Officer Daddy

by Jacqueline Diamond

  Was it possible Bailey was pregnant, too? Don’t project onto her, Nora warned herself. “What’s wrong?”

  “Oh!” Startled brown eyes met hers. “I thought you’d gone out.”

  “And came back.” Nora pulled up a chair. “What’s going on, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  Bailey released another long breath. “It’s one of those ridiculous soap-opera situations I keep stumbling into.”

  “Another disappointing romance?” Untrustworthy men must give off subliminal signals that attracted vulnerable women like Bailey. And Nora, who had picked Reese and was now pregnant by a man who had Live Free or Die tattooed on his soul.

  “It’s my sister, Phyllis.”

  Shifting mental gears, Nora recalled Bailey mentioning an older half sister who was a financial counselor. “What’s wrong?”

  “She’s had a series of miscarriages and she’s hit a wall. She’s so depressed.”

  Nora’s heart went out to the woman. “Perhaps I could help. Or Dr. Tartikoff, when he gets here.” Many causes of miscarriage, such as incompetent cervix or hormonal disorders, could be treated successfully.

  The usually vibrant Bailey drooped like a two-day-old flower. “The fetuses had chromosomal abnormalities. Phyllis got tested and discovered she’s the problem.”

  “Chromosomal rearrangement?” In 2 to 4 percent of repeated miscarriages, one of the parents turned out to have an inherited translocation of his or her chromosomes. This unusual structure didn’t affect the parent but, because of the way chromosomes were passed from parent to child, could lead to the baby receiving extra or missing pieces of a chromosome.

  A nod. “I’d never heard of it before. Now it seems like the most important thing in the world.”

  “She might still be able to have a healthy baby.” While there was no cure for the condition, it didn’t always result in an abnormal fetus. Sometimes the parents got lucky.

  “She’s miscarried five times, and she just turned forty.”

  Nora understood. “Has she considered adopting?”

  “She and Boone want to be genetically related to their baby.” Bailey’s hands twisted together. “That’s where I come in.”

  “You?” Nora frowned. “Oh! As an egg donor.”

  The nurse wrinkled her nose. “I offered. I even got tested to make sure I don’t have the same abnormality, which I don’t. I guess I should have told you, but Phyllis insisted on confidentiality. I wouldn’t be telling you now, but I have to talk to someone.”

  “About…?” Nora prompted.

  “Phyllis and Boone asked me to be their surrogate. I mean, she’s forty. It’s too hard on her to keep going through this.”

  That raised a whole bunch of delicate issues. “Are you considering it?”

  “I’d like to help. I’m actually curious about experiencing a pregnancy.”

  “What about when it comes time to give up the baby?” Nora asked.

  Bailey shrugged. “That doesn’t bother me so much, but since I’m the aunt, I can’t avoid seeing how they’re raising him or her. It might bother me if they don’t do everything the way I would, which is hardly fair.”

  “You do believe they’ll make good parents, don’t you?”

  Bailey studied the photos of babies arrayed before her. “I don’t know. My parents were lousy role models, and Phyllis is so driven at work. It’s all money, money, money. Of course that’s good for me, since they’ve done a great job of investing my money.” She’d been saving every spare dollar so she could study to be a nurse practitioner, able to treat patients herself for routine matters instead of assisting a doctor.

  “You don’t have to make a decision right away, do you?” Nora didn’t see the hurry.

  “When my sister makes up her mind, she’s a force of nature.” Then Bailey brightened. “Maybe I should talk to Mrs. Franco. She understands what it’s like to be a surrogate.”

  “I’m sure she’d be happy to answer your questions. Keep in mind that things took an unusual turn for Kate.” While Bailey must be aware that surrogates didn’t normally get to keep the baby and marry the father, Kate and Tony’s story was seductively romantic.

  “I’ll do that.”

  Nora’s stomach churned, more from emptiness than anything else. Instinctively, she cupped a hand over her abdomen.

  “You’ve got morning sickness, don’t you?” Just like that, the tables turned and Bailey became the nurturer. “I knew you were anxious to have a baby even before that rat Reese did what he did. I don’t blame you at all.”

  “Blame me?”

  “Since you haven’t mentioned seeing anyone, I figure you went the artificial route, right?”

  “Well…” Nora tried to figure out how to reply.

  “At another treatment center? Good idea,” Bailey rambled on. “That’s what I’d prefer, too. I’d rather keep my records private.”

  Doing a fast mental shuffle, Nora considered the explanation Bailey had provided. If people believed her pregnancy resulted from donor sperm, that would let Leo off the hook. He had a right to know the truth, but other people didn’t need to find out.

  Realizing her nurse expected a response, she seized on the last comment. “Our records are private.” Patient confidentiality was taken very seriously in the medical profession.

  “Anyone who works here can access the records,” Bailey pointed out. “They shouldn’t, but I’ll bet they do if they get curious enough.”

  “That’s grounds for firing. And possibly for legal action.”

  “Yeah, but you have to get caught first.”

  Nora heard the receptionist unlocking the door to the front office. “I guess we’d better table this conversation.”

  “Not another word.” With a conspiratorial grin, the nurse departed.

  Still reviewing the discussion, Nora went to her private office. Bailey had been right about one thing, for sure—the wisdom of keeping her medical records away from her colleagues at Safe Harbor. Just look at the way Dr. Tartikoff had gone hunting through Nora’s infertility cases, presumably for the good of the patients, but in her opinion he’d had his own agenda.

  An old friend and former fellow obstetrical resident, Dr. Paige Brennan, handled fertility cases along with her regular patients in Newport Beach, a few miles away. If Nora went to her, everyone would assume Dr. Brennan had done the insemination. And Paige was an excellent doctor.

  Nora hadn’t seen much of her former colleague recently, but in a way, that made it even better. For medical treatment, she preferred seeing someone who cared about her but wasn’t emotionally invested in the details of her life.

  As she downed a few bites of her sandwich before the first afternoon patient arrived, Nora wondered if she’d eventually have pursued artificial insemination on her own. Probably not. Without a man in the picture, it could be tough raising a child. Now she had no choice.

  Leo was wonderful with his niece and nephew. Too bad…She stopped that line of thought. She couldn’t yield to fantasies.

  But where her sexy policeman was concerned, Nora found it hard not to.

  Chapter Nine

  Leo should have been enjoying the March sunshine, the chance to relax on his brother’s patio and the sight of Tony and Kate frolicking in the pool with five-year-old Brady. Throw in the prospect of this evening with Nora, and everything ought to feel just about perfect on this rare free Saturday.

  The problem was, he took his responsibilities seriously, even the ones that had nothing to do with his job.

  “What do you think I should tell him?” he asked Tara, who sat propped in his lap drooling on a toy bunny. “I’ve been trying to remember what I was like at nineteen. Nothing like Ralph, I’m sure.”

  At that age, Leo had been studying criminal justice at Cal State Fullerton, not working at a supermarket. In some people’s eyes, that would make Leo the more mature, responsible individual, but if he’d gotten a girl pregnant, he sure wouldn’t have been agitating for marr
iage.

  “By the time he’s my age, he’d have a ten-year-old,” Leo told his niece. “How weird would that be?”

  “Da,” she responded, or possibly, “Ba.”

  “Ba as in bunny?” he inquired.

  She pressed her tiny lips together and batted her eyes at him. Flirting already, at this age.

  “You’re going to knock ’em dead by the time you’re three,” Leo predicted. “Those preschoolers won’t know what hit ’em.”

  “I hope you’re giving her good advice,” Tony called from the pool.

  “She doesn’t need good advice,” Leo replied. “She has good parents.”

  And a great home to grow up in, he mused, taking in the hilltop view over the harbor. He imagined the parties she could throw as a teenager, with the outdoor kitchen and the meandering pool edged with rocks, ferns and a waterfall.

  Leo resolved to give his own house a fresh coat of paint. That was the least he could do for…well, himself. Anyway, it wasn’t the decor that made a home terrific. He’d grown up in a house as luxurious as Tony’s, but he certainly hadn’t experienced much happiness.

  Tara burped, an outrageously loud noise for such a tiny baby. “Have you no manners?” Leo asked.

  She gummed the bunny, happily unconcerned about etiquette.

  For a moment, the sunlight dimmed as Leo pictured another Tara, the younger sister for whom his niece was named. Born with spina bifida, she’d had a restless mind and an outgoing personality trapped in a fragile body, and had died of pneumonia at the age of eleven. Devastated, his parents had retreated emotionally from their sons and each other.

  Leo wondered if it had ever occurred to Ralph that parenthood might not be smooth sailing. At least that provided him with one good argument to present to the young man.

  Wait. Wasn’t he supposed to listen rather than lecture?

  “What’re you scowling about?” asked Kate as she and the others emerged, dripping, from the pool. His sister-in-law had a frank, open face, golden eyes and shoulder-length brown hair that looked a bit ragged around the edges, which was ironic considering her profession as a hairdresser.

  “I am not looking forward to counseling a teenage boy.” He’d mentioned the situation earlier, over brunch, without going into detail.

  “You’ll do fine. Trust your common sense.” She draped a towel around her shoulders and turned to help Brady dry off.

  “Trust my common sense? That’s your advice?” Leo grumbled. “Not very inspiring.”

  Tony slid a damp arm around his wife. “She gives great advice. People come from far and wide to bask in her wisdom.”

  “One nurse, and she drove a mile.” Kate rubbed a towel across her son’s back “How about fixing Brady some hot cocoa?”

  “Please, Daddy,” the boy chimed in, and Tony beamed.

  Leo knew his brother was thrilled that Brady had accepted him as his dad.

  “Let’s go see what we can scrounge up, okay?” Tony said.

  Hand in hand, the pair went into the house. Kate lifted her daughter gently from Leo’s lap. “Thanks for holding her.”

  He stretched his cramped legs. “Why is a nurse coming to you for guidance?”

  “Her sister asked her to be a surrogate. She needed some insight into what’s involved.” His sister-in-law sat down on a straight chair beside his.

  “What did you tell her?” Surrogacy had worked out well for Tony, but it hadn’t been entirely smooth sailing.

  “I encouraged her to explore her feelings and think about possible outcomes,” Kate answered. “Although I was given a lot of information about the legalities involved, in retrospect, I was terribly naive.”

  That puzzled Leo. “Because you misjudged Esther’s level of commitment?”

  She tilted her face back to soak up the sunshine. “I also misjudged the impact on my family. My sister was very upset about the prospect of losing her niece, and it bothered my mom, too, even though she tried not to show it. As for me, it nearly tore me apart when the time came to give up the baby. I’m grateful I didn’t have to.”

  He understood, up to a point. Still, the situation didn’t seem that earth-shattering to him. “But if this woman’s having a baby for her sister, she won’t exactly be giving it away, right?”

  “That could be even more painful, watching someone else raise her child.” Kate caressed her baby’s cheek. “Always feeling on the outside. Never hearing her call you mommy. I’m not sure this woman’s come to terms with what it’s going to mean for the rest of her life.”

  “Are we talking about Bailey?” Tony asked as he returned with his son and a mug of cocoa. The boy sat on the concrete and dumped out a bucket of Legos. A couple of pieces flew under Leo’s chair and he nudged them back with his foot.

  “No names,” Kate warned her husband, and shifted Tara on her lap.

  Tony looked rueful. “Sorry. I do know better. Not that she’s likely to sue us, but a confidence is a confidence.”

  “Since I don’t know her, the secret’s safe with me.” Leo recalled hearing about someone named Bailey, but he couldn’t place the context. Besides, there had to be more than one woman with that name in Safe Harbor.

  “Tell us more about this counseling you’re doing,” prompted his brother. “Much to our astonishment, I might add.”

  “Just talking to a kid I met while patrolling.” Leo preferred to avoid mentioning Nora’s involvement. As far as Tony and Kate knew, he’d driven her home after the reception, and that was the extent of their relationship.

  The fewer people who nosed into his personal life, the better. That included his brother. Women seemed to thrive on heart-to-heart talks. To Leo, they felt intrusive. However, he could use some insight into counseling Ralph, so he explained about the pregnant teen’s insistence on giving her baby up for adoption, despite her boyfriend’s objections. “Ultimately, it’s her decision, right?”

  “He could sue for the right to raise the child,” said Tony, ever the lawyer. “He’d need to demonstrate to the court that he’s capable of making a home and providing for the child alone. That would be tough, in view of his age.”

  “Single mothers do it all the time.” Kate broke off to coo at the baby, who gurgled happily.

  “Yes, but I don’t think parenting comes as naturally to men,” Tony countered. “Remember when you tried to prepare me for single fatherhood after Esther left? I was a wreck.”

  “You weren’t that bad!”

  “I suppose I’d have pulled it off with the help of a nanny. Not an ideal situation, though.”

  “This boy can’t afford a nanny.” Most working parents Leo knew used daycare centers. “Do people actually hire nannies around here? I thought that was more common in big cities.”

  “Professional people do. Don’t you suppose that’s what…a certain doctor has in mind when the baby comes?” Kate asked her husband.

  “What doctor?” Leo wondered if he’d missed part of the conversation.

  “The one Bail…the nurse works with,” Kate said. “I suppose she shouldn’t have told us about that.”

  “No, she shouldn’t,” Tony agreed. “Just as we shouldn’t be discussing it in front of Leo.”

  “Absolutely not.” Kate sighed. “But it’s going to be common knowledge around the hospital soon enough.”

  While Leo hated having his own private business talked about, he liked to keep current on other people’s affairs. Plus, he was still trying to get a fix on how to advise Ralph. “So this guy’s planning to be a single father, too?”

  “Which guy?” asked his brother.

  “This doctor.”

  “She had artificial insemination.” Kate jiggled Tara, who’d begun fussing. “Somebody’s getting sleepy.”

  He was a she? Leo felt at sea in this conversation. “Maybe I should take a nap, too.”

  “What time’s your appointment?” Tony got to his feet to help his wife gather the baby’s gear. It sure took a lot of stuff—receiving blanke
t, pacifier, diaper bag—just to cart one infant up to the nursery.

  “Not until…” Leo glanced at his watch. Almost half-past twelve. “One o’clock. Yikes.” Just like that, his drowsiness vanished. There was nothing like a looming appointment to clear the mind.

  As Leo took his leave and strode out to the car, he kept trying to make sense of the discussion. It felt as if he’d missed an important clue, but Leo couldn’t figure out what.

  Well, he had more important things to focus on. Such as how, with no experience whatsoever, he was going to help a teenage boy make good choices about becoming a father.

  THE PAST FEW DAYS HAD BEEN hectic at Nora’s office. Despite her desire to keep her pregnancy secret, word got out, probably because of her frequent trips to the bathroom and steady consumption of crackers and ginger ale. “Are you…?” was the most popular question of the week.

  She gave Bailey permission to spread the explanation, which saved Nora from having to lie. Since she hadn’t told people the story herself, that might make it easier to correct their false impressions later…if she decided to.

  It all depended on how Leo reacted today. More than ever, Nora wished she’d told him last Saturday, but there simply hadn’t been a chance.

  Sure there was. Between the time you arrived at his house and when his partner showed up. But they’d been, well, preoccupied.

  She’d love to get preoccupied again this afternoon. What were the ethics of taking a man to bed before giving him news that was likely to turn him into a stranger?

  If the situation were reversed, she’d be furious. But Leo was a guy. Oh, man, was he ever. She had to take her mind off him. It helped that when Nora arrived at the counseling center, she found it bursting at the seams. Eleanor and May Chong, the hospital’s administrative secretary, had their heads together in the office. Judging by the snatches of conversation that reached Nora, they were applying for grants. The other room was occupied, as well. Through a glass panel, Nora could see Bailey talking intently with a thin-faced woman.