A Lawman for Christmas Read online

  For her mother’s sake, she did her best to sound polite. She succeeded. Moderately. “Just how do you figure into all this?”

  “Kelsey.” Dismayed, Kate chided her only daughter with the tone of her voice.

  The officer raised a hand in her mother’s direction, indicating that he didn’t mind being questioned. “That’s okay, Kate.”

  “Kate?” Kelsey echoed, her mercurial temper flaring. She hated figures of authority who patronized those they felt were beneath their station. “That’s Mrs. Marlowe to you.”

  “Kelsey.” This time the reprimand was a little more obvious. Her tone was sharper. “I’m sorry, Morgan. My daughter tends to be a little hotheaded.”

  “Daughter,” Morgan repeated, impressed. “When she first came in, I thought she was your kid sister.”

  Kelsey rolled her eyes. Just what did this cop hope to gain by flattering her mother? Granted the woman had a youthful aura about her, she always had, and she really didn’t look near her age, but that didn’t change the fact that she thought the man was up to no good. She felt it in her bones. Whatever it was, he wasn’t going to get away with it. Not while she was around.

  “Thank you for the compliment,” Kate said, “but I still want to apologize for her.” Again she linked her fingers with her daughter’s. “She doesn’t mean to sound rude. She’s just upset.”

  Morgan dismissed the need for an apology. “That’s all right. I run up against that all the time.” He turned to look at Kelsey. “Just not usually from someone as pretty as your daughter.”

  Kelsey heard a little bit of a twang in his voice. A transplant, Kelsey thought with the pinch of snobbery reserved for those who were California natives.

  “Flattery’s not going to get you anywhere,” Kelsey informed him flatly. Her hands were on her hips as she turned toward him. “Now, once and for all, why are you here?”

  His eyes shifted over to Kate. The mother was far less combative than her daughter. “I’m just making sure your mother’s all right, that’s all.”

  Kelsey turned to look at her mother. “Then something did happen.” Kelsey ignored the policeman’s presence as she took both her mother’s hands in hers. Her mother’s fingers felt cold. “Mom, what’s going on? Talk to me,” she pleaded. “What happened and why is he hovering over you like some tarnished guardian angel?” Her eyes narrowed, hoping to get at the truth quickly. “Were you in an accident?”

  Kate reached up to cup her daughter’s cheek. “Almost,” she confessed. “But I’m all right now.”

  Kelsey glared at the officer expectantly. He didn’t disappoint her.

  “Your mother ran into a hedge right off University Drive.”

  Her mother was an excellent driver. She, not her father, had taught all five of them how to drive. This didn’t make any sense. “On purpose?”

  Kate searched for a way to explain without upsetting Kelsey any further. But there just wasn’t any other way. “I fainted.”

  Fear rose up like a huge black shadow, blotting out everything else. It gripped her heart. Her imagination instantly envisioned all sorts of awful scenarios.

  “Mom!”

  Her eyes quickly swept over her mother, searching for telltale signs of the injuries her mother must have sustained. But except for her unnaturally pale color, Kate Marlowe looked as lovely as ever. Just shaken.

  “It’s all over, honey,” Kate soothed. “Officer Donnelly was kind enough to come to my rescue. He insisted on bringing me to the hospital instead of making me wait for the paramedics to arrive.”

  The last remnants of Kelsey’s anger and protectiveness faded. Instead, she felt vulnerable and unarmed. To make matters worse, she knew that she needed to apologize.

  “Thank you,” she said as warmly as she could manage. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions. It’s just when I saw you looming over my mother—I mean, standing over her like that—I just—”

  Morgan waved away her halting apology. Kate’s daughter appeared far too uncomfortable. “No need to apologize. If it makes you feel any better, I was following her to give her a ticket. When I noticed her ahead, she was weaving erratically on the road. My first thought was that she was driving under the influence.”

  Kelsey’s temper was back, flaring before she could rein it in. “At ten o’clock in the morning?”

  “Oh, you’d be surprised,” he told her. “It’s always five o’clock somewhere.”

  Kelsey didn’t bother acknowledging his statement. Instead, she asked her mother, “You’re not taking any new medication, are you?” Kelsey had moved out of the house three months ago and had been busy setting up her new life. That meant she was no longer privy to her parents’ day-to-day lives. She felt a sudden pang at that. Maybe if she were still living at home—

  Kate laughed softly. “Now you sound like the attending physician.” She went over the same thing she’d said to the E.R. doctor. “No, no meds, no fever, no explanation. I only fainted once in my life and that was when I was first pregnant with you.”

  “Well, then—”

  Kelsey stopped abruptly, her mind brought to a skidding halt by the thought. Her mother wasn’t—No, she couldn’t be.

  The next moment, she banished the very idea as being far too ridiculous to voice out loud. “Maybe it was something you ate.”

  Kate pressed her lips together, nodding. “Maybe.” There was no conviction in her voice.

  Kelsey took a deep breath. “So, can I spring you now?” The sooner she got her mother out of here, the better they would both feel.

  Kate was anxious to leave herself. She looked out toward the aisle. “Just as soon as the doctor discharges me.”

  Kelsey glanced around, but the only hospital personnel she saw in the general vicinity were nurses. “And what’s the doctor waiting for?”

  “He said he wanted to examine the results of a few lab tests and the X-ray he had me take,” Kate said.

  Was it her imagination, or did her mother sound evasive? Kelsey thought.

  Across from her, the stony-faced policeman seemed to come to life. “Well, there’s no point in my hanging around any longer. I’m still on duty,” Morgan told Kate. “Be careful out there, Mrs. Marlowe,” he said politely. Casting a side glance at Kelsey, he looked down at her left hand before adding, “You, too, Ms. Marlowe.”

  Turning on his heel, Morgan was about to leave when the E.R. physician on call, Dr. Samuel David, came to join them. Seeing the doctor, Morgan decided to linger a moment longer. Closure was something he was ever striving for.

  Dr. David smiled at his patient. If he was remotely curious as to the identity of the woman beside her, he didn’t show it. “Mrs. Marlowe, I’ve just confirmed our suspicions.”

  “Suspicions?” Kelsey echoed.

  “About why she fainted.” As if suddenly becoming aware of her, the doctor paused, looking from the woman in the bed to the one standing beside her. “My God, you look just like her.”

  “I take that as a compliment,” both Kate and Kelsey said together then laughed. For just the briefest of moments, the tension they both felt eased.

  “And well you should,” Dr. David agreed, his tone not sure which of them he was speaking to. And then he cleared his throat. “Well, back to the diagnosis—”

  Kelsey felt her heartbeat quickening. Oh God, please don’t make it anything bad. Out loud, she whispered, “Is it serious?” as she looked at the doctor.

  “Depends on how you view this kind of thing,” Dr. David said. “Personally, I think it’s very serious.”

  Kelsey reached for her mother’s hand again. She willed her mother her strength, but in reality Kate Marlowe was always the strong one. Her mother was the foundation of her family.

  She held her breath, waiting to hear the doctor tell them something that could quite possibly change their lives forever.

  “Bringing a child into the world is a very serious business,” Dr. David continued, his black eyes sweeping from mother to daughter and the
n back again.

  “A child?” Kelsey cried, stunned, confused. “What child? Where?”

  Without realizing it, she tightened her grasp on her mother’s hand, squeezing it so tight that her own fingers began to ache.

  “Your mother’s child,” the E.R. physician said, and then he chuckled. “And I would think the ‘where’ is self-explanatory.”

  Feeling as if the floor had just melted away beneath her feet, Kelsey stared at her mother. “You’re pregnant?” she cried. Before her mother could say anything, Kelsey shifted her eyes to the doctor. “She’s pregnant?” she cried incredulously.

  Dr. David smiled kindly and nodded. “It would seem so.”

  Kelsey felt as if she’d just leaned against the mirror and fallen through the looking glass. “But that’s not possible.”

  “Why not?” the policeman asked.

  Kelsey didn’t know what stunned her more: the fact that her mother was pregnant at fifty or that the muscle-bound cop with the X-ray vision had the audacity to question her reaction.

  Her eyes flashed as she said, “Because—because she’s my mother and she’s already got five kids and this part of her life was supposed to be over.” Pushing past the policeman, she rounded the foot of the bed to get closer to the doctor. “Doctor, I don’t mean to doubt you, but are you sure there’s been no mistake? Lab results get switched all the time. Maybe you got my mother’s tests mixed up with someone else’s.”

  “Granted there are mix-ups on occasion,” the doctor allowed, “but I’m happy to say, we have a low incidence of that. Blair Memorial has been ranked one of the leading hospitals in the country for the last ten years in a row now.” He turned to face Kate. “You are pregnant, Mrs. Marlowe,” he said with finality. “You’ll need to start right away with pre-natal care. I could give you the name of an excellent doctor—”

  “I already have one,” Kate replied, her words coming out slowly, impeded by the half dozen scattered thoughts racing through her mind. Taking a deep breath didn’t help steady her nerves. She looked at Kelsey. “Your father’s going to be stunned.”

  “He’s not the only one,” Kelsey replied. Try as she might, she couldn’t visualize her mother “in the family way.” There were photographs in the family albums of her being pregnant, but that was a long time ago. And, at the time, her mother had been younger than she was.

  Breaking the tension, Morgan leaned forward and took Kate’s hand in his. “Congratulations, Mrs. Marlowe. A baby is a wonderful thing,” he told her with feeling.

  Kelsey laughed shortly. “Spoken like a man who’s never had one.” Where did he get off, anyway, voicing an opinion? He was a stranger.

  To Kelsey surprise, Morgan looked as if he was about to say something in response, then obviously changed his mind. Instead, he merely nodded at Kate. “Good luck to you,” he said as he began to withdraw.

  Sensing that the E.R. physician wanted to go over a few more things with her mother before she was signed out, Kelsey stepped to the side.

  The policeman had turned around to leave. Kelsey suddenly remembered something.

  “Wait,” she called after the departing policeman, then hurried to catch up to him. “Officer Donnelly, was it?”

  Morgan stopped and turned around. “Morgan,” he corrected. He liked things to be professional and formal, but in her case, something prompted him to be more familiar.

  “Morgan,” Kelsey repeated, inclining her head. “Where’s my mother’s car now? You didn’t have it towed away, did you?” If it had been towed away, there would be a mountain of paperwork and red tape before she could get the car back, not to mention that there would be a hefty fine.

  “No, it’s still where she left it. Just a little past the intersection of University Drive and Campus Road.” Morgan paused, debating.

  It had been a slow morning. No reason to believe the afternoon wasn’t going to be the same. Bedford was deemed one of the safest cities in the country. Helping out a citizen came under the heading of good public relations. The chief was always after them to work with the citizens and promote goodwill.

  “I could take you over there if you like,” he volunteered, “and then you could drive it to your mother’s house.”

  “Then what would I do with the car I drove here?”

  “Right.” Morgan had forgotten about that. He thought for a moment. The solution was simple. “Tell you what, you bring your mother home first, and I’ll follow you in the squad car. After you get her settled, I’ll take you to your mother’s car.”

  That was really going out of his way, she thought. Once upon a time, she would have taken his offer at face value. But that was before Dan. “And why would you do that?” she asked suspiciously.

  “The Bedford police department aims to please,” he told her simply. And then he looked at her for a long moment. She felt as if he were peering right into her. “Are you always this suspicious?”

  “Only when things seem to be out of sync.” And then she considered her mother. Talk about out of sync. “A baby,” she murmured, shaking her head.

  He was still scrutinizing her, still looking into her soul. Kelsey bristled at the thought.

  “Why does that bother you so much?” he asked, and then guessed at the reason. “You’re the youngest, aren’t you?”

  Kelsey squared her shoulders. “That has nothing to do with it.”

  In his opinion, that had a great deal to do with it. But he had no desire to get into any sort of a discussion with her about it. He had a feeling she did not give up easily. “If you say so.”

  Kelsey caught her lower lip between her teeth. “It’s just that…”

  Morgan anticipated her words. “Don’t say she’s too old,” he cautioned. “Your mother looks like a young, vital woman.”

  That was only half the picture. “Who already has a life and five children.”

  “Now she’ll have six.”

  Kelsey stared up at Morgan. He certainly didn’t sound like a typical male his age. She placed him in his late twenties. Most men in that age bracket fiercely resisted anything that seemed remotely close to domestication.

  “You like babies?” she asked, studying him as she waited for an answer.

  She had a long wait ahead of her. Rather than answer, he nodded toward her mother’s bed. “The E.R. doctor’s leaving. Better help your mother get ready. I’ll wait for you at the E.R.’s registration desk.” He pointed toward doors that led outside the emergency room.

  Without waiting for a response, Morgan walked away, heading toward the doors. Leaving her with a basketful of questions.

  Chapter Three

  “He seems like a very nice man,” Kate commented to Kelsey.

  Morgan had helped Kate out of the wheelchair that the hospital’s insurance policy required for all inpatients leaving the premises, then gently eased her into her daughter’s car. True to his word, the young policeman followed behind them as Kelsey drove her home.

  Kelsey lifted one shoulder in a dismissive half shrug. “He’s okay for a policeman.”

  She glanced up into her rearview mirror. If she was hoping that he’d taken off instead of following them, she was disappointed. In true law enforcement style, Donnelly drove a sensible distance behind them.

  Kelsey sped up.

  So did he.

  She had a gut feeling that Officer Morgan Donnelly was not an easy man to shake.

  She couldn’t really put into words why, but the fact that he trailed behind them annoyed her. Kelsey knew she was unreasonable, that the policeman had been extremely accommodating and made things easy for her. She should be grateful.

  But policemen as a species were not really high on her approval list right now. Not since she’d broken up with Dan. Moreover, she wasn’t exactly in the best of moods. For one thing, she was still shaken up by having to rush to the hospital, not knowing what to expect when she got there. For another, the news of her mother’s current delicate condition had completely thrown her for a
loop.

  If one of her brothers had told her that they were expecting, she would have been instantly overjoyed. This was something else again. It would take getting used to.

  Kelsey could feel her mother’s gaze.

  Glancing briefly to her right, Kelsey asked, “What?”

  “Since when do you have something against policemen?” Kate asked.

  Ordinarily, her life was an open book. She and her mother were more than family—they were friends and she valued her mother’s insight and judgment. But this had been a very personal hurt. Because she hadn’t wanted to endure her brothers’ teasing, not to mention their questions, no one had even known she was seeing Dan at the time. And afterward, when she’d felt like an idiot because Dan had been stringing her along, well, she didn’t feel like sharing that, either.

  It definitely wasn’t a topic she wanted to raise now.

  Kelsey shook her head. “Mom, I don’t want to waste time talking about policemen.”

  Kate smiled. “What do you want to waste time talking about?”

  “I don’t want to waste time at all—” Kelsey realized that her voice was tense. But then, this wasn’t an everyday situation. Stopping at a stoplight at an intersection, she slanted another look at her mother. “Mom, what are you going to do?”

  Clearly puzzled by the question, Kate asked, “About?”

  “World peace,” Kelsey retorted, her tension getting the best of her. And then she flushed. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to be so flip. About the baby, Mom. What are you going to do about the baby?”

  Her mother never hesitated. “Start eating healthier, exercising more. And giving up that glass of wine I always have with your father at dinner.” The light turned green and Kelsey pressed down on the gas pedal. There was just the slightest shift in her mother’s voice as she asked, “What else would I do?”

  How in heaven’s name do you ask your mother if she was considering an alternative to giving birth? For one of the few times in her life, Kelsey felt tongue-tied. Taking a breath, she forced herself to forge ahead.