Accidental Family

“There were no framed photographs in Sarah Ann’s bedroom at your house,” Patty said. “I didn’t think anything of it until now. It does seem strange that you wouldn’t keep her image where Sarah Ann could see it, feel connected to it, to her mother. Sarah Ann isn’t upset by that. Her emphasis is on you.”

“It still doesn’t make sense,” David said, his voice rising. “It’s as though I’m trying to get Sarah Ann to forget her mother even existed. What does that say about me?”

“That you don’t have all the facts yet,” Patty said. “Don’t stand in judgment of yourself until you know why you seem to be distancing Sarah Ann from the memory of her mother. As an attorney you should gather all the data before reaching a conclusion.”

“An attorney? I’m a lawyer?” David said, raising his eyebrows.

“Yep. ‘A turny,’ to quote your daughter. Oh, and you lived in San Francisco before you moved to your new house here in Ventura.”

“Well, thank you, NYPD Blue,” he said, smiling slightly.

“I’m Columbo, sir.”

“Oh, okay,” he said, chuckling. “You need a rumpled raincoat.” He paused and frowned. “This is nuts. I can remember television shows but I don’t recognize a picture of my own daughter?”

“Dr. Hill said there are no rules about amnesia, remember?”

“He wasn’t kidding,” he said, shaking his head.

“Well, I’d best let you get some rest.”

“No,” David said quickly. “I mean, do you have to leave so soon? This has been a helluva day stuck in this bed, trying to deal with all this and… Can you stay a little longer?”

“Yes, if you want me to.”

“Thank you.” David paused and frowned. “Well, we can’t share things about each other because I’m a blank page. Tell me about you, Patty Clark. Why are you a single mother of two little kids?”

It’s none of your business, Mr. Montgomery, Patty thought with a flash of anger that dissipated as quickly as it had come. David was asking her a very fair question considering the fact she was poking around in her Columbo mode finding out everything she could about him.

“It’s not a unique story,” she said. “My ex-husband fell in love with another woman and that was that.” A woman who could meet Peter’s needs as she had failed to do. “Peter… Peter hasn’t bothered to see Sophia and rarely takes advantage of his visitation times with Tucker anymore. Sarah Ann was so sweet about that when Tucker told her. She said he could say hello to you whenever he wanted to because she had her daddy. She’s a darling little girl.”

“Why did you marry that jerk?” David said, frowning.

“Well, for heaven’s sake,” Patty said, laughing, “what a silly question. We were in love, floating around on cloud nine like any other couple who plans to marry. The first years were terrific. I taught school, Peter was climbing the ladder in the insurance company where he worked, we bought a home, the whole nine yards.

“We agreed that I’d be a stay-at-home mother and I quit teaching when Tucker was born. It’s heartbreaking for me to realize that I’ll need to go back to teaching second semester and leave my children with caregivers but…

“David, this is not interesting. It’s just another sad tale of a marriage that didn’t make it. I usually don’t pour out my woes like this. I’m living in the present now and looking to the future. There’s nothing to be gained by dwelling on what happened between me and Peter, except that I did learn something important about myself.”

“Like what?”

“Enough of this. I’m changing the subject. Oh, Sarah Ann did have a favorite toy that she brought back to my house from yours. It’s a worse-for-wear teddy bear that—”

“Patches,” David said, then sat bolt upward. He sank back against the pillow in the next instant, one hand clamped on the top of his head. “Oh, my aching head. Forget the head. Am I right? Is Sarah Ann’s favorite toy a beat-up bear named Patches?”

“Yes,” Patty said, her eyes dancing with excitement. “Yes, you’re right. Oh, David, see? Your memory is coming back in little bits and pieces. Do you remember anything else about Patches? You mended him with… Do you know?”

David stared into space. “No, there’s nothing else there.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“What did I mend the bear with?”

“Duct tape,” Patty said, smiling. “Then you drew hearts on it. I was very touched when I saw it. You really are a very loving father.”

“I wonder what kind of husband I was?” he said, frowning.

No doubt a much better husband than she had been in her role of wife, Patty thought. She hoped when David’s memory returned that would prove to be true, so he wouldn’t have to live with the kind of guilt that tormented her.

“What’s wrong?” David said. “You look very sad all of a sudden.”

“It was just a fleeting thought, but it’s gone now.”

“You deserve to be happy, Patty.”

“Oh?” she said, smiling. “You believe that, of course, because you’ve known me so well for so long.”

“Laugh if you like,” David said, looking directly into her eyes, “but while I don’t even know at the moment how I like my eggs cooked, I do know that you are a very special, very rare and wonderful person who deserves to be happy.”

“I’m happy,” Patty said softly. “I have two children, two miracles, and I cherish my role as their mother.”

“But what about Patty the woman? Is she happy?”

“I don’t separate the titles, David. Patty the woman is a mother and I am happy.”

“Mmm.”

“What does that mean, that ‘mmm’?”

“That even an empty-minded moron-at-the-moment like me knows that isn’t how it’s supposed to be,” David said decisively. “Nope. Now, according to what I’ve been told I’m a father and I’m an attorney. However, I am also a man who, when I can remember what they are, has wants, needs, desires as do you, Patty the woman.”

“Wrong.”

“No, I’m not,” David said, with a burst of laughter. “And I’m beginning to have no difficulty believing that I’m an attorney because I’m obnoxiously sure of myself when I take a stand.”

“That’s for certain,” Patty said, smiling.

“Ah, Patty, thank you,” David said. “You actually made me laugh right out loud and the way I’ve felt all day I wondered if I’d ever do that again. I owe you so much for so many things, the most important of which is your willingness to take care of Sarah Ann until I can get out of this place.”

“No more thanks are necessary, David.”

“Well, I do want to say that I’m very glad that you came into my life when you did, Patty Clark. Very, very glad.”

Chapter Four

Just before dawn the next morning, Patty crawled back into bed after feeding Sophia. She wiggled into a comfortable position, closed her eyes and waited for sleep to come, knowing she needed all she could get to provide energy for the busy day ahead.

But just as they had after she’d returned from the hospital the previous night, David’s words spoken in a voice ringing with sincerity echoed in her mind.

I’m very glad that you came into my life when you did, Patty Clark. Very, very glad.

Oh, drat, she fumed, why was she being haunted by that statement? It was very clear what David meant when he said it. She was caring for his daughter during a stressful crisis in his life. Also, because of his amnesia, she was the only person he felt a link to, someone he sort of knew, and that helped his anxiety a tad considering he didn’t even recognize Sarah Ann from her picture. So, yes, at the moment, David Montgomery was glad that Patty had come into his life. It was very simple really.

But…

She couldn’t forget the warmth that had suffused her when David said what he’d said. She’d felt special and important and…and womanly. The very essence of her femininity had seemed to come alive, emerge from the dusty corner where she’d pushed it after Peter had left her. A virile, masculinity-personified man was very glad she had come into his life and…

“No,” she said, pressing her palms to her temples. “Just stop it right now.”

She wasn’t in David’s life in that context, not even close, nor would she want to be. No. She was finished with man-and-woman relationships, with having to once again face her inadequacies in that arena.

She was staying where she belonged, where she excelled, in the role of mother, and that was what David had meant by what he had said.

“Have you got that yet?” Patty said. “Go back to sleep while you can and knock off the nonsense, Patty Sharpe Clark.”

But sleep wouldn’t come and she finally left the bed when she heard Tucker and Sarah Ann giggling down the hall. Her day had officially begun.

In the middle of the afternoon, after naps, including one taken by Patty, she asked Sarah Ann if she would like to talk to her daddy on the telephone.

“No,” Sarah Ann said, folding her little arms over her chest. “I want to go get my daddy right now.”

“I know you do, sweetie,” Patty said, “but he can’t leave the hospital yet because of his boo-boos. Wouldn’t it be nice to say hello to him, though?”

“Guess so,” Sarah Ann said, nodding. “’Kay.”

“I want to talk to him, too,” Tucker said.

“Well, we’ll see,” Patty said.

A few minutes later, David answered the telephone in his hospital room.

“Hello?”

“David? It’s Patty. I have a lovely little girl here who would like to say hello to her daddy.”

“Really? Oh, geez, wait a minute, Patty. What do I say to her? I don’t know how I chat with her. Have you ever heard me call her a nickname that she’ll be expecting to hear? Like princess? Or pumpkin? Or whatever?”

“No.”

“What do I say?”

“Yes, you’re right,” Patty said, glancing at Sarah Ann, “that was a pretty picture she colored for you and I’m sure she’ll be pleased to know you liked it.”

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