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She could have this baby if she could find a way to conceal her pregnancy, or at least the time of conception She had left Grants Pass, returned to Los Angeles, called a lawyer and signed the papers within a couple of weeks--but it was another ood OB could determine the due date extremely closely with the use of an ultrasound Any doubt would send her to court, which would cost even ht attendant whose incos and equity in her so into deep cover; she couldn’t even return to her family in Seattle to wait out the delivery

She decided quickly She was going to give birth, but no one would know about it until it was over and the baby, hopefully, a few erty decided to relocate part of his construction coin River fro the grandchildren back to visit once a month The only child since his union with Vanessa so far was little Matt, her son froerty, little Matt was as randson as if he was Paul’s very own And for Vanessa, these little trips to Paul’s fahtful respite In fact, she used the trip to ical grandparents, Carol and Lance Rutledge, as well

On this particular early-Nove the visit quite as enjoyable as usual He’d been teething and had developed diarrhea and a bad cold When, on Saturday h settled into his chest, Vanni and Paul were strongly considering a trip to the eency room

But Paul wanted the baby treated by a doctor he knew he could trust On ierty, Cameron Hey,ot a fever, diarrhea and an awful thick cough Any chance you’re on call? Or maybe you could recommend so the baby over to the office and let’s have a look," Cameron said "I’ll be there in half an hour to unlock the door"

"Hey, man, you don’t knoherself worked up Hell, what a worked up"

Cameron beat them to the peds office and when Vanni and Paul arrived with the baby, Vanni was tearing up fro an aret all upset until we knohat to get upset about, huh? Hey, big fella," he said, taking the baby out of her arms "Wow, you’ve just about doubled in size!"

"Ca fine until he started coughing" Right on cue, Mattie let go with a large, deep, gravelly cough that turned him red in the face

Cameron put the baby on the exam table and listened to his chest first He took his temperature, looked in his ears and throat, and palpated his chubby little body "Is he still on the breast?" Ca, afternoon nap, bedti to love this This could be croup At least bronchitis His color is still good and he isn’t having trouble breathing, but that crowlike barking cough is a dead giveaway I’ll need an X-ray, but I’ll call ahead for you--I don’t want hi a rooive hien before you leave here, and a nice big dose of baby Tylenol for the fever You’re going to have to keep him on clear liquids--Pediolyte works No breast milk, no formula, no juice, no food Antibiotics tend to cause diarrhea and you’ve already got soet home, I want you to spend a lot of time in a steamy shower to loosen up his chest Do that as often as you can stand it"

"Okay," she said

"Watch hi at all or if his color takes on a bluish tint, call ive you ht it in time Lots of clear liquids, Vanni Tylenol every four hours Do you knohat to do if he spikes a high fever?"

"Cool bath?" she asked

"Not cold, not warive him a nice dunk, run a cloth over his little body and dry hih for his age If he gets close to 103, call me immediately You should be able to keep it under control with regular Tylenol"

Ca cabinet Then he hooked up the oxygen and, holding the baby on his lap, et the cannulas in the baby’s nostrils despite his squiren drifted in and the baby cal to head back to Virgin River?"

"We were going to go tomorrow afternoon," Paul said

"I’d like you to stick close until it’s clear he’s recovering You don’t want to be out on the road and have this thing rear its ugly head I can’t think of anythingthat on than hours on his back in a car seat Attacks of croup tend to coht or to back?"

"We’ll do whatever you say," Paul said, slipping an ar him back to me before, letIf it sounds good, you can hit the road You should probably have Doc Mullins take a look when you get back to Virgin River He’s probably treated a bucketful of croup in his years there"

Paul and Vanni exchanged shocked looks, then turned those very expressions back to Cauess you’d have no way of knowing--Doc Mullins died a little over a o"

"What?" Caed "Not entirely sure Mel found him facedown on the clinic floor and tried to revive him with CPR, but he never ca on the floor right next to hi her when he had a heart attack or so"

"Aw, Jesus," Cameron said "That’s awful E up?"

"Kinda shaky," Paul said "Mel’s doing her best at the clinic Vanni’s cousin Shelby has been visiting for a while now and she’s going in to the clinic every day to help out with the kids, patients and paperwork Docs Stone and Hudson fro the patients Mel can’t cover But just going through Doc’s stuff--over forty years’ worth--has really taken its toll on Mel She’s grieving and overworked--and little Eot Shelby For now," Vanessa said "But Shelby is just visiting She was planning to leave after the holidays God, Cameron, I’m sorry we didn’t think to call you"