Operation Baby Rescue

by Beth Cornelison

  Elise’s heart swelled. His admission was just the confirmation she needed to quiet her doubt demons. “Thank you.”

  “For what? I haven’t done anything.”

  “Yes, you have. You’ve done more for me than you could imagine by supporting me in this.” She tipped her head back and met his gaze. “I was beginning to question my own sanity.”

  He finger-combed her hair away from her face, then skimmed his knuckles along her jaw. His touch sent a heady sensation spinning through her. Her fingers tightened their hold on his shirt, and her breath stuttered from her lungs. She hadn’t been held like this by a man in so long. After discovering her last boyfriend was married and had no intention of leaving his wife, the idea of investing her emotions in any kind of intimacy scared her. Her father, her foster families, her lover. She’d been burned too many times to allow anyone else close.

  Then she’d fallen in love with the child growing inside her. Losing Grace had felt like the greatest betrayal of all. Fate had taunted her with the precious bond of motherhood, only to snatch it away in a soul-shattering instant.

  She knew growing attached to Jared when she was so vulnerable was risky. But at that moment, she needed to revel in the warmth of his friendship. She needed to feel she wasn’t alone.

  “Do you want to go get a bite to eat?” he said, his voice a lulling murmur. “You can catch me up on what you’ve heard from MysteryMom.”

  “That would be a short conversation. When we chatted by instant message on Sunday, she didn’t have much to report yet.”

  He hummed an acknowledgment. “When are you supposed to be in touch with her again?”

  “Perhaps tonight, if she can get free. She said not to panic if I didn’t hear from her. She promised to be online Friday if she got tied up tonight.”

  “I’d like to be there when you IM with her next time.”

  “We’re not IM-ing until ten. Isn’t that kinda late for— Mmm…” She sighed blissfully as Jared massaged the back of her neck with his fingers. She could feel her tension seeping from her taut muscles and leaving her weak and pliant in his hands.

  “Late for…?” he prompted.

  She rolled her head to the side, relishing the deep rub as he worked his way to the base of her skull. She peered up at him from half-shuttered eyes. “I don’t remember. Lord, that feels so good. Don’t stop. Ever.”

  A low rich chuckle rumbled from his chest. “Like that, do you?”

  Elise closed her eyes. “Mmm-hmm.”

  “Can you access the IM from my computer?”

  “I think so. We use the message board IM on the website I showed you last week.”

  Jared’s hand stilled on her neck, and she opened her eyes, curious why he’d stopped the relaxing massage. His focus was riveted on her mouth, and his expression reflected an inner battle. He wanted to kiss her. She saw that much in the desire that darkened his eyes. But something held him back.

  “Jared…” She could only manage a rasp, as longing and doubt squeezed her lungs.

  Tightening his hold around the back of her head, he drew her closer. She held her breath as he brushed his lips against hers. Softly, tentatively at first, as if seeking permission. Sweet sensations washed through her, and she couldn’t help the half moan, half sigh that he took as an invitation to deepen the kiss. Angling his mouth, he drew on her lips with a gentle persuasion and exquisite finesse.

  She canted forward, leaning into him, into the kiss. Her world narrowed to the two of them and that moment. Any reservations she’d had fled, and a pleasant lethargy filled her body.

  When he broke the kiss, he didn’t back away. Instead, he rested his forehead against hers, closed his eyes and grew very still. Elise was grateful for the moment to collect herself. But when he continued to hold her without speaking, she sensed what was wrong.

  “So…I’m guessing I am the first woman you’ve kissed since Kelly died.”

  He drew a deep, slow breath and released it. “Yeah.”

  “And it was…weird for you?”

  He opened his eyes and levered back just far enough to meet her gaze. His brow furrowed as if he were mulling over her question. “Actually…what’s weird is…it wasn’t weird.”

  “No?”

  “In fact it was…pretty great.” He hiked up a corner of his mouth, and a dimple pocked his cheek.

  Elise’s pulse fluttered. “Then you’re okay? You were quiet for so long I thought maybe…”

  “I was regretting it?”

  Her stomach swooped. “I was going to say something else but…do you regret it?”

  He caressed the side of her face, and his smile grew. “No. I was praying that I hadn’t offended you or scared you off. I know you’re vulnerable right now, and I don’t want to pressure you or take advantage of you.”

  His consideration touched her but didn’t surprise her. Jared had already shown her in many ways that he understood her needs and her confused emotions. His patience and thoughtfulness earned him a little more of her respect and gratitude.

  But consideration was not what she wanted in the wake of his earthshaking kiss. The crackle of her nerve endings told her how long it had been since she’d burned for a man’s kiss. She slid her arms around his neck and tipped a coy grin his direction. “Did I complain?”

  He lifted one eyebrow. “Hmm. In that case…” He tugged her close again and covered her lips with another toe-curling kiss.

  Elise let herself sink into the sweet oblivion. She didn’t stop to analyze what was happening. Something so elemental required no explanation. The spark of attraction she’d sensed between them had needed only a little help to be fanned into a bright blaze.

  Jared stroked a hand down her back, his fingertip strumming the ridge of her spine and heightening the tingle already shooting through her. When his caress reached her waist, he slipped his hand beneath the hem of her sweater. The heat of his fingers against her bare skin sent shock waves to her core. When she trembled, he tightened his hold on her and pulled her flush against his taut muscles. Heat radiated from him in waves, cocooning her, and for a few moments, she was able to shut out the icy cold of grief, the uncertainty of her future and the ache of loss.

  A door closed somewhere down the church corridor, and the click of footsteps on the linoleum floor reminded her where she was and that their privacy was an illusion. She jerked back from him, and Jared reluctantly released her.

  “Elise?”

  She pressed a hand to her swollen lips and drew a slow breath for composure. “Do you have decaf coffee at your house?”

  He blinked and scrubbed a hand down his cheek. “I think so.”

  “Then I’ll follow you in my car, and I’ll catch you up on my week while we wait for MysteryMom to get online.”

  At Jared’s house, his mother filled them in on Isabel’s dinner and nap status, and while Jared walked his mom to her car, Elise joined Isabel on the living-room floor. On impulse, Elise had brought her camera inside, and she snapped a couple pictures as Jared’s daughter gnawed on a wooden block and blinked her wide blue eyes at her visitor.

  “Hi, Isabel. Do you remember me?” She picked up the stuffed elephant beside her and walked it across the floor to Isabel’s foot. “Elephant’s gonna kiss you!” She made a silly smacking noise as she pressed the soft toy to the baby’s cheek.

  Isabel chuckled, then crawled closer to Elise. Grabbing fistfuls of Elise’s sweater, Jared’s daughter pulled herself up to her knees and studied Elise with an earnest expression. “Kee?”

  Elise laughed. “So you do remember me, huh?”

  Isabel plopped down on her diapered bottom and clapped her hands. “Kee-kee.”

  “As a matter of fact…” She reached for her purse, which she’d deposited on the sofa and dug in the bag for the snack pack of cookie bites she’d saved from her lunch. “Do you like shortbread?”

  Isabel saw the foil packet, and her eyes glowed. “Kee!”

  When Jared returned from
the driveway, Elise had Isabel on her lap, and they were sharing a snack of shortbread cookies.

  “And they say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” she said around a mouthful. “I hate to think how your daughter might have rejected me if not for my bakery offerings.”

  “Ah, yes. My girl’s a little cookie monster.” Jared joined them on the sofa and held his hands out to Isabel. She refused to go to him. “Well, well. Somebody has made a new friend. You have a great rapport with her.”

  Elise grinned and hugged Isabel. “As long as the cookie supply lasts anyway.”

  But even before the cookies ran out, Isabel began whining and rubbing her eyes with sticky fingers.

  “Gee, princess, it’s kinda early for bed.” Jared scratched his chin and gave Isabel a thoughtful look. “If I put you down now, you’ll be up before the birds. Which means I will be, too.”

  Isabel rubbed a cookie-covered hand on her ear and wrinkled her nose as she fussed.

  “Could she be coming down with something?” Elise asked. “I know I like to go to bed early when I feel bad.”

  “Well, Mom did say she’s been cranky today and has a stuffy nose.”

  Isabel’s whine escalated to a cry, and Jared shoved off the couch. “Okay, sweetie, let’s get a bath.”

  Elise’s heart melted hearing Isabel’s mewling cry. “Want help?”

  “Thanks, I got it.” He must have seen her disappointment, because he hesitated. “But…you can rock her to sleep in a few minutes if you want.”

  Elise smiled. “I’d love that.”

  The next afternoon, Elise sat at her computer at the newspaper office reviewing the pictures she’d taken at a political rally earlier that morning. The task was taking twice as long as usual because her mind kept straying to her plans for that evening. MysteryMom had been a no-show the night before, so she and Jared had made arrangements to have dinner out then head back to his house to wait for MysteryMom’s update at his computer.

  Elise’s mind was on Jared’s kiss at the church the night before, her body humming with the same energy she’d experienced as he held her, when the editor-in-chief stopped by her desk, a cup of coffee in his hand. “Norris, Russell tells me his feature on the new art exhibit for next Saturday’s edition hit a snag and needs to be bumped another week. This means there’s room for your photo essay and feature piece, if you’re still interested.”

  She sat straighter in her chair. “Yes, absolutely.”

  “Did you come up with any more ideas that weren’t as lame-brained as your others?”

  Cringing mentally at his critical attitude, she pulled out the notepad she’d been keeping her ideas on. “Well, the new library branch will be opening—”

  “Boring.”

  “Uh, local breast cancer survi—”

  “Been done. Often.”

  She took a deep breath to tamp down her frustration. “I heard about a man in town who was at Normandy on D-day. He’s in a nursing home, but he’s still quite lucid and according to his family has lots of stories about the war.”

  He sipped his coffee, and she held her breath.

  “I like that.”

  A flutter of excitement stirred in her gut.

  “But…”

  She deflated.

  “Russell can do that story on Memorial Day. We’ll get the geezer to tell us all about his friends that died.”

  She prickled at her boss’s reference to a decorated war hero as a “geezer” but bit down on the cynical retort that formed on her tongue.

  “What else ya got?”

  She sighed. “That’s about it for now, but I’ll keep brainstorming, and—”

  “You do that. I’ll be in my office when you have your breakthrough.” Mr. Grimes strolled away, slurping his coffee, and Elise gritted her teeth.

  At least he’d given her the green light to do a photo essay and write a feature. That was progress. Unless he was just yanking her chain, telling her she could do the article then nixing all her ideas to shut her up.

  Russell popped up in his cubicle like a groundhog and peered over the partition. “Don’t let him get to you. He gets off on being a jerk.”

  Raking her hair back with her fingers, she blew out a breath of irritation. “I know he does. But this chance is important to me. I don’t want to blow it.”

  Russell glanced over his shoulder toward Grimes’s office then back to Elise. “Listen, all of your ideas have been good ones. Really. Just wait. He’ll be assigning me the library story in a couple weeks and make it look like it was his idea.”

  Elise grunted and rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t help me now.”

  “You’ll think of something. My advice? Make it something that matters to you. Your passion for the topic will come through in your writing and in how you present the topic to Grimes.”

  She nodded. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Russell gave her a wink and disappeared behind the cubicle wall.

  Something that mattered to her… She bit the cap of her pen and tried to shove aside her annoyance with her boss so she could think. When her phone rang, she answered mechanically, her mind miles away.

  “Hi, I hope it’s okay that I called you at work.” Jared.

  The sound of his voice sent her heartbeat into overdrive. She dropped the pen she’d been gnawing and turned her back to the newsroom, as if it would afford her more privacy. “No…I mean, yes, it’s okay. What’s up?”

  “Well, Isabel’s temperature for one. I hate to leave her when she’s sick, so…about tonight…”

  Disappointment plucked at her along with concern for Isabel. “I understand. Have you taken her to a doctor? What’s wrong with her?”

  “Probably just an ear infection. We’re on the way to see the pediatrician now.”

  “Another time then? For dinner, I mean.”

  “Actually, if you’re still game, I have a lasagna in my freezer that my mom brought over a few days ago. We can eat here, watch a movie, and I can keep an eye on the princess.”

  The princess. She smiled at his pet name for his daughter. “Sounds lovely. What can I bring?”

  Elise hung up a few minutes later, having settled the new plans, and as she spun back to her computer, a copy of her ultrasound picture of Grace caught her eye. Her breath hitched, and the usual pang of longing and sadness bit her. Was anyone taking Grace to the doctor when she had an earache? Oh, what she’d give to be the one sitting up with her daughter when she was ill! Assuming MysteryMom was right about her being alive…

  She shifted restlessly in her desk chair. Waiting for answers from MysteryMom was one of the hardest things she’d ever done. Elise needed to do, not sit on the sidelines. Especially something as important as—

  She gripped the armrests of her chair as a half-formed idea popped into her head. Could she write an exposé on the questionable infant deaths? Without having fully decided what angle she’d take, she shot out of her seat and hurried to Mr. Grimes’s office.

  “I have an idea—” she started before realizing he was on the phone.

  He held up a finger to say “wait a minute” and finished his call.

  She gripped the edge of his door, and as she waited, doubts assailed her. MysteryMom had asked her not to get involved, not to do anything to undermine her contact’s investigation. If she went to the hospital half-cocked, asking questions, would she blow whatever work MysteryMom had done?

  As Grimes hung up, he shot her an impatient look. “All right. Dazzle me.”

  “I—” Her mouth went dry. How could she frame her piece in a way that wouldn’t raise red flags but would still allow her to go behind the scenes at Pine Mill Hospital and snoop around?

  Grimes steepled his fingers and rocked back in his desk chair. “Well?”

  “I want to do…s-something at Pine Mill Hospital.”

  He stared at her blankly. Blinked slowly.

  Okay, Elise, get it together. If you’re going to get the okay for
this assignment you have to sell it.

  She cleared her throat. “With all the debate about health care in the nation recently, I was thinking I’d do a piece about a day in the life at a small-town hospital. So many small hospitals are struggling financially and…” He lifted one eyebrow, which she took as encouragement. “Just one day at any hospital is kind of symbolic of life as a whole…” Her idea began to jell, and as she warmed to it, her voice strengthened and passion infused her proposal. “I mean…life begins at a hospital in the maternity department, and we pass through again when we meet obstacles or have celebrations along the way…illness, accidents, the birth of our children—” And the loss of our children. She struggled to keep her composure as she plowed on. “And eventually, many times, we go to a hospital to die. The circle of life, right?”

  She was drawing a breath to continue, when he waved a dismissive hand.

  “Okay. Do it. Bye.”

  Elise blinked. “Really? I can do that story?”

  “Are you deaf? Did I stutter?”

  Excitement and relief pumped through her, and she flashed him a broad grin, ignoring his sarcasm. “Thank you!”

  “I need it on my desk in a week.”

  A week. Her stomach clenched. She had to pull together a plan and get to work pronto. Step one, call the hospital administration and arrange access behind the scenes for her photo shoot and interviews with key employees. Dr. Arrimand, for one.

  She dropped into her desk chair and pressed a hand to her swirling gut.

  For the first time in more than a year, she was going back to the scene where her nightmare had begun.

  Chapter 6

  “Are you sure this is a good idea? Should I come with you?” Jared asked later in the week, his voice coming from her cell phone, which she’d set to speaker. Even when he wasn’t there in person, the deep richness of his voice resonated inside her, kindling a tingling heat at her core.

  Elise smiled. His concern for her helped calm the butterflies that swooped in her gut as she pulled into a parking spot at Pine Mill Hospital. “I’ll be fine. Besides, I’m already at the hospital. I’m meeting with the chief administrator in ten minutes. He thinks my photo essay will be a great PR plug for the hospital, and he was thrilled to give me open access to any department I want to see.”