Her Lost and Found Baby (The Daycare Chronicles 1)

She had to be able to depend on him, at the very least. “Maybe she liked the zoo,” he said anyway, giving her hope.

Because she had to believe before she’d see and she most definitely needed to see her son again. If it turned out that Jackson wasn’t this boy, he’d help her look at photos until there was another. She had a small smile on her face. A sad one.

“You doing okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Picking up the pillow he’d held over his lap the other night, she hugged it to her. “At least I know they’re home safely. That Matt really was bringing Jason back. And tomorrow, when the warrant comes through...”

“If it comes through...” He could encourage, but he couldn’t lead her on.

“Can we just not worry about that tonight?”

Room service knocked at the door before he had a chance to answer her.

Chapter Seventeen

“I’ve missed you the past couple of days, Johnny.” Tabitha held a bread stick, munching on it as she walked around the suite. Touching things. Pulling out drawers. She’d already wheeled their dinner cart out into the hall, leaving what was left of the basket of bread sticks on the table.

“I’ve been right here.” Johnny was still at the table for two in front of the windows, sipping from the glass of wine he’d ordered with dinner. Hers was half empty on the table across from him.

She’d eaten some of her dinner—more than she’d expected to—but she’d been restless, finding various reasons to get up from the table. She’d needed a tissue. Had gone to turn down the thermostat, thinking it was a little hot in the room. She just couldn’t seem to sit still.

Now she wanted to do something so completely out of character she wasn’t sure she actually could.

“Your body’s been here,” she told him. “My partner’s been here. But ever since we kissed, you’ve been acting like I’m a leper.”

“I kissed you three times today. I have to say I don’t think I’d ever kiss a leper.” Exactly. Those kisses—gentle and sweet though they’d been—were prompting her to act like a crazy woman. She knew it but couldn’t find any desire to stop. On the contrary. If she didn’t get under Johnny’s skin a little bit, she might just fly out of hers before the night was through.

And before they got to morning—and, she hoped, the judge’s decision. By noon she might have Jackson’s DNA. If they got the warrant, Johnny would pay the lab to rush the results, and with hers as the other sample, a determination should be pretty easy.

They’d talked about the process all the way through closing the truck down for the night.

She didn’t want to think about labs and judges sitting on their benches making rulings that affected people for the rest of their lives. Didn’t want to picture the person who, in the morning, might hold her future in his or her hands.

And she didn’t want to worry about Mark running once he knew the jig was up. It wasn’t like the DNA authorization would include a warrant for Mark’s arrest. Until the test came back, he was Matt, father of Jason, not Mark, kidnapper of Tabitha’s baby boy.

Sliding back onto her seat, she picked up her glass of wine then glanced out at the harbor. She saw a reflection of the room’s light in the glass. Jumping up, she turned off most of the lights in the living room portion of the suite. “There, now the view is nicer,” she said.

Slouched in his chair, looking satiated and comfortable, Johnny narrowed his eyes as he stared across at her and said, “Yes, it is.”

She’d meant the harbor view.

She looked out to sea. Thought about all the people who died before they’d done everything they wanted to do. People like her mother. Like Angel. And not everyone had a Johnny who’d take on what was left undone.

Sipping her wine, she could practically feel the heat emanating from her companion.

Her Johnny. Not the one who’d grown up with wealth, who had wealth, who would return to wealth.

For this time, for the next few days, maybe even the next couple of months, Johnny was her partner.

Her companion.

Whether he knew it or not, he was the best friend she’d ever had.

“I’ve been thinking about your problem,” she said. The words had sounded better in the shower than they did out here in the open.

“What problem?”

He was supposed to have gotten it right away. She’d pictured this playing out with a sexy smirk on his face.