Bachelor Father (14 page)

“Good boy,” Brett said.

Jake faced Molly. “Good boy,” he
repeated.

“Yes, you’re a good boy.” Molly bent down and
kissed his cheek. His onyx eyes sparkled.

“Unca, good boy?”

Brett chuckled, waiting for her
answer.

“Well, yeah, Uncle Brett’s
a
pretty
good
boy.” She couldn’t resist the qualifier.

“Unca, kisses,” Jake commanded.

How had they gotten back to kisses? Darn
Jake’s tenacity.

Brett answered for Molly. “Sorry Bud, I think
Molly’s had enough excitement for this evening.

Excitement, indeed. But she’d accomplished
what she wanted, gotten Brett to discourage the welcome-home kiss.
So, why didn’t she feel triumphant?

Molly closed the dishwasher door and turned
the dial to wash. Brett always ran the dishwasher right before
turning in to make sure they’d have enough hot water for baths and
showers beforehand.

“Unca?” Jake padded into the kitchen in his
football jersey pajamas, for the third time since she’d put him to
bed.

She glanced at the clock. Quarter after
eleven. “Sweetie, Uncle Brett will be home soon.”

“Unca?” Jake sniffed.

Molly wished she could do more to comfort him,
to reassure him that Brett hadn’t disappeared from his life as had
his Korean foster mother and Kate and David. Brett’s night out may
have been as good for Jake as for Brett. Jake would have to get
used to Brett being gone all day once spring came and Brett’s
business picked up again.

She picked Jake up. His cheeks were flushed
with more than sleep and he felt warm. She’d better take his
temperature. Jake snuggled his head into her shoulder and
whimpered. Maybe she should call Brett. No, Jake had been sneezing
and coughing a bit earlier. He had a cold. She’d check and give him
something if his temperature was up.

An hour later, Molly lay in her
bed wide awake listening to the quiet punctuated by Jake’s even, if
somewhat raspy breathing. She heard a car door slam and Brett’s
whistling. His team must have won, or maybe, as she’d suggested, it
had just been good for him to get out with adults. She smiled to
herself, picturing him cheering his team, laughing with his
friends, flirting with the ladies. Tina was probably there. She
seemed to be a regular member of his crowd. A pang of envy struck
Molly. He was
her
husband after all. She couldn’t stop feeling left out, which
was silly since she’d been the one who’d all but made him
go.

Brett’s footsteps resounded heavily on the
wood stairs. She listened to him walk down the hall to Jake’s room.
The door opened. Molly waited long enough for Brett to have checked
on Jake and listened for footsteps to return to her end of the
hall. Surely, if Brett thought anything was wrong with Jake, he’d
come and talk with her. Satisfied everyone was home and well, Molly
rolled over, cocooned the covers around her, and fell
asleep.

Brett stepped into the hall and closed the
door. Jake’s breathing had sounded a little loud, labored. Maybe he
should go wake Molly and ask her if she thought anything was wrong.
No, he headed to his room. Molly would have waited up to talk with
him if she thought Jake was sick.

Chapter Ten

Molly caught sight of the deer bounding out of
the woods and automatically slammed on her brakes. A sense of
powerlessness seized her as she hit a patch of black ice and
skidded to the right-hand side of the road, stopping inches from an
enormous pine tree. She turned the car off.

Foomp
.
The tree, with help from the blustery winds dropped a load of snow
on her windshield. Molly leaned her head on the steering wheel, and
breathed deeply to slow her racing heart. A deer would have made
scrap metal out of her little car.

Since she hadn’t quite mastered all the finer
points of Northeast winter driving, she shouldn’t have let her
attention wander. But she had a lot on her mind, particularly
concern that Brett had never called after Jake’s doctor’s
appointment, like he’d said he would. The little boy’s cold had
worsened over the past couple of days, and his temperature had
spiked this morning.

She relaxed her grip on the steering wheel.
Brett would have called if Jake were really sick, wouldn’t he?
Maybe he had called. She’d left work a little early to stop by the
condo. Her renters were on a two-week vacation and had asked her to
keep an eye on the place and water the plants. Most of the plants
were Molly’s anyway.

With the weather forecast for tonight and
tomorrow, maybe she should have stayed over. She had a standing
offer from her tenants to do so anytime the weather was bad, and
she might have if she weren’t so worried about Jake. The solitude
of the condo had been kind of nice and had helped ground her in
reality. Lately she’d been catching herself making long-term plans,
as if she and Brett and Jake were a real family. Stopping by the
condo reminded her where her home was.

Molly lifted her head, switched her windshield
wipers on and blinked at the fading afternoon sun glistening on the
whiteness surrounding her. She started the car and carefully pulled
back on the road, driving over-cautiously the rest of the way. As
she turned into the driveway, she thought all she needed to make
her day complete would be for Tina to be at the house. Tina seemed
to be there an awful lot. For a successful attorney, Tina didn’t
have a very busy workweek, or else she made a point to schedule
hours of time to spend with Brett and Jake.

Pushing the petty thoughts from her head,
Molly stepped from the car and headed toward the house. As she
opened the door, she almost collided with Tina and Amy. Molly moved
out of the way and waved them by. Well, at least Tina was
leaving.

Tina didn’t move. “Molly, where have you
been?” she demanded. “Brett phoned you at work more than two hours
ago, and the receptionist said you’d left.”

“Hello, to you, too, or rather
good-bye.” Molly swung the door open wider. “You
are
leaving?” She could
have bitten her tongue. Tina sure brought the worst out in her. Her
cheeks colored as she watched Tina’s face for a
reaction.

Tina ignored the snipe. “You’ve got to get to
the hospital, and you need to bring these.” Tina shoved a sheaf of
papers at Molly. “Jake’s medical records from Korea.”

“What’s wrong?” Molly felt like someone had
kicked her in the stomach.

“The doctor wasn’t sure. It might be
pneumonia. He sent Brett to the emergency room, where they admitted
Jake to the children’s floor.”

Molly gripped the door handle for support.
Poor baby; poor Brett. She had to get to the hospital.

Molly took the papers from Tina, and
negotiated the way to her car carefully. With nightfall and the
light, but steady snow showers, everything was icing up.

“Molly.” Tina stood on the porch, Amy beside
her, her little mitten hand clasped securely in her mother’s.
“Drive safely, so you arrive all in one piece. Brett’s going to
need you.”

She nodded and waved to Tina and Amy. A warmth
not attributable to the car heater filled the car as she realized
Tina could have gone to the hospital with Brett and Jake, but Brett
had wanted her. Tina’s words echoed, “Brett’s going to need
you.”

Molly quickly wiped the moisture from her eyes
and concentrated on driving. She justified the intensity of her
feelings by reminding her it was her job, her duty to see to Jake’s
proper care and give Brett the support he needed. She’d do the same
for any of her clients. Well, almost.

By the time she reached the city again, the
weather had grown much worse. Molly crept along the interstate,
eyes open for the hospital off ramp. Finally, she spotted it. She
signaled and tapped her brakes to warn the car following her that
she was slowing down. Her car slid slightly, but she was able to
keep it in control and exit the interstate. Ah, what she wouldn’t
have given to be driving Brett’s four-wheel-drive Wrangler. He’d
told her to take it today, but she’d figured he should keep it to
get to Jake’s appointment.

Fortunately, the hospital was in the first
block off the exit. As she locked her car, Molly scanned the
deserted visitor’s parking lot and shivered. At least she’d been
able to park close to the building under the lights. Clutching her
satchel, she plowed up the unshoveled walkway to the lobby
door.

Inside, a bored-looking woman staffed the
information window. She frowned at Molly. “Visiting hours were over
at eight-thirty,” the woman said before Molly could even open her
mouth to ask about Jake.

Molly checked the lobby clock.
Eight-thirty-five. The drive home from work and back to Albany had
taken her more than three hours. Assuming a no-nonsense tone, Molly
said, “This is an emergency.” She pulled Jake’s medical papers from
her satchel and placed them on the information window counter. “I’m
supposed to deliver these medical records. A child’s life may
depend on this information.”

“The child’s name?” The woman looked at the
papers on the counter in front of her.

“Jake Cahill,” Molly answered.

The woman eyed her suspiciously. “These papers
here say “Shin, Keebok.”

“That’s his Korean name. His American name is
Jake . . . wait, not Cahill.” What was Brett’s sister’s married
name? Peters? No, Peterson. “Jake Peterson. His uncle Brett Cahill
brought him in.”

Turning to a computer keyboard, the woman
asked, “Peterson? Is that with one T or two?”

“One. P-e-t-e-r-s-o-n.” Molly’s voice rose a
note higher with exasperation as she spoke each letter.

“Are you family?” the woman asked. “Only
immediately family members are allowed on the children’s floor
after visiting hours.”

“I’m his adoption caseworker,” Molly answered
with quiet authority, flipping her wallet open to her Thayer House
identification card.

The woman glanced at the card. “I guess it’s
okay.” She typed a few keystrokes. “This’ll take a minute,” the
woman said, drumming her long red nails on the desktop while lines
scrolled by on the computer screen.

The sound set Molly’s already frazzled nerves
on edge. After what seemed like minutes, the screen stopped
scrolling.

“I don’t find any Jake Peterson.”

“Then, try Jake Cahill. That’s
C-a-h-i-l-l.”

The computer screen resumed
scrolling.

“Here he is. Room 2235. That’s up the elevator
and to the right.”

“Thanks.” Molly picked up Jake’s medical
records and crossed the lobby to the elevators. At the second floor
nurses’ station, Molly introduced herself to the head nurse and
gave her Jake’s medical records.

“How is he?” Molly asked.

“It’s a little touch and go,” the nurse said.
“Pneumonia can be stubborn. His temperature is still up, which has
the doctor concerned about meningitis. But he seems to be resting
quietly now.”

Meningitis. One of the Thayer
house foster children had almost died of meningitis. Her foster
parents had thought the child had a flu and put off taking her to
the doctor. Molly’s throat tightened so she could hardly swallow.
Had she and Brett missed something, waited too long?
Get a grip
, she
admonished herself. “He’ll be all right, though?” she asked the
nurse

“We’ll know more after the resident makes
night rounds,” nurse answered guardedly.

“Can I go in?”

“Sure,” the nurse said. “His uncle’s with him
and could probably use a break. He hasn’t left the boy’s side since
the emergency room transferred him up here.”

Molly pushed open the door to Jake’s room and
smiled. Both of her guys were resting quietly, Jake tucked into the
hospital crib, his favorite blanket clutched to him; Brett sprawled
in the chair beside the bed. Poor Brett. She’d heard him up with
Jake off and on all of last night.

Molly walked over to the crib. Jake looked so
small and helpless with the mist tent surrounding him, an IV drip
in his hand. And so still, a cardboard cutout of his usual rowdy
self. She slipped her hand in the tent and caressed Jake’s ruddy
cheek, wondering whether it was chapped from the weather or the
fever. Maybe it was wishful thinking on her part, but he didn’t
seem overly warm to her.

Turning to the chair, she studied Brett. While
his calm and easy breathing contrasted with Jake’s labored breaths,
Brett’s expression was anything but calm. Even in his sleep, his
brow was creased with worry. Molly wished she could reach down and
smooth the creases away.

Brett mumbled as he shifted in the chair,
trying to get more comfortable. His elbow slipped from the arm of
the chair and he jerked awake. He squinted trying to focus in the
dim light and get his bearings. The hospital smell that permeated
the room filled his nostrils.

“Hi.” Molly’s concerned smile brightened the
room.

“You got my message. The receptionist had said
you’d left.” He rushed on, “Did you bring the copies of Jake’s
medical records? I told Tina to give then to you.”