Maimie inched closer. "Look at that little precious bundle of joy. Oh, he has your hair, Talli and his Daddy's eyes. What a heartbreaker he's going to be when he grows up. Just like his Daddy."

Talli bit her lip, knowing full well what Maimie meant. Her heart was already breaking with the memory.

"Now, you do everything those doctor's and nurses tell you. I want to get you home and take care of you two myself, you hear me?" Maimie wagged a finger in Talli's direction, her eyes held captive by the tiny cherub cuddled in the blue blankets.

"We will, I promise Maimie," Talli looked up fondly at the older woman.

"Have you decided on a name for the baby yet?" Anthony asked Derek.

"Not officially," Derek replied. "I've been thinking about it and I like the name Tyler. Tyler Paxton Cameron. What do you think, Talli?" Derek focused his attention on her and awaited her response.

"It's very nice. Thank you for including my name." Talli acknowledged, touch by Derek's thoughtful gesture. Did this mean what she thought it did? Could Derek possibly be starting to care for her as more than just a surrogate for Tyler?

"Now, come on gentlemen. It's high time we leave the little momma here to rest. Derek, you too, boy. You need your rest just as much as Talli does. It's been a long night for the both of you," Maimie sternly addressed her employer.

"Yes, ma'am. I'll be sure and get some rest. More than likely, it won't be until later today though. Unfortunately, I have a board meeting with Wardell Industries at noon." Derek stopped to consult his watch.

"Sweetie, I'll call you later and see if you need anything," Maimie called from the doorway, Joseph in tow.

"Thanks, Maimie."

Anthony placed a chaste kiss on Talli's cheek before heading for the doorway. "Call me if you need anything."

"Thank you, Anthony. I'll be fine."

Derek stood silent by the bedside, his gaze frozen on the picture before him. Talli lightly stroked Tyler's downy head, her fingers lovingly brushing the tiny strands of auburn hair. His son lay sound asleep within her warm embrace, content and secure in his mother's arms. Derek felt a momentary tug on his heart as he contemplated the scene. He cleared his throat and spoke up.

"I better get going too. I need to shower and shave before the meeting."

Talli looked up, unaware of his silent appraisal. "Oh, right. I hope your meeting goes well." Unspoken thoughts rushed through her head. Tell me, Derek. Tell me how you feel about me. Do I mean anything more to you than just Tyler's mother? Say you love me and you want me to stay on at Cameron Manor. Please, say you want me to be your wife.

"Talli, I..."

A knock on the door drew their attention from one another.

"h.e.l.lo, anybody home?" K.C. Masters stood on the threshold, her arms laden with flowers and gifts. With a smile, she entered the room, unaware of the tension surrounding the pair.

"K.C., how did you know I had the baby? Wait, don't tell me. The newspaper, right?"

"Yup," she nodded, dropping her gifts into the nearest chair and sat the bouquet of flowers on the window sill. She brushed a kiss across Derek's cheek as she moved to Talli's side.

"Congratulations, you two. Oh, he's so adorable. He has your hair, Talli."

Derek ran his thumb across Tyler's hand, watching the tiny fingers curl around his. "I'll be back after the meeting. I don't know how long I'll be though."

"Derek, I'm fine. Really, I am."

"And I promise not to stay too long or tire her out. Scouts honor." K.C. held her hand up in a mock promise.

Derek smiled at K.C. "You were never a Boy Scout," he stated.

K.C. shook her head with a saucy smile. "No, but I helped plenty of Boy Scouts earn their CPR badges."

"Now that I believe." With a wave and another promise to return as soon as possible, Derek was gone.

Talli watched him walk from the hospital room, her hopes sinking with his every retreating step.

"Girlfriend, you've got it bad."

Talli looked up in surprise. "What? K.C., this time you've got it all wrong. There's nothing going on between Derek and I," she protested.

"Right. You just happen to live in the guy's house and have his baby. Uh huh, nothing's going on. Sure and I've got some swampland in Nevada I'd like to sell you."

Talli sighed. "I get discharged from the hospital tomorrow and hand over the baby to him. No strings attached, remember?"

"Then how come you're so miserable?"

"I wish I knew," Talli shook her head sadly, and let the hot tears slip down her cheeks.

"Honey, if you spend your life wishing for things instead of doing them, you'll end up with empty photo alb.u.m?"

Later that afternoon, Talli walked slowly down the quiet hospital corridor to the nursery. She pressed her fingers lightly to the nursery window and smiled. Two rows of newborn babies filled her vision, their pink and blue stocking caps the only designation as to their s.e.x. Her eyes sought out Tyler in the second row and Talli motioned for the nurse to lift him up. She watched him yawn, stretching his tiny fists into the air as the nurse interrupted his rest.

"He looks just like his Daddy," Talli whispered. She waved a thank you and with shaky steps, retraced her route to her hospital room.

He was the spitting image of his daddy, yet his cherubic face reflected his mother's porcelain features. His tiny mouth suckled eagerly at the bottle as he nursed in blissful contentment in Derek's arms.

Talli sat quietly in the window seat, her gaze on Tyler's face. Derek rocked the chair slowly back and forth, one arm around Tyler, the other attempting to hold the bottle at the correct angle according to all the baby books he had read. Not too far or the baby will gag, not far enough and the baby will take in too much air and not enough formula. Talli recalled him boasting as he perfected his technique.

Maimie stood in the door, her gaze a.s.sessing the scene before her. It had been over a week since Talli and Tyler had come home. Something didn't feel right, something she couldn't put her finger on. But in time she would.

Talli lowered herself to the edge of the bed and reached for the telephone. Taking a deep breath, she dialed a familiar number with a heavy heart.

"I need to talk to you. Do you think you could come to the house?" She closed her eyes and sighed. "Thanks, I really appreciate it." She let the receiver drop back into the cradle and allowed the tears to fall freely.

"I can't do this," Talli whispered softly, a short while later. Turning tortured eyes to Anthony, the tears fell down her cheeks, as she valiantly tried to staunch her emotions.

Anthony felt his heart lurch in his chest and he sighed heavily. "Talli, I don't know what to say. Isn't there any other way?"

Her head flew up, her gaze meeting his in anger and frustration. "What other way? Every time I make a move to go to the nursery, Derek's already there. I hear Tyler fuss in his crib at night and I go in to comfort him, but I'm just in the way. He doesn't need me anymore, Anthony. I've served my purpose. I'm sorry, I know it's unfair to put you in the middle of all this. It's not your fault."

Anthony bowed his head, eyes closed. He pressed two fingers together and thought long and hard before answering.

Talli watched silently. She never realized the powerful feelings a baby would create within her body. All she had wanted to do was sit and hold Tyler. Stroke his downy head and touch his little fingers, over and over. She marveled at the maternal urges inside her, yearning to break free. But she wasn't needed here anymore. She had fulfilled the terms of the contract and now it was time to move on, whether she wanted to or not. She wouldn't risk putting Tyler in the middle. No matter what.

Forty minutes later Anthony brushed a soft kiss across Talli's cheeks and scribbled a set of numbers on the back of his business card. "Call this number if you need anything. I'll always be there for you, Talli."

"What about Maimie and Joseph?" Talli questioned. "I really should tell them."

"I'll take care of telling them. Are you sure you don't want to stay?" Anthony paused. He hoped what he was about to do wouldn't be the downfall of his friendship with Derek. Something like this definitely pushed things to the limit.

Talli shook her head no, the auburn curls cascading gently over her shoulders. "Someday, the charming knight on his white steed will come for me and sweep me off my feet, but not now I'm afraid. Take care of yourself, Anthony. I'll miss you, you've been a wonderful friend to me."

"She what?" An enraged roar bellowed through the hallway. The sound of a chair crashing against the wall sent Joseph and Maimie scurrying back to the security of the kitchen, only minutes before the office door swung inward with a mighty crash as it hit the wall. "She left without saying goodbye. She just walked out of here and no one saw her leave?" What in G.o.d's name had she been thinking of to walk out and leave him and Tyler like this? Derek thought angrily.

"This was on the hallway table." Anthony handed the letter to Derek, his hand shaky as he fought to hold it steady. Derek's fierce scowl made it virtually impossible to remain calm under the circ.u.mstances.

Derek looked at the pale cream-colored envelope in Anthony's grasp. He took a deep breath and slowly reached for the letter. His own fingers trembled as he opened the envelope to draw forth a single sheet of stationary. His eyes scanned the words, as he lowered himself to his chair. The leather creaked under his weight, but Derek didn't seem to notice.

"She said she left since the terms of the contract were fulfilled. She was afraid if she stayed, her feelings for Tyler would make it impossible for her to honor the contract."

Anthony nodded, as he waited for Derek to continue.

"According to the note, Talli says she wasn't needed anymore. She felt she was in the way between the baby and I. We needed time alone to bond as father and son." Derek let the paper drop onto the desk and swivelled his chair to face the window.

"It's what you wanted. All the details were spelled out to the letter in the contract," Anthony added quietly.

Derek nodded. "Anthony, would you mind giving me a few minutes alone?"

"Not at all. I'll just go get myself a cup of coffee."

Anthony walked out of the study and closed the door behind him.

Timidly, Maimie and Joseph peeked their heads around the kitchen door. "He took the news pretty well, I thought," Maimie said to Joseph.

"Yes, quite."

Anthony Baretti swung around to face the couple who hovered nearby. "What did you say?"

"What, you suddenly deaf now too, along with dumb and stupid?" Maimie queried of the older man.

Anthony slumped in defeat against the foyer wall. "She called, didn't she?"

Maimie gave him a 'cat got the canary' type of smile, lauding that small piece of information over Anthony.

Anthony shook his head in disbelief. "I knew this wouldn't work. If Derek gets his hands on her, he'll kill her the mood he's in right now."

"It'll work out fine. Derek just needs time to sort things out, then he'll realize how much he needs her and loves her and everything will be all right." She presented her back to the two men and strolled into the kitchen.

The men looked at one another across the marble foyer, then solemnly followed her, hoping she was right.

Derek heard the mumbled voices outside his door and looked out the fast approaching darkness. Why did Talli leave so suddenly? She could have stayed longer. He wasn't going to throw her out now that Tyler was born. She had a job to do here at the house. He slumped down in the chair, his head falling forward to rest on his chest. "She's gone," he murmured to no one in particular.

The week pa.s.sed in excruciating slowness as Talli forced herself to remain busy. Her waking hours were filled with thoughts of Tyler and Derek. Were they sitting together in the nursery, Tyler's trusting face staring up at his daddy as Derek gave him his morning bottle? Did his tiny fingers wrap themselves around Derek's as he bonded with his father? Her chest tightened at the thought of the two of them together, a quaint little family picture without her.

Why had she ever agreed to the contract in the first place? What had she hoped for? That Derek would profess his undying love at the birth of his son and they would all live happily ever after? Deep in her heart, she knew the answer to that question. Yes, Talli had hoped he would propose marriage to her.

Unable to deal with the thoughts floating around in her head, she set off for a Christmas Eve visit to the Children's Castle. Her arms laden with presents, she walked through the brightly lit hallways and listened to the sound of giggles emerging from every room. The children played happily in their surroundings.

Sarah dropped her doll and ran toward Talli, throwing herself into Talli's embrace. "Hi, Talli. You came."

"Of course I came. I always come to see you, don't I?"

Sarah stared at Talli, her little hands reaching up to pat Talli's cold cheeks. "You look sad. I think you should marry Mr. D and make him your daddy. All mommies need a daddy. Tyler needs a mommy too."

Talli searched Sarah's cherubic face. "You saw Tyler?"

Sarah's red head nodded vigorously up and down. "Uh huh. Mr. D let me hold him too. I held him real good. I didn't drop him, not even once," she added seriously. "Mr. D bringed him to show me today. He's cute, except when I was holding him, he made these funny noises, then he smelled really yucky, so I gave him back."

Talli smiled at Sarah, so serious as she related how Derek had entrusted her with Tyler. "Sarah, are Tyler and Mr. D still here?"

"Nope, they left. Did Mr. D make you sad, Talli?"

"What? Why do you ask?"

"Cuz, when I asked him where you were, he got all funny looking. Said he didn't know."

Talli felt her heart begin to pound. Could it be Derek was having the same feelings for her, she found herself having for him?

Derek pressed the switch as his driver's window slid quietly downward. A fast glance at Tyler showed his son sound asleep strapped securely into his car seat. Derek turned his gaze to the open window. Across the street from where he had parked sat a modest white wood-frame house, flanked neatly by two patches of snowy ground. The fresh paint on the house sparkled in the morning sunlight to invoke a sense of peace inside of Derek.

The side yard was strewn with the remnants of children at play. The tree swing lazily blew back and forth. Derek closed his eyes. Twenty-five years ago, the house was a dirty gray color, the shutters broken and the backyard covered with busted whiskey bottles. Sounds of love and laughter were few and far between. Time had dulled the memories, as he stared long and hard at the house.

While Derek continued to watch, the front door opened and a young woman emerged, a toddler in a bright yellow snowsuit trailing behind her. He saw the woman settle the child on a sled. A smile escaped his lips as the mother and child laughed together in the snow. The driver's side window slowly closed. He had seen enough. It was time to put the past where it belonged. In the past. Now was the time to plan for his own future. A future for Derek and Tyler.