Читать книгу Operation Baby Rescue - Beth Cornelison - Страница 10

Elise heard a buzzing in her ears, and her head swam. When her knees buckled, she groped futilely for something to brace against. As she stumbled back a step, she encountered the warm, solid wall of a chest, and a strong hand grasped her elbow, steadying her. The scent of sandalwood surrounded her, piercing her fog of shock. And she knew without looking who supported her.

“Elise?” Jared’s deep voice rumbled near her ear.

“I’m sorry.” Kim rushed forward, concern knitting her brow. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. I didn’t mean to—”

“No. I … I’m okay. I was just … caught off guard. Everything about losing Grace just flooded back and—” She swallowed hard and blinked at Kim as the truth the woman had shared sank in. “Your baby died at the hospital, too? I … Was she premature?”

Kim shook her head. “Right on time. To the day. But she apparently had a heart defect that our doctor missed during my pregnancy.”

An eerie prickle nipped her neck. “Her heart stopped, and they couldn’t resuscitate her,” she whispered raggedly.

Kim blinked. “Yes. How did you—?” Her eyes widened. “You mean Grace—?”

Elise’s voice stuck in her throat. The only sound she could make came out as a moan.

Behind her, Jared muttered a curse. “That sounds too suspicious to be a coincidence. The odds …”

“What hospital did you use?” Kim asked.

Elise struggled for her composure, sucking in a calming breath. “My labor started while I was out of town at a crafts fair. I went to a little hospital in Pine Mill …”

Kim frowned and shook her head. “No. We were at Crestview General.”

Something like disappointment punctured the breath Elise had been holding. As tragic and macabre as the similarities in their losses were, hope had flickered briefly that she was on to some answers regarding Grace’s mysterious death.

“So many times I’ve wondered if our baby would have made it if we’d been here in Lagniappe at St. Mary’s where they have the PICU,” Kim said.

“What-ifs are natural,” Jared said quietly, “but you can make yourself crazy with them. Don’t torture yourself, Kim.”

She lifted a corner of her mouth in acknowledgment. “Easier said than done.”

“Ready to go?” Greg asked, stepping up behind his wife.

“Sure.” Kim turned back to Elise. “See you next time?”

Elise nodded and, still rather numb with shock, searched for her voice. “I—yeah. Bye.”

As the Harrisons departed, Jared stepped around to face Elise and dipped his head to get a better look at her expression. “Are you okay?”

Elise raked her blond hair back with her fingers. “I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “I really don’t know what to make of this.”

“It is pretty hard to believe. I mean, if this were 1811, maybe. But with modern health and medicine what it is, you’d think.” He stopped himself and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Well … anyway.”

“The doctors should have been able to save her. That’s what you were going to say, wasn’t it?” Elise asked, meeting his gaze. Last week, she’d thought they’d reached an unspoken agreement to be candid with each other. His honesty about his grief had been at the heart of the connection she’d felt with him.

He furrowed his brow with a guilty look. “Yeah. Something like that.”

She sighed. “Tiptoeing around delicate topics is so tedious. Can we agree not to play that game? We both know it serves no purpose.”

He gave her a nod and a relieved smile. “Agreed.”

“In that case, yes. I’ve got plenty of questions about why the doctors and modern medicine didn’t save Grace. And now, in light of what Kim said about their baby dying the same way….” Elise lifted a trembling hand, flipping her palm up in frustration. “What am I supposed to make of that?”

Jared didn’t answer. Instead, he glanced toward the kitchen area where Joleen was cleaning up the last of the refreshments. “Would you like to go somewhere? Get a cup of coffee?”

“I—Don’t you need to get home? I’m sure babysitters are expensive.”

“They can be. But my mom watches Isabel when I come here.” He paused and jingled the keys in his pocket. “I know Kim just dropped a bomb on you, and I don’t want you going home alone to stew and drive yourself crazy over the news.”

Elise lifted a corner of her mouth. “That’s what I’d do. You’re right.”

“I’d be happy to be your sounding board for a while.”

When was the last time someone had offered to just listen to her, let her vent and unburden her heart? Too long. Gratitude for his thoughtfulness tugged in her chest.

“I’d like that. How about Brewer’s Café? It’s just a couple blocks from here.”

He gave a nod and a smile. “Meet you there in five.”

Jared climbed behind his steering wheel and blew out a long, cleansing breath. What the hell was he doing? Hadn’t he just told his mother tonight that he wasn’t ready to date?

“Okay, so this is not a date. Not,” he muttered to himself as he gripped the steering wheel and stared out the windshield into the church parking lot. Despite his denials, guilt thumped a drumbeat in his chest. “You’re just giving your support to another group member who had a shock tonight. It’s not a date.”

So why were his palms damp with sweat, and why was his conscience pricking him with images of Kelly in the last days they spent together?

Not a date. Not a date … He let the words repeat in his brain as he backed his car out of the parking space and pulled up behind Elise to follow her to Brewer’s Café.

He recalled the look in Elise’s eyes when she’d learned how the Harrisons’ baby had died, and sympathy twisted inside him. No matter how conflicted he felt about meeting Elise for coffee, he wanted to be there for her tonight. Elise was in shock and needed a friend. He could be her friend without it meaning anything else, couldn’t he?

Of course. He released a deep breath. It was not a date.

“Tell me about Isabel,” Elise said after twenty minutes of small talk. She cradled her mug of cappuccino, which had grown cold, and met his startled look with an encouraging nod.

“Are you sure? Doesn’t hearing other people talk about their kids hurt?”

She sighed. “Of course it does. But am I supposed to avoid people with kids the rest of my life?”

He took a slow deep breath. “No.”

“Do you have a picture of her?”

He chuckled, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. “Seriously? You have to ask?”

She returned his grin. “A long shot, I know, but …”

He flipped open the wallet and turned it so she could see the bright-eyed cherub with blond curls. Elise’s breath caught, and it took a moment to recover. Like all babies, Isabel was precious, but something about her sweet smile and chubby cheeks grabbed Elise by the throat.

“Wow,” she rasped when she found enough air to talk. “Look at those curls. Believe it or not, I had curls like that when I was younger.” She tugged on her straight hair and scoffed. “I’d kill for a few natural curls now.”

“Those curls make for a pretty wild-looking bedhead after her naps, let me tell you,” he said with a soft laugh. He flipped the picture to show her another more recent shot of his daughter. Two teeth peeked from her happy grin, and she wore a lacy white dress with a matching bow in her golden-colored hair. “This was at her baptism a couple months ago.”

Elise admired the shot, fighting down the bittersweet pang clambering inside her. Opposite the picture of Isabel was a picture of a raven-haired woman with olive skin and large almond-shaped eyes. Elise pointed to the woman. “Kelly?”

He nodded.

“She was beautiful.”

“Thanks. I think so, too.”

Elise bit her bottom lip in thought and studied the picture of Isabel again. “I’m trying to decide which of you Isabel favors more, but …”

“But … you don’t see any resemblance to either of us. Am I right?”

“Well …”

“That’s because she was adopted. Kelly couldn’t have children.”

Elise’s gaze darted to Jared’s. “Oh … I—” She didn’t know how to respond, so she changed the subject. “So your family lives in town and helps you take care of Isabel. That’s pretty handy.”

“Yeah, most of my family is local.” He closed the wallet and put it back in his pocket. “My mom and dad live across town, and I have a brother and sister-in-law, Michelle, who live just a couple blocks away. My sister-in-law is the one who keeps her while I’m at work.” He tipped his head in inquiry. “What about you? Any family?”

“A brother who deigns to talk to his younger sister when I call him.”

Jared arched an eyebrow. “He has something against talking to family?”

“Naw. He’s just busy and doesn’t think about calling his little sister. We’re not especially close. After our mother died, our dad couldn’t be bothered with raising kids, and we ended up in foster homes. Sometimes together, more often, not. I think he put an emotional distance between us as a defense mechanism. It hurts less to be separated from someone you only care marginally about.”

Jared was quiet for a moment, studying her. “But clearly family is important to you. You make the effort to stay in touch with your brother.”

She sighed and stared at the tabletop, idly tracing a crack in the top with her finger. “Yeah. And I was planning to raise a child alone, planning to start my family even if there was no husband in the picture.” Jared didn’t comment right away, and she glanced up when she sensed his reluctance to say what was on his mind. “Go ahead … ask. Remember, we promised to be candid with each other.”

He flashed her a lopsided grin. “Right. I was just wondering why you never married.”

“I actually thought I’d found Mr. Right a few years ago, but it turns out I was too late. His wife found him first.”

He gave her an appropriately sympathetic groan.

“After that humiliation, I swore off dating for a while.” She pulled a grimace then took a sip of cold cappuccino.

He grunted and cocked his head. “A loss to all single men. Any guy would be lucky to have a date with a lovely lady like you. I hate it when the jerks go and ruin things for the rest of us honest guys.”

The comment may have been the standard polite response, but it still caught Elise off guard. She yanked her gaze up to him, and the warmth of his smile stirred a flickering pulse inside her.

“I—I wasn’t fishing for a compliment.” She chuckled awkwardly. “Really. I—”

Their waitress arrived just in time to save her from her fumbling. After refilling Jared’s mug, their server left their check and bustled back to the counter.

“So … you want to talk about the elephant in the room now? The reason I asked you here before you went home?” he asked.

Elise’s gut tightened. “It’s a lot to process. Accepting that Grace died of a freak heart condition hours after birth was hard enough. But to think the same type of thing happened to another couple in town within months of Grace’s death is … spooky. Unsettling.”

“Exactly.” He furrowed his brow. “Did the doctor give you a medical explanation for Grace’s death? Was an autopsy done?”

“Yes. As I understand it, there was. All they told me was she had a weak heart, and she died of heart failure. I know I should have asked more questions, but to be honest, I was kinda numb.”

“I can understand that. I remember the shock that put me in a sort of daze after Kelly died. I got through it because my family rallied around me to help.”

She gave him a wan smile. “You’re lucky to have them.”

“Yeah, I am.” He gave her a nod and a smile that said he was counting his blessings. She didn’t want to envy Jared for the support he had from his family, but the ache of loneliness she’d carried in her bones since losing Grace swamped her with a dizzying wallop.

Clearing her throat, she forged on, not wanting him to see how vulnerable and alone she felt. “So I’ve been thinking about asking the hospital for Gracie’s medical file, but I’ve been putting it off because … well, I knew it would be hard. I’m kinda torn between wanting to know all the details to find some answers and shutting it all in the past and trying to move on.”

He nodded, his gaze focused on her, letting her know he was listening. She knew he didn’t have magic answers, but having him as a sounding board helped more than she’d expected. After months of carrying so much turmoil inside, having someone to listen to her ramble and unburden herself felt incredibly good, freeing.

“I mean, I know that, being a small hospital, they didn’t have the neonatal ICU facilities that might have saved her. Like Kim was saying tonight about the lack of advanced care at Crestview General, I’ve wondered so often what would have happened if I’d not been out of town that day I went into labor.”

He rolled one palm up. “Maybe that’s all it is. Maybe babies die at smaller hospitals more frequently because of the limited facilities. I mean, years ago, women and babies died during childbirth pretty regularly.”

She bit her bottom lip, considering his point. “Maybe.”

“If I were you.” he started and waited for her to meet his gaze as if seeking permission to be so bold as to give unsolicited advice.

She locked onto the incisive spark in his eyes, hungry for whatever guidance he had. “Yeah?”

“I’d make some inquiries. See if there are reports of other cases similar to yours at that hospital. Compare what you learn to the mortality rate of bigger hospitals. Gather facts, look for a pattern, see what comes out in the wash.”

“You don’t think Grace’s case was an isolated incident?” She narrowed an intent gaze on him. “You basically said as much earlier tonight … that Kim’s loss was too similar to be a coincidence.”

He spread his hands. “I don’t know. I may have been talking out of turn. But yeah, my initial gut instinct said something fishy was going on.”

Her heart beat an anxious tattoo. “Fishy as in …?”

He waved her off. “I don’t want to speculate. Look, Kim mentioned an online community with a message board. That’s a good place to start. Arm yourself with information.”

“That I can do. Between the internet and my contacts through the newspaper, I think I can get plenty of information.”

He arched one eyebrow. “You work at the paper?”

“Staff photographer,” she said, turning the conversation to her job. Next, he told her about his position as foreman with a local, family-owned construction company. As they swapped stories about their work, education and acquaintances they had in common, the mood between them relaxed and fell into the time-honored patterns of a first date. Elise found Jared easy to talk to, and she experienced a tingling rush in her blood whenever he flashed his lopsided grin.

“Well, it worked,” she said almost an hour later when she checked her watch. “Your pleasant company has kept my mind off what Kim told me tonight and saved me from sitting alone at home agonizing over what it could mean.”

He gave her a satisfied smile. “Mission accomplished.”

“I hope I haven’t kept you too late.”

He shrugged. “My mother might be a bit worried about what kept me, but as soon as she hears I was having coffee with an attractive lady, all will be forgiven. She’s been encouraging me to start dating again.”

A knot of regret tightened in Elise’s chest. “Jared, I, uh … I’m not in a place where I … well, I’m not ready to date. I’m not looking for a relationship.”

He nodded and raised a hand. “That’s fine. I’m not sure I’m ready to date again, either. But.” He twisted his mouth in a thoughtful moue, and his eyes took on a devilish spark. “We don’t have to tell my mother. As long as she thinks we might be an item, maybe she’ll back off trying to fix me up with her single friends.”

Elise scrunched her nose in a sympathetic wince and chuckled. “Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes.” A low, melodic laugh rumbled from his chest. “And let’s just say, there is a reason some of her friends are still single.” He rolled his eyes and whistled. “So the true nature of our friendship can be our little secret. Deal?”

She laughed harder, savoring the feeling. How long had it been since she had a reason to laugh? “So you want me to be your fake girlfriend?”

He pulled a face. “Well, we might not have to take it that far, but I’d consider it a personal favor if you’d be my excuse for not meeting Linda-from-accounting or Betty-from-her-scrapbooking-club.”

She flashed him a sassy grin. “Yeah, and what do I get out of this deal?”

He leaned back in the booth and folded his arms over his chest. “An occasional cup of coffee, maybe dinner or a movie once or twice.” He winked, and his cheek tugged up in a playful grin. “And, of course, my charming company and scintillating conversation.”

“Gosh, I don’t know …” She rubbed her chin and pursed her lips as if struggling with the decision, as if agreeing would be a hardship.

In truth, the hardest part of such an agreement would be not developing any romantic feelings for Jared. He was handsome, kind, thoughtful and funny. Exactly the kind of man she could fall for—if she were looking for a boyfriend. But, as alone as she felt most of the time, involvement with a man who had a one-year-old daughter would be … torture. Anguish. She was bound to form attachments to Isabel, painful reminders of what she’d lost, bonds that would add to her grief when they were inevitably broken. Because Jared wasn’t looking for a new wife. He clearly still loved his late wife. Elise had already made the mistake of falling for a married man, and she wanted no part of a love triangle—even if the third party was a ghost.

“Wow,” Jared said with a self-deprecating scoff when she hesitated a moment too long, “I didn’t realize being my decoy was such an onerous favor to ask.”

“Oh!” With a startled laugh, she shook herself from her thoughts and reached across the table to grasp his arm. “Oh, no. I was just thinking. I’d love to have coffee with you again. It’s better than sitting home by myself stewing over tragedies.”

He gave her a comically pained expression. “Ouch. Maybe I should quit while I’m behind.”

She slapped a hand over her mouth, laughing softly. “That didn’t come out right. I didn’t mean …”

Shaking his head, he grinned and slid to the end of the booth, picking up the check as he stood. “Just say goodnight, Gracie.”

Gracie.

Though she knew he was quoting George Burns from his old radio show with his wife, Elise felt the blood drain from her face, and her heartbeat slowed. Jeez, she was a mess, if just the mention of her daughter’s name still delivered an instant breath-stealing jolt.

Jared’s face fell, and he dropped back on the booth bench, reaching for her. “Cripes, I’m sorry. That was thoughtless of—”

She covered his mouth with her fingers, and his warm breath tickled her palm. “Don’t apologize. Remember—no tiptoeing around each other.”

He wrapped his hand around her wrist and pressed a kiss on her palm. “Right.”

The scratch of his five o’clock shadow on her skin sent a ripple of sweet sensation to her core. Inhaling deeply to steady herself, she mustered a smile for him and said softly, “Good night, Gracie.”

Jared stayed in her thoughts as she drove home, and she caught herself smiling when she remembered his hand-kiss, his teasing, his dark bedroom eyes. Jared had been a pleasant distraction tonight, but as she parked in her driveway, her conversation with Kim replayed in her mind.

Two babies. Two hospitals. Two stopped hearts.

And Jared’s muttered curse. That sounds too suspicious to be a coincidence.

The similarities in Grace’s and the Harrisons’ baby’s deaths rankled, but what did she really know? She was no doctor. Maybe the sudden death of infants was more common than she knew. She’d heard of SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, when babies died mysteriously in their sleep. Maybe Grace’s death was related to that?

Information. As Jared suggested, she needed to gather some facts before she drew any conclusions that would serve no purpose other than making her paranoid.

She bustled into her house, a chill autumn wind following her inside. Her black-and-brown tabby, Brooke, greeted her and trotted into the kitchen, winding around Elise’s legs as she begged for her supper.

“Hey, Brookie Wookie. Hang on. Dinner’s coming.” She fixed herself a cup of chamomile tea, poured Brooke a bowl of food, then set up her laptop. Placing her mug beside her computer, Elise typed infant mortality rates in an internet search engine. Within a few key strokes, Elise had learned that Louisiana’s infant mortality rate of ten deaths per thousand births was higher than the national average. She also found breakdowns of infant deaths by race and region. The statistics, while eye-opening, didn’t provide her the detailed information she wanted.

She rocked back in her chair, and Brooke took the opportunity to hop into her lap. She idly scratched Brooke’s head and twisted her mouth in thought. Wouldn’t a hospital’s records be a matter of public information? Data on all births and deaths at a hospital would have to be reported to the government, wouldn’t it? If she could get her hands on the records of Pine Mill Hospital, she could compare the information to the state and national average.

Reaching awkwardly around Brooke to type, she tried a more specific search for Pine Mill Hospital’s yearly data, birth and infant-death totals, but hit a dead end. However the search terms infant death and Pine Mill led her to a two-year-old obituary in the Pine Mill Gazette for the infant son of a local couple.

Elise scanned the article with her heart in her throat. The baby had died of unknown causes just after his birth at Pine Mill Hospital. Her hand shaking, she hit Print to add the article to her file.

That made three infant deaths from mysterious causes within a matter of months, all in a small geographic region. Three that she knew of. How many more otherwise healthy babies had died tragically within hours of their births?

Did she dare contact the parents of the baby boy mentioned in the two-year-old obituary for more information? They could have heard of similar cases, just as she was learning of stories similar to Grace’s. She didn’t want to stir up painful memories for them without good cause.

As Jared suggested, perhaps her best move for now was to solicit information regarding similar cases. Remembering the online community message board Kim had mentioned at the grief-support meeting, Elise lifted Brooke off her lap and dug the scrap of paper with the URL out of her pocket. When she reached the home page, she created an account for herself and logged on.

On the first screen, she found a list of the most recent posts and replies. As Kim had said, the topics varied from posts about missing children, questions about legal rights and suggestions for surviving the holidays without your loved one.

She spent several minutes reading the various discussion threads and found the replies of the members to be both helpful and compassionate. No wonder Kim recommended the website. Elise sipped her tea and began mentally composing her introduction. Should she make an official request for information or simply explain what happened to her and see if it solicited replies of similar incidents?

After some thought, she chose to keep her first foray on the message board simple and see what came of it. She could always request similar stories later. At the end of her post, she gave a secondary email address she used for online shopping as her contact info. Taking a deep breath, she clicked the submit button, and her post vanished into the vast beyond. A few seconds later it appeared on the message board.

“Well, Brooke,” she said, stroking the cat’s back as the tabby rubbed against her leg. “All I can do now is wait and see who replies.”

Jared tiptoed into Isabel’s nursery and peered over the edge of her crib to check on his daughter before heading to bed himself. He could stand there for hours and never get tired of watching his little angel sleep. But as usual, the tenderness of the moment, Isabel’s innocence and late hour were a potent brew that brought a pang of grief for what Kelly was missing. And for how much he missed Kelly.

Tonight, however, his memories of Kelly were tinged with a shade of guilt. He knew the source.

Elise.

He’d had a good time with Elise, had felt comfortable talking with her, had felt natural teasing her. And had been attracted to her. Powerfully so.

Maybe that was the root of his guilt. He’d had female friends while Kelly was alive, but his attraction to Elise seemed a bit like a betrayal of Kelly’s memory. He knew he was being ridiculous. Moving on, dating again, didn’t mean he loved Kelly any less or that he’d forgotten her. If the situation was reversed, he’d want Kelly to have a second chance for love and companionship. A life partner to help her raise Isabel. In his heart, he knew Kelly would say the same for him. But his attraction to Elise still left him off-balance somehow. He wasn’t ready to start a new relationship….

Was he?

He brushed a wayward curl away from Isabel’s cheek, and a pang tugged his heart. Maybe he was unsettled being around Elise because he knew how blessed he was to have Isabel, while Elise had lost her best chance to be a parent, had been stripped of the treasure he savored every day.

He shuddered when he thought about losing Isabel. One of the reasons he and Kelly had chosen the private agency they used to adopt Isabel had been the agency’s assurances that the closed adoption process they employed meant the birth parents had forfeited all claims to Isabel. Their greatest fear had been to have one of the birth parents change their mind and try to take Isabel from them after the adoption closed. Just considering that scenario lit a fiery determination in his belly. He’d fight anyone who tried to take Isabel from him with every resource possible. Isabel was his.