Found: One Baby. Cathy Gillen Thacker

she’d had to let Jared and his son, Jimmy, go.

      And that was as painful an event as ever, Michelle mused, unsnapping the legs of William’s designer duds.

      Before she could get the diaper off, her phone rang.

      Seeing Thad Garner’s name flash on the caller-ID screen, she grabbed the portable off the bedside table.

      “How are things going?” he asked.

      It was ridiculous how glad she was to hear his voice. She hit the speaker button on the receiver and set it on the bed. Doing her best to play it cool, she said, “You just left him five minutes ago!”

      “More like seven.” Thad paused. “It sounds quiet.”

      Talk about overprotective! “He seems happy enough,” Michelle allowed.

      “He’s awake?”

      “Yes. I’m in the process of changing his diaper.”

      “While we talk?”

      “Believe it or not, I can multitask.” She used a baby wipe on William.

      “How does the diaper area look? Everything okay?”

      William turned his head slightly toward the sound of Thad’s voice.

      Michelle smiled. “As far as I can tell. It looks like he had a circumcision.”

      “Did they leave any antibiotic ointment for the stitches?”

      “Yes.” Figuring he would know, she asked, “How often are you supposed to apply it?”

      “A very thin layer three times a day.”

      Michelle made a note of that. “Since we don’t know when it was done last, should I go ahead and do that now? Or wait till later?”

      “Go ahead and put some on now just to be on the safe side.”

      Michelle did as directed.

      Thad paused. “Is there a pharmacy label on the ointment?”

      Once again, they were of one mind. Had there been a label, there would have been a patient last name and a prescribing physician and hospital or pharmacy name, as well. “No. It may have been on the box the ointment came in—but that’s not with his belongings.” She confirmed this with a second look through the bag.

      “Too bad. It would have helped to have more to go on than first names.”

      Michelle agreed wholeheartedly. Right now, of the four people ostensibly involved in this fiasco, they only knew how to contact one, and he might be out of the country! “Did you hear from your brother?” she asked, hoping that might have been the real reason for the call.

      “Not yet.” Thad sighed his frustration.

      As long as she had “the doctor” on the line, Michelle asked, “Would it be okay if I gave William a sponge bath? He smells a little like spit-up.”

      “How’s his umbilical cord?”

      She checked it out. “Kind of, um, brown. Still hanging on.”

      “Not infected?”

      “No.”

      “I think a sponge bath would be okay,” Thad said in that thoughtful voice doctors used when tending to patients. “Just make sure the water temperature is lukewarm. And don’t get the cord wet—keep that area dry.”

      Michelle resnapped the onesie and tucked the blanket in around William to keep him warm. “I’ll go to Dr. Greene’s Web site on the Internet and read up on the proper procedure before I start, just to make sure I do everything correctly.”

      Another pause. “You know about that?”

      Michelle tried not to take offense at the surprise in Thad’s voice. “All my friends back in Dallas have babies. All of them use that Web site as their primary reference.”

      “No wonder you seem so at ease with a newborn,” he said.

      That wasn’t why.

      But Michelle didn’t want to tell him about the year she had spent taking care of another infant, only to lose him—and his father—in the end.

      “Anything else you need?” Thad asked helpfully.

      Michelle studied the contents of the diaper bag. “As far as I can tell, there appear to be enough diapers, clothing and formula to last a couple of days.” She wondered if Thad would even have the baby that long. She knew better than anyone that the situation could change in an instant, that Brice and Beatrix or Candace or even Russell could show up to claim the baby. Which again was why she needed not to become too attached or overly involved in this situation.

      Oblivious to her concerns, Thad continued, “If you need anything else, let me know. I’ll pick it up on the way back.”

      This was suddenly getting way too cozy for comfort.

      Reminded of the last time she’d had her heart broken, Michelle picked up William and held him. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” Michelle asked impatiently, beginning to see why women fell so hard for the notoriously sexy doctor.

      “In two minutes.” Thad paused. “I just wanted to check with you before I actually went into the hospital and let you know how to page me in case anything else comes up.” Thad gave her the number. “Call me if you need me. Otherwise, I’ll check in with you later,” he promised before he hung up.

      With a sigh, Michelle turned back to the fragile bundle in her arms. “Looks like it’s just you and me, little guy,” she said. She smiled, realizing he was already fast asleep. “At least until your uncle Thad returns.”

       Chapter Two

      Thad expected to have half-a-dozen calls from Michelle Anderson during the day.

      There were no phone calls.

      And the two times he did call her, just to check in, she had sounded a little exasperated.

      He guessed he couldn’t blame her.

      She probably thought he didn’t trust her to take care of William in his absence. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Like animals, children knew instinctively whom they could trust and draw comfort from. William had recognized Michelle for the maternal soul she was from the moment she picked him up and cradled him gently in her arms.

      Still, the moment his shift was up, Thad headed out the door and drove the short distance home. He parked in his driveway, then headed across the street.

      As he approached the front porch of her Arts and Crafts-style home, he noticed the windows were open. Mounting the front steps, he heard Michelle singing softly. He glanced through the window. She was sitting in an old-fashioned rocking chair he hadn’t seen earlier, William in her arms.

      Thad couldn’t tell if the baby was awake or asleep—he couldn’t see William’s face—but the moment was so tender and loving it stopped him in his tracks. This, he thought, was what parenthood should be about. This was the kind of life he and his brother should have had as kids, even after their mother died.

      But they hadn’t. And there was no going back. Only forward. To the family he wanted to create.

      All he needed was a woman to love.

      He rapped on the screen.

      The lovely vocal rendition of “Brahms’ Lullaby” stopped. Michelle rose slowly and walked over to open the door and let him in. She had changed into vintage jeans and a pale blue knit shirt that clung to her curves. Her apparently just-shampooed hair had dried in a tangle of soft, strawberry-blond curls. He had never seen her wear it that way, but he liked it as much as the sleek, straight style she usually wore.

      “William looks…happy,” Thad noted. And so did she.

      A