Jack McCarney. And your baby, Grace, is across the street. At the studio.”
“You left her alone?” Helen untied the apron and pulled it off.
“She’s not alone. She’s with my secretary. The same one you left her with hours ago.”
Helen was fighting hard not to run across the street to get back to Grace. She’d fought it all afternoon. A part of her had kept telling herself to get as far away as possible, but the other part of her had refused, saying she had to stay long enough to make sure Grace was fine. From a distance.
At some point, while she’d been crying her eyes out, Julia had offered her a job of washing dishes to pay for room and board for a few days.
Julia assured that was common practice for her. That she often allowed girls needing a place to stay to reside with her in the small house behind the diner until they were able to acquire lodging elsewhere. Julia also hadn’t pried. She’d never once asked why she was here, crying her eyes out. And Helen had been too weak to say no, to refuse the offer of a job and accommodation, because it would mean that she’d be able to make sure that Grace would be okay. Would be cared for. Loved.
A shiver rippled Helen’s spine as the man before her ran a hand through his hair.
His blond hair.
“What did you say your name is?” she asked. He certainly wasn’t the man in the picture with Vera. That man, Joe McCarney, had black hair.
“Jack McCarney,” he answered.
A leering glare from his brown eyes settled on her so fully, so completely, her entire body quivered.
Oh, dear Lord, what had she done?
She was almost afraid to ask, but had to. “Are you related to Joe McCarney?”
“I’m his brother.”
“Joe McCarney is Grace’s father.” Hoping to justify what she’d done, she added, “All I had was the address across the street.”
“Jack—” Julia started.
“Joe isn’t any more that baby’s father than I am,” he barked.
The disapproval in Julia’s face sent another shiver racing over Helen. “Yes, he is,” she said. “I have proof.”
He scowled. “Proof? What sort of proof.”
“A—a marriage license and a wedding picture,” she answered. “They are in my purse. I should have left them with Grace, but forgot about them.”
“Forgot? How could you forget about your marriage license? Your wedding picture?”
Shaking all the way to her core, Helen didn’t have the wherewithal to point out his mistake. “Is Joe across the street?”
“No, Joe isn’t across the street.” He grabbed her arm. “But that’s where you’re going. To collect your baby.”
She considered refusing, but if Joe wasn’t there, she couldn’t leave Grace with this beast of a man.
“You’ll be without a dishwasher for a while, Julia,” he said while marching toward the door.
“Stop,” Helen said, digging her heels into the black-and-white-tiled floor. “I need to get my purse.”
“No, you don’t.”
She refused to move, even though he pulled on her arm. “Yes, I do.”
He let her go. “Fine. Get your purse.”
She hurried across the room, into the little backroom where she’d cried her eyes out most of the afternoon.
Julia was on her heels. “What were you thinking? Dropping a baby off at Jack’s door?”
“I thought it was Joe’s door. He’s Grace’s father. I promised her mother, Vera, on her deathbed that I would bring Grace to him.”
“So the baby isn’t yours?”
“No, she’s not mine. I wouldn’t drop my baby off with some stranger.” Guilt struck her hard and fast. She shouldn’t have dropped Grace off, either. Disgraced by her own actions, she dropped her head. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“It’ll be all right,” Julia said, rubbing her arm. “You can come back here. Our deal still stands, a job for room and board, for both you and the baby.”
Helen didn’t know what to say, other than, “Thank you.”
“Jack is Joe’s brother. The good son. He’s just upset right now. Joe was blackballed from Hollywood over two years ago, and Jack is still cleaning up the messes his brother left behind when he hightailed it out of the state.” Julia shook her head again. “Looks like Joe left him with another one.”
Helen’s heart dropped. “Joe isn’t even in California?”
“No, he left two years ago, and hasn’t been back.”
“Oh, dear.” Helen took off her glasses and wiped at her stinging eyes. Vera had never mentioned that Joe had a brother. She only ever talked about Joe, and how he was coming back. Coming back for her and the baby. Someday.
Perhaps she should have listened to Mr. Amery when he said going to California was a bad idea. That there was no telling what could happen to her and Grace, on the way or once they got here. He’d been kind to Helen after the deaths of her family, giving her a job at his grocery and renting out the apartment above the store to her, and though he’d been a bit begrudging at first, he had let Vera move in as well. Despite all, he’d been very good to both Vera and Grace upon the birth of the baby.
What would happen now? If Joe wasn’t in California, what would she do with Grace?
She had to go get her, that was a given.
“I’ll be back,” she told Julia while picking up her purse. “Thank you, again.”
Jack was still in the kitchen, pacing near the door. He stopped and stared at her as she left the back room.
“Are you ready now?”
“Yes.” In the three months since Grace had been born, they’d never been apart, and excitement at seeing the baby, holding her, increased the speed of Helen’s footsteps. “I’m ready.”
“Let’s go.” Jack pulled open the kitchen door and held it as she crossed over the threshold.
All eyes seemed to land on them, and followed her and Jack as he grasped her elbow and led her through the restaurant toward the door. It was more than uncomfortable, it was unnerving, and, as if she needed an extra reminder, it reinforced exactly why she’d brought Grace to California. She couldn’t be seen. She couldn’t be dragged back to the life she’d been running from ever since that awful night. Her parents and brother had died in the raid at the restaurant, but she hadn’t. She and Karen had run down the hallway,
