Vital Signs Read online

  “Sure.” Hailey’s body felt boneless, and her voice seemed to come from far away. The memory of the night before sent pleasure scooting through her sluggish veins. Roy had left, reluctantly, at three-fifteen. He had to work today, and it had taken him several tries to finally make it up and out the door, and then she’d fallen into a sleep as deep as a coma.

  Sex was exhausting. Sex was delicious. Sex was addictive. Sex was self-perpetuating.

  Get real, honey. It’s not the sex, it’s the man participating.

  “I need to talk to you. Want an omelet for breakfast?”

  “Sure, I’ll be right down.”

  “It smells like a bordello in here. Where do you keep the clean sheets?”

  “Hall cupboard. And how do you know what a bordello smells like?”

  “My vivid imagination.” Laura giggled and left, and Hailey gulped the coffee. When her brain started working a little, she picked up the phone and called St. Joe’s.

  Karen was on duty, and she assured Hailey that David had slept all night. Shannon had stayed with him, on a cot in his room. His rash seemed to be disappearing, his temperature was down, and he’d started eating again.

  “Looks like he’s on the mend.”

  Hailey agreed. Galling as it was, she knew that with emotional relaxation often came physical healing. Having Shannon with him was obviously helping David, and it was David’s well-being she had at heart, wasn’t it?

  “She’s giving him a bath just now. Harry should be in soon. I’ll call you and tell you what he says.” Karen added, “You’re gonna have a time with that little guy when you take him home, Hailey. He’s really fixated on his mother.”

  Hailey felt annoyed. She didn’t need Karen to remind her of that.

  “I’ll come by this afternoon and see him,” she promised.

  By the time she’d showered and dressed, Laura had a vegetable omelet, toast and sliced oranges ready for her downstairs. The kids were throwing a ball in the backyard.

  “You cleaned up in here.” Hailey remembered that there’d been a huge mess in the kitchen last night, and she and Roy hadn’t given a single thought to cleaning it up.

  “You guys obviously had bigger fish to fry. I tidied the living room, too.” With one finger, Laura held out Roy’s blue briefs. “He was in a hurry. What did he wear home?”

  “Pants, I guess. Thanks.” Hailey took them and stuffed them in her shorts pocket. “Mom came looking for you.”

  “Damn. I hope not right in the middle of—” Laura pointed at the underwear.

  “After. We were eating lasagna, but we still had no clothes on. It was really good, by the way.”

  “I assume you aren’t talking about the lasagna.”

  “That, too.” It felt weird and wonderful to be this open with her sister.

  “And?”

  “I didn’t tell her anything. But she’s seriously worried about you. You’re gonna have to talk to her.”

  “I will—today. After I see Nicole. I had a long talk with her on the phone yesterday and I liked her, so I made this appointment.”

  “What have you decided to do?”

  “Leave Frank.”

  “And?”

  “And I don’t know.” Laura blew out a breath. “I had a big fight with Michael. I told him about the baby, and now he insists I move in with him, which I’m not going to do. I’m not going from one man straight to another just because it’s convenient. I need time to figure out what I want.”

  “Good for you.” Hailey knew she didn’t sound all that enthusiastic, because although she applauded Laura’s bid for independence, there was the small matter of the baby coming, the kids she already had, the lavish lifestyle Laura was accustomed to and the fact that she’d never held down a paying job in her life.

  “You know you’re welcome to stay here as long as you like.” That was a lie, because Hailey really wanted her place to herself now that she and Roy had started eating in the nude and using the bedroom. Maybe she could fix up the basement, instead of the bathroom.

  “Thanks, but Nicole says she’ll get an order for me to move back into the house. She says a judge will decide it’s easier for one person to find a place to live than three, and the kids need to be in familiar surroundings.”

  “That’s good.” Hailey felt a guilty stab of relief.

  “She said the first thing Frank will do is cancel the charge cards, which she thinks is actually a good thing, because it’ll help me learn to budget.” Laura rolled her eyes. “Whatever that is.”

  Hailey nodded enthusiastic agreement. Budgeting was a skill Laura really needed to learn, no doubt about that.

  “All the debts Frank and I have will be divided equally, so that way my share of the proceeds will be greater. And she’s going to get an order so that I get support right away. She also said that I should get the kids counseling, and it wouldn’t hurt for me to get some, too.”

  Maybe that was what she needed, Hailey thought glumly. Maybe counseling would take away her urge to murder Shannon and kidnap David.

  And what about Roy?

  She didn’t need counseling for that. She knew what she wanted with Roy. It was called happy-ever-after love, and it only happened in fairy tales.

  “I just called the bathtub doctor and gave him the charge-card number. I might as well make good use of it before Frank finds out.”

  “What bathtub doctor?”

  Laura beamed. “The one that’s coming to refinish your tub. Honestly, Hailey, some things a person can put up with, but that tub isn’t one of them. You know the expression ‘no skin off my butt’? Well, it’s not true.”

  “What about when Frank sees the bill?”

  “It’ll be a lot less than the bill for a fancy hotel, which is where I’d be if I weren’t here.” Laura’s logic was scary. “And I’m not living with him anymore. I want a divorce. I want my house back.” But now Laura looked less sure of herself.

  “Maybe he could move in with Mom.”

  They giggled, but Laura quickly turned sober again. “She’s gonna have a seizure when I tell her all this. Hailey, please come with me this afternoon when I go to talk to her?”

  “Gosh, I’d love to, but I think I’m gonna be sick this afternoon.” On a scale of things to do, going with Laura to her mother’s rated somewhere below making a luncheon date with Margaret.

  “Please, Hailey. Don’t make me beg.”

  “I have to go to St. Joe’s first and see how David’s doing.”

  “Mom’s working today and the kids have karate at six. That would mean we’d only have to listen to her for an hour before we had to go pick them up. And then I’ll buy us all dinner at that new place on Tenth.”

  “Bribery.” But Laura looked so anxious that Hailey relented. “Okay. But no punching.”

  “I’ll make it up to you, swear to God. I’ll baby-sit anytime. I’ll wash your stinky sheets and retrieve your lover’s underwear.” Laura looked at her watch and got to her feet. “Gotta run. I’ll be back by one-thirty. The kids like leftover lasagna—it’s in the fridge.”

  Laura left, and before Hailey could finish her toast, the phone rang.

  She picked up, and Roy whispered, “This is an obscene phone call.”

  “I’ve always wanted one of these.” His voice reminded Hailey of the night before, and she felt warm and happy and giddy.

  “If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?”

  She giggled and then groaned. “That’s not going to get you anywhere in the obscene-calling sweepstakes.”

  “Darn, and it’s worked so many times before.”

  “Try harder.”

  “I just talked to David’s doctor. Harry says he’s releasing him tomorrow morning around eight, as long as he continues to improve.”

  “I’ll be there to get him.”

  “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight, fully clothed, in a restaurant?”

  Damn. Why had she ever given in to La
ura?

  “Can’t, although I’d love to.” She told him why.

  “Best of luck with Joan. Tell her hello from Ron.”

  Jean wasn’t going to adore Roy the way she had Frank, Hailey decided as she hung up the phone.

  “Auntie Hailey, can you come out and play ball with us?” Christopher stuck his head in the door.

  “Sure thing, I’ll be right there.” Having her niece and nephew around was definitely the upside of this whole affair. She remembered just in time to take Roy’s briefs out of her pocket before she went outside. She stuck them in her handbag. She’d find the right moment to give them back to him.

  She played with the kids and fed them lunch, but her mind was only half on what she was doing. She kept thinking of Roy, and when she wasn’t thinking of him, she thought of David. Laura came back at exactly one-thirty.

  “How’d it go with Nicole?”

  “Great. I’m dying to tell you about it, but I’ll wait till we have more time. Right now you need to go see how that baby of yours is.”

  Hailey drove off, thinking about the change in her sister. A week ago it wouldn’t have crossed Laura’s mind to put Hailey’s needs first.

  Adultery and divorce were making Laura a much nicer person.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  SHE HURRIED to David’s room. He was on the floor, playing with a train set, and Shannon sat cross-legged beside him.

  “Afternoon,” Hailey said, forcing a friendly smile in her direction. “How’s it going? This big boy looks lots better today, isn’t that great?” She saw David’s vitamin preparation on his lunch tray. “He needs to swallow this. Want me to do it?”

  Shannon just gave her a blank stare for an answer, so Hailey turned her attention to David. “How’s my sweet pea today?”

  He grinned at her and waved a train engine in one pudgy hand. “Train, Lee,” he greeted her, and then made a choo-choo sound Hailey had taught him.

  “Clever boy, open wide for Hailey.” She emptied the medication dropper into his mouth and then bent and gave him a kiss on the top of his head.

  “I can do that,” Shannon said. “He doesn’t need you slobbering all over him. You stay away from him when I’m around.” She whipped him into her arms and turned so that her back was to Hailey.

  It was all Hailey could do to control her temper, but she managed. She waved goodbye to David and hurried out, seething with anger.

  At the nurses’ station, Mary and Judy greeted her.

  “David’s spots are gone and he’s eating everything in sight,” Mary said. “Gotta give that mother of his credit—she’s been good for him these last couple of days.”

  Hailey didn’t want to hear that. “I’m gonna have a cup of tea.” She headed into the nurses’ lounge, and by some miracle, it was empty. All of a sudden she felt tired and hungry and sad and lonely for Roy.

  “I wonder if I could have a word with you, Hailey?”

  From behind her, Margaret’s voice sent her spirits down into her shoes.

  “Sure. Would you like a cup of tea?” Hailey dropped a bag into a mug of water and stuck it in the microwave.

  Margaret shook her head. “It was suggested that I communicate directly with you, Hailey,” she began. “So that’s what I’m attempting to do.”

  Hailey rescued her tea and blew on it, hoisting the bag up and down. Maybe it was better when Margaret just yelled at her. This new format was sort of scary. She tried to keep in mind what Melissa had confided, because she had the definite impression that in the next few moments she was going to need all the compassion and patience she could muster.

  “You said you’ve made application to foster David Riggs.”

  Danger signs started flashing in Hailey’s head, and she took a sip of tea to calm herself. “I said I’d been approved.”

  Margaret sniffed. “Your treatment of his mother yesterday was both rude and intolerable.”

  “I know, and I apologized to her.”

  “I’ve spent considerable time with Ms. Riggs. She’s only a young girl, and she’s having a difficult go of it. She’s now enrolled in a drug-rehabilitation program and her lawyer is making application to the courts to have her son returned to her.”

  That was pretty much what Roy had said would happen, so it wasn’t news, but the tea wasn’t sitting well in her stomach. Hailey dumped it down the sink.

  “That won’t happen for quite a while, Margaret,” she said carefully. “There’s a fair chance it won’t ever happen, because Shannon Riggs is an addict and the odds of her staying clean are slim at best.”

  “On the contrary, Shannon’s lawyer has requested an immediate hearing, because it’s obvious that David doesn’t thrive unless he’s with her. It’s also obvious that Shannon loves that child dearly.” The smug expression on Margaret’s face told Hailey that something bad was coming. She braced herself.

  “I’ve written a letter attesting to the fact that she’s done a good job of mothering her son during his stay here in St. Joe’s, and I said that I feel David needs to be with his natural mother. I faxed a copy to the Province newspaper, as well.”

  Outraged, Hailey opened her mouth to say that Shannon had been on the scene for all of two days, but then a picture flashed into her head of David sitting at that damned door, waiting for his mother, then another picture of him clinging to Shannon’s neck. She hated to acknowledge David’s feelings for his mother, but they were a reality.

  Margaret wasn’t finished.

  “And I have also spoken to a supervisor at the ministry and given him my opinion.”

  So this was Margaret’s way of getting back at her. Hailey was furious. How could she find it in her heart to feel sorry for this bitter woman who delighted in making trouble? She wanted to lash out at her, but instead, she forced herself to think.

  What possible impact could Margaret have on something that was already decided? Hailey was fully approved, David was feeling well again, and Roy had said she could take him home tomorrow morning. It took immense self-control, but she managed to remain silent.

  Margaret wasn’t finished. “Also, I’ve been watching you and Mr. Zedyck, Hailey. It’s perfectly obvious to me that the two of you have more than a professional relationship, which I don’t think is suitable under the circumstances.”

  It was taking superhuman energy to keep her lip zipped, but again Hailey managed it. She needed to hear everything Margaret had to say.

  “It certainly indicates to me that Mr. Zedyck was anything but impartial in recommending you as a foster parent.” Margaret sounded triumphant. “I included my feelings about that in what I said.”

  Hailey was shaking, but if she showed how angry she was or started to defend herself, Margaret would win this confrontation. Stay cool, Bergstrom. It was an effort to keep her voice steady, but somehow Hailey managed.

  “You’re entitled to your opinion, Margaret. But that’s all it is, just an opinion.” She met the other woman’s hostile eyes head on. “Now, is that all? Because I really should get going.”

  She turned and walked out, trying not to hate Margaret, trying to convince herself how sad it was that a colleague should be so vindictive. It was a tough task, especially when fear was eating at her gut.

  How much damage could Margaret really do? She had no idea.

  She had to talk to Roy. She needed him to assure her that Margaret was simply out of her little mind, that no one would pay the slightest attention to her rantings.

  Roy’s cell phone wasn’t turned on, and when she called his office, a secretary said he was in a meeting and couldn’t be disturbed.

  Hailey left an urgent message asking him to call her, and then, not knowing what else to do, went to meet Laura at their mother’s apartment.

  THE REPORTER was brandishing a microphone, and she caught up with Roy at two-fifteen, just as he left his office. He recognized the woman—middle-aged, a chain smoker, prematurely wrinkled, whiskey-voiced. She’d covered the Sieberg trial, and she was o
ne of the few members of the press who’d managed to get the facts straight, which was the reason he stopped and talked to her now.

  She was doing a follow-up on the abandoned-baby story, she explained. She’d just spoken to Shannon’s lawyer, who said that the young mother would be petitioning the court for custody, and she wanted to know Roy’s opinion on giving the baby back to her, considering the Scotty Sieberg tragedy.

  Roy had begun to hope that the media weren’t going to turn David into news. He tried to think of the best way to downplay the circumstances.

  “Every situation is unique and individual.” It was a litany he’d learned to use with reporters. “In this case, we’ll take a careful look at what’s in the boy’s best interests, as we always do.”

  “Is there any truth to the allegation that you and the child’s foster mother are involved in a personal relationship, Mr. Zedyck?”

  Her words caught him totally off guard, just as she’d counted on.

  “Where did you hear that?” He did his best to sound incredulous.

  “From a reliable source at St. Joe’s. Is there any truth to it, Mr. Zedyck?”

  Roy managed to smile at her. “You don’t seem to realize that the child isn’t in foster care at this moment. He’s still a patient at the hospital. Now, I’m late for a meeting. I’d suggest you direct any further inquiries to my supervisor, Marty Grossman.”

  Feeling as if he’d been broadsided, Roy hurried past her. The moment he was in the car, he dialed Marty’s number and told him exactly what had just occurred.

  “They talked to me ten minutes ago, same drill,” Marty said. Roy could hear the tension in his voice. “I also got a call from the head nurse in pediatrics. She’s insisting that the boy becomes emotionally disturbed when he’s away from his mother. And Shannon Riggs’s lawyer is kicking up a fuss, requesting an immediate hearing, claiming that it’s impossible for you to be impartial in this case because of your bias against the natural parent in the Sieberg trial. What this boils down to is that the Riggs’ girl has herself a smart lawyer who’s leaking things to the papers, and if we don’t move quickly, we’ll be in the midst of a media circus.”