by Ann Yost
She pulled a powder pink parka out of a bag.
She’d gotten a pink and blue tam to go with it and a pair of fashion boots with spike heels. Hallie didn’t even want to think about those boots on the ice.
“I got a couple pair of jeans and some wool pants. They were having a sale on cashmere sweaters.”
“You got four?”
“Three. The eggplant one is for you.”
Tears pricked the backs of Hallie’s eyes.
Everything was making her cry today. “That was very sweet of you.”
“Well, it was your credit card.”
“How about Robert? What did you get for him?”
“Three white sleepers and some T-shirts. They didn’t have much. I had to buy a pink snowsuit.”
Hallie laughed. “Robert’s got enough self-confidence to wear a little pink once in a while.” She started to hand the baby to his mother. “Why don’t you play with him while I fix supper?”
“I could fix supper. Or we could get a pizza.”
Hallie visualized an unknown deliveryman coming to the door. “Maybe tomorrow night for the pizza. I’ll just see what else Asia left in the fridge.”
“You can take Robert with you. I always put him on the floor when I’ve got something to do. He doesn’t roll off that way.”
Hallie didn’t mention the fact that floors in Maine tended to be very cold. She nodded, approvingly. “That’s a good point.”
She found a cardboard box in the pantry and set Robert up inside with one of Wilbur’s pig-themed pillows. He could watch Wilbur, and he could watch Hallie. He seemed perfectly content.
“After I put my new clothes away, could I go out back and see the clinic?”
“Sure.”
“Where do those outside steps lead?”
“To my apartment.”
“Oh, wow. Can I see that, too?”
“Why not? Key’s on the hook by the back door.”
Hallie tried to decide when and how to tell Nicole about Baz’s premonition. She didn’t want to scare the young mother, but they needed to have a plan to defend themselves and Robert. Straight out seemed like the best bet.
“Baz called,” she said. “He thinks there’s a chance Jimmy D. will show up in Eden tonight.”
Nicole’s eyes suddenly looked solemn. “I think so, too.”
“Why?”
“Because I called him. I told him I’d be here.”
Tears leaked out of the big blue eyes. “I want Baz to take care of Robert, but if he won’t, JImmy can have him. I know you think I’m the worst mom in the world, Hallie, but I just can’t hack this anymore.”
The girl rushed at her, and Hallie opened her arms.
“I don’t think you’re a bad mom, Nicole,” she said, softly. “Nobody ever said parenting was easy, and you’re very new at this.”
Chapter Eighteen
Several hugs and a box of tissue later, Nicole ventured out to the clinic. Hallie breathed a sigh of relief. Drama and chaos seemed to follow Nicole like the cloud of dust behind Pigpen. Hallie enjoyed the younger woman’s company but found it exhausting.
Or maybe the exhaustion came from trying to repress her broken heart.
“It is what it is,” she told herself.
She’d survive this and she’d thrive. That’s what she’d always done. She opened the refrigerator door.
Maybe there was something in here she could make into tacos or some taco-like food. She’d just started to investigate when the back door slammed open.
Oh, God. Nicole had found Nadine. Hallie hurried over to comfort her. “I’m so sorry. I completely forgot to tell you about Nadine.”
“Who?”
Nicole seemed remarkably un hysterical for someone scared half out of their wits by a reptile.
“The boa constrictor. We’re boarding her for a few days. It must have been a terrible shock. I know it was for me the first time she showed up at the clinic.”
“You mean the rainbow snake? I’m not scared of her. I saw lots of snakes up at my mom’s commune.”
“Oh. That’s lucky, I guess.”
“There’s like a foot of water in the clinic. I think a pipe broke or something.”
Hallie sighed. “You’ll have to watch Robert.”
Nicole made a face. A moment later Hallie stepped into the clinic. It wouldn’t be necessary to build an ark, but the floors were completely covered with water. She hurried back into the house and called Jolene. The hairdresser would know who to call.
“My cousin Danny’s a plumber,” Jo said. “I’ll send him over on the double. Jeez. In this weather the whole place’ll turn into an ice cube in no time flat. By the way, how’s Jesse?”
“So far so good. I’ll call you when I hear more.”
Hallie hung up the phone. The first thing Danny would do is turn the electricity off which meant the building would get very cold very fast. It was no place for a coldblooded creature like Nadine. They’d have to bring the big snake into the house. She opened her laptop and did some quick research.
She couldn’t find any evidence of boa constrictors dining out on pot-bellied pigs, but there were several entries about adult pythons consuming Wilber’s brethren. Still, when Danny arrived with his son, Danny, Junior, she asked the two to bring Nadine’s crate into the mudroom.
No point in tempting fate.
Hallie accompanied Danny to the clinic where they turned off the water and the electricity and tried to find the source of the leak. Half an hour later Danny, senior, decided a pipe had burst. He agreed to return in the morning to fix it.
By the time they walked back to the house Hallie was shivering. That position in Texas was starting to look better and better. She thanked the plumber for coming on short notice then she opened the back door
“Maybe I could show you around town while you’re here,” Danny junior said to Nicole. “Have you got a number or something?”
Hallie peered at the teen. His lips looked bee stung. Nicole snatched a sheet off Asia’s notepad, scrawled on it, and handed it to the plumber’s son. “It was nice to meet ya,” she said, with a sassy smile.
“I’ll call,” Danny said. “Good bye, Dr. Scott. That’s a real cute baby you have.”
“Thanks,” she mumbled. The instant the plumber and his son were out the door she rounded on the younger woman. “What on earth are you thinking? Danny’s just a teenager.”
Nicole shrugged. “So? I’m a teenager, too. For a couple more weeks.”
“Oh my god.” Hallie had thought she was four or five years older. She should have known.
“I lied to Baz when I met him.”
Hallie wondered if Baz had any idea of how close he’d come to statutory rape.
“He knows now. I had to put it down for real when I registered at the hospital.”
“Well, that aside, you aren’t thinking of dating Danny, right?”
A belligerent look appeared in the clear blue eyes. “Why not? It’s not like I’m married anymore.”
“But you’re a mom.”
“Yeah.” Nicole squirmed a little. “Danny thought Robert was your baby, and I let him think it. I haven’t been out with anybody in forever. I can’t remember the last time I got kissed.” She grinned.
“It felt so good.”
Hallie was so outraged she started sputtering.
“What about Baz?”
“What about him?” Nicole glared at her. “He’s not sitting around pining for me. I’ll bet you ten bucks he’s done it with you. Probably lots.”
Hallie’s dismay must have shown on her face because Nicole quickly backtracked. “And that’s okay. I mean, I know I was married, but I never felt like a wife. This whole thing with Robert…I mean, I love him and all, but I’m not ready for this. I’m too immature.”
“You’re overwhelmed right now,” Hallie said.
“You just need some help, and you’ve come to the right place. There’s lots of family here in Eden.”
“That isn’t true.” Hallie tried to find the right words. “You are connected to Baz through Robert and because you were married to him. Everyone here will love you, Nicole. Wait and see. Give this a chance.”
Nicole tilted her head to one side. “Give what a chance?”
“This. This situation. You here in Eden with Baz.”
Hallie sat in one of the wicker chairs, and Nicole took the other. “You’re saying Baz and I should remarry, aren’t you?”
Nausea roiled in Hallie’s stomach, but she had to be honest. “I think it would be best for both of you and Robert.”
Nicole shook her head. “I don’t get it. I thought you and Baz had something going.” Her face tightened. “Is this because you don’t want Robert?”
The question shocked Hallie. “This isn’t about me. Baz needs to be a full-time father to Robert. He can do that best in a family.”
“We don’t love each other.”
Hallie thought of her childhood with a single, uncaring parent and Baz’s with a single, withholding parent.
“He was your knight in shining armor. How could you not love him?”
The girl shrugged. “He never loved me. He took care of me and all that, but I always knew there was somewhere he’d rather be. Now that I’ve met you, I know why.”
Hallie didn’t know what to say to that. Besides, she couldn’t form any words. Tears leaked out of her eyes and trickled down her cheeks.
“Don’t cry,” Nicole said. “This will all work out for the best.”
Hallie sniffed and Nicole got up to get her a tissue.
“Just for the record,” she said, wiping her nose.
“I don’t think you’re immature at all.”
Hallie found a frozen pizza in the freezer. She added olives and sausage to it, and, when it was heated, she sprinkled it with fresh parmesan cheese.
“This is better than tacos,” Nicole enthused.
“You’re a good cook.”
Hallie laughed. “Maybe I’ll get my next job at a Pizza Hut.”
Nicole stopped chewing. “You’re joking, right? I mean, you’re not really gonna quit your job to bus pizza.”
“The practice isn’t big enough for three doctors. I won’t leave until Baz’s dad is fully recovered though.”
“Isn’t the dad like a million years old? He could retire.”
Hallie tried to imagine vital, gregarious Jesse Outlaw retired. She couldn’t do it. Not that it mattered. She, Hallie, couldn’t stick around Eden. Whether Nicole liked it or not, Baz would do the right thing. It would be easier on all of them if she took off.
After supper they put Robert in his cradle in Nicole’s room while they discussed strategy. “The smart thing would be for you and Robert to go over to the Garden of Eden. My friend Sharon could look out for you there. Then, if Jimmy shows up, the baby won’t be here, and he’ll just go away.”
“Or he’ll take you as a hostage.”
“That seems unlikely. I mean, Baz isn’t going to trade Robert to get me back.”
“I want to stay here,” Nicole said.
Hallie nodded, slowly. The more she thought about it, the less she liked the idea of splitting up.
And it was sleeting again. Nicole didn’t need to be on the road in this weather. Not unless it was absolutely necessary.
“In that case,” she said. “I have a plan.”
Nicole helped her pull Nadine’s cage into the kitchen.
“I feel like that kid on Home Alone. You know, when he’s booby trapping the house for the water bandits?”
Hallie smiled but didn’t reply. She was mentally reviewing the plan. Would it work? Was there any chance the Vegas gangster would be able to get his hands on the baby?
“I felt a little like that kid when Baz left L.A.”
“The Macauley Culkin character?”
“Yeah. I mean, there I was in this big, fancy condo, and I spent all my time takin’ care of this baby. It was like unreal. You know? Like not my real life.”
Hallie put her arms around the girl. “You’re not alone anymore.”
Nicole spent the rest of the evening watching back-to-back episodes of Runway. Hallie put Robert to bed in the cradle up in Lucy’s room. At ten o’clock, Nicole went upstairs, and Hallie returned to the parlor. She decided to sit in the rocking chair in the parlor because she could see out the front window. If Nicole’s ex-girlfriend approached the house she’d call Jake.
She considered passing the time with the latest copy of Paws, Claws and Pincers, but she didn’t want to turn on a light. She needed to stay focused on what was going on outside the house. No matter what happened tonight she wouldn’t fail Robert.
Around eleven an odd swishing sound jerked her alert. She held very still, and she heard it again.
Swish-swish. Swish-swish. With her heart pounding hard, she got up and followed it through the house.
Swish-swish. The sound came again. And again.
Hallie’s heart sprinted. She inched open the swinging door in the butler’s pantry. Over in his corner, Wilbur raised his snout, but when she failed to head toward the refrigerator, he lowered it again.
Hallie barely noticed. Her eyes were on the rainbow-colored creature in the cage. Nadine twisted and flipped like an Olympic gymnast.
Swish-swish.
For a long minute Hallie watched the colors shimmer and change in the dim light shed by Wilbur’s nightlight. Something had broken through Nadine’s ennui. The warmth of the house? Or was she inspired by the presence of the other beings here? Whatever it was, she was a new snake.
Hallie too, had come a long way. Less than a week ago she’d shrieked at the sight of the boa.
Tonight she was fascinated by it. It just went to show that people could change. Nicole could change. She would grow into her role as a mother and a wife just as Baz would become a great father and husband.
It occurred to her, not for the first time, that things happened for a reason. Nadine had shown up in her life to help her overcome long-held irrational fears. Nicole and Robert had come into Baz’s life to help him find his way to the family that he’d denied himself.
Hallie closed the butler’s pantry door and returned to the parlor. Other than the occasional swish-swish, the house was so quiet she could hear the seconds tick off on the grandfather clock in the hall. Periodically she’d see the sweep of Jake’s Blazer headlights as he drove by. It was a comforting sight.
By eleven thirty she’d begun to think that they’d overreacted. Jimmy D. wasn’t coming tonight. In the silence, her cell phone sounded like Gabriel’s trumpet. Hallie’s heart exploded as she pressed her hand against it. She was more tense than she’d thought. “Hello?”
“You, okay?”
“We’re fine. Nothing happening here.”
“I wanted to let you know we’re on our way back from the airport,” Baz reported. “Be there in half an hour. Make that twenty minutes.”
For some reason Baz’s anxiety communicated itself to her. Cold fingers etched a path up her spine and she shivered. Suddenly she knew Jimmy would be here. The only question was whether Baz would be here, too.
“Hallie…”
She heard a faint click and her stomach clenched.
Someone was trying to open the door.
“I’ve got to go,” she whispered.
“I need to talk to you.”
Hallie couldn’t answer. Her attention riveted on the doorknob. An instant later she saw it move.
Jesse’s lock had been useless. Hallie flattened herself into the shadows and watched as two men slipped into the foyer.
“Hallie? Halliday?”
Good grief. She disconnected the phone, but it was too late.
“There’s somebody in there,” one of the men said.
Hallie clicked on a small tabletop lamp.
“May I help you gentlemen?”
The smaller man appeared to be around fort
y.
He wore a cashmere wool coat and a fedora. His onyx-colored eyes narrowed on Hallie. Jimmy D. His companion was bald and well over six feet tall with shoulders as wide as the staircase. Baldy was clearly the muscle. He wore a lightweight jacket over an enormous gut. Neither man appeared to be armed.
“Where’s Nicole?” Jimmy’s voice was husky.” I’m here to get my baby.”
Hallie heard the possessiveness in his voice, and she felt a wave of sympathy. If she’d had a son she’d come after him, too. She disregarded the question.
“I’m afraid we haven’t been introduced. I’m Doctor Halliday Scott. I work with Dr. Outlaw.” She looked at him, politely, obviously waiting for him to identify himself. He did so grudgingly.
“Dinari.”
Hallie nodded. She looked inquiringly at the other man.
“This here’s Bluto.”
Hallie wanted to keep them talking. She couldn’t let the men leave the house with Robert; she had a much better chance of stopping them with help from Baz or Jake. She listened for another car out on the street, but the night was quiet.
“Look, I don’t wanna waste a lot of time. I’ve got a court order here.”
“Does it permit you to break in to my house?”
He seemed startled.
“It’s for a DNA test for the boy. Where’s Nic?”
“Upstairs. A DNA test sounds like you aren’t certain Robert’s your son.”
“I am certain. I just need the proof so the courts will give me the kid.”
“It’s unlikely they’d take him away from his mother but aside from that, how do you know Robert isn’t Dr. Outlaw’s biological child? After all, Nicole was married to him.”
“He’s my kid.” Jimmy D. scowled at her. “The timing’s right.”
“You know gestation isn’t an exact science,” Hallie pointed out. She kept her voice low and calm.
“I’m his father, dammit. I’m the one that got her pregnant.”
There was something in his tone. A defensive note. Hallie played a hunch as the puzzle pieces clicked into place. “He isn’t yours is he, Jimmy?” She kept her voice gentle.” It isn’t your wife who’s infertile. You’re the one who can’t have a child.”
Jimmy D. turned puce. He let out a series of curses and denials that made the hair stand up on the back of Hallie’s neck. They also convinced her she was right.