Finding Out

Dan Evans

He arrived at the hospital in Coffs, breathless, but Dan Evans managed to tell the front desk that he was there to see Libby Tyler. The uniformed volunteer gave him a room number with a smile. Barely saying 'thank you' to the woman, Dan was on his way down the hall.

As he approached the nurse's station, he saw Richie Roberts come out of a room and leave out a side door. Dan didn't call out to him. He didn't want to see Richie, but at least he knew which was Libby's room now. Who else would Roberts have been here to see?

Dan had been returning from a business trip to Sydney and had just arrived in Coffs. After picking up his car, he'd been on his way out of town toward the Glen when he'd passed the impound lot the police used. And there'd been Libby's car.

He'd know it anywhere and his heart had almost stopped. It didn't look too badly damaged, but still... Who knew how badly Libby had been hurt? Dan had pulled into the lot and questioned the man behind the desk about the car.

Turned out the man who'd towed it in was there at the moment. He'd told Dan briefly what had happened and which hospital the young woman in the car had been taken into. She didn't appear to be too badly hurt, he'd told Dan. She'd been able to walk away from the accident with some scrapes and bruises, but they'd taken her to hospital to check her out anyway.

Now, Dan approached the door to the room quietly. Libby probably wouldn't be too happy to see him. Luckily, she was asleep when he pushed open the door. He went over to the side of the bed. Stood there watching her sleep, breathing shallowly. She'd been crying, he could see. A lot.

Dan took a chair in the corner, sitting silently and watching her. Thanking God that she appeared to be all right. He wasn't sure how long he'd been there when he got up to find some water.

The kindly nurse who'd called Richie for Libby had passed the door several times and seen Dan sitting in the chair watching Libby. Now, she smiled at him. "I noticed you're here to see Miss Tyler. Has she been awake?"

"No," Dan answered her shortly, "but that's okay. Let her sleep." They wouldn't tell him anything he knew, him not being family. But he'd worked with Ben Wade long enough to know how to get information he needed out of people.

Leaning against the desk with the most charming smile he could muster, he said to the nurse. "I saw Mr. Roberts on his way out. He told me what happened. I'm a friend."

"Oh." Her face became more friendly and open. "Yes, it was very lucky she wasn't seriously hurt. Of course, it's terrible that she lost the baby but, as the doctor told she and Mr. Roberts, everything is fine. They can still have as many children as they want!" The nurse beamed at Dan as she spoke, sure she was imparting good news.

Dan was floored. Baby??? Libby had been pregnant??? She'd been expecting Roberts' baby?

Controlling his expression, he said. "At least it was very early on."

"Yes, a couple of months," the nurse said absently, shuffling patient charts.

A couple of months, Dan thought to himself. Then it hadn't belonged to Roberts. That was too long.

There were two possibilities. Either it had been Nova's. Or his.