“HERE, SUCK ON this ice.” The nurse handed Shelley a cup. Under a warm blanket, Shelley almost rested, secure, calm. The feeling, though, was an illusion. Since her mouth was dry, she slid her hand out from under the blanket and tipped the cup. Then she closed her eyes. The nurse attending her talked about the weather, traffic and the latest book she was reading. All safe topics.
Lately all Shelley’d talked about was Larry, his threats, Candace Livingston and now Maureen Peterson.
“When can I see my baby?” Shelley asked.
“As soon as we take you to your room, the baby will be brought in. Someone will stop by to discuss breast-feeding.”
Shelley closed her eyes, smiling, and thought about the mat of dark hair, the mottled reddish skin and the strong wail. She thought about the pain, about the doctor saying, “Let’s take care of this now,” and knowing something was wrong. Not with the baby, but with her.
Good.
The nurse had held up the most beautiful baby in the world so she could see. “Over seven pounds,” she’d stated.
“Maybe eight,” another nurse had said.
Her baby.
She’d do it all again, marry Larry, cope with all of it, just to have this moment. Go through the pain, the complications, just for this baby.
Maureen Peterson had probably felt the same way. What had she called her ex-husband? Oh, yeah, Henry Williams. Shelley wondered where they’d lived and how long Maureen had been married to him. He’d made Ryan disappear twice: once from Maureen and now from Shelley.
Already her heart swelled with love, and she hadn’t even held the baby in her arms yet.
Empty arms. For the last year, Maureen had empty arms.
“Do you have a name picked out?”
She’d had a name, but now she needed a new one. The old one wasn’t right.
A phone sounded, and the nurse answered. Shelley listened to “Yes, she’s down here. No, she’s not ready to be moved to her room yet. Oh, that’s sweet.”
“What?” Shelley asked.
The nurse ended the call and said, “Officer Guzman is sitting in a chair by the nursery.”
Shelley frowned. She couldn’t shake Oscar Guzman. He frustrated her, angered her and most of all intrigued her. But he’d crossed the line today. He hadn’t warned her about Maureen Peterson. She’d felt ambushed, and for some reason, she blamed Oscar for it all. Probably because for the last few weeks, she’d stopped feeling alone because of him.
“We’ve put on extra security,” the nurse said. “For while you’re here. We know about your ex-husband.”
“Thank you.”
“I guess when your boyfriend is an ex-marine, though, you’ve got permanent security.”
“He’s not my boyfriend. When can I be taken to my room?”
“We want to monitor your bleeding and blood pressure a little longer.”
Shelley lay back, exhausted. She wanted to sleep. She wanted her baby. She wanted Oscar to tell her that everything was okay.
Would that ever be true?
The nurse removed Shelley’s blanket and gave her a new, even warmer one. The hum of machines lulled her into closing her eyes, drifting, not that she’d allow herself to fall asleep. Too much to worry about.
When she woke up, she was in her room, and Oscar sat in a chair by the window. The light from the window seemed to hit him like a spotlight. His neck was tilted at an odd angle as he dozed. A bassinet was at his left.
She tried to sit up. Oscar jerked awake, blinked a few times and wheeled the baby over.
“Big surprise, huh?” he said.
“Yeah.” She went up on her elbows, surprised by how weak she was.
“Would you like me to hand him to you?”
She nodded.
Oscar walked quietly to the bassinet, peering down somewhat in awe. She watched as his hands disappeared inside. When he lifted the baby, slowly and gently, at first all she could see were Oscar’s hands, cupping her son, before he transferred the baby to her waiting arms.
Instantly, Shelley calmed. The feel of her baby’s warm, soft body against her chest was unlike any other experience. The wrinkled, red face scrunched up. For a moment, she thought he’d cry, but instead he mewed—that was the only word she could think of to describe it—and relaxed. She’d never thought of scent as being so powerful an emotion. But here she lay, surrounded by a world that wanted to take from her, and she was savoring all this little bundle had to give. Oscar went back to his chair and gave her a moment before saying, “You’ll have to return some of the clothes we bought the other day.”
“I don’t mind, so long as he’s safe and healthy.”
“How you doing, Shelley?” Riley took one step in the room, shattering the mood and slamming reality back into place.
“All right. Where’s...Billy?”
“He’s fine. There’s no need to worry,” Oscar said.
Riley looked at Oscar. “You sure everything is okay here?”
Oscar nodded. “I haven’t let the baby out of my sight.”
“What’s going on?” Shelley asked.
“We figured out what happened during the break-in last night at your doctor’s office,” Oscar replied. “You can thank your landlord. Robert figured out that someone deleted the restraining-order entry you had against Larry so that it looked like he had a right to come in and see the baby.”
“He wouldn’t!”
“Hard to imagine,” Oscar agreed. “But the head nurse says your original Kardex card went missing.”
“Kardex?” Shelley and Riley asked at the same time.
“It’s a paper that has your important information on it so that the next shift can know what’s going on at a glance.”
“Would Larry and the restraining order have been mentioned on the card?”
“Yes,” Oscar said. “They’ve already made a new one, and word of mouth is a powerful thing. Even with me here, and I’m not moving, your nurse has stopped in every five minutes or so.”
“How worried should I be?” Shelley asked softly.
Riley said, “We’re concerned enough that Officer Stillwater is in the parking lot, Oscar’s with you and the hospital has doubled their security.”
Shelley looked at her baby, wrapped tightly in a blanket. “I’ll keep you safe,” she whispered. He pursed tiny lips as if believing her.
“I can’t even fathom Larry going through all this in order to punish me,” Shelley said. “I mean, I didn’t actually see him kill Candace.”
“We believe the threat is real,” Oscar said. “So do you. Otherwise, why go through all that you did to push us...me...away?”
The baby let out a tiny whimper as if sympathizing with him.
“You’re right,” Shelley said to Oscar. “I want to be informed from now on about the case, all of it. I need to be informed.”
He looked at Riley. “She’s right. She deserves to know. Tell us what’s going on.”
“An undercover cop working in Santa Fe called us an hour ago.” Riley gave Shelley a sympathetic look. “Seems the news has already picked up the story of Ryan being Billy and Larry Wagner being a kidnapper along with everything else.”
Shelley closed her eyes. She was moving to Timbuktu when this was all over.
“Larry’s photo has been displayed prominently on all major stations. Dallas PD got a call and investigated it. Apparently a husband and wife who couldn’t have children were negotiating a deal with a couple they met online who didn’t want the baby they were about to have.”
“A baby broker?” Oscar asked.
“Not a legal one,” Riley responded. “They recognized Larry on the television and called the police. They’d already paid him twenty-five thousand dollars with another twenty-five to be paid either tomorrow or the next when Larry—going by a different name, by the way—delivered the child.”
“My child,” Shelley said.
Shelley didn’t kid herself. Larry wasn’t the kind of guy to give up on a deal that could net him fifty thousand dollars. If he’d found the first couple, he could find another.
She looked at Oscar. “How does Candace figure in all this?”
“We still don’t know.”
“But he knows you’re here. He knows Maureen Peterson is here. Surely he’s going to back off,” Shelley said.
“Except for the motel and the restaurant, Maureen hasn’t been around town. We’re hoping he doesn’t know she’s here.”
“He’s known everything else,” Shelley pointed out. “He’s not one to give up. He’ll try something.”
“I think you’re right,” Oscar said. “He’s gotten away with his cons for so long that he thinks he’s invincible. It’s become a game to him. Maybe the game is even more important than the money. But this time, I have a vested interest.” He looked at her, something simmering in his expression, making promises she wanted to hear but was afraid to believe.
He whispered, “I’ll be waiting.”
* * *
THE SWAB CAME back positive. Oscar hung up the phone and walked down the hall to Shelley’s room. She’d slept most of the night, waking only to nurse the baby. It wasn’t working, and she kept switching to bottles of formula so tiny that his hand—when he’d unwrapped one for her—almost fumbled it.
This morning, she looked beautiful sitting up in bed, holding her baby and feeding him.
Oscar couldn’t seem to form the words, and Shelley saved him. “Ryan really is Billy Williams.”
“Yes.”
“What happens next?” Her voice had a dry rasp but was strong, like she was.
“What do you mean?”
“Does she take him outright? Or do I get to say goodbye? Can I send some of his toys and clothes with him? Is there any chance at all that I’ll be able to visit him once in a while?”
“I don’t know.” His voice was raspier than hers. Being with her, knowing what she was going through, was hard.
“Find out for me, okay? I mean—” she choked a little, looking down, touching her son’s forehead reverently “—I mean, if somebody took my son, if I had to wonder for a year where he was, if he was being cared for, loved, I’d...I’d lose it. I’m so sorry for all Maureen Peterson went through. I have to do the right thing.”
“I’ll find out. I’ll call right now.”
“Thanks.”
Oscar went back in the hallway and pulled out his phone. Then he thought twice and called Leann Bailey instead.
“Sure, I’ll stay with Shelley,” she said after he shared his idea with her. “You do whatever it takes.”
Shelley was dozing when he got back to the room. He peeked in the bassinet to check on the baby, still not yet named.
“How’s everything?” Oscar’s favorite nurse hustled in and asked.
“Good. The baby’s eating a lot.”
“They do.” The nurse gently woke Shelley to say, “It’s time for the full pediatric exam. This will take only about thirty minutes.”
“What will you do?” asked Shelley.
“Nothing major. The doctor just looks at his eyes and checks the heart, pulse and umbilical cord.” The nurse wheeled the baby from the room. Oscar waited for Leann. When she arrived, he filled her in and then he headed for his motorcycle. At a quiet point during the night, he’d gone to his aunt’s for a quick change of clothes and something to eat before returning straight back to the hospital and Shelley’s side.
Calling Riley, he asked, “Can you arrange for a meeting between Maureen and—”
“Ryan—I mean, Billy—is on his way here from the temporary foster home. Maureen’s also here and about to jump out of her skin. I’ve never seen a—Oh!”
Oscar could hear noise, happy laughter, and Riley saying, “Be careful.”
“I’ll be there in a minute,” Oscar told him.
Hurrying inside the station, he went to the break room. Ryan was at one of the tables, laughing while Maureen stacked plastic cups so he could knock them down.
“I told Shelley about the swab being a positive match,” Oscar said.
No one said anything. They all managed to look uncomfortable.
Ryan slid to the floor, picked up three plastic cups, handed them to Maureen and ordered, “Lap.” She picked him back up, never taking her eyes off Oscar.
“Shelley wants to know if she can send some of Ry—Billy’s toys with him, clothes too, and say goodbye.”
Maureen’s head bowed.
“Where’s Mom?” Billy asked, which seemed to make everyone even more uncomfortable.
“It might be easier,” Riley said, the voice of reason, “to let Ryan see Shelley, let him slowly separate from her instead of feeling ripped away.”
Maureen looked at the ceiling, the floor and then Oscar. “I don’t know if I can. I’ve missed a whole year. I don’t want to share.”
“Look at him,” Oscar said. “He’s been well taken care of. You may not want to share, shouldn’t have to share, but Shelley’s going to be hurting exactly the same way you have for the last year, through no fault of her own.”
“I’ll think about it,” Maureen said. This time she, instead of Billy, knocked down the tower of plastic cups. Appeared as if she enjoyed it, too.
“The paperwork is finished,” Riley said. “Ms. Peterson and Billy will be leaving as soon as Trimble gets here. So far the media hasn’t heard about the threat at the hospital. I want to keep it like that. Otherwise I’m afraid there will be so many faces that something could go wrong in a crowd.”
“What threat?” Maureen asked.
Riley frowned. Obviously he’d been talking low and never expected to be overheard. He opened his mouth to answer, but Oscar’s phone pinged.
Oscar checked his screen. Leann’s name appeared. “Everything all right?” he queried.
“No!”