Streams of people eddied around Nora Harte, the pile of luggage and the double stroller. She scanned the faces of the crowd. A babble of voices filled the air. In an impatient rhythm, she tapped her foot against the floor.
Where is he?
Since Thursdays were almost a universal doctor’s day off, the trip had been scheduled for today. He knew the flight number and the time of arrival. The plane had been on schedule.
She groaned. The simple baby run had become anything but easy.
The loudspeaker crackled. “Would passenger Nora Harte pick up one of the courtesy phones?”
When the words blared a second time, with a start, Nora realized the message was for her. Yeah, right. She stared at the three suitcases, one diaper bag and the pair of car seats. She would need the arms of an octopus to fulfill the request.
What had kept Dr. McKay from the meet?
One of the twins
puckered his mouth and added his screams to the cacophony in the baggage claim
area of the
The strident voice issued the command again. “How?’ she asked. The logistics of the move defeated her. She couldn’t abandon the babies or the luggage to search for a phone. She’d been deputized to deliver Molly and Todd Jamison to their guardian and she took this duty seriously.
The sight of a man
in a gray uniform pushing an empty luggage cart solved the problem. “Sky cap,
over here.” She used the voice that had parted crowds on busy
“Take these bags and the infants.”
“Don’t load babies on the cart, ma’am.”
“Sorry. I know that. I meant the infant seats. I have to answer the phone.”
“Excuse me.” His expression projected the idea she had flipped.
Maybe she had…last week when she’d agreed to deliver the babies to their guardian. “The page. Nora Harte. That’s me.”
He pointed to the far wall. “Courtesy phone’s over there.”
“Thanks.” Nora gripped the stroller handle. She pushed through the crowd like a subway rider aiming for the last seat. The noise level made her wonder if she’d be able to hear the message.
An easy trip, she
thought. A way to add to her dream house account. Just fly to
So far nothing about the trip had been a snap. Why had she thought her experience as a nurse would make the mission a breeze? Even a three month tour of duty in a busy city hospital nursery hadn’t prepared her for the reality of caring for twins.
She hadn’t counted on the surround-sound screams that they’d raised in protest of being air-borne. Or of juggling two infants who wanted a bottle at the same time. Not finding their guardian at the airport had been the final episode in her nightmare of the week.
She lifted the courtesy phone receiver. “Nora Harte speaking. I believe you have a message for me.”
The voice on the
other end of the line explained that Dr. McKay had been unavoidably detained.
Ms. Harte was to proceed to the car rental desk to pick up a car and the
directions to the doctor’s house in Prairie,
She gritted her teeth. This deviation from her agenda added another problem she should have expected. Why had she believed anything about this trip would work?
Drops of frustration splattered her thoughts. If Dr. McKay had attended his foster sister’s funeral, this disaster would have been avoided. He could have taken custoddy and faced the journey from hell on his own.
She waved to the sky cap. “Where’s the car rental desk?”
“This way, ma’am.”
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