by Cathie Linz
“Where were you going to take her?”
“To a friend’s house. I wasn’t going to hurt her. I was going to bring her back if…”
“If?” Brett prompted. “Go on, Denise. I know you’re smart. You must have had a plan.”
“If I couldn’t take care of her myself.”
“You’re good,” Brett acknowledged. “I’d almost believe you if it weren’t for your eyes. I know the kids at the youth center think I’m a naive optimist, but trust me, Denise, I’m not. I know you’re lying, so why don’t you save us both some trouble and tell me the truth.”
“I’m telling you the truth. She’s my kid. It’s not like L was kidnapping her or anything. She’s mine and if I want to get some money out of the deal, that’s my business!”
“You tried to steal her for the money?”
“She’s my kid. I was going to bring her back. for the right price.”
Brett’s expression hardened. “How much?”
“Twenty thousand.”
“Yeah, you seem like the kind of scum that would sell their own baby,” Keisha said in disgust. “And you call yourself a mother?”
“That’s what she calls herself,” Michael drawled from the doorway. “But it isn’t the truth. She is not Hope’s mother.”
Eleven
Brett stared at her husband in amazement. “What did you say?”
“You heard me,” Michael replied as he entered the room with Juan at his side. “She’s not Hope’s mother.”
“But she has the same birthmark, and she knew all the details about the day Hope was left in our foyer,” Brett said.
“That’s because she was with Hope’s mother when she left the baby here.”
“And the birthmark?” Brett demanded.
“Is shared by all the girls in the Petty family,” Michael replied. “It turns out that Denise here is really Darlene, Denise’s twin sister. They weren’t identical twins, but they looked enough alike for Darlene to take over her sister’s identity when she was killed in a hit-and-run accident a few weeks ago.”
“Hope’s real mother was killed?” Brett whispered.
“That’s right. Tell her what you told me, Juan.”
Juan said, “See, I’m friends like with their younger sister, Linda. She’s scared of Darlene, but she confided in me. She said she couldn’t stand to see you hurt, Brett. She said you were too good for that. So she told me, even though Darlene threatened to beat her if she told anyone.”
“That little traitor!” Darlene screeched. “Wait ‘til I get my hands on her, I’ll teach her to snitch on me!”
Juan ignored the outburst. “Hope’s real mother was Denise, the good sister.”
“Yeah, the angel in the family,” Darlene said, her face twisted with hatred. “Always the perfect one, the one who could do no wrong. Until she got herself knocked up. And even then, my mom didn’t kick her out of the house like. she did me.”
“Because you went after her with a frying pan,” Juan said. “Linda told me all about it.”
“I’ll knock that girl’s teeth out,” Darlene snarled.
“Put a sock in it, Darlene,” Brett advised.
Taking her literally, Keisha did just that, effectively halting the string of curses Darlene was spouting by stuffing the sock back in the woman’s mouth.
Only then did someone else slip into the room, a young girl Brett recognized from the youth center. “Linda?”
The girl nodded.
Brett held out her arms, and the frightened girl ran into them. “It’ll be okay, honey. We’ll make sure Darlene won’t ever hurt you again,” she murmured in a soothing, voice.
“You’ve got that right,” Michael said. “I did some checking of my own after Juan filled me in on the details. It turns out that while Denise Petty had a clean record, Darlene has had plenty of experience with breaking the law.”
“Why didn’t you find this out when you checked out her story on your computer this morning?” Brett asked.
“She didn’t show for the meeting in my office, so I knew something was up. The problem was that Denise Petty was actually born Donna Denise Petty and her records were listed that way. I’d just discovered that when Juan here called me and had me come over to the youth center. That’s when he told me about Darlene posing as her sister.”
“Thanks for telling us, Juan,” Brett said with a grateful smile.
“He also told me that she was planning on snatching Hope and holding her for ransom. So I rushed over here to save the day, but I see you already have things under control,” Michael said. “Nice move, cuffing her to the radiator, by the way.”
“It was Keisha’s idea,” Brett replied. “She captured Darlene.”
“With help from the other tenants,” Keisha said.
“Fast thinking, Keisha,” Michael congratulated her. “When this is all over maybe you and I should have a little talk about you coming to work for me. I could use some help in the business.”
Keisha beamed.
“Meanwhile, what do we do about Darlene?” Brett asked. “We can’t just leave her here.”
“Read this,” Linda said, taking a school composition notebook from under her denim jacket and handing it to Brett. “Maybe it will help you make up your mind.”
“What is it?”
“It’s Denise’s diary. She watched you, even though she never talked to you. And I told her about you. My mom drinks, and Denise didn’t want her to ruin her baby’s life like she…” Linda’s voice trailed off in embarrassment. “Anyway, read what she wrote.”
Brett did.
I took little Angela over there today and left her for Brett to find. Even though I’ve never met her, I can tell that she has a good heart. She’ll do what’s best for my baby. If she can’t take care of Angela herself, she’ll find a good family that can. Maybe I should have been brave and taken the baby to someplace official, an orphanage maybe, but I don’t know where any are and I had to do something fast. Momma hit the baby today and I knew things would just get worse here. I don’t want that for my Angela. This mess isn’t her fault. Brett will know what to do, because I sure don’t.
Brett swallowed back her tears. “What about the baby’s father?” she asked unsteadily.
“Denise never said who he was,” Linda replied. “Just that he didn’t want any part of the baby and that he was involved in some pretty rough stuff. She said he’d moved to L.A.”
Before Brett could say anything further, a knock on the partially open door to the apartment got everyone’s attention. So did the pair of police officers who walked in. “We got a call about a disturbance here. Which one of you is Michael Janos?”
“I am,” Michael said, stepping forward. “Thanks for getting here so fast, officers.”
“You called the police?” Brett whispered in alarm.
Putting a reassuring arm around her, Michael nodded. “As soon as Frieda told me that Denise…I mean Darlene here had tried to snatch Hope and was down here with you.”
The officer looked at the gagged and handcuffed Darlene with disapproval. “Someone want to tell me what’s going on here?”
“It’s a long story,” Michael said. “The bottom line is that the young woman being restrained is Darlene Petty and there’s an outstanding warrant for her arrest in your files.” To Brett he added, “You see, Darlene wanted the money to skip town because she’s wanted by the police in a series of burglaries.” Speaking to the officers again, Michael explained, “She’s been pretending to be her twin sister Denise, and has her ID, but if you fingerprint her you’ll find she is indeed Darlene.”
After that, things seemed to happen very quickly in Brett’s dazed opinion. Once the officers had confirmed that a warrant was outstanding, they removed Darlene with speed, adding resisting arrest to her charges as she kicked one of the officers with her pointed high heels before being bundled outside.
Once the police had taken Darlene away, Brett confessed one of her worries to Michael. “As Hope’
s aunt, she still may have a legal right to the baby.”
“She never wanted her, she just wanted the money,” he replied.
“She’s going to tell them about Hope, I know she is.”
“You’ve got that diary to prove that the baby’s mother wanted you to take care of her. The judge is going to give her to us, Brett. We don’t have to do anything but tell the truth.”
As she went into his arms, Brett knew that the only truth she still couldn’t tell was the fact that she loved him.
“ And they lived happily ever after,’“ Brett read from the story she was telling Hope at bedtime that night.
She sat in the rocking chair with the little girl on her lap. The feel of the baby’s head resting against her breast brought tears of relief to Brett’s eyes. “I love you, Hope. I love you so much.”
But Hope, who had another tooth coming in and didn’t want to be fussed over too much, pushed her away.
Don’t be a nuisance, Brett.
Feeling vulnerable because of the emotional roller coaster she’d been on today, Brett bit her lip as a sob silently shuddered through her.
As if sensing her mother’s pain, the baby abruptly turned her head back toward Brett, and snuggled against her, giving her a semitoothless grin of such sweetness that Brett’s sob was transformed into a tiny, poignant laugh.
“I never knew my own mother,” Brett unsteadily confided to the little girl. “I never had anyone really mother me, so I’m not sure how good a job I’ll do as a mom. But I promise to always love you, no matter what. And to try and give you guidance in this crazy world. Just don’t expect too much from me, okay? I mean, I’ll do the best I can, but I don’t know if love is always enough, you know?”
The baby nodded, as if she understood every word.
“I mean, I love Michael and that doesn’t mean.” Pausing, Brett fingered the golden hammer he’d given her for Christmas. She wore it on a chain under her sweater, against her bare skin. “It doesn’t mean he loves me back. When you were almost taken away from us, I felt so guilty. Like God was punishing me for wanting too much, you know? So I made a deal with God—that if we got to keep you, I wouldn’t ever ask for anything, ever again. And I’m going to keep that promise. But I don’t want you ever doubting that Michael loves you, little one. Even when he’s calling you stinky britches, he loves you. You’re a lucky little girl to have such a great daddy. Not many kids have dads who play This Little Pig Went to The Play-offs on their toes. He made that up just for you. It’s one of the ways he shows you how much he loves you. Like when he doesn’t complain when you drool all over him. Or the way he gets so excited when you do something new. He’s going to be the best daddy in the world to you, Hope. I just wish I could give him a baby of his own. He deserves that. Since that’s something I wish for Michael, I guess it doesn’t break my promise to God, huh?”
Looking down, Brett realized that Hope had nodded off to sleep.
After safely tucking her in her crib for the night, Brett walked into the bedroom she shared with Michael to find him sitting on the edge of the bed. He turned to stare at her, his hazel eyes darkened by the turbulent intensity of his gaze.
“We need to talk,” he said huskily.
She immediately knew something was wrong from the sound of his voice, but it wasn’t until his gaze slid from her to the baby monitor on the bedside table that it clicked in her mind. The baby monitor. The thing was a damn microphone! She’d forgotten all about it when she’d spilled her heart out in the nursery. She’d forgotten it was there, picking up every word she’d said. He’d heard her.
Brett had never been so embarrassed in her entire life. She wished the floor would open up and suck her in.
Don’t be a nuisance, Brett.
Why do you always have to want more?
I need a woman who can be a real wife.
The mocking, hurtful words from her past were right there to taunt her. But this time, something new happened. This time she fought, shoving the words from her the way Hope had shoved moments before.
Brett’s courage bounced back, and with it came the realization that she was tired of apologizing for her past, for her emotions, for having hope.
Well, no more. No more hanging onto the past. She’d had to fight for everything she had—she was ready to fight now!
“That’s right, I love you,” she practically shouted. “You want to make something out of it?” she demanded, putting her hands on her hips to stare at him defiantly.
Michael was startled by her aggressive reaction. She saw that in those awesome eyes of his. And then she saw something else. Admiration?
“Damn right I want to make something out of it,” he growled, holding out his hand to her. “Come here.”
She took one step toward him before stopping. “No,” she declared. “You can come here.”
“Okay,” he said.
Getting up, he was at her side in four steps, only to scoop her in his arms and dump her in the middle of the bed.
“How could you be so stupid?” he demanded, kneeling on the mattress beside her.
“I fought it, believe me,” she declared in irritation. “Blame it on that damn Rom box of yours. That or your incredible eyes…”
He put his finger to her lips, silencing her. “How could you think I don’t love you?”
She stared at him as if he’d grown two heads. Pulling his hand away, she said, “Excuse me?”
“I said, how could you think for one minute that I don’t love you?”
“I don’t know,” she shot back. “Maybe the fact that you never told me you loved me had something to do with it.”
He grimaced at her direct verbal hit. “Okay, so I didn’t say the words, but I showed you. I sent you acorns, even seduced you on my office desk, for God’s sake. How many women do you think I’ve done that to?”
“I have no idea. And I’m not sure I want to know.”
“None, that’s how many,” he growled. “I love you.”
She blinked at him uncertainly. “Do you have that Rom box in the bedroom again?”
“Forget the damn box. I am not under a spell.”
“Right. Like you’d know if you were.”
“What is it going to take to convince you?” he demanded in exasperation.
“I don’t know. Maybe fifty years of your life.”
“Deal,” he whispered, sealing his pledge with a teasing kiss, the merest brushing of her lips with his. “Why is it so hard for you to believe that I love you?” he murmured.
“Maybe because no one else has loved me before,” she whispered.
“Brett, there are plenty of people who love you. You’ve touched so many people’s lives.”
“That’s nothing.”
“It is not nothing. I know your mother left you, and that bastard of a fiancé left you. But look at me.” With gentle fingers he grasped her chin and turned her face so that he could look directly into her eyes. “I’m not like them. I’m not going to leave you. If you want to believe that a Rom love spell charmed us both, then believe it. And know that magic is a powerful thing, not to be trifled with. It will bind us together no matter what. It will last a lifetime.”
“Are you kidding?”
“Do I look like I’m kidding?” he returned.
He met her gaze head-on. She saw.she saw love there. Love for her!
“I didn’t know you loved me,” he whispered. “Not until tonight when I heard you confessing to Hope.”
“How could you not know?” she said in disbelief. “I practically drooled whenever you came in the room. I seduced you on New Year’s Eve.”
“That didn’t mean you loved me.”
“I married you.”
“For the baby’s sake. I knew you loved her. I knew you’d do anything for her, including marrying me if that meant you’d get to keep Hope.”
“I thought that’s why you married me. To save Hope.”
“I married you because I had to have y
ou.”
She nodded understandingly. “The love charm…”
“You charmed me. It was you. The way you light up a room with your smile, the way you embrace life, the way you care about others, the way you look in those damn tight jeans, the way your big blue eyes glow when you talk, the way your laugh sounds like an angel’s song.” He broke off self-consciously.
“Don’t stop now, you were doing fine,” Brett said with a smile bright enough to illuminate downtown Chicago.
“Do you believe me?”
“I want to.”
“What’s stopping you?”
“Why didn’t you tell me you loved me before?”
“First off, like I said, I didn’t know if you loved me.”
“So you were waiting for me to say it first?” She smacked his shoulder with the palm of her hand. “How like a man!”
“I told you when I proposed that I wasn’t good with emotions,” he muttered. “I may come from an emotional family, but I’ve never found it easy to talk about my emotions, okay? It was hard for me to come out and say it.”
“Like it was easy for me?”
“You didn’t say it to me,” he retorted. “You didn’t tell me you loved me, you told stinky britches and it’s pretty damn certain the secret would be safe with her.”
“How can I be sure you love me for real?”
“I guess you can’t be sure. You have to follow your heart, and give yourself fifty years or so to be convinced.”
Time stood still as their eyes met. No other man had ever looked at her in quite that way, as if she’d unlocked the deepest secrets of his heart and held the key to his happiness.
With an unsteady cry of happiness, Brett threw her arms around him, tumbling them both back onto the mattress. She eagerly sought his mouth, meeting him halfway as he lifted his head to kiss her. His need matched her own.
But there was more than just need in this kiss. More than desire or passion. There was the freedom of two hearts joined as one. There was no holding back on either of their parts. Brett felt gloriously free to show her love, to whisper it as she unbuttoned his shirt and ran her hands down his chest. When he whispered his love for her, her joy knew no bounds. He told her over and over again, showed her with every brush of his mouth, every tender caress of his hands.
