“It was about six months after her husband died,” Thad continued cryptically. “It didn’t work out. From what I can tell, although it’s been about two years now, she’s still pretty vulnerable.”
Michelle had met the twenty-nine-year-old nurse—and her two little girls—at a charity fund-raiser the previous summer. She was very nice. And very much in the market for another husband.
She looked at him, waiting.
“I don’t want to give Violet the wrong idea,” Thad said finally.
Michelle studied him. Close up, he didn’t appear to be the kind of guy who enjoyed stringing women along. In fact, the opposite. Life had taught her that appearances could be deceptive. She did better relying on facts in her personal life, just as she did in her practice of the law.
“And the wrong idea would be?” she probed.
Thad regarded her with the patient cool of an expert witness. “That something might be possible when it’s not.” Regret turned down the corners of his mouth. “And if I call Violet—or someone else I’ve dated—and tell them I need help with the baby I suddenly have on my hands…”
“You’d probably be getting more than chicken enchilada casserole on your front porch,” Michelle said wryly.
“Exactly.”
“Whereas if you were to put me in charge…”
He suddenly seemed defensive. “It’s pretty clear where you stand regarding dating me.”
“But you’ve never asked me out, so I’ve never had the opportunity to turn you down.”
“But you would,” Thad countered.
True. If only because she didn’t want to end up wasting her time again on something that was never going to happen. Only this time, given Thad’s rep with the local ladies, she would know that going in. Deciding, since they were neighbors, it was best simply to be honest, she shrugged. “I don’t date players.”
His lips tightened. “I’m not a player.”
Michelle kept her eyes off the sinewy lines of his shoulders and chest. She did not need to remember how he looked clad only in a low-slung cotton pajama bottom, or be thinking about the crisp, dark hair arrowing straight down the goody line. She closed her mind to any further licentious thoughts. “Right.”
“I’m just honest about whether or not I see a future with a woman.”
Doing her best to slow her racing pulse, she got a hold of her out-of-control fantasies and retorted, “And you usually don’t.”
“Usually isn’t always,” he replied cryptically.
Which meant what? Michelle wondered. He’d had his heart broken, too?
Disconcerted—because that would give them something in common—she returned her gaze to the newborn nestled in her arms.
If William were her baby…
But he wasn’t, Michelle reminded herself firmly.
Still, the little guy was here now. He needed someone to watch over him until this mess could be sorted out. Someone who wouldn’t leave him on Thad Garner’s doorstep all by himself.
“Believe me,” Thad said, sounding as protective toward this tiny baby as she was, “if I had any other job, I’d stay and take care of the little fella myself. But I can’t leave the E.R. short-staffed. We’ve got the only trauma center in the entire county.”
Lives depended on Thad.
Just as William, it seemed, was momentarily depending on her.
Before Michelle could stop herself, she was pushing aside every self-protective instinct she had and volunteering. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
Thad’s eyebrows lifted in amazement. “You sure?” he said finally, standing. “It’s going to be twelve hours, unless I’m able to find someone to cover the rest of my shift for me.”
Forcing herself to shove aside the memory of another child, another time, Michelle stood, too. There would be no such heartbreak this time because she wouldn’t allow herself to get that involved with William or Thad.
Loving the way the now sleeping William snuggled against her, she brushed off Thad’s concern. “I didn’t have much planned for today, anyway,” she fibbed. Her flower beds could wait.
Thad breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks. I really appreciate it.”
Michelle had a few stipulations of her own. “I want to watch him at my house, though.” The less she knew about Thad, the less time spent in his abode, the better.
“Of course.” Thad gently brushed his fingertips across William’s velvety cheek.
The air between the three of them reverberated with tenderness.
With apparent effort, Thad dropped his hand, stepped back and looked over at the baby gear in the foyer. “I hope everything you’re going to need is here.”
Michelle lowered her face to William and smelled…spit-up. Knowing that was something that could easily be taken care of, she said quietly, “If you’ll carry the stuff across the street, I’ll sort through it.”
“No problem.” He plucked up the items and followed her out the front door. “I owe you big-time for this,” he told her solemnly, falling into step beside her.
“Yes,” Michelle agreed. “You do.”
WHERE TO START? Michelle wondered as soon as the door shut behind Thad, and she and William were alone. She supposed it best to change William’s diaper.
She slung the diaper bag over her shoulder and carried him upstairs to her bedroom. His eyes were open again as she laid him gently down on the soft cotton quilt on her bed. “You know, we hear about things like this all the time,” she told him as she pulled a diaper and a packet of wipes from the bag. “Babies being left in the strangest places. I just want you to know that you shouldn’t take it personally. Candace was only doing what she thought best, taking you to your uncle Thad’s house.”
Although why Candace had simply left him in the Moses basket on the front porch was anyone’s guess. “But I don’t want you to worry,” Michelle continued reassuringly. “Because we are going to find your parents and get this all straightened out.”
One way or another, they would find a great home for William. Even if it meant calling the police and social services.
“In the meantime, I’m going to take care of you today, and then your uncle Thad is going to look after you. And before you know it, this little blip in your existence will be over. And it’ll all be good.”
All she had to do, Michelle thought as she went about getting everything she needed out of the diaper bag, was not get emotionally involved in a situation that was ultimately a win-lose proposition for her.
Winning, because she got to spend time with the most adorable baby she had ever seen.
And losing, because she was going to have to let him go.
Just as she’d had to let Jared and his son, Jimmy, go.
And that was as painful an event as ever, Michelle mused, unsnapping the legs of William’s designer duds.
Before she could get the diaper off, her phone rang.
Seeing Thad Garner’s name flash on the caller-ID screen, she grabbed the portable off the bedside table.
“How are things going?” he asked.
It was ridiculous how glad she was to hear his voice. She hit the speaker button on the receiver and set it on the bed. Doing her best to play it cool, she said, “You just left him five minutes ago!”
“More