About a Baby

by Ann Yost

  Cam nodded. “My sentiments exactly.”

  The problem of Nicole and Robert and the whereabouts of Hallie would have to wait. Baz joined

  his brother and sister in the waiting room. He held Lucy while she cried on his shoulder.

  He felt like crying, too.

  Chapter Sixteen

  One of Wilbur’s favorite meals was chopped liver accompanied by parboiled vegetables served on a bed of wild rice. It worked for breakfast as well as supper. Luckily, Asia had prepared the dish and divided it into plastic containers. As soon as Wilbur heard the telltale “burp” he looked up from the corner where he’d slept on his Miss Piggy cushion.

  “Here you go.” Hallie set the food dish on the floor. Wilbur got up off his cushion slowly. He was definitely more lethargic when his small mistress was away. In addition, he had good manners. He didn’t descend on his food dish like wolves on a fold.

  He took small bites, at least for a pig.

  When he finished, he looked at Hallie. The small red eyes held her gaze for thirty seconds. When he was convinced she wouldn’t re-fill the bowl, he turned and waddled back to his cushion near the door to the cellar. He hunkered down and rested his snout on his trotters.

  The pose meant it was time to replace the DVD of Julia Child with one of the Barefoot Contessa.

  Wilbur lifted his head, briefly and licked his chops.

  “Let me know if you need anything else,” she said.

  Asia had left plenty of people food, too, including containers of her hearty beef stew and navy bean soup. Hallie had to eat something. She found a slice of bread and popped it in the toaster. She made a pot of coffee.

  Her most immediate concern was Jesse’s health.

  Baz had called this morning to tell her about the operation’s crash. She prayed her friend wouldn’t die, especially not now when he’d just gotten reunited with his son. She brushed tears from her cheeks and wandered into the parlor where, only a couple of weeks earlier the Outlaw family had celebrated Christmas. The room seemed cold now, the fire out, the lights low, the people departed.

  Hallie sat on the surprisingly comfortable Victorian sofa and stared into the blackened fireplace. She thought about death and life, about how much Jesse was loved and needed by his family.

  She thought about her lifelong dream of having a baby of her own and how, despite the impossibility of that, she’d been happy in Eden. Part of that was because of the Outlaw family, but part, she admitted, had been her own efforts. She’d found contentment in caring for pets and people, in making friendships and for, at least a little while, fitting into the Outlaw family.

  Then she’d rediscovered the passion she’d experienced in L.A. For a short time, she’d rocketed past happy to euphoric. Even without a gray-eyed baby.

  She still wasn’t entirely certain how or why Baz got involved with the barmaid in L.A. The fact was, he had. He had taken on the responsibility of Nicole and her small son, and they were his family now. A part of her was glad he’d get to have a child.

  A much larger, more selfish part of her was furious, frustrated, and hurting all the way to the bone. Baz would remarry Nicole. He’d bring her and the baby here where they could raise the boy among extended family, where Baz’s interrupted boyhood could be made right through his son.

  Hallie got up, put on her parka, and hiked through the darkness to the clinic. She didn’t turn up the heat. She just kept her coat on while she surfed the Internet. The perfect job was out there someplace. All she had to do was find it.

  Seven hours later she returned to the house.

  Wilbur would be especially hungry since she hadn’t been there to have a tea party with him the way Daisy would have done. Hallie needed to eat something, too. She found leftover meatloaf. She’d just pulled it out of the refrigerator when the front door chime rang again and again, as if the person on the front porch was too impatient to wait for a response. A veterinary emergency.

  “I’m coming.” Hallie hurried through the butler’s pantry, the dining room, and the parlor. She stepped into the foyer and opened the heavy front door.

  Diane Cobbs Sanderson, dressed as a ski bunny in a white fur-lined parka and matching ski pants, lifted her finger off the bell. She had an impatient look on her perfectly made-up face. Hallie looked past her. “Hey Tommy.”

  “I’d like to come in and see Baz.”

  “Please,” Hallie said, stepping backward. “Come in. It’s really cold out there tonight, isn’t it?”

  “Do you live here, too?”

  Hallie ignored the rudeness in the woman’s voice. “I’m pig sitting. The family’s out of town. Is there something I can do for you?”

  “I expected to see Baz.”

  Hallie made a grab for her patience. “He’s in Florida. Dr. Outlaw, that is, his father, is in the hospital there.”

  “Oh.” She seemed to be at a loss for words.

  Tommy jumped in. “We’re going to see my grandma. She lives in New Jersey, and she’s in the hospital, too.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  “She fell on the ice,” Tommy explained, “and got her leg broke.”

  “Oh my.”

  “Yeah and, well, she’s afraid of Nadine.”

  “I can’t say as I blame her.”

  His eyes were round and serious, as if he were willing her to understand. “So we can’t take Nadine with us.”

  Hallie felt the beginnings of a panic attack as she realized where this was headed.

  “Dr. Hallie can we leave Nadine here?”

  “Here?” She had a sudden vision of Nadine lounging on the Victorian sofa or curled up around Wilbur’s television set. Were boa constrictors and pot-bellied pigs natural enemies? Probably.

  “I don’t think that would work. I’m sorry.”

  “If you are Baz’s girlfriend why didn’t he take you along to Florida?”

  Hallie sighed. The woman really had a one-track mind.

  “I know Dr. Outlaw keeps pets sometimes,”

  Tommy said, doggedly. “My friend Jeffrey left Marvin here when his family went to the beach last summer.”

  “Marvin’s a hotdog,” Diane said.

  Marvin was a dachshund, and one of Hallie’s patients. “I know. But a dog is not a snake.”

  Her logic evidently escaped Tommy. “But she needs a place to stay.”

  “She doesn’t need any supervision,” Diane put in, finally dropping her favorite subject. “Just refill the water and keep her in a heated room.”

  “She won’t need food until we get back next Tuesday,” Tommy pointed out.

  Hallie thought about opening the clinic tomorrow morning and being greeted by Nadine. She hadn’t thought her life could get any more depressing.

  “Please, Doctor Hallie?”

  Diane’s attention had wandered again. Hallie saw her eyeing the sofa in the parlor. She was probably envisioning herself stretched out there in a pair of topless lounging pajamas while Baz rested his arm on the mantelpiece and gazed at her adoringly.

  Dr. and Mrs. Basil Cobbs-Sanderson Outlaw relaxing at home.

  Hallie pulled herself together. “Can you and your mom bring her cage out to the clinic? I’ll get the key.”

  They placed the snake’s cage in the backroom.

  There was one bit of silver lining. They weren’t currently boarding any pets that Nadine might consider breakfast.

  With any luck Nadine could be left alone out here until Baz got back from Florida.

  “She’s going to be lonely,” Tommy said.

  Guilt twisted down Hallie’s spine. She had no intention of keeping the snake company. She got a small radio from Jesse’s office and plugged it in.

  “What kind of music does she like to listen to?”

  “Classical. I tried to get her to listen to country, but she put her head under her tail.”

  Hallie laughed in spite of herself. Tommy was a great kid. Baz would be proud of her. Baz. The laughter stopped as pain jolted thr
ough her.

  Hallie returned to the house, filled Wilbur’s bowl, and replaced his video with one of Emeril expounding on the subject of Cajun cooking. Hallie ate a few bites of the excellent stew. She sat at the table and kept the pig company until he fell asleep, then she turned off the television and switched off all the lights except the Porky Pig nightlight near Wilbur’s bed.

  Hallie settled herself on the parlor sofa. She’d slept here last night, too. It was stupid, but she just didn’t want to go upstairs to the family bedrooms.

  She didn’t want to look at Baz’s room or pass by the Jacuzzi.

  The doorbell jerked her out of a restless sleep.

  It was probably too much to hope that it was Diane and Tommy coming back to pick up their pet.

  She threw open the door to find a young woman holding a crying baby.

  The girl had thick blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, wide blue eyes, and an anxious expression on her pretty face. She had on a pair of skin-tight designer jeans and an expensive looking leather jacket.

  Nicole. Hallie glanced at the furious baby.

  Baz’s son. Robert.

  “Please come in.”

  The newcomer carried both a diaper bag and a cavernous designer purse over her shoulder. She bumped into the doorframe and muttered a curse.

  “Let me help,” Hallie said.

  Instantly the girl handed her the screaming baby. Hallie cradled him against her shoulder, smoothing her hand down his small, quivering back and murmuring reassuring words. At first he fought the hold with his tiny feet and his strong little body, but after a minute or two he quieted down.

  “Jeez,” the girl said. “You’re a miracle worker.

  He’s been crying since we got on the plane.”

  “It’s the air pressure. Babies have tiny tubes in their ears. The pressure makes them pop.”

  “Whatever. Wow. This isn’t what I expected. I figured Baz’s house would be all chrome and glass, like the condo.”

  Hallie barely heard her. The baby mesmerized her. It felt so right to have him in her arms.

  “I’m Nicole, by the way. Baz’s wife. This is Robert. Are you Lucy?”

  “No.” Hallie had to clear her throat. “The family’s out of town on an emergency. I’m Dr. Outlaw’s partner, Hallie Scott. I’m keeping an eye on things while they’re gone.”

  Nicole nodded. “I know. Miami. Baz told me. He doesn’t know we’re here. D’ya think he’ll be pissed?”

  “Of course not. Are you hungry?”

  “Famished.”

  Hallie nodded. “Would you like to change Robert and feed him while I find something for you to eat?”

  “Oh, I’m not nursing. That didn’t really work out for me. Listen, why don’t I just check the fridge?”

  “What about the baby?”

  She made a face. “Could you change him? I’m really burned out.”

  Hallie carried the baby and diaper bag upstairs.

  His sleeper was soaked with a combination of urine and sweat, but he’d stopped fussing. He seemed to understand that relief was on the way. He reached out to touch Hallie’s nose. She plucked a towel from the bathroom with the Jacuzzi, laid it on Jesse’s bed, and went to work.

  “You could really use a nice warm bath couldn’t you?” Robert’s long-lashed eyes were huge and curious. She gave him a sponge bath with a wet washcloth. She found lotion and powder in the bag and she used them. He kicked his feet and blew a bubble. She peered at his tiny features. Did he look like Baz? She couldn’t tell. Or, maybe, she just didn’t want to know.

  “Robert,” she whispered. “You are so beautiful.”

  She was in the middle of slipping a clean diaper under his bottom when a stream of urine hit her in the face. She yelped at first then she laughed.

  “Guess you didn’t like being called beautiful.”

  She dressed him then made her way down the back staircase. She found herself giving Robert a guided tour. “This was originally for the servants back in the days when they had servants. Asia uses it mostly now. You’ll like Asia. She always smells like fresh bread, and she’s gonna love you.”

  She spoke as if Robert had to learn all about the Outlaws, as if he would be living in Eden permanently. Somehow she felt certain he would. He and his mom and dad.

  “You know,” Nicole said, when Hallie entered the door into the kitchen, “there’s a pig in here.”

  “His name is Wilbur. He’s a pet.”

  “I’d really like a taco.”

  “Would you settle for meatloaf?”

  “Sure. I didn’t mean to be difficult.” She grinned at Hallie. “I’ll warm up the food if you give Robert this bottle.”

  “No problem.”

  Hallie warmed the bottle then she sat at the table and fed the baby while Nicole put together a meal of meatloaf, potato chips, and beer.

  “Tip it like that,” Nicole advised when she didn’t get the right angle for Robert’s mouth. “It took me awhile to get the hang of it, too.”

  Robert sucked greedily at the bottle.

  “He’s really hungry.”

  “Pretty much all he does is eat and sleep. And poop.”

  “That will change,” Hallie said. “Pretty soon he’ll be sitting up then toddling around.”

  Nicole looked at her as if she wasn’t holding her breath waiting for those two stages of development.

  “I thought it would be more fun, you know? I thought it would be like somebody to love me. It’s boring and it’s lonely.”

  “Being a single mother can’t be easy,” Hallie said. She watched Robert’s rosebud mouth work the nipple. “He seems like a good baby.” A perfect baby.

  “You should spend the day alone with him. He always wants to be picked up or changed or something.”

  “I’ve heard babies are hard work.”

  “You don’t have any children?”

  “No.”

  “Do you want to?”

  “I’m pretty busy with the veterinary practice.”

  “Ya know what I’d like? I’d like to be a stewardess on a plane. That looks pretty exciting. You get to go all over the world for free.”

  “It would be a difficult career with a small baby.”

  She shrugged. “Or else I’d like to be a waitress on a cruise ship. Can you imagine how much fun that would be?”

  “Not really.”

  “You meet all kinds of men when you’re working in a bar. That’s where I met Baz. He came in every night and got toasted. but he was always so nice to me. And then he married me and I thought all my problems were over.”

  “They weren’t?”

  “No. My ex, Jimmy D, he’s trying to get Robert.

  He told me he’d follow me out here.” A look of fear flashed in her big, blue eyes. “He wants the baby because his wife can’t have kids, and he’s Italian. He has to prove he’s a stud.”

  “Is Robert his son?”

  Hallie’s heart pounded hard as she awaited the answer. Not that it mattered. Baz was Robert’s father in every way that counted.

  Nicole shrugged again. “I’m not sure who his father is.” Hallie suspected she was lying. “Baz is his legal father, but Jimmy says he’s getting a court order for a DNA test.”

  “I think he has to have your permission to get a DNA sample from the baby,” Hallie said, quietly.

  “Not if he kidnaps him.”

  Hallie’s heart seized up. She looked at the long dark lashes against the smooth baby cheeks. She couldn’t bear to think of Robert being kidnapped.

  “Is Baz dating anyone? He told me he was gonna get married as soon as our divorce was final, but I figured that girl wouldn’t wait for him. I know I’d have dumped his ass.”

  The house phone rang. Hallie reached over to pick it up. “Outlaw residence.”

  “Thank God you’re there.”

  Hallie tensed. Worry leapt in her gut. “Is it Jesse?”

  “No. Nothing’s changed on that. We’re still
waiting to see how the second surgery came out. I was just worried about you. Where’ve you been?”

  “I’ve been here.”

  “You didn’t pick up before.” She heard a soft curse and knew he hadn’t meant to yell at her.

  “Sorry, honey. I’m beat.”

  She visualized him rubbing the back of his neck, and she almost smiled.

  “Listen, I didn’t call to yell at you. I wanted to let you know there’s a chance Nicole will show up.”

  “More than a chance. She got here a little while ago.”

  “Is that Baz? Let me talk to him, will ya?”

  Hallie handed her the phone.

  “Hey hon,” she said. Hallie had never called Baz “hon” in her life. But then she hadn’t been married to him for nine months. “It was hell getting here.

  Your dad’s partner is real nice. She’s been taking care of Robert.”

  Hallie heard the rumble of Baz’s voice.

  “I know you told me not to come, but I didn’t feel safe in L.A.” Her voice turned petulant. “I like it here. When are you getting back?”

  The voice was that of a cranky teen-ager, but the words came from a young wife, impatient for her husband to return.

  Hallie glanced at the ring. The green beryls winked up at her. She’d take it off tonight and leave it in Baz’s dresser drawer.

  The nipple slipped out of Robert’s mouth. His belly was full and he was asleep but Hallie knew there was one more thing they had to do. She lifted him against her shoulder and patted his back lightly. His surprised burp was the most gratifying thing she’d ever heard.

  Nicole handed the receiver to her. “He wants to talk to you.”

  “I’m so sorry, Hal,” he said. “So goddam sorry. I can’t believe I set you up for this.”

  “It’s not a problem. We’re doing just fine here.”

  “Hallie, I…goddammit.”

  Her heart twisted. There was no way out of this.

  He knew it, too.

  “When do you get back?”

  “Cam and I will leave tomorrow afternoon if everything’s okay with Dad. Lucy has offered to stay here because we both need to get back for work.”

  And for their families. They both had families who needed them.

  “I’m going to let you go. Robert needs to get to bed.”