Starting Now (Blossom Street #9)(78)

“From that moment forward I started to build my own family. Now I have the opportunity to add a child to my life. I realize sacrifices will need to be made, but I’m willing to make them. Ava’s baby will give me purpose beyond my work, and will help broaden my world. And I want to give this baby a home, and love.” Already her heart was linked with Ava’s child. It was almost as if this was meant to be.

“Is there room in that assembled family for growth sometime down the road?” Phillip asked. He briefly took his gaze off the narrow, twisting mountain road.

Her mind spun, and responded with a question of her own. “Would you like there to be?”

“Very much,” he admitted.

Libby sighed.

They spent a wonderful day together. After a leisurely lunch at the lodge they hiked the trails leading up to the tree line, resting in a meadow filled with blooming wildflowers. They kissed and held hands on the trail on the way back to the car. As Phillip drove back to Seattle, Libby realized anew how much she wanted this incredible man to be part of the family she had formed for herself.

On Monday morning Libby felt great. She was on her way back to her apartment after her regular morning workout, eager to shower and change clothes in order to get to her office. She wasn’t in a rush, though, the way Robin always was, the way she’d been at one time herself.

Libby had to give her friend credit. The truth was, Robin didn’t appear as driven as she had in months past, either. Libby wondered if those changes had been inspired by what was happening in her own life. She certainly wasn’t the same woman who’d walked out of the law offices of Burkhart, Smith & Crandall last March. And frankly, Libby was glad of it. She’d gotten the butterfly tattoo on a lark and yet it had come to symbolize the profound changes taking place within her. It had come to represent the faith she had in herself to be a whole person and not just a driven attorney who used work as an excuse to avoid emotional entanglements.

Thinking back on those months, all her fumbling around in an effort to find herself, Libby realized that her old life was nothing like the new one and that was fine by her. Like the butterfly on the small of her back, she was undergoing her own metamorphosis. The fact that she didn’t have any pressing cases didn’t send her into a tizzy of worry. Clients would come with time. It felt good to be back in a groove, although that groove remained pretty shallow at the moment.

Another huge change was about to take place in her life. She’d discussed the adoption with both Phillip and Robin. They had listened and then asked serious questions that had caused her confidence to waver a bit. Caught up in all the possibilities, Libby hadn’t been thinking clearly. Yet she still felt a deep sense of peace that this was the right decision.

“What about day care? Would you hire a nanny?” Robin had asked.

Libby knew she’d need to find someone and fairly quickly. She’d do her best to keep the baby with her for the first few months, she’d told Robin.

“You can’t be serious,” her friend countered. “You’re going to bring the baby to the office and try to work at the same time? Are you out of your mind?”

Libby quickly revised her plans. Robin was right. She couldn’t work and care for the baby at the office. She’d need to make provisions for day care.

“What about a father’s influence?” Phillip had asked, giving her pause.

“There are plenty of single mothers in the world.”

“A baby needs a father.”

“Well, things don’t always work out the way we want,” she argued, but deep down she worried Phillip was right, especially in light of the fact that the adoption agencies were crowded with applications from married couples hungry for a family.

Regardless, Libby planned to schedule a couple of preliminary interviews with possible day-care facilities. She would keep the baby with her as much as possible when she wasn’t at the office. There was also the matter of making her home ready for the baby. Robin had promised to help her shop.

As she exited the elevator, keys in hand, Libby found Ava sitting on the carpet outside her front door.

“Ava?” She called out the girl’s name and hurried to the teenager’s side. “What’s wrong?” Weeks earlier she’d given Ava her address and phone number and told the young teen to come to her if she ever needed help.

Ava clenched her stomach. “It hurts, Libby, it hurts real bad.”

The girl was in labor.

It was too soon, although maybe not. Libby couldn’t be sure because Ava hadn’t even been to the doctor yet.

This had been one of Libby’s biggest fears—that the baby would arrive before Ava had had any prenatal care.

Fighting off panic, Libby’s hands trembled as she unlocked her front door and led Ava inside. Once in the front door, Ava yelped in pain and water gushed from between her legs.

As calmly as she could, Libby hurried to her phone and dialed 911. She had to get the girl to the hospital. Next she contacted Phillip.

After explaining the situation, he said, “Call an Aid Car.”

“I already did.”

“Have them take her to Seattle General.”

“Okay.” Libby’s heart was pounding so hard that she could barely hear him above the roar of her own pulse. She had towels between Ava’s legs and wrapped one arm around the girl’s waist as she listened to Phillip’s advice.