The small-town doctor’s office wasn’t meant for a confused man who took up most of the waiting room. Toby had barely been able to catch Meredith before she dropped to the ground. He could still hear her scream echoing in his head.

Toby wanted to take Meredith to a hospital, but Caleb ran to find Meredith’s doctor, who like everyone else in town was in the barn. By the time he came out, blood had already started to soak Meredith’s dress. He knew there was something wrong with the baby, and if there was hope of helping both mom and baby, the closest doctor was the best chance.

Seeing the cramped space had him searching on his phone for the nearest hospital. Even breaking every speed limit there was, the forty minutes it would take to get there was way too long. If the doctor could stop the bleeding, maybe there’d be time to get her to a proper hospital.

Since Toby had been instructed to lay her down on a table, the doctor hadn’t been out to say a word. Two nurses had rushed in behind the doctor, one of which shooed Toby out into the waiting room.

“You’re scaring the kid, Mattie. Why don’t you sit down for a few minutes?”

It wasn’t the first time Jimmy made the suggestion. Toby heard him just fine, but he’d never been good about handling stressful situations. The fact that he hardly knew Meredith didn’t matter. Someone he was fond of could very well be dying twenty feet away from him and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

“I asked you guys to take him home.”

Caleb had to stay to find the right people to help, but once Meredith was in the doctor’s hands, Toby had tried to keep him away from the action. It would’ve been easier if Toby was willing to leave Meredith alone with the doctor. Since Jimmy and Jen were doing nothing more than bothering Toby, it seemed logical that they could babysit for a little while.

“Yeah, and the kid’s decided we’re strangers so he won’t get in the car with us. Where’s his dad?”

At least Caleb had wised up about trusting Jimmy. The timing of it sucked, especially with Jimmy bringing up his dad.

“My dad died five months ago.”

Toby focused on the boy sitting next to Jen. Even though Jimmy claimed he was scared, Caleb didn’t show any emotion. He relayed the information about his dad being dead like he was saying the sky was blue. The boy had showed plenty of emotion the times Toby had been around him, so he had to assume he was an expert at concealing things when he wanted.

Jimmy cleared his throat, causing Toby to turn to look at him. Since Caleb was staring down at his feet, the boy didn’t acknowledge anyone studying him. Toby saw Jimmy tilt his head in Caleb’s direction and tried to relay something with his eyes.

His eyes showed some worry about Caleb. Toby knew a little more about the situation, and remembered Caleb talking the same way when he mentioned his father hitting his mother. Toby could only guess at the kind of life he’d had to make him act like an adult more than a child at such a young age.

“Look, Caleb, I know your mom doesn’t get along with anyone in town, but is there a friend or someone you can go hang out with for a while?”

Toby had to ask, even though he knew the answer. He’d seen Caleb with the other kids. They were friendly enough, but definitely not close enough that Caleb would leave the building without knowing how his mom was doing. If Toby didn’t already know about the town’s general feelings toward Meredith, it was clear when not one person came to volunteer to help with her son.

There were no lines outside to check on Meredith’s condition. Paul hadn’t even shown himself in the twenty minutes or so since Meredith had gone down. The only reason Toby knew the time was the large clock hanging over the reception desk in the office.

As much as he hated the waiting room, it was like just about every other waiting room he’d been in, just smaller. There were only six chairs, and on most days Toby imagined only one or two were ever used. The walls around them were covered in a light wallpaper with tiny flowers on it and the floor had white tile that reflected the bright florescent lights above their heads. Toby hated hospitals and waiting rooms, but he couldn’t think of anywhere else he wanted to be in that moment.

“Mom said I get to be here when the baby’s born. We still have a lot of days on the calendar before she’s supposed to come, but Mom said she might come early. She was teaching me how to get her to town on the ATV in case she couldn’t drive.”

The monotone, almost robotic voice, was eerie. All Toby could think about was how he’d love to show the kid some fun. If anyone deserved a day that he didn’t have to act like a grown-up, it was Caleb.

“Jesus,” Jimmy whispered. “What have you gotten yourself in to, Toby?”

“Nothing I can’t handle. You guys don’t have to be here. Since Caleb’s decided he’ll scream ‘stranger danger’ if you take him home, you can just head up to my place, or even better yet, back home.”

Knowing his friends weren’t going anywhere, Toby turned his back to them and focused on the door to the room they’d taken Meredith. The doctor hadn’t said everything would be fine, but the way he commanded the nurses around made Toby think he at least knew what was going on. He’d been calm, a state of mind that hadn’t carried over to anyone waiting for news.

Toby didn’t care if Caleb acted like nothing was happening, the kid wasn’t calm. He had to be freaking out in that tiny body of his.

“So, your Mom’s having a girl?” Jen asked.

“Maybe.” Caleb’s voice lost a little of the robot sound. “We don’t really know, but I keep telling her it’s a girl.”

Jen attempted to keep Caleb talking about anything other than the fact that the last time he’d seen his mom she’d been passed out and bleeding heavily. Toby tuned it all out as he stared at the door. He tried to listen for any words or noises coming from the other side, but the room seemed to be more soundproofed than any doctor’s office he’d been in before.

He saw the handle move before he heard a sound. At first, he thought it was just his imagination that the long handle moved down, but a woman slipped through the opening in the door, closing it quickly behind her. Toby tried to get a look in the room, but he wasn’t fast enough to focus on anything.

The woman was wearing a light green dress. The only sign that she came out of a room where someone could be fighting for her life was the face mask she moved to the top of her brown hair. Toby studied her, just like she studied him. He couldn’t read anything specific in her eyes.

“Since you’re not family and she’s not currently awake, the doctor says I can’t share what happened.”

Toby’s eyes flared as he prepared to scream at the woman. Her hand lifted to tell him to cool his jets a second.

“I can tell you that Meredith is recovering and her daughter is fine. The doctor needs to keep them both here under observation for probably a week, but he sees no immediate life-threatening issues.”

A deep breath would’ve come in useful, but Toby wasn’t ready to calm down. Yes, someone was telling him Meredith would be okay, but until he knew what happened in the first place, it wasn’t as reassuring as it should’ve been.

“Can you clarify whether the baby is out? I mean, you say they’re both fine, but I know Meredith didn’t want to know the sex and you just told her son.”

The nurse nodded. “I figure you’ll hear cries eventually, so I’m not going to hide that the baby was delivered. Caleb, we’ll let you see your little sister just as soon as we get her all cleaned up and checked over.”

Toby startled when he felt something touch his hand. He immediately looked down to find Caleb standing next to him, trying to hold his hand. Toby quickly enclosed his hand around the kid’s. He would’ve picked him up and hugged him, but he got the feeling Caleb wanted to keep his strong appearance up.

“When do I get to see my mom?”

A normal kid would’ve probably added an “I told you so” to rub in the fact he’d called the gender. Maybe Toby wasn’t giving kids enough credit, but he liked to think they wouldn’t be quite as aware of the situation as Caleb was.

“She’s asleep right now. I’d say in an hour or so she’ll be awake and ready for visitors.”

“Will we get to see the baby before then?”

Toby had no right to ask the question. The nurse had said Caleb could see his sister when she got cleaned up, but Toby had a feeling the clean-up would take as long as it took for Meredith to wake up. It was only right that Meredith was the first to see her daughter. Toby just wanted to see some proof that what the nurse said was true.

“I’m sure you know the baby is a little early, so it’s probably best that we keep her under observation and get her thoroughly checked over before she meets anyone. We don’t have all the fancy infant ICU stuff a big-city hospital would, but this isn’t our first premature birth.”

“And you’re promising us that both of them are going to be okay?”

Talking about not having the same equipment a hospital does didn’t do anything to assure Toby. He wanted someone to tell him everything was going to be fine.

“If you need any assurances, go look at the degrees hanging up on the wall behind the desk. Dr. Theodore isn’t the hillbilly doctor you might imagine a town our size has. He went to the best schools. If Meredith would’ve been at home when this happened, things could’ve ended differently. So yes, it was a serious issue, but she’s moving out of the woods as we speak.”

The woman’s voice was firm. It more than likely got other people to stop asking questions, but Toby liked to think he wasn’t like other people. He had what was often described as a bulldog attitude, and even the toughest coaches hadn’t been able to work it out of him.

“We should go get the baby something to wear,” Caleb suggested before Toby could find something else to press the nurse about. “If we can’t see her for a while, we should make sure she has something to wear. And Mom too. She’s not going to want to wear that dress anymore.”

The kid was way too logical. The only problem with his line of thinking was that Toby wasn’t about to drive all the way to the cabin to pick up supplies. They could probably make it back within an hour, but there was no way they could be that far away from the doctor’s office in case something happened. Obviously, the town had shops with what they needed, but they weren’t open.

“That’s a great idea, Caleb. I’ll call Trevor and have him open the store so you guys can pick up some clothes. I’m sure he’ll be fine putting them on your mom’s tab.”

Toby didn’t know who Trevor was, but if he was able to get them into a store close by, the guy was one of his new favorite people. Getting out of the doctor’s office for a few minutes was probably a good idea. If he had to sit around too much longer, Toby was liable to break into the room they were keeping Meredith.

“I’ll pay for anything you think you need, Caleb, so don’t go mentioning tabs to anyone. Do you have an idea of what you need?”

The boy nodded and pulled Toby along with him to the door. It was impossible to miss the scrutiny coming from Jimmy and Jen. He knew they didn’t understand what was going on in his life. Toby had no clue what was going on or why he was so invested in Meredith and Caleb. The fact that she was all alone and going through hell was all he could focus on. When things calmed down, he’d take the time to question things.