Man with a Past (16 page)

Then he saw her. His face darkened, he stiffened, the rocker stopped. “Ashley, I—”

Joe shifted in the chair as though to stand and Ashley quickly stepped forward and placed her hand on his shoulder before leaning over him and pressing a kiss to his lips. “Would you mind holding him long enough for me to shower?”

She let the impact of her words sink in, knowing it would take Joe a while before he understood that she trusted him with Max. Joe had spent the last ten years fighting to protect himself, and that wouldn't change overnight. Nor would it be easy to face a town that already thought them different. But together they could and would stand strong. Lean on each other.

He blinked at her as though unsure he'd heard her correctly and she kissed him again. “I won't be long, but if he wakes up and cries just bring him
in.” She smiled tenderly at the raw emotion she saw reflected in his eyes. “I love you, Joe. Me and Max both. Enjoy the snuggling.”

 

T
WO HOURS LATER
Joe was still shaking his head at how fast things had changed. When he'd opened his eyes to find Ashley standing beside the rocking chair, he'd expected her to be angry, upset at least. Instead she'd given him a kiss that broke through the last of his reserves, and made him hopeful.

“So what do you think? You like it?”

He turned to find her holding a paint stick up for his perusal, the light brownish color pooling off the end. “It looks good.”

“Uh-huh, you couldn't care less, could you?” she asked, her tone amused.

He winked at her, but didn't respond. At the moment the only thing he wanted to do was take her back upstairs to bed and hear her say a million more times that she loved him. He'd never hear it enough, never feel it as much as when he was in her arms.

Max played on a blanket on the floor, mouthing every toy he picked up and staring at him with his mama's eyes. Ashley had still been in the shower when Max had awakened and Joe knew he'd never forget the moment Max lifted his lashes and yawned sleepily before smiling up at him.

Whether she knew it or not, Ashley had given him the most precious gift imaginable by trusting
him with her son. He was still afraid of doing something wrong, still afraid of someone saying something to Ashley that would make her doubt him. But regardless of the future, Ashley and Max were worth whatever risk he took with his heart.

“Okay. The paint's mixed but I forgot to get a clean pan. Can you keep an eye on him while I find one?”

He nodded. “No problem,” he murmured, still working his way along the wall with the double-sided tape.

Ashley flashed him a smile of thanks before she left the room, and he watched the sway of her hips with an appreciative leer. “Max, you've got one hot mama.”

The boy gurgled out a response and picked up another toy. Chuckling, Joe turned his attention back to the wall and shifted so he could flatten the tape along another couple feet.

He glanced over his shoulder at Max and found him turned around on his rump, facing the door as though looking for his mom. “She'll be right back, sport. Just hang on a second.”

Joe fingered the tape in a couple spots to press it down and then glanced at Max again. “Hey, Max?”

The baby boy ignored him and didn't turn but just when Joe was about to move farther along the wall, he noted Max's head had taken on a reddish color.

“Max?”

The boy turned then, his little eyes watery and wide, his face going from red to blue in the space of a heartbeat. The air rushed from Joe's lungs and in a split second he held Josie, watched as she couldn't breathe anymore, and panicked because he didn't know what to do.

Right then and there
his
heart stopped, but with a rush of adrenaline he tossed the tape aside and scrambled across the floor.

This time he knew CPR.

This time, he knew what to do.

This time a baby wouldn't die.

 

A
SHLEY HEARD
Joe's shout in the utility room and took off running, but the sight that met her eyes when she made it through the kitchen and down the long, long hall was one she'd never forget.

Joe hunched over Max, his face white as a sheet and his hands around her baby's neck. Max strained weakly away.

“
What are you doing?”
She rushed toward them and tried to shove Joe out of the way to see what was wrong with Max, but Joe shrugged her off with superhuman strength. “Joe! Let me—
get away!
”

Joe ignored her prying hands, ignored the accidental scrape of her nails when she tried to get Max from him. Then suddenly Max gagged, coughed, inhaled deeply and screamed for all he was worth. Ashley tore at Joe to get to her son.

Joe finally let him go and she pulled Max away and held him tight, rocking him back and forth and trying to calm him down. Joe got up and quickly staggered out of the room.

“Max, oh, God, Max, what happened? What happened?”

Max quieted some, enough that Ashley was able to really see him. A trickle of blood mingled with the slobber at his mouth and she gasped. “Max?”

That's when she saw it. Lying on the floor where Joe had knelt with Max was one of the plastic outlet plugs she'd been installing throughout the room for Max's protection. It was covered in water. And blood.

“Joe?”

No answer. Shaken beyond measure Ashley picked Max up and ran from the room, grabbing her purse on her way out the kitchen door. She'd find Joe later. Thank him for saving her son and make sure he was okay.

The scene must have made him think of Josie. Had to have brought back the nightmare. He'd need time. Distance.

And she couldn't do anything about that now. She had to get Max to the doctor.

Five minutes later she'd broken every speed limit between her house and town and arrived at Bryan's office. She carried Max inside, past the patients waiting and the screeching receptionist who
demanded she stop, down the hall to the exam rooms.

Bryan left his office once he heard the commotion. “Hey, you aren't due in for a couple more hours,” he said, referring to Max's appointment later that afternoon. He stilled when he got a good look at her face. “Ashley, what's wrong?”

“We have to see you
now.
”

Bryan tossed the chart aside and indicated the room behind him. “This one's open, come on.”

She ignored the receptionist hovering behind her and carried Max into the exam room, Bryan following.

“What happened?”

“He choked on this,” she said, pulling the two-pronged plastic outlet cover from her pocket. “I heard Joe shout and I ran as fast as I could and Joe was hunched over him and—”

“Joe?”

She nodded and tried to breathe. Now that the crisis was over, now that her son was safe and with Bryan, she was rapidly falling apart. The shaking she'd held in check breaking free. “Joe B-Brody.”

Bryan gave her a quick glance she interpreted easily. “He's—I hired him as my handyman. Joe isn't what people say he is, though. He's not, Bryan.”

Bryan took Max into his arms and laid her son on the exam table, his stethoscope in his ears. “What was Joe doing to Max when you saw him?”

“He— I don't know. He had his fingers around Max's head and—and in his mouth.” She ran her hands through her hair and tried to calm down. “I freaked. Max wasn't moving and Joe wouldn't let me near him—”

“Was Max crying?”

“No.”

“Not at all?”

“
No.
There—there was blood at the side of his mouth after Joe let me have him though.”

Bryan frowned at her comments, but then smiled down at Max. “Hey, little man, can I see your throat? You've got to open up, okay?” Gently but firmly Bryan inserted a tongue depressor past Max's lips to shine a light inside. “Looks like it scraped the top of his mouth and the back of his throat. He's cried since then?”

She nodded. “At the house. After— He started screaming. That's when Joe gave him to me.”

Bryan felt Max's neck and throat, listened to his heart again, checked his pupils and took his temperature with an ear thermometer before picking him up off the table and turning to face her. “Looks to me like Max is fine.”

Ashley pressed her hands to her cheeks and sobbed. “Are you sure?”

“I'm sure. You on the other hand…” Bryan's expression softened even more. “Ashley, Max is fine. He choked, and as scary as it was, he's all right now.”

She inhaled, over and over again. Tried to pull herself together.

“Hey, don't hyperventilate on me.”

“It's just—I just—”

Bryan pulled her against his chest, one arm around her and the other holding Max. “I know. It's scary when it happens to you but scary as hell when it happens to someone you love.” He patted her back soothingly before drawing away to look into her eyes. “Joe's the guy you were thinking about the other night, isn't he?”

She wiped the tears from her cheek with a hand that wouldn't stop trembling. “I'm sorry. Yes, he was—
is
—but I know he wasn't trying to hurt him,” she added firmly, afraid Bryan might say something to the police chief.

Bryan's mouth twisted into a smile. “You don't have to convince me, Ashley. I'm holding Max, remember? Despite Joe's past, looks to me like he saved Max's life by getting his air passage cleared.”

More tears leaked out. “Oh, thank you, God.”

“Where's Joe now? Did he drive you?”

She shook her head. “After he gave Max to me, he left and I know he thinks I think the worst but honestly, I just wanted to get to Max. To hold him because I knew something was wrong. I didn't think he was hurting him. He wouldn't hurt him, Bryan, but I know he probably thinks—”

Bryan rubbed her back again. “Calm down,
Ashley. You can explain it all to Joe as soon as I give Max his shots and drive you home.”

Ashley took Max from Bryan and held him close, kissed him repeatedly. Bounced him and patted him, unable to keep from touching him. “Are you sure he should get them today? After all this?”

Bryan flashed her a tolerant smile. “He's
fine
. You're welcome to reschedule if you like, but it is good to stay on track with these things. Max is healthy, high in his percentile for weight and height. And you didn't have any history of gestational problems so we don't have to worry about any of the weird complications cropping up like they can with a preemie or sick child.”

She searched her mind for what she'd read in her baby books, but drew a blank after the trauma of the day. “Tell me again what his weight and percentile ranges have to do with the shots?”

Bryan settled his hips against the exam table behind him, patient tolerance etched into his features as though he'd heard the question a million times before. “If a baby is underweight sometimes it's best to wait and give the inoculations when they're bigger and stronger. If a child is really small due to premature birth, or a candidate for the side effects for other reasons like severe illness, I like to break them down into smaller, more manageable doses. But Max doesn't have to worry about that, do you, big guy?”

Ashley stilled when Joe's voice filled her head.
Josie had been underweight. Tiny, according to Joe. And she'd been to the doctor days before. For shots?

“What about the preemies?”

Bryan's smile turned into a frown. “What about them?”

“Could they be in more danger from the shots? For the complications? What are the complications exactly?”

“Ashley, the reactions are very,
very
rare, and Max wasn't a preemie. But, to answer your question, some vaccines can lead an already ill child to have blood vessel irregularities, which means the brain may not receive enough blood.”

“Can that cause seizures?”

Bryan shook his head back and forth as though he debated whether or not to answer. “If the dosage was full strength and too much for the size of the child or if—”

“So it's possible?”

“Yes,” he finally confirmed with a reluctant nod. “But it's rare. Now, tell me why you—”

“What about other problems? Overwhelming stress? Blood pressure problems with the mom, problems delivering? Could all those things add up to increase the probability that the baby might react?”

Joe swore he didn't hurt Josie, and she believed him with her heart and soul. But Joe also believed Melissa was innocent which meant—

“That would certainly add into the equation, yes, but—”

She blinked up at him, afraid to get her hopes up too high. “Bryan, did you know Melissa York and Joe had a baby girl that died?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “I was afraid that's where you were going with this.”

She looked at him, stared into Bryan's eyes and hoped the compassion she sensed within him ran deeper than any river on earth. “He saved Max's life, Bryan. And he
swears
to me he didn't do it. And yes, I believe him because after all these years, after going to prison for it, why would he bother to lie about her death now?”

Bryan's disbelief was evident in his eyes, his expression.

“Bryan, something happened to that baby. Something Joe didn't do. Please, I need you to look into this for me,” she begged.

He shook his head. “Ashley, the odds alone—”

“
Please.
If you won't do it for me, do it for—for science. For your patients. Especially for Josie. For
Max.
Check into this. You told me you spent your residency in a big hospital back east. They would have up to date information on this, wouldn't they?”

“Yes, but—”

“Please, Bryan.”

He stared at her a long moment. “I do have a
buddy who's a pediatric specialist. If I remember correctly, he's gone to court on a case like this once. If anyone would know more about this, he would.”