The Baby Switch!

by Melissa Senate

  But Shane’s father did.

  Still, hair and eye color and a birthmark and a dimple didn’t mean Shane wasn’t her son.

  Even if the baby in her arms looked a lot like Liam Mercer.

  Shelby shook her head, suddenly unable to speak. She sucked in a breath. “I love Shane with all my heart. I’m his only parent. I’m his mother. He’s my son.”

  “I feel the same way about Alexander,” Liam said. “His mother died in childbirth.”

  Oh, no. That was why he looked the way he had that night. “I’m so sorry.” She let out a breath. “And I’m scared. Really, really scared.”

  “I don’t say this often, Ms. Ingalls. But so am I.”

  That made her feel better. Especially because he was a Mercer. And the Mercer name in Wedlock Creek meant two things. Power and money. Shelby barely broke even every month. And her lawyer was on loan.

  “Liam,” she said. “My son looks a lot like you. And your son looks a lot like me.”

  He turned away, then stared down at the baby in his arms. Then at her. Then back to his son. “Yeah. I know. And I’m worried as hell. That the babies actually could have been switched. I mean, I saw you here, in this clinic, in labor, at the same time Alexander’s mother was in labor. I saw you with my own eyes. You gave birth to a baby boy. That’s not in dispute. If Shane isn’t yours, then...” He shook his head, then stared at the ground.

  She expelled a breath. “So now what?”

  Alexander gurgled and cooed, “Du, wa,” his gaze on Shane. The two babies eyed each other, smiles forming. Alexander reached out to touch Shane’s arm and Shane smiled, reaching to touch the brim of the little Stetson.

  “They like each other,” Liam said softly, his voice hollow. “Look, let’s go to the hospital and get your and Shane’s blood drawn for typing. For all we know, the clinic here has been making mistakes for years. Let’s find out for sure that you and Shane can’t be related.”

  Should she go anywhere with Liam Mercer? Maybe she should run it by her lawyer. But then again, there was only one person on earth who knew what this insanity felt like: Liam. She wanted to hear what he had to say. She needed to be around him right now.

  She let out a breath and nodded. “I’m in no position to drive. My hands will shake on the wheel.”

  “I’ll drive. I’ll install Shane’s seat in the back of my SUV.”

  Which meant he was calm. Outwardly, anyway. Because he knew that no matter what, he wouldn’t lose anything? That was very likely how things were for Mercers. Money and power talked.

  “I want to make something clear, Mr. Mercer. I know the Mercer name. You and your family are wealthy and powerful and own half the commercial real estate and the rodeo. I’m a single mother without much to my name but a secondhand shop. Regardless, if you push me, if you try anything underhanded, I’ll fight you with everything I have.”

  “Whoa,” he said, his blue eyes steady on her. “We’re going through the same thing, Ms. Ingalls. We’re in the same position. Money and power are meaningless here. If Alexander isn’t my biological son, all the money in Wyoming won’t make it any less true.”

  She stared at him. He was right—to a point. Money and power could take Shane away from her. He could end up with both boys.

  “I might be rich, Ms. Ingalls. But I’m not underhanded. I’m a single parent, just like you are. And I’ll swear on anything you want. I’ll never do anything to hurt you or these babies.”

  The sincerity on his face made her feel better. And truth be told, she needed to believe him or she’d spontaneously combust. “Call me Shelby.”

  He nodded. “And call me Liam.”

  He gestured for her to walk ahead out the door. “Let’s get the hell out of this clinic.”

  As she watched Liam zip up his son’s fleece bunting, the tenderness on the man’s face almost stole her breath.

  He loves that baby. Like I love Shane.

  Dear God, this was a mess.

  You’re my son, no matter what, she whispered silently to Shane.

  As they left the office, each holding a baby, Shelby was barely hanging on. If the DNA tests proved the impossible, that they’d each taken home a baby who wasn’t theirs, would Liam try to seek custody of both babies and win because of his power and money and influence? Right now it was easy for him to say he’d never do anything to hurt her. His back wasn’t up against a wall—yet, anyway. Not like hers was.

  Stop getting ahead of yourself, Shelby. He might be a Mercer, but she had a loud, bossy, big family in Wedlock Creek. They’d have her back. Her sister had managed to supply her with a lawyer in less than five minutes, after all. One step at a time, one piece of information at a time.

  Feeling a little stronger, she watched as Liam headed across the parking lot to his car, a sleek, black SUV, settled Alexander in his car seat, then drove it over to where she stood next to her twelve-year-old Ford.

  She could not, would not, lose Shane. But the little boy in that black car was very likely her baby, too.

  Oh, God. Suddenly she wanted to tear Alexander from his car seat, take him in her arms and explain it had been a mistake, she hadn’t known, she was so sorry she let someone else take him home and raise him these past six months.

  As tears slipped down her cheeks, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

  She hadn’t even realized Liam had gotten out of his car and had come over to her. “We’ll figure this out together,” he said.

  At the word together, she calmed down again and looked up into Liam Mercer’s eyes. She saw sincerity there. But the last time Shelby had trusted a man she’d ended up pregnant and alone.

  Careful, she told herself. Proceed with utmost caution. Agree to nothing. Sign nothing. You’re a smart woman. Keep your head.

  She was glad when Liam let go of her shoulder and opened her car door to get Shane’s car seat, busy with installing it in his SUV. They were not united. They were not anything. His use of the word together would likely only serve him. She didn’t know this man at all.

  She was on her own here and had to remember that. Or she’d lose everything.

  * * *

  Liam’s hands had been steady on the wheel during the drive to the hospital, but inside he was a mess. Every time his mind latched on something that would make Alexander his biological son, three more yeah, but what about xyz, yeah, but remember when the administrator said socked him upside the head. Shelby had been silent for the almost hour drive, and he was glad. He didn’t want to talk about any of it. He could barely handle thinking about it.

  Alexander wasn’t his son? He damned well was, no matter what a piece of paper said. That was the one thing that kept reverberating in his head. He was sure it was the same for Shelby, which made him want to be around her and never see her again at the same time.

  Was the baby in the back seat, the one without the cowboy hat, his biological child?

  Maybe. Probably? No. Yes. He went round and round as Shelby and Shane were ushered into the lab room to get their blood drawn. As he sat in the waiting room, Alexander playing his favorite game of squeeze Daddy’s chin, women around him commenting on Alexander’s cuteness and big cheeks, he could hear Shane crying behind the closed door. Which made him hyperaware of the timing; his tiny vein had just been pricked, a vial filling with his blood. Which would prove, once and for all, if the clinic hadn’t made a mistake with the typing. From prior visits, at that.

  Hell, it was unlikely, but he was hanging on to hope. If Shelby could be Shane’s biological mother, then they could all just walk away, go back to their lives and live happily-ever-after. Liam would have one heck of a story for tonight’s dinner at the Mercer ranch.

  Shelby finally came out of the lab room, holding Shane, who had a little round Mickey Mouse Band-Aid in the crook of his right arm. Liam stared at his little tear-stained face, seeing n
ot only his own expression in Shane’s, but Liza’s, also.

  He almost fell out of his chair.

  “Are you all right, Liam?” Shelby asked, rushing over.

  He slowly shook his head. He was not all right.

  Calm down and go back to hanging on to hope. Wait for the blood results. If they still say Shelby isn’t Shane’s mother, then you’ll wait for the DNA tests. You’re Alexander’s father. You are.

  As they left the hospital, Shelby told him that the lab had promised to expedite the results, based on a call from the clinic requesting it. She would know by three o’clock today.

  “I want to stay with you and Shane until we know,” he said. “I need you in my sight.”

  “Because you’re afraid I’ll run away with your heir?” she snapped. “If Shane is your son, then Alexander is my son,” she reminded him, her green eyes flashing.

  He stared at her. “You really don’t trust me, do you?”

  “I don’t know you,” she pointed out. “And I don’t trust easily. Add in who you are...”

  “I told you, Shelby, I—”

  “Won’t do anything to hurt me or Shane. I know. I’ve tucked that away to remind you of it when you really have to face the truth of what’s happened.”

  He shook his head. “Let me change how I put it, then. I want you and Shane in my sight because I’m going out of my mind. I don’t want to be alone, but I don’t want to tell anyone about this yet. That leaves you. To be with someone who gets it without my having to say a word.”

  Her expression softened. “I know exactly what you mean.” She glanced at her watch. “Oh, God, I really need to head over to my shop and put a sign on the door that we’re closed for the day. The Minnow sisters are probably worried about me, and I had an appointment scheduled for ten-thirty to look through a bag of stuff.”

  “Minnow sisters? Bag of stuff?”

  “For Treasures, my shop. The Minnows are three elderly sisters who stop by every Friday at ten to see what I’ve added for the weekend shoppers.”

  He nodded. “The secondhand store. Next to the bakery, right? My cousin Clara loves that place. I once complimented a painting of a weathered red barn in her hallway and she said she got it from Treasures. I stopped by one day to check it out but left when I realized it was a secondhand store.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? Honestly, you never know what you’ll find at Treasures.”

  Like dust? Falling apart old junk even its owner didn’t want? The painting had to be an exception. “Well, why don’t we head over there? We can talk there or not talk there and just keep each other occupied until the call comes from the hospital lab. I could use a few cups of coffee. At some point later I’ll drive you back to the clinic to pick up your car.”

  Forty-five minutes later Liam pulled into a spot in front of Treasures. As they got out of the car, Shelby taking out Shane, and Liam taking out Alexander, he saw Shelby craning her neck to look down Main Street.

  “I can just make out the Minnow sisters heading into the library,” she said. “They’re easy to spot since they always walk three across the sidewalk. They must have waited all this time for me and gave up.”

  As she opened the door with an ornate gold key, he realized he actually had been in the shop once before with Clara. His cousin had insisted on dragging him along to find a present for her mother, who despite being Liam’s dear aunt, was the biggest snob alive. Liam hadn’t thought his aunt would want anything from a secondhand shop, but the next time he’d seen her, she’d been wearing the brooch that Clara had insisted she’d love. It’s antique, it’s history, it has a story, Clara had insisted. Who knows where the brooch has been, what love story it was part of. It’s so romantic!

  It’s so...used, was what Liam had thought. He appreciated the shiny and new. But hey, if it worked for his cousin and aunt, all the better for Shelby, now that he actually knew the shop’s owner.

  “I’ll keep the shade drawn on the door and the closed sign hanging,” she said as they stepped inside. “I hate to disappoint my customers or keep new ones away, but I can’t open the store. Not in my frame of mind.”

  “I know what you mean,” he said, scooting Alexander a bit higher in his arms. The baby snuggled against his leather jacket. “I had a day full of meetings, including a very important one. I canceled everything and delegated what I could.” His cousin had been incredulous when he let her know he was counting on her to seal the deal on the Kenyon Corp acquisition, that he had full faith in her. Incredulous that he was skipping the meeting and that he believed in her so much; that part of their relationship had never really been tested before.

  “What the hell could be so important that you’d miss the negotiation?” Clara had asked when he’d called her after dropping off Shelby and Shane at the hospital entrance. He’d let Shelby know he’d park and meet her after alerting his office he’d be out for the day.

  “I can’t talk about it right now, Clara. Just knock them dead.”

  “Oh, I will. Hope everything’s okay.”

  “Talk to you in a few hours,” he’d said and ended the call, which he knew would worry her, but his very focused cousin would set her mind to the negotiating and nothing else and she’d do great. She’d burn up his phone later and ring his doorbell until he answered later, though. Of that he had no doubt. To both tell him about the meeting and to hear what had kept him from it. But he had no idea when he’d be ready to talk about what was going on. If he’d talk about it.

  He turned his attention to the stuffed shop, every table, every bit of space, taken up by things, from lamps to flower pots and vases to cases of jewelry to paintings and knickknacks of every kind imaginable. There was a bookcase of old, leather-bound classics and an entire table full of various teapots with little cups and saucers.

  He glanced up at the wall near the shop’s entrance. “Look, Alexander, it’s a cuckoo clock. The little bird is about to come out because it’s almost the half hour.” He walked a bit closer and as the clock chimed that it was 1:30 p.m., a gold bird with a red beak popped out.

  Alexander giggled and pointed.

  “Cuckoo,” Liam said. “Cuckoo!” Yup, this whole thing was cuckoo, all right.

  Alexander giggled, and Liam smiled, snuggling his little boy close.

  She smiled. “Fatherhood agrees with you.”

  He looked at Alexander, the little boy he loved more than anything on earth. “Alexander changed my life. For the good.”

  “Must have been hard, though, going from Wedlock Creek’s most prized eligible bachelor to the father of an infant. On your own.”

  “It was. I guess I was too shocked to pay attention to how hard it was and just went day by day. But every night, when I’d be up with Alexander at two and four a.m., the house dead quiet except for his tiny burp after having his bottle, I was just overtaken by devotion. By a sense of responsibility to this little life I helped create.”

  She bit her lip and looked at him, then set Shane down in a bouncy seat behind the counter and handed him a teething ring in the shape of a rabbit. “With this...new information, I hate to put him down, for him to be out of arm’s reach for even a moment, but honestly, he’s getting big. He’s eighteen pounds now.”

  Liam smiled. “So’s Alexander.” He glanced at Shane, watching the little stuffed animals twirl around on the mobile attached to the bouncer. “This is some mess, huh? Everything we thought we know about our lives is suddenly turned upside down.”

  She was staring at Shane, and he could see tears glistening in her eyes. He wanted to hold her, to tell her they’d get through this, somehow, that they’d get through it together. But what comfort would that be? They were practically strangers.

  The light shining through the windows caught on her blond hair and the side of her delicate face, and she looked so alone and lost that he r
eached out and took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. I’m not the enemy, the squeeze was supposed to say. But yeah, this sucks.

  She looked up at him, surprise crossing her pretty face, and she squeezed back.

  “I have another bouncer if you want a breather yourself,” she said.

  “Sure.”

  She disappeared into a back room and returned with a yellow bouncer with a stars and moon mobile. Alexander pointed at it.

  “You like it?” Liam asked the baby. “Let’s get you settled in it next to your buddy, Shane.”

  He put Alexander in the bouncer, buckling the little harness, and turned the reclining seat so that the boys could see each other. He stood and came back around the counter when Shelby’s phone rang.

  She glanced at the cuckoo clock. “It’s only one forty-five. Could that be the hospital lab?” Her phone rang again, but she seemed frozen in place. On the third ring she grabbed it from her tote bag. “Shelby Ingalls speaking.”

  “It’s them,” she mouthed to him, the phone against her ear. He watched her listen, her eyes full of hope. Tell me what I want to hear, those eyes beseeched. But then the light went out of the green depths, and she clearly couldn’t contain the sob that rose from inside her.

  She croaked out a “Thank you for calling,” then put the phone down on a table next to a teapot, her eyes welling, anguish dropping her to her knees on the circular rug.

  “Oh, no,” he said, closing his eyes for a moment. Oh, no. No.

  She burst into tears. “It’s official. Shane is not my son.”

  Chapter Three

  Liam rushed over and knelt down beside her. He put his arm around her. “I’m so sorry, Shelby.”

  “It has to be true, then,” she said. “The hospital switched the babies. How else could this have happened?”