LITMIR.BIZ

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inside is a small anteroom where you’ll scrub your hands and arms and face. Just make sure the outer door is closed before you open the inside one. You don’t have a cold or anything, do you?”

      “No.”

      “Fine. Haley’s in room 3.”

      Thad thanked her and pushed away from the counter, growing increasingly uneasy with the memories this sterile environment evoked. He hadn’t expected it to be quite so bad, but now that he was standing in the middle of the hospital lobby, he couldn’t avoid the memories of Valerie’s last days. He had spent many hours in a similar place, waiting while the doctors operated, hoping, praying, staring dumbly into space—and eventually losing everything that mattered to him.

      Shooting a look at the sliding doors that led to the parking lot where he’d left his car, Thad hesitated. It wasn’t too late to turn away instead of plunging right into the middle of someone else’s misery. He didn’t owe Macy anything. They were still virtual strangers. She hadn’t even leveled with him and told him why she needed the money. She didn’t want him in her personal life. There had to be someone else who could help her.

      Then why did she contact me? Surely I was a last resort?

      Thad winced under the responsibility that thought landed squarely on his shoulders. Dammit, he hadn’t asked for this! All he wanted was a child of his own, and he was willing to sacrifice every penny of the life insurance money he’d collected on Valerie’s death to avoid any further entanglements.

      Still, it wasn’t responsibility that drew him down the hall and away from the exit, he realized. It was the thought of Macy’s gaunt cheeks, the lack of sparkle in her eyes. The mystery of what had caused those things had been solved, and as much as he didn’t want to, he could feel her pain. He understood—as few could—and that understanding wouldn’t allow him to walk away.

      The nurses’ station outside the oncology department was deserted. Thad scrubbed up as he’d been told and closed the outer door, then stepped into the sterile ward, expecting someone to question his presence or acknowledge him in some way. But other than a hushed murmuring a few doors down, there was no one to stop him from walking down the hall and poking his head into room 3.

      No one except himself. He hovered just outside until a small sweet voice caught him as effectively as a net.

      “Mommy? Is that you?”

      Not wanting to frighten the child by leaving his shadow falling across her door, Thad moved inside, where she could see him and he could see her. Small for her age and almost as white as the sheets she lay between, she stared at him with round eyes that were far too big for her face. Her hair had been reduced to a few wispy strands. Her bones were prominent through her flesh. And the circles beneath her eyes were so dark it looked as though they’d been painted there deliberately. No less than twenty-five IVs surrounded her bed.

      The sight clenched Thad’s stomach like a vise, and even though he didn’t know this child, had no emotional connection to her, he ached for her suffering.

      “My name is Thad, Haley,” he said, smiling to reassure her. “I’m a friend of your mommy’s.”

      “I’ve never seen you before,” she replied doubtfully.

      His smile grew. “No, your mother and I haven’t known each other very long. Did she go home to get some rest?”

      “Lisa made her go to the lunchroom.”

      “Good for Lisa. She’s your mommy’s friend, right?”

      Haley frowned, looking unsure, but finally nodded. “What’s that?” she asked, eyeing the teddy bear with obvious appreciation.

      “It’s for you. But it looks as though you might not have room for him.”

      She scooted to the side. “He can fit. See?”

      Thad placed the giant bear in the bed beside her, and she promptly began to cover him up with her blankets. “He’s cold,” she explained.

      “It doesn’t look like he’ll be cold for long. What are you going to name him?”

      She screwed up her face, thinking long and hard. “Scotty has a dog named Bruiser.”

      “Who’s Scotty?”

      “He lives next door to us.”

      “Well, I doubt he’ll mind if you want to name your bear after his dog.”

      She smiled, and a hint of how beautiful she would be if she were healthy caused another pang in Thad’s chest. He could see Macy’s elegant features in her and began to wonder how her father could have abandoned such a lovely child, or how, for that matter, he could have abandoned her mother. Marrying a man capable of doing something like that didn’t seem like Macy McKinney, but then, there was no accounting for love. It could blind even the strongest and wisest.

      “What are you doing here?”

      Thad turned to see Macy at the door, gaping at him.

      He studied her for a moment, then chose his words carefully. “I have a hundred thousand dollars in the bank, Macy. There isn’t any reason we can’t both get what we want.”

      Macy’s eyes darted suspiciously from Thad to her daughter and the stuffed bear, then back to Thad. “And what is it you want, Mr. Winters?”

      “You know what I want. I want my baby.” He nodded to Haley. “And you want yours.”

      Taking a business card from his shirt pocket, he scribbled down his home number and handed it to her. “Call me if you’re still interested,” he said, and walked out.

      “WHO WAS THAT?” Lisa demanded, coming through the door to Haley’s room just after Thad Winters had left.

      “Guess,” Macy replied. Dropping the backpack she’d been dragging around with her so she could study, she slumped into the seat next to her daughter’s bed.

      Lisa raised her eyebrows. “Well, he wasn’t wearing scrubs or a white coat, so I doubt he was a doctor.”

      “It was Fad,” Haley piped up. “He brought me a bear.”

      “Thad,” Macy corrected, eyeing the stuffed animal as though she’d like to belt it. “Thad Winters.”

      Lisa blinked in surprise. “That was him? Oooee, what a babe! You’re crazy if you think a man like that has to pay a woman to do anything.”

      Macy rolled her eyes. “Handsome is as handsome does.”

      “And what has he done that’s so unhandsome?”

      Macy didn’t really have an answer for that. He’d caught her in a lie, which had embarrassed her, but she had no right to hold that against him. He was offering her money to do something she didn’t want to do, because he knew her back was against the wall. But he could have offered the deal to someone else. As Lisa had said, there had to be any number of women who would happily oblige a man like Thad Winters—for free! So what, then, had her so angry?

      The desperation that forced her to act beyond her own good judgment, she decided. And the fear. But those things had nothing to do with Thad Winters, either. At least he seemed to want a baby for the right reasons. Everyone who knew him was convinced he’d take good care of a child. Besides, she couldn’t expect him or anyone else to plop a hundred thousand dollars into her lap for nothing. A hundred bucks wasn’t inconceivable as a charitable donation, but one hundred thousand?

      “He wants you to do it, right?” Lisa asked, watching her.

      Slowly, Macy nodded.

      “And you will?”

      Macy nodded again. She had no choice. Haley meant everything to her. She could only hope Thad was right—that his money would bring them what they both wanted. Otherwise, if the bone marrow transplant didn’t work, she’d be expected to give up the new baby on the heels of

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