Whirlwind Reunion by Debra Cowan Page A

She shook with outrage, disbelief. “You didn’t care enough even to acknowledge my letter about the miscarriage.”
    â€œYou’re a fine one to point the finger.”
    â€œWhat’s that supposed to mean?” she asked hotly.
    â€œIf you’d cared about me or what we had, you wouldn’t have lied about the baby.”
    â€œLied? About what?” Incensed, she marched over to him. “You think I wasn’t expecting?”
    â€œNo, I believe you were.”
    â€œThen what?” Her heart pounded hard in her chest.
    â€œI think you knew before you left Whirlwind that you were carrying my baby and in your letter you tried to make me believe you didn’t.”
    Her breath jammed painfully in her chest. “You think I knew and went to Philadelphia without telling you?”
    â€œYes.”
    How could he believe such a thing? “Well, I didn’t know.”
    â€œYou’re the daughter of a doctor.” He took an aggressive step toward her.
    She moved back, not out of fear, but from sheer reflex.
    â€œYou helped your pa from the time you were ten, and you knew more than most about medical things. How could you not realize?”
    â€œI was distracted by my grief over my father’s death. If there were signs of a child at that time, I didn’t catch them.”
    The skeptical, scornful look on his face set off her temper.
    â€œYou are a piece of work, Matt Baldwin! Why would I lie?”
    â€œBecause if you’d admitted back then that you knew, you would’ve had to stay.” His voice rose, too. “You wouldn’t have been able to traipse halfway across the country, putting our baby at risk.”
    Pain and guilt knifed through her.
    â€œIf you hadn’t been so all-fired set to get to medical school, our baby would be alive. You as good as killed him.”
    Before she even realized it, her hand flew up and she slapped him. Hard.
    He grabbed her wrist, his expression stunned.
    Tears blurred her vision. “How dare you.”
    Her hand print glowed red on his jaw. The blame was already carved into her heart, but coming from Matt, who had never even acknowledged their child? How could he have said something so cruel? Was there nothing left of the man she’d loved? If so, she couldn’t see it in those steel-cold eyes, the rigid jaw.
    She was shaking so hard her teeth chattered. Very quietly, she said, “Get out.”
    â€œYou bet.” He released her with a curse.
    She registered the heavy thud of his boots on the floor, the slam of the door as her entire body went numb.
    He’d brought up the past and she hadn’t been able to keep her mouth shut. She wished she had because now she was forced to admit what she had denied for seven years. She’d never gotten over him.

Chapter Four
    If you hadn’t been so all-fired set to get to medical school, our baby would be alive. You as good as killed him.
    Five days later, Matt’s words still razored through Annalise, a black poisonous cloud on an otherwise lovely Saturday. She wished she could push his words out of her head, push him out of her head, but she hadn’t been able to. So she’d done the only thing she could—she’d avoided him like he was a coiled rattler.
    Sunlight streamed through the front window of her clinic, warming the space of pine floor between her and the patient in his wheelchair. J.T. Baldwin had come in with Cora, wanting Annalise to examine his leg and determine why he was still unable to walk.
    â€œHow’s the pain?” Annalise asked him.
    â€œMost days, it’s just an ache, but if I do too much—”
    â€œOr ride in the wagon for very long,” Cora put in.
    J.T. smiled at the older woman before turning to Annalise. “Then it hurts like the devil.”
    â€œIs the pain sharp or dull after you’ve exerted yourself?”
    â€œSharp. It’s a good sign that I can feel something,