CHAPTER 6

	Hannah went through her last day at work in a daze.  Clarice had to talk to her
more than once on a few occasions, and the whole office teased her about having worn
her out at the shower the night before.  When the end of the day neared, Jeremy and
Mark, who hadn’t been invited to the ‘all girl’ event the previous evening, appeared with
gifts of their own for her — a package of disposable diapers and a container of baby
wipes.  Even though they had intended their gifts to be silly, Hannah still cried and
hugged them both.
	“Aw, Jeremy, this is so sweet of you!” she said, as she stared down at the
diapers. 
	Jeremy shrugged, and shoved his hands into his pockets. “I put a heck of a lot of
thought into this gift, you know,” he said, trying to sound very serious. “Do you have any
idea how many brands of those things there are in the diaper aisle at the grocery store?
And then there are all different sizes, and some for just boys, and some for just girls.” 
He rolled his eyes. “I managed to get one that didn’t seem to matter what kind of baby it
is, I think.”
	Hannah laughed, and wrapped her arms around him, giving him a big hug, and
Jeremy grinned. “Well, of course, if I had known diapers would elicit this kind of
response, I would have bought two packages!”
	She stepped back and gave him a playful swat on the arm, to which he reacted
by feigning great injury. 
	“And here’s mine!”  Mark said, stepping in to steal Jeremy’s thunder and proudly
handing her the wipes. “But I hope you don’t expect me to help you use them!”  He
shook his head and recited under his breath, “No! Uhn Uh!  No way!” while holding up
his hands and backing away. 
	“Silly!” Hannah declared and gave him a hug as well.  Mark turned to Jeremy and
stuck his tongue out mockingly.
	“See, you’re not so special afterall.  I got one too!”
	“Oh you two are too much!” Hannah laughed, then turned to find Mitch Rosen
standing off to the side, smiling at her.  Mitch wasn’t around the office as much as
Clarice, since he did most of the travelling and promoting for the firm.  Still, he was an
easy-going, friendly  boss, and Hannah couldn’t have asked for two better people to
work for. 
	“This place is going to fall apart while you’re gone, you realize that don’t you?”
Mitch asked her, and Hannah sighed and shrugged. 
	“I’m sorry, there’s not much I can do about that now.”
	Mitch raised his brow and shrugged. “Well, I suppose we could re-route the
business phone to your house, and — “
	“Mitchell! Don’t you even think it!” Clarice interrupted him, although she knew
perfectly well he was only joking. 
	He grinned.  “Alright, alright!”  He grinned and winked at Hannah, then held open
his arms for a hug of his own. Then, straightening up and pretending to regain his
composure, he looked at his watch. “Hey, what are you still doing here anyway?  It’s
quitting time!”
	“I’ll come see you guys, I promise! I’ll bring the baby over after, and show it off.” 
Hannah wiped her eyes, and gave another round of hugs to everyone, then gathered up
her gifts and her bag of personal possessions from her desk.  She took one last look at
the office, her empty desk and the smiling faces of her co-workers, then stepped out into
the hall and closed the door.  With a big sigh, she headed towards the elevator. For
months, things had progressed in a surreal daze, but now it was becoming more and
more evident that big changes were coming, and fast, and there was no way she could
stop them!
	“Been shopping?”  Cole asked, as he felt into step beside her.  He had been
waiting for her when the elevator reached the parking level, just as he had for the last
few weeks.  She no longer found it unusual, and she smiled at him and kept walking,
instinctively knowing which direction his personal parking space was.
	“Gifts from the guys in the office,” she said with a grin.
	Cole took the package of diapers from her and looked at them. “Well, it’s
practical, at least.”
	“Sure is!” she laughed, but he looked at her questioningly.  There was something
about her today that he just couldn’t put his finger on. He wasn’t sure what it was, but
she wasn’t herself. He opened her door for her and tossed the diapers into the back
seat, then went around to the other side of the car. 
	“Are you feeling OK?” he asked, looking at her as he slid into the driver’s seat. 
	“I’m fine,” she assured him. 
	“Are you sure? You don’t sound quite yourself. I can take you to the doctor if
there’s anything wrong?”
	Hannah looked at him laughed. “Worried about me?”
	He straightened. “Of course I’m worried about you! That’s my baby you’re
carrying around in there. I don’t want anything to happen to you!”
	“Really, Cole. I’m fine. It’s just the last day at work and all, that’s all.”  Hannah
turned away and looked out the window. Of course, he wouldn’t be worried about her,
personally, she thought to herself. It’s the baby.  He’s worried about the baby, that’s the
only reason.
	Then why did he kiss you this morning? she asked herself.  It hadn’t been a
fleeting peck like the kiss she had given him the other day.  This had been a soft,
lingering kiss, where instead of simply parting lips, they had melted away from each
other before he had stood up and headed towards the door, remarking on how she
would be late for work if they wasted any more time. 
	“I want to talk to you about this morning,” Cole’s voice penetrated her thoughts,
and Hannah felt her stomach flip.  Had he read her thoughts?  Did he want to apologize
for having kissed her? She felt herself blush and started to speak.
	“Cole, there’s really no need to — “
	“Hannah, listen to me. I’ve spent the whole day thinking about this.  I think it’s the
best solution.”
	Confused now, she turned to look at him, just as the car pulled out of the
underground into the light, dazzling her eyes for a moment. She squinted, and shook her
head slightly. “Solution? Cole, what are you talking about?”
	“Your living arrangements, of course,” he said.  “I understand your concern about
the penthouse, but the apartment you’re in is really way too small, Hannah, really it is.” 
He looked her way, as if expecting her to disagree, but she said nothing so he went on.
“I think I’ve come up with a solution that will work for both of us.”
	“For both of us?” Hannah repeated, wondering what on earth he was leading up
to. 
	“Yes, both of us,” he nodded. “I want to be a part of the baby’s life, Hannah, I
want to be a father, not just call myself one.  I want to watch it sleeping in the night, and
be there for all its firsts.  I want — “
	“Cole, “ Hannah interrupted him. “The only way you could do any of those things
would be if — “
	“I think you should move into my house with me,” he said, cutting her off before
she had time to speak her thoughts. 
	“Your house! With you?”  Hannah stared at him in shock.  “But —”
	“I’m serious, Hannah.  The house used to be my parents’ and since Ty has his
own apartment now, there’s just me.  It’s a big house, five bedrooms, plenty of room for
you and the baby with still lots left over.  And you wouldn’t have to worry about cleaning
it, I have Claire who comes in twice a week to clean.”  He stopped the car at a stop light
and turned to look at her. “What do you think?”
	“Well, I — uh — I don’t really know what to think, Cole.  This was totally
unexpected.” 
	“Please don’t say no without thinking it over,” he insisted. “In fact, why don’t I take
you out there right now and you can have a look at the place? You’ll see, it’s the perfect
house to raise a baby in.”
	Hannah sat numbly in her seat as the car pulled forward from the stoplight. Move
in with him.  Move in with him.  The words spun around and around in her head.  See
him every morning when she woke up, every evening when she went to bed.  Share
meals with him. 
	Fall in love with him.
	The thought brought her back to her surroundings with a thud.
	What on earth made you think that? she chided herself. 
	“I don’t know Cole, I’m not sure if that is really a good idea.”
	“At least come and have a look?” he pleaded, and Hannah sighed.  When he
spoke like that, how could she refuse? It reminded her of the day he had bought that
stupid rocking horse. 
	“Alright, I’ll take a look,” she agreed, and he grinned from ear to ear. “But this
doesn’t mean I’m agreeing to the idea! I’m just going to take a look!”
	“Just taking a look,” he nodded, as he headed the car away from the direction he
normally took to drive her home. 
	Hannah gasped as they drove up the drive and stopped in front of the house.  It
was nestled on a large lot on the outskirts of town, with a long winding driveway and
trees everywhere.  The house was huge — and  beautiful — with a front veranda and
dormer windows. 
	“My dad built this place,” Cole told her, as she followed him up the walk and into
the house.  They walked into a foyer lined with wood, and she found herself looking
straight at the stairs, which first went up, then turned ninety degrees before completing
the ascent to the second floor.  To the left, Cole showed her a living room, which
Hannah was sure was almost as big as her whole apartment.  To the back of the house
behind the staircase, there was a sun-room with another veranda that looked out onto
the spacious back yard, then the dining room and kitchen, a bathroom and main floor
laundry room finished off the first floor at the opposite end of the house.  On the second
floor, there were five bedrooms and two bathrooms. Hannah stood in the upstairs
hallway in awe.
	“So, like I said, the place is big enough for all of us.  You could take your pick of
rooms. If you think about it, we could probably move about the house without even
seeing each other if we wanted to.” 
	Hannah glanced over the railing into the foyer below.  Was that what he wanted? 
To have her here just so he could interact with the baby, but not to run into her in the
process?  Though she didn’t entirely believe that was the case, the prospect raised
enough doubt in her mind to make her hesitate.  The house was beautiful, but could she
live there with him?
	“So, you could bring your dates home and I wouldn’t be in the way,” she said,
absentmindedly. 
	“I haven’t brought a date to this house since Veronica and I broke up,” he said,
and the curtness in his voice made Hannah wonder why she had even made the
comment in the first place.  His personal life was none of her business anyway.
	“And, if I had a date?”  It was a laughable thought, because she had never dated
much at all, and she was certain she would be dating even less once she had a baby to
tote around, but she figured this was as good a time as any to explore the ground rules. 
	Cole’s jaw visibly flexed, and his face was expressionless. “I would look after the
baby if you wanted to go out,” he said flatly. 
	Suddenly feeling silly for even bringing it up, she shrugged and laughed
nervously. “Well, I hardly expect that will be necessary anyway, it’s not like I ever had
men lined up outside my door or anything,” she said as she quickly moved towards the
stairs. 
	“I can’t understand why not,” he said, looking at her in surprise. “You’re a very
attractive woman.  Any man should be happy to take you on a date.”
	Any man but you, she thought, then blushed.  She wasn’t being fair, of course. 
He hadn’t even known she existed before he found out she was having his baby. Still,
she thought she was probably not the type of woman he usually dated. 
	“I’ll have to give this a little thought, Cole.  I can’t give you an answer right now,”
she said, needing to change the subject back to the living arrangements that were
cause for this visit to his house in the first place.
	He nodded.  “Fair enough.”

	Give it a little thought!  It was all she could think about over the next couple of
days.  Letting Cole take a more active part in her life, letting him drive her places and
buy things for the baby, was one thing. Living in the same house every day was another
thing completely!  What worried her most wasn’t the uncertainty over whether she could
live in his house, but rather, whether she could live with him so close all the time without
falling for him.  And that scared her!
	She was still wondering as he drove her to her doctor’s appointment that Monday
morning, and even as he sat beside her in the waiting room reading parenting
magazines and looking more like he belonged there than he had the first time.  She
sighed, and watched a young couple leaving the examination room.  The man positively
beamed, and couldn’t stop talking to his wife about the heartbeat, and the ultrasound,
and Hannah glanced guiltily at Cole.  Though he was trying not to make it obvious, he
was watching the couple too, over the top of his magazine.
	She took those things for granted now, and yet she was still excited about them
each time. Was she being unfair to exclude him?  It wasn’t that she had consciously left
him out of things the last time, she just hadn’t even given any thought to the fact that he
might actually want to be included, to hear the baby’s heartbeat, and see it wave its
arms around on the ultrasound monitor.
	Cole turned a glance in her direction, and Hannah swallowed hard.  Was she
imagining it in his eyes or did he look like a little boy standing outside the toy store with
no money, watching all the other kids come out with toys? She supposed there was only
one way to find out.
	“Cole,” she said softly, leaning closer to him so the whole waiting room didn’t
overhear her. “When it’s my turn — do you want to do that?”  She tipped her head
towards the young couple as they left the office, then quickly went on, feeling nervous for
asking. “I mean, do you want to come in with me, and hear the baby’s heartbeat?”
	His eyes lit up, and he smiled.  She recognized that look.  It was the same one
she had seen on his face when he had told her he wanted the baby to have the
McKinley name.  Still, he was cautious with his response.
	“Would it make you uncomfortable?” he asked.
	She wrinkled her nose and tried to laugh. “Well, you might not want to look when
she does the internal exam, but I thought you might like to hear the baby.  If you don’t,
then — “
	“I do!”  His words were hastily spoken and breathless, then he grinned, and
shrugged, as if he were trying to play down just how important his response made the
whole thing seem to him.  “I’ve never done this before, and frankly, I don’t know if I ever
will again.  I’d like to be able to look at the baby as it lays sleeping, and say I heard your
heart beating when you were still in your mommy’s belly.”  He raised his brows and
shrugged again. “Maybe that sounds silly?”
	“Not at all!”  Hannah assured him.  “I’m just never sure how much of this you
want to take part in.”
	“I want to experience the pregnancy of this baby, Hannah. As much of it as there
is left for me. As long as you don’t object.”
	“Your turn Hannah.”  The nurse stood smiling in the doorway, and Hannah felt
her heart quicken. Like an old Elvis song, she heard the words it’s now or never race
through her head.  With a smile, she held out her hand.
	“Then let’s go, shall we?” she said, and Cole stood up and helped her out of her
chair.  
	Once inside the examining room, the tall handsome man looked sheepish and out of
place, sitting in a chair with his arms on his knees and tapping his fingers together
between his legs.  He glanced at the posters and diagrams on the walls, then looked
over at Hannah, who had changed into a light hospital gown behind a curtain when they
had first arrived in the room.  It was a place he had never expected to find himself, and
especially not with this particular woman!  Veronica had made it clear, she did not want
children.  Children got in the way, messing up both homes and social schedules.   Living
the life he had shared with Veronica at the time, he had tended to agree with her, but
now, his every waking thought was centred around the tiny unborn child that Hannah
Banks cradled inside her. 
	The door opened, and a tall red-headed woman walked in and smiled at Hannah,
then glanced at him. “Is this Daddy with you today?” she asked, in a cheery voice.
	“Yes,” Hannah smiled nervously. “This is — “
	Cole raised half off his chair and reached out his hand.  “Cole McKinley,” he said,
without hesitation. “Yes, I’m the baby’s father.”
	The woman raised an eyebrow and looked at Hannah, but without further
comment, she took Cole’s hand and shook it. “Pleased to meet you, Mr. McKinley.  I’m
Dr. Gwen Marchand,” she said.  “You can call me Gwen, all my patients do.”  Then she
turned her attention to Hannah.  “Alright then, why don’t we have a look at Mom first and
see how you’re doing, then we’ll check Baby out.”
	Cole sat quietly as the doctor examined Hannah. Gwen seemed pleased with the
blood pressure results and expressed her approval that Hannah was no longer working,
then she measured Hannah’s belly, and took her weight.  
	“I don’t want her doing much at all,” Gwen said, as she looked over her shoulder
at Cole.  “She’s thirty-six weeks now, so if she were to have the baby today, it would still
have an excellent chance, but it is much better for her to go to term.  Even though her
blood pressure is good today, it’s still a major concern.”
	Cole stared at the doctor.  He wasn’t sure what he had expected when he had
come into the examining room with Hannah, but somehow, he hadn’t thought he would be
quite so included in the discussions.  Everything suddenly seemed much more real as
he sat there receiving instructions for Hannah’s care!
	“Right!” he said, glancing at Hannah. 
	Gwen smiled. “Good.  Then shall we have a listen to the baby?”  She reached for
a special tool and squirted some gel onto Hannah’s round belly and began rubbing it around.  After a few minutes, Cole heard a distinct heartbeat, and straightened as he shot a
glance at Hannah.
	“No, that’s Mom’s heart,” Gwen said, shaking her head and smiling at Cole.  “The
baby’s will be much faster than that. Let’s try over here a little bit further.”  No sooner had
she spoken, than a quicker little heartbeat filled the room, and Cole’s eyes widened. 
	“That’s amazing!” Cole breathed in disbelief, as he stared at Hannah’s belly. 
Never in his life had he felt so responsible for another human life.  He knew he and
Hannah were not your typical couple, but the fact remained, the heart he heard beating
would not be doing so if he hadn’t had something to do with it. He moved his eyes to
Hannah’s face.  She was smiling, and he could not contain his own smile any longer. 
	“Good and strong,” Gwen said, nodding.  “The baby sounds in good health.”  She
lifted her hand and Cole was surprised at how disappointed he felt that the sound could
no longer be heard.  But before he knew it, Gwen was speaking again.  “Would you like
to see what Baby looks like now?”
	“See?”  Cole’s eyes widened. 
	“Ultrasound,” Gwen said as she reached towards a machine that was sitting next
to the exam table.  She squirted more gel on Hannah’s belly then placed what she called
a probe on the end of a long cord, onto the gel. Immediately the monitor came to life with
a mass of grey and white dots.  Cole stared at it, but could not see anything that
resembled a baby.
	“There,” Gwen said, holding the probe still and pointing to the screen.  “There’s
Baby’s head.  See, I’ll turn this just a little, and — “ Suddenly Cole saw a recognizable
white shadow.  “ — there’s Baby’s face.  Look there, it’s sucking it’s thumb!”
	Cole was speechless for the first time in his life. He sat, staring at the screen, as
his baby sucked its thumb and waved its other hand in the air. His baby!  Gwen showed
them the baby’s legs, and feet, even counted it’s toes, then  she moved the probe and
Cole knew exactly what he was looking at. 
	“That’s the heart!” he said, triumphantly.
	“It sure is,” Gwen smiled at him, winking at Hannah.