Baby Daddy (11 page)

Several minutes later, my door opened slowly and Tulsa leaned around it to peer into my room.

“Come on in,” I invited.

They all filed into the room, looking so solemn and worried that I had to laugh.

“I’m fine, but Liberty’s got a broken ankle and a concussion,” I explained.

“You look like you’ve been lying out at the beach,” Reno commented.

“Yeah, I stopped by for a spray tan on my way here,” I managed to joke.

Christopher looked grumpy.  “You shouldn’t have gone in there. The fire department was already on their way, and I was about to go get Liberty.”

“So, only you can run into burning buildings and save people?” I asked, a little defensively.

“I didn’t say that.”

“That’s what it sounded like to me.”  I didn’t really want to start an argument with him, especially when it hurt to talk.  “Look, I know I shouldn’t have done it.  I just ran in there without thinking.”

“But the good news is that you found Liberty and got her out,” Tulsa hurried to say.

“And you even saved the kitten,” Dallas added.  “She has a broken leg, too.  We dropped her off at the vet’s on the way here.”

“How…?” I asked, a little confused.

“Apparently,
Liberty protected it from the blast and it crawled inside her blouse.  When you picked Liberty up, the kitten went along for the ride,” Reno explained.  “The paramedic found her when he was listening to Liberty’s heartbeat.”

That brought a smile to my face.  “Liberty will be so pleased.  Does anyone know what caused the explosion?”

“The arson investigators were there when we left,” Christopher said.  “It looks like the fire was contained to the warehouse.”

“Oh, no!” Reno cried.  “What happened to the cars and motorcycles?”

“They wouldn’t let me in to check.  The firefighters were still working on the fire, but they had it mostly out.”  Christopher studied my face as if he was trying to make sure I was okay.  “If you’re feeling better tomorrow, I’m sure the arson guys will want to talk to you and possibly the cops.”

“They think it wasn’t an accident?” I asked.

“They’re not saying yet.  It could have been a gas leak…”

“But we didn’t smell gas when we were in the warehouse,” Dallas pointed out.

“Or an electrical fire,” Christopher continued.  “Or any number of things.”

“I guess I’ll miss the meeting tomorrow,” I said.

“Everyone will.  There was a lot of water damage in the reception area, but luckily, the offices didn’t seem to be harmed.  I’m going back there now, and I’ll probably spend the night unless I can get the place secured,” Christopher said.

“I’ll go with you,” Reno volunteered.

“Yeah, so will I,” Dallas offered.

“Me, too,” Tulsa added.

“We’ll check on you in the morning,” Christopher told me.

“I should be released in the afternoon,” I told him.  “I’m feeling fine now.  They just wanted to keep me overnight for observation.”

To my surprise, Christopher reached out and covered my hand with his.  “I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”  He gave my hand a little squeeze.

With that, he walked out of the room, and after they told me goodnight, the others left with him.

My hand still tingled where he had touched me.  It had been a surprisingly intimate gesture, more so because it had come from him.  Had he just been comforting a fellow employee?  It had felt like more than that.  Was I reading too much into it?

The nurse interrupted my thoughts when she brought in a dinner tray.  I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until she removed the metal lids and the smell of fried chicken filled the air.  Even through my scorched nostrils, it smelled delicious.  Breakfast had been so long ago.

I tried watching television, but kept dozing off.  Then around ten o’clock, they finally brought Liberty in.  She was still pretty groggy, but she gave me a weak smile and said, “I’ve never had a broken bone before.”

“Nice cast,” I told her.

She tried to focus on the purple cast that encased her left leg and foot from her knee down.  It was suspended in a sling attached to a metal arm that was bolted to the foot of her bed, so that her leg was elevated.  “I love purple,” she mumbled.  “It’s my favorite col…” her words trailed into a snore.

“She’ll be out most of the night,” the nurse told me.

When they finished getting Liberty connected to an oxygen tank similar to mine and a heart monitoring machine, they left us alone.  I waited for a while, but my little sister was, indeed, sound asleep.  I yawned and accepted that I, too, was pretty tired.  I flipped off the TV and tried to get comfortable and still keep my oxygen tube from getting tangled.

The unfamiliar noises, ambient lights and constant checking by the nurses kept me from getting much sleep and by morning, I was ready to go home.

Home.  That was still an ambiguous word.  My Beatles room in the mansion was the only home I had now.  And I was surprised how much I missed it.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The doctor didn’t have bad news
...but it wasn’t good either.  He gave me a complete physical and declared that I was, indeed, pregnant.  It wasn’t the first time a doctor had looked at my hooha, although it was relatively uncharted territory.  My mother had taken me for an exam before I started college.  It had been awkward and uncomfortable then, and it had not gotten any more pleasant.  I knew I’d better get used to it.  I had seven and a half more months of this...and then the big event.  I cringed at that thought.

The rest of the bad/good news was that there didn’t appear to be any harm to the baby
, although we couldn’t be sure for a few more weeks.  He gave me a prescription for some prenatal vitamins, some names of obstetricians and a few pamphlets telling me what to expect.  He made me promise I would follow up with an appointment within the next week with one of the OB/GYNs and I agreed.

Christopher arrived just after lunch.  He knocked and waited for my greeting before he came into the room.  I noticed he was carrying a cloth grocery bag that he placed on the foot of my bed.

“I brought you some clothes to wear home.  I figured yours were ruined,” he told me.

“They were.  Thanks.”

“How’s Liberty?”

I looked over at
the small figure lying flat on her back.  “She’s been sleeping almost constantly.  The nurse came in every hour last night and woke her up to make sure she was sleeping and not in a coma.”

“Sounds kind of perverse to wake a person up to see if they’re sleeping,” Christopher commented, his full lips twitching into a grin.

“Are you talking about me?” Liberty mumbled.  Her eyes opened and she looked around the room in confusion.  “Where am I?” she asked.

“You’re in the hospital,” Christopher explained, but was cut off by Liberty’s snore.

“Yeah, every time she wakes up, she asks the same question.  I tell her and she falls back asleep.  Then when she wakes up again…”

“Déjà
vu all over again,” Christopher finished for me.

“Like
Groundhog Day
,” I laughed.  “I told the nurses and they said that’s perfectly natural for someone coming out of surgery, combined with a slight concussion.”

“She’s going to be alright then?”

“They say she is.  Apparently, the door hit her and snapped her tibia. It was a clean break, so they were able to set it without putting in a pin.  She’ll be in a cast for six to eight weeks though.”

“
Considering the extent of the blast, she’s
very
lucky.  That door acted like a shield, protecting her from the flames and the debris,” he explained.

“Uh…they were asking about insurance…and I didn’t know what to tell them.  I don’t think my campus policy will cover this.”

“Don’t worry about that.  I stopped at the cashier’s office before I came up here and took care of it.”

I breathed a sigh of relief.  I knew from when my mother was in the hospital how expensive even an overnight stay could be.  I couldn’t imagine what Liberty’s bill would be.  “I’ve been released, but they want to keep her for a couple of days.”

“I finally got word to her mother this morning.  It wasn’t easy.  Apparently, there aren’t any phones on the commune.  I had to get someone from the Sheriff’s department to notify her.  She should be here soon.”

As if on cue, a spitting-image of Liberty in a forty-year-old body rushed into the room, her long colorful skirt swirling around her bare legs. On her feet were woven sandals.  Her blond hair was stick straight and hung almost to her waist.  Overall, she had the bohemian artist look straight from
a Hollywood casting call, but I suspected there was nothing artificial about her.

“Oh baby.  What did they do to you?” she cried and threw herself onto Liberty which promptly woke the younger girl.

“Mama?  Where am I?” Liberty asked.

“I’m here now, and I’m taking you home,” her mother said as she stood up and started looking for a way to release Liberty’s leg from its harness.

“No, ma’am we don’t recommend that she be on her foot for a couple of days at least.”

We all turned to the doctor who had walked in without us noticing.

“I can take care of her,” the mother protested.  “She was in the city for only three days and she was almost killed.  It’s safer on The Farm.”

“I’d recommend that she stay in the area at least until her cast is off,” the doctor told us.

“Mama, I’d like to do that.  Stay at least until then,” Liberty said.

“But why…?” her mother asked incredulously.

“That’s my half-sister, Killeen,” Liberty said.  “Killeen, Christopher, doctor…I’m sorry I forgot your name…this is my mother Daisy.”

“Your half-sister?  That’s not possible,” Daisy protested.

“Roger Elliott is their father,” Christopher stated.

Daisy swayed and braced herself against the bed.  “Roger?”

“He died a few months ago.  Apparently, he had sired five children, and we’ve gathered them here, in Austin to explain the terms of the will.”

All the color drained out of Daisy’s face and Christopher rushed forward to keep her from collapsing to the floor.  He gently guided her to a chair between the beds and eased her down on it.

“Roger’s dead?” she breathed, and the grief in her voice was palpable.

“I’m sorry,” I said, and I was.  This was not the face of a woman who hated
a man for knocking her up.  This was the face of a woman who, after all these years, still loved him.

“I have another half-sister and two half-brothers.  Isn’t that wonderful?” Liberty said, obviously struggling to stay awake.

“What’s...what’s wrong with her?” Daisy asked the doctor.

He explained to her in great detail all of Liberty’s injuries, what had been done to fix them and about her projected recovery.

“I want to stay, Mama,” Liberty repeated, then drifted off to sleep.

Daisy looked from the doctor to Christopher to me.  She was clearly at a loss.  “You have his eyes,” she said to me.  “How old are you?”

“Twenty,” I answered.

“Is there anyone younger than Liberty?” she asked.

“No, she’s the youngest,” Christopher answered for me.

Daisy seemed to gather some satisfaction from that, and I realized that
she was hanging on to the thought that she might have been his last on-tour lover.

“Well, I
need to get back to the office.” Christopher turned to me.  “Are you ready to go?”

“Just let me change out of this lovely gown,” I said.  “You’re going to have to close the curtains.”

He obediently pulled the curtains along their noisy metal track until they circled my bed.  I gratefully slipped out of the gown and pulled on my bra, panties, t-shirt , shorts and a pair of flip-flops.  I was a little freaked out knowing someone had been in my room, going through my things…possibly even Christopher.  That caused a whole different level of embarrassment.  Oh well, it wasn’t the worst indignity I had been through today.  Having a doctor shine a flashlight into my vagina simply couldn’t be topped.

I slid off the bed and pulled the curtain back.  “I’m ready.”

The doctor had left and Christopher was talking to Daisy.  “Here’s my card.  Just call me, and I’ll send a car to pick you up,” he told her.

“I have a friend downstairs that drove me down here,” she explained.  “I…I’m not sure what to do now that Liberty doesn’t want to come back with me.”

“We have plenty of room at the house,” Christopher offered.

“I’d rather stay here.  I can sleep in this room, and there’s a bathroom,” Daisy said as she considered her options.

“If your friend returns home, I’ll have someone drive you back whenever you are ready to leave,” Christopher offered.

“That would be
groovy.  Then I can stay until my baby is out of this place, at least,” Daisy seemed relieved.

“If you need anything, clothes, food, whatever it takes to make you comfortable, call me.  I’ll arrange it.”  Christopher gave her a smile, then turned to me.

A nurse appeared in the doorway with a wheelchair.

“I’m fine,” I protested.

“Hospital policy,” Christopher whispered in my ear.

I started to challenge him, but the look on the nurse’s face was quite stern, so I assumed it was true.  I sat.

“I’ll take her down,” Christopher offered and flashed the nurse a smile that melted her chill.

“Just leave the chair in
the lobby,” she told him, with a flutter of her eyelashes and a blush on her cheeks.

Apparently, he had that same devastating effect on every woman that he had on me.  I was a silly girl for thinking he had any kind of special interest in me.

I was very aware of the warmth of his body behind me as he pushed the chair down the hallway.  He punched the down button on the wall panel and we waited in silence for the elevator doors to open.  He wheeled me inside and waited as six more people filed in after us.  We were against a wall and Christopher was so close that the back of my head was touching his stomach.  I wondered if he even realized it.

As soon as we reached the ground floor and the doors opened, he pushed me forward and the contact was broken.

“Wait here,” he told me as he set the brake on the wheelchair just inside the front doors.  “I’ll get the car and come back for you.”

I nodded and he walked out
side and headed toward the parking lot.  Several minutes later, the familiar black Mustang pulled up and stopped.  Without waiting for him, I stood and walked out through the doors.  He hurried to intercept me.

“You don’t take order
s very well, do you?” he asked.

I bit back a tart reply.  After all, he had been kind enough to pick me up himself rather than sending Anthony or someone else.  His arm slid around my waist and helped me, even though I didn’t really need it, into the passenger seat of the sporty car.  Finally, I got to ride in the Cobra.

He zipped expertly down the streets, just a few miles over the speed limit whenever the traffic allowed.  The car hugged the road, taking the turns smoothly.  I loved it.  It was almost worth spending the night in the hospital for having a chance to experience its power.

“Do you want me to take you home?” he asked.

I was startled.  “No, I want to go to the office with you.”

“It’s pretty chaotic there.  Reno volunteered to supervise the remediation company, Dallas is looking at the books and Tulsa is checking out the computer system.”

“I’m sure there’s something I can do to help,” I offered.

“Maybe.”  He didn’t seem as convinced.

Again, I bit my tongue to keep from saying something I would regret later.

We arrived at the office.  He hit the remote on his key ring, the metal gate rolled open and he drove inside the private lot in the back of the building.  I got out of the car before he had the chance to run around and help me.  The last thing I wanted was to be treated like an invalid.

He punched in the code on the small employee door next to the larger garage door and when it buzzed, he opened it and held it open for me.  I brushed past him and we walked across the warehouse.

“The building inspector came by this morning and checked for structural damage,” Christopher told me.  “They said the bomb blew out the doors, but didn’t compromise the building.”

“I guess that means it’s safe for us to come back to work,” I commented.

“Yes, and the air quality passed, too, although it doesn’t smell very good yet.”

I looked around at the damage and was glad to see that it appeared to have been confined mostly to the front of the warehouse, near where the double doors had been.  There were scorch marks on the walls and twisted metal shelves showing where the fire had been most intense.  I couldn’t recall everything that had been on those shelves, but I thought I remembered seeing some file boxes.  Thank goodness we had removed Roger’s personal items before we left yesterday.

Reno saw us and hurried forward.  “You’re looking much better today,” he told me.

“I feel much better,” I agreed.  “This place is a mess.  How much was damaged?”

“If you count the water, almost everything in here and in the lobby.”  Reno’s gaze moved over the warehouse.  “But most of it isn’t ruined.  The remediation company has promi
sed to have all the fire damage fixed in a couple of weeks.  Then we have to go through, item by item, clean and re-label everything that survived.  The vehicles, luckily, just need to be detailed.  The fire didn’t get that far back.”

“That’s good.  The sprinklers probably helped, but they sure made it difficult for me to see,” I commented and shivered at the flash of memory of that moment when I was trying to find my way out of the office yesterday.

“How about the offices?” I asked.

“The sprinklers didn’t activate
in that part of the building and most of the doors were closed, so even the smoke damage is limited.  We’re trying to air it out, but the smell is still pretty bad,” Christopher explained.  To Reno he added, “Carry on.  Looks like you’ve got this under control.”