Читать книгу A Lawman for Christmas - Marie Ferrarella, Marie Ferrarella - Страница 9

The next moment, Kelsey felt the kind of surge that coursed through the veins of a lioness when she perceived that one of her cubs was being threatened. Kelsey might have been the youngest in the family, but she had always been fiercely protective, even though not a single one of her four brothers or her parents ever needed protecting.

Until now.

“Excuse me,” she said, addressing the back of the police officer’s head. “Is there a problem here?”

Whatever answer Officer Morgan Donnelly had at the ready vanished the moment he glimpsed the woman who belonged to the angry voice. His smile was slow, appreciative as he looked her over from head to toe. It occurred to him that she resembled the woman he was talking to. A kid sister perhaps?

“No, no problem at all,” he told her.

Giving the sandy-haired patrolman with the X-ray eyes and unreadable expression a cold glare, Kelsey drew herself up to her full, rather unimposing five-foot-four height. The next second, she was Kate’s shaken daughter, trying to hide just how upset she really was.

“Mom,” she cried, “you scared me half to death.” There didn’t seem to be any bruises that she could see. Why was her mother here? And what did it have to do with the cop with the X-ray eyes? “Are you all right?”

“I am now,” Kate told her, “thanks to Officer Donnelly.” Smiling, her mother nodded at the young policeman.

“Oh.”

Well, that snuffed out a good deal of Kelsey’s animosity toward the officer. Because of her experience with Dan, her view of policemen in general was tainted. She’d just assumed that the young officer at her mother’s bedside was somehow responsible. Maybe he’d cut her mother off and caused her to have an accident.

Still, her mother was grateful to him. Drawing herself up again, Kelsey nodded at him. “Thank you,” she said stiffly.

Reaching up, Kate wove her fingers through her daughter’s and squeezed her hand. “Honey, I didn’t want to call and upset you, but the doctor said I had to call someone to take me home and I just couldn’t call your father or your brothers.”

“I offered to take your mother home,” the officer said, his voice solemn but kind as he nodded at Kate, “but she refused.”

“I couldn’t impose on you any further,” Kate protested. “You’ve already done enough for me.”

Just what did her mother mean by “enough”? Kelsey bit back the urge to ask her. “Not that I mind being the one you turn to, Mom, but why couldn’t you call any of them?”

Kate didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she raised her eyes to her daughter’s face. “If I told you it’s because they’re all busy working, would you believe me?”

This was a tough one, Kelsey thought. Her gut told her something was going on. “Well, I’ve never known you to lie about anything, so I guess I’d have to.” She paused, studying her mother. Kate Marlowe looked tired and worn. Tired she’d seen before, but in her experience, her mother had never looked worn. Something was wrong. “But you are lying, aren’t you?”

To Kelsey’s surprise, a hint of embarrassment colored her mother’s cheeks. Another first. One that made her uneasy.

“I didn’t want to upset them,” her mother told her.

“But you’re okay with upsetting me?”

Still dazed by what the doctor had told her, Kate chose her words carefully. “No, but I know I can count on you. You’re a woman, too.”

Kelsey stared at her, stunned. She’d fought most of her life to be thought of as anything other than “a little girl” or “the baby of the family.” She would have taken pride in the breakthrough moment if it wasn’t for the nagging feeling that something was really wrong.

Kelsey glanced toward the patrolman standing at the foot of her mother’s hospital bed. Why was he still here? Had he given out his quota of tickets for the day and now had nothing to do? It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him. She had never fully mastered tact. That was her mother’s domain.

For her mother’s sake, she did her best to sound polite. She succeeded. Moderately. “Just how do you figure into all this?”

“Kelsey.” Dismayed, Kate chided her only daughter with the tone of her voice.

The officer raised a hand in her mother’s direction, indicating that he didn’t mind being questioned. “That’s okay, Kate.”

“Kate?” Kelsey echoed, her mercurial temper flaring. She hated figures of authority who patronized those they felt were beneath their station. “That’s Mrs. Marlowe to you.”

“Kelsey.” This time the reprimand was a little more obvious. Her tone was sharper. “I’m sorry, Morgan. My daughter tends to be a little hotheaded.”

“Daughter,” Morgan repeated, impressed. “When she first came in, I thought she was your kid sister.”

Kelsey rolled her eyes. Just what did this cop hope to gain by flattering her mother? Granted the woman had a youthful aura about her, she always had, and she really didn’t look near her age, but that didn’t change the fact that she thought the man was up to no good. She felt it in her bones. Whatever it was, he wasn’t going to get away with it. Not while she was around.

“Thank you for the compliment,” Kate said, “but I still want to apologize for her.” Again she linked her fingers with her daughter’s. “She doesn’t mean to sound rude. She’s just upset.”

Morgan dismissed the need for an apology. “That’s all right. I run up against that all the time.” He turned to look at Kelsey. “Just not usually from someone as pretty as your daughter.”

Kelsey heard a little bit of a twang in his voice. A transplant, Kelsey thought with the pinch of snobbery reserved for those who were California natives.

“Flattery’s not going to get you anywhere,” Kelsey informed him flatly. Her hands were on her hips as she turned toward him. “Now, once and for all, why are you here?”

His eyes shifted over to Kate. The mother was far less combative than her daughter. “I’m just making sure your mother’s all right, that’s all.”

Kelsey turned to look at her mother. “Then something did happen.” Kelsey ignored the policeman’s presence as she took both her mother’s hands in hers. Her mother’s fingers felt cold. “Mom, what’s going on? Talk to me,” she pleaded. “What happened and why is he hovering over you like some tarnished guardian angel?” Her eyes narrowed, hoping to get at the truth quickly. “Were you in an accident?”

Kate reached up to cup her daughter’s cheek. “Almost,” she confessed. “But I’m all right now.”

Kelsey glared at the officer expectantly. He didn’t disappoint her.

“Your mother ran into a hedge right off University Drive.”

Her mother was an excellent driver. She, not her father, had taught all five of them how to drive. This didn’t make any sense. “On purpose?”

Kate searched for a way to explain without upsetting Kelsey any further. But there just wasn’t any other way. “I fainted.”

Fear rose up like a huge black shadow, blotting out everything else. It gripped her heart. Her imagination instantly envisioned all sorts of awful scenarios.

“Mom!”

Her eyes quickly swept over her mother, searching for telltale signs of the injuries her mother must have sustained. But except for her unnaturally pale color, Kate Marlowe looked as lovely as ever. Just shaken.

“It’s all over, honey,” Kate soothed. “Officer Donnelly was kind enough to come to my rescue. He insisted on bringing me to the hospital instead of making me wait for the paramedics to arrive.”

The last remnants of Kelsey’s anger and protectiveness faded. Instead, she felt vulnerable and unarmed. To make matters worse, she knew that she needed to apologize.

“Thank you,” she said as warmly as she could manage. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. It’s just when I saw you looming over my mother—I mean, standing over her like that—I just—”

Morgan waved away her halting apology. Kate’s daughter appeared far too uncomfortable. “No need to apologize. If it makes you feel any better, I was following her to give her a ticket. When I noticed her ahead, she was weaving erratically on the road. My first thought was that she was driving under the influence.”

Kelsey’s temper was back, flaring before she could rein it in. “At ten o’clock in the morning?”

“Oh, you’d be surprised,” he told her. “It’s always five o’clock somewhere.”

Kelsey didn’t bother acknowledging his statement. Instead, she asked her mother, “You’re not taking any new medication, are you?” Kelsey had moved out of the house three months ago and had been busy setting up her new life. That meant she was no longer privy to her parents’ day-to-day lives. She felt a sudden pang at that. Maybe if she were still living at home—

Kate laughed softly. “Now you sound like the attending physician.” She went over the same thing she’d said to the E.R. doctor. “No, no meds, no fever, no explanation. I only fainted once in my life and that was when I was first pregnant with you.”

“Well, then—”

Kelsey stopped abruptly, her mind brought to a skidding halt by the thought. Her mother wasn’t—No, she couldn’t be.

The next moment, she banished the very idea as being far too ridiculous to voice out loud. “Maybe it was something you ate.”

Kate pressed her lips together, nodding. “Maybe.” There was no conviction in her voice.

Kelsey took a deep breath. “So, can I spring you now?” The sooner she got her mother out of here, the better they would both feel.

Kate was anxious to leave herself. She looked out toward the aisle. “Just as soon as the doctor discharges me.”

Kelsey glanced around, but the only hospital personnel she saw in the general vicinity were nurses. “And what’s the doctor waiting for?”

“He said he wanted to examine the results of a few lab tests and the X-ray he had me take,” Kate said.

Was it her imagination, or did her mother sound evasive? Kelsey thought.

Across from her, the stony-faced policeman seemed to come to life. “Well, there’s no point in my hanging around any longer. I’m still on duty,” Morgan told Kate. “Be careful out there, Mrs. Marlowe,” he said politely. Casting a side glance at Kelsey, he looked down at her left hand before adding, “You, too, Ms. Marlowe.”

Turning on his heel, Morgan was about to leave when the E.R. physician on call, Dr. Samuel David, came to join them. Seeing the doctor, Morgan decided to linger a moment longer. Closure was something he was ever striving for.

Dr. David smiled at his patient. If he was remotely curious as to the identity of the woman beside her, he didn’t show it. “Mrs. Marlowe, I’ve just confirmed our suspicions.”

“Suspicions?” Kelsey echoed.

“About why she fainted.” As if suddenly becoming aware of her, the doctor paused, looking from the woman in the bed to the one standing beside her. “My God, you look just like her.”

“I take that as a compliment,” both Kate and Kelsey said together then laughed. For just the briefest of moments, the tension they both felt eased.

“And well you should,” Dr. David agreed, his tone not sure which of them he was speaking to. And then he cleared his throat. “Well, back to the diagnosis—”

Kelsey felt her heartbeat quickening. Oh God, please don’t make it anything bad. Out loud, she whispered, “Is it serious?” as she looked at the doctor.

“Depends on how you view this kind of thing,” Dr. David said. “Personally, I think it’s very serious.”

Kelsey reached for her mother’s hand again. She willed her mother her strength, but in reality Kate Marlowe was always the strong one. Her mother was the foundation of her family.

She held her breath, waiting to hear the doctor tell them something that could quite possibly change their lives forever.

“Bringing a child into the world is a very serious business,” Dr. David continued, his black eyes sweeping from mother to daughter and then back again.

“A child?” Kelsey cried, stunned, confused. “What child? Where?”

Without realizing it, she tightened her grasp on her mother’s hand, squeezing it so tight that her own fingers began to ache.

“Your mother’s child,” the E.R. physician said, and then he chuckled. “And I would think the ‘where’ is self-explanatory.”

Feeling as if the floor had just melted away beneath her feet, Kelsey stared at her mother. “You’re pregnant?” she cried. Before her mother could say anything, Kelsey shifted her eyes to the doctor. “She’s pregnant?” she cried incredulously.

Dr. David smiled kindly and nodded. “It would seem so.”

Kelsey felt as if she’d just leaned against the mirror and fallen through the looking glass. “But that’s not possible.”

“Why not?” the policeman asked.

Kelsey didn’t know what stunned her more: the fact that her mother was pregnant at fifty or that the muscle-bound cop with the X-ray vision had the audacity to question her reaction.

Her eyes flashed as she said, “Because—because she’s my mother and she’s already got five kids and this part of her life was supposed to be over.” Pushing past the policeman, she rounded the foot of the bed to get closer to the doctor. “Doctor, I don’t mean to doubt you, but are you sure there’s been no mistake? Lab results get switched all the time. Maybe you got my mother’s tests mixed up with someone else’s.”

“Granted there are mix-ups on occasion,” the doctor allowed, “but I’m happy to say, we have a low incidence of that. Blair Memorial has been ranked one of the leading hospitals in the country for the last ten years in a row now.” He turned to face Kate. “You are pregnant, Mrs. Marlowe,” he said with finality. “You’ll need to start right away with pre-natal care. I could give you the name of an excellent doctor—”

“I already have one,” Kate replied, her words coming out slowly, impeded by the half dozen scattered thoughts racing through her mind. Taking a deep breath didn’t help steady her nerves. She looked at Kelsey. “Your father’s going to be stunned.”

“He’s not the only one,” Kelsey replied. Try as she might, she couldn’t visualize her mother “in the family way.” There were photographs in the family albums of her being pregnant, but that was a long time ago. And, at the time, her mother had been younger than she was.

Breaking the tension, Morgan leaned forward and took Kate’s hand in his. “Congratulations, Mrs. Marlowe. A baby is a wonderful thing,” he told her with feeling.

Kelsey laughed shortly. “Spoken like a man who’s never had one.” Where did he get off, anyway, voicing an opinion? He was a stranger.

To Kelsey surprise, Morgan looked as if he was about to say something in response, then obviously changed his mind. Instead, he merely nodded at Kate. “Good luck to you,” he said as he began to withdraw.

Sensing that the E.R. physician wanted to go over a few more things with her mother before she was signed out, Kelsey stepped to the side.

The policeman had turned around to leave. Kelsey suddenly remembered something.

“Wait,” she called after the departing policeman, then hurried to catch up to him. “Officer Donnelly, was it?”

Morgan stopped and turned around. “Morgan,” he corrected. He liked things to be professional and formal, but in her case, something prompted him to be more familiar.

“Morgan,” Kelsey repeated, inclining her head. “Where’s my mother’s car now? You didn’t have it towed away, did you?” If it had been towed away, there would be a mountain of paperwork and red tape before she could get the car back, not to mention that there would be a hefty fine.

“No, it’s still where she left it. Just a little past the intersection of University Drive and Campus Road.” Morgan paused, debating.

It had been a slow morning. No reason to believe the afternoon wasn’t going to be the same. Bedford was deemed one of the safest cities in the country. Helping out a citizen came under the heading of good public relations. The chief was always after them to work with the citizens and promote goodwill.

“I could take you over there if you like,” he volunteered, “and then you could drive it to your mother’s house.”

“Then what would I do with the car I drove here?”

“Right.” Morgan had forgotten about that. He thought for a moment. The solution was simple. “Tell you what, you bring your mother home first, and I’ll follow you in the squad car. After you get her settled, I’ll take you to your mother’s car.”

That was really going out of his way, she thought. Once upon a time, she would have taken his offer at face value. But that was before Dan. “And why would you do that?” she asked suspiciously.

“The Bedford police department aims to please,” he told her simply. And then he looked at her for a long moment. She felt as if he were peering right into her. “Are you always this suspicious?”

“Only when things seem to be out of sync.” And then she considered her mother. Talk about out of sync. “A baby,” she murmured, shaking her head.

He was still scrutinizing her, still looking into her soul. Kelsey bristled at the thought.

“Why does that bother you so much?” he asked, and then guessed at the reason. “You’re the youngest, aren’t you?”

Kelsey squared her shoulders. “That has nothing to do with it.”

In his opinion, that had a great deal to do with it. But he had no desire to get into any sort of a discussion with her about it. He had a feeling she did not give up easily. “If you say so.”

Kelsey caught her lower lip between her teeth. “It’s just that…”

Morgan anticipated her words. “Don’t say she’s too old,” he cautioned. “Your mother looks like a young, vital woman.”

That was only half the picture. “Who already has a life and five children.”

“Now she’ll have six.”

Kelsey stared up at Morgan. He certainly didn’t sound like a typical male his age. She placed him in his late twenties. Most men in that age bracket fiercely resisted anything that seemed remotely close to domestication.

“You like babies?” she asked, studying him as she waited for an answer.

She had a long wait ahead of her. Rather than answer, he nodded toward her mother’s bed. “The E.R. doctor’s leaving. Better help your mother get ready. I’ll wait for you at the E.R.’s registration desk.” He pointed toward doors that led outside the emergency room.

Without waiting for a response, Morgan walked away, heading toward the doors. Leaving her with a basketful of questions.