Mother In A Moment

“I don’t care if he’s the president’s grandson.”

Darby hissed with annoyance. Carrying Tad on her hip, she walked right past the admitting desk, through the double doors, to the first exam room, ignoring the voluble protests following her. “You can’t just go back there!”

“Watch me,” Darby muttered. She pressed her lips to Tad’s hot forehead, looking around until she found an otoscope. He’d been tugging at his ears, and she wasn’t surprised to find them both red. Inflamed. She carried him back out to the admitting desk where a security officer had been summoned. “He needs an antibiotic,” Darby said.

“Miss White, I don’t know who you think you are, but—”

“What’s going on here?”

Darby whirled on her heel, gaping at Garrett who was standing behind her. When he’d left the house, he’d been wearing a black suit. But now he was in worn-white jeans and a black T-shirt that hugged his chest and arms. She swallowed, determined not to think about how it had felt to be held against that wide, warm chest, and cuddled Tad. “You look as if you’ve been installing windows yourself again. When did you get here?”

“Just now. Carmel told me you were looking for me and when I called the house, someone named Beth told me you’d brought Tad here.” His gaze flicked over the infuriated admitting nurse and the bored security guard. “So what’s the deal?”

“Otitis—” she broke off at the sharpened look he gave her. “Ear infection,” she finished. “I suspect. But they won’t examine him without your permission.”

“So I’m giving my permission now.” Garrett raised his eyebrow at the nurse. “Well? Some reason why you’re still sitting on your thumbs?”

The nurse rose, shoving a blank form toward them. “Give him to me.”

Darby shook her head. Tad was clinging to her with a grip that was nearly painful, but even if he hadn’t been, she wouldn’t have surrendered the precious boy to this cranky woman. “I’ll come with you.”

They went into the same examining room. Two minutes later, the doctor arrived and confirmed what Darby already knew. He wrote out a prescription and disappeared with a flap of his lab coat. Darby and Tad rejoined Garrett before he’d even finished completing the lengthy medical form.

“Ear infection,” she said, handing the square of white paper to Garrett. “We need that filled right away.” She carried Tad over to a molded plastic chair in the waiting room and sat down, holding him in her lap.

After several minutes Garrett walked their way, folding a pink sheet of paper and tucking it in the pocket of his jeans. “That nurse isn’t real happy with you,” he murmured as they left.

Darby sniffed. “That woman shouldn’t even call herself a nurse. She didn’t have one iota of compassion for Tad here. I’d be ashamed if I were her.”

Thunder banged overhead, seeming to agree with her. Tad cringed. Darby shuddered. And Garrett grinned. “Don’t like the percussion?”

“Not much.” She tried to reach her purse, but couldn’t. Not with the way Tad had his arms and legs wrapped around her. She gently detached him and handed him toward Garrett.

His grin faltered, then he took the tot, holding him awkwardly.

Tad howled.

Darby frowned at them both. “For heaven’s sake, Garrett. Hold him next to you. He’s probably afraid you’re going to drop him like that.” She rooted through her purse, found her keys, then dropped them again when another clap of thunder exploded around them.

“I think I’ll drive to the pharmacy,” Garrett suggested. He pushed Tad back into her arms and tugged her over to his truck. “We’ll get your rust bucket later.”

She knew she should be insulted, but she was too glad to climb into the safety of his big truck where the thunder overhead didn’t seem to be quite so near. She fastened Tad into one of the built-in car seats the shiny new vehicle possessed, then Garrett drove out of the hospital’s parking lot, heading to the drugstore that was just down the block.

He went inside and came out a short time later with a small white sack that he tossed into her lap. Darby didn’t waste any time. She climbed into the backseat and gave Tad a dose of the sticky pink liquid right then and there.

Garrett watched her in the rearview mirror. Saw the way she tenderly smoothed Tad’s wispy blond hair and tucked his soft little blanket against his cheek, murmuring sweet nothings under her breath as she tended to him.

Then she climbed back into the front seat and sighed deeply. Her fingertips drummed against her thigh, just below the hem of her toast-colored shorts. “I should’ve known he was getting sick. Garrett, I didn’t even know who their pediatrician is. It wasn’t even on record at Smiling Faces. You’ve got to get that information so this doesn’t happen again.”

He nodded. “I’ll get whatever you need.”

Her blue gaze settled on him. “It’s not what I need. It’s stuff that you need. As their guardian.”

“Fine. I’ll make sure I get it.” He glanced in the mirror again at his nephew. “Is he going to be okay?”

“Sure. He’ll be fine, as long as the antibiotic does its work. He’ll probably be feeling better within a few hours, actually.”

“That fast?”

“Children are pretty resilient.” She looked out the window.

“Good. I wouldn’t want Caldwell to go around saying tomorrow at the hearing that they were receiving inadequate care. He doesn’t need any additional ammunition against me.”

“Not even the mayor could prevent ear infections,” she murmured. “Children just get them. Some more often than others.”

“You’re good with them.” He forced his attention away from the vulnerable curve of her neck, exposed by the scoop-necked shirt she wore and her feathery hair, and concentrated on negotiating the surprisingly busy rush-hour traffic. “It’s a wonder you don’t have a passel of kids yourself already. You’ll be a good mother.”

“No husband,” she reminded him.

“Lack of a husband didn’t stop my mother.” He wished he’d kept his mouth shut as soon as the words were out.

“Yes, well, having parents who are married isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be, either.”

She looked as enthusiastic about her statement as he felt about his. Then another explosion of thunder rocked through the air and she leaned forward, looking up through the windshield at the sky. “I can’t believe it’s not raining. Does it do this a lot?”

“Every year. You haven’t been here that long?”

“Just a few months,” she admitted.

“Where from?”

Her shoulder lifted. “Everywhere. Nowhere.”

“And Georgina Vansant took you in.”

“She’s my…friend. I’ve known her a long time.”

Garrett was certain that wasn’t what Darby had been going to say. “She’s a good woman. Fair. She offered me a job once. Way back when.”

Her lips curved. “Really. Doing what?”

“Yard work.” He smiled faintly, remembering. “She probably thought if I was busy enough trimming the hedges around her property I couldn’t get into trouble elsewhere.”

“Did you work for her, then?”

He shook his head, his smile dying. “Nope. Never even saw her house up close. My mother sent me to New Mexico to live with her cousin, instead.”

“How did you like it there?”

He pulled into the driveway and parked. “I lived. Obviously. He was an ex-cop turned finish carpenter. He put me to work with him, mostly because he didn’t trust me out of his sight at first.”

“So that’s how you got into construction?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, it seems that has worked out fairly well for you.”

He nodded and watched as she climbed into the back to release Tad’s restraints, then carry him into the house. Garrett pocketed his keys and followed.

As soon as he entered the living room, Regan popped up and ran headlong into him, wrapping her arms around his leg as if he were her absolute favorite treat. He was so surprised he nearly jerked back. She smiled up at him, her brown eyes twinkling and her blond curls bouncing. “I drew you a picture,” she announced.

Garrett gingerly unlatched her hands. “Uh, that’s nice.”

She skipped back to the coffee table and waved a piece of paper in the air. “See?”

Darby came down the steps just then. “That’s beautiful, Regan. Why don’t we put it on the refrigerator door so we can look at it every day.”

Regan nodded and disappeared into the kitchen with Reid right on her heels.

Beth—Garrett remembered her now from the day he’d gone to Smiling Faces—was smiling at him. Her teeth were white and even and her white-blond hair flowed over shapely shoulders, curling just beneath a pair of breasts that gave new meaning to the short-sleeved pink sweater she wore.

She swayed over to Garrett, her long lashes fluttering. “You poor man,” she pouted. “You must be just overwhelmed with everything that has happened.”

“No.”

His short answer didn’t deter her. “I can’t imagine how you’re getting by.” Flutter-flutter. “I was so glad that I could help you out today when you needed me.”

“Darby needed you.”

“That’s right,” Darby said from the kitchen doorway. “So thanks a lot, Beth.” She crossed the carpet, holding out a folded bill. “That ought to cover your time, I think.”

Beth’s expression tightened a hair. “Don’t be silly, Darby. I wouldn’t dream of taking money for helping you out.”

Darby’s eyebrows rose. “Oh. I guess I misunderstood you then when you said it’d be ten dollars an hour.”

Garrett swallowed a chuckle at the consternation on Beth’s face. “I’ll be in the den,” he said, and escaped while the escaping was good.

Darby continued holding out the cash. Beth snatched it out of her hand, her lips tight. “You didn’t have to do this in front of him,” she hissed.

Darby shrugged. “Thanks for coming over. I do appreciate it.” That was sincere, at least.

“When are you coming back to Smiling Faces?” Beth’s eyes were fastened hungrily on the closed door to Garrett’s den.

“If Garrett has his way, no time soon.” She ought to feel ashamed for baiting Beth, but then Beth should be ashamed for the way she was practically throwing herself at Garrett.

And she didn’t exactly appreciate the disbelieving look the other woman cast her way.

“Molly’s not going to like that,” Beth predicted. “You know, the only reason she hired you in the first place is because she’s friends with Mrs. Vansant.”

Since it was true, Darby couldn’t very well argue the point. She started herding Beth to the door. “Whatever I end up doing, I’ll work it out with Molly.” She smiled. “Unless you’ve been promoted and are handling more than the check-in desk?”

Beth’s lips tightened. She gathered up her purse and flounced out of the house.

“Thank you and goodbye,” Darby murmured after the door slammed shut.

Thunder pounded overhead, making the windows shake again.

“Now there goes a woman who is not the least bit intriguing.”

Darby turned to see Garrett standing in the doorway of his den. “Who? Beth?” The windows rattled again, and Darby quickly moved deeper into the living room. Away from the windows. “She’s all right. She’s just—”

“On the prowl for a man.”

She picked up several crayons that had rolled from the coffee table to the floor. “I bet you say that about all women.”

“I wouldn’t say that about you.”

She pushed the crayons into the box. “Am I supposed to be flattered by that or insulted?”

He crouched down beside her, reaching for the red crayon that she’d missed under the table. “Neither. It’s just another intriguing thing about you.”

Darby snatched the crayon out of his hand and jammed it into the box with the others. “Stop calling me intriguing. I’m nothing of the sort.”

“Did you ever go to college?”

She stood up so fast that she felt light-headed. “What? Yes.”

“What did you study?”

“Is this your version of Twenty Questions?” He kept watching her, and her lips tightened. “Nursing,” she said shortly. “Now, I’ve got to get dinner started.”

He followed her into the kitchen. “That explains this, then.” He held up his hand. His cut had healed enough that it was covered only with an adhesive bandage. “So why are you playing nursery worker instead of nurse?”

“I didn’t say I was one.” Darby grabbed a deep pot and filled it with water. She wasn’t one anymore, that’s for sure. Nurses were licensed and licenses could be traced. “We’re having spaghetti. But we don’t have any garlic bread. Would you mind running to the store to get some?” Anything, anything to get him to move away. To get him out of her personal space so she could think of something more than the way he smelled so warm and male and— “In other words you don’t want to discuss your nursing aspirations.”

She turned the water up higher.

“Garlic bread,” he murmured. “I’ll see what I can do.” He smiled faintly and left.

Darby drew in a deep breath and let it out in a rush.

What a mess she’d gotten herself into.

She turned off the water and set the pot on the stove, glancing out the window at Regan and Reid who were chasing each other around in the backyard, perfectly oblivious to the crackling thunder.

A mess she was beginning to feel awfully comfortable in.

Chapter Eight

“Relax, would you?” Hayden spoke softly as he leaned a few inches toward Garrett. “I’ve heard Judge March is a pretty straight shooter, but if he sees you looking as if the top of your head is going to explode, he might think you’re a risky choice for guardian.”

Garrett forced his hands to relax. Hayden was right, he knew. “Courtrooms,” he said grimly. “Haven’t ever liked ’em much.”

“Probably because you were on the receiving end of justice,” Hayden murmured. “It was a long time ago. Forget it. You are a nationwide developer. You can hold your own against anyone now, including the mayor.”

Garrett sure as hell hoped so.

The judge, beanpole tall and white-haired, entered the courtroom and everyone present rose, sitting again only after the judge impatiently waved at them.

Garrett glanced back over the small crowd that had been gathering. Darby sat in the back row. A wide-brimmed straw hat sat on her head, preventing him from seeing her expression. He doubted that it had changed much, though, since earlier that morning when Carmel had arrived at the house. His assistant had agreed to watch the children during the hearing, and Garrett suspected that it was only Carmel’s presence that had kept Darby from backing out entirely.

Since he’d brought up that nursing thing the evening before, she’d barely spoken to him.

Judge March was eyeing the courtroom. “Seems we’ve got a lot of spectators,” he commented. “This isn’t a hockey match so I’m gonna ask the sheriff here to clear the courtroom.”

Voices murmured, and feet shuffled reluctantly from the courtroom. Garrett looked back again. Darby had left, too. Without her, his case was toast.

“Morning, Mayor,” the judge was saying. “I’m real sorry about your daughter. I’m real sorry about us being here today at all. Seems like situations like this always get worse before they get better.” He shook his head and slid a pair of eyeglasses on his beaked nose. “Let’s try to keep this as uncomplicated as we can. I’d like to get out of here before lunch. Any arguments?” He eyed the occupants of both tables and with none forthcoming, nodded with satisfaction. “All right, then.”

Darby felt as if a dozen curious eyes were watching her and, wanting only to escape, she walked down the wide marble-floored hallway toward the drinking fountain. She slipped her hat off long enough to bend over the bubbler and take a quick drink.

But the cool, refreshing water did little to alleviate the tension that clawed at her. Until the accident had occurred on the corner outside of Smiling Faces, she’d almost managed to forget the fear of being recognized.

Going to the market had become something to enjoy rather than something to dread. Walking in the park was no longer an exercise in furtiveness, but something to cherish. Now it was all back. In spades.

From beneath the brim of her summer hat, she eyed the crowd that was still hovering outside of the courtroom doors. At least four of them were reporters. She would have recognized the look of them even without the steno pads or the microcassette recorders.

The exit was right behind her. So close she could feel it reaching out to her. Beckoning. Inviting her to slip out the doors. To start running. To keep going, not stopping until she’d found a new place…another haven where she could start anew. Where she was still just a normal woman.

Just thinking it made her breathless. She actually pressed her hand against the heavy wooden panel. One push and she’d be through. She’d go and keep going.

She stared at her splayed fingers. Garrett had to regret what had happened between them when his father had come by the house the day he’d been working on the plumbing. Other than his unexpected appearance at the hospital, he’d been back to his usual self. He hadn’t even eaten dinner with her and the children after he’d returned with the garlic bread. He’d just left the foil-covered loaf on the counter, asked her to leave out her car keys so he could arrange to have her car returned from the hospital, reminded her about the hearing and shut himself in the den.

No more spontaneous laughter. No more projects around the house. No more kisses…

Not that she wanted any, of course.

It was just as well that he’d gone back to being Mr. Business.

The only thing Garrett wanted from her was help with the children and to give her account of the accident at this hearing. He didn’t understand her reluctance, and she couldn’t give him the reason for it. She’d seen custody hearings up close and personal. She’d have to lift her hand and swear truthfulness. Could she do that, without telling her true name?

Could she protect herself at the expense of Elise’s dying words?

She inhaled shakily and dropped her hand, turning once more to face the closed courtroom doors. Her legs felt like wet noodles, and she sat down on one of the cold stone benches bracketing the double doors leading into the courtroom. She folded her hands in her lap.

And waited.

Ballet lessons. Riding lessons. Lessons of every kind and size and shape. Followed by an Ivy League education.

Garrett returned Hayden’s look. Caldwell had been waxing eloquent for so long about the childhood he’d given his precious Elise that it was enough to make Garrett gag.

Instead, he watched the judge’s expression as Caldwell went on and on. Almost rambling. But if the judge had feelings one way or another about what he was hearing, there was no hint of it in his expression. Any more than there’d been an indication of what he’d thought of Garrett’s qualifications to care for the children when he’d been on the stand himself.

“This claim of Garrett’s that Elise wanted her children to live with him can be nothing but a fabrication, and for him to drag us through this farce of—”

Hayden objected and the judge wearily rubbed his eyes. “That’s enough, Mayor. We all know your feelings on this. You’ve made them plain enough. Why don’t you return to your seat. Mr. Southerland, if you’d call in your witness, I’d like to hear what she has to say.”

Garrett didn’t bat an eye when Caldwell stepped down from the witness box, his brows pulled fiercely together as he looked Garrett’s way. Caldwell’s animosity didn’t faze him any more than it ever did.

But he waited, still, when Hayden stepped out of the courtroom for a moment. The second he was gone stretched Garrett’s nerves to screaming. But there she was. Walking back into the courtroom with Hayden. Looking cool and delicate in her filmy white ankle-length dress and straw hat.

Her eyes looked his way as she passed between the two tables where the opponents sat. Her husky voice trembled as she was sworn in, and when she stepped up into the witness box and sat down, he could see she was pale.

A pulse visibly beat in her throat. She rested her arms over the wooden chair arms casually enough, but Garrett could see the white knuckles from fingers curled too tightly over the ends.

“Now, Ms. White, why don’t you tell us how you came to be involved in this set-to.”

“Your Honor.” Hayden rose. “If you’d permit me to—”

The judge waved his hand impatiently. “Sit down, Counselor. I’m getting a headache from the lot of you. I’ve a good mind to ban attorneys from my courtroom. Ms. White?”

Darby turned her blue gaze toward Garrett. She gave him a look he couldn’t interpret, then slowly unfastened her fingers from the chair and folded them in her lap. She cleared her throat. Then, with spare words that Garrett could only admire after Caldwell’s verbosity, described her actions when the terrible collision had occurred outside of her workplace. She concluded with Elise’s last words.

Caldwell immediately pushed to his feet, making his chair screech against the floor. “Obviously, Elise was not in a stable frame of mind. And this woman’s word can’t be trusted, anyway! She’s involved with Garrett, for God’s sake.”

Caldwell’s attorney practically dragged his client back down onto his chair, his words fast and low. Finally Caldwell subsided and the judge turned to Darby, waiting.

“Mrs. Northrop was quite lucid, considering,” Darby answered Caldwell’s first point. “She knew her husband was…gone. She knew she wasn’t going to make it to the hospital. She’d been carrying Mr. Cullum’s business card in her purse. It was right where she said it would be.”

“Did she speak of anyone else other than Mr. Cullum?”

Garrett saw the telltale glisten in her eyes as she looked at Caldwell. “No,” she admitted quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“Any other people around who heard what she said?”

Darby shook her head. “The EMTs hadn’t yet arrived.” She swallowed, staring at her hands. “I kept administering CPR until they took over, but it was too late.”

“Then it’s just her word that Garrett didn’t make this up,” Caldwell burst out again. “They’re in this together! All to keep me from my own flesh and blood—”

“Enough, Mayor.” The judge’s command rang out. “I said we were keeping this informal, because I happen to like things that way. But one more outburst and I’ll hold you in contempt. Understand?”

“I…hadn’t met Mr. Cullum before the accident,” Darby said shakily. “But I know the children because of Smiling Faces. Garrett…Mr. Cullum, needed someone to help care for them, and I agreed.”

“Which is just what the report from Laura Malone said,” the judge commented. “How do you think the children are doing?”

Her lips parted, her surprise at the question evident to Garrett even if it wasn’t obvious to everyone else. “Quite well,” she said after a moment. “Considering. Their appetites are healthy, their sleep habits seem relatively normal. They’re active, curious children. Tad does have an ear infection right now, but he’s on medication for it and is improving.”

“Ear infections. My grandson is plagued with them.” The judge smiled slightly. “Thank you, Ms. White. You’re excused.”

Relief that the ordeal was over flooded through Darby. It was all she could do not to leap from the witness box. She rose and walked to the rear of the courtroom.

She didn’t know if she was expected to leave or not. But she didn’t want to go out into the corridor and face the curiosity of the reporters, if they were still hanging around. And her experience of reporters led her to believe that they would be.

So she quietly slipped into a seat in the back row.

“This is a difficult situation,” Judge March was saying. “Elise and Marc left no will, no provisions financial or otherwise for their children. The Northrops were, in fact, experiencing some financial difficulty as I understand it. But, as I said when we sat down here this morning, the welfare of the children is the only concern of this court.”