Looking For Trouble (11 page)

He scanned the waiting area for any sign of
them, and there was none. Travis piped up and said, "I'll go check
the bathroom, you go ask at the counter," then he took off toward
the bathroom sign across the room.

With his legs feeling like they had lead in
the, he walked up to the ticket counter and got in line. There were
only two people ahead of him, so he didn't have to wait long. The
tired looking ticket person, looked up and said, "Where to?"

"I don't need a ticket, I need to know if
you've seen either of these women with a baby...if they bought a
ticket somewhere," he asked nicely then handed her the photo.

She studied it a minute then shook her head,
then said, "Haven't seen them," and tried to hand the picture back
to him.

Wade held up his hand and begged, "Would you
please ask the other attendants, if they've seen her. She has my
baby and is running with her. I really need to find her. It would
have probably been around five this morning when she got here,
maybe six."

The woman studied him a moment, then stood
up and walked to each attendant, and showed them the photo. His
heart went from zero to sixty, when the last attendant's face lit
up, when she looked at it. They talked a minute, then the woman
came back to the window and handed him the picture back then said,
"They bought tickets to Nashville, and their bus pulled out at six
a.m."

Wade felt like a balloon that lost its air,
his knees felt weak, as he asked her deflated, "Does the bus make
stops before Nashville?"

"Yeah, there are several transfers, maybe
you can catch up with them there," she said then shoved a schedule
at him, "This should tell you where those stops are...and good
luck, I hope you find her."

"Thank you so much for your help..." he said
then ran for the bathroom to find Travis.

It didn't take long for them to get on the
road toward Dallas, the first transfer station on the bus route,
but even though he was pushing the truck to nearly a hundred miles
an hour, They were an hour and a half behind the bus.

"The next likely spot we can catch them is
Greenville. They're going down to Dallas first, then to Ft. Worth,
before they stop in Greenville. If we go through Denton, and head
straight there, instead of trying to catch them in Dallas, we'll
beat them there. I think that's our best shot.

"Don't get upset, Travis...I'm going to call
Cole Jackson and see if he can get a temporary custody order and
whatever else it takes to keep her in Bowie. I need to do it,
because evidently your sister isn't going to be reasonable."

Wade glanced over at Travis to gauge his
reaction, and saw that his face was flushed, and his jaw clenched,
but he took a deep breath, then let it out and said, "I
understand...my sister isn't being cooperative, so you don't have
any choice. I want what's best for Angel, and from what I see you
do too..."

With a nod, Wade took out his cell phone and
dialed Cole's number. When he answered, Wade said shortly, "Cole,
this is Wade...I need your help."

***

"Can you grab the diaper bag, Jazzie?" Jess
asked her friend who was sitting in the aisle seat beside her. It
was hot on the bus, and Angel's little cheeks were really flushed
and she was sweating, so Jess wanted to change her into a thin
t-shirt, and maybe give her a bottle of the water she had in the
bag. Since they left Henrietta, she'd been fussy, and Jess was
doing everything she could to keep her quiet, so she didn't disturb
the other passengers.

Jazzie sat back down and held out the bag
without looking at her. She was pissed because Jess had insisted
they go to Nashville, run from Texas. Last night, Wade and Travis
had been planning out her and Angel's life like she didn't have a
say in anything. Her brother had betrayed her, and she wasn't going
to stick around for the finale, when he helped Wade take Angel away
from her. Jess didn't feel like she had much choice, but to
run.

Since it was the Country Music Capital of
the World, Jess figured they could find a few small gigs to support
themselves in Nashville, and make contacts too to get her career on
track, once the damned cast was off her leg. It was also somewhere
that Wade wasn't likely to find them. They were going to stay with
Jazzie's aunt, because even though her best friend was against them
running, she'd contacted her aunt, who had agreed to let them stay
with her for a while. Jazzie's parents had wired them some money
for the tickets and expenses to get there. Jess was determined to
pay them back as soon as possible.

Jess pulled the baby tighter against her and
kissed her damp hair. Angel was hers...the only good thing she had
in her life now, and nobody was going to take her away, or tell her
how to raise her daughter.

"You're making her hotter, Jess...you need
to lay her on your lap, so she can get some air," Jazzie told her
then folded her arms under her breasts and looked away.

Ignoring her snippy best friend, Jess dug
through the diaper bag and pulled out the thinnest t-shirt she
could find and then changed Angel. The sugar water she'd put in
there before they left, was hot too, she noticed when she palmed
the bottle, but it was better than nothing. Snapping the cap of,
she ran the nipple over Angel's lips and she sucked in, then
started drinking swiftly.

Halfway through the bottle, she let the
nipple go, then started wailing, and Jess put her to her shoulder
and patted her back. The baby fretted on her shoulder, squirming,
then gagged a couple of times and Jess pulled her away, just in
time for her to spit up all over her shoulder. Thank goodness, it
was water, but Angel had never acted this way, and Jess was getting
worried. Using a burp rag, she wiped her shoulder and the baby's
mouth.

"I'm worried about her, Jazz...she's hotter
than she should be, and her eyes are a little glazed. And she's
really limp."

"Give her some Tylenol," Jazzie said laying
the back of her hand on Angel's forehead.

What worried Jess even more was, if Angel
was really sick, she didn't have enough money to take her to the
doctor, or even one of those med clinics. Jazzie's parents had
wired them the money for the tickets, and a little more for
expenses, but that wasn't going to be enough to get Angel medical
help. They also had the check from the anniversary gig, but they
had no way to cash it, yet.

Because Wade had bought the extras, Jess had
enough formula for Angel, and diapers but she and Jazzie were going
to have to be really frugal. Now that she was on the road on this
long trip with her baby, she wasn't so sure it was such a good idea
after all. At three months, she was still so little, exposing her
to all these people, and situations probably wasn't good for
her.

Jess was impulsive by nature, and lately she
hadn't been the model of emotional stability, she'd cried more in
the last few months than she had in her whole life. She sure hoped
her daughter wasn't going to pay for her impulsiveness now. Tears
sprang to her eyes, as she looked down at Angel, squirming in her
lap. Maybe a wet towel would help, she thought, but the bathroom on
a bus wasn't the ideal place to get water to wash her up, and who
knew what was in the canned water that they carried on board
anyway.

They would stop in Greenville, Texas soon
for a transfer, and she would find someplace to cool her down
there, and see if she was really sick, or just overheated. Jess
grabbed the bag again, and took out the baby Tylenol, then dropped
a dose into Angel's mouth. Angel smacked her lips, which made Jess
smile. Maybe it would help her sleep too, she hoped anyway, and put
her back on her shoulder, rubbing her back.

Jess had fallen asleep with her head on the
window, so when the bus came to a jarring stop, she jerked in the
seat then sat up staring around disoriented. Jazzie wasn't in the
seat beside her, and the baby wasn't on her shoulder anymore. Her
heartbeat kicked up a few notches, but she was sure they were
around here somewhere, where could they have gone? There was no way
they could've gotten off of the bus, right?

When she saw Jazzie coming down the aisle
from the bathroom with Angel on her shoulder, she breathed a sigh
of relief and stood up. Her friend's black brows were drawn
together in concern, as she set the diaper bag back on the seat.
"We need to get her to the hospital, Jess...her fever is 103, and
her breathing isn't right. She threw up a couple of more times
too."

A whimper escaped from Jess and she took the
baby from Jazzie, and cuddled her into her neck. She was so damned
hot, Jess was terrified. Fever caused seizures sometimes, she'd
read in a baby book. Jazzie was right, they needed to get off this
bus now, and get her to a doctor.

"Grab our stuff, and let's go," Jess told
her frantically, then slung the diaper bag over her shoulder and
took off down the aisle, pushing people who were pulling down their
luggage aside, yelling that her baby was sick and she needed to get
by. Her feet didn't touch the three steps, on her way down to the
curb. When she got there, she looked left and right, then saw the
entrance to the station and ran inside, hoping maybe they had a
first aid station inside or something.

Someone opened the door for her, and she ran
past them, not even saying thank you, then ran to the ticket
counter and asked with tears streaming down her face, "Is there a
first aid station here? Or can someone call an ambulance? My baby
is sick..."

"No need to call an ambulance, ma'am...I'll
take them," Wade's deep voice sounded beside her and she looked up
at his angry concerned face and whimpered, then held Angel tighter
to her. Wade pried her arms apart, and she let Angel go, so she
didn't hurt her.

"Can you tell me where the nearest hospital
is? he asked the woman and she gave him directions, then Wade
kissed Angel's forehead and put his hand to her cheeks. His eyes
filled up, as he told Jess shortly, "Let's go..." then strode to
the exit, with her trailing behind him.

Jazzie called her name from the back door by
the bus then ran across the floor in her stiletto heels with a bag
over each shoulder. "Wait!" Jazzie yelled, trying to catch up with
them, but Jess wasn't letting Wade and Angel out of her sight, she
ignored her friend and stuck to his back like glue. His truck was
parked illegally at the curb, and her brother got out when he saw
them running that way, and opened the back door. Wade got in the
front and threw him the keys, "Drive to the hospital," then he got
in the front and belted in still holding Angel to his chest.

"Give me my baby!" Jess yelled and tried to
open the front door. His window was cracked an inch or two and she
heard him growl, then he said flatly, "Get your ass in the truck,
or get left here,
now
!" Travis was behind the wheel, and
cranked the truck, so she jumped in the back beside Jazzie and
slammed the door. The coolness in the truck, made her sigh in
relief, and fan her shirt. Wade leaned over and kicked it up a
notch, then pointed a vent toward the back.

"How long has she been running this fever?"
Wade asked abrasively, treating her like she had no clue how to
take care of herself, much less a baby. He wasn't far from the
truth there, her inner voice taunted.

"I'm not sure, I noticed it after we left
Dallas...she's throwing up too...can't even keep water down."

He groaned, then kissed Angel's head, and
said, "Poor baby girl...we're gonna get you fixed up, darlin',"
then he met her eyes in the rearview, "I think she's
dehydrated."

Jess couldn't help herself, she fired back
nastily, "Where'd you get your medical degree, Bullshit U?

Jazzie groaned beside her and put a hand to
her forehead, before she slunk down in the seat, and Travis cut her
a heated look in the mirror. "Shut the fuck up, Sis."

"Why, so you and Wade can plan my and
Angel's life behind our back?" She spat back at him.

"We weren't planning your life, we were
trying to help figure out how to unwind the mess you've made of
things lately," he said then huffed out a frustrated sigh.

"I don't want your fucking help, either of
you. Why don't ya'll form a mutual admiration society or something,
and leave me the hell alone. I'm not interested in what you'd like
me to do with my life...it's my own and I'll do what the hell I
please with it."

"It's not that easy anymore, Sis...you made
a big mistake running away with Angel. You have more than yourself
to think about now."

"I tried to tell her, Trav..." Jazzie said
and shook her head.

"So, you're ganging up on me too," Jess
whispered brokenly, as misery squeezed her chest, and tears rushed
to her eyes. "I thought you'd always be on my side...guess I was
wrong," she said and folded her arms over her chest to look out the
window.

"There are no sides, Jessica," Wade told her
bluntly, "There's only Angel's side, and either you're on it...or
your not." She saw his eyes sparkling warningly in the side view
mirror, and he was grinding his teeth.

"Are you threatening me, Wade?" she asked
him in a higher than normal pitch.

"I didn't hear a threat in that, but I can
tell you this...if you're not on Angel's side, you're on the go
team. Nobody is going to hurt her...or take her from me again."