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“Is it ti away to play with the top button of the now-stained white dress shirt Je with the tie he’d discarded the second he’d climbed into his truck afterward

“Let’s see howthe boy gently back in his booster seat and scooting him up to the table “The more we eat, the less we have to put away for later”

Levi twirled, slurped and cheiping his dripping chin with the back of his hand as often as with the napkin Je him of

When Jehed, ain T-ball tryouts, and the Great Disappoint of the past

Jeain Able to cry away the hurt in a blast of snot and tears, and then move on

He’d do well to take a lesson from his son Minus the snot and tears, of course

ONE OF THE things that suited Lacey was that her lifestyle co for her to co dinner on the table and nus No, she was free to work the hours required of her—hours that also included time when most people weren’t at work, as that hen she could observe the flack for it like some of her coworkers had to do

Ella Ackerman had officially stepped down from her position as Santa Raquel Children’s Hospital’s representative to the High Risk Teanant, but still twoin for her temporary replacement while the other woman was on vacation She fully intended to take up the position again when she was back to work full-time after the baby’s birth

A neonatal charge nurse, Ella, like Lacey, was another one who couldn’t walk away froh to be born to the safe and healthy lifethan the children, though Married to the founder of the Lemonade Stand, a unique domestic violence shelter hidden within Santa Raquel boundaries, Ella seeainst abuse She and her husband, Brett, the Stand’s founder, dedicated much of their spare time to the women and children who’d been displaced from their homes due to the violence enacted upon them by family members

She was always ready to help and never seey or hope

Yet even Ella had sounded a bit downhearted when she’d called back that afternoon to let Lacey know that Levi Bridges had been in the eency rooed as a potential victim of abuse because none of the incidents looked at individually had appeared as anythingchild

His parents were educated, employed and, from chart notes, were appropriately attentive, concerned, aware and loving with the little boy There’d never been any noted substance abuse or sht in

The first time was for a cut on his head when he’d been six months old He had scooted himself off his blanket on the floor and over to a wall, where he’d pulled on a cord plugged into a socket He’d yanked a lamp off the table and down on hi a wound that had required six stitches

The second time he’d had a pea up his nose Third had been a serious laceration to his foot It hadn’t required stitches, but the father, who—it had been charted—was visibly distraught, had also requested an X-ray, wanting to make certain that the foot wasn’t broken He’d had his son strapped into a seat on the back of his bike and the little boy’s foot had coht in the spokes The fourth time he’d stepped on a hot coal that had fallen out of a backyard pig-roasting pit And fifth had been for a high fever for which they’d never found an explanation His temperature had come down quickly after medication; lab work showed a healthy toddler and a follow-up doctor’s appointment had been a well-child visit