Found: One Baby

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  It was time, he knew, to do what he had advised countless other needlessly worried moms and dads: go do what you have to do; your child’s in good hands. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but add, wanting to be sure Michelle knew he was not deserting them the way his dad had often deserted him and his brother, “The hospital’s only a five-minute drive away.”

  Michelle gave Thad the same look he’d given her when he’d encouraged her to go for a run. “What time are you going in?” she asked almost too casually.

  “I need to be there by one.”

  “No problem.” She began to eat her breakfast with singleminded concentration.

  “You’re sure you don’t mind? You don’t feel I’m running out on you?” Thad said. Something subtle had shifted between them and it wasn’t to his favor, he was sure of it. Whatever it was had happened while she was out on her run. Had he been wrong in pushing her to go? he wondered. Had she somehow taken his consideration for her well-being the wrong way? Seen it as an invitation to put up the walls between them again? “Because if it seems too much to handle,” he persisted, wishing they could go back to the mood they’d shared when they’d first awakened this morning and found William feeling much better…“I can make some more calls—”

  She lifted her hand. “If I’m going to be William’s mother, then I need to care for him when he’s sick, too. And honestly? With him feeling the way he’s been feeling, there is nowhere else I’d rather be.”

  Thad felt the same way. Unfortunately there was a shortage of E.R. doctors in the area. Getting someone in to cover a twelve-hour shift on very short notice was a real problem.

  “We’re going to be fine, really,” Michelle insisted, practically pushing him out the door when the time came.

  And that, Tad found, was that.

  MICHELLE HEARD about the salmonella outbreak at the community volunteer picnic on the evening news. By 6:00 p.m., onehundred-fifty people had been taken to the Summit hospital emergency room for treatment. More were expected, since nearly all of the three hundred or so guests had eaten the tainted potato salad.

  Not surprisingly, Michelle did not hear from Thad until nearly eleven. “I’m on my way home,” he said, sounding exhausted.

  “Rough day?”

  “And then some. How’s William doing?” They hadn’t talked since around four, when the first wave of sick people had started coming into the E.R.

  “His temperature has been running a degree above normal, whenever the acetaminophen wears off. So I give him another dose and temp returns to normal. He just had a bottle and he’s sleeping right now.”

  “You must be tired, too,” Thad said gently.

  She was. But it was a good kind of tired. The kind you felt after accomplishing something important. And nursing William through his first illness was extremely significant to her. The crisis, short-lived as it was, had let her know she was more than capable of being a good mother to this little guy. Michelle glanced fondly at the infant sleeping in the portable crib next to her. “I’m okay.”

  “I missed you today,” Thad said huskily. She could hear the sound of his steps moving briskly across concrete, the engine starting on a nearby car.

  “I missed you, too.”

  “Where are you right now?” he asked, his voice still husky. She smiled. The come-on in his voice thrilled her. “Upstairs,” she responded flirtatiously.

  “In bed?” Thad persisted. The ding of a car door opening sounded in the background.

  Michelle shivered, recalling the way they’d made love the night before. “Yes.”

  She could almost feel the heat of Thad’s body over the phone. “I’m going to go home and shower and change clothes,” he said in a low voice that sent her senses into overdrive. “Then I’ll be right over.”

  Michelle snuggled more deeply into the covers. “See you soon, then.”

  They said goodbye and she hung up the phone.

  The next thing she knew the phone was ringing. She looked around in confusion and picked up on the second ring. Thad’s sexy voice rumbled in her ear. “You fell asleep, didn’t you?”

  Michelle looked at the clock, realizing only fifteen minutes had passed since they’d last spoken, but she had been dead asleep. “Afraid so.” She yawned.

  “Going to let me in?”

  “I’ll be right down.” Michelle rose, padded barefoot down the stairs and opened the door.

  Thad stepped inside. He’d shaved. His hair was still damp from the shower. He smelled of soap. And looked good enough in the gray jersey pants and white T-shirt to be in an ad for athletic clothing.

  Upstairs, they heard a full-pitched wail.

  Thad dropped his overnight duffel on the floor and, as they both ascended the stairs, said, “I’ll get him. You go on back to bed.”

  Michelle wanted to protest. He’d worked all day, too, in the E.R. But one look at his besotted expression as he bent over the crib and hefted William in his arms made her realize that Thad had missed William, too. “I’ll put him back to sleep,” he said.

  Michelle was too tired to argue. “Promise you’ll wake me if he doesn’t go right back down?” she said.

  A now silent William cuddled against his broad chest, Thad bent and brushed a kiss across her temple. “Promise.” He hugged her with his free arm, then guided her down to the bed. “Now sleep.”

  The next thing Michelle knew, it was morning. Sunlight was streaming in through the open curtains. And her house was quiet and still as could be.

  She hadn’t set her alarm, figuring William would wake her at the crack of dawn. Instead, there was no baby sleeping in the crib beside her, no Thad in bed next to her.

  Pulse picking up, she climbed out of bed and tiptoed downstairs.

  Thad had opened up the sofa bed in her living room again. He was sound asleep on one side of the mattress, one arm folded behind his head. On the other side of the mattress, toward the center, was the Moses basket.

  Michelle crept close enough to peek inside.

  William was sleeping contently next to Thad. His cheeks weren’t flushed. She touched his forehead—fever-free. Two near-empty baby bottles on the table beside the sofa indicated he’d eaten twice, three ounces each time. Which meant his appetite was coming back, too.

  She was still debating whether to let Thad sleep or put the coffee on when the doorbell rang.

  TAMARA KELLY stood on the other side of the portal. The social worker’s swift, assessing glance took in Michelle’s white cotton nightshirt, bare feet and sleep-rumpled hair. “Sorry to wake you. I thought, it being a Thursday, you’d be up, getting ready to leave for work.”

  It was after 8:00 a.m., Michelle noted.

  “I was looking for Thad and William, and I thought you might…”

  Realizing this was Thad’s final surprise inspection before a formal report was presented to Judge Barnes, Michelle ushered Tamara in. “They’re both here,” she told Tamara quietly. “But William’s been sick with a virus since Tuesday and they’re sleeping, so—”

  Too late. The doorbell and now whispers had been enough to rouse Thad. He sat up and blinked as if trying to make sense of the scene in front of him.

  Recognizing Tamara, he lifted a hand in greeting.

  “Mind if I have a look around?” Tamara asked Michelle.

  Michelle gave her immediate consent. After all, she knew that since she was petitioning to adopt William now, too, she was subject to the same scrutiny as Thad. “The master bath and bedroom are upstairs, if you’d like to start there.”

  Clipboard in hand, Tamara toured Michelle’s home. By the time she came back downstairs, Michelle had managed to slip into the guest bath and brush her teeth and run a comb through her hair. A sweater plucked from the drying rack in the laundry room and a pair of slippers from the basket next to the back door made her feel a little less exposed.

  Maybe it was because he was a guy, or perhaps it was because he’d grown up without the same stifling set of expectations th
at she had, but Thad hadn’t even bothered to comb his hair before he strode into the kitchen. Wordlessly, he gave Michelle’s shoulders a quick, reassuring squeeze. As she smiled up at him, he smiled back and brushed another kiss across her temple.

  Just that easily, some of the tension left her body.

  “William still sleeping?” Michelle asked, realizing how wonderful it was to wake this morning and find Thad and William in the house with her, even if they had been downstairs.

  Thad nodded and set about making some coffee with the familiarity of someone who knew his way around her kitchen. A fact that did not go unnoticed by Tamara Kelly when she entered, making notes right and left.

  “Can we offer you some coffee?” Thad said.

  A buzzing sound rumbled through the house. It sounded like something was drilling through the wood floors. They all knew what it was. “Excuse me while I go get my pager,” Thad said, “It’s on vibrate.”

  Just that quickly a wail pierced the air.

  Michelle rushed to go pick up William while Thad grabbed his pager.

  As always, the infant stopped crying the moment she touched him.

  Aware that Thad was now on the phone with the hospital, Michelle carried William back into the kitchen.

  “He looks pretty good this morning,” Tamara noted.

  Michelle told the social worker what William’s pediatrician had said, concluding, “This particular enterovirus only lasts forty-eight hours, so he should be absolutely fine by this afternoon.”

  Thad walked into the kitchen. “That was the E.R. I was supposed to be off today, but there’s another wave of salmonella patients coming in. Seems everyone who didn’t come to the E.R. yesterday for treatment is in there asking for care this morning. They want me to come in ASAP. So—” Thad looked at Tamara “—can we reschedule?”

  “Certainly,” Tamara said pleasantly.

  Thad turned to Michelle. “I don’t know what time you’re planning to go into the office today—”

  “Actually I’m not. I’ve arranged to work at home today and tomorrow.”

  “If either of you are worried about the impact on the department’s evaluation if you have to go to work as scheduled,” Tamara cut in, “don’t. We have no problem with you carrying out your other responsibilities as long as adequate care is provided.” She smiled. “William’s sitter is a retired registered nurse with years of neonatal experience. She has no other children in her care. It would be perfectly fine for him to go to the sitter today.”

  “I’m his mother.” The words rushed out before Michelle could stop herself. “At least I hope to be if the court accepts my petition.” Her voice filled with emotion. “I think one of us should be with him until he’s been completely clear of fever for twenty-four hours.” Until they knew for certain that he was well again. “And since Thad has to go to the E.R. this morning, I think I should be here.”

  “I feel exactly the same way about our baby,” he stated.

  Our baby. Thad’s words brought a thrill to Michelle’s heart.

  His emotional admission did not go unnoticed.

  Tamara wrote on her clipboard.

  Thad’s gaze settled on Michelle. “So you’ll call me if there are any problems?” he asked softly.

  Once again the world seemed to narrow to just the two of them. Michelle found herself in perfect harmony with Thad. Her heart warmed. “I promise,” she said.

  Chapter Twelve

  Tamara agreed to stay and have a cup of coffee after Thad left for the hospital. Because it was also time for William’s bottle, they adjourned to the living room to talk. Acutely aware of the sofa bed where Thad had been sleeping, Michelle gestured for Tamara to take a wing chair, while she pulled up the porch rocker that was now doing double-duty inside and settled into it.

  For the first time in nearly two days, William latched on to the nipple hungrily. Michelle made sure William was comfortably situated in the crook of her arm, then looked over at Tamara as the social worker spoke. “I had an e-mail from Thad’s attorney stating that you are joining Dr. Garner’s petition to adopt.”

  “Yes.”

  “As William’s mother?” Tamara prodded.

  “Yes.”

  “But not Thad’s wife.”

  Now came the hard part. The part Judge Barnes—and even Tamara Kelly—might not understand. “That’s correct.”

  Tamara made another note on her clipboard. “What exactly is your relationship with Thad Garner?”

  “Right now? I’d have to say co-parents.”

  Tamara wrote something else down. “Are you dating?”

  No, but we are sleeping together.

  Not trusting her voice to be even, Michelle shook her head. “If I had to characterize it,” she said eventually, when it became clear Tamara expected her to reveal something about the specific nature of her relationship with Thad, “I’d say we are friends.”

  Tamara’s glance slid to the sofa bed where Thad had been sleeping. It was clear she recalled the morning she had seen Michelle at Thad’s house when the circumstances hadn’t been so platonic in nature.

  Tamara lifted one eyebrow in mute consideration. Finally she said, “Are you planning to date each other?”

  “Dating” seemed a little redundant to Michelle, given the way she and Thad seemed to be so quickly and seamlessly blending their lives. “Probably not, under the circumstances,” she returned.

  “But you don’t know for certain,” Tamara pressed.

  Noting that William had slowed down on his feeding, Michelle removed the bottle from his mouth and sat him up on her lap to burp. Holding his chest with one hand, she gently patted his back with the other.

  “I don’t think either Thad or I want to do anything that could undermine the sense of family we’d like to build.”

  “And dating would?” Tamara held her pen aloft.

  “Dating could make things difficult later if it didn’t work out.” Although not impossible, Michelle amended silently, since she knew plenty of divorced couples who had overcome their romantic history for the sake of the kids. She looked Tamara straight in the eye. “Uppermost in our minds is what is best for William.”

  “I can see that.” Tamara smiled as William let out a healthy burp.

  Michelle smiled, too. “We both love him dearly.” She situated the infant so he could resume his feeding.

  The mood in the room turned overwhelmingly tender. “I can see that, too.”

  Contentment flowed through Michelle as she watched William latch on to the bottle again. She offered him her little finger, and he promptly wrapped his fist around it and held on tight. Michelle gazed into his sweet, baby-blue eyes while continuing her conversation with the social worker. “Thad and I want William to have everything he needs, and we both feel it’s better he have a mother and a father even if the mother and the father aren’t married to each other.”

  Tamara sat back. She took off her glasses and let them hang from the chain around her neck. Finally she said in slow, measured tones, “Judge Barnes always reads the social worker’s report, but like the maverick he is, he doesn’t always go with our department’s recommendation. He prefers to make his own decisions, and as a judge, he has that right.” Tamara’s glance dropped to William, who had stopped sucking on the bottle and was staring up at Michelle adoringly.

  Tamara continued with a sigh, “I won’t lie to you. We have a dozen families waiting in the wings—families who’ve either already adopted, have been fostering or have been on waiting lists for a child for months. Families who know the story and are offering to give William a home, too. We’re duty-bound to report that to Judge Barnes, too, since—under Texas law—he’ll be making his decision based on what is in the best interests of the child, period.”

  “What’s in the best interests of William,” Michelle said firmly, upset at the mere suggestion they could conceivably lose physical custody of this little boy, “is for him to stay with me and Thad.”

 
; “I can see how much you and William and Thad have all bonded. I can see how much you and Thad love this baby.” Tamara slid her glasses back on. “But I also need to understand how this is all going to work on a practical level.”

  MICHELLE HAD NEVER felt any sympathy for a woman who complained—after the fact—that a relationship wasn’t working when she had never told the man in her life what she wanted.

  Yet when Thad showed up at her door that evening, she found herself curbing her first impulse—which was to take him in her arms and give him a meaningful kiss. Instead, she ushered him inside and over to the Moses basket, where William was sleeping blissfully.

  Together they gazed down at William. Tenderness welled inside her.

  “What’s his temp?” Thad asked quietly.

  “Normal for the past five hours, even without acetaminophen.”

  Thad wrapped a companionable arm around Michelle’s shoulders, showing her the kind of affection she’d always wanted.

  “Looking at William now, you’d never know he’d been sick,” Thad mused.

  Michelle relaxed against Thad’s body. “Amazing, isn’t it?” she agreed. “How fast babies can get well.”

  “And sick,” Thad said.

  Michelle recalled how frightened she’d been when their little guy had first spiked a fever, how reassuring and strong and kind Thad had been. Not just to his son, but to her, as well.

  He was an excellent father. A solid man and good friend. And a tender and passionate lover. Only one thing was missing in their equation. And unfortunately, according to Tamara Kelly, that was the ingredient Judge Barnes was going to be looking for. She decided it was time to put herself out there, take a risk. She’d do it while they ate dinner. She looked at Thad. “Have you eaten?”

  He shook his head.

  “Me, neither. Want to order in some Chinese food?”

  He grinned. “Sounds…just what the doctor ordered.”

  Thinking how easily she could get used to this kind of camaraderie, she made the call while he went home to shower and change. By the time he’d returned, the deliveryman was at the door. Assured William was still dozing peacefully, they took their order into the dining room. “Candles,” Thad noticed, pleased.