Okay. When Sheila served dinner, Justin didnt even look up, just kept his eyes on hers, encouraging her to keep talking.
Theres no great foster-care family waiting in the wings. The court finds a place when it has to. Thats the way it is. So there are the Barkers, whove already taken in two kids, even though they barely had room for the second one. They can take in a baby for a couple of weeks if theres no other place. Theyre good people, but they dont want Angel, Doc.
Okay.
And theres another family on the foster-care list She pushed her fork around fretfully. On paper, theyre qualified. In reality, weve never put a child with them. Hesmells. She dresses vintage Victorian to scrub her bathroom. Im not saying anythings that terrible, but there seem to be some raisins missing in their bran, you know? They claim to desperately want kids, that they cant have their own, be happy to foster. But Im telling you-
Angel isnt going there. Justin, God love him, didnt waste time phrasing the comment as a question.
Again, her shoulders eased. He understood. I realize that doesnt mean that Im the best choice to take care of the baby. Or that Im entitled. In any way. But-
Oh, shut up, Win. You dont have to justify anything to me. He peeked at the snoozing baby as he started wolfing his burger. So keep on talking. Whats happened so far with the parent search? I take it you havent found the babys mother?
God knows, Im trying.
But?
She started filling him in. Leading her mom-suspect list were a couple of teenage girls. Both troubled. Both had histories of drinking and truancy. Both came from rich families where the parents had recently shipped them off to residential ranches. You know the kind of place Im talking about. They have a dry-out program, but its also a live-in school, all the academics. The idea is to remove the kids from the environment that was contributing to their trouble, see if professionals and positive peers cant help turn the kids around.
Actually, I dont know anything about those places, but its obvious you do.
Yeah. And some of them are excellent. Kids do take a wrong turn sometimes. Especially if they cant get away from bad peer influences on their own. The only thing that ticks me off is how expensive they are, its not like everyone can take advantage. But, anyway, on those two specific girls-neither of them was pregnant, according to their parents.
Which means?
Which means nothing. The parents could be lying, thinking that theyre protecting their daughters. So I cant be sure until Ive checked that out, and thats going to take longer than overnight. She lifted a forkful of cheddar cheese mashed potatoes, but then let it drop again. In the meantime, I picked up news about another kid. Parents live in a trailer park, dad works in the oil fields, girl got pregnant at fourteen, supposedly had the baby in the family trailer and it died. Only maybe the baby didnt die. Maybe thats what the girl said to avoid trouble, and if so, and if her child was Angel, then it could well have fetal alcohol syndrome-at best. But right now, I have no grounds to haul in the girl and force her to take a medical exam. She glared at Justin. Im almost positive that this girl isnt Angels mother. But if she werethen either of those foster-care families would be the worst place to put a baby with those kinds of special problems.
I hear you. Youre saying youd want to take in Angel even more if you thought she had special problems. Not less. But in the meantime, how come youre so positive that that one girl isnt Angels mom?
Well, I cant be positive-but whoever is the mom of that baby knew me personally. She had to. I mean, she not only left the baby at my house, but left a personal note to me. And I didnt know that kid in the trailer park from Adam-or anyone in her family. Sheila stopped by the table, delivered the warmed bottle and two gigantic pieces of pie, but when she couldnt get another conversation going, moved on again. I spent hours in the schools today. And on the computer. Found three runaways. Six truant cases. Im still trying to follow up on all of them. Then I hit the docs, the clinics, the obstetricians, Planned Parenthood. I swear I could smack em all upside the head. None of those people talk. Theyd guard the confidentiality of a kid in trouble no matter what. Its like trying to get blood out of a turnip. So then I tried calling ministers and priests and rabbi Rachel-
He glanced over at her plate, and stole some of the chops she wasnt eating.
Theyve all got worry-lists of girls or kids they think are promiscuous. But whether any of those girls were for sure pregnant at the time Angels mom had to be-no one knows. One minister gave me a couple of names to check out. So did one of the vice principals at the high school.
But? He held out a tidbit of pork chop on a fork, until she bit into it and chewed.
But it could be an adult woman. Its not like the mother had to be a teenager. She swallowed, only to have the exasperating man nudge another bite toward her mouth. So I called the womens shelter. Asked if anyone was pregnant at the time Angels mom had to be. Since this woman knew my name, I keep thinking that if I could just get some clues, some ideas, I might recognize her in some way. And Im looking for a grown-up now, a woman with the means to hide a pregnancy, but for some reason feels she cant keep her baby. Unfortunately, the people at the shelter were as bad as the doctors. Angels mom could have been right there, but no one was about to tell me. I understand confidentiality. I believe in it, for Petes sake. Only its been days now, and I cant get a solid lead to save my life.
Win, Justin stopped trying to coax her into more food. Are you positive that you want a lead?
The question startled her. Are you asking me if Id drag my feet because of wanting the baby for myself? She shook her head, fast, fiercely. I admit Ive fallen in love with her. I know its only been three days, but I swear she already feels like shes mine. But theres only one way I can make this right, Justin. To find the mom. To know what the whole story is. Then to legally go after doing whatevers right for Angel. I admit, I want her. But theres still only one way to drive down this street, and thats the right way. You know how it is. The truthll come back to bite you in the butt if you dont face it down to start with.
Um, is that a Texas saying?
She grinned. No, but it should be, dont you think?
What I think, Ms. Raye, is that youve got too much on your plate-and thats a problem that youd be really, really stupid not to let me help you with. What the hell good is it to have a friend with a ton of money unless you use him now and then? You know my house. You know Myrt, my housekeeper. And while youre trying to work full-time-
No, she interrupted firmly.
No? No? This no is in reference to what? I never asked you a question.
Since Sheila was nowhere in sight, Winona got up herself and carted their plates to the old Formica counter, out of their way. The baby was still snoozing, but starting to stir. With a little more space, she could use a hand to keep the baby carrier in a gentle, rocking motion, but her gaze stayed glued on Justins. Somehow you managed to get me talking all this time about Angel and my problems, Doc. But that isnt why I wanted to see you today.
She could see him brace, his eyes pick up a wary glint. Yeah. I suspect you wanted to talk to me about weddings.
She nodded. Youre not going to bamboozle me into a marriage, Doc, she said gently.
Do you think youre announcing something I didnt know? Why on earth would I want to bamboozle you into anything?
But she was all through being fooled by that easy, lazy teasing tone. Thats exactly what confounded me for the last few days. Trying to understand. Youve asked me to marry you a gazillion times, but I always knew you didnt mean it. I mean, its one of our favorite private jokes together. But this time-you sounded serious. So then I started thinking. Maybe something was really bothering you. She watched his eyes. I know something happened to you in Bosnia.
He stilled. What is this? A guy cant ask a woman to marry him without her thinking hes mentally ill or has some deep dark problem?
Dont even try throwing feathers in front of my eyes, Doc. You know perfectly well thats not what I meant. Answer the question. Or is Bosnia something you cant talk about?
Shed seen that exasperated look on his face before-and that unwilling hint of humor in his eyes. Somehow, some way, theyd always been able to talk honestly together. Even when Justin fought it tooth and nail. He threw up a hand. How Bosnia got in this conversation beats me. But yeah, of course things happened to me there. I went through a year of real hell.
She nodded gently. I know you did. And youve always pretty openly admitted thatbut I meant, was there something that happened that you didnt talk about? Or couldnt? I know you saw horrors. I know you went through hell. But you came home and changed from trauma medicine to plastic surgery.
So?
Sowhen I realized that, I tapped into my memory banks and it seemed like that was around the time that other things changed for you, too. You picked up a reputation as a devil-may-care playboy. Its stupid.
I dont know about stupid. More, hard to avoid. Ive got money and Im single, so the press naturally-
Dont try to sell me cow patties, darlin. Winona leaned forward, feeling better now. In fact, feeling downright good, now that the subject was off her and on him, and Justin was no longer looking at her as if she were whipped cream. Im talking about how the media regularly pegs you, Doc. Im talking about the kind of reputation that youve let happen. And it isnt at all true.
Its not exactly a lie that Im single. Or that I have the means to-
She snorted. Not particularly delicately. You make out like you spend all your time on tummy tucks and boob implants. Nothing wrong with boob implants, mind you-but why is it that no one in town realizes youre the reason we have that fancy Burn Unit at Royal Memorial?
Who told you that? Justin yanked on his ear, a clear clue that he was feeling edgy. And for the record, I do my share of tummy tucks and nose jobs. If you think Im apologizing for that-
No ones suggesting you need to apologize. If anything, you should take a bow. Some idiots think tummy tucks and boob jobs are about nothing but vanity. Youve always been a womens supporter for real, Justin. Reconstruction after cancer or a tumor can make a difference to a womans esteem Abruptly she stopped and waved that subject aside. She could have ranted on, but he was obviously trying to distract her. Anyway, the point is-Im not knocking the work you do. Im only asking why you give the community the impression that you only take on spoiled rich women for patients, when in reality you donate a ton of your time to some of the worst burn cases over three states.