Baby Love (14 page)

"Rafe, please! Let him up. This will only make it worse!"

Amazement coursed through Rafe. He'd seen the look on her face. She hated and feared this man, and there wasn't a doubt in Rafe's mind that it had been Boyle

BABY LOVE 127

who'd beaten the hell out of her. Yet she was pleading with Rafe to release him? Not a chance.

"Rafe,
please!"
she begged. "Oh, God! You don't understand. You've no idea what he'll do.
Please!
Oh, please. "

Rafe reluctantly eased the pressure. "Are you all right?"

Sitting up in bed, she was shaking violently, one arm curled around her ribs. Her brown eyes swimming with unshed tears, she glanced fearfully around the room. "Jaimie. Oh, God, my baby! What did you do with him?"

"The nurses have him, and they've been warned to turn him over only to me, " Rafe hastened to assure her. "He's fine, Maggie. "

Her shoulders slumped with relief.

"Dr. Hammish and security are on the way here, " Rafe told her. Then, leaning forward, he met Boyle's gaze and added, "You're going to jail. You may get away with this where you come from, but you can't walk into a hospital and manhandle a woman. I hope they toss you in a cell and throw away the key. "

"What's going on in here?"

Rafe reared back to see around the bed. He recognized the flash of Dr. Hammish's red hair as she ran to Maggie's side. Over the top of the mattress, Rafe saw her quickly check the IV shunt in the back of her patient's hand. Then she pressed Maggie against the pillows and sent Rafe an inquiring look. He nodded at the man beneath him.

"Meet Mr. Boyle. I caught him trying to strong-arm your patient. It seems he forced her to sign adoption papers. I think we both know what kind of coercion he used. Now he's demanding she relinquish custody of the baby. He claims the adoptive parents paid her handsomely to give Jaimie up—all her medical bills and money to go to college. "

"I never got a cent!" Maggie insisted. "I
wouldn't
128 CATHERINE ANDERSON

sell my baby! It's a lie, a horrible lie. Lonnie took the money. All of it. He arranged everything behind my back and then forced me to sign the papers. "

The doctor slipped an arm around Maggie's shoulders and drew her close. "Shhh, Maggie. Calm down, "

she soothed, "He won't take your baby. In most cases, even if a woman does sign the papers, a judge will rule in favor of the natural mother if she changes her mind. "

"Wanna bet?" Boyle cried. "How about if the natural mother's unfit? I'll testify against her. See if I don't.

How will that look? Huh? Her own stepfather speaking out against her! After I get done talkin', the judge will think twice about ruling in her favor, mark my words. "

"Don't believe him, Maggie, " Dr. Hammish interjected.

"Doesn't make no difference what she believes!" Boyle retorted. "Only what a judge thinks will matter.

He'll want that kid to have a good home, and the folks adoptin' him are rich. Big, fancy house. Uppity-up neighborhood. They'll send him to the best schools! No contest! They'll already have that baby, and no judge in his right mind will make them give a child back to a two-bit little tramp who sold him to support her drug habit!"

Maggie made a tortured sound. "Drug habit? I don't take drugs!"

Boyle sneered. "Oh, yeah? Prove it! I'll swear you did! And so will the attorney. We'll say you only stopped using long enough to get your kid back. "

The physician's green eyes darted to Rafe. The security guards rushed into the room just then. After taking quick stock of the situation, one of the uniformed men turned to the doctor. "Should we call the police?"

"Yes! Call the goddamned police!" Boyle yelled, straining against Rafe's hold. "She signed them papers of her own free will and took
money.
Sold her own baby. Some mother! The adoption attorney notarized the papers himself. They're on the bed. Look and see for your-BABY LOVE 129

self. She's got no claim to that kid anymore, and I'm takin' him to his new parents. None of you can stop me. I got the law on my side! It'll take months before the case goes to court. By then the kid'll love his adopted parents, and she'll play hell gettin' him back. "

Rafe didn't doubt for an instant that money had changed hands. He was also convinced it had gone straight into Boyle's. Maggie had gotten nothing out of the deal but a beating that had damned near killed her. Evidently, after being forced to sign the papers, she had somehow managed to flee with the baby before her stepfather could turn him over to the adoptive parents.

Any attorney who had been present to authenticate those adoption papers when Maggie was being physically forced to sign them had to be as slimy a worm as Boyle was.

A crooked adoption attorney who dealt in human flesh. A son of a bitch for a stepfather.
Dear God.

Searching Maggie's terrified gaze, Rafe knew she was in way over her head. Boyle was right. It would look bad for Maggie if her own stepfather testified against her at a hearing, and in the ensuing months until the case was reviewed by a judge, Jaimie would become attached to his adoptive parents. The court would definitely take into account that Maggie was a virtual stranger to him. Unless she could prove she'd been muscled into signing those papers, she could lose her baby, and as Boyle had already pointed out, none of those bruises on her body had his name on them.

It would nearly kill Maggie if she lost her child.

Seeing no alternative, Rafe released Boyle's arm and swung off him, signaling the guards to take over.

Boyle rolled onto his side, rubbing his wrist. He sneered as the two security guards pulled him to his feet, then shook their hands away as he gained his balance. He swiped furiously at the blood under his nose, grabbed the adoption papers off the bed, and staggered to the door.

Before storming from the room, he turned and leveled

130
CATHERINE ANDERSON

a finger at Maggie. "You made a bad mistake when you decided to mess with me, little lady. That baby ain't all you're gonna lose. What about your sweet mama and that cute little sister of yours? I'll wait in the lobby and give you an hour to think about it. If you don't change your mind and hand over the kid in that time, I'm callin' the cops. " He waved the papers and shot Rafe a smoldering look. "You won't be such a hotshot then, hey, boy? Refuse to give
them
that kid and see what happens! They'll throw your ass in jail so fast, it'll make you dizzy. "

After Boyle made his exit, the hospital room went deathly quiet. Rafe wasn't sure how he expected Maggie to react. He only knew any reaction would have been less alarming than nothing at all. She lay motionless, staring straight ahead, her face so pale and her eyes so lusterless she might have been a corpse.

Dr. Hammish flashed Rafe a worried look, then stepped to the bed and retrieved the emergency buzzer.

After ringing for a nurse, she rewound the cord on the bed rail. "It's going to be all right, Maggie. You have a friend in me and in Mr. Kendrick. We'll help in any way we can. "

A nurse in pink scrubs rushed into the room. Her rubber-soled shoes squeaked on the tile. Dr. Hammish turned to softly issue orders for medication.

During their exchange, Rafe had eyes only for Maggie's drawn face. God only knew what she had endured at Boyle's hands, the only certainty being that she couldn't take much more. "Maggie?" he said softly.

"Honey, can you talk to me? I want to help you, but I need to know exactly what I'm up against here. "

"You can't help me, " she said stonily, and then, before Rafe realized what she meant to do, she sat up, jerked the IV shunt from the back of her hand, and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "Where are my clothes?"

131

132 CATHERINE ANDERSON

The doctor gasped and grabbed for her patient's bleeding hand. "Dear God, what are you doing?"

"Leaving. " Applying pressure to her hand to stop the bleeding, Maggie stepped down off the stool and headed for the wall locker, the back of her hospital gown flapping. As she threw open the locker and grabbed her jeans, she cast Rafe a determined glance. "Could you go and get Jaimie for me, please?"

Even as she spoke, she swayed with weakness. Dr. Hammish scurried across the room. "You can't do this!"

she cried.

Maggie shook her off. "I
am
doing it. " She braced a hand on the locker to support herself as she bent to thrust a foot down one pant leg. At the effort, her face lost even more color. "I have to get back to Prior before Lonnie does so I can get my sister out of there. "

Rafe couldn't move. He had the oddest sensation, as if the tile beneath his feet had turned to water, and he was about to sink. Over the last two days, he'd been assaulted by one inexplicable feeling after another about this young woman, and now, in a heartbeat, they were all hitting him at once.

"I'm sure your sister will be fine for a day or so, " Hammish insisted. "You're very ill, Maggie. You can't leave here without receiving treatment. "

"Write a prescription for pills, " Maggie retorted as she worked the jeans up over her slender hips. "If I don't get my sister out of there, Lonnie may hurt her to get back at me. That's the way he operates. "

The doctor seized Maggie's elbow to help steady her. "Let's not overreact. We've other options. Calling the police is one of them. And isn't your mother living in the home? Surely she'll look after your sister until we can work through appropriate channels to get the child out of there. "

Her movements jerky with urgency, Maggie snapped her jeans and bent to collect her socks and shoes. "I can't call the police. They might take one look at that

BABY LOVE 133

adoption agreement and hand Jaimie over to my stepfather. " She tugged on a sock and shoved her slender foot into a sneaker. "Then it'd take months, maybe even years, for me to get my baby back. "

"I admit there may be an element of risk, " the doctor conceded, "but calling the authorities is still your best bet. I'll intercede on your behalf. It's obvious you've been physically abused. They'll see that and take steps to help you. " Tightening her grip on Maggie's elbow, Dr. Hammish added, "Don't put me in this position. If you persist in trying to leave, I'll have no choice but to sedate you, and I really hate to have to do that. "

Maggie hesitated in putting on her second shoe to glance up, the haunted, hopeless look in her eyes nearly breaking Rafe's heart. "So, you're going to save me from myself? And what about Heidi, Dr.

Hammish?" she asked in a quivering voice. "Can you intercede on her behalf as well?"

The doctor's lips parted as if to speak, but then she simply stood there, saying nothing.

"You see?" Maggie said softly. "It's not just me and my baby. If not for that, don't you think I would have left a long time ago?"

"What pushed you into leaving this time?" Dr. Hammish asked.

"Things came to a head, and I didn't have a choice. It was that or lose Jaimie. I thought Heidi would be safe, that there was absolutely no way Lonnie could find her. But he did!"

Rafe took a hesitant step toward her, not entirely sure what he could do to help her, but convinced he had to do something. She squeezed her eyes closed, her face twisting with anguish.

"I wanted to bring Heidi with me, but Lonnie isn't stupid. He knew I might try to leave, so he took all my money and charge cards before he went to bed that night and locked them in his nightstand drawer.

"My boss floated me a loan, but she's only the truck

134 CATHERINE ANDERSON

stop manager, not the owner. She gave me all that she could, but it still wasn't enough for me to get settled someplace. Rent, deposits, food. I had no choice but to take Jaimie, but unless I absolutely had to, I couldn't go dragging a ten-year-old all over God's creation in the dead of winter, not knowing if I could even provide adequate shelter for her. I decided she'd be better off staying with Terry's sister where she'd be safe until I could find a job and send for her. With the money Terry gave me, all I needed was one week's pay. "

She lifted her hands in a gesture of futility. "It wouldn't have been for very long. Only nothing went right!

While I was trying to get on the train, it started to move. Jaimie was already on board, and I was running to catch up. I slipped on the ice and dropped his quilt and the diaper bag.
Everything
was in it. Stuff for Jaimie, the money,
everything.
And then I got sick. Now Heidi's back home. I
can't
just leave her there.

Please, try to understand that. "

"If we call the authorities, I'm certain there's something that can be done, " Dr. Hammish insisted.

With shaking hands, Maggie tied her laces and shook her head. "Not without proof that she's being mistreated, and trust me, there is none. Lonnie's far too clever for that. Oh, no. So far, he's kept his hands off Heidi. She's his ace in the hole. He uses the threat to her safety as leverage to keep me in line. " She straightened, keeping one hand pressed against the locker for support as she gave the older woman an imploring look. "I know you mean well, Doctor, but you don't have the whole picture. Do you think I've never gone to the police for help? Or to legal aid or children's services? Think again. I've gone so many times, they know me by name. "

"What did they do?"

"Nothing. That's the whole point. " She pulled her arm from the doctor's grasp and jerked her blouse and bra off the locker hook. "Without proof that Lonnie

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abuses my sister, there's nothing they can do. They couldn't take a child away from her mother without a good reason. Something had to actually happen to her first. "

"And your mother? She won't help?"

"My mother is... " Maggie's voice faded, and she slumped against the locker frame, her lashes fluttering as if she were about to faint. After several seconds, she took a bracing breath. "When my dad was killed, she had a heart attack. Oxygen deprivation left her braindamaged. She's very childlike now and her health is fragile. She's a dear heart and she loves Heidi, but as a protector, she's useless. "

Rafe remembered the sadness in Maggie's eyes last night when she told him that her life had never been the same after her father's death. Now he could understand why. To all intents and purposes, she'd actually lost both of her parents the same day.

Looking at her now, Rafe recalled all the times he had wondered what had happened in her life to make her so distrusting. Now the mystery was solved. At fourteen, she'd been left with a childlike mother and a baby sister to look after. Toss a creep like Lonnie Boyle into that equation, and you had a nightmare.
Dear
God.
Sudden nausea made his stomach roil.

"Lonnie is clever and manipulative, " Maggie continued shakily. "He took one look at my mother and saw a life on easy street. A not very bright widow with her own home and a little money in the bank. He has Mama wrapped around his little finger now and convinced he's wonderful. " She pressed the back of her wrist to her forehead. "You saw him. He's a creep. " She lowered her arm and blinked. "I won't let him do to Heidi what he's done to me. I
won't!"

"I'm not suggesting that you should, " the doctor assured her. "Only that your leaving the hospital isn't the best answer. "

Maggie shot Rafe a querulous look. "Please, Mr.

136 CATHERINE ANDERSON

Kendrick, don't just stand there. Go get Jaimie while I finish dressing. I don't have much time. "

With a vague sense of disgust, Rafe realized he
was
just standing there, and in that moment, he knew he had to do something, even if it was wrong.
Don't do anything dumb,
Ryan had cautioned him on the phone. Only would it be dumb? He could help this girl. And damn it, whether his feelings made sense or not, he cared about her.

He hadn't been able to help his own family. A perverse twist of fate had stolen them from him so quickly there had been nothing he could do. But that wasn't the case this time.

Rafe barely felt his feet moving as he crossed the room. "You don't need to leave, Maggie, " he said firmly.

"The cavalry has just arrived. "

"The what?"

"The cavalry, " he repeated. "In this case, only a one-man army, but I've got clout. Marry me. If I get my name on Jaimie's birth certificate and claim to be his father, there's nobody on God's green earth who'll be able to take him away from me. Boyle can't prove differently without a blood test, which he'll play hell getting with all the interstate red tape. Meanwhile, I'll make Boyle an offer he can't refuse to hold him at bay. Heidi won't be harmed. I promise. "

"Marry you?"

"It's the perfect solution. Think about it. A precedent has already been set in the courts. These days, a father has rights, If I say Jaimie is mine, and you marry me to strengthen my legal claim, that adoption agreement won't be worth the paper it's written on without my signature. "

She shook her head.

"Listen to him, Maggie, " the doctor encouraged. "Don't reject this offer out of hand. I know you haven't known him for long, but I believe he can be trusted and has your best interests at heart. "

BABY LOVE 137

"I can hire top-notch lawyers and fight it out with Lonnie in court if I have to, " Rafe rushed to assure her.

"You won't lose your son. I guarantee it. "

She stared up at him with a blank look on her pale face. "Hire top-notch lawyers? With what?"

"I told you this morning, remember? That when I left home, I left a substantial amount of money behind.

""A court battle would cost a
lot
of money. "

Rafe glanced at the doctor. "You called my bank. It'll be more believable coming from you. Tell her. "

"He's rich, " Dr. Hammish told her. "It's true, Maggie. I'm not sure exactly how rich, but I think it's fair to say he's got a bundle. "

"Rich?" Maggie repeated, her expression incredulous. "A rich boxcar bum?"

"Not a bum, a rancher. I still own half of a huge spread in eastern Oregon. Three years ago, there was a forest fire. The ranch was left financially strapped. To recover, my brother and I parceled off five thousand acres and sold lots to developers. We split the proceeds between us and our folks. My third was around fifty million, most of which is invested. I've got a lot of money, Maggie. Enough to buy off dozens of Lonnie Boyles and still make change. You understand? Money means power. Marry me, and that power will be in your corner. "

"Marry
you? But that's crazy. "

It
was
crazy. Rationally, Rafe knew that. But it was a wonderful kind of crazy. For the first time in so long, he felt alive again.

"Really think about this, Maggie, " Dr. Hammish urged. "I know it sounds a little archaic, but just imagine all the advantages. I don't know all the details, and it's not my business to pry, but you're obviously in one hell of a mess, and evidently your little sister will be as well if you don't do something. Is running away the answer?

"You've tried that, and look what's happened. Boyle

138 CATHERINE ANDERSON

is here, breathing down your neck. You can run again if that's your only option. But whenever possible, it's always best to make a stand and fight back. Mr. Kendrick is not only offering you his protection, but the means to fight this battle and win. "

Maggie felt as if the world had suddenly tipped off its axis. Her boxcar cowboy was actually a multimil-lionaire? And he was offering to marry her and use his money to fight her battles? It was like going to sleep and waking up, smack-dab in the middle of a fairy tale— with her cast in the role of damsel in distress and Rafe Kendrick playing the handsome prince.

She leaned more of her weight against the locker, not entirely sure her legs would continue to hold her up.

She was dreaming, she decided. The doctor had given her a sedative, after all, and she was actually in bed, doped to the gills and having a crazy dream. It was the only explanation.

"Why?" she asked dizzily.

"Why what?" her handsome prince asked.

"Why are you offering to marry me? I can see the benefits for me. But what will you get out of it?"

He flashed her a crooked grin. "You. "

Maggie groaned. "You barely know me. I've got an illegitimate baby and a ten-year-old sister I'm responsible for. You'd be taking on a ready-made family. "

The instant she spoke, Maggie realized that was exactly it. Rafe Kendrick had lost his wife and children in a car wreck, and he was still grieving. She recalled the expression of yearning she'd seen on his face last night when he looked down at Jaimie. Now he saw a way to keep her and the baby with him, a way to make Jaimie his very own. Convenient replacements, that's what they would be.