For a fleeting second, he considered asking Eleanor if she’d heard anything about Nora’s plans to have a baby. That would be too obvious, not to mention indiscreet. “Well, let’s start with always having two or more staff members on the premises and making sure someone keeps an eye on the door,” he said.
From her pocket, Eleanor retrieved a half-dozen business cards. “Good idea. Someone keeps leaving these, and I’ve never been able to figure out who. This center doesn’t promote private services.”
Leo glanced at the cards. Fergus Bridger, Attorney at Law, Specializing in Adoptions. “You might call him to ask.”
“It’s hardly important enough to bother with,” the director said. “The truth is, we get salespeople pushing all sorts of things in here all the time.”
“Some of them could be thieves, scouting for items worth stealing. You should ask everyone who comes in for ID. That way, if something’s missing, we’ll know where to start.”
Leo ran through his other points. Mostly common-sense items like locking the exterior door when no one was available to keep an eye on it, and making sure someone in the main building knew what time the key should be dropped off. Eleanor took notes and asked intelligent questions.
Leo appreciated her thoroughness, because he wanted to keep these people safe. One of them in particular.
NORA HADN’T RECEIVED MUCH satisfaction from Bailey. The nurse had admitted she’d yammered freely to Kate, but wasn’t sure exactly how much she’d disclosed about Nora. “I certainly didn’t mean to tell her anything about your private medical business.”
“You shouldn’t have mentioned me at all.” Nora disliked scolding her nurse, who looked very repentant, but she really was irked. What an awkward way for Leo to learn…whatever he’d learned.
“You like this guy, don’t you?” Bailey asked. “You think he’ll dump you because you got inseminated?”
“There’s nothing serious between us.” Please don’t probe further.
Finally, Bailey had left Nora to make polite conversation with Eleanor and May, and then with Leo. Did he really keep sneaking glances at her breasts, right in front of the others? The guy was shameless. And adorable.
Or did he suspect something? She hated this whole business of keeping secrets. They seriously needed to clear the air, the sooner the better.
For now, though, she faced the young woman sitting tensely on the faded love seat and drew out a list of resources. “I’ve done some research into legal aid.”
“I don’t want charity,” Violet insisted.
“It isn’t charity. Many lawyers donate time—they call it working pro bono, for the public good—because helping people is one of the reasons they chose their profession.” Nora handed her the paper. “The baby’s father has legal obligations. He’s over eighteen, isn’t he?”
Violet accepted the list as if it burned her fingers. “Yes.”
Perhaps a less touchy subject would break the ice. “How did you meet him?”
“In high school.” Tautly, Violet added, “His parents don’t like me.”
“Because you’re from a different background?” Nora guessed.
The girl laced her fingers across her large abdomen. “Yes. They’re rich and my mom runs a flower shop. Also, we’re Vietnamese and they’re white.”
“Is your father in the picture?” Nora knew better than to assume young people had two parents at home.
“He died five years ago. Lung cancer. He smoked a lot.” Violet stared down at her hands.
She seemed even more tightly wound today than the previous Saturday. “What happened this week to upset you?” Nora asked impulsively.
Violet blinked. “I, uh, phoned Gary.”
“The father?”
A nod.
“And?”
In the silence that followed, she heard Eleanor addressing Leo in the other room. Something about having to be careful not to scare off the clients.
“He called me names.”
“He won’t help you, I take it.” Nora felt an urge to shake the young man.
The girl swallowed. “No, and then he…” She came to a dead stop.
“Did he threaten or hit you?” Nora prompted. “We can talk to Officer Franco if you like.”
Violet stared at the floor. “If I ask his opinion, does he have to do anything about it?”
Nora weighed her response. She didn’t believe in giving false assurances, but neither did she wish to discourage Violet from reporting a possible crime. “That depends on what you tell him, but I’m certain he’ll take your wishes into account.”
“Do you trust him?” the girl asked.
Nora did, absolutely. Still, if the boy was truly dangerous, she knew that law enforcement couldn’t always protect the victim. “Did Gary assault you?”
“No.” Violet cleared her throat. “Let’s talk to the policeman.”
“Okay.” As they walked out, Nora hoped Leo could help. Her own problems seemed minor in comparison to this frightened girl’s.
Sometimes it took a reality check to put your own life into perspective.
Chapter Eleven
Leo caught Nora’s warning gaze. This must be a serious matter, as if he hadn’t already grasped that from the way Violet kept wringing her hands.
“She has something to discuss with us,” Nora said, as if they were all in this together. Whatever “this” might be.
“Sure.” Since Eleanor was in her office with the door closed, Leo offered them both seats in the waiting area. “What’s going on?”
Violet heaved a couple of long breaths, clearly working up her nerve. Gently, Nora started the discussion for her. “Violet talked to her ex-boyfriend about supporting the baby, but he refused.”
“This was in person or by phone?” Leo liked to get the whole picture.
“By phone.” Violet lifted her chin. “He hung up on me. Then he emailed my mother and threatened her.”
Mentally, Leo switched gears from friendly counselor to police officer. He took out a small pad he always carried. “What kind of threats?”
“That if I don’t give up my baby, he’ll hurt her business. Spread rumors that she sends poor-quality flowers.”
While blackmail was illegal, something so general might not quite rise to the level of a crime. “Did he threaten anything more specific? Arson, perhaps?”
Violet’s mouth opened in dismay. “Oh, no. Of course not.”
Still, the threats could escalate. Better track them down before that happened. “Did he send these emails from his own account and put his name on them?”
“My mother said he didn’t sign his name. Too big a coward. I don’t know what account he used,” the girl admitted. “My mom is very upset. She threatened to kick me out unless I go to an adoption attorney.”
Nora laid a reassuring hand on the teenager’s arm. “If you need a place to stay, I’ll help you find one. “
Leo still felt he hadn’t grasped the whole story. “Was he specific about how he planned to spread the rumors? Via internet, or word of mouth? Unless your ex-boyfriend has a business that orders a lot of flowers, I’m not sure why anyone would believe him.”
“It isn’t him, it’s his parents. The Hightowers. People would believe them,” she finished unhappily.
Now the picture came into focus. “Your boyfriend is Roy Hightower’s son?”
Violet nodded. “His name’s Gary.”
“It’s hard to believe the Hightowers would be involved in something like this.”
“The name sounds familiar,” Nora said. “Roy Hightower’s on the city council, isn’t he?”
“That’s right. He and his wife were at my brother’s wedding.” While Leo didn’t particularly like them, he couldn’t picture the couple stooping this low.
“They hate me.” Violet’s voice shook. “They don’t want anything to do with their own grandchild.”
Spreading rumors sounded like something a boy might do, but not his parents,
no matter how much they disapproved of the relationship. Leo was reluctant to stir up trouble with a family that might be innocent.
Especially when they’re important people who could screw up your promotion?
He couldn’t let that consideration affect his judgment. “I’d like to see those emails. Let’s pay your mother a visit.”
The girl took a deep breath. “She’s at the shop. Saturday’s a busy day. If I scare the customers, she’ll be furious.”
“This isn’t an official police inquiry.” Leo’s gesture took in his jeans and work shirt. “Dr. Kendall and I just want to…”
While he searched for an appropriate phrase, Nora said, “Nip this in the bud.”
Violet groaned. “Flower puns?”
Nora laughed. “That wasn’t intentional.”
“It’s okay.” The girl seemed to relax, perhaps because she now had a couple of grown-ups on her side. “My mom’s name is Rose and mine is Violet, so we’re used to it.”
She gave them an address for Rose’s Posies on Safe Harbor Boulevard, not far from the hospital. Leo recalled seeing the sign; he’d probably driven past it hundreds of times. “We’ll meet you there.”
Outside the counseling center, they found Ted Chong talking intently with his mother. The young man’s face brightened when he spotted Violet. “Well, hello again. How’re you doing?”
“Okay. Thanks for asking.” She gave him a shy smile.
May patted Violet’s bulge. The contact seemed presumptuous to Leo, but the teen didn’t appear to mind. “Boy or girl?”
“It’s a girl.”
May clicked her tongue sympathetically. “Daughters are expensive to raise, always wanting new clothes.”
“Sons are expensive to raise, too,” Ted joked.
His mother gave his head a playful smack, ruffling his straight, black hair. “Yes, just look at you.”
He dodged away, then pushed his glasses into place. “Okay, Mom. Let’s get going. Violet, lots of luck. I like the photos on your Facebook page. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Thanks.”
Leo found it hard to believe the guy might be romantically interested in a girl about to give birth to another guy’s baby. He was probably just being kind.
To his relief, Nora didn’t argue about riding in Leo’s car and leaving hers at the center. Finally, they had a private moment, he mused as they zipped out of the parking lot.
Too bad it was such a short drive. He’d better not waste any time.
“I was wondering about your nurse,” he said.
“Bailey? She thinks you’re cute, by the way.” Nora leaned back in her seat. He liked the way her skirt played over her knees and the fabric of her top touched her chest lightly. Nothing cheap or overdone about her, yet she exuded sensuality.
Large breasts. For once, they made him think about something other than sex. “That’s not what I meant.” How was he going to put this? “At my brother’s this morning, my sister-in-law mentioned a nurse named Bailey.”
“Did the word surrogate come up?” Nora asked.
“It did.”
The sports car crawled along Ocean View Avenue. Ordinarily, Leo never drove this slowly except on patrol or in a school zone.
“Was that followed by a discussion of anything else?” Nora asked.
He’d better get to the point, because there was never a traffic jam when you needed one. In fact, there was no traffic at all today. “Are you trying to get pregnant?”
“Not exactly.” She seemed to be staring everywhere but at him.
“How do you not exactly try to get pregnant?” The last thing he wanted was to conduct an interrogation, especially with her seductive perfume tickling his libido, but it was time to get this out in the open. “If you want to have artificial insemination, that’s your business. What bothers me is the idea of being manipulated. Used.”
“That isn’t the problem.” Nora still failed to meet his gaze.
“Well, what is the problem?” he returned, irritated at her ambiguity.
“The problem is, I wasn’t trying to get pregnant,” she said, “but I am.”
NORA DESPERATELY WISHED SHE could read Leo’s expression. He simply stared straight ahead without speaking, and before she could query him, they reached the parking lot of Rose’s Posies. There stood Violet, waving at them.
Nora wished she didn’t feel so guilty. Sure, Leo had jumped into bed without taking precautions, just as she had. But she was an ob-gyn, for heaven’s sake. And she was well aware that men in heat didn’t always think with their brains.
She felt as if she’d let him down. And herself, too. This relationship had started to mean far more than she’d ever intended. She still found Leo’s nearness utterly distracting. She kept itching to tangle her legs around his—a bad idea, particularly while he was driving—and to run her palm across his cheek to feel that careless Saturday stubble.
Would they ever be intimate again? Or was this the sad end to a sweetly unforgettable episode? One she was going to be reminded of every time she gazed into her child’s face.
Whatever his opinions, Leo kept them well hidden as he tucked his car deftly into an undersize space. Rose’s Posies was nestled amid a row of older stores with a cramped parking area that would never win approval from the current city powers. The lot was further truncated by the presence of a refrigerated delivery truck into which a wizened old man was loading bouquets.
Violet led them inside, past storage shelves of vases, baskets and supplies, then a series of refrigerated cases filled with flowers, and finally into a small, charming shop that overflowed with teddy bears, shiny plants and racks of gifts. The scent of vanilla wafted from an array of candles.
At a round table, two women similar enough to be mother and daughter pored over photo books of arrangements. Judging by the white lacy trim on the covers, Nora guessed them to be wedding arrangements.
“There you are!” A small Vietnamese woman poked her head over the counter, which was almost tall enough to hide her. “Violet, go and help Mr. Tran with the deliveries.”
Her daughter didn’t budge. “I brought some people to see you.”
Her mother regarded them uncertainly. “Customers?”
“No. Friends.”
“No friends during business hours!”
“Mrs. Nguyen?” Leo spoke in a low tone. “May we speak with you privately?”
“Who are you?” the woman demanded.
“He’s a cop, Mom,” Violet declared. “He’s here about the threats.”
The women at the table stopped debating the merits of carnations vs. miniature roses and glanced up.
“You don’t look like a cop,” Rose said.
He produced his badge. “I’m Leo Franco and this is Dr. Nora Kendall. We’re volunteer counselors at the Edward Serra Memorial Clinic. We just want to ask you about a few things.”
“What things?” she demanded.
Violet planted her hands on her hips. “The emails, Mom.”
“May I see them?” Leo asked.
“I deleted them.” Her mother shook her head in annoyance. “It’s nothing. My daughter likes to make trouble.”
“I’m not here in an official capacity, but I will be glad to file a report if you’re concerned,” he continued levelly.
“That’s all I need, to insult a city councilman’s son!” The florist glared at her daughter. “You brought it on yourself, getting involved with a boy like that. You should do the right thing and give up the baby.”
“I am doing the right thing,” Violet responded heatedly. “I’m taking care of your granddaughter.”
The customers at the table exchanged glances. The younger one started to get up but her mother touched her arm, and she settled down again. However, Nora feared that any further arguing might drive them both away.
“We really should talk in private,” she told Violet’s mother.
The florist folded her arms. “We have no problems he
re.”
Leo handed her his business card. “If you receive any further emails or threats of any kind, please save them for me. Call right away if there’s anything serious.”
Reluctantly, Rose pocketed the card, then caught her daughter’s elbow possessively. “Very nice to meet you people,” she told Leo and Nora.
Clearly, they’d been dismissed. There was nothing else they could do, Nora reflected as they took a polite leave. Perhaps nothing else they should do.
“You don’t suppose this boy, Gary, will actually try to harm them, do you?” she asked as they got into Leo’s car.
“Let me put it this way. People will do surprisingly stupid things, so we can’t discount the possibility. However, a vague threat to spread rumors about Violet’s mother’s business probably just reflects the guy’s frustration about the pregnancy.” He shot the car into Reverse so fast Nora had to grab the handgrip. “Seems to be a lot of that going around.”
“Pregnancy or frustration?”
“Both.”
What had she expected, three cheers and a diamond ring? “Leo, I didn’t plan this.”
“Then what was that business about artificial insemination?”
“A smoke screen. I had to tell Bailey something.” When he didn’t respond, she went on. “She’s an obstetrical nurse and it’s no surprise she noticed my morning sickness. Would you rather I announced that you knocked me up?”
He was driving fast, in contrast to his snail’s pace on the way over. “You’re saying that you didn’t intentionally treat me like a stud?”
A stud? “Oh, get over yourself!”
Leo started to laugh but cleared his throat instead. “You’re a doctor. I thought you were on the pill, or used some other kind of birth control.”
“I wasn’t sleeping with anyone and I didn’t plan to,” Nora shot back. She hated arguing. “Look, I’m not asking you for anything, okay? No money. No involvement if that’s what you prefer. We can let people think I got pregnant in a fertility clinic. I’ve arranged to see a doctor in Newport, so my coworkers won’t have access to my records.”
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