Looking For Trouble (13 page)

Wade stood up, then put his hands under her
legs and neck, and rolled her into his arms. She struggled against
him for a minute, then settled down. "Shhh...let's go see our baby
girl, darlin'," he whispered by her ear, and she let out a
shuddering sigh. Seeing a wheelchair against the wall, Wade carried
her over there and gently set her down in it, then pulled out the
leg rest, so she could prop her cast on there. Letting off the
brake, he pushed her out into the hall, then down to Angel's
room.

Jazzie and Travis were already in there, and
when he pushed the wheelchair into the room, they cast surprised,
but relieved glances his way.

"Hey Travis, would you go get the nurse and
see if she can take Angel off that backboard?" he requested, as he
parked the wheelchair beside the exam table.

Angel was sleeping now, probably exhausted
from all the poking and prodding, but her color was more pink and
less red. He felt her forehead and the fever had come down, a
lot.

He leaned down by Jess's ear and whispered,
"See, Jess...she's doing better, the fever is almost gone, she just
needs her momma to hold her, and she'll feel a lot better." Jess
whimpered, then put her hand to Angel's face and stroked her,
before putting her finger in Angel's little fist, and her tiny
fingers clamped around it.

The doctor walked in behind them smiling as
she told them, "The blood work is fine...she's a healthy little
girl, with an ear infection, and a little dehydration, but with her
fever and vomiting, that's to be expected. I've given the nurse a
prescription for antibiotics, just follow up with her pediatrician
in seven to ten days for a recheck. If the fever comes back, give
her Tylenol."

"We can take her home?" Wade said
incredulously, and broke out in a big relieved smile.

"Yep, the nurse is coming in to remove the
IV and give you instructions, and then you're free to leave."

Wade ran over to the doctor and gave her a
big hug, then spun her around and put her down to say, "Thank you
so much!"

He'd never felt so relieved and overwhelmed
with emotion. He heard Travis and Jazzie laughing behind him, and
turned around then ran over there and hugged them too. Wade was not
a hugger normally, but he was now. His baby girl was going to be
okay, and he sent up a silent prayer of thanks too.

The nurse came in and gently removed the
needle from Angel's arm, then put a cotton ball over it and covered
that with a Snoopy band aid to hold it in place, then she
unstrapped her from board, and gently laid her in Jess's arms. Wade
swallowed twice, then walked over to them and kissed Jess's cheek
first, then the top of Angel's head.

"Let's get out of here, sugar," he told Jess
in a choked voice, then wheeled her through the exam room door. He
glanced at the clock on the wall and saw it was almost seven in the
morning, and all he could think of was getting back to Bowie, which
was a few hours away. "Jazzie, ya'll grab the prescriptions, I'm
getting them out of here," Wade said over his shoulder.

"Where's the diaper bag?" Jess asked Wade
weakly, slurring a little. "I think she's hungry..." He looked down
and saw that Angel was sucking her fist hungrily, which was a good
sign, as far as he was concerned, as was the fact that Jess was
coherent and realized it.

"You feeling sleepy, baby?" Wade asked Jess,
just remembering that they'd given her a sedative in the E.R. He
didn't want her to drop Angel.

"I am, but I want to hold her..." she said
cuddling Angel up to her neck. "I don't want to let her go," she
said in a trembling voice.

Wade stopped the wheelchair outside the
sliding glass doors and knelt down in front of Jess, then took off
his hat. "She's not going anywhere, Jess...you are her mother, and
she belongs with you, darlin'. I just want to be there for her too.
I love her too, please let me be a part of your lives."

Her green eyes teared up, and she nodded,
then handed Angel to him. Exchanging the baby for his hat, he took
her and tucked her into the crook of his arm, then stood, and went
behind the chair to push Jess to the truck.

"I'm going to let Travis drive, so I can
hold Angel...we need to stop and buy a car seat, though. You just
climb in and go to sleep...you need some rest. We'll stop for
breakfast in a little while, then go somewhere to get a car
seat."

Jess pushed up out of the chair, then
hesitated a moment gnawing her lip, then she used her good leg to
boost herself up inside, and buckled in. Wade leaned inside and
kissed her gently on the lips and told her again, "You're her momma
darlin', Angel needs you...I'm not taking her from you, I promise,"
figuring maybe if he said it enough, she'd believe him
eventually...he hoped so anyway.

Jazzie and Travis came out and got into the
truck, then he got inside, and shut the door. "We need to stop for
breakfast somewhere, to waste some time, then find a baby store, so
I can buy a car seat for Angel," he told Travis, then buckled his
seat belt. "Riding like this isn't safe for her."

After they found an all night breakfast
joint and hung out there for a couple of hours, the asked the
waitress and she directed them to a baby store on the outskirts of
Greenville where they stopped. Wade handed Jazzie the baby, and he
and Travis went inside. There was so much stuff in there, and so
many choices on seats, he felt like he was lost in a foreign land,
and didn't speak the language.

Travis helped some, but not a whole helluva
lot, so he found a master to help him...a woman with three kids
holding onto her pants leg, and one in her arms, as she walked up
and down the aisles of stuff. She gave him the ins and outs on the
different models available, and pointed him toward the one that was
rated the best, so he grabbed it quickly, then thanked her
profusely, before heading to the checkout.

Of course, they had cute little toys lining
the main aisle to the checkout, and he had to grab some of them
too, then there was a clearance rack of precious little dresses,
and he grabbed a couple of those. One little short set caught his
eye, because it had little cherubs with halos on it, and he thought
that one would be adorable on her, so he picked it up too. Three
hundred dollars later, he and Travis walked out of the store and
across the hot parking lot to the truck.

Wade opened the back door and saw Jess was
awake and had Angel in her arms. She was singing to her, and Angel
was looking into her eyes mesmerized. He knew that feeling, because
he'd experienced it himself a year ago, and that was why Angel even
existed. Jess looked up and smiled when he opened the door, it was
a sight he was so damned glad to see he wanted to let out a whoop
and dance around the parking lot.

"You buy out the store, daddy?" she asked a
little more clear-eyed than she'd been earlier. Wade reached into
the bag and handed her one of the toys he'd bought, then pulled out
the little angel short set. "Those people in there know what
they're doing...they put all that damned cute stuff on the exit
aisle, so people get caught on the way out," he said gruffly, then
grinned when he heard Angel coo as Jess gave her the toy.

"Worth every damned cent, too..." he said
with a chuckle, then put the rest of the stuff in the back of the
truck, before he picked up the box with the car seat. "We need to
get this out of the box and set up, but I don't know how. Think you
can help Jazz?"

"Sure, just give it here, and I'll strap it
in between us...daddy," she said with a wide grin, and a wink. The
mood from earlier had definitely lifted, and that gave Wade hope
that things might actually work out. Huffing out a breath, he
muscled open the box, then pulled out the seat and took off all the
styrofoam and wrapping, then handed it to Jazzie.

"The lady with the four kids told me to get
a car seat cover too, so I did," he told her then reached in the
back and pulled it out of the bag.

"Oh, that is so damned cute, little pink
elephants!" Jazzie said then took it and put it on the car
seat.

Jess leaned over to see and grinned, "I've
seen a few of those in my day, how about you?" she said and looked
up at Wade with a chuckle. His eyes held hers and the happiness he
saw there made his heart clench. She was so damned beautiful when
she smiled, even with red-rimmed eyes and splotchy cheeks. Wade
fought the insane urge to go to the other side of the truck and
kiss her, and his smile faded, as heat pumped through him.

There would be a time and place for that, he
reminded himself, and this wasn't it. One thing at a time, first he
needed to earn her trust, and she needed to earn his. Wade knew a
piece of paper wasn't going to keep Jess from running off with
Angel again, if she set her mind to it.

Once they got Angel secured in the car seat,
Wade got behind the wheel, and they headed for Bowie. Jess was
humming to the baby in the backseat again, and he looked up in the
rearview and met her eyes. Angel cooed along with her, like she was
singing too, and he grinned. "I think she's going to be singing,
before she talks," he said with a chuckle.

"I sang to her while I was pregnant too,"
Jess said then leaned down and kissed her little fist. "She likes
it."

"So, do I," Wade said then swallowed down
the regret that almost overwhelmed him, then he told her, "I wish I
could have been with you while you were pregnant." He wished he
could have been there when Angel was born, too, but regrets weren't
going to get him anywhere. They could only move forward, no looking
back.

"You were riding bucking broncs, and I was
cutting demo tapes...things happen when they're supposed to," she
told him and smiled down at Angel.

Wade needed to broach the subject of her
staying in Bowie, and he guessed now was as good a time as any,
since she seemed to be in a good mood, and Jazzie and Travis were
here to help him. "What would you say if I told you, the owner of
the bar in Bowie offered you and your band a contract to play
there, while you're ankle is healing?"

"He couldn't afford our expenses, and our
rate," Jess said, but then looked over at Jazzie, who shook her
head and smiled.

"I was at the bar last night, and mentioned
you guys were in town, and told Red what happened, and he was very
interested...he has two apartments over the bar, where your band
could stay. He said he could include that in the compensation.
You'd only have to play Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights."

"Sounds too good to be true," Jess said and
he looked at her in the rearview and saw her eyes were wary.

"Like you said, things happen the way
they're supposed to. Think about it, talk to the band and let me
know. He gave me a contract last night."

"Wow, you have it all worked out..." Jess
said sarcastically, and the hackles on his neck raised, but he
fought down the urge to defend himself.

"I'm trying to help, Jess...not interfere,
or control things. Stop being so defensive, and give me a chance,"
Wade said evenly.

"What other choice do I have...you have my
baby, and I have a broken ankle and a burned up van. Give me the
contract," she said and leaned forward to put her hand over the
seat.

"I'll tear it up right now, Jess, if that's
what you want," he pulled it out of his pocket and held it between
his fingers. "The choice is yours...I'm not forcing you to do
anything, except allow me to be a part of my daughter's life. I was
trying to help you, but if you don't want that help, I'll be done
with it."

"Jess, don't be an idiot," Travis piped up.
"Quit being a jackass--thank him and sign the damned contract. I'll
work on getting bigger gigs, once your ankle is healed. At least
you can keep the band together for now."

Travis was right, but she still didn't like
not having a choice. When Jess got cornered, she came out fighting
like an alley cat, and that's what Wade had done with that custody
order. She might have been out of her mind at the hospital, because
what mother wouldn't be when faced with a paper that told her she
was had no control over her baby anymore? Her head was clear again
now though, and she wasn't going down without a fight...but she had
to time her battles.

Not having money was an issue, and Travis
was right, she needed money, because as soon as she could, she was
hiring an attorney, and giving Wade Roberts a run for his money. He
wasn't going to kick her while she was down again. Until then,
she'd play nice, so she could keep her baby.

"I'm sorry, Wade...thank you for getting
that set up...I'll sign it," she reached forward again and he
handed it to her. Digging around in the diaper bag, she found a pen
and signed it, then handed it back to him, and huffed out a
breath.

"There's something else, I want to run by
you, Jess..." Wade said then met her eyes in the rearview
again.

More? Oh, boy...she wondered what other
delightful news the asshole had to impart. She couldn't wait to
hear what else in her life he was going to try to control now.
'What's that?" Jess said trying to keep her voice calm and even,
although inside her stomach was a burning pit of acid.

"I'm buying a house for you and Angel..." he
told her then looked over at Jazzie, "And Jazzie too, if she wants
to stay there."