Enchanting Baby

“Oh, man,” Greg sighed. “It must have freaked you out when I showed up in town.”

“Yes. It alarmed the people at The Birth Place, too. But though the police have no real idea what this Simon person looks like, they do know his voice, and it’s nothing like yours.”

“I’m so sorry for the stress I’ve caused you.” He turned his kind, sincere eyes on Maureen. “I thought she might have chosen this remote place because she was hiding from me—because she already knew about the baby.”

“No. This is the first we’ve heard of you.”

“So the people in California didn’t tell her there’d been a mistake, or even about the brownout?”

“No. The lab most certainly did not contact my daughter.” Maureen eyed Greg Glazier. “Why didn’t they?” She had a feeling this young man knew the answer to that question.

“I, uh, managed to convince them to agree to let me be the one to tell the mother. I thought it might be easier if she met me—”

“Exactly how did you convince them?” Maureen interrupted, thinking he’d probably used money or influence or some such thing.

“I agreed not to sue them for the mix-up in exchange for letting me find Ashleigh in my own way and tell her the truth in my own time.”

Maureen’s eyes went wide, as the whole situation became suddenly clear to her. This young man had been as injured as Ashleigh had been. Ashleigh was not carrying Chad’s child as she believed, but this Greg Glazier would never have any other children. At least Ashleigh could still have Chad’s child in the future if that’s what she chose. Both Ashleigh and this man had been robbed of their dreams. Both would be completely justified in seeking legal recompense.

Greg Glazier looked up at her with an apology in his eyes, waiting for her to speak. Here was a man who valued his child, and perhaps even her daughter’s feelings, more than money, more than winning, more than being justified or proved right in a court of law.

“Mr. Glazier, forgive me for being so personal, but you have to admit this is a highly personal situation here.”

He swallowed and nodded.

“You are obviously a handsome, successful person.” Like my daughter, Maureen thought, and a fleeting notion occurred to her that this man might be a good match for Ashleigh. “Someday, surely, you will marry and build a life with some equally attractive and successful young woman. Surely, under the circumstances, you don’t want to complicate your future by laying claim to the baby of some other woman, a woman you don’t even know.”

“This is not some other woman’s baby.” A fierce determination undergirded his words. “This is my baby.”

“This baby means that much to you?”

“This baby…” He swallowed again and the sound was dry, desperate. “Mrs. McGuinness, this baby is the only person I have left in this world.”

Maureen stared at the young man who threatened to turn her daughter’s life inside out. “I have to think about this,” she said, finding she was barely able to draw a full breath. “I have to discuss the best course of action with Ashleigh’s doctor, if that’s possible without her consent.” She rubbed her brow.

“I understand,” he said very quietly, with a slight frown forming between those dark brows. “But you have to understand that I also have to do what I think is right. I’m still going to try in every way I can to make contact with your daughter.”

Maureen stared at him, hoping he wasn’t remembering that she’d said Ashleigh was at the clinic. As she stared at his strong profile, it struck her again that it was a shame Ashleigh couldn’t have met him under different circumstances.

“I have to go,” she said.

There were no door handles on the inside, so Greg tapped on the Plexiglas barrier and Officer Eiden got out and opened the door of the cruiser. Maureen scrambled out like a fleeing prisoner.

“Goodbye” was all she said to the cop before marching down the sidewalk.

“I’ll get in the front,” Greg told Eiden as he scooted across the plastic-covered seat.

Maureen looked back before rounding the corner of the café. She saw Greg Glazier unfold his long frame and step out into the New Mexico sunshine with the slow, steady movements of a man who could wait forever, if necessary, to get the one thing he really wanted.

CHAPTER FIVE

THE FIRST THING SIMON FISCHER did when he got to Enchantment was locate the clinic called The Birth Place. On the way here from Denver, his car, a battered old Ford Crown Victoria, had started smoking from the tailpipe, and he wondered how far he would be able to make it once he hit the road with the baby. Mexico? That would be good.

In his trunk he had baby things he’d bought at a thrift store. He’d made up a fake e-mail address and sent one last message to Lydia Kane at The Birth Place before he had emptied his bank accounts and sold his only item of value—his computer. Then, he’d bought some photography equipment at the same pawn shop.

None of that mattered now. Simon was on a mission.

He sat in his car in front of the clinic, while the oily exhaust pumped out of the tailpipe and his tortured mind pumped out his risky, thrilling plans.

Simon felt his mind was his best weapon. When he’d discovered that Ashleigh Logan had left Denver, like a computer quick-searching files, his mind had fed him the name of this place. And then Simon remembered—oh, Simon Fischer had a great, long, ferocious memory—the All About Babies episode where that Lydia Kane woman and the two midwives had been guests. They were from this remote birthing clinic in the New Mexico mountains. A small town called Enchantment. With only a little time on the Net, Simon’s search efforts were richly rewarded. He printed the maps to Enchantment, counting on two things: Ashleigh Logan would feel safe in this remote place; and these women at the clinic wouldn’t mind a little publicity.