Baby Bootcamp

by Mallory Kane

  Molly laughed. “I’ll bet she’s got this many at the hospital, too.”

  The idea was nearly incomprehensible to Matt. His idea of community was very different. The area of Los Angeles where he’d grown up had swarmed with gangs, and their rivalry made the streets a battleground. For Matt and his family, the person in the next apartment wasn’t usually a friend. He was a potential threat.

  He remembered the day he brought his mother home from the hospital after she’d had the twins. He’d barely turned thirteen and had begged a ride from a sympathetic nurse who was getting off duty around that time. Otherwise they’d have had to take the bus.

  The only thing that greeted them at their apartment was the smell of rotting garbage and urine in the hallway. It was at that moment that Matt vowed he’d get his mother and sisters away from there.

  Now he’d made good on that oath. He’d used the advance from Bart Bellows to move them to Amarillo. It was a move of faith. If his job with Bellows didn’t work out, he’d have to figure out a way to support them, since he’d uprooted them from their homes, jobs and friends.

  The phone rang, startling Matt’s thoughts back to the present.

  “Hola,” Valerio said, then after a couple of seconds. “Epa! Epa! That’s great.”

  Matt waited with bated breath. Was that Glo? Was Valerio so excited because Faith’s baby had come? He bit his tongue, waiting for Valerio to finish talking.

  “No, no. Stay. We’re just fine here.” After a couple more monosyllabic answers, Valerio turned to them. His dark face was alight with excitement.

  Matt’s heart thumped against his chest. “Valerio? Tell me. Was that Glo? Is Faith all right?”

  “It’s a girl!” Valerio cried. “Five pounds, nine and a half ounces.”

  “Wahoo!” Molly shouted. “A girl! Yes!” She pumped a fist in the air.

  A girl. Faith was going to be so happy. She’d known she was having a girl.

  “Is she…are they okay?” Matt looked down at his hand. It was shaking. He remembered how scary it had been when his mother had gone to the hospital to have his twin baby sisters. But for his mother, it was her fourth pregnancy. This was Faith’s first, and it had been brought on by a traumatic event.

  “Glori-ah says Faith is tired, but she’s fine. And the baby es muy hermosa.”

  Beautiful. Of course the baby was beautiful. She had a beautiful mother.

  “Do you think I can go see her?”

  Valerio asked Glo, listened, said okay and hung up.

  “Glori-ah thinks she should rest tonight. Why don’t you go tomorrow morning? The café’ll be closed, and Molly and I can handle cleaning and restocking.”

  Matt shook his head automatically. “What about you? Don’t you want to see the baby? You’ve been here almost 24/7 this whole week.”

  Valerio looked sidelong at Matt. “Somehow, I think Faith will be happier to see you than me.”

  BEFORE HE WENT TO THE HOSPITAL, Matt went by his apartment to put a final coat of varnish on the crib. It looked spectacular. He’d hoped to finish painting her nursery for her, too, but he had no idea how long she’d be in the hospital. His mother had stayed for three days after having the twins, but that had been seventeen years ago.

  At the hospital, after asking directions to Faith’s room, he stopped in the gift shop and bought a single white calla lily in a long, slender vase.

  When he got to the door of her room, his hands were shaking worse than ever, and his heart was pounding. The only time he could remember feeling like this was on his first date. That night hadn’t gone well. He’d tried to kiss Esme Santos, and instead, he’d spilled a soft drink on her.

  Damn, he hoped he could get through this without spilling something.

  The door was ajar, so he knocked on it, then pushed it open and stepped inside.

  And stared.

  Faith, in a white nightgown trimmed with lace, was sitting up in a chair beside the bed. A patch of late afternoon sunlight shone through the window, surrounding her with a pale pinkish glow.

  She was holding the baby, who had on a little pink cap and was waving her arms. Faith looked up and smiled. “Hi,” she said.

  Matt swallowed. “Hi. How’re you doing?”

  “I’m good. Really good. I was tired last night, but I slept well.”

  The baby gurgled, and Faith’s attention returned immediately to her. She picked up the corner of a cloth and wiped the baby’s mouth.

  Matt was mesmerized. Faith looked like a blond Madonna, sitting in the light cast by the sunset. An ache throbbed in his chest, and absently, he rubbed it, but it didn’t go away.

  Faith touched the baby’s nose with the tip of her forefinger and said something Matt didn’t catch. The look on her face was unmistakable. It was a look of unconditional love of joy and wonder and amazement.

  God help him, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. And no amount of massage was going to lessen the ache in his chest. He had a feeling there was only one thing that would stop it. A pang of sheer terror shot through him.

  “Matt?”

  He blinked and met Faith’s gaze. “Huh? I mean, where’s Glo?”

  “I made her go home last night. She wasn’t happy about it, but she hadn’t even left the room to eat since we got here. She said she was going to run by the café this morning to see if Valerio needed any help.

  He nodded, unable to take his eyes off her.

  She laughed. “Come and meet Kaleigh.”

  “Callie?”

  She shook her head. “Kay-lee. I’m spelling it K-AL-E-I-G-H.”

  He stepped cautiously over to her chair and looked down at the baby. “That’s an awfully big name for such a tiny thing.”

  Faith touched Kaleigh’s little hand with her finger, and the baby wrapped her minuscule fingers around it. Faith wriggled her finger a little, and Kaleigh held on.

  “Kaleigh, sweetheart, I want you to meet a very nice man.” She bent her head and kissed Kaleigh’s tiny fingers. “Yes, I do, you precious little thing. This is Matt Soarez. He’s my own personal knight, rescuing me from dragons and the governor’s bodyguards.”

  Matt’s dry throat suddenly felt scorched. He wanted to protest her description of him. But somewhere, deep inside, he felt the birth of a different emotion, the latest in a series of emotions he’d never felt before. He rubbed his chest again. The ache was still there, accompanied by pride, determination, responsibility and something he didn’t recognize and couldn’t put a name to.

  Couldn’t or wouldn’t?

  He sucked in a deep breath and tried to concentrate on Kaleigh rather than his mixed-up feelings. Then he remembered the vase in his hand. “I—I brought you something. That is, you and the baby.”

  At that instant, his brain processed what his eyes had seen when he’d first come into the room. Every surface was covered with baskets of flowers, stuffed animals and plants.

  “Oh, Matt. It’s lovely. Did someone tell you how much I love calla lilies? Thank you.”

  “I thought it was pretty, but next to all this—” he swept his arm in a large arc “—my single flower looks pretty lame.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Faith protested.

  “Who sent all these?” he asked, eyeing the largest basket, which looked like it could hold his laundry for a month. It overflowed with boxes and jars of baby items and was topped with a pink stuffed bear that was at least three times Kaleigh’s size.

  “That came early this morning from the governor, with a note expressing regret that I was hurt because of her.”

  “And the rest?”

  “The spray of carnations there is from the church. The Kemps sent the cute little basket there, and—” she stopped, shaking her head “—oh, there are too many. I can’t remember who sent them all.”

  Kaleigh gave a minuscule hiccup, and Faith lifted her to her shoulder and gently patted her back.

  Matt took a quick inventory of all the flowers. “The Hales,” he said, peering at
a card that came with a pothos plant. “Mayor Arkwright sent the yellow ones in the baby chick vase.”

  “That’s right,” Faith said. “Glo was starting to make a list for me before she left. She wanted to get to the café. Said Valerio and Molly would have wrecked the place by now.”

  “And me?” Matt asked, looking at her sidelong.

  Faith blushed. “Well, you know how Glo is,” she said, chuckling.

  Matt grinned.

  At that moment a brief knock sounded on the door.

  “Oh, no. I’ll bet they’re coming to get the baby and take her back to the nursery,” Faith said sadly.

  But the head that poked around the edge of the door wasn’t the nurse. It was Stockett.

  “Hey, babe!” Stockett said, pushing the door open. He was holding a small stuffed bear with a pink ribbon around its neck.

  Matt tensed but didn’t move from his position on the other side of the room. He silently rose to the balls of his feet, readying himself for action, in case he needed to step between Stockett and Faith.

  “Rory? What are you doing here?” Faith asked, an edge of fear in her voice.

  Stockett’s brows lowered, although he kept a smile pasted on his face. “Why, I came to see my baby. What have we got there? A girl?” He moved farther into the room, still apparently not noticing Matt.

  “What a cutie. Look. She’s got my nose. She’s going to be a daddy’s girl. Aren’t you, princess?” He reached out a finger to touch Kaleigh’s nose, and Faith recoiled.

  “Don’t touch her,” she growled. “Ever!”

  Stockett aimed his finger toward Faith’s face. “Now you listen to me, Faith. I’m the father of that kid, and you can’t keep me from seeing it. I’ve got a right.”

  Faith blinked, then cut her eyes over at Matt.

  He’d already decided it was time to step in, so he took one long stride and ended up toe-to-toe with Stockett.

  “Faith doesn’t want you here,” he said evenly.

  “Aw, crap!” Stockett said. “You again? What the hell are you anyway, her private bodyguard?”

  “Something like that.”

  Stockett’s gaze flicked toward Faith then back to Matt. His face went dark with anger. “So that’s how it is.” He threw the stuffed bear down on the bed and turned, his hands doubling into fists.

  “Rory, stop it!” Faith cried.

  “You son of a bitch,” Stockett roared. “How dare you touch her. She’s mine. And so is that kid.”

  “Well, Stockett, that’s the thing,” Matt said easily, making no visible move to defend himself. He knew though, from past experience with Stockett as well as from his understanding of his own body, that he could get in at least two blows before Stockett got one. But he wanted to avoid that.

  For one thing, it wouldn’t be polite to fight in the Labor and Delivery wing of the hospital. For another, the room was too small, and he didn’t want to take the chance of Faith and the baby getting caught in the fray.

  Stockett’s face was turning red. “What’s the thing?”

  “See, Faith can fill out the birth certificate any way she wants to. So she left the father’s name blank.” Matt shook his head in an attitude of regret. “So no. I hate to break it to you, but you’re not the father.”

  “You mother—” Stockett punctuated his outburst with a right hook, but Matt caught his fist in one hand and placed his other hand on his bicep and twisted. He didn’t jerk Stockett’s arm around his back, but he showed him a taste of how it would feel if he had.

  “Let’s not have a scene here in the hospital, what do you say? If you insist, Faith will have to call security, and she’ll have to charge you with disturbing the peace and attempted assault.”

  Stockett’s red face was leaning toward purple, and his eyes bulged, showing white all the way around the irises. He tried one last move, shoving his weight against Matt.

  Matt stepped back and let go of Stockett’s arm. It was a risk, but from what he knew about the other man, he was pretty sure he didn’t want a run-in with the police.

  Stockett’s face turned dark red, and he stuck out his chin pugnaciously. “I don’t know who you think you are, Señor Soarez,” he said sarcastically, “but you and me, we’re not done. You picked the wrong guy to mess with.”

  Matt didn’t move. He just allowed his lips to curl up in a small smile.

  “This is not the end of this!” Stockett yelled, jabbing a finger at Matt as he backed toward the door. “You and me have got a score to settle. So you better watch your back!”

  Matt thought Stockett might do well to take his own advice. He watched in amusement as the other man backed toward a large nurse who had probably been a colonel in the army before she’d taken a job here. She’d silently stepped through the door just about the time Stockett said, “wrong guy.”

  “Hey!” she barked.

  Stockett nearly fell over his feet.

  “This is a hospital,” she continued in her clipped military tone, “and you’re disturbing the peace. Shall I call security, mister? Or will you be going?”

  With a glance back at Faith and a glare for Matt, Stockett slinked out the door like a kitten sneaking around the neighborhood’s top cat.

  Once he was gone, the nurse dusted her hands and smiled at Faith. Matt was intrigued by the instantaneous change in her. Now the large and in charge military nurse looked like a grandmother.

  “Time for Kaleigh to rest,” she said gently and took Kaleigh from Faith’s arms. “And time for Mommy to rest, too.”

  She turned and looked at Matt. “I hope you’re going to take care of that two-bit grifter,” she said sternly. “If he shows up here again, I’ll call the sheriff.”

  Matt nodded.

  The nurse left, cooing down at Kaleigh.

  Faith’s wide blue eyes searched Matt’s. “How did you know about the birth certificate?” she asked.

  “Glo told me that’s what you were planning to do.” Matt paused for an instant. “When will they let you and the baby go home?”

  “I can go tomorrow if I think I’m ready.”

  “Tomorrow?” If Matt wanted to get the nursery painted, it would have to be tonight.

  “I’m still a little unsure about how to—” her hand went to her breast, and her cheeks flamed.

  “How to—?” Matt asked, then he realized what she meant and he felt his face heat up, too. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m pretty sure Kaleigh will figure it out.”

  He picked up the stuffed bear that Stockett brought. “You want this?”

  Faith shook her head without taking her gaze from Matt’s. “No! I don’t want anything from him. And I don’t want him around Kaleigh.” She took a shaky breath. “What if he comes back? What am I going to do?”

  Stockett’s last words rang in Matt’s ears. Score to settle. Watch your back. “Don’t worry about it. I think Stockett’s going to run into somebody his own size one of these days.”

  Matt just hoped he could keep Faith safe until he could make sure Stockett wouldn’t bother her again.

  Chapter Eleven

  Faith’s doctor was tied up in an emergency the next day, so it was Wednesday before Faith and Kaleigh came home from the hospital.

  This gave Matt enough time to paint the nursery and bring the crib in. He moved the rocking chair and a side table in from the living room. Glo brought up all the baskets and flowers that had been sent to the café.

  When Faith saw the nursery and the crib, she burst into tears, which surprised Matt.

  “Hey,” he said. “This is supposed to be a good thing—a gift for you and Kaleigh.”

  “It’s—so—beautiful,” she sobbed. “I can’t take it all in. Where did the crib come from?”

  “I brought it from my mom’s house,” Matt said. “She said to tell you that it held five well-loved babies. She said your baby will be blessed.”

  “He refinished it himself,” Glo added.

  Faith cried even harder. Gl
o put her arm around her and led her to the rocking chair. “Sit, hon, and enjoy your room. Matt’s got to go, don’t you?”

  Matt got the message. “Yep. I’ve got a lot to do.” He sent Glo a meaningful look. “Take care of them,” he said.

  He headed downstairs and over to the courthouse, looking for the sheriff. He wanted to see the media footage of the town hall meeting.

  Forty minutes and three tapes later, Sheriff Hale leaned back in his ancient wooden desk chair. “And that’s it,” he said.

  Matt, who’d propped a hip on the edge of the sheriff’s desk, shook his head. “Not much. That’s for sure.”

  Hale pointed the remote at the TV and turned off the image. “Yeah. Luckily the networks wanted as much footage of the governor as they could get. Of course they all want the exclusive when we find the guy who did the shooting.”

  “Can we run through them again?”

  “Sure.” The sheriff tossed the remote to Matt. “You go ahead and more power to you if you can spot something I’ve missed. I’ve been through them twice already, and all I can see is that baseball cap. Once the gunshot is fired, it’s utter chaos.”

  “I’d like to take them with me if I can. I want to get back and check on Faith and the baby.”

  Hale nodded. “She’s out of the hospital now, isn’t she? I never did get by to see her. She doing okay? And the baby?”

  “They’re doing great. The baby is beautiful.”

  Hale’s dark eyes scrutinized Matt. “You’ve been a big help to Faith,” he said pointedly.

  Matt felt a flush beginning to heat his cheeks. “I had to hang out at the diner anyway, and with Stockett back in the area Faith needed someone around.”

  “Uh-huh,” Hale muttered, then gestured toward the TV. “Take all three of the disks. I hope you can spot something.”

  Matt gathered them. “I’ll take good care of these,” he said.

  “You sure as hell will,” Hale responded, reaching into his bottom desk drawer and pulling out a form. “This is a form for receipt of police evidence. Failing to return such evidence costs a fine of five hundred dollars for each piece plus possible jail time, depending on the importance of the information contained on the aforementioned disks.”