by Pamela Bauer
“She’s slowly improving,” he answered. Even though he’d told her he didn’t know her, he continued to stare at her as if she were of particular interest to him.
Faith could feel her face warming under his scrutiny and was grateful when out of the corner of her eye she noticed Isaac’s mother had come back to the day-care center. “I’m glad to hear she’s getting better. You’ll have to excuse me. It looks as if this little guy’s mother has come to pick him up.” She looked past his shoulder and smiled at the woman walking toward them, hoping he would take the hint and leave.
“I understand,” he said with a glance over his shoulder at the approaching woman. “I just wanted to say thank you for what you did for Megan.”
“No thanks are necessary,” she told him.
He smiled then, an incredibly sexy grin that made Faith feel funny in places she didn’t know existed inside her. “Goodbye, Faith, the baby rocker.”
“Bye,” she mumbled, then turned her attention to Isaac’s mother, hoping he would leave without saying another word to her. He did and she felt a pent-up stream of tension ease from her muscles. She hoped it was the last she’d see of him. Being in his presence was like something she’d never experienced before. For a brief moment she’d felt a longing inside her that made her wonder what it would be like if Adam Novak were to take her in his arms and kiss her. She didn’t want to have such feelings. They didn’t seem right. Not now, when she didn’t even know her own name.
Goodbye, Faith, the baby rocker. Long after he was gone she heard his deep voice echoing those words in her head, and each time they sent a tiny shiver of pleasure through her.
CHAPTER THREE
ADAM KNEW WHY Megan wanted to believe Faith was her mother. If he didn’t know better he might have mistaken the child-care worker for Christie, too.
But he did know better. Unlike his daughter, Adam was certain that when people died and went to heaven, they didn’t come back.
Christie had drowned in Lake Superior last September. An eyewitness had seen her small sailboat capsize in a storm, sending its lone occupant into the lake. The Coast Guard had been summoned to the scene but rescue attempts had failed.
Anyone who lived near Lake Superior knew that because of the temperature of the water, there was little hope of surviving such an accident. That hadn’t stopped Christie’s brother, a professional diver, from looking for her. It hadn’t taken him long to realize that he wasn’t going to find her. Tom Anderson, like the other residents of the small town of Silver Bay, knew that very few bodies were ever recovered from the huge body of water. It was too deep and too cold and the great lake had a history of not giving up its dead. Megan’s mother was one of them. Although her body had never surfaced from the icy waters of the lake, the authorities had declared her legally dead.
As Adam stood outside the child-care center looking in at Faith, the baby rocker, he had to remind himself of that fact. Although she wore a hospital smock and plain black slacks, with the right clothes and makeup he thought she could easily pass for Christie. He doubted, however, that a woman who rocked babies during the day in a hospital nursery would strip off her clothes at a nightclub after dark.
He watched as she said goodbye to one child and welcomed another. She led her newest responsibility to a child-size table where she set him on a chair, then knelt beside him, encouraging him to build a tower of wood blocks. For every one square she added to the pile, he tossed another onto the floor and every time she’d bend over to pick up a block, her blond hair would fall like a curtain of silk across her cheek.
Adam felt something stir inside him. Like Christie, she had a look about her few men wouldn’t notice. It was uncanny just how much of a resemblance she had to Megan’s mother. So much of one that when he’d first seen her, his breath had caught in his throat. He knew he’d made her uncomfortable staring at her the way he had, but he hadn’t been able to help himself. He debated whether he should go back inside and explain the reason for his interest in her.
He decided against it. He needed to talk to his daughter, and there was no point in putting off the inevitable. He needed to go back upstairs and tell Megan that the woman she’d seen yesterday was not her mother.
For once in his life he found himself wishing that miracles could happen and the impossible would come true. He could think of nothing more satisfying than being able to tell her that he’d been wrong—that her mother hadn’t drowned. She was alive and well and right here in this hospital. The past six months had been just one big, nasty nightmare. It was the one thing he could tell his daughter that would for certain put a smile on her face.
He knew he was being fanciful to even allow such thoughts. Megan needed him to be a parent even if it meant he had to tell her what she didn’t want to hear.
Adam sighed. It seemed as if every day brought a new challenge to him as a father. Just when he thought he’d crossed the last of the major hurdles, another one always managed to pop up in the middle of the road. Never would he have expected he would be having a conversation with his daughter about her mother’s reincarnation. But then he’d been unprepared for so many of the things that had happened between the two of them, it really shouldn’t have come as that big of a surprise.
Reluctantly he turned away from the window and headed back to Megan’s room.
“HAS IT BEEN BUSY?” Zoe, a college student who worked the evening shift, asked Faith when she arrived at the child-care center.
“It hasn’t been too bad,” Faith told her replacement as she wiped down the wood slats of a crib.
“Who’s the guy in with Mrs. Carmichael?” the young girl wanted to know.
Faith turned around to glance at the office and saw Adam Novak leaning over Mrs. Carmichael’s desk. She wondered why he had come back.
“I think his daughter’s a patient here.” Faith returned her attention to scrubbing the crib, not wanting the other woman to suspect she had any interest in the conversation taking place in the office.
“He’s hot, isn’t he?” Zoe asked.
Faith mumbled, “I wouldn’t know,” which wasn’t exactly the truth. She knew very well that he was attractive. It’s why she’d had a funny feeling in her stomach when he’d stared at her earlier that afternoon.
“He’s probably married,” the other girl surmised. “Most good-looking guys are.”
Faith didn’t comment, not wanting to admit that she had wondered about his marital status, too. Since he’d left the child-care center earlier that day, she’d wondered about quite a few things about him, none of them she wanted to share with her co-worker.
To her relief, Zoe changed the subject. “How come you’re doing Gina’s job? I thought it was her week to wash the cribs.”
“It is, but I had some extra time so I thought I’d do it.”
When a mother arrived with a little girl, Zoe was forced to give them her attention. Faith emptied her bucket and was about to take off her smock and go home for the day when she heard Mrs. Carmichael call her into her office.
“Mr. Novak would like to speak to you for a few minutes,” she said when Faith paused in the doorway. Mrs. Carmichael gestured for her to enter the small room. “You can talk here,” she said before pulling the door shut on her way out.
Adam Novak stood next to the desk, looking every bit as attractive as he had earlier that day. Faith knew that Zoe was dead-on with her description of him when she’d called him hot. Just the way he looked at her could make her skin warm. Her heart began to beat faster and she clasped her hands together so they wouldn’t reveal her nervousness.
“You’re probably wondering why I’m here,” he began, his gaze not as intense as it had been the first time they’d spoken, yet it had the power to send a shiver through her.
“Why are you here?” Once again, the way he looked at her created all sorts of funny sensations inside her. She nervously moistened her lips with her tongue.
“You like children, don’t you.” It was
more of a statement than a question.
“Of course. I wouldn’t be much help around here if I didn’t,” she answered with a weak smile.
He returned her smile with a grin that sent a tingling through her. “That’s why I came back. Because you like children and I have a pretty good idea that if you knew there was something you could do to help one, you’d do it. Am I right?”
“Yes.” She eyed him warily. “Mr. Novak, if you want me to visit Megan, all you have to do is ask.”
“There are circumstances that might make it a little awkward,” he said, his eyes still holding hers.
“I often visit the pediatrics unit to read to the patients. This is a hospital, Mr. Novak. I see children with all kinds of illnesses. It won’t be uncomfortable for me. If I can cheer Megan by visiting her, I’d be happy to do so.”
“Her physical condition is not the reason I think it could be awkward for you,” he told her.
“Then what is the reason?”
He took a deep breath, ran a hand over his dark head, then propped a hip on the corner of the desk. “I need to tell you a little about Megan. Maybe you want to sit down.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m fine, thank you.”
He shrugged. “Megan lost her mother last fall. She drowned in a boating accident.”
Faith’s chest tightened. “I’m so sorry. It must have been horrible for both of you.”
“Yes, it was. Losing a parent at such a young age is traumatic. It’s very difficult for a six-year-old to comprehend the concept of death. She had so many questions. I thought I’d answered all of them, but…” He trailed off with a shake of his head.
“I’m sure you did the best you could,” Faith said.
Grimacing, he admitted, “I’m afraid my best wasn’t good enough.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because no matter how many times I explain that once a person dies and goes to heaven that person cannot come home again, Megan doesn’t believe me.”
“She thinks her mother’s going to come back?” Faith asked in dismay.
“It’s worse. She believes she’s seen her.”
Emotion rose in her throat. “That is very sad.”
“Sad, but true. After surgery when they were moving her from recovery to her room, she saw a woman she believes is her mother.” He looked her straight in the eye and said, “You.”
“Me?” Faith was so startled that she was surprised she could say anything at all.
“Yes, and I can understand her mistake. You do look like Christie.”
Faith gasped. “That’s why you were staring at me? Because I reminded you of your dead wife?” She hated the frantic tone that had come into her voice, but at the moment she was feeling far from calm.
“Yes, you look very much like Megan’s mother,” he said quietly.
“You said she drowned.”
He nodded soberly. “In Lake Superior.” A shadow passed over his face. “That’s what makes this difficult for Megan to understand. They never recovered her mother’s body and for months after her death she believed it was all a mistake.” He continued to talk about the period of adjustment Megan was going through, but Faith had a hard time concentrating on what he was saying. There was only one thought going through her head. They never found her body.
Faith swallowed with difficulty. It couldn’t be. It was too bizarre to even contemplate. She couldn’t be this Christie person whom everyone thought was dead. Lake Superior was over three hours away. What would she have been doing on the side of the road in southern Minnesota if she lived on the North Shore?
“So that’s why I need you to visit Megan,” he said, unaware of the turmoil going on inside her.
With her skin becoming clammy and her heart pounding in her chest she said, “You want me to tell her I’m not her mother?”
“Yes. It’s the only way she’s going to accept that her mother is gone. She won’t listen to me.”
“But you’re her father.” Her legs grew weak beneath her and she reached for the desk to steady herself. “Surely she trusts you to tell her the truth?”
“It’s been a while since I saw her mother.”
She frowned. “But you do remember what she looked like?”
“Yes. She looked very much like you.”
The room began to spin and Adam’s voice grew fainter in her ears.
“That’s why I stared at you the way I did earlier this morning. For a moment, I thought you were Christie. I…”
Faith didn’t hear the rest of what he said because she was falling into darkness.
As she gradually regained consciousness, she heard a man’s voice calling her name. When she opened her eyes, Adam Novak and Mrs. Carmichael were at her side looking very anxious.
“Do you think we should take her to the E.R.?” the older woman asked Adam.
“No, I think she’s coming around,” he answered.
Faith’s first attempt at speaking resulted in silence. She wanted to tell them she was okay, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get the words out.
“I’ll get a glass of water,” Mrs. Carmichael said before disappearing from the room.
As Faith tried to raise herself up, Adam lent her his arm. He felt solid and steady as she used it as a lever.
“Take it slow,” he warned, sliding his other arm around her.
She was tempted to sink back against him. He smelled good—like the forest after a rain—and he was looking at her as if she were a delicate piece of china that might break. A pleasant sensation rippled through her as she caught the look in his eyes.
“I’m okay,” she said, scrambling to her feet and away from his touch.
“You’d better sit for a few minutes,” he said, pushing a chair toward her.
Her legs still wobbly, she did as he suggested. When he hovered over her she said, “You don’t need to worry. I’m not going to do that again.”
“Maybe you should go to the E.R. and have a doctor look at you,” he suggested.
“I live with a doctor. I’ll tell him about it when I get home,” she told him, straightening her smock.
“How are you getting home? I don’t think you should travel alone.”
“I’ll be fine.” She wished he’d quit looking at her with those dark eyes of his.
Mrs. Carmichael returned with a glass of water, which Faith downed in one gulp.
“I don’t think you should go home unescorted.” Mrs. Carmichael echoed what Adam had said. “I’m going to call Dr. Carson to come pick you up.”
Faith didn’t protest, thinking it might be a good idea to talk to the doctor about what she’d just learned. While Mrs. Carmichael was on the phone, she turned to Adam.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I should visit Megan just yet,” she told him.
“No, of course not. You need to go home and take care of yourself. I would like to get this all taken care of before much longer, however. We need to put a stop to this fantasy she has that you’re her mother.”
She shook her head. “That might not be possible.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why not?”
Faith took a deep breath and said, “Because there’s a possibility I am her mother.”
ADAM STARED AT FAITH in disbelief. Either she hadn’t heard a word he had said or she truly was ill. He looked at her pale cheeks and her troubled eyes. “I think maybe you should get checked out in the E.R.”
“I told you I’m okay,” she insisted.
“Do you realize what you just said?”
She nodded. “I think I might be this Christie person.”
“No, you most definitely are not,” he stated emphatically. She didn’t look confused and he found his patience dwindling. “Are you playing some kind of game with me?”
“No. I’m just trying to tell you the truth.” There was a vulnerability about her that made it difficult for him to be suspicious of her, yet he didn’t understand what she was hoping to accomplish
by saying that she might be Megan’s mother.
He reached for the other chair in the office and sat down in front of her. “Tell me why you would make such a statement.”
“A little over three weeks ago a doctor and his wife were traveling along Highway 52 just south of the cities when they saw me lying on the side of the road. I was unconscious and looked as if I’d been beaten,” she began. “Thanks to the kindness of Dr. Carson and his wife and the excellent medical attention I received, I regained consciousness and most of my injuries are healed. My hair covers the scar on my scalp.” She removed her smock and pushed back the sleeves of her shirt to show him her arms. “These are almost gone now, but you can still see where I was bruised.”
A shudder echoed through him at the sight of the areas of discoloration. It angered him to think that someone had assaulted her and left her to die on a roadside.
“I’m sorry. I hope they caught who did this to you.”
She shook her head and he felt a rush of emotion at the injustice. As she lowered her sleeves, he realized that there was another significant difference between her and Christie. Faith had larger breasts.
When she noticed where his eyes were focused she blushed. That was something Christie wouldn’t have done. As an exotic dancer she’d enjoyed the looks men cast her way.
Not wanting to make Faith uncomfortable, he asked, “Do you have any permanent damage?”
“One part of me didn’t recover,” she said. “For some reason—they think either a blow to my head or some other trauma—I’ve forgotten everything that happened prior to that night.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Are you saying you have amnesia?”
“The doctors say it’s retrograde, meaning I can’t remember anything of my past that took place before the accident, but I do remember everything that has happened since then,” she explained. “So what I was doing or where I was living…” She shrugged. “I just don’t know what that was…or where I was…or with whom.”
Adam found himself at a loss for words. He stared at her, thinking that she was putting two and two together and coming up with five. Even if she did have amnesia and even if she did look like Christie, it didn’t mean she was Megan’s mother. Mentally he noted the differences in the two women. The voice. The clothing. The jewelry. The figure.