The Baby Gift by Susan Crosby

Author:Susan Crosby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2000-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Eight

Panic lit the woman’s eyes as she focused on Gina’s flat stomach, then scanned the office. Horror seeped in. “The baby. Where’s my baby? Oh my God. Something happened—”

“No. Winnie—” Gina stepped toward her “—he’s fine. He’s just fine.”

Everything happened so fast then. Winnie took a step toward Gina, desperation in her eyes, an animal sound in her throat. J.T. locked an arm around her, immobilizing her.

“No! Don’t! Let her go, J.T. Please. Let her go,” Gina implored. “Let go.” Softer then, but even more insistent.

“I’ll cuff you to the damn chair, if I have to,” he said to Winnie, close to her ear.

He released her, but didn’t move away.

Gina extended her hands toward her mother-in-law. “You have a grandson, Winnie. And he’s beautiful.”

“Where are you hiding him?”

Gina flinched at the icy accusation. After all these years, didn’t this woman know her daughter-in-law at all? Hide her baby?

“He’s with a friend,” Gina said, as if the strain of staying calm hurt. “A nurse. They’ll be back soon, I promise.”

“He’s ill?”

“He’s perfectly healthy.”

“Get him.”

Gina shifted her gaze to J.T. He shook his head. He wasn’t going anywhere.

“Why don’t you have a seat. I’m sure they won’t be long,” Gina said.

Winnie glared at J.T., then perched on a chair. “When was Eric born?”

“January second, just past noon. And his name is Joey. Joel Eric Banning.”

She almost levitated from the chair. “We agreed! If it was a boy, he was supposed to be named Eric.”

“No, Winnie. You announced it, deed done. I never agreed. He needs his own identity.”

“I won’t call him that. Joey.” Her mouth pinched tight.

“Yes, you will.”

J.T. heard something new in Gina’s voice—authority. She looked a little different, too. Composed. Serene.

“You’ll call him by his given name, because I’m his mother, and that’s my choice. He’s his own person, not a replacement. I promise you he’ll know everything there is to know about Eric.”

“Well, a promise from you isn’t worth much, is it?”

Gina crouched in front of her. J.T. went on full alert, ready to intervene, earning himself a long, level, dagger of a look from the woman.

“I kept the ultimate promise,” Gina said. “It wasn’t easy on me. I’ve miscarried. I’ve had the equivalent of two more, when the inseminations didn’t take. I went through a pregnancy alone.”

“You had me.”

“I mean, without my husband, whom I loved and needed.”

Her declaration wrapped around J.T.’s throat and tightened. He’d never heard her say the words before. The past would never fade for them, he realized. They would always be tied by it, by what they had in common—Eric. By her love for him—and J.T.’s hatred. By the child that was a living link, who couldn’t be ignored.

Gina set a hand on Winnie’s. “I know you did the best you could. But your best was too much.”

“I have rights.”

J.T. snapped to attention. “Legally you have no rights,” he said, glad the law backed him up. He could see why Gina had left. His blood pressure would’ve skyrocketed, too.

“I do have rights. And I know who you are, J.

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