Vital Signs (9 page)

He opened the envelope and together they went over the questions. They were similar to the ones she'd already answered for the adoption process.

“I've never asked whether there's anyone special, anyone you're seriously dating.” He was staring down at the forms, but she didn't think that question was on them. In fact, she knew it wasn't. She'd read them over.

“Not seriously or otherwise.” She might as well be bone honest here. “I'm not dating anyone at all.” Pride made her add, “At the moment.”

She decided the silence between them was the kind books described as pregnant. Her heart was hammering against her ribs as if it planned to break them.

“Why?” he asked.

The simple query threw her. She decided to turn the tables on him.

“Why should I? Are
you
dating anyone?”

“Nope.” He looked at her and gave a rueful grin. “I'm being a blundering idiot, though.” He stopped smiling and said, “All I meant was, you don't prefer women, or anything like that?”

She laughed. She couldn't help it. He was so earnest, and his ears had turned red, probably from embarrassment.

“No. I'm definitely heterosexual.” Not that sex had been a big issue in her life. The absence of it sure had—she had a good, healthy libido. She wasn't going to enlighten him about that, though. And she didn't dare have any expectations about where this
conversation was going, because she had no idea how she'd handle it if—

“Then would you consider going out with me? Maybe to a movie or dinner or something?”

Glory be. He was asking her for a date.

H
AILEY LOOKED
at this handsome, smart, sexy, oh-so-desirable man, and something inside of her crumbled. She already had feelings for him, and she couldn't let them go any further. He'd break her heart simply by being what he was, making her aware of all her shortcomings, and she'd only just become comfortable with them herself.

But, oh, Lordie, it was tough. It took every ounce of her courage to look him in the eye and shake her head.

“Thanks, Roy, but I don't think so. I just don't have time,” she lied. “I've got all I can do getting this house in some sort of order. And now that there's a chance I might get David, I've got a million other things to do, as well.”

“I see. Sure. I understand.”

It was gratifying that he seemed disappointed. They finished the paperwork and the lemonade and he left.

Hailey went upstairs and into her bedroom. She stood in front of the mirror, the only full-length mirror in the house.

The woman she saw was the same one she'd lived with all the days of her life. Tall, more scrawny than
slender, with limbs that looked too long for her body. Her face was decidedly square, her nose generous, to say the least. Right now it was sunburned so that it shone as red as a stoplight. Her flaming hair stuck out every which way from the clips, and not in the artfully casual way Laura's did, with charming little curls here and there. And the sun had popped her freckles, billions of them.

She had nice eyes, though. And thanks to Jean and years of braces, her teeth were perfect.

But she was no beauty. So why would she want to be with a handsome hunk of a man who'd make her feel self-conscious about her looks? Not that he'd intend to, God no. Roy probably wouldn't even know how she felt. But she would. She wiped at the stupid tears that insisted on trickling out of her eyes and tried to tell herself she'd made exactly the right decision, but it wasn't easy.

Thank God Ingrid would be back tomorrow.

She needed a good healthy dose of Gran.

 

“H
AILEY TURNED YOU
down?” Nicole sounded incredulous. “Did she say why? Is she seeing anyone else?”

“She said not.” Roy tried not to sound as let down as he felt. “She went on about having too much to do. I guess she
is
pretty busy.” He didn't mention David; that was personal and confidential.

“That's weird,” Nicole mused. “She's not gay. I'm sure I'd know if she was.”

“She's not. I asked her.”

“Nothing like being forthright. But something's
not kosher here, because I know she's attracted to you.”

“You do? How d'you know that?”

Nicole rolled her eyes. “Women just know things like that.”

“So what do you figure I should do, matchmaker?” He tried to keep his tone light, but it was difficult. Until Hailey turned him down, he hadn't realized quite how much he was counting on dating her.

“Be patient. If she won't go out with you, concentrate on being her friend. Friendship's good. You're just gonna have to work at this, Roy, and maybe that's a good thing. It's been too easy for you with women—you need a challenge.”

“Yeah, well, maybe I'll pass on the whole thing. My job's challenging enough for any five people. I don't need to go looking for more reasons to keep me awake at night.” But even as he said it, he knew he wasn't about to give up on Hailey. “How's it going with the airline pilot?”

“It crashed, big time. He confided that he was married and his wife didn't understand him. That has to be a common virus, don't you think?”

“I wouldn't know. No guy has said that to me lately.”

“You know, talking to you just isn't emotionally productive at times.”

“Sorry. I ought to have said, how did that make you feel?” He thought of the little girl in St. Joe's who had asked him that.

“Lousy. I've decided to give men a rest for a
while. I'm not gonna date anybody until I figure out what it is in me that attracts alcoholics, deadbeat dads and misunderstood husbands. I'm gonna take a yoga class. That's supposed to make both your mind and your body flexible.”

“Don't women wear those tight things for yoga? You'll drive all the guys in the class mad with lust.”

“That's their problem. I plan to just concentrate on getting limber.”

Roy's cell phone beeped. It was Marty with yet another emergency that had to be dealt with immediately. One of their most reliable foster mothers, Maggie Kent, had just been diagnosed with chronic heart disease. Her husband, Arnie, wasn't able to cope, and other placements would have to be found for the four children in their care.

Roy's spirits sank. It wasn't going to be easy to relocate the kids. Two of them were brothers, both ADD, which made them harder than usual to place. He'd have to start making phone calls. He'd planned to visit David at St. Joe's, but that was going to have to be put off until tomorrow.

What had ever made him think he might have time for a relationship? It was probably a good thing Hailey had turned him down.

He couldn't quite make himself believe it, though.

 

“W
HY DID YOU TURN
him down?” Ingrid shook her head and wrapped an arm around Hailey's shoulders, squeezing her tight. “You should have gone out with him. He sounds like a fine young man.”

“He
is
a fine man. Sexy, good-looking, fun. And
that's exactly why I'd end up getting my heart broken, Gran.” It was so easy to be honest with Ingrid. It was so good to have one person she
could
be totally honest with.

“So you're attracted to him.”

“Yup. Big time. I wish it wasn't so, but it is.” Hailey sighed. “But he's too…” An image of Roy filled her heart and mind, and she couldn't even verbalize what she meant. “He's just too
everything
for me, Gran.”

“Drop-dead handsome, right?”

“Yup.”

Ingrid understood. “I thought at first with Sam that he was bound to be arrogant and stuck on himself because he looked the way he does. Plus, he was younger than me by a long shot, and those kids of his hated the ground I walked on. I was everything his last wife wasn't, which of course was why he was attracted to me in the first place, although I didn't know it then. But he wore me down. If this Roy is half the man you think he is, he won't take no for an answer. Just don't be so damned stubborn you ruin everything for yourself, honey. He'll ask you out again, and it won't kill you to go.”

Hailey tried to figure out how she might feel about a second invitation. Hope and dread were inextricably combined. She glanced at her watch. She'd gotten ready for work early just so she could spend an hour with Ingrid before her shift started.

“Now just sit there and I'll put the music on and show you what I've learned in belly-dancing class. That'll take your mind off men.” Ingrid hurried into
the bedroom and came out wearing a long red chiffon skirt and a tie top that revealed several rolls of flesh around her bare middle. She fastened round metal clickers to each forefinger and thumb, put on a CD and struck a pose before she began to gyrate and sway to the music.

Hailey was able to smother her giggles, but only for a short time. Soon she was helpless with laughter as Ingrid swirled veils and swiveled her hips and clapped the zills, all totally out of tune with the music. What she lost in technique she made up for in enthusiasm, even attempting to get down on the floor and bend her body backward from the hips while swaying in a snakelike fashion.

When the music ended, Hailey couldn't stop giggling. She collapsed sideways on the sofa.

“So what do you think?” Ingrid was puffing, and although she hadn't succumbed to laughter herself, it was there, dancing in her eyes.

“It's…it's truly…” Hailey searched for a suitable word. “Gran, it's stupendous,” she declared. “Have you danced like that for Sam?”

“Absolutely. It really turns him on.” Ingrid gave Hailey a wicked wink. “He gets horny as hell watching me. It's worth every penny I spent on it.”

Ingrid had always been frank about enjoying her sex life with Sam. Hailey couldn't help but feel a little envious.

“I'm going to have that dressmaker down the street make me some really sexy costumes.”

“Gran, you're one of a kind,” Hailey said. “Sam's so lucky to have you.”

Ingrid beamed and nodded. “Damned straight he is. He knows it, too.” She flung herself down on the sofa beside Hailey. “The best thing about getting older is you recognize your own worth, kid. Look, I'd like to meet this little boy you're so fond of. How about I come to the ward one evening this week and you can introduce me?”

“That would be super. Come tomorrow if you can. I'd love to have you meet him.”

“It's a date. And when do you get days off again?”

“This Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Then I'm working days again.”

“Come for lunch Sunday. I'll make something Greek.”

 

A
LL THE WAY
to St. Joe's, Hailey smiled at the memory of her grandmother belly dancing. Ingrid was so devoid of self-consciousness, so certain of her own worth. She'd told Hailey it had come with age, that as a girl she'd been insecure and awkward. Gran had described it as “not fitting in her skin,” which expressed it perfectly, Hailey thought. Society put so much emphasis on physical appearance, and women grew up believing the hype. It was hard not to, with television and movies and their images of impossibly beautiful people. And in her case, having a mother and sister who were living examples of physical perfection.

That brought Laura to mind. Hailey hadn't heard from her sister since the aborted Sunday visit. Not that Laura was in the habit of calling daily or even
weekly, but still…if Jean figured there was something wrong with Laura, then there probably was. And whether they were close or not, even Hailey was beginning to worry.

She sighed and made a mental note to call her sister one more time.

She was early for her shift, deliberately so, because she'd fallen in the habit of bathing David and rocking and reading to him, and if she got there well before seven, it didn't take any time away from the other kids.

God, she loved that little boy, and it was becoming more and more evident that David loved her back. He'd now come running to her the moment she appeared on the ward, chattering away, telling her garbled stories of things that had caught his attention, showing her pictures in books and toys that he'd taken a fancy to, dragging her by the hand to the rocking chair.

Hailey had always enjoyed coming to work, but these night shifts were especially pleasant, because by the time she arrived, Margaret had gone home. So far, nothing more had been said about the complaint the head nurse had threatened to make. Hailey hurried up to the ward, eager to see David catapult down the hallway toward her, calling, “Lee, hiya, Lee.”

 

I
NGRID ARRIVED
at St. Joe's the following evening, just as Hailey was preparing the meds. David had taken to following her from one room to the next,
and he was quickly learning the names of the other patients.

“I'll bet this is the guy I've been hearing so much about,” Ingrid said, smiling at him. “Are you David, young man?”

David went wide-eyed and shy. He ducked behind Hailey and held on to the back of her uniform trousers, peeking out at Ingrid.

“This is my grandma, David.” Hailey picked him up, holding him on her hip.

“Mama?” He pointed a stubby finger at Ingrid.

“Nope, grandma. Can you say grandma?”

“Nope.” It was becoming his favorite word, and he shook his head as both women laughed.

“You two go into the playroom and get acquainted—I'll be there as soon as I finish this,” Hailey suggested. “Some of the kids are there already, waiting for a story.”

“Well, I think I could manage that,” Ingrid said. “You wanna come with me, David?”

He clung to Hailey and shook his head, but when she took him into the playroom, he was happy to sit on the sofa with Brittany, who always made a big fuss over him. She had a small stepbrother of her own at home, and Hailey knew that David helped fill the lonely gap that being away from her family left in the little girl's heart.

All the long-term kids knew Ingrid; she was a frequent visitor to the ward. Hailey introduced her to the others, and as she slipped out to finish her work, she heard Ingrid's husky voice beginning, “Once upon a time in a land far away called Sunny
ville, a little girl lived with her mommy and daddy…”

For the next half hour Hailey settled a new patient who'd just come up from intensive care, a seven-year-old girl, Lauren Meadows, who'd been hit by a car while riding her bike. She'd had surgery for a fractured pelvis and dislocated shoulder, and she was groggy and unhappy. Her mother and father were with her, and Hailey soothed the child, gave her pain medication and did her best to reassure Mr. and Mrs. Meadows that Lauren would get the best care the staff could provide. They made a point of telling her that they were both lawyers, and Hailey was well aware of the message they intended to convey. Parents were always frightened when a child they loved was hurt or ill, and she'd grown accustomed to calming their fears and not taking offense when they resorted to threats.

She was just coming out of Lauren's room when Roy came striding along the corridor toward her.

“Just the person I wanted to see,” he said with the wide, welcoming grin that stirred all sorts of responses in her.

“I wanted you to know that I spoke with Dr. Larue today, and because I don't have a foster family yet, he's agreed that David can stay here for another few days. I'm very hopeful that by the time he's ready to be released, the approval will have gone through on your fostering application.”