Mommy Midwife

On his prior visit, he hadn’t made it as far as the bedroom, and he took a moment to look around. The furniture was traditional but not plain—a reflection of Olivia, who was a mix of sweet homespun and aggressive independence. He ran his fingertips across the front of a wardrobe that was painted with vines and purple columbines. The lamp on her bedside table had shiny crystals dangling from the shade.

If intruders had turned that lamp on, they would have been here after dark. Not that long ago. He hoped there hadn’t been a break-in. More likely, this was a simple case of Olivia leaving the light on and forgetting that she’d done so. Still, he knew better than to dismiss a threat without thoroughly checking it out.

The second bedroom was painted a soft blue, not unlike the color of her eyes. It was the nursery, the room where his baby boy would sleep. Would their son have her eyes? Troy swallowed the lump in his throat that came whenever he thought of the baby. Never in his life had he been the least bit sentimental, and he’d given considerable thought to why he was touched by the idea of having a family.

His age had something to do with these feelings. On his last birthday, Troy turned thirty-six. In most professions, he’d still be considered young, but that wasn’t true for special ops. His vision wasn’t as sharp as it should be for a sniper. His reflexes had slowed by a few milliseconds, enough that it made a difference. He wasn’t at his physical peak, and he realized that it was time for him to step back and take a more supervisory role. Becoming a father and having a family seemed like the natural next step in his life.

He liked the simple, clean furnishings in the nursery: a dark oak crib, matching changing table and rocking chair. Seated in the rocker was the teddy bear he’d sent—fuzzy and brown and dressed in camo fatigues. He wanted to see his son holding the bear, wanted to show him how to play catch and to take him fishing. He wanted to be a real part of his child’s life. Somehow, he had to convince Olivia.

He returned to her SUV where she had prudently stayed behind the steering wheel with the doors locked. With wide eyes, she peered through the driver’s side window.

“There’s nobody inside,” he said. He looked to the next obvious hiding place for an intruder. “Do you usually park in the garage?”

“Not when the weather is nice.”

“Leave your headlights on and hit the automatic door opener.”

Holding his weapon at the ready, he moved to the side of the square structure. The garage door squawked and rumbled as it folded up on itself. The interior held the typical junk that accumulates in a garage as well as ski equipment and a very nice mountain bike with heavy-duty tires.

Troy noticed the outline of a footprint in the dust on the concrete floor. It appeared to be a man-size boot, too large for Olivia. The print could have been made today or last week or a month ago. He checked the side door to the garage. It was open.

“Olivia,” he called to her. “Is this door usually locked?”

“It should be,” she yelled back to him. “But I usually don’t bother.”

None of the boxes or tools in the garage looked like they’d been disturbed. If an intruder had searched in here, he’d been incredibly careful. And why bother being so stealthy in a garage? It didn’t make sense.

Troy decided against mentioning the footprint. Not right now, anyway. He returned to her SUV. “I think we’re okay.”

“Are you sure? Could you tell if anything was stolen?”

“It doesn’t look like it.” Her nervousness seemed out of proportion for a light left on in a window, and it wasn’t like her to panic for no reason. “What’s going on? Have you been threatened before this?”

“Why would I be threatened? I’m just a midwife.”

As she pushed open her car door and climbed out, his gaze focused on her belly. He hadn’t seen her for two months, and she’d swelled up like a watermelon. His fingers itched to touch her roundness. “You look beautiful.”

“Yeah, right.” She lurched past him toward the cabin. “I’m gorgeous if you’re into pre-Columbian fertility goddesses.”

He followed in her wake, watching the sway of her hips under her purple scrubs. Pregnant women didn’t usually excite him, but he had an overpowering urge to caress her and hold her miraculous body against his.

Inside the cabin, she dropped her satchel-size purse on the green plaid sofa and peeled off her light sweater. Her breasts were full and ripe. Troy suppressed a growl. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ll ask the questions,” she said as she turned to the left and strode into the kitchen. Striding didn’t exactly describe the way she moved. She rolled a bit from side to side as though she were walking on the deck of a ship.

She turned on the water and reached for a glass from the cabinet to the right of the sink. “First question. How did you know where to find me?”

“Wasn’t hard. I called the hospital where you usually work and found out you were there. When I pulled into the parking lot and didn’t see your car, I came here.” He paused. “The nurse told me that you were with a mom who was having triplets. How did that work out?”

“Amazing. That word is overused. People say everything is amazing, but this really was. Truly a miracle.” Her grin was pure happiness. “Next question. What are you doing here?”

He was sick and tired of popping the question that was always answered with an emphatic no. “I wanted to see you.”

“Why?”

“Since we’re playing a question game,” he said, “I have one for you. One I’ve never asked before.”

She took another sip of water and eyed him suspiciously. “All right. Shoot.”

“When you found out you were pregnant, what made you decide to keep the baby?”

“Dumb question,” she said. “I love babies and always planned to have a family. Plus, I’m thirty, which is a good age for a healthy pregnancy. And you played a part in my decision.”

“Did I?”

“Of course,” she said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I mean, look at you. You’re physically healthy and fairly intelligent. I’d have to say that you’re an excellent candidate to be a sperm donor.”

“Gee, thanks.”

She crossed the kitchen to the refrigerator and reached for the handle. Her hand dropped to her side. Frozen, she stared at the white refrigerator door where dozens of photographs were attached with magnets.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“There was a photo of me, my sister and our parents on a vacation we took last year. It’s missing.”

“Are you certain?”

She pointed to a vacant space on the refrigerator door. “It was right here. And it’s gone. Someone was in my cabin.”

Chapter Two

After Troy got down on his hands and knees to check around the edges of the cabinets and the floor where a photo might have fallen, he was ready to believe her. An intruder or intruders had entered her cabin and stolen a picture from the fridge. Why bother? A straightforward burglary would have made more sense.

“I want you to look around,” he said. “See if anything else was taken, maybe jewelry or documents.”

“I don’t have any valuable jewelry.”

“A family photo doesn’t have any intrinsic value, either. Just take a look.”

He followed her as she quickly rifled through a small jewelry box in her bedroom. In the living room, she sat at her desk and started sorting through the file drawers.

His thoughts focused on risk assessment. On intelligence missions, he was accustomed to walking into a situation and determining the course of action. He needed to know why her house had been broken into. If he figured out what the bad guys wanted, he’d know how far they’d go to get it.

“Was there anything unusual in that photo?” he asked.

“Not really. We were standing in the backyard at my sister’s house in Denver.”

“Who took the picture?”

“My sister’s boyfriend.”

“Tell me about the background. And the clothing.”

Olivia squinted as she remembered. “It was at a family barbecue last summer. There was a blue spruce behind us. We were all dressed casual. My dad had on a god-awful pair of plaid shorts. He’s tall and has really skinny legs. Like a stork.”

He nodded. Actually, he’d learned a great deal about her parents. The life history of Richard and Sharon Laughton made for interesting reading, especially for someone like Troy who had a high security clearance. “Can you think of any reason someone would steal this particular picture?”

“It was just us. The Laughton family at play.”

The obvious answer was that the photo would be used for identification. Though pregnancy had vastly altered her appearance, she still resembled the woman in the photo.

Troy had only one other clue: the footprint in the garage. Why would the intruder have gone into her garage other than to search? A lightbulb went on in his head. The bad guys were hiding in the garage, setting an ambush. “I know what’s going on.”

“Oh, good.” She swiveled in the chair behind her desk and looked up at him. “Because I can’t find anything missing in my documents. Most of my confidential stuff is on my laptop computer, and I took that with me to the hospital.”

“The intruder or intruders were in your garage, waiting for you to come home.”

Her hand fluttered to her mouth, covering a frightened gasp. “Do you think they were there when I pulled up?”

“It’s possible.” Troy cursed himself for not searching the garage first. He could have ended this before it escalated.

“Why? What do they want?”

“Nothing is missing. So I’m guessing that their intention wasn’t robbery.”

“Then what?”

“They wanted to take...you.”

She looked away from him, shielding her gaze as though she had something to hide. “A kidnap attempt.”

“You don’t seem too surprised.”

“I’ve had a feeling for the past couple of days.” Her hands rested protectively on her belly. “It’s been like someone is watching me. Earlier tonight in the hospital parking lot, I thought I heard a gun being cocked.”

The situation was more intense than he thought. They needed to retreat to a safe location. “You have five minutes to get packed.”

“Kidnapping doesn’t make any sense.”

“Later, we’ll talk. Now, get packed.”

“No. I’m not going to leave my house until I understand.”

He braced his hands on the arms of her chair and leaned close. Being near her was a distraction, for sure. The blue of her eyes contrasted her healthy tan and the pink flush of her cheeks. Was she glowing? Later, he’d take the time to appreciate the miraculous changes in her body. Right now, he needed for her to cooperate.

“The standard reasons for kidnapping,” he said, “are money or leverage. The intruders want to use you and our baby to get something they want.”

“It can’t be for ransom money. My family isn’t superrich.”

“Your mom and dad are in Denver this weekend.”

“How do you know that?” she demanded.

“I’m in intelligence,” he reminded her. “They’re in town, right?”

“Staying with my sister, Bianca. They want me to move in with her until after the baby is born.”

“They want to protect you,” he said.

“From what?”

He held her chin, forcing her to look directly at him. “I know about your parents.”

She blinked, an automatic response from someone who had spent her entire life living with lies. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Richard and Sharon Laughton work for the CIA. They’re spies.”

* * *

T HOUGH IT WAS still hard to believe that she was the target of a kidnapping plot, Olivia couldn’t take chances in her present condition. She had to leave her cabin.

In the bedroom, she threw some of her belongings into a suitcase. Most of her pregnancy clothes didn’t fit anymore, making packing easy. She took everything she could still wear, even the fancy, lavender crepe toga-style gown that she’d bought for a hospital fundraiser.

Troy stood watch, slouching against the doorjamb with his gun in hand. Though his posture was relaxed, she could see the tension coiling through him. At the slightest provocation, he was ready to strike. This was a side of him that she hadn’t seen before—a little bit scary but also reassuring. If he hadn’t shown up at her house when he did, she could have been in real trouble.

“You know,” she said, “my parents aren’t the kind of spies who do what you do. They don’t go on active missions.”

“Sure.” Somehow, he made that one terse word sound like he didn’t believe her.

“They work in embassies. My dad is a paper-pusher, and my mother is a cultural attaché. She hangs out with ballet dancers and artists. She arranges events.”

“Are you done packing?”

She’d already scooped all her bathroom toiletries and hair stuff into a plastic bag that was at the bottom of the suitcase. Tossing in a book from the nightstand, she gave him a nod. “That’s everything.”

“We’re taking my car,” he said.

She objected. “There’s nothing wrong with my car, and I’m going to need it when we’re in Denver.”

“If it becomes necessary to use evasive driving techniques, you’ll be glad I wrecked the rental instead of your car.”

A shudder went through her. “I hope that’s a joke.”

“I’m not laughing.” His eyebrows pinched in a scowl that made his dark eyes even more fierce and intense. “From now on, we do things my way. This is my job, Olivia. I know how to keep you safe. Don’t argue with me every step of the way.”

His macho take-charge attitude would have been irritating if the potential for danger hadn’t been so real. She reminded herself that there had been intruders in her garage, waiting to grab her. For a while, her independent nature was going to have to take a backseat. “I understand.”

“We’ll turn out all the lights,” he said. “I’ll go first. You follow with the suitcase. Take it around to the back of the SUV, and then get in the passenger side. Move as quickly as possible.”

“That’s not real fast.”

“If I tell you to get down, hit the dirt.”

She really hoped that maneuver wouldn’t be necessary. In spite of her pilates and yoga exercises, she was just about as graceful as a hippo when she had to get up and down off the floor.

After he’d turned off the lights, they stood inside by the front door for a moment, allowing their eyes to adjust to the dark. Troy moved to the edge of her front window and peered into the front yard.

She asked, “Do you see anything?”

“Visibility isn’t great. I could really use a pair of infrared goggles.” He gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. “There’s no telling what we’ll find around the corner of the garage. But you don’t need to worry. I’ll be in front. Ready?”

“I guess.”

He eased open the door. Immediately, they were moving through her moonlit yard. She followed him, pulling her suitcase, struggling to keep up as he rushed forward.

Her pulse thumped hard. Adrenaline raced through her system. At the driveway, she dragged the suitcase to the back of his SUV, went to the passenger seat and climbed in. Before she’d finished struggling with the seat belt, he had loaded her suitcase and was in the driver’s seat. He started the engine, whipped into Reverse and zipped away from her cabin.

A glance at the speedometer showed her that he was well over the recommended speed limit for this narrow, winding road, but she wasn’t scared. Troy had control of the vehicle. He was fast but safe.

She craned her neck to look over her shoulder. She didn’t see headlights behind them. “Are we safe?”

“I don’t see anyone.”

The narrow road straightened a bit as they drove past a beaver pond. It was less than a mile to a main intersection. “What happens if they catch up to us?”

“They won’t.” He negotiated the rugged road like a grand prix champion. “I think we made our escape fast enough that they didn’t have time to plan another assault. It’s a good thing that you noticed that missing photo.”

“And a really good thing that you were with me.”

He cranked the steering wheel, and the SUV swerved onto a paved road. There was no other traffic in sight.

Breathing hard, she flopped back against the seat. This definitely wasn’t the evening she’d expected after a long day at the hospital. In usual circumstances, she would have thrown together a salad with fresh veggies, had a cup of tea and relaxed. No doubt, her poor feet were swollen. Her sneakers felt as tight as rubber bands.

Absentmindedly, she stroked her tight belly. Inside her, the baby started to kick, possibly in reaction to the rush of adrenaline when she fled the cabin. “Wow, it feels like he’s jumping hurdles.”

“Who’s doing what?”

“The baby. He’s bouncing around.”

Troy kept his eyes on the road, but reached his hand toward her. “May I?”

She appreciated that he asked. So many people walked right up to her and began touching without permission. Gently, she took his hand and placed it over the place where the child—their child—was tap dancing.

Troy reacted, pulling his hand away. “That’s the baby?”

“Oh, yeah. I think he got excited by our escape. I don’t do a lot of running these days.”

“It doesn’t hurt him, does it? I mean, he’s okay, right?”

His concern erased his macho facade. Feeling the baby move had turned this big, bad marine into a cream puff. His reaction was actually kind of cute.

“The baby’s fine,” she assured him. “He’s always active. Sometimes, I think he’s got a ping-pong paddle in there.”

Troy replaced his hand on her belly. As he experienced more kicks, a wide grin spread across his face. “That’s my boy.”

She shared his pride. After all the time and effort she’d spent resisting Troy, she felt closer to him now than ever before. Strange. When they’d made love the first time, it had been because of a personal disaster. Now, it took another potential disaster to bring them together.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“We could continue on into Denver or stop at a hotel on the way. Your choice.”

“Hotel,” she said. “I’m too tired to face my parents tonight.”

“Lucky for us, I already have a suite booked in Keystone.”

“Why would you make reservations?”

“I needed a place to stay after you threw me out. Again.”

Was she really that mean? The answer, of course, was yes. She’d been pushing him away with both hands for eight and a half months, but she wasn’t going to apologize. She had her reasons. “Does this hotel have room service?”

“Count on it.” He gave her tummy a final pat and took his hand away. “Tonight, I’ll pamper you. This is a nice place, and you can have anything you want to eat.”

“Yay, I almost feel good about having my house broken into.”

“As soon as we get there, you need to call your parents and tell them what happened. The photo on the fridge was of all four of you. They might also be targets.”

She knew his analysis of the situation was correct. If someone was after her, the rest of her family could be in danger. Telling them would be difficult, nearly impossible. “Their work isn’t something we talk about. Not ever.”

When she and her sister were growing up, they knew their parents had contacts that went beyond their jobs in the diplomatic corps, and they had learned not to ask too many questions when their parents left town.

“Did your family travel a lot?” he asked.

“When I was little we did. But we were based in Washington, D.C., for years and years. I’d have to say that I had a very average childhood.”

Aware that she was swimming in a sea of denial, Olivia turned her head and stared through the window at the thick pine forest beside the road. No matter how many times she told herself that her early life was as normal as puppy dogs and lollipops, it was a lie.

“You can tell me the truth,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“I have a high security clearance, and I’ve looked into your background thoroughly.”

“I don’t like that. I have a right to my privacy.”

For a few moments, he drove in silence. Then he cleared his throat and spoke again. “When you were a child, you and your mother were abducted and held captive for a week.”

He had flung open a door to her past that she always kept tightly locked. This was her secret, her life. And she didn’t want to look back.

Chapter Three

Troy knew that he’d overstepped his boundaries with Olivia, but he wasn’t going to let the subject drop. Not when her safety had been compromised. She needed to understand that her parents’ profession might be the reason she was targeted for kidnapping. It wasn’t the first time she’d been abducted.

“Stop the car,” she said. “I want out.”

“That’s not going to happen. I won’t let you put yourself and our child in danger.”

“There’s nobody following us. You said so yourself.”

“You need a bodyguard, and I’m here. Deal with it.”

Months ago, when he’d first started researching her past, he’d felt bad about poking around where he hadn’t been invited, but he’d rationalized it by telling himself that it was his right to know everything he could about the mother of his child. Since she’d made it clear that she didn’t want to talk to him, what choice did he have? But he’d gone deeper than he’d originally intended when he’d discovered that she was the daughter of two international spies. He never would have guessed that she had such an exotic background.

His first impression of Olivia had been that she was a practical, down-to-earth woman—a healthy, easygoing mountain gal who didn’t wear makeup and liked being outdoors. When she’d showed up on his brother’s doorstep and demanded sex, he’d revised that opinion to include passionate. That night, she’d made love like there was no tomorrow. He’d never forget the way she rode him with her blond hair flying in wild tangles and her slender body arched above him. Her small, firm breasts had glistened in the light from a bedside lamp. She’d driven him to a height he’d never reached before. It was no wonder that he hadn’t noticed when the condom had slipped.

After that night, he’d wanted to spend more time with her, but she’d shut him down. He’d returned to his assignment in the Middle East and had tried to forget her. Olivia Laughton would be the one who got away—the woman he’d see only in his fantasies.

Her announcement that she was carrying his child changed his plans, and that was when he’d started digging. Her parents intrigued him. By all accounts, they were charming and sophisticated diplomats. To uncover their connection to the CIA, Troy called in favors from high-ranking sources in the intelligence community. He didn’t know specifics about their assignments, but he had learned of an incident in a South American country that changed the careers of Richard and Sharon Laughton. That incident involved their seven-year-old daughter.

He glanced over at her. “I can’t force you to talk to me, but it’s important for us to figure out who’s after you. Anything you can remember might be helpful.”

“You’re right,” she admitted in a small voice. “I hate that you’re right, but you are.”

“You can tell me anything. I won’t be shocked.”

She exhaled a heavy sigh. “Do you think there’s a connection between the kidnapping when I was a child and what’s happening now?”

“I don’t know.”

She turned away from him with her face in shadow. If he could have seen her expression, he’d have had a better idea of what was going on in her head. Either she would decide to trust him with her secrets or she’d keep that door closed. He hoped for the former.

“It wasn’t that bad,” she said. “When you think of being held captive, it seems like a horror story. But it wasn’t.”

He said nothing, not wanting to interrupt her fragile narrative. There were more vehicles on the road to Keystone, both coming and going. He kept careful watch in the rearview mirror to make sure they weren’t being tailed.