The Baby Invasion (Destiny Bay-Baby Dreams)

by Conrad, Helen

  Scott returned ten minutes later, and at his side was a woman in her early thirties who looked very much like him. Cathy got out of the van to meet her.

  “You’re Margy,” she said with a smile before anyone had a chance to introduce her. She put out her hand. “I’m Cathy Feenstra, forever in debt to your brother for all I’ve put him through these last two days.”

  Margy’s answering smile was warm. She took Cathy’s hand and shook it. “Scott’s told me all about your problems. You must be exhausted. Come on in. We’ve got two empty adjoining rooms that will be perfect for your crew.”

  Relief buoyed them through the next hour. Scott helped change all the babies and settle them into their fresh clothes. Margy loaned them cribs and insisted on taking the dirty clothes to wash in her own machines. When they had all the children bathed and fresh-smelling again, everything seemed better.

  “She’s nice,” Cathy said as she lounged on the bed with Pink in her arms with a bottle. She watched Scott wrestle Beanie into his jumpers.

  “Who’s nice?” he replied without looking up.

  “Your sister. Aren’t you sorry you wasted all these years?”

  He looked up then, and he wasn’t smiling. “I didn’t waste any time at all,” he said coolly. “Things happen when they’re meant to happen. I’m not a family-oriented guy, Cathy. Let’s both keep that in mind.”

  She felt properly put in her place, so she dropped the matter. But when Margy stopped in to invite them all to dinner, she gave Scott a significant smile.

  “See?” it said. “She’s darn nice.”

  They ate in Margy’s kitchen at a long table groaning under a mountain of food. Margy’s children ranged in age from thirteen to five and they took Cathy’s under their collective wing right away. Margy’s husband, Sam, was a large, gruff man who looked upon his family with bemusement, as though he weren’t quite sure where they’d all come from. But Margy took charge and kept things organized.

  The noise level rose steadily, with squeals gaining high decibel limits, but through it all, Sam seemed merely puzzled and openly affectionate. Cathy saw that even though Scott winced now and then when a scream of laughter reached the upper ranges, he took most of the mayhem in good stride. She was proud of him.

  She got up to help Margy with the dishes while the men took the children to the living room to play.

  “I’m glad you and Scott have had a chance to see each other again after all this time,” she said.

  Margy gave her a fleeting smile. “It has been a long time,” she said. “When Scotty left, I was the next in line for the job as head nanny and bottle washer.”

  Was there an edge in her voice? Cathy couldn’t tell for sure. “I’m sure you resented his leaving.”

  “Yes. I did for a while.” She smiled as she started the sudsy water. “But I got over it. And then I left myself, when my time came.” She began scrubbing dishes and handing them to Cathy to rinse. “Once I’d gone through it myself, I lost all my bitterness toward Scotty.”

  Cathy hesitated, wondering if she had any right to get involved in this. After all, the things Scott had told her he’d told her reluctantly. And when you came right down to it, what did they have between them? One episode of lovemaking in the woods? A very temporary commitment to help?

  She felt so much for him, but she’d had no evidence he felt anything at all for her, other than physical attraction and a vague sort of friendship.

  Maybe she was being too hard on herself, too hard on him. He’d warned her from the first, hadn’t he? He’d never lied, never tried to hide his feelings and his lack of interest in children. If she was busy falling in love with him, it was purely her fault. It didn’t give her a claim to his life, or even to discuss him with his sister.

  So she hesitated. But looking at Margy’s open face, hearing the affection she had for her brother in her voice, she found herself blurting things out anyway.

  “Scott seems to think that his whole family hates him,” she said suddenly, then looked quickly at Margy to see how she’d taken the charge. “I mean, well... maybe not ‘hates’ exactly...”

  Margy touched her arm and shook her head, a sad smile on her face. “I have to admit, there is still some feeling of resentment in the others. They seem to think that he rejected them and it’s up to him to ask to come back to the family, not up to them to beg him to do it.” She shrugged. “People and their pride. You know.”

  Cathy nodded slowly.

  Margy brightened. “But he’s here now. And if I can swing it, things are going to change.” She reached out and gave Cathy a hug. “So here’s a big thank-you for giving me back my big brother.”

  Cathy laughed and hugged her back before returning to her drying job. “You know, it seems odd that Scott remembers all the hassles with the children in your family and it turns him off to having kids of his own, and yet you, who were next in line for all the chores, ended up having a big family of your own.”

  “It is funny, isn’t it? He remembers things as being bad, I remember them as being good,”

  Cathy looked at her in surprise. “But...wasn’t your mother sick all the time, and didn’t your parents’ marriage break up... ?”

  “Yes. That was the bad part. But there was an awful lot of good. With so many children under one roof, there had to be! There were fights and disasters and visits to the teacher for consultation. But there was also the laughter, the joy, the togetherness—the feeling of being snug in the middle of so many people who really care about you. I’ll never forget that.” She laughed. “And you may notice, I’ve tried to recreate it, to a lesser degree, right here in my own family.”

  “Yes, I can see that.”

  Margy looked at Cathy. “I want to take him home to Reno to see my mother and Jim and Frank, two brothers near our ages. Will that be all right with you?”

  Cathy was stuck with her mouth open for an embarrassingly long time. “I...I...of course, but Scott doesn’t ask me for permission. Margy, we barely know each other.”

  Margy blinked. “When did you meet?”

  Cathy felt herself turning crimson. She felt like an interloper. “Night before last.”

  Margy stared at her, then started to laugh. “I can’t believe it. The two of you seem a step away from tying the knot. To hear Scotty talk, I thought you’d been going together for ages.”

  Cathy grinned. “Not yet,” she said, feeling cocky for no known reason. But it felt good, so she enjoyed it while it lasted.

  Margy laughed and hugged her again. “You’re good for him,” she told her warmly. “You two stick together. You make a perfect team. I can tell.”

  That kind of talk gave Cathy a glow. Later, as she and Scott walked back to their rooms carrying the babies and trailing her children behind her, she said suddenly, to no one in particular, “Babies grow up.”

  Scott turned to her a raised eyebrow. “What?”

  She took a deep breath and looked at him. “Babies grow up,” she said clearly, chin high. “They’re not a life sentence. They grow up and change and stop needing you so much—and then they go away.”

  “If you’re lucky,” Scott growled, but when Beanie hit his knees with a flying tackle a few seconds later, he grinned down at the bright little face and didn’t seem to mind at all.

  Cathy didn’t say any more, but they both knew what she’d meant with her outburst. At another time, in another place, she might have been embarrassed to have been so blatant. But not now. She was beginning to feel time slipping away. She had to get in her points when she could.

  They entered the adjoining motel rooms, the children rushing to the beds to jump from one to another. It was time to broach the topic of the sleeping arrangements, and right away Cathy felt awkward.

  “Well, let’s see,” she said, avoiding Scott’s gaze, “would you rather we put all male children in that room with you and all female children with me, or would you rather have the older kids and I’ll take the babies?”

&nbs
p; Scott stared at her for just a beat too long. “Is that what you want?” he asked softly.

  She licked her lips, pretending not to understand the current running beneath his question. She knew what he was really asking. Are we going to be alone? Are you sorry about what happened this morning at Mammoth? Are you having second thoughts, trying to distance me?

  All of the above and none of the above. She didn’t know. She was too wary to force his hand. Looking about at the two twin beds in one room and the huge double bed in the other, she couldn’t decide what she should do. When in doubt, play it safe. That advice whispered in her mind and she turned to smile a bright, false smile at Scott.

  “How about this? You can sleep in the room with the twin beds,” she suggested. “Beanie and Barnaby can share one bed, you take the other. Beth will sleep in here in the double bed with me. And we’ll take the babies in their cribs.”

  She could see the lack of enthusiasm for her plans in his eyes. She knew what he wanted. But her children came first. He had to know that by now. “Or, we could keep the connecting door open and put the babies in the middle.”

  “Or pack them all out into the hallway so they’ll get plenty of fresh air.” His hands closed on her shoulders and he gazed down at her. “You decide, Cathy. It’s up to you.” He bent and kissed her, his warm mouth saying more than his words, then drew back and gazed at her.

  “Now while you get them settled for the night, I’m going to go back over to the Wild Horses Casino and ask about April again.”

  “Good idea,” she said breathlessly.

  “And, Cathy,” he added, touching her chin with a caressing finger, “like you said a few minutes ago, babies grow up. They leave. And life goes on. If you live your life only for them, what will you have left? What will you do with the rest of your life?” His hand left her skin and he turned away.

  “See you in a while,” he said as he left the room.

  Cathy stood where he’d left her. She was tingling with such sensational reaction to him she could hardly see straight. Her lips pulsed from his kiss. Her body yearned for his. What on earth had he set in motion?

  After all this time without a man, she’d thought she really didn’t need that sort of thing. But he’d reawakened her. In fact, he’d found responsive areas she’d never known she had. And now his look was enough to set her off. And his touch was enough to take her straight to the edge.

  It was a neat trick the way he’d turned her bit of wisdom back on her. She had to admit he had a point. But what he’d said hinted at commitments and long-term plans, and she knew he didn’t mean anything of the sort. It was easy to give advice but very hard to take it.

  She spent the next half hour shifting cribs and sleeping gear back and forth, trying to make up her mind how it would best suit everyone. The children grew droopier and droopier.

  Finally Beth came to her and said with a wide yawn. “Mommy, let all us kids stay in here with the double bed and close the door so we can go to sleep. Okay?”

  Cathy hesitated. That left her with Scott and two twin beds. She cocked her head to the side and considered. Out of the mouths of babes. How simple everything seemed all of a sudden. Twin beds. No pressure. No commitment. Just twin beds in a room for two. Anything could happen—or nothing.

  “Well sure, Beth, if that’s what you want.”

  Beth nodded and turned to climb into the big double bed. Her two little brothers joined her, their eyes closing before their heads hit the pillows. Cathy followed to kiss them good-night.

  “Good night, Mommy,” Barnaby said sleepily.

  “Aga aga,” Beanie agreed.

  “Mommy?” Beth held her near with two little arms around her neck. “Is Scott coming back?”

  “Sure he’s coming back.” She kissed her daughter again. “He just went out for an hour or so.”

  “I like him.” Her eyes looked huge in the dim light. “Do you like him?”

  Cathy hesitated, then tousled her daughter’s hair. “Yes, baby. I like him a lot.”

  Beth’s smile could have lit up the sky and Cathy immediately regretted having revealed how she felt about Scott. It was unfair to get Beth’s hopes up. She looked down at her and thought of a hundred things she should say, a hundred warnings she should give, and ended up saying nothing at all.

  “Let her hope,” she told herself sadly. “It will make her happier for a while.”

  She stopped to check on the sleeping babies. Pink was blowing tiny baby bubbles. Blue was snoring softly, sounding like a popcorn machine. Daffodil was silent, her face peaceful and serene.

  “Good night, little ones,” she whispered. “Tomorrow we’ll find your mother. I’m sure of it.”

  She closed the door between the two rooms and went into the bathroom for a long, leisurely shower. She washed her hair and rubbed on lotion when she was finished. Then she got out the heavy flannel nightgown Margy had lent her, along with a number of things for the kids, and looked at herself in the mirror.

  At least there was no risk of being considered seductive. The nightgown covered her from chin to toes and had a wide white yoke and ruffles at the cuffs. She looked like a Puritan, straight off the Mayflower.

  Laughing softly, she sat down to wait.

  How many nights had she waited for Joey to come home? How many times had she been disappointed? And what made her think Scott would be any different? He’d left her alone with the children while he went to a casino where there were drinks and lights and dancing girls and willing women and excitement of all kinds. Why should he come back to the problems she represented?

  Joey had been turned off by them. Why not Scott?

  But somehow she knew it wouldn’t happen with Scott. He was different. That didn’t mean he was hers. But it did mean he would never hurt her for no reason, as Joey had. He would do what he had to do, but he would never be malicious. With that settled in her mind, she began to drowse.

  Teddy bears. Scott groaned. Was there anything in the world more emblematic of childhood than teddy bears? So what the heck was he doing with them? It made no sense.

  But life hadn’t been making much sense lately—ever since he’d come face to face with Cathy and her gang of short people.

  Scott felt a bit sheepish taking the teddy bears out of the van, even though it was awfully late for there to be any passersby. He was just putting the sixth furry bear into the little red wagon he’d picked up at an all-night drugstore when a party of middle-aged, late-night revelers came walking by and paused to stare at the odd picture he made.

  “What have you got there?” one of them called.

  Scott barely looked up. “Teddy bears.”

  “I can see that. Where are you taking them?”

  Scott began to pull the wagon toward the motel room, but he called back casually, “Home to bed. They’ve lost all their savings on slot machines, poor little tykes. So I agreed to put them up for the night.”

  That seemed to strike them dumb, for which he was grateful. He pulled the wagon up the long walkway and into the hall, hesitating outside the door. He wasn’t sure what his reception was going to be like. He wasn’t sure what sort of reception he would prefer.

  He only knew he wanted to be with Cathy right now. Was that fair to her? Probably not. But he’d been honest from the beginning, hadn’t he? She knew there was no real future for them. But there was the here and now. Lifting his hand, he rapped softly on the door.

  Cathy was there in an instant, pulling the door open and looking out. The back lighting cast her hair with an angelic glow, and her eyes shone like stars.

  “Hi,” she said, smiling a welcome that warmed his heart.

  “Hi.”

  He felt like a man coming home. Funny. He’d never really felt like that before. And here he was, coming back to a motel room where he’d never stayed.

  She stepped back to let him in, glancing down at the wagon as he pulled it into the room, her eyebrows rising in surprise.

  “What’s
that you’ve got with you?” she asked as she closed the door.

  “What, these guys?” He shrugged, looking at them sideways. “Just some old teddy bears.” He sank down into the other chair and regarded her gloomily. “First it was too many babies, now too many teddy bears. I don’t know which is worse.”

  “I see.” Cathy nodded wisely, looking at the woolly creatures in the wagon, staring at her with button eyes. “Did you pick them up, or did they just follow you home?”

  “A little of both.” He gazed at her again, taking in the nightgown. His eyes widened.

  “Well, guys,” he murmured out of the side of his mouth to the bears, not taking his eyes off her, “I think we came to the right place, anyway. Look. It’s Mother Hubbard.”

  Cathy brushed aside his teasing with a shake of her head. “Tell me where you got all those bears,” she insisted. “And what you’re going to do with them.”

  He drew his brows together painfully. “It’s a long story,” he warned.

  “I’ve got all night,” she returned, suppressing her smile. He looked so good, his dark hair gleaming, his eyes huge in the shadows. The lines in his face took on even more distinction in the lamplight. His skin had a golden hue. She felt herself trembling in his presence.

  “Did you find out anything about April?”

  “Only that there are people at the Wild Horses who know April Meadows. These same people will not admit it, of course. But I could tell there was something going on.”

  “You didn’t find her.” Disappointment welled in her again.

  “Nope. But I talked about her a lot. And I left this address all over the place. If she is in town, I’m sure she’ll hear about us. It’s only a matter of time.”

  She bit her lips, but nodded.

  “And the teddy bears?” she reminded him.

  “Ah, yes.” He glanced down at them with a puzzled air. “They had one floor of the casino fixed up like a carnival. I can throw a mean baseball when I want to. I won two right away, and then I thought about handing out two teddy bears and leaving four little ones without and it almost broke my heart.” He sighed heavily. “I had to go back and win some more.”