Undercover Baby
The nurse eyed him with compassion. “I know this is hard on you. While I call Dr. Harkness, why don’t you take a seat in the waiting room around the corner. I’ll find you as soon as I’ve talked to him:”
Cal nodded.
Like the shell-shocked victim of a bombing, he made his way to the lounge, trying to grasp the enormity of what had happened since his wife had left his bed earlier that morning.
“Cal?”
At the sound of a familiar female voice he turned in time to see Annabelle—one of their best friends, and a crack member of Roman’s PI team—come rushing toward him.
“Roman just told me what happened. I got here as soon as I could.”
Little as she was, her physical and emotional support was exactly what he needed right now. They reached for each other. The contact caused him to break down. In a rush of emotion everything spilled out, particularly his fears.
“Diana not only sees me as a stranger, Annie, she despises me. What if she never regains her memory? What if she has gone away from me forever?”
“Don’t think like that,” she urged him. “Roman told me the doctor said her condition was temporary.”
Cal grimaced. “But what if he’s wrong? I don’t know why, but I have this gut instinct she’s never going to remember me or our marriage.”
Annabelle’s arms tightened. “You’re getting way ahead of yourself. But if—and I say that’s a huge if—the day should come that you discover her amnesia is permanent, then I know you’ll find a way to make her fall in love with you all over again.”
Her words seeped into his soul.
If Diana’s amnesia is permanent, I know you’ll find a way to make her fall in love with you all over again.
Haunted by such a daunting prospect, he shook his head. “If you had heard the enmity in her voice when she told me to get out of her room a few minutes ago, you wouldn’t be saying that to me now.”
Annabelle let go of him and lifted her head, giving him a direct stare. “It’s too soon to talk about the what-ifs, Cal. Give it a few days. She has withstood a severe head trauma. The pain must be pretty bad. Naturally she’s not herself. Whatever she says or does right now, don’t take it personally.”
“How can I not? The doctor says that if there are no complications, she can be released from the hospital tomorrow. What if she refuses to go home with me?”
“No one can answer that question yet. Let’s wait and see what he has to say about her condition the next time he examines her. As for you, you’re coming to our house tonight Rand told me to tell you that’s an order.”
“Thanks, Annie. I appreciate that, but I couldn’t go anywhere. I’m staying here in case she remembers something and needs me.”
“Then we’ll keep the vigil with you.”
“I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t ask. I’m offering. Don’t forget. My husband and I love Diana, too. Wait here while I go say hello to her. Maybe she’ll refuse to talk to me, maybe she won’t. But since you were honest with her about the baby, then there are no secrets and I won’t have to tiptoe around her. I think it’s important that she knows she has friends she can count on, even if we are strangers to her.”
“I agree. Thanks, Annie,” he whispered.
She raised up to kiss his cheek. “No thanks necessary. I won’t be long. In the meantime, sit down and drink this.” She put some change in the pop machine and handed him a cola. “You probably didn’t eat breakfast.”
“No.”
“Rand will be here shortly. I’ll ask him to bring food for all of us.”
Like Roman, Annabelle kept a level head under stress, providing temporary calm to Cal’s tortured thoughts. He found himself praying that her appearance might trigger the mechanism that propelled Diana back to the world the rest of them inhabited. But deep inside, a part of him still feared her condition was irreversible.
How was he going to live with that?
CHAPTER THREE
“DIANA? It’s Annabelle Dunbarton. I know you don’t know me from Adam, but before the accident we were best friends. May I come in for a minute?”
Diana was lying on her stomach, her face buried in the pillow where she’d been sobbing. At the sound of the stranger’s voice she felt relief that it wasn’t Cal Rawlins. Just minutes earlier Jane had promised to keep him away until after the doctor had come down to examine her again.
Dr. Harkness couldn’t arrive soon enough for her. She didn’t care if the baby wasn’t hers. She wanted to go up to the nursery and see him. In order to do that, she would need the doctor’s permission.
Slowly she raised up enough to notice a smallboned yet curvaceous woman with a beautiful face and stylish cap of short red curls standing in the doorway of her hospital room.
One of my best friends? Another unfamiliar face.
“Yes. Of course. Come all the way in.”
She wiped her eyes with the bedsheet and sat up while the other woman approached.
“I’ve been out in the lounge with Cal.”
“I—I don’t want to see him right now.”
“He told me. Don’t worry. He didn’t send me in here, and he certainly won’t do anything you don’t want him to do. He loves you too much to alienate you.”
“I wouldn’t hurt him purposely, but he means nothing to me. It’s hard having him around because I know he’s in pain.”
“He said as much, and he’s attempting to deal with it. I also realize I don’t mean anything to you, either, but there are many people who love and care about you and Cal. You and I were colleagues as well as confidantes. In time you’re going to want to talk to someone. You’ll have a lot of questions to ask. I want you to know I’ll be here for you when that time comes.
“I’m going to leave my business card with you. I’ve written my cellular phone number on the other side so you can reach me day or night.”
Diana took the card from the other woman’s fingers and read:
Annabelle Dunbarton, Private Detective
LFK Associates International
1406 Foothill Parkway
Salt Lake City, Utah
Diana blinked and looked up at Annabelle. “You say we are colleagues?”
“Yes.”
“You mean, I’m a private detective, too?” Diana couldn’t imagine it, couldn’t comprehend it
“No. You are the glue that holds the whole place together. Roman Lufka is the boss. You’re his assistant and right hand. In fact you’re the one who screens all the calls that come in. Roman relies on your instincts to help decide which cases to take.”
My instincts?
“There are twelve PI’s, but you and I are the only two females on the premises. According to Roman, the agency would fall apart without us. You know the old cliché—ask a woman to get a man’s job done?” Her cat’s eyes smiled. “Anyway, Roman wants you back as soon as possible.
“By the way, he’s gorgeous. I mean drop-dead-handsome gorgeous and very married to Brittany, another best friend of both of ours. They have a little boy, Yuri, named after Roman’s brother, also another close and dear friend. You and I dote on little Yuri because we both want a baby so badly.”
Diana clutched the sheet in her fist. “Cal said I’ve had three miscarriages.”
“Yes, you have. At least you’ve been able to conceive, and your obstetrician told you that the next time you get pregnant, he’s going to sew you up to keep the baby snug inside the full nine months. Cal’s a pretty spectacular specimen of gorgeous himself, so you shouldn’t have any problems there.”
At the thought of intimacy with the man who claimed to be her husband, Diana shivered, partly from fear, partly from some emotion she couldn’t put a name to.
“So far I’ve been out of luck in the conception department, but of course we haven’t been married very long and I’ll never give up. When you meet my husband, Rand, you’ll see why. He’s another version of male gorgeous. Huge. Kind of looks like a lineman for the Green Bay Packers even though he’s a computer wizard. It was a case of opposites attracting. When he kisses me, my feet literally don’t touch the ground.”
Diana felt herself starting to relax. She turned on her side and rested the uninjured part of her head against the pillow, enjoying Annabelle’s loquacious personality.
“Your eyelids are fluttering. That means I’ve overstayed my welcome. Get some rest, Diana. Call me if you want or need anything.”
“Thank you, Annabelle. For some reason I’m tired all of a sudden.”
“I’m not surprised. It’s almost four in the afternoon. Time for you to sleep. What always amazes me is how beautiful you look no matter the hour or the situation. It isn’t fair. You’re like a golden-haired princess. Do you know, I always wanted hair like yours.
“Cal said he took one look at you and lost his heart. Apparently you felt the same way about him. The kind of love you two share is rare. Even if he’s a stranger to you now, don’t shut the door on him. It would be the biggest mistake of your life. Cal’s one in a million.”
First the nurse, now this woman was singing Cal Rawlins’s praises.
After kissing her on the forehead, Annabelle left the room. An odd silence remained following her departure. She emanated such life and vitality, Diana hadn’t wanted her to go.
But Annabelle’s warning about Cal Rawlins sent another shiver through her body. She didn’t want to think about him just now. She didn’t want to remember the agony in those dark brown eyes when she’d told him to go away and leave her alone.
“Mrs. Rawlins? Your husband was worried about you and asked the nurse to send for me.”
At the sound of the doctor’s voice, Diana opened her eyes. She would have sat up, but Dr. Harkness told her to lie still.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she began as he sat on the edge of the bed and felt for her pulse. Now she could talk to him about the baby.
He felt her forehead. “Your husband told me you now know the truth about the abandoned infant, how you came to bring it to the hospital for treatment. He’s afraid the knowledge has hindered your recovery. You’re probably not aware of this, but he’s having a difficult time forgiving himself.”
“Then he’s suffering needlessly because it’s not his fault, Doctor. I forced him to tell me. The reason I’m so glad you’ve come is because I wanted to get your permission to spend time with the baby. I know he’s not mine, but since his birth mother hasn’t been found, he needs mothering. Let me do it. Please.”
She felt his eyes studying her with grave concern. “That baby is under the legal jurisdiction of the court. A set of foster parents will be taking over the infant’s care as soon as the pediatrician deems him ready to leave the hospital.
“Even if my hands weren’t legally tied, you’re in no condition to take care of a baby, not even your own. A little less than twelve hours ago you received a serious head wound which has temporarily robbed you of your memory. You have pain, you’re running a temperature. As your doctor, I must insist you stay in bed and get the rest you need.
“I’ve arranged for Dr. Beal, a staff psychiatrist, to talk to you and your husband first thing in the morning.”
Diana’s stomach clinched. “I don’t want one.”
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