“A girl!”
The baby made a mewing sound. They reached down to touch the wet, squirming, bloody infant. Jim cut the cord.
“Cal!”
“She’s ours, sweetheart.”
“Oh, Cal…”
“God… She’s beautiful. You’re beautiful. I love you.”
“I love you! Oh, I love you!”
They murmured nonsense, kissed each other, and cried. Tears streamed down Lynn’s face, too, as she picked up the baby and wrapped her in a towel. Jane was so intent on the baby and her husband that she barely noticed either the fact that Jim had delivered the placenta or the broad grin on his face.
Lynn laughed and murmured nonsense of her own as she used a soft, damp washcloth to do a quick cleanup where Annie could see.
Annie Glide regarded her great-granddaughter with satisfaction. “This one’s going to be a crackerjack. A real crackerjack. Just you wait and see. Glide blood runs true.”
Lynn gave a watery laugh, then brought the baby back to Jane, but Cal’s capable, quarterback’s hands scooped her up first. “Come here, sweetheart. Let’s get a good look at you.”
He held the baby in front of Jane so they could drink in the sight of her tiny, wizened face together, then he dropped his lips to the miniature forehead. “Welcome to the world, sweetheart. We’re so glad you’re here.”
Bemused and utterly at peace, Jane watched father and daughter get acquainted. She found herself remembering that moment so long ago when she’d cried out to Cal, This is my baby! Nobody’s baby but mine! As she gazed around the room at two grandparents who looked as if they’d been handed the stars, a cantankerous great-grandmother, and a father who was falling head over heels in love even as Jane watched, she realized how wrong she had been.
Right then, she knew she’d found it. The ultimate Theory of Everything.
Cal’s head shot up. “I just figured it out!” His hoot of laughter startled his newborn daughter’s eyes open, but she didn’t cry because she already had his number. Big, loud, softhearted. A pushover.
“Jane! Mom! Dad! I know what I’m going to do with my life!”
Jane stared at him. “What? Tell me?”
“I can’t believe it!” he exclaimed. “After all this worry, it’s been staring me in the face the whole time.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you was worried, Calvin?” a querulous voice piped up from the corner. “I could of told you what you needed to know years ago.”
They turned to stare at her.
She scowled at them. “Anybody with half a brain could have figured out Calvin was destined to be a mountain doctor, just like his daddy and granddaddy afore him. Bonner blood runs true.”
“A doctor?” Jane twisted her head and gazed at him in astonishment. “Is she right? You’re going to be a doctor?”
Cal glared at his grandmother. “Don’t you think you could have said something a long time ago?!”
She sniffed. “Nobody asked me.”
Jane laughed. “You’re going to be a doctor? That’s perfect!”
“By the time I’m done, I’m going to be an old doctor. You think you can handle having your husband go back to school?”
“I can’t think of anything I’d enjoy more.”
At that moment Rosie Darlington Bonner decided she’d been ignored long enough. This was her big moment, darn it, and she wanted some attention! After all, she had lots to do. There were pesky little brothers to welcome into the world, friends to make, trees to climb, parents to appease, and, most of all, great novels to write.
There were also lots of math tests to flunk along the way, not to mention an unfortunate experience in chem lab with a cretin of a science teacher who didn’t appreciate good literature. But maybe it was better the two people looking down at her with those goofy expressions on their faces didn’t know about the chem lab yet…
Rosie Darlington Bonner opened her mouth and howled. Here I am, world! Ready or not!
Author’s Note
I‹ t’s said we’re attracted to what we fear the most, and I’m beginning to believe that’s true, since this is my second book that involves science and technology, an area in which I am-let’s be honest-a complete doofus.
A number of books were extremely helpful in my research, even though I only understood a fraction of them, and I’d like to acknowledge the following: Paul Davies, God and the New Physics; James Gleick, Chaos: Making a New Science; Leon Lederman (with Dick Teresi), The God Particle. Also Mudhusree Mukerjee’s article, “Explaining Everything,” in Scientific American, January 1996, proved to be extremely useful.
Thanks to my husband, Bill, for being my viewing companion as I watched superstar Professor Richard Wolfson’s sixteen-part videotaped lecture series on“Einstein’s Relativity and the Quantum Revolution,” produced by The Teaching Company. Professor Wolfson and Bill-God bless them both!-had a wonderful time.
A big thank you to everyone at Avon Books for their support, especially my editor, Carrie Feron, and her wonderfully competent assistant, Ann McKay Thoroman. Continued appreciation to my agent, Steven Axelrod.
A number of people were especially helpful in the preparation of this book. I’d like to acknowledge Dr. Robert Miller, Pat Hagan, Lisa Libman, my buddy Diane, and all the Phillips family cereal eaters. Speaking of cereal…Thanks Bryan, Jason, and Ty, even though you should have been studying instead. Go Boilers!
And to my readers-You’ll never know how much your letters mean. Thank you.
About the Author
Susan Elizabeth Phillips is one of our biggest women's fiction stars soaring onto the New York Times bestseller list with Dream a Little Dream. She's the only four-time recipient of Romance Writer's of America's prestigious Favorite Book of the Year Award. Susan delights fans by touching hearts as well as funny bones with her wonderfully whimsical and modern fairy tales. A resident of the Chicago suburbs, she is also a wife and mother of two grown sons.
