From Midwife to Mommy

  The family she’s always wanted...

  With the man she doesn’t expect!

  Midwife Lana Sanders is about to adopt little Maggie, and gain the family she never thought she’d have, when pediatrician Trent Montgomery arrives claiming to be Maggie’s uncle! Lana won’t give up without a fight, but resisting the tempting Texan is her greatest battle. They work well together in the delivery room and sparks fly in the bedroom, but can Lana trust Trent with her heart?

  “It’s so nice to see a young family out spending time together,” the elderly woman continued.

  “Oh we’re not—” Lana started to correct her.

  “You’re a lucky man,” the white-haired man complimented Trent.

  “Yes, I am,” Trent said as he placed his arm around Lana’s shoulders and pulled her close to his side.

  The couple waved goodbye then continued their walk down the beach hand in hand.

  “Why did you do that?” Lana sputtered out.

  “Did you really want to try to explain our unique relationship to them?”

  Unique? Yeah, that would be a good description for them. No one seeing the two of them together with Maggie would think that really there was a custody battle going on between the two of them. For a minute while they had played together in the water, she had forgotten herself. It had just seemed so natural and right for the two of them to be enjoying their time with this beautiful child.

  She knew she needed to take a step back from him and see what was really happening here. Playing Mommy and Daddy with Trent would only get her hurt.

  Dear Reader,

  Doesn’t everyone love a good adoption story? As an adoptee myself, I especially love them. Of course my favorite adoption story is my own, so I thought I would tell it to you.

  Instead of being born at a hospital, I was born at a home run by a Christian woman in the middle of the Deep South. My parents had adopted my brother four years earlier from the home and had just requested to be put on the list to adopt a baby girl, so when a call came in the middle of the night congratulating my mom with “It’s a girl,” she thought it was a prank call and started telling the caller just what she thought of them. It wasn’t until the caller told her they had plenty of other people on the list who wanted a little girl that she realized it wasn’t a prank. Thankfully, they accepted her apology and three days later my parents went home with a very lucky girl.

  Though little Maggie’s story doesn’t involve any midnight phone calls, I hope you enjoy reading about Trent and Lana’s journey in finding their forever family.

  Deanne

  From Midwife to Mommy

  Deanne Anders

  From Midwife to Mommy is Deanne Anders’s debut title for Harlequin.

  Visit the Author Profile page at Harlequin.com.

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  This book is dedicated to my parents, Rev. and Mrs. J. A. Atkison, who loved and supported me and made sure I always knew I belonged.

  And to Lucretia Lee, RN. The best labor and delivery nurse I ever had the privilege to work with. I can never thank you enough for the gift of your mentorship.

  And to Theresa Lee. While you might not be my sister by blood or adoption, you will always be my sister of my heart.

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  EPILOGUE

  EXCERPT FROM PREGNANT WITH HER BEST FRIEND’S BABY BY ALISON ROBERTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  DIM LIGHTS AND the sound of soft waves crashing against the shore had created an atmosphere of a calm retreat, but midwife Lana Sanders knew that her patient had long passed the point of caring.

  “You’re doing great,” Lana said as she coached Kim through another contraction and watched the fetal monitor. She watched the fetal heart-rate accelerate, then come down to its baseline. So far this had been a perfect labor.

  “You’re going to be late,” Jeannie whispered to Lana as she arranged the delivery table.

  “It won’t be long now,” Lana said, as much to reassure the labor and delivery nurse as well as her patient.

  “Push. Now.” Kim ground out.

  “Wait, I’ve got to get the camera!” Kim’s husband Tom called out as he turned his back and started going through a duffle bag laid upon the bedside table.

  “Wait?” said Kim. Her voice rose an octave and took on that gravelly sound that only a woman in transition, or one possessed, could reach. “What have you been doing all this time?”

  “It’s okay, Tom, we have a couple minutes,” Lana said.

  A deep growl escaped from Kim.

  “Okay, maybe we don’t,” Lana said as she watched a circle of dark wet curls crown.

  She positioned the delivery table so that it would be within easy reach, then undraped it, letting the protective covering fall to the floor.

  “Kim, we’ve done this before, right?” Lana waited till she had Kim’s attention. “The baby’s starting to crown so whenever you’re ready go ahead and push.”

  “Now!” said Kim, then took a fast breath.

  Tom rushed to his wife’s side and helped her get into position as she curled her body and pushed down. Lana watched as the couple worked together for their child. Kim’s face was flushed and glowing with color as she concentrated on nothing but this moment—the moment she would bring a new life into the world. It was both beautiful and heart-wrenching for Lana to watch this miracle.

  “Take another breath,” Lana said. “Is the contraction gone?”

  “No,” Kim said, before she took a deep breath then returned to pushing.

  “Okay, Kim, I need you to listen to me,” Lana said.

  She waited as Kim looked up at her.

  “Next push we’re going to have a baby, okay?” Lana watched as both excitement and fear filled her patient’s tired eyes. “You can do this. I promise.”

  Kim nodded her head and grabbed Tom’s hand as she positioned herself again, then pushed.

  Seconds later a screaming, squirming baby boy was delivered. Lana carefully suctioned the baby’s mouth, then handed Kim her new baby and watched as the experienced mom caught him close against her body, putting him skin to skin to keep him warm while Jeannie dried him off with some fluffy towels. She clamped then cut the umbilical cord that had been the baby’s lifeline. Seeing both mom and baby meeting for the first time, she was amazed, as always, by the miracle of life that she was blessed to witness.

  “You did wonderfully,” Lana told Kim.

  Lana delivered the placenta, then made sure her patient’s bleeding was controlled. A quick glance at the clock above the bed had her suddenly feeling a sense of panic. She had to get out of the hospital in the next twenty minutes or she was never going to make it to court on time.

  She gave the new mom a hug, then posed for a picture with the rest of the Callahan family once they were allowed in the room. She headed to the nurses’ lounge for a quick change of clothes, then headed out of the hospital. This was going to be one of the most important days of her life. Today she would officially become a new mom herself—something
that until a year and a half ago she had thought would never happen.

  There was no way she was going to be late.

  * * *

  Lana white-knuckled her way through the nightmare of Miami traffic. The multiple lanes all seemed to be going nowhere, and Lana was short on both time and patience. For the first time she was scared she really was going to miss her appointment with the judge who would be finalizing Maggie’s adoption.

  The thought of her sweet, adorable little toddler had her taking a deep breath and relaxing. It would be okay. She was cutting it close, but she would make it. After over twelve months of social workers’ visits and court appearances, there was no way fate would fail her now.

  It had been fate that had brought the little girl into her life, after Lana had just happened to take on her young mother as a patient. When Chloe had later decided she couldn’t handle the responsibility of a new baby and showed up on her doorstep, handing Lana the child along with a notarized letter saying she wanted Lana to adopt her, it had been nothing short of a miracle.

  A lane opened up to her right and she swung into it and followed it to the next exit. Fifteen minutes later she made it to the judge’s chamber where her appearance was scheduled to be. She was surprised to see that neither her lawyer nor her babysitter and Maggie were outside the room, waiting for her. She had texted both of them to let them know she was going to cut it close.

  A note on the door explained that there had been a change in where the session would be held. Lana rushed down the hall to the courtroom. As she reached for the handle of the door a large hand reached around her.

  “Let me,” said a male voice in a slow drawl that almost curled her toes.

  Lana turned and followed the outstretched arm up to the man behind it. The sight of coal-black hair curling around an angular face with a pair of deep blue eyes was startling. Forgetting that she was blocking the door, she let her gaze continue down the tailored black suit to the pointed toes of black leather cowboy boots peeking from beneath his pants leg.

  A cowboy in Miami?

  The thought had Lana smiling as she looked up at the handsome man and with a quick “Thank you” continued into the courtroom.

  A frantic Amanda waved at her from the front of the courtroom, where she and Lana’s lawyer Nathan had taken their seats. As soon as Maggie got a look at Lana the toddler started protesting. She wanted to get down and see her “mama” right then.

  Amanda had dressed her in the new pink sundress Lana had recently bought, and with her dark curls and big deep blue eyes she looked like a china doll come to life. Lana reached over and took her little girl. She gave her a big tight hug that had Maggie giggling and squirming in her lap.

  “Why the change to the courtroom?” she asked Nathan as she scooted into the seat next to him.

  “Shh...” Nathan whispered back as he studied some of the papers in his hand.

  Amanda looked at the two of them, then shrugged her shoulders, letting Lana know that she didn’t have a clue about what was going on.

  Nathan was always a little uptight-looking, which Lana put down to his job in family law. She knew that sometimes his cases were very stressful, with emotions riding high, but there was something about the way he was studying the papers in his hands that told her something was wrong.

  Suddenly her heart kicked into panic mode. It was the same feeling she had when she woke up in the middle of her repeated nightmare about Chloe showing up at her door and telling her that she had changed her mind. That she didn’t think Lana would be a good enough mother for Maggie and she was taking her away. Taking the little girl Lana had fostered since she was six weeks old. Taking her far away to somewhere Lana would never see her again.

  It was the same nightmare she’d had for months now, but after today it would surely go away. Once the adoption was final Lana would be Maggie’s mother, just as if she had given birth to her. There would be no way anyone would be able to take her away then.

  As Judge Hamilton entered the courtroom everyone rose, then sat when the bailiff indicated. Taking a second to look around the courtroom, Lana noted that the social worker, Ms. Nelson from the Florida Department of Children and Families, who had been handling her case, was seated on the right at the front of the courtroom. She watched as the older woman handed the bailiff some papers that were then given to the judge.

  Apprehension sent a shiver down her back. Lana looked at her lawyer again, to see his attention glued to the judge, who was now reading over the documents the social worker had presented to him.

  “This is the hearing for the final placement of the child known here as Maggie. I know that Maggie has been fostered with Ms. Sanders since...” Judge Hamilton paused as he read the documents in front of him “...since she was six weeks old, and that the child’s biological mother personally requested that Ms. Sanders be allowed to adopt her daughter.”

  The judge looked up and gave Lana a smile. Lana felt the tension ease and relaxed back into her seat. Judge Hamilton had always been encouraging in her quest to adopt Maggie. She knew her case was in good hands as long as he was on the bench.

  “Ms. Sanders has been forthcoming in all the demands the court has placed on her, and she has met every requirement that the Department of Children and Families demands.”

  Judge Hamilton once more picked up the documents. This was it—finally he would say the words she had been waiting for and Maggie would be all hers.

  “To be clear, this was to have been the last hearing and the adoption was to have become final today.”

  Was to have become final? Were they going to make her jump through another hoop today?

  “Ms. Nelson, you have indicated in your request to postpone the adoption that you have some new information that needs to be considered. Is that correct?”

  Lana watched the social worker as she rose and walked to the front of the court room. Glancing at her lawyer for some sign as to what was happening, she noted that there was no look of surprise in his eyes as he watched the judge and the social worker quietly discussing the new documents she had handed him. When Nathan turned and took Lana’s hands his look of concern pierced her heart.

  Only something truly wrong would cause that kind of reaction in Nathan.

  Amanda reached for her other hand and, looking at her, Lana saw the fear that she knew mirrored her own. Maggie, thinking this was a game in which she was not included, pulled at the adults’ hands and started babbling in her sweet baby voice.

  Lana released her hold on the others and wrapped her arms around her little girl. Okay, so there was another delay. There had been several over the last year. They had managed to clear each hurdle to get to this point, and if there was something else the court wanted from her she could handle it.

  “It has come to the court’s attention that there is a new petition to stop this adoption by someone who claims to be a family member—a brother of the biological father,” Judge Hamilton stated.

  Lana’s heart stuttered for a moment, then raced forward at a speed that had a gasp escaping into the quiet court room. She pressed Maggie closer to her chest as she felt the adrenaline rush hit her, telling her either to run or prepare to fight. She clasped Maggie tightly, needing to feel the reassurance that only physically holding her child in her arms could give her.

  “Is the person petitioning the court present?” the judge asked.

  Lana watched her nightmare play out in front of her as the cowboy she’d seen earlier rose to his feet.

  “I’m Trent Montgomery, Judge Hamilton, and I have reason to believe that I’m Maggie’s uncle.”

  * * *

  Trent walked into the small room at the side of the courtroom and took a seat at the small rickety table. Across the table sat the young woman he had met going into the courtroom—the woman he now knew as Lana Sanders.

  He was surprised he hadn’t reco
gnized her from the picture he had found among the items his brother had had when he was taken to the hospital. Of course the young woman pictured smiling at the toddler whose hand she held looked young and carefree, with her hair flying all around her face as a breeze blew through the blond strands, while the woman he had opened the door for was all business, in her tailored skirt and blouse and her hair pulled back in some sort of clip.

  Now the woman had let her hair down in more than one way, and her bright green eyes shot daggers at him as she talked with an older woman with steel-gray hair and eyes to match. He had no doubt that at that moment she wanted nothing more than to come over to the table where he sat.

  Not that he didn’t understand the kind of anger she was feeling. When his brother’s lawyer had contacted him about the child he had wanted to hit something—anything—just to be able to take out the anger he’d felt at his brother. How could his brother have kept it from him that he had a little girl?

  The lawyer had stated that Michael hadn’t believed the contents of the letter he had received from his ex-girlfriend. But when the private detective he had hired had brought back pictures of a smiling toddler with coal-black ringlets and bright blue eyes, he’d known that the child was his.

  After the lawyer had read Michael’s will, and left some pictures of the child, Trent had come to the same conclusion as his brother. The child could only be a Montgomery. Another Montgomery child that had been abandoned.

  He’d looked at those pictures a lot during the last two weeks, as he had tried to decide what to do about the child. She looked happy, smiling at the pretty blond woman, who smiled back with a love that seemed to pour out of the picture.

  Why would he want to take this child away from this woman who appeared to love her? And what did he know about raising a little girl? Sitting there across from a woman who plainly wished a hole would open up and swallow him, he wondered for the hundredth time why he’d uprooted his life to come somewhere he didn’t want to be and where he certainly didn’t have a clue about what he was doing.