Connor didn’t ask questions. “We’ll go in my car.”
When she looked like she wanted to protest, he added, “If I drive you can look after Dylan.”
She nodded.
Once he’d made sure she and Dylan were comfortably ensconced in the back seat of the Maserati, Connor pulled out his cell phone and made a call, before climbing into the driver’s seat.
“This isn’t the medical center I meant,” Victoria said sharply fifteen minutes later.
Connor felt the impact of her accusing gaze on the back of his head, but he didn’t shift his eyes from the road ahead. “I called a friend who’s a pediatrician. He’s meeting us at his rooms—he understands the background.”
Chuck had known Michael, and knew Connor had been named guardian of his child. Chuck even knew the truth about Dylan’s paternity. “If it’s necessary Chuck will admit Dylan to Starship,” he said, referring to the well-known children’s hospital.
“Chuck?” She sounded doubtful. “How do you know him?”
“His name is Charles Drysdale, if that’s any better. We play squash at the same club.” A stab of pain pierced Connor at the thought of visiting the courts without Michael. “And he’s one of the best pediatricians in town. You’ll be charmed—most women are.”
Charles—or Chuck—Drysdale had twinkling eyes and a way of putting patients at ease within minutes of meeting him. Victoria liked him at once.
“Tell me what you noticed, Victoria,” he asked when she’d taken Dylan out of the infant seat and sat down with him on her lap.
Victoria shifted guiltily in the chair, all too conscious of Connor hovering anxiously behind her. “Dylan has been a little crabby for a couple of days.”
Connor came closer and scowled. “You never let me know.”
“I thought he was missing his parents,” she said defensively.
“He’d certainly notice that,” Chuck said. “So two days? That’s how long he’s been crabby?”
Victoria thought back to how demanding the baby had been over the weekend, how only holding him had settled him. “Maybe a little longer—from Friday perhaps. The funeral was on Thursday and he seemed fine then. But I can’t say for sure.”
Chuck made a note on the pad in front of him. “Did you notice anything else?”
“Li called me at work earlier. Dylan had a temperature and—”
“Who is Li?” Connor paced closer.
Victoria shrank into the chair. “She’s one of the caregivers in the day care center.”
“Day care center? What’s Dylan doing in a day care center?” Connor’s eyes glittered with the kind of rage she’d never seen. “We’ve never discussed putting Dylan in a day care center.”
Chuck held up a hand. “Connor, save it for later. Let’s see what’s wrong with the baby first.” The doctor rose to his feet and crossed the room to an examining couch. He gave Victoria a sympathetic smile. “Why don’t you bring Dylan here?”
Victoria felt totally wretched as she laid Dylan down on the bed. Every doubt she’d ever had about mothering crashed in on her. “I’m not doing a good job, am I?”
“You’re doing just fine. Most new mothers feel a little frazzled and uncertain when their baby becomes ill.”
He asked some more questions while he examined Dylan. Finally he said, “Have you ever had chicken pox, Victoria?”
“Chicken pox? That’s what Dylan has?”
“Certainly looks like it. It’s not common for such young babies to get chicken pox, but it does happen, and the symptoms fit—the temperature, not drinking … and see here?”
She stared down to where he pointed to a small pink dot on Dylan’s chest. “And here.” He indicated another spot, this one with a small scab.
“I saw that—I thought it was an insect bite. But shouldn’t there be more spots?”
“Not necessarily. Some cases only have a few spots here and there.”
Lifting her head, she said, “But I thought chicken pox spots were watery blisters.”
“That one,” he gestured to the pink dot, “will blister soon. Then it will scab over.”
Victoria stared at Chuck, conscious of an overwhelming sense of relief. Dylan wasn’t going to die. It wasn’t scarlet fever or convulsions or some incurable disease. “He’ll be all right, won’t he?”
“Plenty of fluids, calamine lotion and cool baths. I’ll prescribe some acetaminophen for Dylan and a mild sedative for you. Is there anyone to help you with the baby? He’ll need to stay home for a week. And you need some rest.”
Oh, no. She gave a groan. “I need to go to work.”
“I’ll give you a note.”
What would Bridget and the rest of the partners say? “I can’t, I’ve taken too much time off already.”
“Your body needs rest if you’ve been up the kind of hours I suspect this young man has been keeping.” Chuck drew a card from a holder on the nearby table. “This is for a nursing service. They’ll be able to assist you over the next week, although he can go back to the day care center once he’s better.”
“That must be where he picked this up,” Connor growled from behind her.
Victoria felt awful, and remorse set in afresh.
“He could’ve come into contact with the virus anywhere.” Chuck shrugged. “But the incubation period is ten to twenty days, so given the time he’s been at the day care center it’s highly unlikely he contracted chicken pox there.”
Victoria could’ve kissed Chuck. It wasn’t her fault. But the feeling of relief that numbed her knees turned to horror as she heard Chuck ask Connor, “Have you had chicken pox?”
Connor nodded.
“Good, then you can help Victoria.”
Connor’s angry gaze bored into her. “Don’t worry, I intend to.”
Misery sank like a dark cloud over Victoria. He would take Dylan away from her. She really didn’t need the only kind of help Connor was prepared to give.
“Thanks so much for taking us to Charles Drysdale. He’s such a nice doctor.”
Connor listened to Victoria’s polite babble as she whipped the sleeping Dylan through the front door, set the infant seat down on the white carpet and swung the door closed in Connor’s face.
Before it could click shut he threw his full weight forward against the wood. “Not so fast,” he growled, sticking a foot in the crack.
Folding her arms, she blocked the gap he’d leveraged open. “If you don’t mind I need to see to the baby.”
“I mind very much,” he said with slow menace that caused her hazel eyes to turn gold in startled fear.
“It’s late, Connor. Can’t this wait until tomorrow?”
“No!” He’d done with compromise. Now they would do things his way.
He shouldered the door open. She shrank back. Damn right she should be scared. Right now he was too furious to pay much attention to her fears.
“What are you going to do tomorrow? Take more leave?”
“I can’t—I’m in the middle of …” Her voice trailed away as his frown deepened. Then she drew a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. “To be honest, I haven’t had a chance to think what I’m going to do. Perhaps I’ll hire a nurse.”
“And leave the baby with someone you’ve never met?” The anger that had been smoldering since he’d first discovered she’d lied to him about taking leave and had taken Dylan to a center full of other babies reignited.
“I’ll make sure I get someone with good references.”
“You won’t need to.”
Fear shadowed the gold-green eyes. “What do you mean?”
“We agreed that you would take leave!”
“You demanded that I take leave—I never agreed.”
Connor ran his hands through his hair and tried to remember back to what had been said. “Well, you certainly never objected. You know I’d assumed you’d agreed.”
“Did I?” But her gaze flickered away.
“You lied to me by omission, Victoria.” He bore down on her. “How dare you take the baby to day care without consulting me? We hold joint custody, remember … or are you trying to get me angry enough to apply to court to have that revoked?”
She looked shaken. “You can’t do that.”
“I can—and I will if you persist in this stupidity. What’s important here is Dylan’s well-being.”
“Everything I’ve done has been in Dylan’s interests.”
“No, it isn’t.” His rage boiled over. “You’re only looking after your interests—your damned career that’s so important to you. Not caring for a grieving baby!” He shook his head. “God, but you make me sick!”
She went white. “I—”
He couldn’t let that air of deceptive feminine fragility sway him. “Spare me from ambitious women who walk over everyone to get what they want.”
A sprinkling of freckles he’d never noticed before stood out in sharp relief against her pallor. “I would never jeopardize Dylan for my career—”