Sun-Kissed Baby

She turned to the other two women, who were obviously taking everything in. “Did either of you know the man Alicia was seeing?”

One shook her head and the other explained, “We’ve only been here a month and didn’t know her very well, but we went to her funeral because we liked her.”

“It was so sad,” her friend added. “But we talked about it later, how tired she seemed all the time. She would sit down every chance she got, and I thought she was breathing heavy a couple of times.”

If only Carlee had insisted Alicia see a doctor. Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda, as the taunting saying went. It was too late for regrets now.

Carlee felt her frustration growing. “Well, is there anybody working now who was here when Alicia was seeing her mystery man?”

“Bonnie Handel was,” one of the girls on the railing said with a snap of her fingers. “I heard her say she’s been here since the place opened four years ago. Others come and go, but not Bonnie.”

“Why should she leave?” the other said with a snicker. “She’s the hostess and the cashier and gets to sit on a stool behind the counter all night. She doesn’t work her fanny off like we do.”

Carlee, feeling a wave of excitement, cried, “Where can I find her?”

“Try looking over your shoulder,” Marcy said, handing Scotty back to her.

Carlee guessed Bonnie to be in her mid-fifties. She was attractive with silver-tinted hair and ice-blue eyes framed by shimmering turquoise shadow. The black satin blouse she was wearing with tight white slacks revealed the care she had taken of her figure through the years.

Carlee quickly introduced herself and explained why she had come.

“We can talk in the office.” Bonnie led the way, and once they were inside, closed the door, leaned against the desk and flashed a big grin. “I want you to know I’m glad you’re going to try and track him down. The creep deserves to have to pay through the nose for walking out on that poor girl. If it’d been me, he’d have never gotten away with it, and I told her that.”

Carlee soberly agreed. “I know. I tried, too.”

“She fell for him like a ton of bricks, and I can’t blame her, because he was nice-looking. A real hunk. She lit up like a launch from the Cape the first night he came in. He was in her station, all by himself, and she hovered over him like you wouldn’t believe. He started coming in every night, and I’d see them leave together and knew things were getting hot.

“She’d talk to me about him a little from time to time,” Bonnie continued. “I’m older than the others are, and I’ve always been a good listener, so they come to me with their troubles sometimes. Alicia said he was married, but he was trying to get a divorce—only his wife was giving him a hard time. I told her I’d never known a married man yet who was fooling around that didn’t say the exact same thing. But she said she believed he really cared about her, and even when he quit coming around, she held out hope he’d come back.”

Scotty was getting heavy and starting to fret. Carlee sat down in a chair and poked his pacifier into his mouth. “How long were they together? Do you remember?”

Bonnie pursed her lips in thought, then said, “Oh, it was only a few weeks. She really fell hard and fast. It was something, all right. She totally flipped for the guy.”

“And then he just disappeared,” Carlee said, more to herself than Bonnie. “Maybe she was right in figuring he went back to his wife. She said she wasn’t going to chase after him, that if he really loved her, he’d come back to her on his own.”

“Oh, yeah, right.” Bonnie rolled her eyes. “And he swore he did, too. She told me that. He said it was love at first sight, that he’d never felt like that about a woman before. He had a line, all right.”

“Did she ever tell you his name?” Carlee probed hopefully. “She’d refer to him only as Nick, and once I asked her for his last name, but she wouldn’t say.”

“Well, she said that from the very beginning he made her promise to keep everything between them hush-hush, because if his wife found out, she’d make it that much harder for him to get the divorce. How come you’re looking for him? To get him to take the baby?”

Carlee was taken aback. “No, no, of course not. I love Scotty and plan to raise him myself.”

“Were you related to Alicia?”

“We were best friends, but she wanted me to have him. She signed a paper naming me guardian right before she died, and…” Carlee trailed off, embarrassed to share so much information. All she wanted was the name of Scotty’s father and where to locate him. She didn’t want to confide anything.

Bonnie gave a disgusted snort. “He wouldn’t want him, anyhow. But since that’s not what you’re after, then it can only be money. Good luck there, because after he abandoned her like he did, I can’t see him paying child support unless you want to take him to court. That means paternity testing, hiring a lawyer to go after him. You’re talking big bucks.”

Carlee hoped it wouldn’t come to that. “I just want to find him and give him a chance to do what’s right. After all, he doesn’t even know he has a child and—”

“What’s that you say?” Bonnie stared at her incredulously, hands on her hips. “I don’t think I heard you right.”

Uneasily, Carlee repeated herself.

“Honey, is that what Alicia told you—that he didn’t know she was pregnant?”

With a chill of foreboding, Carlee hugged Scotty a little closer. “She said she never got a chance to tell him, because all of a sudden he just stopped coming around. And like I told you, she wanted him to come back because he loved her, not because he felt obligated, so she didn’t go looking for him.”

Bonnie swung her head from side to side, laughing softly, sadly, then said, “Boy, if pride could be bottled and swallowed, Alicia would have stayed drunk on hers. She was just too ashamed to tell you the truth—she did tell him she was going to have his baby, but he told her to get an abortion. They had a fight over it, right out there on that deck one night after we closed. I know, because I heard every word. It was real smoky in here that night, and I wasn’t feeling good and went out to get some fresh air before checking out the register. They didn’t see me in the shadows.”

Carlee felt sick. “I…I don’t believe it.”

“Believe it, honey, ’cause it’s true. He told her to get an abortion, and she told him to go to hell. And that’s the last anybody ever saw of him around here.”

Now she knew why Alicia had not wanted to talk about asking him for help. He’d been, in her mind, as shiftless and irresponsible as her father. And when he’d so cruelly and callously told her to have an abortion, it had been just as humiliating as when her father’s lover had thrown money in her mother’s face.

It all made sense now, and she was even more determined to find this guy and make him do right by Scotty. She said as much to Bonnie.

The woman nodded with understanding and allowed that she didn’t blame her one bit. “The no-good creep should have to pay through the nose. I hope you do find him.”

“Yeah, right,” Carlee said bitterly as she stood and prepared to leave. “I don’t even know his name.”

“Well, I do.”

She had already turned but whipped about to stare in wonder. “I thought Carlee never told you.”

Bonnie smiled. “She didn’t. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t know it. He was paying his bar tab one night and dropped his wallet. Everything fell out of it. I bent down to help him pick it all up and happened to get a look at his driver’s license. His name is Nick Starke.”

Carlee felt like shouting with joy. “And did you see his address—where he lives?”

“Just the town. He snatched it out of my hand like he didn’t want me to see it. I thought that was funny at the time, but figured maybe he was afraid I’d find out who he was and call his wife and tell her about him cattin’ around with Alicia.”

“So what town? Where?” Carlee was shaking.

“I have no idea where it is, but I remember the name because it’s so weird for Florida—Snow Hill.”

“Snow Hill, Florida. Nick Starke.” Carlee rolled the words around in her suddenly dry mouth. “Starke…” she whispered. “Starke…Groves…”

“What’s that?” Bonnie asked.

But Carlee was halfway out the door. “Thank you so much, Bonnie. You’ve been a great help.”

Carlee’s head was spinning she was so excited. One day at the gift shop, her boss had been talking about all the big orange growers in the state, and now she recalled him saying that Starke Groves was one of the largest and most profitable.

He’d also said it was located in the oddly named town of Snow Hill, Florida. And if Nick Starke had anything to do with Starke Groves, he could well afford to help support his child.

The parking lot was filling up quickly as people getting off work arrived to unwind at Happy Hour. As soon as Carlee backed out of her spot, someone pulled in. Scotty let out a howl, and she realized she’d dropped his pacifier somewhere.