Читать книгу A Baby For The Sheriff - Mary Leo - Страница 11

Chapter Two

“Are we ever happy to see you,” Russ Knightly said as he opened the front door to Coco’s private residence above her clinic. The door to her clinic sat right next to her private apartment door, but despite the sign above it that touted Paws & Tails Animal Clinic, the sheriff knew her patrons managed to get the two doors confused, just as he had the first time he’d stopped by. They looked exactly alike but for the sign, which, in his opinion, should have been placed on the door itself.

Russ’s clothes looked disheveled and he wore a harried look on his cover-model face, as if the normally cavalier mayoral candidate had reached his breaking point. Even his habitually groomed dark hair was tousled.

Jet could only think of one question: Why was he here?

The shock of seeing Russ standing in Doctor Grant’s doorway instead of Doctor Grant herself threw Sheriff Wilson off his game for a moment. Of all the men in this town, Russ Knightly was the last person he ever thought he’d see anywhere near Coco Grant. For one thing, he’d thought she was a smart woman...but unless there was a really good reason for this lunkhead to be answering her door at this time of night, Jet had sorely misjudged Coco’s common sense.

“I got a call from Doctor Grant, but if you’re already here, I’ll just drop these off with you.” He shoved the bag of baby things into Russ’s hands, and placed a bigger bag of diapers and baby wipes just inside the doorway. “I’ll be on my way before the snow gets any deeper.”

Then he turned to go, angry that he’d been used as an errand boy.

“No. Wait. Aren’t you going to take the baby?”

The sheriff turned back around, detecting a hint of angst in Russ’s normally brazen voice. “Can’t. There’s nobody to care for her tonight.”

Jet proceeded down the three front steps off the wide porch, until Russ called to him again. The man had actually followed him, carrying both bags of baby things. Did Russ really think he was going to stop him from leaving?

“Well, we certainly can’t take care of it. We’re not authorized, but I know for a fact that you are. It’s your duty as town sheriff to take custody of this baby.”

Jet hesitated at the bottom of the steps on the snowy sidewalk and contemplated his options. According to the local newspaper, the Teton Valley Gazette, Russ Knightly was beating Mayor Sally Hickman by ten points. If he became mayor, he could make Jet’s life miserable, and even replace him if he so chose.

Despite all his complaints, Sheriff Jet Wilson loved his job and didn’t want to start over again in some other town...at least not yet.

“You’re right about that, Mr. Knightly. I must have been mistaken. I thought you and Doctor Grant wanted to keep that poor, destitute, abandoned child overnight, which would be fine, according to the law, as long as I approved it. Which I do.”

“Well, don’t, because we do not want to keep the baby overnight. We want you to take her. Coco...I mean, Doctor Grant, and I have other plans.”

Jet got it loud and clear. This charming snake and Doctor Grant were in a relationship. Russ might as well have sucker punched him right in the jaw. It would have made more sense than this tawdry relationship.

As much as it pained Jet, he walked back up the three steps, past Russ Knightly, then began walking up the flight of stairs to the doctor’s private residence, an apartment he’d never seen before, but had thought about many times.

“You could have carried some of this stuff, ya know,” Russ complained behind Jet as the two men made their way up the steps.

“I sure could have,” Jet said, offering no excuse, listening to Russ grunt as he tried to maneuver the steep stairs.

Jet’s guilt kicked in and he was about to turn back around and grab one of the bags from Russ when the door opened to Doctor Grant’s apartment.

She looked absolutely gorgeous, almost beatific, as if she was no longer human, but rather an angel that had come down from heaven. It was all there in her smile, a radiant, joyful smile not really intended for Jet, but coming from deep within her.

Seeing the doctor standing in the doorway, with that tiny baby cradled in her arms, wearing a beautiful black dress that hugged all her curves, her short-cropped, almost black hair hugging her face, showing off that lovely long neck of hers, earrings gently dusting her bare shoulders and the low light from her apartment bathing her body in its warm glow, took Jet’s breath away. Her steel blue eyes seemed brighter, her lips fuller, and that chiseled nose set everything off making her look regal. Doctor Coco Grant always stood up straight, proud of her six-foot height, which Jet loved considering he cleared six foot four easy.

No woman had ever had that kind of impact on him before. The world might as well have stopped spinning.

For the first time in his adult life, he knew what it meant to be tongue-tied. It was all he could do to keep from blabbing like a schoolboy.

“Thanks for coming out, Sheriff. I know it’s late, but we didn’t know what else to do,” the angel said, her voice low and enthralling.

“I...um...”

“Excuse me,” Russ said from just behind Jet, then nudged him out of the way. “But this stuff is heavy.”

That knocked Jet back into reality...the reality of an abandoned baby cuddled up against Doctor Grant, with bare shoulders exposed to the cold of the stairway.

Jet cleared his tight throat. “Not a problem,” he told Doctor Grant. “I picked up a few things on my way over.”

“More like the whole store,” Russ muttered.

All of a sudden, the baby started wailing. Jet figured it was the grating sound of Russ’s voice that set her off.

Smart baby, Jet thought.

“Why don’t you let me get some clothes on that little darlin’ while you make her a bottle. We can talk about how you found her after we get her settled,” Jet said.

From the look on Doctor Grant’s face, he could tell she hadn’t expected him to know much about babies.

“Are you sure?” she tentatively asked. “Because, I mean...”

But Jet had already taken the tiny bundle wrapped in a fuzzy white towel into his arms. She felt as light as a feather as he spoke to her in a soothing voice and gently rocked her. At once the wailing turned into tiny whimpers.

“How’d you do that?” Coco asked, but Jet wasn’t in the mood to answer her question. Instead he asked one of his own.

“Any bruises on the child?”

He walked past her and into the spacious apartment and immediately noticed all the lit candles on just about every flat surface in the large rooms, plus the open bottles of wine and scotch on the dining table that still held the remnants of what had to be a romantic dinner for two. A large bouquet of roses, undoubtedly a gift from her shining knight, sat in a clear glass vase in the center of the table.

Sheriff Jet Wilson could only imagine the disruption this little girl must have caused. He did a mental snicker.

“None that I could see,” the doctor answered using her official voice. “She looks well cared for, and she’s the appropriate size and weight for a two-week-old infant. I looked it up online.”

“That’s good. Now, where can I change her?”

“In my bedroom, down the hall on your right.”

Jet picked one of the bags of essentials that Russ had dropped on the floor and went off to make little baby Lily a bit more comfortable in this uncomfortable situation.

“Can one of you please bring in the other bag?” Jet asked, not turning back around. He assumed Russ would carry in the bulky bag, and the less he saw and spoke to that man, the better.

Just last week he thought he’d seen Russ locking lips with a petite blonde woman over in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a town less than thirty minutes from Briggs. Jet had been there for a meeting with law enforcement officials when he spotted Russ through a restaurant window cozying up with a woman Jet had never seen before. And from the way they’d been eyeing each other, Jet had assumed they were an item.

Apparently he’d been wrong.

Apparently Russ Knightly liked to spread his affections around.

“You wouldn’t be taken in by that kind of behavior, would you, Lily?”

She blinked and pushed her spindly legs out from under the towel. He could tell she didn’t particularly like that heavy towel over her. Jet put her down on the bed, opened the box of diapers, pulled one out and quickly slipped it under Lily’s bottom and fastened it. Then he grabbed a white side-snap undershirt and slipped that on her. She at once looked much more comfortable and happy.

“There, now you can relieve yourself at will, and no one will be the wiser.”

Her little arms reached up as she let out a soft wail. “Aw, sweet cakes, don’t be cryin’. We’re gonna fix you up with a bottle, and I promise you, you’ll be well taken care of. No need to make a fuss.”

As he soothed Lily, his mind wandered back to Russ and Jackson Hole, pondering whether or not the good doctor knew about the other woman or, for that matter, if the other woman knew about Doctor Grant.

And if both women knew, were they okay with it?

Call him old-fashioned, but in Jet’s world, a relationship consisted of two people who only had eyes for each other.

Unfortunately, so far, those kinds of old-fashioned ideas hadn’t panned out so well. He kept falling for the wrong women, but dang it, after his last broken heart, he’d promised himself he would never do that again.

Until the next time.

“Seems like you’ve got it covered,” Doctor Grant said from behind him, her statement confusing him for a moment.

“Yes... I mean... You are referring to baby Lily, right?”

She came around and sat on the edge of the bed, facing him. Her forehead mirrored her confusion. “What else would I be referring to?”

He needed to change the subject, and fast, as he slipped Lily into a warm, long-sleeved, bunny-covered sleeper gown and zipped it closed. “Is that bottle coming soon?”

She nodded. “Right here,” she said. “I can feed her.” She held out her arms, but Jet was reluctant to give Lily up. Instead, he gently picked her up and cradled her in his arms. She felt warm and delicate against his chest, and he had to get over the thought that she might break if he held her too tight. It had been a while, a long while, since he’d held a two-week-old baby, but he had no problem remembering exactly what to do.

“Just point me to a comfortable chair, and we’ll be fine.”

“You want to feed Lily?”

“Sure,” he told her, swiping the bottle, testing the heat of the formula on the inside of his wrist, then gently enticing Lily to take it. She fussed, and wouldn’t suckle no matter how he tried to encourage her. “Maybe she’s used to her mama’s breast, and this won’t work. If that’s true, we really have a problem.”

He glanced over at Doctor Grant, whose breasts just happened to be at eye level and looking quite tempting spilling over that low-cut neckline.

“Well, don’t look at me,” she said, immediately standing.

“I wasn’t looking... I mean... I couldn’t help but see...” He stopped and took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. “I only meant this could be a real problem if she doesn’t take the bottle.”

Jet kept trying, but Lily kept making a face and crying. He could feel the tension building down the back of his neck and in his shoulders. He never even considered that she wouldn’t take a bottle, and now he felt foolish for being so naive.

“You brought two kinds of bottles. Maybe she’ll take the other one. It’s worth a try,” Doctor Grant said.

She left the bedroom and he followed right behind, grateful that Cindy Whipple had sold him both types of bottles. If this worked, he’d have to go back and kiss her!

“So, everything’s good and you’re getting ready to leave with Lily?” Russ said to Sheriff Wilson as he and Coco headed for the kitchen. Russ sat on the sofa in the open living room, sipping on a drink, seemingly waiting for all this baby fuss to end so he could get on with his night.

“Not yet,” Jet said, trying to dismiss the vision of Russ and that blonde, seeming so cozy.

“Lily won’t take her bottle,” Doctor Grant told him, sounding concerned.

“Maybe she’s not hungry,” Russ answered, as if he knew something about babies. “A hungry baby will eat.”

“Where did you hear that?” Jet asked, but kept heading for the kitchen with Doctor Grant.

“I just made it up, but it sounds perfectly reasonable.”

Jet couldn’t help an eye roll. Fortunately, only Lily could see him, and when he gazed down at her, she seemed to appreciate the gesture as she sucked on her fist.

“Apparently you don’t know much about babies. According to Sheriff Wilson, they’re particular, especially if they’ve only been nursed. She may only accept a breast,” Doctor Grant told him, as she rinsed the other bottle, the one with a nipple that looked more like a woman’s breast.

“Then go find her one. There must be several women in this town who are nursing their babies.”

Doctor Grant stopped what she was doing and stared at Russ. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Well, what’s the alternative?”

“We have another bottle. It has a different nipple,” Jet said.

“And if that doesn’t work?”

“Pray that it does,” Doctor Grant said, her voice firm and filled with agitation. “Because if it doesn’t, we’re all in for a world of trouble.”

Lily began wailing again, louder than ever. Doctor Grant took the bottle from Jet and sped up the procedure.

Russ abruptly stood. “Well, I can see that the two of you have this covered, so I’m going to be on my way,” he shouted over Lily’s protest. “If you need anything, anything at all, don’t hesitate to call.”

“You’re leaving? Now?” Doctor Grant asked, as if his departure took her by surprise. Jet’s only surprise was that Russ hadn’t left when Lily first arrived.

“Sorry, baby, but I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow, especially if the snow keeps falling like it is,” Russ told Doctor Grant. “It proves my point that Sally Hickman isn’t fit to be mayor. When I’m the mayor there will be more than enough snowplows to keep our roads cleared.”

He shrugged into his coat that had hung on a hook by the door.

Doctor Grant handed Jet the new bottle, which she’d filled with the contents of the other bottle. Then she walked over to Russ. “But I thought we... I thought you and I...”

Then they disappeared out into her stairway, closing the door, leaving the sheriff to tend to the more important person in the room: baby Lily.

* * *

ONCE RUSS KNIGHTLY made up his mind about something, he was the type of man who couldn’t be budged...a trait that under normal circumstances, Coco admired...just not tonight.

He couldn’t get out of there fast enough. He’d left in such a hurry, she hadn’t even gotten the chance to kiss him goodbye before he was out the door and down the stairs.

“Are you sure you want to leave in all this snow? You might get stuck and have to walk back here, anyway,” she called after him from the open doorway, having followed him down to the front door of her clinic.

Without even turning around, he said, “I’ve got four-wheel drive, and a snowplow on the front of my truck. I can get through anything.”

And in the next few seconds he jumped into his oversize truck, turned over the ignition, lowered the plow and took off into the night.

She could have been upset as she closed the door, might have even thought that he’d been rude to leave so abruptly in the middle of things. She even could have decided that just maybe she might be dating the wrong man. But all she could focus on was the silence...the absolute and complete silence.

She quickly ascended the stairs to her apartment, wondering about baby Lily and worrying about the sheriff. Would he call the local hospital asking how to set up a volunteer nursing mom for Lily? Not that she knew exactly how that would work for an actual baby. She’d set it up for infant livestock before, but that was with the cooperation of local ranchers...

When she finally opened the door, somewhat out of breath from her rush to learn the truth, emotion gripped the back of her throat. She couldn’t help the tears that cascaded down her cheeks.

“Oh, my gosh! She’s taking it?” she whispered, fingers wiping her tears away. Seeing that tiny baby, eagerly drinking the bottle of formula, nestled in Sheriff Wilson’s strong arms, while he took up all the space on her tan-colored overstuffed chair, was almost more than Coco could take in. For all his bluster, Coco now knew he was warm and fuzzy on the inside.

And as a bonus, Punky had curled up at Sheriff Wilson’s feet, and aside from momentarily picking up his tiny head to watch Coco come back into the apartment, he seemed as though he wasn’t about to budge.

“Hope you don’t mind, but I let your dog out of the bathroom. I heard it whining so I figured it wanted out.”

“Meet Punky. And he usually doesn’t trust men. Did you give him a cookie or something?”

“Nope, just a little lovin’. He was lonely.”

Punky normally didn’t like strangers and tended to keep his distance. Heck, he didn’t even like Russ, so this was some sort of miracle to say the least.

She almost couldn’t believe what lay right before her eyes, and wondered if Russ could have been so gentle and loving with Lily if the sheriff hadn’t shown up. Maybe that accounted for Russ’s early retreat... He’d felt intimidated by the sheriff and would have been as compassionate if he’d only gotten the chance. Russ was a compassionate and caring man. He’d merely been in a hurry to beat the snow or he would be sitting in that very chair right now instead of the sheriff...who she had absolutely nothing in common with.

Except for baby Lily.

But other than that, they were as different as rain and sunshine.

“And what about Lily? Did you give her some lovin’, as well?”

“It was just a matter of getting everything lined up right. The little sweetheart here was hungry. That tummy of hers probably hurt, plus I think it took her a while to settle into not having her mama feeding her. I don’t want to speculate on why a woman gives up her baby, but whatever the reason, it sure is tough on the child.”

“That goes for animals, as well. They get depressed, sometimes to the point of not wanting to eat. Plus, they cry a lot.”

“Exactly like Lily.”

“Well, she’s not crying now.”

“She’s one content little girl who’s getting sleepy. But I have to make sure she doesn’t have any gas in that tummy of hers before she sleeps.”

Coco watched as six feet four inches of muscled alpha male expertly tucked tiny baby Lily onto his receiving blanket–covered shoulder and rubbed her back as she squirmed and fretted over the loss of her food. Within moments a couple of hearty burps erupted, and Sheriff Wilson once again cradled Lily in his arms to feed her the rest of her bottle.

“Seems like you’ve done this a few times before,” Coco told him, amazed at his gentleness and ease with Lily. She was certain she’d be all nerves and frets if she had to feed her. Feeding a kitten or a baby goat or an abandoned foal was one thing, but a fragile baby was something entirely different.

“A few,” he told her, but she could tell he didn’t want to talk about it.

That never stopped her before. “Younger brothers and sisters?”

“None.”

“Nieces and nephews?”

“No siblings of any age.”

Coco perched herself on the edge of the sofa, intrigued now. “Then how...”

“One of the families I lived with consisted of a baby and a toddler, along with several other children. The older kids, like me, knew how to take care of themselves, but neither the baby nor the toddler got very much attention, which caused them to cry a lot. It was merely a matter of necessity. In order for me to get any of my homework done, I learned how to keep them content.”

“Where were their parents?”

“Like me, and like Lily here, their parents, for whatever reason, had abandoned them.”

Coco’s heart instantly shattered. She’d had no idea. “So you grew up in foster care?”

“Yep. From the time I was six years old, but that’s not anything to concern yourself with. What we need to think about now—” his voice spiraled down into a whisper “—is Lily.”

“The snow hasn’t let up at since you got here,” she whispered, thankful that Lily had finally fallen asleep. “I know you want to get her to Child Welfare or maybe to Valley Hospital, but the roads look treacherous.”

“What are you proposing?” He asked the question, but didn’t take his eyes off Lily.

She knew the sheriff was a stickler for the law, but she was hopeful that maybe he could bend the rules if she framed her idea exactly right. Besides Lily, her menagerie of animals downstairs was definitely not legal within city limits. Maybe if she offered to keep Lily for the night, he wouldn’t go snooping around her clinic, and even if he did, he’d let her slide without a fine...at least for now.

“Since it’s not safe out there for either you or Lily, you both can stay here for the night...if you want. Of course, I’m not trying to step on your toes when it comes to your authority. All I’m saying is, it’s a long way to Valley Hospital and then back to your apartment. Instead, I can put Lily down in her soft bassinet on my bed for the night and make up the sofa for you. I have a spare bedroom, but it’s for storage.”

He thought about it for a moment, as if his brain had to wrap itself around the idea that her proposal might come with illegal strings he couldn’t see.

“While you think about that,” she said, “can I get you anything to drink? Water? Coffee? Milk?”

“Actually, I’d take a shot of that scotch if I was going to stay. It’s been one heck of a night on a lot of counts.” He stood. “But I can’t stay. I tell you what. I’ll leave Lily in your care for the night, but I should get going while I can still do that. I’ll come by to pick her up in the morning once the roads are clear and I know for certain who will take her.”

“You don’t know that yet?”

“No. With the weather being what it is, the person I spoke to wasn’t really sure how to handle it.”

No way was Coco willing to let that baby go under those ambiguous circumstances.

“Then I’d be more than happy to take care of her tonight, and again, you’re more than welcome to stay, as well.”

“Thanks for the offer of your sofa.” He gazed over at it, looking skeptical.

“Okay, so maybe you wouldn’t be comfortable on my sofa. But if you slept on your side and bent your knees, five feet would be a perfectly acceptable fit.”

“I appreciate the offer, but that SUV can get through just about anything. Now, let’s get Lily settled in her bed.”

Coco picked up Lily’s cloth bassinet by the handles and made her way to the bedroom, where she placed it on the bed. Then, ever so carefully, the sheriff put Lily down on her back and expertly swaddled her with the blankets. Lily didn’t even stir, but let out a long sigh.

Then he did something she’d seen her own dad do a million times to each of his children, always feeling the love her dad had for his family. The only difference now was what the sheriff said...

He leaned over and gently kissed baby Lily on the forehead, tenderly stroked the top of her head and whispered, “Sleep well, Lily. You’re safe now.”

Then he exited the room, leaving Coco to wonder: Who are you and what have you done with by-the-book Sheriff Wilson?

* * *

WHEN JET STEPPED back outside into the quiet night, leaving the warmth of Doctor Grant and baby Lily behind, the cold wind instantly sent a shiver down his spine. The thought of trying to drive through all this heavy snow only to get back to the drafty, lonely jail made him a combination of angry and sad.

Angry at himself for not taking the doctor up on her kind offer to sleep on her sofa, and sad that his life had come to sleeping inside a jail cell on a hard cot.

He shook his head as he made his way to his rig, which was somehow completely packed in snow. Still, he told himself if Russ could make it out of there, so could he.

One problem.

He would need a good-sized shovel to dig his way out. It looked as though a snowplow had purposely shoved snow all around his SUV, making it impossible for him to get out.

But who would do such an inconsiderate thing to the sheriff’s rig?

At this point it didn’t matter. What did matter was that he’d made a big deal about not spending the night with the doctor.

He corrected himself. Not with the doctor, but at the doctor’s apartment. Was that the reason he didn’t take her up on her offer of the sofa? Didn’t he trust himself? Maybe he didn’t trust her? If she and Russ had an “open relationship,” would she try to seduce him?

He told himself that was plain silly.

He’d merely done the stand-up thing and left. Nothing more to it.

But now he was in a pickle, and had no choice but to take her up on that sofa offer.

“Fine,” he said aloud as he trudged back to her front door, the snow and cold wind blasting his face and hands with its bitter sting. He hated nights like this, nights when Mother Nature reminded him of her power, and when memories of his childhood came crashing back. He wished he could talk to Lily’s mom and tell her of the life that Lily more than likely would have. He’d like to somehow help Lily’s mom with whatever reason brought her to abandoning her child. But most of all, he hated that Lily would now be a ward of the state and he would be the one to hand her over.

The irony was too real. By the time he’d graduated from high school he’d lived with twelve different families. Most of them were good people, but a few of them were borderline abusive or simply neglectful. Those were the kinds of households that he hoped Lily would never run across, but he knew the odds were stacked against her. Once she went into the system, there was no telling who would be her temporary parents.

Life sure could stink at times, he thought as he made his way back up the three steps to Doctor Grant’s front porch, but before he was able to ring the bell for her apartment, she swung open the door and handed him that shot of scotch.

“Thanks,” he said after he drank it down. “I really needed that.”

“I figured as much,” she said, her voice low and sultry, feet bare, pretty little toes painted a bright pink.

No doubt about it, he was in for it now.