Putting the twin she’d been holding into the double-wide playpen beside her sister, Hailey placed her own call. Hers was to Candace, her assistant at the spa, to alert the woman of what was going on. She wanted Candace to be prepared for a large influx of people arriving at the wellness spa, possibly before the hour was up. It all depended on how quickly Ellie could get a press conference together.
The next day, it all went down in what felt like lightning speed. As soon as Steven was told what was going on, he immediately called his wife. Fortunately he got through right away and was able to let her know about Linus and the baby’s need for a bone marrow transplant. Ellie quickly called a press conference. Word spread from there like wildfire.
Meanwhile, right after Callum called her, Becky notified Dr. Green, the baby’s doctor, about the bone marrow drive being organized at the spa. They lost no time putting together a team to test the volunteers that they anticipated coming in.
As soon as he had called Steven, Dillon drove Hailey directly to the spa. Her assistant was waiting for her and Hailey got right to work.
With the help of several of her people, plus Dillon, Hailey prepared one of the spa’s larger rooms to be used for the necessary tests.
For inspiration, Hailey had a photograph of Baby Linus enlarged and taped up on the wall. Hailey felt that ignoring that sweet face was impossible. The more volunteers who came, the better the odds of finding a match.
Hailey moved the massage tables as well as chairs into the spacious room. They would need as many places as possible for volunteers to sit on as they waited for their turn to be swabbed.
Hailey and her people were still in the process of setting everything up when the first volunteers began arriving.
At the head of the line was a soft-spoken burly giant of a man named Riley Evans.
“I heard Mayor Ellie say that the baby was sick and could die if he didn’t get something he needed. So I came to see if I could help,” Riley told her without any fanfare.
Impressed with how quickly Riley had come down to the spa, Hailey still felt she had to ask the gentle giant, “Do you know what you’ll be getting swabbed for today? What you might be donating?”
Riley shook his head. “Doesn’t matter,” he told her. “If I’m a match, you can have it if it’ll help. Way I see it, the little guy’s been through a lot and he needs whatever it is a lot more than I do.”
Hailey found herself blinking back tears as she led Riley to a massage table.
As the crowd continued to gather and converge in and around the spa, that was the spirit that prevailed through it. Everyone was eager to do their part to try to help save Linus.
It quickly became apparent that almost everyone within the small close-knit town was volunteering to have their cheeks swabbed for matching.
The volunteers included Dillon and his two brothers.
“That was very nice of you,” Hailey commented as Dillon got up off the table.
He rolled down his sleeve. “Hey, I couldn’t very well just stand by while everyone else was being tested. Especially now that I know what it feels like to be a parent, I totally empathize with that situation.” He laughed softly to himself. “In a way, since the moment he came into the world, I guess Linus belongs to everyone. Especially since his mother took off and left him.” Dillon looked at Hailey to see if she agreed with him.
She thought about the sentiment he had just voiced. “I didn’t realize you felt that way,” she told him. “I mean, when we were flying to Fort Lauderdale, I thought you made it pretty clear that you considered that home, not Rambling Rose.”
He thought back for a moment. “I guess, at the time, I did,” he admitted.
At the time.
Did that mean that now he didn’t? Before she could stop herself, she asked him.
“And now?”
The moment the words were out of her mouth, Hailey knew she might wind up regretting pushing this. In all honesty, she knew that it was probably better if she just left this alone and let whatever happened progress at its own speed.
But there was another part of her that felt as if she was just deliberately stalling, trying to hold back the inevitable.
That wasn’t like her.
She needed to know what was ahead. If she was going to lose Dillon, then she needed to know that, too. She shouldn’t be embarrassing herself by desperately trying to hold on when there was no chance for her.
For them.
“And now I can see that no matter what your plans are,” Dillon was saying to her, “the universe can be totally unfair. There are no guarantees in life, other than the fact that it’s completely uncertain and can all change in the blink of an eye.”
Here it came, Hailey thought, trying to mentally brace herself.
But all she could focus on was that her stomach felt as if it were sinking as she waited for Dillon to utter the fatal words that would take him away from her. He was going to tell her that he’d decided not to wait until his part of the project was done. That he intended to go back to Florida as soon as possible.
A wave of heat passed over her as her pulse began to race.
Although it went against what she told herself she should do, Hailey heard herself tell Dillon, “You can’t just give up like that, Dillon.”
That stopped him cold.
“Give up?” Dillon repeated.
He sounded confused, Hailey thought. As if he didn’t know what she was talking about.
Hailey went right on talking as if he hadn’t said a word. “You can’t,” she insisted. “Growing up, I had a friend, Janelle, who
