A N G E L (Roger Daltrey)

Thirty Four

Nancy's POV

I had to stay in the hospital for a couple of days, but I ended up being alright. The same couldn't be said for Missy, who was getting all kinds of treatments and therapies to make her stronger. Leaving her at the hospital was one of the most excruciating things I had ever done.

I was driving back there for the final time, the doctors said she was finally well enough to come home. Janice was in the passenger's seat. We had stayed up super late last night putting together a bassinet that we had found in a junk shop. It was in great condition, just missing the pieces that made it rock. I told Janice that I didn't mind, that I'd just rock her in my arms. It had a froofy white skirt that hung around it and lots of eyelet lace.

Beverly was nice enough to hand me down the clothes she had used for Annie and Michelle when they were newborns, even though most of them would be too big for a while. Luckily, Jan had found a bag of ridiculously frilly baby doll clothes somewhere that would do until then. Between the doll clothes and the lacy bassinet, I was glad Missy was a girl!

My heart soared to see her breathing on her own. The rise and fall of her tiny chest made an emotional tightness settle in mine. She was wearing the cutest pink dress I had ever seen. It was hand-crocheted with little cap sleeves, and a silk rosette had been sewn to the collar just under her chin.

The nurse took her out of her box and handed her to me, as she had many times before, but this time, I got to walk out the doors with her.

"Where did this sweet little dress come from?" I asked.

"Some of the older women at the first baptist church have a ministry where they knit and crochet clothes for the premature babies," the nurse explained.

"That has to be one of the cutest things I've heard in a while." I stated. "Thank you for taking such good care of us these past several weeks. We are so grateful. Isn't that right, Melissa?"

Melissa stretched her skinny arms and rubbed her face with her teeny hands, opening her little pink mouth in what looked like a yawn.

The nurses set me up with all sorts of formula to feed her, both because my milk never came in and because she required extra nutrients that I couldn't provide even if it had.

Janice held her in her arms as I drove us home.

Bev and the kids made over her like she was royalty. I dug up the camera I had gotten as a graduation present and snapped pictures of everyone holding her, including Annie, who was tickled pink.

After the excitement died down a little, I went back to our room to settle her in.

"Do you need anything?" Janice asked me, poking her head in the door.

"Not right now. Thanks, though." I answered.

"Okay. Holler if you do. I'm gonna give Rog a call and let him know she's home." She patted the door frame and turned towards the kitchen.

Janice and Roger had cozied right back up over the past few weeks. I was always glad to eavesdrop on their conversations, and it was great that Janice was happy, but it made me feel lonely sometimes. Plus, who would want me now that I had a baby? Would it just be me and my daughter and no one else forever?

Janice's POV

Roger picked up pretty immediately. The band was taking a little break from touring while they worked on their new album, and he had been bumming around the house a lot lately.

"Hi beautiful!" He answered.

I laughed. "Hey."

"What's funny?" He asked.

"Just that it was bold to answer the phone like that. What if it wasn't me? What if it was Keith or something?" I giggled.

"Are you going to try to tell me Keith isn't, A, beautiful, and B, would be anything less than thrilled for me to say so?" He chuckled.

"Okay that's fair. Speaking of Keith, guess what happened today?" I started winding the phone cord around my fingers as always.

"Erm, you baked a lovely pie?"

I guffawed. "Baked a lovely pie? What? No, you're a horrible guesser, what does that have to do with Keith? Nancy was able to bring the baby home!"

"Oh! That's wonderful. Tell me all about it."

I blushed and cracked out a sweat. I was stunned in the worst of ways that talking on the phone with him still had such a huge effect on me. I just couldn't help it when he acted so interested in my life like that.

I told him about Melissa and Nancy and how I was still so shocked that the baby had Keith's eyes. He told me that Keith still didn't completely know, and if he did, it didn't seem to make much difference to him.

We chatted for a while until he had to go.

"Goodbye, love, I'll talk to you soon. I miss you." He said.

"You, too. I adore you!" I answered, using the cheesy phrase we exchanged instead of "I love you," as we were both too scared of the L word to say it.

"And I adore you, darling. Bye." He hung up.

I sauntered back to my room and sat on the bed. Nancy was asleep, one hand hanging into the bassinet where Melissa lay, also sleeping peacefully. I picked up her camera from the dresser and took a picture of them. The flash made Nancy jump, but she didn't wake up.

I returned the camera to its place and pulled out the envelope full of money from working at the school. I hadn't counted it in a while, so I figured I might as well.

My eyes widened as I counted. I sat the stack of bills down and counted it up again. Breathlessly, I stared at the $500 in my hands. When did it become so much? Was I dreaming? Had I really worked that much? I guess the overtime and extra cleaning I had done really paid off.

$500. Being in a rural area like we were, we could get a two bedroom for less than $100 a month! I started scheming about moving closer to the school so I wouldn't have to pay bus money. I'd keep working, and we could live fairly comfortably! Nancy wouldn't even have to work unless she wanted to.

Man, I really was the dad.

I crammed the money into the envelope and stuck it back where it belonged, then scampered back to the phone.

"Hi, Roger? I'm sorry to bug, I know we just got off, but I gotta tell ya, man, I've got more good news." I breathed.

"Lay it on me." He said.

"You are talking to a girl who is worth $500 in this world."

"Hell's bells! That's so much! Janice. That's so much. I am so proud of you, you've worked so hard for this. Let me buy you a plane ticket, please. I need to see you. The baby's born, you have plenty of money. Please, take a week and come see me." He spilled.

I sighed. "I don't know, I need to help Nancy...." I trailed. 

"Talk to her, ask her what she thinks. I miss you so, so very much. I'd do near anything to see you."

The pleading in his voice made my heart do backflips.

"I-I'll ask. But I don't feel good about it. If I were in her position, I'd want her to stick around me as much as possible." I halfway conceded. 

"You're too sweet and considerate for you own good. Just ask. Let me know." He said. 

"Alright. Bye, angel." I smiled.

He chuckled at the nickname. "Bye, pretty girl."