by Ally Blake
“Rough night?”
Wyatt raised an eyebrow, let out a small sigh. “Kind of. How did you know?”
She smiled, pointing at his shirt. “Spit up.”
He angled his head to stare at the fabric. “I’m just tired enough to not be amused.” Even as he said it, he offered a wry grin. “I didn’t get more than a few hours. You?”
Elli hadn’t slept much either. She’d lain awake a long time, wondering how he was faring with Darcy and if she had settled at all. When Elli had finally drifted into a fitful sleep, it had been to a mixture of dreams of Wyatt and William all jumbled up together. Her head kept drumming out a warning that getting involved was a grave mistake. But her heart told another story, one of an innocent child caught in an impossible situation.
Personal wounds or not, it just wasn’t in her to walk away and forget that someone needed her. Despite what she’d told Wyatt, this had nothing to do with the money. It had been so long since she’d been needed for anything—even if it meant learning as she went along.
“I worried about the two of you a little. How is Darcy now?”
“Napping.”
She couldn’t help the relief that flooded through her, knowing that things were going smoothly and there was no emergency that needed her attention. As much as she wanted to help, she wasn’t very sure of herself. Laughing as she practiced diapering a plastic doll in baby-care class wasn’t the same as caring for a live, breathing infant, not knowing how to soothe upsets or interpret crying. Yesterday she’d done a decent job of faking it. But the whole time she’d doubted herself.
They needed to find Darcy’s mother and make things right again. She was skeptical they’d find Barbara at her home today. Elli held on to a little strand of hope that her intuition was wrong.
“You look like hell, Wyatt.” She followed him into the kitchen, careful to step quietly in her stocking feet. “Did you get any rest at all?”
He shrugged and went for the coffeepot. “A little. Here and there. It was harder than I anticipated.”
Elli hadn’t expected him to admit such a thing. He seemed so proud and determined. Even yesterday he’d sought her help, but only when it clearly became too much for him to deal with. “Why don’t you go sleep now? I’ll stay and look after Darcy.” The words came out far more confidently than she felt.
He handed her a cup and she heard him sigh once more. The thought had crossed her mind last night that she could stay at his house and give him a hand, as Darcy was sure to wake during the night. That’s what babies did, right? Between the two of them surely they would have figured out what to do. But that also would have meant staying there, in his house, with him. Her visceral reaction to him last night had been unexpected. It had been attraction: elemental, surprising and strong. Staying overnight would not have been a good idea, and so in the twilight she’d made her way back over the dry grass to her house.
“I’m fine. I’ve gone on less sleep before, Elli. As soon as I’ve had something to eat, we can get going to Barbara’s. The sooner we talk to her, the better.”
“You don’t want to go alone?”
“I was thinking that having Darcy with us might be a good idea.”
Maybe Barbara would realize she’d made a mistake and Darcy would go back to her mother. Either way, surely Barbara would want to see her daughter and make sure she was okay.
While Elli sipped her coffee, Wyatt fixed himself some toast and spread it liberally with jam. He offered her the plate, almost as an afterthought, but she’d grabbed some yogurt and fruit already and waved him off. The quiet of the morning held a certain amount of intimacy. The past few months she’d spent utterly alone. To share coffee with someone over a breakfast table was a level of familiarity that seemed foreign. But surprisingly, not unwelcome. Perhaps she’d licked her wounds in private long enough.
Darcy was still sleeping when Wyatt came in from his chores, so Elli carefully fastened the safety buckles, getting her ready for the car. “We should put a blanket over her, right?” Wyatt looked up at Elli, waiting for confirmation. Her heart thumped nervously. How could she explain her own trepidation and lack of experience without delving into a topic she had no wish to discuss? She couldn’t, so instead of specific knowledge she relied on simple common sense.
“It is chilly this morning. A blanket is a good idea.”
She was thinking about fastening the seat inside the vehicle when she remembered something else, a hang-on from her baby classes. “Babies should be in the backseat, Wyatt. But you just have your pickup, don’t you?”
“Do you mean I can’t take her in the truck?” He paused, hanging on to the car seat handle. He ran his spare hand through his hair.
“It has something to do with the airbags.”
“I am so not cut out for this,” Wyatt muttered. “I can’t imagine what Barbara was thinking, leaving Darcy here.”
Elli said nothing.
“Well? How am I going to put her into the truck?”
Elli’s mouth opened and closed. “I don’t know.” She clenched her teeth, hating to admit she really didn’t know.
“I thought women knew about these things.”
Feelings of loss bubbled so closely to the surface that Elli grabbed his comment and answered sharply simply to cover. “That’s a sexist comment if I ever heard one. And not the first time you’ve brought it up, by the way. I hate to disillusion you, Wyatt, but just because I was born female doesn’t mean I’m hardwired to know a baby’s needs.”
“All the girls I knew in school babysat.”
“You didn’t know me in school.” Her heart had started tripping over itself. She should have kept her mouth shut. Would he start asking questions now?
Would she answer him if he did? She bit down on her tongue. No, she would not. She barely knew him. He didn’t deserve to know about William. That was a treasure she held locked up, close to her heart.
His face blanked, his eyes and cheeks flattened with surprise. “I’m sorry. I guess I assumed all women want children. I didn’t mean to touch a nerve.”
And oh, that stung. It had nothing to do with wanting. No baby had ever been wanted more than her own. She blinked rapidly and turned away, opening the front door. “Wait here, and I’ll get my car,” she replied, knowing her tone was less than cordial but caring little. “We can take it instead.” They would go and find Barbara, Darcy would go back to where she belonged and she could go back to ignoring Wyatt just as she had before.
On the walk to the Camerons’ house, she felt her temper fizzle out, to be replaced by bleak acceptance. There was no sense questioning why she was helping Wyatt when on a personal level she didn’t like him very much. It didn’t matter that he seemed to rub her the wrong way or that she felt inept when caring for Darcy. It was quite simply that William was gone and his death had left a vast emptiness within her. But Darcy was not William, and Elli knew it quite well. It didn’t stop the need to help. Or to hope that this would ease some of the grief she still felt whenever she thought of her son.
Back at Wyatt’s, she helped him fasten the seat in the back, and spread a blanket over Darcy to keep her warm. She looked like a china doll, all pink and white, with delicate lashes lying on her cheeks as she slept. Wyatt paused for a moment, looking at Darcy, and Elli saw the hard angles of his face soften as he gazed down at her. When he caught her watching him, he turned away and got out of the back, shutting the rear door behind him. Elli, on the other side, touched the soft dark hair, wondering at the sheer circumstances that had landed her in the middle of such a situation. Wyatt was trying so hard. He could be irascible, but she also knew that he genuinely cared about Darcy already. He acted as if he was positive Darcy was his niece. And she’d seen the look in his eyes just now when he’d let down his guard. He would do the right thing by her.
The smart thing would be to resolve it as quickly as possible. To make things right and move on.
She motioned toward the driver’s side. “Do
you want to drive? You know where you’re going.”
At his brusque nod she handed him the keys. They’d check out Barbara’s house first. And if they had no luck, they’d come back here and then she’d be off to Calgary. She could stop at her parents’ house while her mom and dad were at work. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to get rid of William’s things before, but now was a good time. Someone should get some use out of them.
The drive to Red Deer was quiet, and when Wyatt pulled up outside a small bungalow, he got an eerie feeling. There was no car in the yard. The shades at the windows were all closed. No summer flowers bloomed outside like the surrounding yards.
Ellie stayed in the car while Wyatt got out, approached the front door. He knocked, rang the doorbell. No answer. Tried the doorknob; it was locked.
Getting back into the car, he sighed, then his lips formed a grim line. “No one’s there. And I don’t think anyone has been there for a while.”
Ellie’s face fell. “What about friends, other family?”
He shook his head. “None that I know of. I haven’t been in contact with Barb for years.”
What should he do now? The address was the only clue he’d had. He couldn’t even begin to know where to look, and he was still uneasy about bringing any authorities into it. He might not know much about babies, but the more he looked at Darcy the more he believed she was his niece. How could he do that to the only family he had in the world?
He couldn’t. So it was up to him to come up with an idea.
“Wyatt, look.” Elli pointed to the house next door. An older lady, slightly stooped and with tightly curled gray hair, had come outside. She paused when she saw the car, then picked up a watering can and moved to a tap on the side of the house.
“It’s worth a try,” he admitted, and got out of the car again.
“Morning,” he called out.
The lady looked up, turned off the tap as Wyatt approached. “Good morning.” She watched him with curious eyes.
“I’m looking for Barbara Paulsen. She lives here, right?”
“And you’d be?”
Wyatt swallowed. The answer had to be true and it had to put this woman at ease. She was looking at Wyatt quite suspiciously now, and he noticed her fingers tighten on the watering can.
“Family, but I haven’t seen her in years. This is the last address I have for her, but nobody’s home.”
The answer seemed to appease the woman. “She lives here. We don’t see much of her, though. She keeps to herself. Hardly ever see that baby she brought home. It’s been a beautiful summer and last year she planted a whole bunch of petunias and marigolds. This year, nothing.”
A huge lump of unease settled in Wyatt’s stomach. Dropping off a kid to a stranger, changes in behavior … he wasn’t getting a good feeling.
“You don’t know where she might be, do you?”
“Sorry.” The lady put down her watering can. “I saw her leave yesterday morning, but I haven’t seen her since. I can let her know you stopped in …”
She left the words hanging in the autumn air.
“Tell her Wyatt was here and I’d like to catch up with her.” He aimed a smile in the woman’s direction. At this point he felt he could do with any ally he could find.
“I’ll do that.”
Wyatt thanked her and went back to the car. No further ahead than before, except he now knew that she hadn’t been back home since dropping Darcy off at his doorstep yesterday morning.
There was nothing to be done right now except go back to the ranch and try to come up with a plan on the way. Darcy’s needs came first. He didn’t want to have to go to the police, but if he kept coming up with dead ends, he’d have to.
He got into the car and shut the door, taking a moment to look back at the baby. “Darcy’s still sleeping. Let’s head home.”
Elli nodded. “I’d like to get on the road. There are several things I can bring back that will make caring for her so much easier. A stroller, for one, so I can take her for walks, and something better than a car seat for her to sleep in.”
He nodded and backed out of the driveway as Ellie’s cell phone rang.
Wyatt kept his eyes on the road as Elli spoke on the phone. Seeing Elli this morning had made the day seem sunnier. For a small moment. Then he’d realized how stupid that was and he’d locked it down.
He passed a car and stared resolutely ahead. She looked so cute and cheerful, so sunny and blonde and … free. Just as she had that afternoon he’d encountered her in his pasture. He’d bet anything she was a real Pollyanna. She’d surprised him with her harsh words this morning, but he supposed he’d deserved it. He’d made a rash assumption, and he hated it when people did the same thing to him.
At least she’d walked away, so he hadn’t felt the need to apologize.
Truth be told, he was glad for her help. Any attraction he’d felt last night in the intimacy of his kitchen was easy to tamp down. He wasn’t interested. Certainly not in her. She had complication written all over her, and he avoided complications like the plague.
And the bit about his father … there could be no more of that. He’d felt an odd little lift in his heart when she’d expressed such confidence in his temperament. But she didn’t know. She had no idea where he came from.
A snuffle sounded from the backseat and he glanced back. Darcy was still sleeping, the tiny lips sucking in and out. She was exhausted from her long night, just as he was. He wished he could catch up on his sleep as easily as she seemed to be able to.
A sigh slid past his lips as Elli chatted on the phone in the background. Like it or not, Darcy was his responsibility for now. If he wanted uncomplicated, he was in the wrong situation.
Elli’s voice registered through his thoughts. “He’s right here,” she said. “Oh. Oh. I see. We’ll be there soon.”
Elli clicked her phone shut. “Wyatt, I have good news and bad news.”
He looked over at her, unsettled by the anxiety that darkened the deep blue of her eyes. She bit down on her lip as he scowled back at her. Her teeth caught the soft pink flesh, and he had the momentary urge to kiss away the worry he saw there, to bring back the light, unfettered smile he remembered.
He pulled his attention back to the road. “Hit me.”
“I know where Barbara is.”
The flash of relief was quickly replaced by the knowledge that this was the good news and the bad news was yet to come; that it was likely about where Barbara was and he wasn’t going to like it. “So? Where is she?”
“She was just admitted to the hospital.” Elli tucked the phone back into her purse and straightened. “That was my friend—the one I called yesterday. She tried your number first, since you’re next of kin. When she couldn’t reach you, she took a chance and tried me.”
Heaviness settled around his heart. Hospital? Was she sick? Barbara had trusted him because she was ill? How sick exactly? Scenarios ran through his head, none of them good. He kept thinking about her note and how she’d said she couldn’t do it. A rock of worry settled at the bottom of his stomach. “Is she okay?”
“She was admitted to the psych ward.”
Wyatt swerved and nearly put them off the road. “What?” His hands began to shake on the wheel and he pulled off onto the shoulder, putting the car in Park. Now he knew what had nagged him about Barbara when he’d read the note, the uneasy feeling he hadn’t been able to put his finger on. Her mother had passed away when he’d been working in Fort St. John. The next time he was home and out having a beer with a few buddies, he’d heard the gossip about her death.
At the time he’d barely paid attention; small-town rumblings were really not his thing. But now he remembered, and the memory only added to his dread.
“Is. She. Okay.” He ground out the words, fearful of the answer, his mind on the innocent child in the backseat and what a huge dilemma this all was.
“Physically, you mean?”
He nodded, blocking out ima
ges that threatened to flood his brain. Awful possibilities. Scary ones.
Her hand came to rest on his forearm, lightly but reassuring. “Wyatt, what is it? You’re white as a sheet.”
Wyatt’s muscles tensed beneath the weight of her fingers. Admitting to a complete stranger that he had a half sister in the world was bad enough. How could he explain to her that he already felt guilty about keeping quiet all these years? When they were kids, it was understandable. It would have caused trouble, trouble he tried to avoid at home. But once he was grown, he could have gone to Barbara and … who knows. He would have been away from his father’s censorious anger and his mother’s fearful glances. He might have had family.
Maybe that hadn’t meant anything to his father, but it had meant something to him. When Barbara’s mother had died, he’d let shame and embarrassment rule his good sense.
If he hadn’t been so weak, maybe she wouldn’t have been driven to what he suspected right now.
And he couldn’t tell Elli any of it. He clenched his teeth. After all this time, it still ate at him.
“I just … the psych ward,” he said meaningfully. “That’s not good.”
“You are listed as next of kin, remember. At least we know where she is now. They’d be contacting you regardless.”
“They would?” He turned and studied her profile. Something was troubling her, more than the situation. He’d glimpsed it several times in the past twenty-four hours. As if she was remembering something unpleasant, and it was weighing her down. Much as he was feeling the deeper in he got.
She nodded, but wouldn’t look at him. “Oh, yes. A new mom, showing up at the emergency room, needing a psych evaluation?” Finally she turned toward him, and her earnest gaze hit him like a punch in the gut.
“Don’t you see? You can’t protect her now. The first thing they are going to want to know is where her baby is.”
CHAPTER FIVE
ELLI’S WORDS SANK IN, one heavy syllable at a time. Of course. He’d watched the news enough to know that a new mother coming into an emergency room without her baby would set off alarm bells. Added to that he really didn’t know what sort of state Barb was in. All he could feel was the heavy weight of knowing that Darcy was relying on him completely.