Officer Daddy

by Jacqueline Diamond

  Suzy showed up at noon, and waved away a list of adoption attorneys that Nora had compiled. “I found a great lawyer right here in Safe Harbor. He says he has a couple who’ll pay my living expenses and everything. I hope Officer Franco can talk sense to Ralph, because he needs to deal with it.”

  “Have you heard from Ralph this week?” Nora asked as they went outside to a grassy area furnished with a picnic table.

  The girl piled her dark hair atop her head and then shook it free. “Nope. Getting questioned by the police must’ve scared him.”

  That seemed like a good sign. Nora hoped the young man intended to keep his appointment today, though. Ralph had a lot to work out. Dealing with him might be valuable for Leo, too, not that she had any illusions about him suffering a sudden onslaught of paternal feelings.

  “How’s your family taking all this?” Nora inquired.

  “Oh, they’re on Ralph’s side. Nobody else in my family ever went to college, and they keep saying I shouldn’t aim too high because I’ll be disappointed. Like I won’t be disappointed if I’m poor all my life!”

  In response to Nora’s questions, Suzy went on to describe her courses at the community college and her goal of transferring to the University of California to major in biology. The hour flew by as they discussed possible career paths, including medicine.

  The girl got to her feet. “In case Ralph’s coming, I’d better leave. It’ll be easier if I avoid him.”

  Nora understood. “Would you like to meet again next week?”

  Suzy looped her purse over her shoulder. “No, thanks. I’ve got everything under control.”

  “Give me a call if you ever want to talk.” Nora handed her a card with her cell number.

  “Thanks!” The girl breezed off.

  She seemed more confident and organized than Nora felt about her own pregnancy. Wandering into the empty reception area, she almost wished she had someone to counsel her.

  Since discovering she was pregnant, Nora had to admit she’d given only passing thought to how she was going to raise a child alone, or even to the reality of the small person growing inside her. Although she’d yearned for a baby, she found the ramifications so overwhelming that she’d mostly focused on what to tell Leo.

  She’d never dreamed she’d become pregnant outside a committed relationship, or that she might have to consider how to handle a reluctant father. The problem wasn’t so much that Leo might shrug off his responsibilities to their child, she realized. It was that she didn’t want to lose this giddy, warm, hopeful feeling she experienced around him, or kill the joy in his eyes when he looked at her.

  She couldn’t be falling for the guy, could she? They were all wrong for each other. Outside the bedroom, they had practically nothing in common. Except that they always seemed to find plenty to talk about.

  From the counseling room, Bailey emerged with her client. “Did you want to ask Dr. Kendall about a prescription to tide you over?” the nurse asked the woman, who clutched a sheaf of papers. Probably referrals and a list of resources.

  At a guess, she might be in her mid-thirties, but she already had worry lines on her thin face. “I don’t need a tranquilizer. Talking to you helped. I don’t feel so hopeless now.” The woman held out the papers. “I shouldn’t take these.”

  “Keep them, in case you start feeling really down again.”

  “These moods, they’re nothing I can’t handle. I’ll be fine once I get a job.” The woman held on to the papers, though. After shaking hands with Bailey, she went out.

  Despite an impulse to intervene, Nora held herself in check. Whether the woman suffered from depression or a less severe form of anxiety, she had the right to refuse treatment.

  “How can you tell whether you’re helping someone?” the nurse asked Nora when they were alone. “I’m not sure I deserve all the trust the clients put in me. I hear their sad stories and my life seems charmed by comparison.”

  While Bailey made her tales of disastrous dates and loser boyfriends sound funny, Nora knew real pain lay underneath. “Nobody’s life is charmed. Besides, I’m sure you gave her good advice.”

  The nurse clicked her tongue. “Not really—more of a sympathetic ear. That’s not much, considering she’s got four kids to support and a husband in prison.”

  Eleanor and May were still murmuring together in the office. Nora kept her voice low. “Any further thoughts about the surrogacy?”

  Bailey made a face. “My sister acts as if I’ve already agreed. She’s picked some doctor in L.A. and she’s urging me to go for my workup.”

  “There are issues you should discuss first.” Surrogacy, even within a family, was never a simple matter. “I don’t suppose she’s mentioned compensation.”

  “Pay me? Phyllis?” Bailey snorted.

  “Commercial surrogates earn upward of $25,000,” Nora noted. “You’ll have to take time off work, not to mention the discomfort and the physical risks. Your sister and her husband sound as if they’re affluent. They should at least offer to pay you for the inconvenience and any lost wages.”

  “They won’t. It’s either the goodness of my heart or nothing.”

  “You also need a contract spelling out everyone’s legal rights and obligations.” Not only did the surrogate and the parents need to be protected, so did the child. Any number of factors could change during a pregnancy.

  “Oh, she’s had that drawn up. Down to the tiniest detail, I’ll bet.”

  “Make sure you have your own attorney examine it.” Nora felt obligated to point out another issue, as well. If she hadn’t been so distracted by morning sickness, she’d have brought it up the first time Bailey broached the topic. “Usually surrogates have already given birth at least once. That’s partly to reduce the risk of some undiagnosed medical condition surfacing, and also so they don’t have to return home with empty arms.”

  “This isn’t the same. I mean, it’ll be my niece or nephew.” Bailey seemed to be weighing in on the pro side.

  “Well, don’t rush.” Nora’s main concern was her nurse’s tendency to be too trusting. Especially since Phyllis sounded domineering.

  In the parking lot, a car cruised to a halt. Nora’s pulse speeded as she glimpsed a flash of red through the open doorway. Leo’s knock-your-eye-out sports car.

  Bailey peered out, too. “Oh, my gosh, who is that hunk?”

  “A friend of mine,” Nora blurted.

  Her nurse’s eyebrows went up. Way up. “I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”

  She’s perceptive, so watch it. “He’s Tony Franco’s brother. I persuaded him to counsel my client’s boyfriend.”

  “Is he taken, or what?” Bailey asked. “I may seriously reconsider this whole surrogacy thing if that guy’s on the loose.”

  For Bailey to go after Leo was the last thing Nora needed. “I have the impression he doesn’t consider himself marriage material.”

  “In his case, a fling would be entirely acceptable.” Bailey smiled. “Relax. I’m not going to throw my sister under a bus for a casual affair. Still, I can hope he’s one of those guys who find pregnant women sexy, can’t I?”

  “There’s a name for men like that. They’re called fathers.” Nora stopped talking as Leo, all glorious six feet of him, cut along the pavement toward the center. When his gaze met hers, he unfurled a heart-stopping grin.

  “Sorry I brought it up,” Bailey murmured. “He doesn’t even notice I’m alive.”

  Keenly aware that they were being watched, Nora restrained the impulse to greet Leo with a hug. “You’re right on time,” she told him.

  His gray eyes swept her face. “You look great.”

  Don’t stand here staring at each other. “You’ve heard me mention my nurse, Bailey,” she said by way of introduction. “She’s a volunteer here, also.”

  “Bailey?” Leo regarded the woman oddly. Not in a turned-on way, Nora was pleased to note, but as if he were trying to figure out how to fit a piece into a puzzle.
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  “What’d you think my name was?” the nurse asked.

  “I didn’t, um…” He broke off. “Nothing. Unimportant.”

  This waffling didn’t seem like Leo. Uneasily, Nora noticed that he smelled like baby powder. “Were you over at your brother’s?”

  “For brunch,” he confirmed.

  Bailey’s jaw dropped for an instant before she snapped it shut. What had she told the Francos? Nora wondered. And how much had they shared with Leo?

  Before Nora could figure out how to raise the subject, she spotted Ralph loping toward them, skinny and angular, glasses sliding down his nose.

  Compared to him, Leo looked mature and powerful. He also looked a bit apprehensive. Clearly he’d been sweating what he was going to say to Ralph.

  Their counseling session was about to begin. Nora would have to wait to find out what Leo had learned at his brother’s house.

  Chapter Ten

  Bailey was Nora’s nurse?

  Striving to make sense of the bits and pieces, Leo replayed the conversation at his brother’s house. A nurse named Bailey was considering becoming a surrogate mother, and the doctor she worked for had had artificial insemination.

  Nora didn’t look pregnant. Of course, having artificial insemination didn’t always work. Nor did a woman necessarily become pregnant from a single encounter with an unprotected male.

  An unprotected male… What was she doing, using him as backup?

  The possibility rocked Leo. Now that he thought about it, the first time they met, Nora had commented on what a great father he’d make. He’d made it clear that he wasn’t interested.

  He hoped this pretty, loopy, delightful woman wasn’t also manipulative and selfish. Surely not. Nothing about her character struck him as deceptive. More likely, he’d misunderstood the conversation at Tony’s.

  Meanwhile, here stood Ralph, wearing a backpack, baggy pants and an earnest expression. “I wasn’t sure you’d come,” the young man said.

  “We made an appointment,” Leo reminded him.

  “People don’t always keep their word.”

  Leo got that. “Granted. But I do.”

  Although he wasn’t a great believer in coincidences, he put aside his questions about Nora and pregnancies. Hell, for all he knew, there might be two or three nurses named Bailey at Safe Harbor Medical Center. Perhaps the entire maternity ward was staffed by women named Bailey, Billie, Bambi and Betsy, who were frequently mistaken for each other, and all had doctors trying to get pregnant.

  Yeah, right. Well, you never could tell.

  “Let’s go inside,” he told Ralph, and left Bailey and Nora to sort out whatever they’d been discussing before his arrival.

  Inside the counseling room, Ralph chose a seat at the table. Taking out his smart phone, he tapped some keys.

  “What’s this?” Leo pulled up a chair.

  “My plan.” The boy showed him a website on the screen. “See, I found these great sites for teen parents. Like this one. And this one.” As he clicked from site to site, he outlined his goals for the immediate future.

  It became apparent, as Ralph ran through the list, that the websites must be maintained by companies that manufactured baby gear, ran commercial day care centers and otherwise profited from young families. Nothing wrong with that, except for Ralph’s unrealistic assumptions. According to him, the couple would acquire matching baby furniture, a huge array of educational toys and a ton of other baby equipment along with a spacious apartment to house it all. He also assumed Suzy could sign up the baby for day care as she pursued her education.

  “How are you planning to pay for all this?” Leo asked.

  “Oh, they take credit cards.” Ralph flipped to another site. “Look at these educational computer programs for kids as young as three.”

  “Kids as young as three ought to be playing, not staring at a screen,” Leo told him. “And credit cards aren’t free. If you don’t pay off the balance you accumulate interest, plus I assume Suzy will have student loans.”

  “I hadn’t thought about that.” The boy’s broad forehead creased. “But once she has her degree, she’ll earn a lot, right?”

  “A degree is a license to hunt. It gets you a shot at a better job or a promotion, but it’s no guarantee of big bucks,” Leo told him. “Especially when you’re first starting out. Do you have medical insurance?”

  “Not yet, but I’ll qualify in another six months.”

  “What if the pregnancy’s complicated?” He recalled the problems one of the dispatchers had had with her baby. “Or the child has special medical needs? Suppose Suzy gets pregnant again quickly, or decides she needs to pursue a master’s degree?”

  Ralph’s jaw set stubbornly. “I can’t worry about things like that.”

  How frustrating for Leo to see the potential problems looming ahead, while the young man clung to rosy dreams. Although he was tempted to lecture, Leo remembered that he was supposed to listen. “Tell me why you’re so eager to take on a family at your age.”

  The boy clicked to a webpage displaying images of the world’s cutest infants. Well, maybe not quite as cute as Tara, but almost. “Think about it. That’s a part of me and Suzy growing inside her, and when it comes out, it’ll be a whole new person.” Another click, and toddlers replaced the newborns. “Walking. And talking! Imagine a little guy calling you Daddy.”

  The idea made Leo antsy. “Calling you Daddy, not me.”

  “Right. Me,” Ralph agreed. “I mean, who am I? Some guy who’s half Native-American and half nobody-knows-what, who got C’s in high school and works at the supermarket. But to him, I’ll be the most important man in the world.”

  Leo hadn’t considered fatherhood in that light. “Ever worry that you might not live up to his expectations?”

  Ralph bit his lips, which already looked well chewed. “Nobody’s perfect. But I won’t be like my dad, I can tell you that.’

  “The one who ran out.”

  “Or my stepdad, who used to hit my mom. That was my first stepdad. The second one was a drunk who smashed up his car and bled to death.”

  “Great role models,” Leo muttered.

  “Actually, they were—role models for what I’m not going to be,” Ralph said fiercely.

  The kid had courage and determination. “You will be a good father. The problem is, I’m not sure Suzy’s ready to be a mother.”

  “We’ll work it out.” Ralph stuck the phone back in his pocket.

  Leo had run out of questions, and he certainly didn’t have any further advice. “Anything else I can do?”

  “I’ll ask Suzy if her parents’ policy will cover her pregnancy.” The young man tilted his head as he considered. “Maybe we don’t need all those diaper stackers and stuff, either.”

  “You could check out thrift stores.” The dispatcher at the department had raved about her terrific finds at Goodwill.

  “Yeah. It isn’t material things that matter, anyway. It’s the people you love.” The boy stood and shook hands with Leo. In this lean youth with remnants of teenage acne, Leo saw the makings of a stern but loving father. He could picture Ralph at forty, guiding his teenagers through their tough decisions.

  The kid had potential. He wondered whether Suzy appreciated that.

  “I’m not sure I’ve been much help, but if you’d like to meet again, I’d be happy to,” Leo said.

  “Great. Next Saturday?”

  Leo had an early shift, but it turned out Ralph could come at four. The boy seemed pleased that they’d be meeting again. Maybe Leo hadn’t entirely wasted their time.

  In the outer office, there was no sign of Bailey, but two other women had joined Nora. The newcomers were physical opposites, one tall and patrician with silvering hair, the other a short Chinese woman. After Ralph left, Nora introduced them as the center’s volunteer director, Eleanor Wycliff, and the hospital’s administrative secretary, May Chong.

  “You met her son, Ted, last week,” Nora explaine
d after they’d exchanged greetings. “He’s picking May up in a few minutes.”

  “We’re lucky to have Ted as a volunteer,” Eleanor said. “Something’s always going wrong with computers.”

  May smiled. “He’s a good boy.”

  “Where does he work?” Leo asked.

  “He runs his own consulting business.”

  “Good for him.” It seemed the polite thing to say, although Leo had no idea whether Ted’s consulting business enabled him to earn a living.

  “He’s very ambitious.”

  Enough chitchat. Leo wished Ted would show up to collect his mother and Eleanor would go about her business. Talking to Ralph about babies had, if anything, intensified his curiosity about Nora. How could a guy tell if a woman was pregnant, anyway?

  He’d heard that one of the first signs was fuller breasts, so he sneaked a glance at her chest, which was pretty much what he wanted to do, anyway. A green jersey top clung suggestively to her form. Were her breasts bigger than he remembered, and how soon could he find out up close and personal?

  “You had some suggestions regarding security?” Eleanor inquired, cutting off this tantalizing line of speculation. “Dr. Forrest isn’t here, but you can fill me in and I’ll take notes for her.”

  “Yes, of course.” It appeared his detective work was going to have to wait a bit longer. Leo hoped she hadn’t noticed him ogling.

  May decided to stand out front to watch for her son. As for Nora, she waved to a dark-haired young woman approaching across the parking lot. Violet Nguyen. Back for another counseling session, apparently.

  “Sorry to miss your security briefing,” Nora said.

  “I’ll be glad to review it with you later,” Leo murmured, and spotted a glint of appreciation in Eleanor’s expression. Obviously, she’d picked up on their connection. Well, so what? He was only human.

  As for Nora, a blush was all the answer she gave before escorting Violet into the counseling room. From a side angle, her bust definitely looked bigger. On the other hand, that might be his imagination.

  “We’re lucky to have an obstetrician as a counselor,” the older woman told Leo. The front room felt echoingly empty with only the two of them present.