Baby in His Arms (13 page)

“There’s more to raising a child than a sack of fast food or a pizza. I needed a mother and you were never that. Never.”

“You ungrateful little witch.” Mona was in her face now, her coffee breath blowing hot and furious. “I could have given you up. I could have dumped you somewhere like
that
baby’s mother did.” She poked a finger at Rose, nose snarled as if she smelled a dirty diaper.

“Maybe I would have been better off.”

“Let me give you a piece of advice, Miss Know-It-All. Life is short. If you’re smart, you’ll take what you can get while you can get it. You look down your nose at me because I learned that a woman has to do certain things to get by in this world. With your attitude, you’re going to end up old and alone.”

“Like you?”

Mona’s gasp sucked half the air from the room. She stumbled backward.

Oh, Lord, why had she said that? “Mona, I shouldn’t have...”

But the apology came too late. Her mother yanked up straight and tall, face white as paper as she drew her see-through robe tightly around her body, her armor against her daughter’s vicious words.

“I can see that I am not wanted here, so I will be leaving today. Mark my words, Haley. I will not be back.”

Haley didn’t answer. She’d never ever said such terrible things to her mother, or to anyone for that matter, and the sinking despair in her gut said she’d made a mistake. But for those few minutes of the argument, she’d felt release, a release from the pent-up grief of never having a parent who really cared one way or the other about her existence, her dreams or hopes, her highs or lows.

Mona’s feathery slippers flip-flapped out of the room. A door slammed down the hall. The walls trembled.

“Oh, Jesus, no wonder I’m a mess. What are You going to do with me?”

Defeated, she started down the hall, praying that an apology would be enough. She’d been right, but she’d also been wrong. Hard as it was, she was supposed to honor her mother. Whatever that meant.

Rose Petal cried out again and twisted her little head back and forth on Haley’s shoulder.

“Mona,” Haley said to the closed wooden door.

Above Rose’s grunting, she heard a sob and then, “Do not speak to me.”

“I shouldn’t have said those things.”

A beat of silence. “You went too far, Haley. I’ve put up with a lot, but I’m not sure I can forgive you this time.”

“I’m sorry” stuck in Haley’s throat. “You’re welcome to stay.”

“Forget it. I am leaving.” Mona’s tone was sharp and stabbing. “Dan is meeting me in Moreburg. I do not need you or your house or your screaming foster child. Life is too short to remain where I am not appreciated. You...are on your own.”

What else was new? And who was Dan? “I don’t want you to leave angry.”

“A little late to think of that. But never mind, I’ll be fine.” The closet door banged open. Hangers scraped on the rack. “Dan and I have plans. Exciting plans.”

If a new man was already in the picture, all Haley’s talk wouldn’t stop the inevitable. Mona would land on her feet. She always did. But would Haley?

“Call and let me know where you are?”

There was no reply. Mona could hold a grudge for a long time.

Rose was still crying and Haley’s head was about to rupture along with her heart. She’d made a mess of today, alienated two people she loved. First Creed and now Mona. Who was next?

Haley gave up on her mother and headed to the bathroom and a bottle of infant drops.

She heard the front door slam and a car start.

“Bye, Mona,” she whispered. “Drive safely.”

And then Haley nearly cried at the irony. Mona had never said those words to her, not even when she’d begun driving illegally at thirteen.

She dosed Rose with the Tylenol drops and then knocked back a couple of adult-size for herself.

Maybe Mona was right. Live moment to moment because life was unpredictable. Maybe the best she could ever hope for was an occasional man to pay the rent and temporary babies.

* * *

By noon, Haley had stopped fretting over Mona because she’d developed a full-blown case of worry about Rose Petal. No matter what Haley tried, Rose fussed and cried.

She wanted to call Creed to hear his calm, pilot’s voice assuring her that Rose would be all right in a day or two. That a cold was a normal childhood malady. And that he’d come over as soon as he could. She didn’t, of course. She’d told him to leave and not come back. And she’d meant it.

But she was so tired of dealing with everything on her own.

Mona was gone, and no, she had not telephoned. Most likely, she wouldn’t for weeks, maybe months. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Talk about burning all your bridges in one day. Haley certainly had.

“Lord, I could use some direction if You’re not too busy.” Creed said God was never too busy and that anything was possible. Haley wanted him to be right so badly.

Rose slept fitfully for a few minutes at a time. She’d developed a cough, her nose ran and she refused her bottle.

Haley pressed her fingers to the baby’s head. Rose felt warm. Not burning hot, but she definitely had a fever.

“Maybe I should call Dr. Ron.”

A call to the good doctor confirmed her diagnosis of a cold. He told her to get some Pedialyte, make sure Rose stayed well-hydrated, give her the Tylenol drops and call him if she got worse.

Haley didn’t want to think about worse. She also didn’t want to think about taking Rose out to the store for Pedialyte but she had no other choice.

Upon her return, she changed the baby, cleaned her up and managed to feed her half a bottle of Pedialyte. After a few minutes of rocking, Rose Petal dozed off. Finally.

Exhausted, Haley lay down on the bed. Her headache had worsened and the knots in her shoulders indicated major stress. Go figure. A little rest while Rose slept should help.

She closed her eyes... And awakened to a terrifying sound.

Chapter Thirteen

C
reed had returned from a charter to Eureka Springs and was servicing the heli when the cell phone in his pocket vibrated.

“Carter’s Charters,” he said, only half listening as he went over the maintenance of the Yellow Jacket.

“Creed. Dr. Ron. I have a patient for you.” The usually gregarious physician was blunt and to the point, an indicator of serious trouble. “Can you fly a patient to Little Rock?”

Creed checked his watch. Fifteen-oh-six. With another charter scheduled at sixteen hundred hours, he had to get a move on. He occasionally flew nonemergencies out of Whisper Falls. Hopefully, this was one of those that could wait.

“When?”

“Now. An infant.”

A zip of adrenaline raced up the back of Creed’s neck and tingled his scalp. An infant. Not good. Babies had a way of going downhill in a hurry. “I’ll cancel my next tour. Send them over. I’m servicing the chopper now, but I’ll be ready by the time they get here. How bad is the patient?”

“Respiratory distress. She needs to be there now, Creed. I’ve started an IV and O2, and I gave her some meds, but my clinic is not equipped for the severity of her illness.”

A chill ran down Creed’s spine. A tiny baby. Like Rose. The family must be terrified. He had done his share of paramedic duty as a chopper pilot, but his patients hadn’t been babies. This was not a responsibility he wanted to handle alone. “Are you riding along?”

“Yes.”

The urgency wasn’t lost on Creed. Dr. Ron had flown with him only a few times. Three of those patients had died. If Dr. Ron was worried enough to close his office and fly to Little Rock, the baby was very sick.

“I’ll be ready.”

“I knew we could count on you. Haley is pretty upset but she’s tough. She wanted to drive but there’s not time. We’re on our way.”

Creed’s heart stood still. “Did you say Haley?”

“It’s Rose, Creed, the baby you found on the altar. Your passenger is baby Rose.”

* * *

Haley’s teeth rattled every time she opened her mouth. She had to stay strong as she drove the minivan toward the airport. She had to take care of Rose.

With occasional glances in the rearview mirror, she attempted to watch Dr. Ron’s expression. He was too professional to give away much, but she knew he was worried. He’d brought along a machine he called a portable nebulizer as well as a portable oxygen tank and a tackle box of medical supplies.

Rose Petal looked terrifying.

An IV ran from the top of her tiny foot to the plastic bag of liquid draped over her carrier. She had barely cried when Dr. Ron started the IV and hadn’t resisted at all when he’d slid the oxygen tubes into her nostrils.

Pale and limp and glassy-eyed, she drew in a gasping, wheezing breath. Haley breathed with her. “Come on, precious. Hang in there. Please, God, help her.”

“Just drive, Haley. Creed is waiting for us.”

Haley nodded once and turned her attention to maneuvering through the narrow streets and out onto the open highway. Creed’s hangar was only a couple of miles outside of town, but the drive seemed to take forever. When the small airport came into sight, her heart leaped. When Creed came striding toward her, face grim but determined, tears sprang to her eyes.

Creed would help. He’d take care of them. He wouldn’t let anything happen to Rose.

Within minutes that seemed to drag on forever, the doctor and Creed had Rose Petal and her equipment loaded into the helicopter. Dr. Ron took the seat in back with Rose and motioned to Haley. “I’ll sit back here to tend the patient. You take the front.”

Creed already had the rotors thumping the air. Dust spiraled up and out around the chopper. Creed leaped from the pilot’s seat and came around. “Get in. We’ve got to go.”

Haley backed away. “I’m driving. I’ll meet you there.”

His jaw ticked. “Get in, Haley. This is Rose we’re talking about. You can do this.”

Guilt battled with the nauseating fear. “I want to...”

He grabbed her arm and propelled her toward the frightening machine. “Get on the chopper now!”

She shook her head, fought back a roll of nausea. “Go on,” she shouted above the noise. “Go without me.”

Creed dropped her arm. Disgust moved across his handsome face. His black eyes glittered. If he hadn’t been through with her before, he was now. “I should have known.”

He stormed away, rounding the chopper to climb into the pilot’s seat and angrily shove the headset over his ears.

She was a coward. Worse, she was exactly like Mona. She was running away when someone needed her most.

Haley bent double and threw up.

The
chop-chop
grew louder, drowning out every other sound. Inside that helicopter a baby struggled to breathe while outside Haley struggled against fear.

She took one last glance inside the dreaded death machine and met Creed’s burning gaze. His face was grim. He glanced toward Dr. Ron. His mouth moved against the headset. The rotors whirred faster. Any second now and the bird would lift off. The helpless, precious baby who depended on her would be gone.

“No!”

Before her mind could form another roadblock, Haley ducked her head and ran. The chopper wind pummeled her. Her hair whipped around her face, obscuring her vision.

The passenger door to the helicopter popped open. Creed leaned across the seat toward her. “You going or not?”

“Yes!” she screamed. “I am not my mother.”

Then she leaped into the chopper.

Creed felt a jolt of...something as he buckled Haley into the seat. She shook all over. Her face was whitish-green. But she’d boarded.

As irrational as her fear seemed to him, it was real to her. He was proud of her. Proud and grateful. Haley had put aside her phobia because of Rose.

“Hang tough.” He snapped her seat belt, his face close to hers. “You’re safe with me...and God. We won’t let you down.”

“I hope you mean that literally,” she murmured, her mouth a tight, white line.

“That’s my girl.” With a wink, he handed her a plastic bag. “In case you get sick.”

Her eyes widened. She nodded again and took the bag with trembling fingers.

Creed settled into the pilot’s seat, focused on getting this bird to Little Rock as fast as safely possible. For both Haley and Rose.

No one spoke as the chopper lifted off into the afternoon sky, a gleaming yellow-and-black dragonfly above the verdant mountains. The only sounds were the constant, high-pitched chopper hum and the harsh, croupy breaths from the backseat. Both were deafening in intensity.

Creed glanced frequently to the small form elevated in a carrier next to Dr. Ron. Her chest was expanded but her abdomen moved in and out in a rapid staccato, searching for air her lungs couldn’t find. Rose’s ashen color and lethargy shook him. This was far more than a simple cold.

* * *

Haley shuddered, her head spinning as Creed banked the chopper and soared above the mountains. She clutched the emesis bag in her fingers, hoping she wouldn’t be sick again. Her stomach rolled constantly, but she’d emptied it before boarding. Maybe she’d be okay.

Her
sickness didn’t matter. Rose’s did.

She turned in the seat, and even though the world spun and she grabbed for the upholstery, she focused on the baby she’d come to love so much in such a short time. “Is she going to be okay, Dr. Ron?”

The blond physician smiled a tight professional smile. “Try not to worry. She’s hanging in there.” But his blue eyes were worried.

Haley nodded, not reassured.

Creed’s dark hand covered hers. “God gives His angels charge over us, Haley. We have to believe that and depend on Him.”

“But sometimes...”

“Don’t say it. Don’t even think it.”

He was right, of course. Some thoughts were better left to die unspoken. Rose would be all right. She had to be.

Creed returned his attention to flying, but his lips moved. Haley leaned to hear.

“The Lord is my strength. He is my strong tower, an ever present help in a time of trouble.”

Oh, how she wanted that to be true.

“Be with Rose, Father. Make her well again. Haley, too. Ease her fear.”

Haley’s heart lurched. So sweet, so kind.

“I trust You, God,” he went on in a mix of scripture and prayer. “I ask You to take care of us. All of us. Get us safely and quickly to Little Rock. Prepare the way, the doctors and nurses. Let them know what to do to make Rose better. You alone hung the stars and formed the heavens. You are able to do anything. Anything, Father.”

Haley sipped up the falling words like sweet, refreshing water, clinging to them as she watched Creed’s handsome mouth move against the headset.

He was afraid, too, but strong in the face of his fear. Not a coward like her.

She turned away then, with the softly muttered scriptures and half-formed prayers echoing in her head, to reach into the backseat. Her head swam but she concentrated on the baby. Her darling, precious Rose Petal.

She touched the little leg and murmured, “I’m here, baby. I’m here.”

She caressed the pale cheek, stroked the soft cap of hair. Even though wrapped in a blanket inside a warm vehicle, Rose’s skin felt cold and clammy. She didn’t cry. She didn’t move, other than the rise and fall of her tummy and the rhythmic arching motion of her neck.

Fingers of fear crawled down Haley’s spine. Tears sprang to her eyes. She glanced at Dr. Ron, aware of how terrified she must look. Hysteria would do no one any good, least of all Rose.

Haley spun toward Creed. The world tilted. Her stomach revolted. She grabbed for the sick bag and retched.

Creed’s strong fingers rubbed the back of her neck. She wanted to lean into him and let him take care of her.

What a fool. Like her mother. Always needing a man to make things better.

Haley wiped her denim jacket sleeve across her mouth, edged away and muttered, “Can’t you go any faster?”

* * *

Creed had flown in combat zones, but the trip to Little Rock was the longest of his life. He prayed, he quoted every scripture he could remember and he pushed the Yellow Jacket as hard as he dared.

By the time the buildings of the city finally came into sight, his neck muscles were tight enough to snap.

“There’s the hospital,” he said, to encourage Haley and let Doc know arrival was imminent.

Haley sat up closer to the windshield and peered into the distance. She’d been hideously sick the entire trip, a fact that caused him a twinge of guilt. Even now, she looked ready to throw up.

“Which building?” she asked.

He pointed out the long complex, and while Haley stared at the Children’s Hospital with wide, hopeful eyes, fingers clenched against the passenger seat in a death grip, he guided them onto the landing pad.

In seconds, the hospital doors burst open and two nurses rushed toward them.

* * *

“Critical?”

The word, softly spoken between Dr. Ron and the emergency room physician, set Haley’s knees to quaking again. With a frightened moan she slithered against the block wall.

“Hey now.” Creed ran his hand reassuringly down her arm. He, too, leaned against the wall as far out of the way as possible in an exam room filled with medical personnel and equipment. “Rose is in good hands. You’re safely on the ground. We made it. Everything will be okay.”

Haley didn’t feel safe. She might have her feet firmly on planet earth, but she wouldn’t feel safe until Rose Petal was better.

The moment they’d landed, the team had whisked the baby into the emergency room. She’d seen their concerned expressions and heard snatches of terse conversation. All business. And the business was her precious Rose.

As Haley and Creed looked on, monitors and wires and strange-looking electrodes were attached to the tiny bared chest. A lab tech drew blood from the IV. Thank goodness. Haley couldn’t bear watching anyone stick another needle into that fragile skin. Everything in her wanted to take Rose’s place, to lie down on the table and fight the war raging inside the baby’s helpless body.

Was this how a real mother felt?

A nurse came toward her. “Are you the parents?”

Her heart leaped. “Foster parent. Will I do?”

She supposed she should call the social worker but Rose was too sick to wait.

“Of course.” The green scrubbed nurse offered a reassuring smile. “Follow me and I’ll take you to Admitting. We’ll need some paperwork filled out.”

“I don’t want to leave her. She might need me. She knows my voice...she...”

“We’ll take good care of her. I promise.” The woman took Haley’s elbow. “I’ll bet you could use some coffee. You, too, sir. We have a nice waiting area down the hall after you visit Admitting.”

In other words, they wanted her out of the room. Fear shot up her spine. “What are you going to do to her? Don’t hurt her anymore. I can’t leave her.”

“Haley,” Creed said gently as he took her hand. The nurse released her arm and let him take charge. “Come on. For Rose’s sake we have to get that paperwork done. Dr. Ron is here. Someone will come out and talk to us as soon as they can. Right, Nurse?”

“Exactly right.”

“Okay. Okay.” Haley allowed Creed to lead her to the door. “She’ll be all right, won’t she, Creed? She’s going to get better.”

“Count on it.”

But his mouth, that wonderful teasing mouth, was grim.

* * *

She’s going to shatter into a million pieces.

Those were Creed’s thoughts as he sat in the comfortable upholstered chairs of the E.R. waiting area watching Haley fidget and roam. She’d made six trips to the coffeemaker and by now was revved up with enough high octane to fly the Yellow Jacket.

“Better lay off that stuff.”

“I can’t. I’m too nervous.”

“We could get something to eat.” He eyed the vending machines with distrust. “Want an apple?”

“No, I can’t. My stomach is still upset.”

Creed felt bad about her queasiness. He’d practically forced her into the chopper. No, that wasn’t exactly true. She’d chosen to come. Haley, with all her quirks had thrust aside fear and climbed into the helicopter out of love for Rose. He wondered when she would wake up and see what she did. Haley not only loved Rose, she mothered her. Fiercely.