LITMIR.BIZ

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locate your stepfather—your mother’s second husband—but he’d not been in contact with her or you in years. He couldn’t help us.”

      Bewildered now, she cradled her belly with both hands. “There has to be someone out there who knows where I belong! I’m going to have some man’s baby!”

      As if she had to remind him of that fact. Ever since he’d walked into this room last night and realized she was pregnant, he’d been eaten up with the image of her carrying another man’s child. “Believe me, I understand your frustration. But—”

      “Do you?” she interrupted. “Unless all trace of memory has been knocked out of your brain at one time, then I don’t expect you to understand anything about this situation I’m in!”

      Vince was hardly surprised to see her growing angry, yet he was at a loss of how to deal with it. She was no longer his wife. He couldn’t pull her into his arms, stroke her hair and murmur soothing words in her ear. And even if she did remember being his wife, he doubted she would want that sort of comfort from him now.

      “Look, I think—”

      His words halted as a slight knock sounded on the door. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw an auburn-haired nurse dressed in navy blue scrubs enter the room.

      “Oh, so you have company this morning,” she said to Geena, then turned a hopeful look on Vince. “Are you an acquaintance of Alice?”

      From the corner of his eye, he could see Geena wiping a hand over her face and attempting to pull herself together.

      “Alice? Where did that name come from?” Vince asked as his gaze vacillated from one woman to the other.

      “I gave it to her last night,” the nurse explained. “We needed to call our patient something more than Hey You or Jane Doe.”

      Geena quickly intervened. “This is Detective Parcell, Marcella. He’s working my case.”

      The nurse extended her hand in greeting. “Nice to meet you, Detective.”

      Vince tilted his head as he studied the woman and her name tag. “Marcella. I think I remember seeing you somewhere before,” he told her. “At some sort of party.”

      With a light laugh, the nurse dropped his hand and moved over to pick up the half-eaten breakfast tray. “You must be confusing me with someone who has time for a social life.”

      “No. I remember now,” Vince said. “It was at a baby christening. Lilly and Rafe’s youngest child. You had two little boys with you.”

      A surprised smile came over the nurse’s face. “That was me. So you know the Calhouns?”

      “Evan has been my partner for several years.”

      “I see. Well, Lilly Calhoun and I worked together in the ER for years. So I guess the two of us have something in common. We’re both friends with the Calhouns. And we’re both trying to help Alice.”

      The nurse turned a pointed look on Geena. “You didn’t eat all of your breakfast. How are you feeling? Head still hurting?”

      Geena glanced at him, as though to seek his advice about divulging her name. Her first name, at least. But the idea must not have appealed to her, because she answered the nurse’s questions without expanding on the news.

      “It’s only a dull ache. I can bear it.”

      “Baby still moving about?”

      Smiling faintly, Geena nodded. “I’m convinced he or she is going to be an athlete.”

      “Great,” the nurse replied. “I’ll take this tray out of here and let you finish your talk with Detective Parcell.”

      Vince watched the nurse leave the room before he turned back to Geena. “You didn’t correct her about your name or say anything about us,” he stated the obvious.

      She looked away from him and swallowed. “No. I started to. But I need to think about all this before I say anything. Later today, I’ll let her in on the news that I’m not Alice in a fairy-tale world anymore.”

      Too bad this wasn’t a fairy tale they could both wake up from, Vince thought dismally. It would save them both a lot of awkward misery. But this wasn’t a dream. It was reality. Something he dealt with every day.

      “Well, it’s time I leave and let you rest,” he told her. “You’ve had enough excitement for one morning.”

      Her gaze jerked back to his face. “You’re leaving? But I have so many questions! Can’t you stay just a little longer?”

      Her legs were dangling over the side of the bed and Vince’s gaze followed the blue fabric of the hospital gown to the point where the hem stopped at the middle of her shins. Below it, he could see her calves were smooth and shapely, her toenails painted a bright neon pink.

      There were so many things about her that had changed, he realized, yet so much that was still the same. And he suddenly wondered why he was noticing all these little things about her. Nothing about her gold-spun hair, creamy skin or pink toenails had anything to do with her current predicament. Yet he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off her.

      “I can’t give you answers now. My partner and I are pasting your photo on every form of social media. I’m certain there will be someone out there who will see it and give us the information we need. In the meantime just be thankful that you and your baby survived the car accident. Things could’ve certainly been worse.”

      “Believe me, I’ve very thankful for that. But I—can’t you tell me a bit about us? Our marriage? You said we lived in Reno?”

      Suddenly remembering the small photo he’d brought with him this morning, he fished it out of his shirt pocket.

      “Just in case you still have doubts—here’s a picture of the two of us on our wedding day.” He handed her the snapshot. “We didn’t have the money to have a professional photographer at the ceremony. A friend took this.”

      Vince watched her study the image of the smiling couple standing beneath an arch of flowers. He’d been dressed in a borrowed suit and a friend had made Geena’s simple white dress. Everything about the wedding and small reception had been modest, but neither of them had cared. They’d been deliriously in love.

      But she didn’t remember that. She didn’t remember the nights they’d made passionate love. And maybe he should thank God for that. Because he was doing enough remembering for the both of them.

      “Did we have children?” she asked. “What happened?”

      Lifting her head, she looked to him for answers. Vince couldn’t give them to her. At least, not all of them.

      Turning away from her, he walked back over to the window. The man with the cigarette was gone. And it was definitely past time for Vince to be gone, too.

      “No. We didn’t have children. And we simply decided that our lives were on different courses, that’s all. We parted on friendly terms. After that, I moved down here to Carson City. I’d not seen or heard from you until last night when I walked into this room and saw that you were the accident victim.”

      “I see,” she said quietly. “So everything ended between us long ago.”

      “Yeah. It ended.”

      Awkward silence stretched for long moments before she finally spoke again.

      “Well, I must have had family other than you. Clearly my father is gone and my mother is questionable. I don’t have siblings, but what about grandparents, aunts or uncles? Have you tried to contact them?”

      “Your grandparents are no longer living,” he informed her. “As for aunts and uncles, your father had a brother, Mort Cummings. He lives in Montana now. I’ve already spoken with him. He lost touch with you a few years ago. Other than him I don’t recall any aunts or uncles you were well acquainted with.”

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