Hattiesburg, Mississippi; 4:22 p.m.
Adeline smiled. Amazing. A beautiful baby girl. A little light at five pounds and six ounces, but absolutely beautiful. A head full of dark hair.
Just amazing.
Wyatt moved up beside her at the viewing window. “You’d better watch out, they say this is contagious. Next thing you know, you’ll be wanting one.”
She smiled. “I think I’m immune.”
“Maybe so.” Wyatt chuckled.
Adeline liked it when he laughed. He hadn’t done that often since she’d been back. With good reason. But that was behind them now. She made a mental list of the things she needed to do, including the arrangements for her mother’s funeral. Adeline would miss her so much. There were things she wished she had said. In time she would come to terms with what she hadn’t said and done.
Cyrus had high-powered attorneys all over the charges against Clay. Womack and his buddy up in Laurel were facing charges of evidence tampering. Both would lose their badges. Sad thing, but there was nothing worse than a dirty cop no matter the excuses for his or her actions.
Prescott and Arnold were safely back home with their families.
Lydia Jamison had awakened from her coma at eight this morning. Her water had broken three hours later. Allison Renae Jamison had come into this world via Cesarean section at two this afternoon.
Adeline was an aunt several times over.
She smiled at her nephew, Danny. A nurse had dragged a chair over so he could stand in to admire his new baby sister beyond the glass. He was a little shy, but Adeline had already decided they were going to be friends.
He didn’t know just yet that his father was dead. When his mother had recovered sufficiently, she would talk to him about that. The grandparents couldn’t stop doting on the new granddaughter. They hovered around their daughter the way Wyatt was hovering around Adeline.
That was something else she had to take care of. And there was no time like the present. She was never again going to be guilty of failing to share her true feelings with the people she cared about.
“You never trusted me to take care of myself on the job,” she said to the man beside her.
Startled, his gaze collided with hers. “Are you kidding?”
She shook her head. “What you did nine years ago is proof positive that you thought I wasn’t capable of doing the job. Don’t even think about denying it.” He’d already admitted as much.
Wyatt sighed. “You’re right. I was afraid for you. I loved you so much and I couldn’t bear the thought of you being in that kind of danger. If I’d had my way you would have stopped being a cop altogether.” He gave his head a bow in acquiescence. “But I was wrong. You were and are a damned fine cop, Addy. I’d go through a door with you anytime.”
A smile pulled across her lips. “Thank you. I am a damned fine cop.”
Say it, Adeline!“I was wrong, too,” she confessed, not an easy thing for her to do.
Wyatt inclined his head. “Do you care to elaborate?”
“Leaving for a while was a good thing. There was too much going on around here. Going was good.” She surveyed the activity, nurses and newborns, beyond the window. “But when things settled down, I shouldhave come back.” She looked into Wyatt’s eyes. “And I should have listened to what you had to say. I shouldn’t have allowed what happened to destroy what we had. You deserved the benefit of the doubt, and I didn’t give it to you.”
“Wow.” He glanced around to ensure no one was paying attention to them. “Does that mean you want to give us a second chance?”
She pushed her arms around his waist and leaned into his chest. “That means that I’m through running. I’m going to stay here and take care of the house and other things. And, while I’m here you and I will see where things go. I can’t say that I won’t end up back in Huntsville, but I want to take the time to be certain this time. No mistakes. No misunderstandings.”
One of those killer smiles spread across his face. “Fair enough.”
He kissed her. Didn’t matter that they were standing in a public corridor in a hospital. Adeline savored the kiss as long as possible before drawing back. His tendency to be overprotective was going to take some getting used to.
But he was worth the trouble. A lot of things about life were worth the trouble, she had decided. Like standing her ground here, where she belonged—at least for a while. And letting Wyatt back into her heart.
Truth was, he’d never completely been evicted.
No more walking away—running, actually. She was here to see this through. If she returned to Huntsville it would be a mutual decision with no things left undone or words left unsaid.
She patted his chest so he wouldn’t notice her fingers trembling. “I need to check on my nephew. He’s all alone over there.”