Free Season of Passion by Danielle Steel Page A

to catch up with her.
    How's Mrs. Harper doing? A fat matronly nurse at the desk glanced up at Felicia. It was a very small town. Felicia wondered if the woman at the desk remembered everyone's name.
    I don't know. It looks awful to me.
    Ever had a baby? Felicia shook her head expressionlessly. Funny to be answering these questions for a stranger. The woman nodded. She'll forget all about it in a couple of days. She may talk about it a little, but she'll forget You'll remember it longer than she will.
    Maybe so. For no reason she could fathom, she paused for a moment at the desk, as though expecting the nurse to say more. Just talking to someone was comforting. I hope it won't be much longer.
    Might be. Might not. Hard to tell. It's her first one, isn't it? Felicia nodded. Then that meant more pain, did it? The first one. And maybe her last. Poor Kate ' Don't look so sad. She'll be just fine. You'll see. As soon as the baby's born she'll be laughing and crying, and she'll call her folks and tell everyone she knows. The woman's face clouded momentarily as she looked at Felicia. She's a widow though, isn't she?
    Yes.
    That's an awful shame. At a time like this. What did he die of?
    Of ' in an accident. Felicia's face closed quietly. Like a door. They had said enough.
    I'm sorry. The nurse had sensed it, and sat silently for a moment, as Felicia gave her a small mechanical smile and walked away. The coffee would do her good.
    She spent only five minutes in the coffee shop. She would have stayed for days if she could have, but she didn't want to leave Kate alone. She swallowed the hot coffee as quickly as her mouth could stand it, and considered an order of toast. But that seemed excessive. Kate was in agony, and she was going to eat toast? The thought of it made her feel sick. And then, suddenly, as she waited for her check, she found herself thinking of Tom. She wondered if Kate was thinking of him too, or only of her pain. Tom. He should have been here for this. It was incredible to realize that he would never see his child. He would never understand that he had one. The girl behind the counter slipped the check under Felicia's empty cup, and Felicia glanced at it and absentmindedly left two quarters on the counter. She had to get back to Kate. She didn't have time for this kind of thinking.
    The black espadrilles she had worn the day before whispered silently down the corridor, and she looked down at how rumpled she was. The black cotton pant-suit she'd picked up on the third floor earlier in the week looked like she'd slept in it, and the heavy Indian silver bracelet was leaving a long red furrow on her arm. She wondered how much longer this waiting would go on, and how much more Kate could take. She had been in labor since a little after midnight, and it was now just after seven in the morning. But when Felicia gently pushed open the door, things had changed in the room. Kate's face was wet with sweat now, not just damp she looked as though she had been standing under the shower. The blue hospital gown clung to her body, and her hand kept a white-knuckled grip on the nurse. But her eyes were brighter, her face was alive, and the rhythm of her movements had changed; it was as though she had moved from an agonized painful trot to a full-blown gallop. It was hard to tell if the pain had lessened, and even the nurse couldn't take time to talk to Felicia now. She was telling Kate about cleansing breaths and giving orders with military precision. But Kate seemed to be totally absorbed in what she was saying. And then Felicia noticed the nurse's free hand go quickly to the buzzer and press three times.
    Felicia stood by, feeling useless, not knowing if things were going badly or well, and afraid to interrupt Kate's concentration by asking questions. But something had changed. Everything had. There was a light in Kate's face that Felicia had never seen before in anyone's face. It made her want to work too, want to help, want to run