As she walked into the air-conditioned lobby, the knot inside Dean’s chest started to rise in his throat like the Texas heat.
Chapter Four
Katie’s mind ran in so many different directions she didn’t know which way was north. Savannah lay in the center of the big bed again, this time wide awake and sucking on her fist. Katie didn’t know where to start. She needed to leave, they all needed to leave as quickly as they could pack and make excuses. If Dean called her daddy and he blessed her with his presence, keeping Savannah wouldn’t be an option.
Katie needed time to think. Time to plan. That wasn’t going to happen in Houston where everyone knew her and expected a certain persona. That facade didn’t include a diaper-changing mama.
In the back of her massive walk-in closet, she found her largest suitcase and moved it to the bench at the end of her bed. She indiscriminately scooped underwear from her top drawer and tossed the lot inside the case.
She would go to California early, before Dean had a chance to inform her dad about the baby. The excuse of working for Jack would explain her rapid departure if anyone cared to ask.
From the front door of her suite, Monica called out. “Katelyn?”
“In here.” She hung a garment bag on a hook and unzipped it. Bypassing her skintight dresses meant for the club scene, she packed longer skirts and pantsuits.
“Guess who ambushed me at the door,” Monica said as she walked into bedroom.
Katie stopped midstride and turned to face Monica. “Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes! I take it you and Dean had a conversation.”
Her heart squeezed in her chest. “You didn’t tell him anything…did you?”
“He asked questions. I avoided answering. I’d be lying if I told you I steered him off, though. He didn’t believe the babysitting thing for a minute.” Monica’s gaze moved to the bed, then the suitcase.
Katie squeezed her fist. She needed to leave. Now!
“Help me pack.” Back in the closet, she opened another suitcase and started to fill it with shoes.
“What are you…where are you going?”
“California. With you.”
“But…”
“Please.” She dangled a pair of Jimmy Choos off her index finger. “I can’t take the chance of Dean returning here with my father. In order for the babysitting excuse to work, and for him to forget about Savannah, I need to get her out of here.”
“I don’t know, Katelyn. Taking a baby that isn’t yours out of the state has to be against the law.”
“I have a birth certificate.”
“That you know damn well is a lie. You didn’t adopt Savannah. And you sure as hell didn’t ask for her.”
She chucked Jimmy into the suitcase and stood closer to Monica. “Someone went through great lengths to create this lie. I owe it to Savannah to find out the truth.”
“You don’t owe anything to Savannah.”
Katie glanced over to the bed. Savannah was staring at her fist.
“Are you telling me, if you were in my position, you’d just give her up? Take her to the nearest police station and tell them to deal with it?”
Monica released a frustrated sigh.
“Exactly. Help me pack.”
They worked in tandem and finished the job quickly.
“You can’t take your dad’s plane. The pilot would confirm that Savannah was with you.”
She hadn’t thought of that.
“And if you take her to the hotel, word will get out.”
She hadn’t thought about that either.
“I’ve always stayed at the hotels. If I don’t, someone is going to get curious.”
Monica sat on the edge of the bed and tickled Savannah’s feet. “I have a second bedroom. You can hide out with me for a couple of days.” Monica and Jessie had shared an apartment while Monica was in nursing school. Now that she was out and Jessie had married Jack, she had the place to herself.
Staying with Monica would solve the problem of hiding Savannah, at least in the short term.
“Are you sure?”
“No. I think this is crazy. But I can’t walk away now. Besides, I doubt you know a whole lot about babies and at least I know what Jessie went through with Danny.” Monica placed a thumb into Savannah’s hand and kissed her tiny fingers. “She may look small, but she’s a full-time job.”
“So you’ll help me take care of her?”
Monica leveled her eyes with Katie. “I’ll help you get situated. If you plan to work on Jack’s hotel and find out who Savannah’s mommy really is…plus take care of her, you’re going to need six hands and three heads. Actually,” Monica moved off the bed. “This is a crazy idea. I work full-time and finally landed the day shift. Plus I pick up overtime whenever I can get it to pay off my college loans.”
Katie felt her ally fading fast. “I’ll hire a nanny.” Just until she found a rhythm that worked. The last thing Katie wanted was for Savannah to be raised by strangers.
“In my neighborhood they’re called babysitters.”
“Babysitter then.” That sounded better anyway. More temporary.
Monica clasped her hands together, doubt filled her gaze.
“Please.”
Squeezing her eyes shut, Monica shook her head. “I’ll shower and be ready to leave in thirty minutes. You need to turn on some of that Texan charm and wiggle your way into some last-minute flights or I have a feeling Dean will rat us out before dinner.”
All the Texan charm and daddy’s money didn’t get them on a flight fast enough to suit Katie. First class was sold out but they managed a flight in economy with Monica seated several rows behind her and Savannah. It had been so long since she’d crammed into a commercial flight that she’d forgotten how cramped it was. Not to mention the baggage restrictions. She checked two bags under her name, and two under Savannah Morrison. The elderly lady in the window seat cooed over Savannah the moment the flight attendant finished helping Katie buckle the car seat in.
“Oh, isn’t she precious.”
She juggled the diaper bag under one seat and her oversized purse under another. “Thank you,” Katie managed to say before taking her seat.
“How old is she? One month?”
“Two weeks.” The answer was instant, and after the words escaped Katie’s mouth, she cautioned herself to keep quiet.
“Isn’t that a little young to fly?”
Katie’s right eye twitched. “The, ah, doctor said it was fine.”
“I have three grandbabies. Well, they’re not babies any longer. Two in high school and one finishing up college now, but they will always be my grandbabies.” The happily plump woman talked about her grandchildren, two boys and one girl, and made kissing noises to Savannah whenever she turned her head toward the woman’s voice.
Katie clicked her seat belt and rested her hand on Savannah’s tiny leg.
“They grow so fast,” the woman went on.
“Yes, they do.” Or so she’d heard.
The older woman paused and took in Katelyn’s frame. Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t look like you just had a baby.”
Her heart leapt. The woman’s observation wasn’t something she’d seen coming. “I adopted.” She said the first thing that popped in her head. Sticking close to the truth would probably be best anyway. Thinly veiled truth was better than a flat out lie. Many years of skirting the truth would come in handy to keep Savannah’s identity hidden.
Katie glanced over her shoulder and found Monica peeking over her seat. After sending a reassuring smile, Katie swiveled forward and tilted her face away from the people surrounding her. She wore little makeup and dark sunglasses in hopes of avoiding anyone recognizing her on the plane. If someone did notice her, they’d probably second guess who she was based on the sole fact that Katie never flew anywhere but on her daddy’s plane. Not to mention she was wearing sweatpants…workout clothes in public for God’s sake. Even the T-shirt she was wearing belonged to Monica and s
ported some of Savannah’s lunch.
Before boarding the plane, Monica and Katie had taken turns walking Savannah around, hoping that, when buckled in a car seat, she wouldn’t grow restless and call more attention to herself than necessary. A baby, especially one as tiny as Savannah, drew attention and more than one neck craned to get a glimpse.
The last of the passengers took their seats.
Grandma kept talking about her grandchildren, the soothing voice seemed to be putting Savannah to sleep.
Maybe the flight won’t be so bad.
The words no sooner fled her mind before the captain’s voice swam over the PA to welcome them aboard. Sadly, the intercom squeaked at a high pitch and jarred Savannah to a full-on wakeful scream.
Passengers turned toward her as Katie attempted to coax a pacifier into Savannah’s mouth. She wanted nothing to do with it. The plane taxied from the terminal and the noise of the engine helped cut some of the noise coming from such a small person.
The coy smiles and oohs and aahs over “such a tiny thing” swiftly turned to ugly looks and rolling eyes.
“Shh, it’s OK…” Katie couldn’t stop the pitiful wails any more than stopping the tide.
Grandma offered some encouragement. “Don’t worry. Babies cry. Everyone knows that.”
Still, every passenger within four rows honed their ugly stares on her.
So much for keeping a low profile.
As soon as they reached cruising altitude and the captain turned off the seat belt sign, Katie lifted Savannah from the car seat, laid her on her chest, and managed to calm her down. A little.
Half of the time in flight was soothing a fussy infant and dodging dirty looks. It took every ounce of decorum for Katie not to tell the people close by to mind their own business. Lashing out at them for their snide looks and not-so-quiet whispers about babies on airplanes would warrant more attention, not less.
With any luck, this flight would be the only commercial one Savannah would have to endure.
Even Grandma had hit her limit by the time they landed. Katie’s nerves sizzled like onions at the county fair. As soon as the diaper bag, handbag, and Savannah in her car seat were shrugged over a shoulder or an arm, and Katie was laboring across the tarmac to baggage claim, Savannah then decided to go to sleep. It was dark, the peanuts on the plane not only didn’t constitute an in-flight meal, they also gave Katie indigestion. She couldn’t even enjoy a glass of wine. The thought of her drinking while a baby screamed in her lap felt irresponsible, even to her.
Monica caught up to her and asked how she was holding up. Katie nearly decked her for talking so loud. “She’s finally asleep! Keep it down.”
The noise of the airport and all the travelers wasn’t bothering Savannah one bit, yet somehow Katie knew that Monica’s inquiry would.
Monica’s jaw drew down as she peered over the edge of the car seat. “We didn’t hear her very much where I was.”
“You’re full of shit.” The whole damn plane scowled at her as she walked off.
“Babies cry. No biggie.”
“She’s too young to be traveling.” Katie repeated the words murmured between the lips of several women on the plane. Women who were obviously mothers. Mothers who obviously knew babies better than her.
“The biggest problem with babies traveling is illness. Lucky for you…” Monica grabbed one of five bags rolling on the conveyer belt in baggage claim. “…I’m a nurse and can clue you in if little Vanna here gets ill.”
Little Vanna, as Monica called her, was now sound asleep. Her hands would twitch when a loud noise sounded inside the huge building, but she didn’t wake. The strong urge to kiss her soft cheeks clutched Katie’s heart but she didn’t dare for fear she’d wake.
“We’re going to have to grab a cab,” Monica said after hoisting every bag to their side. “I wasn’t expecting to come home for a few days and my ride was busy.”
Katelyn sighed. Now this was something she could handle. And a smelly cab wasn’t going to disturb the peace of a sleeping child. She handed the car seat over to Monica. “Wait here. I’ll get us a ride.”
Ten minutes later they were seated in the back of a stretch limousine with Savannah puffing little breaths through her pouty pink lips.
“Where to, Miss Morrison?” the driver, asked.
Monica rambled off her address before closing the clear window between them and the driver.
The limo was from the Ontario Morrison Hotel. Although Katie didn’t know the driver by name, she would by the time she showed up to the hotel, and she’d buy his loyalty one way or the other.
“He thinks the baby is mine, doesn’t he?” Monica asked.
Katie glanced at the back of the driver’s bald head as he pulled away from the curb. “He sees two women with a baby. I’ll say enough to throw him off. Don’t worry.” Laying the groundwork for an affair wasn’t as complicated as it was for hiding a baby. Katelyn’s thoughts traveled the tide to Dean. Now hiding the baby from him took a complicated weave of lies. Hiding Savannah from everyone else would take more time, more effort.
So why was she doing it? Why work so hard to keep a baby that wasn’t hers?
The sun had set and the lights of the suburbs of Los Angeles sped past the windows of the limo. Her entire life had been spent in limos and surrounded by other luxuries her father afforded her. She’d seen the world, twice. She’d dined with the rich and famous, skied the Alps, and sailed in the Grecian Sea. She spoke enough French to buy expensive clothes in Paris and order a decent meal there as well, but she wasn’t happy.
Seeing Dean at the wedding jump-started her emotions and reminded her of better times—times with him. As luck would have it, Savannah arrived and gave her something else to focus on other than her history with Dean. Something other than her failures.
Not a peep emitted from the car carrier. All that silly crying on the airplane wore the poor thing out.
The ride from the airport to Monica’s apartment passed in blissful silence and didn’t take long.
“Thank you, Gerald.” Katelyn sank the driver’s name into her memory by using it. “I’ll be staying with Monica tonight. Can you arrange for the rest of my things to be placed in the family suite?”
The family suite was one of the penthouse apartments at The Morrison. Jack had previously occupied it while he supervised the beginning stages of construction of his hotel. Now that he and Jessie were married, they would be staying primarily in Texas. Jack had bought nearly five hundred acres just west of their father’s ranch and, when he and Jessie returned from their honeymoon, they’d be deep into putting their own touches on the existing home situated on the land.
“Of course, Miss Morrison.” Gerald carried her other bags as well as Monica’s into the apartment.
Monica carried Savannah into a dark bedroom while Katelyn placed a hundred-dollar bill into Gerald’s palm.
The man glanced at the denomination briefly before it disappeared into his pocket. “I’ll be back on from three to eleven tomorrow, Miss Morrison. Let me know if I can be of assistance.”
Just like that, Gerald was in her favor.
“I’ll do that.”
Katelyn closed the door behind Gerald and turned on her heel. The entirety of Monica’s small two-bedroom apartment would fit inside the living room of the penthouse at the hotel. A kitchen counter separated the cooking space from the living space. A sofa bed filled the room with a reclining chair to its side. The only updated furniture was a midsize flat screen mounted on the wall. It was hard to believe that Monica had shared this apartment with Jessie and her son for several years. Her imagination wouldn’t have to work hard for long. Until she figured out exactly what Savannah’s future held, the two of them would live here most of the time.
Monica closed the door to the spare room. “She’s sleeping so I left her in the car seat. First thing tomorrow you’re going to have to buy a few essentials. Jessie didn’t keep any of Danny’s baby things he outgrew sin
ce there’s not enough storage space.”
“Shopping I can handle. What I really need is a sitter.”
In the kitchen, Monica ran a kettle under the faucet before turning on the stove to boil water. “Mrs. Hoyt lives down the hall. She sat with Danny when my schedule collided with Jessie’s. I’ll call her in the morning.”
“Seriously?”
“She loves babies and could use some extra money. Her husband passed away a few years ago and her fixed income barely does it, from what I can tell.”
Katelyn leaned a hip against the counter. “It all feels so easy.”
Monica laughed aloud. “Easy? Oh, sister, getting a sitter and a crib is the easy part. Juggling a job, the staff at the hotel who need to think you’re living there when you’re not, and dodging baby questions from the people who know you…that is gonna take some serious work. Not to mention that pint-size living, breathing, demanding infant. You can kiss off those stilettos and silk pantsuits for a while and embrace your T-shirts and jeans. Raising a kid is hard, grueling work. The hours are long and the pay is shitty.”
Monica’s words would have scared off a lesser person. Not Katelyn. She squared her shoulders and put her best Morrison foot forward. “My father didn’t raise a quitter. Savannah is not quite mine…yet. One way or another, I’ll find her mama and the meaning behind the message in her letter. When that happens, I’ll either hand her over or give her the Morrison name permanently.”
The steam from the kettle started to whistle and Monica quickly turned down the fire.
From down the hall came Savannah’s pathetic cry.
“That’s your call, Mommy. It’s time to see what all that Texas determination can do.”
Chapter Five
According to Miss May, Katelyn and Monica left the hotel with enough baggage to last a month. Dean ascertained that information after leaving two messages on Katelyn’s home answering machine. Messages he wouldn’t have bothered with if Katie had left her usual response on her machine. It wasn’t unlike her to leave Texas for weeks on end for extended trips abroad. This time, however, she didn’t leave the typical explanation…“I’m drinking wine in Italy. Call you when I fly home.”
Not Quite Mine (Not Quite series) Page 4