself together and sang some lullabies to her.
After a time the nurse walked over. “I’m sure you’re being a comfort to her, but you’re wanted down in the E.R. Come back whenever you want.”
Fran’s head lifted. She’d been concentrating so hard on the baby, she hadn’t realized she’d already been up here several hours. “Thank you.”
“Leave everything in the restroom on your way out.”
“I will.” With reluctance she removed her hand and stood up. “I’ll be back, sweetheart.”
A few minutes later she reached the E.R. lounge and discovered Kellie talking quietly with Leandros. Her attractive husband had arrived at last, but he looked as though he’d aged since Easter. When he’d flown to Pennsylvania with Kellie in the Petralia company jet at that time, the three of them had gone out for dinner and all had been well.
The second her friend saw her, she jumped up from the chair and ran across the room to meet her. Leandros followed. “Is the baby going to make it?” Kellie cried