Wanted: Father for Her Baby: Keeping Baby Secret / Five Brothers and a Baby / Expecting Brand's Baby

Haley hugged her. “You can’t keep pacing the floor and you can’t keep going into Andrew’s room every ten minutes. You need something to do.”

“You’re right. Staring at Andrew’s crib in the nursery won’t make him miraculously appear.” Emotion lodged in Leenie’s throat. Don’t cry, she told herself. Crying isn’t going to help. You have to stay strong and in control.

“They’ll find him and bring him home to you.” Haley hugged her again, then grasped her hand and tugged. “Come on. Let’s make us some tea first, then put on fresh coffee for the others. After that I’ll take breakfast orders. And I expect you to eat. Even if it’s just a few bites.”

Leenie followed her friend into the kitchen, thankful that she had someone with her, someone who understood what it meant to be a mother with a baby boy lost. No, not lost—stolen. Suddenly feeling as if they had become glued to the spot, her feet wouldn’t move. The reality of Andrew’s disappearance struck her once again, but harder this time, and she sensed that he was being taken farther and farther away from her.

“Leenie?”

“Oh, God, what if—what if—” Tears streamed down her cheeks.

Haley grabbed her and pulled her into her arms. “Cry, dammit. Cry your eyes out.”

Leenie fell apart. She sobbed until she was spent. Was it seconds? Minutes? Hours? She didn’t know. And all the while Haley held her and stroked her back and murmured soothing, comforting words that Leenie barely heard. As she gulped down the lingering sobs, she lifted her head and looked into Haley’s kind hazel eyes.

Haley grasped her shoulders and offered her a fragile smile. “Go wash your face and when you get back, I’ll have a cup of tea waiting for you.”

Leenie nodded, but before she could turn around, the kitchen door opened and a tall, dark stranger entered. He wasn’t one of the local police and he wasn’t one of the three FBI agents who had arrived less than an hour ago.

“Dr. Patton?” The golden-eyed man looked right at Leenie.

“Yes.”

When he came forward and held out his right hand, she noticed an onyx and diamond ring on his third finger. “I’m Special Agent Dante Moran. I’ll be heading up this case.”

She shook his hand. Warm. Firm.

“Could we sit and talk, Dr. Patton?” he asked.

“I’ve talked to the police and to the other FBI agents,” she told him. “I don’t know what more there is to say.”

“No one has discussed possible scenarios with you, have they? Told you what we might be dealing with in Andrew’s case?”

She shook her head.

He nodded toward the kitchen table. “Want to sit down?”

“No, I—I can’t sit.”

“All right.” He shrugged. “We aren’t sure what we’re dealing with here. It’s possible that whoever took Andrew simply wanted a baby. If that’s—”

“Then she’ll probably take good care of him,” Leenie said sarcastically.

“Yeah, and I realize that doesn’t make you feel any better. But it’s better than the other possibilities.”

“Which are?”

“He was taken for ransom.”

“I’m not rich.”

“Not rich, but wealthy,” Moran said. “And you are a local celebrity.”

“Hell.”

“If Andrew was taken for a ransom, we’ll be hearing from the kidnapper soon.”

“And if he wasn’t taken for a ransom?”

“He could have been stolen by someone who intends to sell him. There’s a profitable market for stolen babies, especially WASP babies. Blond, blueeyed. And then there’s the other possibility.” He looked Leenie square in the eyes. “The worst case scenario is—”

“Dammit, Mr. Moran, do you have to come right out and say it?” Haley practically screamed at the FBI agent.

“Sorry, ma’am.” He glanced from Leenie to Haley and then focused on Leenie again. “Rest assured that we’re going to do everything in our power to find Andrew and bring him home to you safe and sound.”

“Yes, I—I know you will.”

“What about Andrew’s father?” Moran asked. “I understand you two aren’t married, but don’t you think that, under the circumstances, you should contact him to let him know his son has been kidnapped?”

Leenie didn’t respond; she simply stared into Moran’s yellow-brown eyes. After an endless moment, he shrugged. “Why don’t you get some rest, Dr. Patton? We can talk again later. Special Agent Walker explained to you the procedure if the phone rings and that we’ll screen anyone who comes to the door and—”

“He explained,” Haley said.

Moran nodded, then walked out of the kitchen.

Leenie took a deep breath. What about Andrew’s father? That question repeated itself over and over again inside her head. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t already asked herself the same thing several times during the night. She had been wrestling with indecision about whether to tell Frank about Andrew’s existence since the day her baby was born. But now that Andrew had been abducted, it made the decision all the more difficult. What could she do, call Frank and say, “By the way, we have a baby boy and he’s been kidnapped.”

“I know what you’re thinking,” Haley said.

“Yeah, but do you know what I should do?”

“Oh, honey, that’s a toughie. What’s your heart telling you to do?”

Leenie groaned. “It’s telling me that I need Frank, that somehow he can help.”

“And what does your brain tell you?”

“That Frank is a Dundee agent, with the resources of the entire agency at his disposal, that he can do things the law can’t do and that the Dundee Agency has strong ties to the FBI and—”

“Your heart and your mind are telling you to contact Frank Latimer,” Haley said.

She sighed. “How do I tell him about Andrew over the phone?”

“Good question. Is there someone else you could call, someone who could get Frank here under some other pretense so that you can tell him face-to-face?”

“I don’t know—” Leenie paused. “Well there is Elsa. Maybe my old boss at WJMM, Elsa Devlin, could arrange it. Her husband used to be a Dundee agent. And she and I are good friends.”

“So call Elsa.”