Linda Johnston - Alias Mommy

She had done it again, acted helpless. Allowed someone else to fix something for her.

And that someone had been Reeve Snyder. The very handsome man, she reminded herself constantly, who had saved her life, then helped her find a job.

If she weren’t careful, she could come to rely on him. And that was the last thing she wanted to do.

Never mind that her latest folly had been as trivial as a squeaky wheel. She stared with dislike at the stroller she pushed, then shook her head. It wasn’t the stroller’s fault. It was hers.

“Thanks,” she said as Reeve held the door open for her, then she exclaimed, “Oh, this is lovely!” The path between the office building and the hospital was a concrete walkway, surrounded on both sides by a large, attractive garden. Fall flowers not only emitted a wonderful fragrance, their gold and orange shades were a bright relief from the sterile sameness of the surrounding buildings. Wooden benches lined the walk.

And towering above them, just like over the rest of the small, quaint town, were the giant, craggy Rockies.

“It is a nice oasis, isn’t it?” Reeve brushed a leaf off a bench with a proprietary gesture. “I sometimes come here to eat lunch and get away from the chaos of the center and my office.”

“Maybe Laurel and I can, too.” She glanced at Reeve and found him staring at her. Was it her imagination, or was there a look of longing in his golden-brown eyes? Surely he didn’t want her to invite him to join them.

She wanted to.

She didn’t want to.

She stayed silent.

They continued walking, and in moments, they were inside the medical center. It was a much smaller facility than Polly was used to. She always equated hospitals with the big-city facilities in Boston where her mother and stepfather had gone for their minor surgeries. And the one where her father had been taken….

Laurel began to cry. Polly stopped the stroller and unstrapped the baby, taking her into her arms. “It’s all right,” she crooned, not having the foggiest idea what had upset the sweet, squirming infant. She had fed Laurel not more than half an hour earlier, had changed her diaper. Still…She pulled up the tiny pink dress she had borrowed, like everything else, from Frannie’s sister, and stuck her finger inside the diaper. Sure enough, it was wet.

“Oops, you’re a quick one, baby,” she told her daughter. Placing Laurel carefully on a bench, she managed to change the diaper swiftly. She was getting to be a pro at this.

The idea of her being a pro at anything made her smile.

“What’s so funny?” Reeve asked. He didn’t snap at her to hurry, hadn’t said anything at all when she delayed his progress.

He was so different from—

“Nothing,” she said hurriedly. “Now, little one, let Mama know if you get uncomfortable again.” She gave Laurel a kiss on her soft, smooth cheek, strapped her in the stroller again and stood. “Not that I’ve any doubt that she’ll tell me next time she’s wet. She’s not one to keep things to herself.” Polly knew she sounded proud, but why not? She would encourage this little one to speak up for herself forever.

“Sounds like you’ll be a good mother.” Reeve’s voice sounded wistful, and Polly glanced at him. He gazed down the hallway with a blank expression on his face, as though he had just commented on the weather.

Polly recalled what Frannie had told her: that Reeve had lost his wife and child. Maybe just being around babies made him uncomfortable.

“Look,” she said, “if you have work to do, I’m sure we can find our way ourselves.”

Was that an expression of pain that crossed his face? Darn it! She didn’t seem to handle anything right with this man. “I’ll show you to the patient accounts office, at least,” Reeve said. “And maybe the child care center, too, for when Laurel gets older.” He took Polly’s elbow as they began walking again. She remained utterly conscious of the small contact, as though every nerve in her body had suddenly marched through her to congregate in that one small spot.

She sought a topic of conversation to take her mind off the warmth of Reeve’s fingers through her light maternity blouse. “Having a child care facility right in the medical center is a wonderful idea.”

“Thanks,” he said.

She looked at him in puzzlement.

He chuckled. “It was my idea.”

“Really? It sounds like something a woman would dream up.”

“I dreamed it up to attract women. And men. The best medical personnel that we could lure to such a small, out-of-the-way town to create a community medical center. And it’s worked remarkably well.”

“Then this medical center was your idea?” Polly was impressed.

They passed a busy cafeteria filled with people in white and green uniforms. The pleasant aroma of spicy tomato sauce wafted out the doorway. “You can always come here for a good bite to eat.” Reeve pointed inside. “We also attracted some pretty darned good food service people.” He started walking again, and Polly joined him, the stroller rolling before her. “Yes, the center was my brainchild. I grew up around here, saw too many injuries that would not have been life threatening get that way because it took too long to get adequate help. I didn’t intend to get into emergency medicine myself, but I wind up helping a lot in crisis situations.”

“Laurel and I are glad you do.” Polly knew her voice sounded warm. Embarrassed, she glanced at Reeve, to find him looking at her intensely, his golden-brown eyes dark with an emotion she couldn’t interpret. A tingling began in her toes and rocketed through her. What if he really was someone she could trust? What if—

Forget that. She couldn’t trust anyone, especially not herself. She had been so wrong before. So very wrong.

Pulling her gaze away, she stooped to straighten Laurel in the stroller. When she stood again, she attempted to get the conversation back on a neutral topic. “So, you were the center’s founder. Are you involved in its administration?”

“Everyone here is. It’s a sort of co-op, where the doctors all have a stake in its success. Right now, I’m in charge of a committee to raise funds for a new rescue helicopter that’ll pick up injured people on the slopes and take emergencies to big Denver hospitals. Sometimes I wish my role was more low-key, though. People seem to equate me with organizing, which is why they also elected me to city council.”

Polly halted so fast her head spun. She pretended to study a painting of snow-covered mountains, but she felt suddenly as icy inside as though she were standing on one of the depicted slopes in her underwear. “You’re on city council?” She heard the choked tone in her voice and cleared her throat.

“That’s how I came to be out the night of your accident.” Reeve must have caught her tone, as he sounded defensive.

There was no reason he should, of course. Just because she had a deep, terrifying aversion to politicians…

She had almost forgotten everything. Why she had fled. Why she was here.

But now she remembered. Only too well. And she needed to get away from Reeve Snyder. To compose herself. Collect her thoughts.

If he had been kind to her, it had been for a reason. He was not just a doctor. He was a politician. Politicians were controlling. Manipulative. Deceptive.

She swallowed a sob.

She recalled only then Ernie Pride’s reference to city council when he’d visited her hospital room. If only she had realized—

But it would have made no difference. Except she wouldn’t have believed that she might come to trust Reeve.

Just beyond them was a patients’ lounge filled with comfortable-looking upholstered chairs interspersed with tables covered with magazines. The few people in the room watched a television in a corner.