“You can be a little intense at times, and intimidating.”
She frowned. “I don’t want them to be afraid of me.”
“They fear your authority, not you personally. You hold everyone to a super high standard. You demand the best performance at all times. They don’t like to let you down.”
She actually blushed. “I couldn’t ask for a better staff.”
“They’re as good as they are because of you.”
“I’m sure you had something to do with it, too. You’re incredibly easy to work for. I liked Dr. Mann, but he was incredibly arrogant. He was always right, and God help you if you disagreed with him. Especially in front of a patient. I’ve seen some really good nurses get fired for challenging his authority. And even if it turned out they were right, he would never admit it.”
“Sounds like he had a God complex.”
“Don’t get me wrong, he was a good doctor. Just not a very good person. I think he got into medicine for all the wrong reasons.”
“We all have our reasons,” he said.
“What were yours?”
“Mostly to get laid,” he said, wiggling his brows. “Chicks love doctors.”
“Chicks?”
“That’s right, baby. They dig me.”
She was trying really hard not to grin. “The 1960s called. They want their slang back.”
He laughed and she cracked a smile.
“Your time is up, daddy-o. Make like a tree and leave.”
She was funny, too. And really snarky.
Could she be more enchanting?
Figuring he’d hassled her enough for one morning, he slugged back the last of his coffee, and then left.
Parker spent the remainder of the day catching up on his reading. Medical journals mostly. Then he did some online research regarding Janey’s case. Once again, he found nothing that fit her symptoms. He finished around nine that evening, more frustrated than ever. Feeling restless and edgy, he headed over to the Texas Cattleman’s Club for a drink. Only a few tables in the lounge were occupied; Logan Wade sat at the bar, hunched over a beer. A hockey game played on the television, but he didn’t seem to be watching it. He just stared into the beer mug, mesmerized as he swirled the dark lager around and around. Barely a month ago, Logan had taken custody of his twin brother Seth’s baby daughter after Margaret, the child’s mother, died in a car crash giving birth. Paramedics were able to deliver the baby, who was surprisingly unharmed, but Margaret never regained consciousness. Margaret’s mother, in her grief over losing her daughter and believing that Logan was the baby’s father, left the child in his care. Logan swore he’d never met Margaret, and a blood test confirmed that he was related to the baby, but not the parent. So it had to be Seth.
Parker took a seat next to him, and Logan greeted him with a very unenthusiastic, “Hey.”
The bartender, without prompting, brought Parker his regular, a scotch and soda. “Who’s winning?” he asked Logan, but his friend stared at him blankly.
Parker gestured to the television. “The game?”
“Oh, right,” Logan said, and then shrugged. “I guess I have no idea. To be honest, I don’t even know how long I’ve been sitting here. Is it possible to sleep with one’s eyes open?”
Parker chuckled. “Baby Maggie not letting you get much rest?”
“She’s so fussy. Hadley keeps telling me it’s normal, but damn...” He shook his head in exasperation. “Don’t get me wrong, she’s my niece, and I love her, but I really wasn’t prepared for this.”
“No luck reaching your brother?”
He shook his head. “The navy took the message, but Seth is on a mission. Who knows when he’ll get it. If and when he does, there’s still no guarantee he’ll come back to claim her. I honestly don’t know what I would do without Hadley.”
Hadley, Logan’s new bride, had come to work for him as a nanny, and the two had fallen hard for each other. It seemed as if everyone around Parker was finding their perfect match and settling down. A year ago that would have given him the heebie-jeebies. Now he wanted what they had.
“She’s a keeper,” Parker said.
The game went to commercial and the station broke in with a special news report. Both men looked up at the wide-screen behind the bar. Janey’s picture flashed across the screen with the caption “Abandoned Baby, Mother Found?” Parker sat up straighter, asking the bartender, “Can you turn that up?”
According to the anchor, a truck driver who had been in the lot of the truck stop the night Janey had been found had come forward with a video. While videotaping his rig, he’d caught a glimpse of a woman, now presumed to be Janey’s mother, entering the building. They played the clip, which was grainy and difficult to make out clearly.
“Holy shit!” Logan jumped up so fast the bar stool flipped over backward and everyone in the room turned toward the commotion.
“You recognize her?” Parker asked him.
Logan rubbed his tired eyes and squinted at the television. “That looks like Margaret!”
“Margaret? You mean Maggie’s mother?”
“Margaret’s mother showed me a picture. I’m pretty sure that’s her,” he said, and asked the bartender for the remote to rewind the clip. He rewound it twice. “Yeah,” he told Parker, “I’m positive. That’s Margaret.”
And just like that Parker knew exactly how to treat his fragile little patient. He laughed and shook his head. Could it really be that simple?
“Call the police,” Parker told Logan, pulling on his coat. “I have to get to the hospital.”
Stunned, Logan said, “If Margaret is Janey’s mother, that means...”
“It means you have two nieces.”
A look of shock crossed his face. “Twins?”
“A simple DNA test will prove it definitively.” Honestly, it was a wonder they hadn’t put it together before now. “But if I were you I would go home and get some sleep. If they are twins, your life is about to get a bit more complicated.”
Clare woke the next morning to her phone ringing.
She sat up and looked at her phone. Of course it was Parker. Who else would call her at 7:00 a.m.? On her day off?
“Hello,” she grumbled.
“You awake?” he asked.
