Baby Love (13 page)

She couldn't believe she'd fainted. She might have laughed if it hadn't been so awful. Why now, of all times? She needed to be on her way. She had to send for Heidi, and she needed to get settled to take care of Jaimie. Now, to top everything off, she'd have hospital bills up to her eyebrows.

No matter, she assured herself. She'd manage somehow. The doctor said she was really sick, so she didn't have much of a choice about staying here until she got back on her feet. Once she was released, she'd have to work two jobs for a while. That was all. She'd done it before; she could do it again. Child care might prove to be a problem, but she'd find someone trustworthy to watch after Jaimie. Everything would work out. She had to believe that.

Maybe if she really concentrated, she could conjure up a fairy godmother who'd wave her wand and make all her troubles go away.

She closed her eyes, so sick and exhausted that contemplation of anything beyond the moment was too taxing. So, instead, she surrendered her mind to the whimsical. If there really were such a thing as magic
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and fairy godmothers, what would she wish for? Nothing so silly as a pumpkin coach and a glass slipper, that was for sure. No, if she were going to wish for anything, she'd set her sights on more practical things, like a really good job and a chance to get a better education. She didn't need anyone to take care of her.

She could do a fine job of that by herself. More earning power would definitely be nice, though...

Rafe tapped the toe of his boot on the lobby carpet, his gaze flickering to the information desk where an elderly female volunteer commandeered the telephone and gave visitors directions. Shrunken with age, she put him in mind of a cheerful elf with her silvery white hair and jolly pink uniform. She had promised to let him know the moment Maggie was settled in her room. It seemed as if he'd been waiting an eternity.

A man stepped up to the counter and muttered a question to the woman. After giving the fellow a quick onceover, Rafe lost interest. Guys just like him were a dime a dozen in the Western states. Classic small-town redneck, the kind who swilled cheap beer, believed pro wrestling was on the up-and-up, and considered himself well-read because he stumbled through a pulp-fiction paperback once a year. Scraggly, sandy-colored hair hung in oily strands to his shoulders. He wore faded jeans and a dingy white T-shirt, one sleeve rolled up over a half-smoked pack of Camel straights.

When the man suddenly turned and looked directly at Rafe, all his senses went on alert.
Lonnie Boyle?

Why he felt surprised, he didn't know. He hadn't been expecting an upstanding citizen, after all.

As Boyle strode toward him, Rafe took more careful inventory, noting the gold hoop he wore in his right ear. His stringy biceps sported tatoos, the one on his right arm of a naked woman with a fanged serpent coiled around her. Instinctively, Rafe held Jaimie a little closer.

Preceded by a beer belly that protruded over the

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waistband of his low-slung Levi's, Boyle swaggered cockily. As he drew up in front of the sofa, Rafe saw that he clutched some folded papers in his left hand. The man puffed out his chest, his shifty gray eyes taking Rafe's measure and then settling on Jaimie. He had "bully" written all over him.

"You Kendrick?"

Rafe nodded.

"Name's Boyle, Lonnie Boyle. I'm Maggie's father. "

He extended his right hand, a large diamond ring flashing on his finger. Rafe stared at that ring for a long moment, took measure of the jutting prongs that secured the stones, and immediately wanted to kill the son of a bitch. Since they were inside a hospital, he settled for declining his handshake.

Boyle lowered his arm, rubbing his palm on his jeans. Rafe's gaze followed that ring.

"I'm Jaimie's grandpa. " He gestured at the baby. "The doc says you been takin' care of him. I sure appreciate that. Now I'm here, though, you're off the hook. What do I owe you for your trouble?"

All Rafe wanted was to catch him outside. "You owe me nothing. As for Jaimie, I'll continue to care for him until Maggie tells me differently. "

Boyle thrust out the papers. "Well, Mr. Kendrick, you best be readin' these then before you get yourself neck-deep in hot water. These here are adoption papers. A private arrangement. The folks who adopted the baby paid Maggie a pretty penny to cover her medical expenses, plus a handsome sum to put her through college. Maggie took the money, but then she got all motherly and ran off with the baby. Too late for that. She's got no rights now, and I've come to take the kid back to his new mama and daddy. "

"Nobody is taking Jaimie anywhere until Maggie gives her authorization. "

Boyle's face flushed. "Look, buster. You're inter-ferin' where you got no business. That kid ain't hers no
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more, and she's got no say-so. " He tossed the papers on the sofa. "Read 'em. She signed the goddamned things of her own free will, and I'm takin' that baby, whether you like it or not. "

Rafe unfolded the document and quickly scanned it. The signature that was supposedly Maggie's looked as if it had been written by an unsteady hand. There were also some dirt smudges and faint, reddish-brown smears on the papers. The notary seal looked genuine. He ran his thumb over the raised dots.

"Were these papers even signed in an office? They're dirty, and these stains look like blood. "

Boyle never missed a beat. "They
are
blood. Maggie poked her finger with one of the staple prongs. As for the dirt?" He glanced down at his hands. "I got me a flat tire drivin' down here. My hands was a mess. I just washed up in the men's room a few minutes ago. "

A poked finger and dirty hands, huh? The story was credible enough. Only something told Rafe that Boyle's delivery was a little too well practiced.

As he returned the papers to the man, he said, "No one's touching this child until Maggie gives me the go-ahead. Clear? If you mean to take this baby anywhere, she has to authorize it. "

Boyle's face turned an even darker shade of red. He snatched the document from Rafe's hand and slapped it against his thigh. "I'll get her authorization in damned short order then! To hell with this bullshit. "

With that, he turned and struck off across the lobby, heading for the east wing. Rafe tried to resist his urge to follow the man. He had no business interfering between Maggie and her stepfather. She was in a room near the nurses' station. She was bound to have an emergency buzzer to press if she needed help.

There was no reason for him to get in the middle of this.

The smell jerked Maggie awake.
Cigarettes and beer.
Thinking it was only a bad dream, she opened her eyes. A face swam in her bleary vision.

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"Lonnie?" Her heart gave a violent leap.

"Who else? Nobody skips out on me and gets away with it. You had to know I'd find you. "

Struggling not to panic, Maggie groped for her buzzer. When her fingertips didn't connect with the plastic casing, she cast a wild glance at the bed rail, searching for the thick gray cord.

"Oops. " Lonnie braced his hands on the metal bars, effecting a trap with his arms, and leaned closer so their noses nearly touched. "Looks like it fell off the bed. Ain't that a shame? Though I gotta say it works out real nice for me. This way, we can get this settled without nobody bargin' in and pokin' their nose where it don't belong. "

A cold resolve settled in the pit of Maggie's stomach. He'd closed the door. If she screamed for help, she had no idea if anyone would hear her, and she'd only get one chance before he covered her mouth. She forced herself to meet his gaze, trying not to show any fear.

"There's nothing to settle. You forced me to sign those papers. I've got bruises all over me to prove it. Big mistake. You didn't keep me home this time until the evidence faded. Give back the money, Lonnie, and cut your losses. I'm not going to give up my child. "

He laughed, the sound oily and horrible. "Them bruises don't got my name on 'em. You can't prove nothin'. Far as anybody else knows, you got yourself a nasty-tempered boyfriend. " He traced a fingertip along her cheekbone. Maggie tried to jerk her face away, but pain and weakness made her movements sluggish. "Here's how it stands, sweetness. I got signed, notarized papers sayin' you gave up your kid for adoption and that you took the money. All legal and tidy. If you try to fight me, there ain't a judge anywhere that'll rule in your favor, especially not when your own stepdaddy speaks out against you, testifyin' that you ain't a fit mother. "

"Unfit?" Using the hand unhampered by the IV, she shoved his arm away. "Get out of here. You've got no
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hold over me now. Heidi's safe. I've seen to that, and she's prepared to tell a judge what a creep you are so she can live with me. You'll never get within a mile of her again. I'm warning you, Lonnie. Back me into a corner on this, and even though it may upset Mama, I'll come out fighting. You'll be the one who lives to regret it. Do you understand? I'll file charges against you for assault. The doctor here will back me up.

She's seen what you did to me. They'll toss you in a cell and throw away the key. "

His grin only broadened. "So Heidi's safe, is she? You sure about that, little girl?"

Maggie's heart caught. She'd seen that gleam in Lonnie's eyes before.

"I figured out where you took her, " he whispered.

He was lying. He had to be lying, Maggie thought frantically. Her boss's sister had offered to let Heidi stay with her until Maggie could send for her. The woman had a different married name than Terry and lived in another town. There was no way Lonnie could have tracked Heidi down.

"You're lying. "

"Am I? Well, now, sweetness, you best be damned sure. " As he spoke, he curled his fingers over her hand and started bending her wrist back. "You see, it went like this. Heidi, she got to worryin' about your mama frettin' over her, so she telephoned home to tell her she was all right. " He laughed. "I always knew that caller ID would come in handy someday. Heidi bein' only ten, I guess she didn't stop to think about me tracin' the call. I wrote down the name and phone number, went to the sheriff's office, and me and a county deputy drove over to Tillard to fetch her back. " He smiled evilly. "If you don't come home, fine by me. Me and Heidi will get along right fine. "

A wave of dizziness made Maggie blink. Pain lanced up from her twisted wrist. Through clenched teeth, she whispered, "You
monster!".

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Lonnie wrenched harder on her hand. "Say now, let's not call names. Start gettin' mouthy and disrespectful, and I'm liable to get mad. What happens to Heidi then?" He pressed his face so close that the rancid smell of his breath nearly gagged her. He arched his brows in question. "Hey, sweetness, what's wrong with your screamer? It broke or somethin'? All of a sudden, like, you're bein' a model of good behavior!"

Through the closed door of Maggie's room, Rafe could hear the growl of Boyle's voice, interspersed with Maggie's faint responses. Settling Jaimie in the bend of his right arm, Rafe inched the door open. Through the crack, he could see Maggie on the raised hospital bed. Boyle leaned over her, twisting on her wrist and laughing softly. Rafe's gaze shot to the side of her bed where the emergency buzzer dangled at the end of its cord.

"You're gonna tell that asshole to let me have that kid, or you'll be sorry. You understand me?"

Maggie arched her spine and tried to grab his wrist with both hands, but her IV tube snagged on the bed rail.

Helpless to intervene with a baby in his arms, Rafe turned to catch a nurse who was hurrying down the hallway. Ignoring her startled expression, he thrust the infant into her arms. "Take this child to the nurses'

station and see to it he's kept safe. No one but me is to take him. You understand?"

Wide-eyed, the young nurse nodded mutely.

"Then get on the horn to page Dr. Hammish and security. There's a disorderly visitor in 122. He's roughing up a patient. There's going to be trouble, and I may need help. "

As the nurse scurried back toward the nurses' station with Jaimie, Rafe turned to face the door, trying with everything he had to get his temper under control. It was a no go. He'd never been so mad.

When he pushed the door back open, he grew even

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more furious. Face averted from her stepfather, Maggie struggled while Boyle continued to bend her wrist to the breaking point. The tendons at each side of her throat were distended as she strained to free her twisted arm.

Rafe didn't feel his feet move. Between one breath and the next, he was across the room. Not bothering to speak, he swung at Boyle with all his strength, knocking him off Maggie and backward. Maggie screamed as Boyle spun with the force of the blow. After doing a full turn, the heartless bastard grabbed for the privacy drape to break his fall. He pulled the drape down with him, sending the curtain hooks flying in all directions, and landed flat on his ass.

Rafe was on him again before he could move, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. At the edge of his mind, he knew this wasn't the time or place for it, but he couldn't resist planting his fist squarely on the bastard's nose. Just once. Boyle howled and clamped a hand over his face.

"You broke my
nose!"

"That's not all I wanna break, you worm!" Seizing the man's bent arm, Rafe twisted it behind his back, flipped him over onto his belly, and straddled his hips. For good measure, he smacked the back of Boyle's head with the heel of his hand to make damn sure he did a face plant on the tile. "You ever lay so much as a finger on her again, and I'll kill you. You read me loud and clear, you rotten son of a bitch?"

Boyle grunted and gasped out, "My arm!
Goddamn!
Let up before you break my wrist. "

"How's it feel to get some of your own medicine?" Rafe twisted harder. "Oh, Jesus, God!" Boyle cried.

"Maggie, make him let me go! Maggie!"