BILLY AND THE KID

by Kristine Rolofson

  "You might want to buy an answering machine, just in case anyone calls. And I'll let you know if anything turns up."

  "All right."

  "Go talk to Jane. She's dying to see that baby and she said she'd make a list of baby-sitters for you."

  "Thanks. I guess I can't sleep at Daisy's place again."

  Joe grinned. "You should have seen her face when she saw you in her bed. I don't think she was real pleased."

  "If I was a little younger and a lot less tired..." He would charm the apron off the lovely waitress.

  "Dream on, pal. Every single man in town has been trying to work up the courage to ask her out."

  "Has she really been married twice?" If that was true, were there two men in this world who were that stupid?

  "I guess."

  "Wonder what went wrong."

  "You'd better ask her that."

  "Right. And get ready to duck. I don't think Ms. McGregor answers personal questions." Spring fussed and opened her eyes, so Will reached down and plucked her from the car seat. "Did you hear how I got married and my wife left me? Daisy told Hazel Murphy, so it's all over town now."

  Joe chuckled. "Jane called and wanted to know if it was true."

  Will swore under his breath.

  "You and Daisy make quite a pair," Joe pointed out. "And she saved your ass last night."

  "I left most of my stuff there. I guess I'd better go pick it up."

  Joe ignored his ringing phone. "That ranch house is no place for a little baby, Will."

  "I put in a new furnace."

  "But you haven't had time to insulate. Little babies can't be in drafty places. They get sick." Joe leaned forward. "I can get her placed in a temporary foster home, where she'll be taken care of until we find Sarah—or whoever her mother is. I'm not convinced that someone isn't playing a joke on you."

  "Some joke," he said, looking down at Spring's tiny, trusting face.

  "Or this could be someone who really thinks you are the father. We know Sarah's blood type from her medical records when she was a kid. A simple blood test on Spring could give us more info to go on, or even rule out Sarah as the mother."

  "I know. You've said that before."

  "And?"

  "Not yet." He put the baby up to his shoulder and snuggled her against his cheek. She smelled like powder and sour milk. "This baby stays with me. Besides, I'd like to act like a daddy for a while longer." He paused, then added, "As long as it's temporary."

  * * *

  He'd pick up the baby's stuff at Daisy's and then he'd go home. Boy, was that a grim prospect. There were drafts and dog hair and not-so-clean floors, not the kind of home a baby should have.

  But then none of this was what a baby should have, Will thought. And he figured that little Spring knew it, too, because she'd started to scream the minute they left the sheriff's office. She'd screamed in the truck, even though he'd driven around town a few times because an hour ago she'd liked to ride in the truck and he'd figured he'd found the solution to all his problems: feed her, burp her, then drive her around.

  He glanced over at her red face. So much for that solution. She might be hungry or she might be wet, and neither one could be fixed right this second. And his truck suddenly smelled like the baby had done more than just pee.

  This was obviously a job for a woman. He executed a neat U-turn in the middle of Main Street

  and headed back the way he came.

  None of the teenagers goofing around in the booths looked up as he entered the café with Spring screaming in his arms, but Daisy stopped whatever she was doing with a calculator and a pad of paper to frown at him as he walked across the room.

  "What have you done to her?"

  "Nothing. She's female." He deposited the baby into Daisy's outstretched arms. Boy, was he grateful for those arms. "She enjoys yelling at me."

  "Someone needs her diaper changed."

  "I would have done it," he lied, "but all her stuff is here."

  "You didn't take a diaper bag with you?"

  "What's a diaper bag?"

  "It's what mothers carry around with them. It has diapers and bottles and all sorts of things a baby needs. You have to take it with you wherever you go."

  "There ought to be a book about this stuff."

  "There is. I mean, there are. Go to the library and start reading." She stood up.

  "Now?"

  Her withering look would have unmanned a lesser cowboy. "Pick up my stuff, will you? We're going to give you a poopy-diaper lesson."

  Not exactly the stuff of fantasies. "Can I get a beer first?"

  "We both will," she promised. "I'll meet you at the other door." She paused at the counter. "Darlene, I'll be in the back if you need me."

  Will stopped and peered through the kitchen opening. "Hey, Darlene. I haven't seen you since high school."

  The tall brunette waved a spatula at him and grinned. "Hey, Billy! I heard you were back home again."

  "I'll be back for one of those burgers," he promised, hurrying outside into the cold wind. He really wished Daisy would let him go through the back way. It wasn't as if she was fooling anyone. It wasn't as if they were having sex in the storage room.

  Which he wouldn't mind, come to think of it. The woman was gorgeous, but there was something else he couldn't put his finger on. Mysterious, maybe. Though he'd never been around mysterious women before. His experience was limited to "Hey, hon, can I buy you a beer?"

  He put his head down against the wind and rounded the corner. He'd forgotten how hard the wind could blow in the middle of January. Daisy opened the door before he knocked, and he hurried into the tiny kitchen.

  "Feels like snow again." He shivered.

  "I didn't expect to see you this afternoon. I thought you'd gone home," she said.

  "I did, long enough to check on the homes and feed my dog."

  She handed him the promised bottle of beer. "Why did you come back to town?"

  "I don't think I can do this by myself," he admitted, taking a swallow.

  "Of course you can't. You'd have to be crazy to even try."

  He tried to smile. "I've had worse things than crazy said about me."

  "This is different." She nodded toward the baby in her arms. "This is her life we're talking about. Do you have any family—mother, sisters, aunts, grandparents—anyone who could help you out for a while? Until you find Spring's mother?"

  "Not even close."

  "What about Sarah? Do you know if she has a family you could contact?"

  "Joe's working on that." He didn't blame her for wondering. She thought he was the kind of man who left unwed mothers to fend for themselves. "And if I told you she wasn't my daughter, would you believe me?"

  Daisy handed him the baby, but didn't meet his gaze. "Not really. Why would you go to all this trouble for a child who wasn't yours?"

  "Because..." he began, following her into the living room. He watched as she gathered up an armful of baby things.

  "It's none of my business," she said, taking a deep breath. "But obviously you don't believe in practicing safe sex. I mean, doesn't anyone watch television, for heaven's sake?"

  "Television?"

  "You're supposed to use condoms, cowboy." She motioned towards the baby. "Bring her into the bathroom and we'll do it on the counter."

  "We?" He gulped.

  "You have to learn sometime."

  "I could wait," he suggested, noticing that Spring had a definite ripe odor to her. "I could wait along time," Will said, following Daisy into the bathroom.

  * * *

  "I'm missing out on all the fun."

  "What?"

  "The fun," Jane repeated, wondering why her husband didn't understand what she was saying.

  "The mystery baby. Will acting like a father. Daisy McGregor acting maternal" She fidgeted in the recliner and surveyed her large stomach. "All this exciting stuff is happening while I sit here like a lump. A big fat baby-making lump."

 
"I'll tell Will to stop by with the baby soon, okay?"

  "Like he's going to tell me anything."

  "What do you want to know?" Men were idiots. Even her sweet, perplexed deputy-sheriff husband. "I want to know if Will likes Daisy, if Daisy likes Will. I want to know if she's good enough for him. I want to see that poor little baby. I want to know who left her on Will's doorstep." Her voice rose and Joe moved back a step. "Give me something to do. I could make phone calls. Track down clues. Talk to hospitals," she pleaded. "At least I'd feel involved."

  "You did something. You lent him the bassinet," he offered, stepping over a miniature yellow dump truck. "Where are the boys?"

  "They're having a 'quiet time' in their room for a while." The baby kicked her again and Jane patted her stomach. "Your daughter, on the other hand, is doing somersaults in here."

  Joe came closer and put one hand on her stomach. "Yeah, I can feel her. Long day, huh?"

  She sighed and folded her hands over his. "A very long day. I can barely move."

  "You see the doctor tomorrow?"

  "Yes. He'll say what he always says: that baby will be born when it's good and ready." She looked up at her husband and cursed the tears that welled in her eyes. "I really wish this baby was ready now."

  "Oh, honey," Joe drawled, leaning over to kiss her cheek. "What do you want me to do?"

  "Take me out to dinner," she said. "I need some fresh air."

  "The windchill's thirteen below."

  "Walking's good for starting labor."

  Joe straightened. "I'll bundle up the boys good and warm."

  "Will you find out where Will is? Maybe he'd like to join us?"

  "So you could see that baby."

  She sniffed, then smiled at herself for being so silly. "You have to admit that it must be a pretty strange sight."

  "Will with a baby? Yeah," he said. "He's doing okay, though."

  "I meant Daisy McGregor. She doesn't look like the motherly type." She held out her hand so Joe could help her to her feet. It took a couple of humiliating minutes to get to a vertical position. "This is my last pregnancy."

  "You said that last time."

  "I mean it. I used to have a figure like Daisy's." She paused, thinking of the waitress's ample bosom and tiny waist. "Well, not exactly. But I wouldn't mind seeing my feet again. One of the school mothers thinks Daisy used to be Miss Utah in the Miss America pageant. Do you think Daisy is her real name?"

  "I wouldn't know."

  "Sure you would. You know everything."

  "Not that," he said, calling for the boys.

  "I just don't get it."

  "Get what?" he called over the excited voices of their sons.

  "How on earth could a woman like Daisy McGregor know anything about babies?"

  * * *

  The supper rush wasn't.

  "We've got burgers, hot dogs, chili or hot roast-beef sandwiches," Daisy told the Pierce family, who were one of two groups of customers at five-thirty. "Fries, pies and chocolate cake. Ice cream, Jell-O with whipped cream. Potato chips, pickles, ham salad and baked beans. Next week we're going to have pizza every night, too."

  "Cool," the older boy said. "I'm gonna have Jell-O and beans." He noticed his father's frown and added, "Please."

  "Me, too," the smaller child said, grinning from ear to ear. Both boys were miniature versions of heir father, with dark eyes and hair.

  Daisy didn't write the order on her pad. Instead she looked at Jane, who appeared awkward and uncomfortable in the booth.

  "That's okay," their mother said, waving off Joe's objections. "Beans are protein and they can have milk with their supper." She closed the menu. "I'd like a piece of chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream on top."

  Her husband stared. "For dinner?"

  "It's a craving," she informed him, before smiling at Daisy. "I've been pregnant for a hundred months now and I think I'm entitled."

  Daisy wrote down the order and then asked, "The baby's due soon?"

  "Any day now. Or I'm going to explode."

  "She always gets a little strange at the end," Joe explained. "I'll have the hot roast-beef sandwich and an order of fries. And coffee, too."

  "Sure. Would you like anything to drink?" she asked the pregnant woman.

  "A cup of tea would be perfect," the pretty brunette said. "You haven't officially met my boys. The older one is Josh and the younger is Jimmy."

  "Hi, guys," Daisy said. "I'm glad you came to have supper here."

  "They're thrilled to be out of the house," Jane said, "and so am I. Have you seen Will anywhere around?"

  "He's in back with the baby." She'd left him rocking Spring while watching a rodeo on one of the satellite channels. The baby almost looked as if she was enjoying herself.

  "I'm dying to see her."

  "Want me to tell him you're here?"

  "You can give him this." Jane pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Daisy.

  "He asked for names of baby-sitters, but I think he needs a lot more help than that. Have you ever seen that house he's living in?"

  "No, but I'll tell him you're—"

  "It has possibilities, if you're willing to spend a ton of money and a whole lot of time restoring it to its original condition, it would be gorgeous. Like one of those places you'd see in a home-remodeling magazine."

  Joe reached into his pocket. "There goes the beeper," he groaned, and his family joined him. He glanced at the number and winced. "Looks like I need to make a phone call. Can I use your phone, Daisy?"

  "Sure. It's behind the counter, next to the cash register."

  The older boy slid out of the booth to let his father leave. "What kind of Jell-O do you have?"

  "Orange," Daisy told him. "And I'll bet you want whipped cream on it, too."

  "Yes. Please."

  "Darn." Jane snuggled the smaller son close to her. "Here we thought we were going to have dinner with Dad."

  "I'll be right back with your drinks," Daisy promised, squashing a pang of envy as she hurried to the counter to place their order. She hoped Jane Pierce knew how lucky she was.

  "Daisy." Joe intercepted her before she could return with the drinks. "Can I go back and get Will?"

  "Something's wrong."

  His grim expression didn't change. "I'm not sure. I think we may have found the woman we've been looking for."

  * * *

  "Two women and three kids," Jane said, looking across the booth at Daisy. "What did we do to deserve this?"

  She laughed. "Just a couple of hours ago I'd told myself I was going to mind my own business." Now she had a sleeping baby in her arms and a sticky-faced and cheerful five-year-old beside her.

  "What fun is that?" Jane scooped another mound of ice cream from the dish. "I promised myself I wouldn't gain any more than twenty pounds this time around, that I would eat salads and fresh fruits every day."

  "A noble goal," Daisy agreed. "But ice cream tastes better."

  "True. And eating helps pass the time." Jane pointed the spoon toward Spring. "That is one beautiful baby."

  "Do you think they'll find her mother?" Jane sighed. "Do you want them to?"

  "You have to admit, anyone who would leave her baby on someone's doorstep in the middle of January doesn't exactly qualify for Mother of the Year."

  "Sit still, Jimmy. Eat your beans." She turned her attention back to Daisy. "I know."

  "And if she was alone..."

  "Without a husband, you mean?"

  "Without anyone, but especially without Will. He shares responsibility in this."

  Jane moved the empty ice-cream dish out of her way and picked up her teacup. "You're assuming Will's the father."

  Josh tugged on Daisy's sleeve. "My daddy's a sheriff."

  She smiled down at him. "I know."

  "He's got a fast car."

  "I'll bet he does," Daisy said, turning back to the boy's mother. "Why shouldn't I? Assume he's the father, I mean. The baby was left on his
ranch and he's taking care of her instead of putting her in a foster home until Joe can find the mother."

  Jane shrugged. "All I'm saying is that I wouldn't jump to conclusions if I were you."

  "It doesn't matter. It's none of my business," Daisy repeated, reminding herself once again. "It really isn't."

  "Except that you're sitting here holding someone else's baby." Jane put her hand on her belly and leaned against the back of the booth. "Is it true you were in the Miss America pageant? The whole town wants to know."

  "You can spread the word that I was third runner-up for Miss Wyoming. The talent contest killed me."

  Jane laughed. "What did you do?"

  "Oh, no, you don't," she said, shaking her head. "I'd have to know you a lot better or I'd have to be drinking frozen margaritas."

  "What's that?" Jimmy asked. "Your baby's gettin' mad."

  Daisy looked down to see Spring about to yell. She fussed and wriggled as if the world was completely out of kilter. "She sure is. I'll bet she needs her bottle."

  Josh lifted his head from his mother's side. "A bottle?"

  "Bottles are for babies," Jane assured him. "See that little baby there? We're going to have one of those soon." She patted her rounded belly. "Very soon, I hope."

  "I'd better go take care of this little girl before she starts to scream."

  "Let Daisy out of the booth, Josh. I guess we'd better get home, too."

  "Joe said he'd call when they got to town?"

  She nodded. "He promised."

  "Stay here, then. The kids can watch television in the back. I just have to help Darlene close up." She looked around the room. "We don't get much of a crowd at night. Everyone tells me that January, February and March are the slowest months of the year herein town."

  "Selling pizza is a good idea. Can people order it to go?"

  "Sure. I bought a used pizza oven in North Bend. And we're having the chili cook-off here on Wednesday night."

  "That's the fund-raiser for the high-school basketball team, right?" Jane eased Josh out of the booth and began to clear the table.

  "Stop that," Daisy said. "You're not supposed to be working."

  Jane ignored her and motioned to her sons to help. "Moving around could start labor."