Billion Dollar Bride

Megan patted Anna’s shoulder. “And we thought that was a quality relegated to Maitland women,” she teased.

Anna frowned at her mother. “Not funny, Mom. I did an hour on the treadmill last night.” With playful resentment, she turned her frown on Janelle. “You never seem to gain an ounce, Janelle.”

The baby reached for Anna with outstretched arms, but Janelle took one of his hands and kissed it and drew him to her. “Now, come on, baby,” she said. “Aunt Anna has work to do. You have to sit with me.” She disappeared into the house, and Connor followed.

“I swear,” Anna said quietly to her mother as they, too, walked into the house, “that baby remembers she left him on your doorstep and refuses to warm up to her.”

Megan frowned as she closed the door. “It’ll just take time,” she said. “He’s gotten used to me, and you’ve helped a lot, so you get the smiles she doesn’t get. Poor Janelle. It isn’t easy to right that kind of wrong.”

“I know.” Anna wrapped an arm around her mother’s shoulders and walked with her through the sunporch and toward the kitchen. “I’m sure they’ll be more comfortable with each other by the time the records prove her parentage.”

Megan smiled suddenly, stopping Anna on the threshold to the kitchen. “Isn’t it wonderful about R.J. and Dana?”

Anna laughed and hugged her. “Will’s so excited. He’s going to take up sports so he can teach the baby. I’m planning a Boston shower. You’ll have to help me.”

“Of course. You’re welcome to have it here, if you like.”

“That’d be perfect. We can do it in August and have it on the lawn. I still have all those sun umbrellas from that Spalding wedding that never happened. The bride’s mother was so upset, she refused to pay for the garden party things her daughter ordered, so I kept them. I have thirty green-and-white-striped umbrellas in my guest bedroom.”

“Closed, I hope, or you’re in for a lot of bad luck.”

“Not me,” Anna insisted. “All my bad luck turns to good.”

ANNA REMEMBERED what she’d said two hours later when she went to the day-care center at Maitland Maternity to surprise Will by picking him up for lunch. She stopped in confusion when she realized that members of the staff were huddled on the lawn in nervous little groups. Her brother Mitchell stood at the door, shaking his head adamantly as an older man tried to gain entrance.

“Anna!” Hope Logan, who managed the hospital’s gift shop, emerged from one of the groups to intercept her as she headed for the entrance. “Anna, you heard! Isn’t it awful?”

Dread trickled down Anna’s backbone. “Heard what? What’s happened?”

“A man’s holding the kids in the day-care center hostage!” she exclaimed, her eyes wide with horror. “He thinks Jake’s got his wife or something. Or she’s run away with him. I didn’t get all the…”

Jake was Anna’s younger brother, and he had appeared at Christmas with a pregnant woman who still remained a mystery. This wasn’t the first time the woman’s husband had shown up at the clinic. Anna tore across the lawn, straight for the entrance.

Her brother Mitchell caught her by the shoulders. “You can’t go in, Anna. What are you doing here?”

“Will’s in there, Mitch!” She tried to shake him off. “There’s no school today! And Beth! Let me through.”

“Nobody’s getting through, Anna.” He held her firmly, lowering his voice to reason with her. “Mike and Max are talking to this guy, and the police are on their way. R.J. and Mom were at a meeting, but they’re on their way in. I promise you we won’t let anything happen to Will, or Beth, or to any of the kids. But we’ve got to be cool.”

Mike was Michael Lord, head of Maitland Maternity’s security, and Max was Max Jamieson, a private detective.

Her heart was beating so hard she could hardly form a thought. But she did understand that Mitchell wasn’t letting her through.

Mitchell was two years younger than she was, and the oldest of Megan and William’s natural children. So close in age, Anna and Mitchell had fought throughout their childhood, but found a common ground as teenagers and had been good friends ever since. She knew he wouldn’t deliberately cause her grief, but at that moment she’d have willingly knocked him unconscious and walked over him to get to her son.

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