“It’s over, but he’s been very supportive since I found out I was pregnant.” Kate heard her voice crack and she started to tear up. Her heart broke thinking that she not only lost her child; she was probably going to lose David. There was no more baby and no more reason to spend time with her. Her eyes were like a running faucet, with tears leaking out. Laura rubbed her leg, but when David walked in the room, Laura’s hand stopped moving and Kate felt herself dissolve.

David didn’t hesitate. He rounded the bed, sat on the edge so they were hip to hip, and gathered Kate into his arms. He didn’t say anything, he just let her cry. She’d cried like this when she told him she was pregnant, and now again that she lost their baby. She looked up into his face and his hand stroked her cheek.

“Thank God you’re alright.”

Kate drew a breath to regain her composure and looked at Laura, who sat as the very end of the bed, trying not to pay attention. Eventually she rose and stepped out of the room.

“Shit.” Kate watched the door close behind her daughter. They’d broken some new ground today and Kate didn’t want Laura to feel alienated already. Kate moved to get out of bed, even though she knew she shouldn’t. “I should talk to her.”

“Stop, you need to take it easy,” he said. “You started hemorrhaging when you got here, so you aren’t moving.”

“She stayed with me.”

“I know. You might be in much worse shape if she hadn’t.” He rose from the bed and started after Laura. “I’ll get her.”

“Marie wanted her to leave and Laura flat out defied her.”

David was halfway to the door and he stopped short when he heard that. He faced Kate.

“She was moving out,” Kate told him. “But somehow I don’t think that’s what she wanted.”

“From what you told me about your ex, her taking your side won’t go over too well.”

Kate nodded.

David resumed his walk to the door. “Don’t worry.”

*

David looked for Laura, checking every waiting area and lounge finally finding her in the hospital lobby trying to get a cell phone signal. The poor girl looked completely lost. This was new ground for everyone. He never meant to encroach on her time with her mom, but she had to get used to him being around.

“Hey,” he said. “Why’d you take off?”

“Oh, hi.” David noticed she was flustered and her red eyes told him she’d been crying too. Like mother, like daughter. “You were there,” she whispered. “Mom didn’t need me anymore.”

“I don’t know about that.” He gently took her arm and led her to a couch in the lobby where they both sat. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you were there when it happened. You may have saved her life.”

Laura kept her eyes down and shrugged. “I couldn’t just leave her. There was, blood and…” She gulped hard and tears slipped down her cheeks. “So much blood.”

He rubbed her back and let her cry. “The miscarriage happened very fast and it got dicey. It was lucky you didn’t do as you were told.”

“How could Marie think about leaving?” Laura asked. “How could she? She says she’s such a freaking humanitarian, but she’d let my mother bleed to death?”

David said nothing as the grip Kate’s ex-husband and his mistress had on Laura slipped away. They had completely underestimated that deep down this was Kate’s daughter, and nothing could change the strength of her DNA.

“Laura, I’m new to all this with your family, but I think you and your mom are more alike than you think.”

Laura nodded and wiped her eyes.

“Come back upstairs so we can figure out what to do.”

David stood and helped her up. She blew out a breath, and he was curious if she knew how much her mannerisms were like Kate’s.

“So, can I ask you a question?” She was studying his face, watching for a reaction.

David nodded. “Shoot.”

“You’re in love with my mother, so why aren’t you together?”

Damn. She nailed it. They were walking toward the elevator. “Why do you think I’m in love with her?”

“Seriously?” Laura rolled her eyes and smirked. “You think people can’t tell?”

Realizing he couldn’t deny it, David stopped at the elevator doors, stuffed his hands in his pockets and answered her directly. “She doesn’t trust me.”

Laura folded her arms now. Great, he was getting the third degree from a teenager. “My mom trusts everyone. That’s why my dad was able to screw her over for so long.”

David leaned in her direction. “And that’s why she doesn’t trust me.”

The elevator opened and they stepped inside. This girl knew exactly what her father was doing to Kate. Why she’d stood for it was something else. This, however, seemed to be a turning point. For whatever reason, Laura had made a choice; and from what he knew about Richard Nicholls, David doubted he’d be happy about it.

*

Richard was seething. He was so pissed he could have killed someone. Never in his life did he think he’d be so angry at Laura. She always did what he wanted. Always.

He’d been at the college all afternoon, and when he returned home he expected to be helping Laura bring the rest of her belongings to her room. Instead, he found Marie in her office typing drivel into her computer, having completely screwed up the move.

Laura was with Kate.

Marie told him about Kate’s pregnancy and apparent miscarriage and that unnerved him on another level. He’d always spread the story that he and Kate never had any more children because she’d been sterilized. He never expected to be caught. He never thought Kate would be able to find someone to sleep with her so quickly.

When she’d met him at the lawyer’s office, he’d noticed she was different. Kate had always dressed well, but she tended to be conservative. That seemed to be changing. She walked into the lobby at the attorney’s wearing a pair of very high heels and a silky, olive green dress that wrapped around her body. It hugged her in some places and flowed out in others and Richard got hard just thinking about her. The tease of cleavage made him speculate about what was going on, and now it made sense. His ex-wife looked perfectly put together, as she always did, but she’d turned up the heat for someone else.

Marie’s presence might have jeopardized the one thing Richard held precious, his hold on his daughter. Defying Marie was the first step in the breakdown of his and Laura’s relationship. If she questioned Marie, she would question him, and it looked like it was driving her back to her mother.

That was Richard’s worst nightmare.

*

Kate woke up the next morning and struggled to sit up in bed. She had to pee so bad she thought she was going to explode, but the damn IV was still attached to her. No problem, she’d take it with her.

She started to swing her legs to the side of the bed, and that’s when she saw them. David was asleep in a chair and Laura had fallen asleep in the other bed in the room. The two people she least expected to be there for her in a crisis were the ones who were still with her. She must have done something right to get this Christmas present.

Kate grabbed hold of the rolling IV stand and put both feet on the floor. As soon as she stood, the entire room spun and her knees buckled under her. She managed to grab on to the bed before she hit the floor, but the racket she made jolted David and Laura awake.

David’s arms were supporting her in a split second. Laura leaned across the bed, holding on to the IV that was about to fall over.

“Jeez, Mom! What are you doing?”

“Hang on, I got you.” David’s voice was soft and reassuring, but as she held on to the sheets, Kate was suddenly terrified. She couldn’t stand and go to the bathroom? What was she going to do? What the hell had happened?

David eased her back into the bed and pulled the covers over her. He looked concerned. Scratch that, he looked scared, and that only compounded her fear.