“You need to call mommy,” Baylee whimpered to Brian after being rudely awakened by the orthopedist setting his arm and placing it in traction, which to both Brian and Annie looked more like a Chinese torture device.

Brian sighed. “She’s gonna freak out,” he muttered to Annie under his breath. He dialed her number and handed the phone to Baylee. “You want to talk to her?”

“Yes!” Baylee grabbed the phone with his free hand and almost immediately started talking, as Leighanne must have answered before the first ring even completed. “Mom! You need to come quick! They put my arm in a tractor!” he squealed.

“Traction,” Brian corrected him.

“Contraction,” Baylee said. “Doesn’t that have something to do with babies?” He paused for a moment and listened to Leighanne. “Well, anyway, they have my arm in a contraption and they say I have to stay here for 34 days!”

“Three or four days, Baylee,” Brian admonished. “Stop being so dramatic.”

They could hear Leighanne speaking loudly but calmly on the other line. Baylee grinned and handed the phone back to Brian. “She wants to talk to you.”

“Hey.” He paused. “I knew you wouldn’t listen to me,” he laughed. “No, we already have one rental car. Maybe Tim or I can come pick you up...See you soon.” He hung up and turned to Annie.

“That was kinda low, Littrell,” she said with a laugh. “Making your injured son do the dirty work.”

“No, it was smart. If I had talked to her first, she wouldn’t have been nearly as calm.” He had a point there. “She’s already at the airport and her flight is supposed to land in Lexington in three hours. I think I’ll see if cousin Tim can pick her up so I can stay with you, okay Bay?” Brian called Tim, and after a quick conversation, turned to Annie and said.,“He’s going to bring Baylee and me some clothes and stuff and drop Drew off here before he heads to the airport to pick up Leighanne.”

“Sounds good. I’ll just make sure you and Baylee get settled in, okay?” She started towards the nurses station, but Brian placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Go home, Annie. You’ve been a great help to us today, but I’m sure the nurses and other doctors can handle it from here. I know you’ll be checking back up on us when you come to work, so just go spend the rest of the day with your little boy, okay?”

“Okay, but let me give you my number.” She rushed out of the room to the nearby nurse’s station, grabbed a pen and the nearest piece of paper, jotted her number down, and brought it back to him. “Please don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything at all, okay?”

“Thanks.” Brian took the slip of paper, folded it, pulled out his wallet, and placed the paper safely inside. “And again, thank you so much for everything today. I’m really glad I met you.”

Annie cocked her head to the side and smiled. “I’m glad I met you, too.”
____________________________________________________________________________

“I think you should do it.” Annie jumped at the deep voice vibrating against her ear.

“Do what, Brad?”

“The singing thing he was talking about.”

“You little sneak!” She twirled around and smacked him playfully on the arm. “Didn’t you have anything better to do than to eavesdrop on our conversation? Something like, oh, I don’t know....take care of your patients? Something you should be doing at this very moment, actually?” She had gone outside to wait for Tim and Drew on the sidewalk near the emergency room entrance, and apparently, Brad had decided to join her. Annie took a long look at her mentor and friend. He had been the youngest attending in the hospital when she’d done her clinical rotations there as a fourth year medical student, and when he realized he grew up with her husband, he’d immediately taken her under his wing.

“It’s dead in there. Only about half the number of patients we’re used to having at a time and they’re all either waiting for test results to come back or getting discharged or moved to an inpatient bed. I absolutely have nothing better to do at the moment than to be out here talking to you.” Annie didn’t say anything, and instead looked down at her watch. She anticipated Tim’s arrival any minute. “You should do it,” Brad coaxed. “And not just the duet. The whole shebang. Leave this place and go do what makes you happy.”

“Brad, that’s the thing. I am happy right now.”

“Bullshit.” Annie averted her eyes down to the ground and kicked at a pebble on the sidewalk. She watched it bounce along the concrete and roll off into the parking lot. “Tell me again how much you love your job?”

“Brad, I...” She was interrupted by the sound of his pager blaring from his hip, which she was thankful for, because she really didn’t have a good response for him anyway.

He looked down, fiddled with some buttons, and sighed. “I have to take this.” He started back towards the sliding glass doors of the ER entrance and turned back to her for a moment. “This conversation isn’t over yet, Annie Morgan!” He declared, pointing a finger at her before turning and jogging back inside.

Shortly thereafter, Tim pulled up with a suitcase and Drew in tow. “Mama!” Drew squealed with outstretched arms as he tried to squirm out of Tim’s grasp.

“Drew!” Annie answered with equal enthusiasm. She scooped him into her arms and smothered his face with kisses, eliciting the most beautiful giggles she had ever heard. “Mommy missed you! Were you a good boy for Tim and Tracy today?” Drew have her a big, drooly grin that lit up his brilliant green eyes.

Tim cleared his throat. “There might have been a little incident with the toilet. The water was at least clean when he started splashing in it, though.” Tim held up a plastic grocery bag. “Tracy washed his clothes anyway.”

“I should have warned you that he discovered the toilet water. I was brushing my teeth the other day and heard this splashing sound behind me. I turned around and he was drenched. Ran out and bought a couple of those toilet locks the next day.”  She took the bag from him.  “She didn’t have to do that, by the way.”

Tim shrugged.  “No big deal.  She was washing Brian and Baylee’s clothes anyway.  They were supposed to leave after church today, and they were fishing all day yesterday.  It was bad.”

She laughed, took the bag from Tim and thanked him, then took Drew home. She fed him dinner, then spent a couple hours playing with blocks and watching Sesame Street before she bathed him, read him a story, and put him to bed. Once he had drifted off, she spent a few minutes just standing by his crib and staring at him. He had rolled over onto his stomach and pulled his knees up to his chest, his little behind sticking straight up in the air. She watched the even rise and fall of his back as his breath fell over his plump little lips in soft sighs, then leaned over and stroked his fine blonde hair with her fingers. Her breath caught in her throat and she choked back a sob as his eyelashes fluttered lightly against his round, rosy cheeks and he clenched his chubby little fists tightly around his blue blanket. This was what life was about. What love was about. Drew had her eyes, but once they closed, everything else was 100% his father. “Sweet dreams, baby,” she whispered as she tip-toed out of the nursery.

After loading the dishwasher and starting a load of laundry, she settled onto the couch with her laptop and a small glass of wine. She grabbed the cashmere throw off the back of the couch and hugged it around her shoulders before opening up her laptop. First, the checked her e-mail, then she gave her work schedule for that week a quick glance before opening up her Twitter account and giggling. “Chirpin’ at ya! Thanks for everything!” Was the first new tweet she received from @brian_littrell, followed by several more that just said “Chirp!,” CHIRP!,” “cHirp!,” “chIrp!,” chiRp!”, and “chirP!” Apparently, Baylee was asleep and Brian was bored.

“You have too much time on your hands,” she “chirped” back at him.

Almost immediately, she got a response. “CHIRP!!!” She rolled her eyes and laughed. “What a goofball.”