Fay motioned for Montana to follow her into the hall. “Can you stay for a bit? I was thinking she might relax enough to sleep.”
“Of course. I’ll sit right here.” Montana looked at her. “Why don’t you take a break? Get something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry, but I would love to take a shower.” She glanced back toward the room. “I hate to be away from her.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Montana pulled a book out of her purse and held it up. “I promise.”
“The nurse has my cell number if anything happens.” Fay still hesitated. “I wish it had been me instead of her. Everything about this is so hard. The pain, the healing, all the surgeries. She misses her friends but they’re too far away to visit. Plus, I’m not sure her friends would want to see her while she looks like this.”
Montana remembered her mother telling her about Reese’s desire to visit children in the hospital.
“Do you think she’d like a visitor closer to her age?” she asked. “My nephew is ten. I could bring him by for a few minutes.”
Fay looked more worried than pleased. “Could he handle it? I wouldn’t want him saying anything that might hurt her feelings, or acting shocked.”
“I’d talk to him first. We could go online and do some reading about what she’s going through, so he knows what’s going on. Reese is a pretty good kid. Plus, Kalinda’s hands aren’t burned very much, so maybe they could play a game or something.”
Some of the worry faded. “I would like her to see someone other than me and the staff,” Fay admitted. “We’d have to make sure it was a good day. So far there haven’t been very many of those.”
“You think about it,” Montana told her. “In the meantime, I’ll talk to Reese and his dad. If Reese is game, we’ll do the research so he’s prepared.”
Fay nodded. Tears filled her eyes. “We’re not from around here. We only came to Fool’s Gold because Dr. Bradley’s here. He’s the best. And everyone in town has been so welcoming. It’s very unexpected.”
Montana impulsively hugged her. Fay hung on for several seconds, as if she needed the support.
“If you need anything, just let me know,” Montana told her. “Whatever it is, I can probably figure out how to get it.”
“Right now a shower is plenty.”
Fay collected a change of clothes from the small suitcase she had stored in her daughter’s room and went down the hall. Montana slipped back into Kalinda’s room. The girl was asleep, her hand tucked protectively around the little dog. Cece’s head rested on the child’s palm.
“You do good work,” Montana whispered.
Cece’s tail wagged, but otherwise she didn’t stir. Montana settled in the chair and opened her book, but instead of reading, she found herself offering a prayer for the child who hurt so much and the others in the world who were just like her.
MONTANA SAT ACROSS from her friend. Pia looked beyond pregnant—she was swollen. While her face, arms and legs were still their usual size, her belly was more extended than Montana had thought was possible, and her poor ankles were the size of balloons.
“Are you really okay?” Montana asked, trying not to wince as she stared at her friend.
“However bad it looks, it feels worse,” Pia said with a sigh, as she shifted to get comfortable in the oversize chair. “Don’t elephants stay pregnant for a couple of years? How do they do it without going crazy? I’m so ready for these babies to come. Twins are supposed to be early, but are mine? Of course not.”
She rested her hand on her belly. “I’m bloated and gross and whiny. Raoul is going to leave me.”
Montana smiled. “He adores you.”
“He adores me, not the freak I’ve become. I swear, if I had any medical training, I’d take the babies out myself.”
“I don’t think I could watch that,” Montana admitted. “What does the doctor say?”
“To be patient. That every day the twins stay in me is better for them. I used to like Dr. Galloway, but I’m starting to think she’s part of a conspiracy. By the time these babies are ready to be born, they’ll be eligible for college.”
Montana was torn between sympathy and amusement. “Anything I can do to help?”
“Listening is nice. So thank you for that.” She shifted slightly in the chair, then groaned. “The thing is, I don’t know if it’s going to get any better when the babies are born. What if they hate me?”
Pia had been worrying about that for a while now, Montana thought. Pia had never considered herself overly maternal. Despite that, when her friend Crystal had died and left frozen embryos in Pia’s care, she’d taken the extraordinary step of having them implanted.
“Your babies are going to love you,” Montana said firmly. “You know they are.”
“Only because they won’t know any better. I’ll be the only mother in their life. What choice will they have? Can you bring by one of the mean service dogs?”