Doctor Daddy

by Jacqueline Diamond

  Luke hoped Zoey wouldn’t grow too attached to it, though. Once Sean returned, he intended to apply for a staff position at a teaching hospital where he could expand his expertise and help pioneer ways to save more lives. But only if he could bring his daughter along, of course.

  As he filled his plate and joined the Montoyas and a couple of Sherry’s friends at a table, Luke kept glancing around. It was a relief when, at last, he spotted Jane’s swinging stride approaching the gate from the sidewalk.

  His spirits lifted. Finally, the party could begin in earnest.

  JANE GLIMPSED Luke sitting with a group on the clubhouse terrace, surrounded, of course, by admiring women. No wonder. He looked like a movie star, with those striking features and that brightness in his eyes…which fixed on Jane. Unbidden, a tiny thrill ran through her.

  “Hey.” Luke raised a hand.

  She nodded and went to set down her bowl. The walk with Stopgap had worn the edge off her annoyance with him. In retrospect, he’d only been giving the kind of advice he’d probably offer to a patient, and with good reason.

  The painful part, Jane supposed, was that she shared some of his reservations. Going into motherhood alone was far from ideal.

  Before she could join him, however, Brooke appeared with the baby. Jane inspected the rash, pronounced it a mild case of diaper irritation, and told Brooke how to treat it. By the time Jane returned from washing her hands, Luke had finished eating and was standing by the dessert table, surrounded by an attentive group of mostly females ranging from young girls to Minnie Ortiz, who must be pushing ninety.

  He didn’t flirt consciously, as far as Jane could tell. He simply exuded masculinity combined with natural warmth.

  Too hungry to join the conversation, she took her plate to the picnic table, now occupied only by her model-thin friend Renée, who was nursing a diet soda. “Your new partner is drop-dead gorgeous.” The hairdresser slanted an appreciative glance at Luke.

  Jane didn’t want to be jealous of her friend. Or of anyone. “Interested?”

  “I wouldn’t waste my time,” Renée said. “In case you didn’t notice, his face lit up when he saw you.”

  “Which explains why he bolted from the table before I got here,” Jane tossed back.

  “You always underrate yourself,” Renée told her.

  “Not at all.” Jane felt quite comfortable with her appearance. Most of the time, anyway.

  Renée regarded her assessingly. “Now that your hair’s longer, I could do something with it.” She slapped her palm on the table. “I know! I’ll give you a makeover for your birthday. That’s coming up in a few weeks, right?”

  “I’d be happy to pay you.” Her hair could use reshaping, and Renée had worked wonders for some of the other Foxes.

  Renée dismissed the offer with a wave of her hand.

  “Not a chance. Call me at work and we’ll set up an appointment.”

  “Thank you.”

  A trace of aftershave tickled Jane’s nose as Luke slid onto the bench beside her. That and his body heat left her feeling quite light-headed.

  He leaned toward her, his eyes widening as if in appeal. “Help. I’m in over my head here.”

  She took a deep breath to calm her reaction. “Help with what?”

  Before he could answer, Minnie and the girls joined them, along with Alice Watson, a retired school principal who hosted the Foxes’ meetings.

  “We wanted to talk to you, too, Jane,” Alice said. “We were asking Luke if he had any ideas about how we could preserve Harmony Circle’s history.”

  “What do you mean?” Jane hoped she hadn’t missed some new proposal to tear down houses or extend nearby Berry Street into a major thoroughfare.

  Everyone started talking at once. “New people move in and they have no idea about our history,” explained Minnie. “If we aren’t careful, we could turn into just another faceless development.”

  “I love this place,” said Brittany the baker. “I’ve lived here all my life.” Jane thought that must be all of thirteen years.

  “I’ve taken zillions of pictures,” added her stepsister Carly.

  “I suggested they ask a historian to get them organized,” Luke said.

  The talk turned to the merits and shortcomings of scrapbooks and networking sites. Everyone kept looking to Luke as if he should have the answer. He, in turn, regarded Jane pleadingly. “Any ideas?”

  She longed to devise a brilliant plan, if only to impress him. Usually, Jane couldn’t care less about impressing people.

  “Harmony Circle already has its own Web site,” she pointed out. “We could expand its function. You know, put together a digital history, with photos and reminiscences.”

  Luke laid a hand atop hers. “That’s exactly what we need.”

  His use of the word we gave Jane the strangest little twitch of excitement. As if he already felt at home here. As if he might stay permanently.

  Not that it concerned her, particularly. But the area could use another outstanding obstetrician.

  Everyone seemed to love her suggestion. Carly volunteered to start by interviewing Minnie, and others tossed out more ideas. As they talked, Luke removed his hand, but the warmth remained.

  Jane averted her face and hoped no one noticed the pink in her cheeks. Okay, so she did care if he stayed. Life sure had more of a zing with Luke around, even at his most maddening.

  When she went to throw her empty plate in the trash, he followed. The group remained at the table, talking excitedly. “This is a great place,” he said.

  She dropped her soda can in a recycling bin. “You’ve had an impact.” And not just on those other women.

  “There’s something I started to tell you about earlier but we got interrupted. Jane, I think you should know…” His cell phone rang. “Oh, great. Sometimes I’d like to throw this damn thing in the swimming pool.”

  “Our patients depend on them,” Jane reminded him.

  “If you ask me, there was a lot to be said for sending a messenger with a horse and buggy,” Luke groused, and checked the display.

  He wasn’t on call today, Jane reflected as he put the phone to his ear. But a patient’s personal physician might be consulted in an emergency, all the same.

  “Yes?” As he listened, his muscles tensed. He made a few terse comments—“What do you mean?”—and, more angrily, “How the hell did that happen?”

  Jane became edgy along with him. What was wrong?

  “I’ll be right there,” he snapped at last, closing his phone.

  “What’s the matter?”

  His jaw worked, and then he blurted, “My daughter’s missing.”

  What daughter? With a rush of understanding, she realized that must be what he’d been trying to tell her. Luke was a parent. That might explain why he felt qualified to give advice on the subject. “What can I do?”

  For a moment, as his fists clenched, she expected him to shrug her off, and then he said, “Come with me. Keep me centered or I might crash the car. Or explode.”

  “Absolutely.” Nothing else mattered but the child who might be in danger. “Let’s go.”

  Luke broke into a run toward the gate. Calling a quick farewell to her startled friends, Jane hurried to join him.

  Chapter Five

  His muscles straining with anxiety, Luke kept pressing too hard on the gas and had to force himself to ease off. Jane’s presence grounded him, exactly as he’d hoped. Besides, smashing up his car on the way to Hetty’s house wasn’t going to do his daughter any good.

  As he drove, he sketched the details of his marriage and divorce aloud. In Jane’s responses, he heard no hint of judgment, either for the accidental pregnancy or for his neglecting to tell her up front that he had a daughter, even though, as his medical partner and friend, she might well be affected by his family situation. Hell, she was being affected.

  At a red light, he extracted a photo of Zoey from his wallet. Jane studied it as they accelerated south
on Harbor Boulevard toward Fullerton. “What a cutie. How old is she?”

  “Seven. And impulsive. Who knows what’s made her take off?” Seeing how Jane gripped the armrest, Luke gathered that they were traveling too fast and slowed down a little.

  “I hate to raise such a scary issue, but are you sure she wasn’t abducted?” Jane asked.

  His throat tightened at the suggestion. “Pauline said she and her mother were arguing, which, apparently, upset Zoey. She ran out and they can’t find her.” Which didn’t mean someone hadn’t grabbed her later.

  “That doesn’t sound so bad. She probably went to a friend’s house,” Jane said reassuringly.

  “She’s new in the area, so she doesn’t have many friends. They contacted everyone they could think of. Including the police, of course. She’s been gone about four hours.” Far too long for such a small child.

  Luke pictured his daughter’s elfin face and sparkling blue eyes. He couldn’t bear it if anything happened to her. Why hadn’t Pauline recognized the danger immediately? Why had she waited so long before alerting him?

  “You look like you’re about to burst a blood vessel,” Jane advised. “Dial it down a notch, Doc.”

  He hadn’t realized he was glowering. “I guess I’m angry at my ex-wife and at myself, too. If we’d given Zoey a stable home, I doubt she’d have run off.”

  “Based on what you’ve told me, I’m not sure either of you could have saved this marriage.” Jane turned toward him, shifting the seat belt across her knit top. “The two of you don’t sound compatible.”

  Luke managed a slight smile. “I guess I wasn’t thinking about the long term when I dated her.”

  “Did you ever think about…” She broke off.

  About the long term with Jane? But she’d given him no choice, simply stalked out and kept him at arm’s length ever after. When he’d asked if he’d done something to offend her, she’d just shaken her head.

  “We made a mistake,” she’d told him. “Let’s not repeat it.”

  Still, she’d left a question unfinished. “What were you going to ask?” Luke inquired as he turned off Harbor Boulevard into the old-fashioned neighborhood where Hetty lived.

  “I don’t honestly know,” Jane admitted. “Random thoughts keep flitting through my brain. I’m still trying to sort out this new Luke, the caring father, from the wild-eyed medical student.”

  “Sleepy eyed,” he corrected.

  “We were all walking zombies,” she agreed. Late nights and long shifts at the hospital had taken their toll.

  A few streets farther, they arrived at Hetty’s modest frame home. A car bearing the plates of a rental agency sat in front. Pauline’s, Luke assumed.

  Worry clamped around his heart as he bolted from the vehicle. Jane matched his rapid pace up the walkway.

  His ex-wife opened the door before he could ring. “They haven’t found her yet.”

  Despite her obvious worry, Pauline looked younger than her thirty years. She’d done something trendy with her blond hair, transforming it with a shaggy cut and strands of coppery red. Right now, though, he wouldn’t have cared if she’d shaved herself bald.

  Seeing her curious glance at his companion, he said, “This is Dr. Jane McKay, my new medical partner.”

  “And next-door neighbor,” Jane added as the women shook hands. “I happened to be there when he got your call.”

  Pauline ushered them inside. “We were helping the police canvass the neighborhood but Mom started feeling ill, so we came back.”

  “Is she all right?” Despite his anxiety about Zoey, Luke didn’t want to neglect Hetty’s health.

  “All she needs is rest.” Pauline paced the furniture-crammed living room. A couple of children’s books lay scattered where Zoey must have dropped them. “And to see her granddaughter safe.”

  Jane scanned the room. “Any idea what she took with her?”

  “I don’t see what that has to do with anything.” His ex-wife stared at her.

  “If she ran out empty-handed, she’s less likely to go far,” Jane explained. “But if she took a few things, she might have a plan. Did she have any money?”

  “She’s only seven!” Pauline flared, before collecting herself. More calmly she answered, “She does save part of her allowance, so she might have twenty or thirty dollars.”

  To Luke, Jane’s inquiries opened a new realm of possibilities. “Your mother mentioned that they rode the bus to the mall a few weeks ago, which means Zoey’s at least somewhat familiar with the transit system. I can’t figure out where she’d head, though.”

  “To an old neighborhood?” Jane suggested. “She might miss her friends.”

  “I don’t think so,” Pauline said. “She doesn’t have many friends.”

  “To the mall?” Jane persisted.

  Pauline made a nervous gesture. “When Mom and I were squabbling, Zoey shouted that she wished we lived at Disneyland because then we’d be happy all the time. But that’s just foolishness.”

  During their visit to the Magic Kingdom, Zoey had said she’d like to stay forever, Luke recalled. “A bus runs straight down Harbor Boulevard to Disneyland.” They’d passed it while driving home from the theme park. “There’s a stop a few blocks from here.”

  “The driver wouldn’t let a seven-year-old ride alone, would he?” Pauline protested.

  “Maybe she climbed on with a group of people and he didn’t notice,” Jane said.

  Luke’s thoughts raced ahead. “In case you’re right, we’d better alert the police.” This could mean his daughter had covered a far greater distance than anyone had suspected.

  Pauline nodded reluctantly. “It can’t hurt.”

  “I’ll check on your mother while you’re doing that,” Jane offered.

  Luke shot her a look of gratitude. Today more than ever, he appreciated her good judgment and quick thinking. And the fact that she’d come with him. He needed someone to keep him on track.

  He got on the phone to the Fullerton dispatcher, who thanked him for the tip and promised to alert Disneyland security as well as the Anaheim police. “We’ll widen the search parameters immediately,” she assured him.

  After he hung up, Pauline stood braced defensively. “This isn’t my fault.”

  “No one said it was.” Despite his anger that she’d let this happen, Luke saw no sense starting an argument. He glanced toward Hetty’s bedroom, wishing Jane would return so they could get moving.

  “The band has a performance tonight in San Diego. If I cancel, we’ll lose a lot of money.” She swallowed hard. “Jason doesn’t understand about kids. I mean, he’s not used to them.”

  “Then let me take her, like I’ve always wanted.”

  “We agreed she should stay with my mother!”

  “I said yes because the court forced me to,” Luke snapped, abandoning his earlier resolve to keep calm. “Now she’s missing. What were you and Hetty arguing about that upset her?”

  “Nothing we can’t work out.”

  Jane emerged from the hall and nodded at Pauline. “Your mom’s vital signs are stable. Her medication made her sleepy, which, in view of the stress she’s under, might be a good thing. Is there anyone you could call to stay with her for a few days?”

  “My aunt Bea.” Pauline seemed to perk up at the idea. “She’s said she’d fly out if Mom ever needed her.”

  “Good idea.” Jane glanced at Luke.

  Now that he knew Hetty was all right, the last of his patience crumbled. “Let’s head out.”

  “There’s a park a few blocks over,” his ex-wife interjected. “You should check there on the way.”

  He’d intended to head straight for Anaheim. “Haven’t the police already searched it?”

  Pauline twisted her hands together. “Yes, but she might hide from them.”

  He stopped in midstride. “Why?”

  Her chin lifted defiantly. “After a performance, musicians like to let off steam. My last band occasionally go
t a little rowdy at the motel.”

  “Rowdy enough for someone to call the police?” Luke demanded, dismayed by this latest disclosure.

  “Only once and no one got arrested. Besides, I’m not with that group anymore. But when the police showed up, I told her to hide because I was afraid things might get rough.”

  Thanks to Pauline’s irresponsible bandmates, Zoey feared the police. Luke could scarcely believe she’d put their daughter in such danger.

  Jane edged toward the door. “We should go look for Zoey.”

  Trust her to keep their priorities straight. “You’re right.” Avoiding Pauline’s gaze so he wouldn’t be tempted to lash out at her again, Luke stalked out.

  He was going to find his daughter. And then he meant to keep her.

  JANE HAD NEVER SEEN Luke this upset, she reflected as they drove toward the park. Much as she hated to share more bad news, he deserved to see the whole picture. “Did you know Pauline’s mother has a heart condition?”

  “What?” Luke tore his anguished gaze from the road. “How do you know that?”

  “I saw the pill bottles on her bedside table.” Jane had recognized the medication immediately.

  He cruised toward a small neighborhood park where the children swarmed the playground equipment. “I knew she had diabetes, but not that.”

  Heart disease was a frequent complication of diabetes, so the two illnesses might be related. “Taking care of a child must be hard on her,” Jane mused.

  “Pauline shouldn’t have imposed on her. I only went along with it as a temporary measure.” He was pulling into a parking spot when his phone rang. He tapped a button so he could listen hands-free. “Yes?”

  Jane swallowed. Please let it be good news.

  “Where exactly? Okay, we’ll head down there. Thanks for keeping me posted, Pauline.”

  After ending the call, he drove away from the park. “A bus driver reported seeing a child matching Zoey’s description getting off at Disneyland. She told him she was meeting her parents, but then he heard the bulletin and called in. Park security’s on the alert for her.”