Linda Johnston - Alias Mommy

But she couldn’t concentrate on it now. She didn’t look at Frannie. She didn’t know what to say.

The last thing she wanted was for Reeve Snyder to feel responsible for her. Only she had responsibility for Laurel and herself.

No matter how unnerving that responsibility was.

Taking a chair across from Polly, Frannie returned to the subject as though Laurel hadn’t interrupted. “Don’t worry that Reeve will continue to feel responsible for you. It’s not in his nature, believe me. He can be charming. But it’s an act. Ask any nurse at Selborn Community. Or even Alicia—I know she came to see you when he was in your room. After what happened to him, he isn’t interested in attachments to any woman.”

Polly should have been reassured. Instead, she felt worse. “What happened to him?”

“He lost his wife and baby in a horrible accident.”

A knot twisted deep in Polly’s stomach. “Oh, no! How?”

Frannie glanced at her watch. “It’s a long story and I’d better get back to the hospital.” The abrupt change in subject told Polly she wouldn’t hear more from Frannie now about Reeve Snyder’s loss.

But her mind was spinning. He had been married. He had suffered unbearable heartache. Poor man. He had helped her, even if his moods shifted as swiftly as a sudden snow squall. Maybe that was a result, somehow, of his grief. How recent had it been? If only she could—

But she could do nothing to ease his loss. She couldn’t even deal with her own.

“Now you just get settled in here,” Frannie said as she stood to leave. “My aunt Esther—”

“Did I hear my name?”

A large woman in a loose, flowered caftan stood in the doorway. She had a wide nose on which wire-rimmed glasses perched, and her hair was a soft mop of brown waves in which silver was beginning to take over.

Frannie smiled. “Aunt Esther, I’d like you to meet your new tenant, Polly Black.”

“Welcome,” the woman said in her booming voice, but her gaze was on Laurel, who had finished eating and was squirming on Polly’s lap. Esther held out her arms. With just a moment’s hesitation Polly handed her the baby.

“Oh, you adorable thing,” Esther crooned. Only after she had nestled Laurel over her shoulder and begun to sway gently on her thick legs did she turn her blue eyes, magnified by her glasses, on Polly. “Frannie tells me you’re settling here and that you’ll be working part-time for the medical center. Any time you want a baby-sitter, day or night, even while you’re working, you tell me. I adore babies.”

Polly froze. Someone else was acting as though she were helpless. But this was help she really needed.

She would pay Esther. It would be a business transaction.

“Thanks,” she said graciously. She let her body relax. It was good to know she had alternatives.

And, perhaps, friends.

STIFLING A YAWN as he walked down the corridor after doing his hospital rounds, Reeve inhaled the ubiquitous odor of disinfectant. The yellow walls of the medical center’s office annex reminded him of sunshine, but their brightness failed to perk him up this afternoon. He’d had a late night; an elderly patient had slipped in his shower, and Reeve had come in to handle his treatment.

Reeve stopped at his office door, hand poised on the knob, as a squeak from down the hall caught his attention.

Polly Black pushed a stroller toward him, one that had seen better days. In it was the baby, Laurel, propped up with blankets. She was wide awake, her large blue eyes staring merrily ahead, tiny arms waving.

They stopped in the middle of the hall, and the squeak ceased. Reeve found himself grinning. “Hi. I thought you were discharged from the center this morning.”

“I was. But I wasn’t allowed to explore as a patient, and I wanted to see where I’ll eventually be working. It’s windy out, so I cut through the office building. Didn’t want Laurel to get too blown.”

“Of course. Frannie told me you’re staying at her aunt’s place down the block. Are you okay to walk around like this? You look a little tired.”

“I’m taking it slow and easy. We won’t be out long.”

Polly’s bruises and cuts had faded, and the bump on her forehead had nearly disappeared. She looked slender in her cinched plaid top and slacks. Her cap of dark curls framed a face with perfect bone structure. Her full, pink lips, smiling in what seemed like a perfectly innocent and friendly manner, nevertheless reminded Reeve of his too-frequent urge to kiss her. The thought, as usual, caused a chain reaction—warmth that crept up his body, a tightening in his groin….

Alicia had attempted to get him interested since his wife had died. She had tried too hard. But Polly…

“Your stroller makes a lot of noise,” he said, to change the direction of his thoughts.

She looked abashed, and that made him feel ashamed of his criticism. “Sorry,” she said. “I borrowed it from Frannie’s sister and didn’t know how to make it stop squeaking.”

He stared at her in surprise. The solution seemed elementary to him.

But maybe not to everyone. Certainly not to Polly. “Oil. Or WD-40. I probably have some in my office. Come in, and we’ll find out.”

The small squeak pursued him into his office as Polly followed with baby and stroller. Sure enough, he had a can of spray. Waiting until Polly picked up the baby, he used the spray liberally on the wheels, then tested it. In moments, the squeal was gone.

“Thanks,” Polly said. “You’ve saved me again.” A flush immediately crept up her lovely face, and her hand went to her mouth. “But that doesn’t mean you have any responsibility—” She stopped, reddening even further.

She charmed him, with her sweet blushing. He wanted to take her into his arms, baby and all, and assure her that helping her had been his pleasure.

How ridiculous. What was it about this woman that caused him to forget professionalism and turn into a drooling idiot?

It was the baby, of course. And his memories.

And this woman had a husband somewhere—former or not—who had the right to see his daughter.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said, keeping his tone level. “My responsibility is to the medical center. You wouldn’t want that squeak disturbing the patients, would you?”

“Of course not.” She looked even more disconcerted. Reeve silently cursed himself. He seemed to be going out of his way to make this woman feel uncomfortable. And he had no right to judge her for the way she treated her divorced husband…no matter how Annette had treated him.

But the baby—

“Is it all right for me just to wander around the hospital?” Polly sounded concerned. “Frannie said I could, but…well, I don’t want to break any rules. She was on duty this afternoon, or she would have taken me.”

“I can show you around,” Reeve blurted.

Why had he said that?

“I wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble.” But there was relief in her gray eyes, and he knew he wouldn’t back out now, even if he wanted to.

Which, he admitted to himself, he didn’t.

You’re a thousand kinds of fool, he told himself. This woman is not Annette. Hanging around her and her baby isn’t going to bring Cindy back to you.

And if her husband—ex-husband, she’d said—was idiot enough to let Polly and her baby go, that was his problem, not Reeve’s.

“Okay, ladies, step right up,” he said, letting his voice project like an old sideshow barker’s. “Follow me to the stupendous, the unequaled, Selborn Community Medical Center.”

DAMN IT! thought Polly, following Reeve down the office corridor. She wanted to stamp her foot. Scream. Do something to ingrain the lesson deep in her soul so she wouldn’t have to learn it even one more time.