The Baby Snatchers (8 page)

Was that normal? Perhaps he should be
doing more to help her?
The problem was, he had no idea what to
expect, or what to do. If it were a guy, he’d get him busy with
sports, like football or car racing or even hiking in the
mountains, but Cynthia was a girl—and a teenager at that. He had no
idea what teenage girls did to distract themselves when things got
tough.

Maybe he should contact the midwife?
She’d introduced herself as Georgie Whitely and had seemed to care
what happened to his sister. Perhaps Ms Whitely could help give him
some ideas about what to do. She was a woman and a baby nurse,
experienced in dealing with young mothers. She probably knew better
than he did what they needed to help them heal when life took an
unexpected and tragic turn.

Thoughts of the spirited midwife suddenly
filled his head. The fire in her dark brown eyes and the passion in
her voice when she’d spoken to him about his sister remained fixed
in his memory. She’d only met Cynthia the day prior to his arrival
and yet it was clear the nurse already cared a great deal about
what happened to her. Georgie Whitely had a generous heart. She
also had a sweet ass and lips that looked so full and soft he
couldn’t help but wonder what they’d taste like.

He could phone her on the pretext of needing
advice. It wasn’t really a pretext… After all, she already knew
he’d agreed to take care of Cynthia. A fortnight down the track, it
wasn’t a stretch to imagine he might be experiencing difficulties.
Grief was such a personal thing. Everyone dealt with it
differently. A teenage girl, mourning the loss of her baby, was not
the run-of-the-mill variety.

Besides, his request for advice wouldn’t be
deceitful. He
was
struggling to know just what it was
Cynthia needed. The feeling of helplessness was so foreign to him,
frustration was raising its ugly head along with increasing fatigue
and the last thing his sister needed was to be living with an
irritable brother. He needed to get a handle on things and
understand what it was she was going through. Then he might be in a
position to help her more effectively, beyond his lame efforts, to
date.

Glancing at his watch, he noticed he still
had fifteen minutes before the premier was due to arrive. He
reached across his desk for the phone and called directory
assistance, seeking the number for the Sydney Harbour Hospital. He
didn’t know if Georgie would be at work, but he was willing to give
it a shot. Without her private phone number, the hospital was his
only way of contacting her.

He listened while the robotic,
computer-generated voice gave him the information he sought.
Scrawling the number on a piece of paper for future reference, he
ended the call and then dialed again, this time to the hospital.
The phone was answered on the second ring.

“Sydney Harbour Hospital. May I help
you?”

“Could you put me through to Ward Seven,
please?”

Cam waited while the phone rang out again,
this time for much longer than before. At last, it was picked up
and a woman answered.

“Ward Seven.”

Cam cleared his suddenly dry throat. “Ah,
I’m wondering if Georgie Whitely is available.”

“Yes, she is. May I ask who’s calling?”

“Cameron Dawson. My sister was a patient on
your ward a fortnight ago. Nurse Whitely took care of her. I was
wondering if I could speak with her.”

There was a slight pause and then the woman
answered. “I’ll see if she’s free. I won’t be a minute.”

Silence greeted him on the other end. Cam
knew that at any moment Georgie could pick up the phone to talk to
him and his guts twisted with nerves.

What was he going to say to her?
Just come right out with it and ask her for a date?
No, that
wouldn’t do. He’d play it cool, ask her for advice about Cynthia
and gage her reaction; work his way up from there.

“Georgie Whitely.”

The sound of her earthy, no-nonsense voice
brought back a rush of memories of his all-too-brief encounter with
the pretty midwife. Once again, he cleared his throat.

“Georgie, it’s Cameron Dawson. I’m—”

“Cynthia’s brother,” she interrupted. “Yes,
I remember. Is she okay?”

The concern was back in her voice and Cam
felt warmth spread through him. Georgie Whitely was just as good
and kind as he’d guessed. Throw in the fact she was sexy as hell
and he couldn’t help but be interested. He only hoped she was
single and that she might be open to getting to know him
better.

Realizing she was still waiting for him to
respond, he answered in a rush. “Um, kind of. The thing is, I don’t
really know. Cynthia’s been seeing that psychiatrist you
recommended and some days she seems all right, but she still cries
herself to sleep all the time and I wake up and hear her crying
through the night. The truth is, I’m not sure what else I can do to
help her. I was hoping you might have some ideas.”

“Poor Cynthia! She’s so young to be dealing
with this kind of stuff! It would get an adult down, let alone a
teen! It sounds like you’re doing all the right things. It’s only
been a fortnight. It’s going to take some time.”

“So a fortnight’s not too long to still be
completely in distress… Is that what you’re saying?”

“Grief is a personal thing,” the woman on
the other end of the phone explained in a gentle voice. “Some
people take longer than others to find their way back to the way
they used to be. Give her time. Other than the things you’re
already doing, that’s all you can do.”

Cam swallowed his impatience. “I get that, I
really do. But I’m a guy. We fix problems by
doing
things.
It’s the only way we know how. But Cynthia isn’t interested in any
of my suggestions to do things and I was hoping that you might have
some of your own… Being a woman and all…”

His words drifted off and he cursed under
his breath. Heat crept across his cheeks. But when she spoke again
she didn’t sound offended; rather her tone was amused and he was
relieved.

“Well,” she began, “being a woman and all,
I’d probably want to be left alone. It’s what
we
do to fix
problems. We turn inward and examine the issue from every angle,
analyzing, dissecting, going over it again and again. It’s probably
not the best way to deal with grief. In fact, it’s probably the
worst thing we can do, but that’s the way it is for many of
us.”

“That’s exactly what Cynthia’s doing!” he
exclaimed. “She spends hours in her room with the blinds drawn,
sitting alone in the dark. I try and talk with her, to engage her
and interest her in other things, but she just keeps shutting me
down.”

“You’re giving her everything she needs
right now. A safe place to live, food in her stomach, unconditional
love and support. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Losing a loved
one, particularly a baby, is tough on everyone. Don’t forget, she’s
only sixteen. Like I said, you’re going to have to give her
time.”

“And then what?” he pushed, needing
something more concrete to focus on. “Can you suggest anything I
can
do
to help? I can’t stand by and watch her in distress
without
doing
something.”

Georgie chuckled quietly in his ear. “There
you go, wanting to do something again. Men and women are different.
We don’t think about things the same way, but if you really do want
to
do
something, how about taking her to the movies, or to a
concert given by her favorite local band? What are her hobbies, her
interests? What did she do in her spare time, before the baby,
before her life took such a tragic turn?”

Cam frowned and tried to think of anything
his sister enjoyed. The truth was, he didn’t know. She’d been a kid
when he’d left home and if he were honest, he’d been shocked at the
changes in her since he’d last seen her. The physical signs of her
grief were difficult to take, but the other signs of the life she’d
lived beforehand jarred him even more.

The first time he’d seen her, her hair
looked like it hadn’t been washed for longer than he cared to
think. Her fingernails were chipped and broken and stained with
what looked like years of dirt, despite the fact he was almost
certain she would have been given a shower prior to giving birth.
She’d worn a clean white hospital gown that day, but still the
unmistakeable stench of body odor had permeated the air. Apart from
her big blue eyes that had filled with tears upon seeing him, she
looked nothing like the little girl he remembered from his
unsettling past.

Though he was burning to know what had
happened in the years since he’d been tossed out of their family
home, he accepted her need for solitude and for time to come to
terms with the death of her child. The little information he’d been
able to glean from her was that she’d run away from home. He could
only assume relations had deteriorated even more between her and
their parents after he’d left.

A few nights earlier, they’d both been
unable to sleep and found themselves out on the balcony. She hadn’t
offered any details why she’d left home, but she’d told him about
the father of her baby and how she’d met him on the street. Albert,
the baby’s dad, was a little older than her and kind of cute and
most of all, he’d made her laugh. For nearly a year they’d been
sharing space and comforting each other in an abandoned warehouse.
And then she’d realized she was pregnant.

Cam was secretly horrified that she’d risked
her health in such a dangerous way by having unprotected sex—even
if it was with only one partner—but he forced his anxious thoughts
away in an effort to concentrate on what she was trying to share
with him about her past. She wasn’t stupid, by any means, but it
wasn’t like she was in a position to head to the nearest drugstore
and purchase what was required.

It was obvious she’d been needy, starved for
love and affection. Albert had come along and offered her the
comfort she so desperately wanted. At the time, getting pregnant
was probably the least of his sister’s worries.

He wanted to ask if she’d been tested for
STDs, but didn’t want to say or do anything to disturb their
fragile connection. He could only hope the hospital had a policy
and tested the young moms for those things as a matter of
course.

Now, he waited for answers from another
woman and wondered what she’d say. He only hoped that it would be
something he could put into practice to ease the suffering from his
little sister’s face.

“What if
I
take her somewhere?” she
suggested.

Georgie’s question broke into his thoughts
and he snapped back to attention.

“I could take her to a spa,” she added. “We
could have a facial or a massage. We could even do our nails. I’ve
been planning to do that anyway, as a way to relax on a day off. Do
you think she’d enjoy something like that?”

Cam blinked. It had never occurred to him
that Cynthia might like a day of pampering and relaxation, but the
more he pondered it, the more he thought she would. He still
remembered when she was a little girl, how much she loved painting
her nails. She’d prance around the house with a different color on
every finger and proudly wave them in front of his face.

‘
Look, Cam! Aren’t they pretty? Don’t you
just love the colors?’
she’d say. Then she’d giggle. He
couldn’t help but smile at the memory.

“I think it’s a great idea!” he said. “But I
can’t expect you to take her. I mean, you barely know her. I get
that you care, and I think that’s great, but—”

“Cameron, I’m happy to do it. Can’t we just
leave it at that?”

Cam’s gut clenched at her use of his name.
It was the first time she’d called him anything other than Mr
Dawson. The name had never sat well with him. As far as he was
concerned, Mr Dawson was his father. One of the things Cam liked
about being a police officer was that he was forever introduced as
Detective Sergeant Dawson. No more Mr Dawson for him and that’s
just the way he liked it.

Now, indecision gnawed at his gut. He wanted
so much to accept Georgie’s invitation, but was it fair to have her
do this for them?

No, not for
them
. For his sister. He
had to remind himself she was offering to do it because she was
kind and good, not because she wanted to get inside his pants. A
guilty flush swept over his cheeks, but he refused to pay it any
heed.
So what if he found her attractive?
It wasn’t a crime
and it wasn’t like he could help it. If she didn’t feel the same
way about him, then so be it. At least he would have given it a
try. And in the meantime, she might just be able to help his little
sister, and for that, he’d do anything.

He released the breath he hadn’t been aware
he’d been holding and blew it out on a relieved sigh. “Okay. Thank
you. I… I really appreciate what you’re doing.”

She laughed. “Well, I haven’t done anything
yet, but let’s hope Cynthia responds. It’s important for her to
embrace the world again and every good thing in it. She’s young.
She’s resilient. Be patient. All she needs is—”

“Time,” he interrupted with a smile. “Don’t
worry, I get it.”

“When do you think I should call on her?”
Georgie asked.

“I’m at work at the moment, but I’ll speak
with her tonight. I’ll phone you later, if you like. Are there any
days you aren’t available? When’s your next day off?”

“I have a couple of days off coming up. If
you let me know in the morning whether she’s keen, I’ll have time
to book an appointment at the day spa.”

Cam nodded in satisfaction. “It sounds like
a plan.”

“I’ll give you my cell number. That way you
can reach me when I’m away from work.” She gave Cam the details and
straight away he added them to his phone.

He’d achieved even more than he’d set out
to, having not only obtained her help with Cynthia, but he’d gained
the promise of her company, too. Okay, so he wouldn’t be
accompanying them to the spa, but she still had to come to his home
to collect his sister and then return her again. That presented an
array of opportunities, limited only by his imagination.