Read Online A Bid for Love by Rachel Ann Nunes - Free Book Online Page B

dread. I think I’m going to lose my baby.” She said the last sentence in a whisper so the nurses wouldn’t hear and jump to reassure her. “Please, go see if Trent is here yet.”
    “Okay,” Cassi escaped gratefully from the room, though she knew her effort was futile. Trent wouldn’t arrive for another hour.
    As she gazed around the hall outside the delivery area, Cassi felt faint. She could never remember being so helpless. Despite the doctor’s apparent confidence, Renae’s fear made her worry for the unborn baby. Please, she prayed. Please help Renae. She thought of her friend lying in agony and knew she would have to return to her bedside, bringing nothing to help her.
    She started to walk down the hall, but from the corner of her eye she saw a familiar figure approaching at a fast walk.
    “Jared,” she whispered, though he was too far off to hear. She couldn’t stop the relief flooding her body at the sight of someone—anyone—she knew, even as remotely as she knew him.
    He came toward her quickly. “Is she all right?”
    Cassi shook her head, not understanding why or how he was at the hospital. “The placenta’s coming loose. The doctor says she may need a C-section. He seems to have everything under control, but Renae’s frightened. She keeps crying and calling for her husband.” Cassi’s voice broke on the last word. She looked up at Jared through her tears. “I’m not sure what to do.”
    “I have an idea,” he said, turning his head around as if searching for something or someone.
    Cassi wondered what he was looking for, but she soon had an answer when the man they had met at church the previous day came hurrying toward them.
    “He used to volunteer in a crisis center,” Jared said. “Plus he’s helped his wife through birth a ton of times, so I called him.”
    “Two times in one day, eh?” Larry Smithy said to Jared.
    Jared shrugged. “Thanks for coming.”
    Cassi didn’t have time to consider the implication of what they were saying, though she filed the comment away for future study. What mattered now was that they were there to help Renae when she needed it.
    She led them to Renae’s room where Larry first offered a heartfelt prayer. Minutes later, he began exchanging stories with Renae about their children’s antics and soon she was smiling and laughing. Calm pervaded Cassi as she noticed that Renae was handling both her fear and the contractions much better.
    “Thank you so much,” Renae told the men. “I feel so much more hopeful now.”
    Larry put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We’re glad to be of help. You’re doing a wonderful thing here. Babies are one of God’s greatest blessings.”
    Renae grinned. “Yes, they really are.”
    “We’ll be in the waiting room if you need us,” Jared added. “We’ll send your husband in as soon as he arrives. That way Cassi can stay with you.”
    Cassi remembered Renae’s children. “He’s probably bringing their other kids. I didn’t want him to waste time finding someone to watch them, so I said I’d take care of them.”
    “We’ll watch them until you come out,” Jared said. “Larry has six kids of his own, and I have nineteen nieces and nephews. We’ll manage.”
    Cassi looked at him gratefully. “Don’t you have other business here?”
    “No.” Jared’s intense blue eyes seem to bore into hers. “I saw you leave the auction and found out what happened from Boader. That’s why I came. I thought maybe you might need some help. I called Larry on the way over.”
    Cassi bit her bottom lip. She was beginning to feel terrible about calling Jared names behind his back and for suspecting him of trying to trick her out of the bidding for the Buddha.
    “What about the Buddha?” she asked.
    “I jumped the bid to four hundred thousand. No one wanted to match it.”
    Four hundred thousand! That was one hundred thousand more than Cassi had been authorized to pay. Had she stayed, she would have lost anyway.