“I was just about to.” She tried to remain calm in the face of his obvious panic and her own. She’d experienced rapidly spiking temperatures before and learned that it was a matter of course for children. Still, she’d never felt Sharon Lynn’s skin quite so hot.

The thermometer registered one hundred and three degrees. Cody’s face blanched when she told him.

“We’re going to the hospital,” he said at once, starting out of the kitchen.

Melissa blocked his way. “Not yet,” she said far more calmly than she was feeling. There was no point in both of them panicking. “Let me give her a Tylenol and try bathing her with cool water to see if we can’t bring that temperature down. If there’s no change, then we’ll call the doctor.”

Sharon Lynn patted Cody’s stubbled cheek weakly and murmured, “Da.” She sounded pitiful.

Cody looked thoroughly shaken. “Melissa, I don’t think we should wait. Something’s really wrong with her.”

“It’s probably nothing more than the start of a cold or a touch of flu,” she said. “Stuff like that reaches epidemic proportions this time of the year.”

“Her temperature’s over a hundred,” he reminded her. “That can’t be good for her.”

“Babies get high temperatures. It’s nothing to get crazy about,” she insisted, amending to herself, yet.

She gave Sharon Lynn Tylenol, then ran cool water into the kitchen sink. “Bring her over here and let’s get her out of that nightgown. It’s soaking wet anyway. Why don’t you go back to her room and bring me a clean one, along with a fresh diaper. We’ll need those after I’ve sponged her off a bit with cool water.”

Cody looked as if he might refuse to budge, but eventually he did as she’d asked. By the time he’d returned, Sharon Lynn was no longer whimpering. In fact she seemed to be relaxing and enjoying the cool water Melissa was gently splashing over her.

“Are you sure that’s good for her?” Cody asked, worry etched on his face.

“It’s exactly what the doctor and all the child-care books recommend. If you don’t believe me, there’s a book in the living room. Go read it.” Anything to get him out of the kitchen again before he wore a hole in the linoleum with his pacing. Worse, she was feeling crowded with all of his hovering.

“No, no, I’ll take your word for it,” he said, standing over her shoulder and watching every move she made. “Maybe we should take her temperature again.”

Melissa sighed and stepped aside to allow him to put the fancy new thermometer in Sharon Lynn’s ear for a few seconds.

“It’s a hundred and two,” he proclaimed. “That’s it. We’re going to the hospital.”