She winced. September’s Families had saved her after she lost her mother. She’d been a steady supporter and had volunteered countless hours to the cause. Since Nadia’s birth, Kara’s involvement had dwindled to almost nothing. These days, Elena devoted much of her free time to the cause, along with her new husband. “SFG is a non-profit foundation, Mr. Saxon. We could go that route but have you considered a donor-advised foundation instead?”
“You’re not the first to suggest a DAF but I don’t know much about them. What’s the advantage?”
“Immediate tax benefits plus it’s much easier to establish and manage from an administrative standpoint,” Kara responded. “We find a fiscal sponsor partner—an existing charitable non-profit who does all the heavy lifting. You set aside the funding and the plan for distributing those funds and the partner takes care of disbursing money according to the terms you specify. It could be to a single charity or numerous ones doing the kind of research you want to support.”
Kara’s cell phone buzzed. A quick glance at the screen and her heart twisted. “I’m sorry. I have to take this.” She answered the call without waiting for a reply from either gentleman. “Elena? What’s wrong?”
“Hi, Kara. Nadia has a fever. It’s 101. She has no other symptoms. I even checked her for rashes.”
Fever? She didn’t have a fever yesterday. Does croup cause fevers? Maybe it was her teeth. “Okay. Give her a dose of the baby acetaminophen and watch her. In three hours, if she’s still feverish, give her the ibuprofen dose, too.”
“Okay. Got it.”
“Thanks, Laney.”
When she ended the call, Kara found both men watching her, wearing twin looks of concern.
“Kara, you have a child who’s ill?”
She nodded. “Yes, Mr. Saxon. My daughter had to be rushed to the hospital last night. She’s doing much better today—or she was, until now. Apparently, she’s now running a fever.”
“How old is she?”
Kara reached for her phone again, tapped the screen and showed him a picture of Nadia she’d snapped just the other day. “Eighteen months old on the twenty-first. Her name’s Nadia.”
“Nadia,” he echoed. “How beautiful.” He stood up, gathered his papers and handed her the folder. “Go home, Kara. Take care of your daughter. This will wait until you’re ready.”
Touched, Kara nodded. “Thank you, sir.”
He stood up, coffee cup in one hand, case in the other. “Jonathan, thank you for arranging this meeting. Kara, I look forward to working with you. Keep the file. I want to know more about the DAF option you suggested.”
“I’ll find you a list of potential sponsors and we’ll go from there,” Kara agreed.
Mr. Saxon shook their hands and opened the office door. In the open space, he turned back. “Kara, I’ve got a car waiting for me outside. Happy to drop you wherever you need to be.”
Kara shot an anxious glance toward her boss. It wasn’t entirely appropriate but it would save her time. “Are you sure it’s no trouble?”
“I wouldn’t have offered if it was.”
Grateful, she nodded and began collecting her belongings and five minutes later, was sitting in the rear of a comfortable SUV with tinted windows. Quickly, she gave Mr. Saxon’s driver her address and settled back with a sigh. It was the first time she’d relaxed that day.
“I like the donor-advised foundation idea,” Mr. Saxon said. Before Kara could respond, he added, “I like even more that you were willing to put my goals for this fund before your own need for commission.”
Ah. Kara nodded. He’d spoken to other advisors then. She’d wondered if he had. “I’m fortunate, Mr. Saxon. I’m good at what I do and can comfortably support my daughter and myself. I don’t have to chase commissions. I can choose the challenges that interest me.”
One silver eyebrow arched at her. “Oh, I’m a challenge?”
“Of course,” she admitted without hesitation. “Saxony House has been around for a very long time and has in-house counsel, not to mention a long-standing relationship with two of the top fifty firms in the city.”
“Saxony House is my family’s business. Like you, I’m fortunate that my name allows me to live comfortably.” He paused, watched a construction crew digging up a street. “I’m bored with retail, Kara. That baby girl—”
Abruptly, he broke off and turned to face her more directly. “Please forgive me because this is going to sound so arrogant. You know what my family is worth? What I’m worth? Marnie never got to see her fourth birthday. I could have helped her, helped her parents, if I’d known the biggest obstacle blocking her treatment wasn’t government approval, but insurance forms and copays. If they’d come to me in time, I could have covered it all and not noticed the dent. I spend my days planning sales events and ordering next season’s couture and a little girl died.” He shook his head and turned to look out the window again.
Kara said nothing. He was wrong, though. He didn’t sound arrogant.
He sounded human.
*
To Reid’s surprise, he slept like a baby despite the sounds of the city playing outside his window and woke up refreshed. He grabbed a quick shower, shaved, and drained two cups of coffee before leaving the house.
He was halfway to Kara’s building when he realized he had a problem.
“Damn it. Travis and Trevor.”
Yeah, it was kind of hard to certify somebody on CPR without the CPR practice dummies. He made a quick detour back to the fire house, took the cases from the storage closet, and hailed a cab at the curb.
He made it to Kara’s building with five minutes to spare. He hauled the two cases from the taxi just as a sleek black SUV slowed to a stop. He didn’t spare the car a second glance until Kara Larsen stepped out of it—followed by some smooth rich dude who looked old enough to be her father.
“…not arrogant at all. I think you’re incredibly sweet.” He heard Kara tell the guy, who smiled, shook his head, and murmured something in response Reid couldn’t hear. Whatever it was made Kara’s face go all soft and trembly and suddenly, Reid wanted to pummel the man.
Wait, what if he was actually Kara’s father?
“I’ll be in touch, Mr. Saxon.”
Yeah, so definitely not her dad. Reid watched this Saxon watch Kara stride on high heels into her building and then realized he’d need a hand hauling the dummy cases up to her floor. He hurried after her, glaring at Saxon as he climbed back in his fancy ride.
He caught up to her at the elevator. “Hold the door, please.”
A small hand jutted through the door just before it slid shut. “Oh. It’s you.”
A sarcastic retort floated on his tongue but he swallowed it back when he got a good look at her. “Did you get any sleep last night?”
“Not really.”
She looked straight ahead, watched the floor indicators light up in turn.
“Neither did I.”
It took her a minute and then she sniffed once. “Funny.”
Third floor. “So, you, ah, dating the Dos Equis guy?” He waved his hand toward the street.
Her head snapped around. “The Dos—do you mean Mr. Saxon?”
When he said nothing, she rolled her eyes. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Mr. Saxon is a new client. When he heard Nadia was sick, he gave me a ride home.”
Fourth floor. The doors slid open and she stepped out, heels clicking on the floor, keys jingling in her hand. “And what do you care anyway?”
Damn good question.
She opened the door to her apartment for him. He wheeled Travis and Trevor into the living room where he’d administered air to baby Nadia the night before, and found another blond sitting on the sofa, eyeballing him. On her lap, baby Nadia lounged, clutching a bear and a blanket. Her face was flushed and she didn’t smile.
“Ms. Larsen.” He jerked his chin at the woman he’d met at the hospital, Kara’s sister.
“Mrs. Adair,” Kara correc
ted him, crossing the room to press her palm to her daughter’s forehead.
“You can just call me Elena.”
“I’m Reid. Reid Bennett.”
“Nice to meet you. Thank you. For last night, I mean.”
Reid nodded, turned to Trevor’s case, unlatched it. “Is right here good?”
“Good enough.” Kara disappeared down a hallway so Reid took the time to study the baby on Kara’s sister’s lap.
“The baby’s breathing well today? No more barking?”
“She has a fever.”
Ah. That explained why the baby was so lethargic.
He stepped closer, knelt on the floor and smiled. “Hi, Nadia.” He brushed the honey curls off her face, ignoring the way his fingers seemed to scream for more. Her face was hot. But the baby didn’t smile. She just blinked at him. He didn’t have any gear with him, but he wanted to hear her lungs. Without asking, he put his ear to the baby’s chest, ignoring the sudden tension in Elena Adair.
“What are you doing?”
He turned, straightened and found Kara standing in the living room wearing jeans and a T-shirt now. The high heels and the power suit were gone.
“I wanted to hear her chest. She’s much clearer.”
Kara nodded and stared at him. He stared back until she cleared her throat. “So, um, how do you want to do this?”
Right. The dummies. He quickly unlatched the cases, put each on the carpeted floor. “Okay, you remember the class? You come across baby Trevor, lifeless. What do you do?”
“Um, airway, breathing, and compressions.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “Don’t tell me. Show me.” He waved a hand over Trevor.
“Oh. Um, right.” Kara inched closer and lowered herself to her knees. “Um. Trevor! Trevor!” She shouted, patting the dummy’s feet and shaking his shoulder. “No response.” She put her hand on the dummy’s forehead and gently lifted his head up, putting an ear to his face. “I don’t see his chest moving or feel air on my face. Starting CPR.” She pressed her mouth over the dummy’s nose and lips and blew two fast breaths into the body. With two fingers, she pressed down on the dummy’s chest.
Reid noted her finger position. She began compressions. At thirty, she bent and administered two more breaths.
“I’d stop right now to call 911, then resume.”
“Good.” Reid checked off the boxes on the form. “Nice work.” He moved to Travis. “Okay. Same scenario. You walk in, find Travis unresponsive. What do you do?”
Kara stared at the figure and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Travis! Travis!” She tried to rouse the ‘child’.
She repeated her earlier actions but Reid noted her hand placement was incorrect. He leaned over, moved her hands up about an inch on the figure’s sternum. He drew his hands up her arms, stopped at her elbows, locked them. “Begin compressions.”
She performed the compressions properly so he checked that off his form.
“Ma! Ma! Ma!” Nadia whined.
“I’ll take her to the other room, Kara. Finish your test.” Elena scrambled to her feet, disappeared down the same hallway.
“Okay, you passed.” Reid handed her the form, showed her where to sign. “Sorry about the mix-up.”
She merely shook her head. He got a whiff of something sweet, like apples. Green apples. He liked it so he didn’t move away. He just stood there, looking at her. He liked looking at Kara Larsen. She was beautiful, even with the circles under her eyes and the anxiety puckering her forehead. He opened his mouth, about to tell her so.
And then that damn cell phone of hers pinged. She scrambled to check the display. “Nadia’s medicine. It’s time for her next dose,” she quickly explained and he winced.
Okay, so this time, it was a halfway decent use for a cell phone.
He watched Kara move to the kitchen, pour a dose into a cup.
“Hold it.” Reid put up a hand. “Don’t you have one of those medicine syringes?”
Kara sucked on a cheek and shot him a ball-shriveling look. “Yeah. In her room.”
“Okay, look. I get that I’m not your favorite person, but making sure little Nadia gets the right dose, the whole dose, is important. Will you let me show you?”
Brown eyes narrowed at him and she blew out a breath, ruffling the hair on her forehead. “Fine. Come on.”
She led him down the hall and into Nadia’s room. Elena was rocking the baby on a chair in the corner.
“It’s time for her next dose, Laney. Reid’s going to do it.”
Elena’s eyebrows shot up, but she said nothing, just stood and carefully transferred Nadia to Reid’s arms. Kara took a medicine syringe from a drawer, poured the cup full of medicine into it and handed it to Reid.
“Okay, right now, she’s a little mellow, but when she’s feeling better, she’s going to fight you. This is how you overcome that.” He sat on the rocker Elena just vacated, adjusting Nadia on his lap. From over her head, he cupped her face, and gently pinched her nose shut. When she opened her mouth, he squirted the medicine into the back of her throat. She coughed once, shot him the same look her mother so often skewered him with and said, “Gah.”
Reid laughed. “Yep. It’s not juice, that’s for sure. But it is good for you so you can get better fast.” He pressed her tiny button of a nose.
The baby squirmed on his lap and put her head down on his shoulder. The laugh died on his lips. He wrapped both arms around Nadia and wished he could just sit there for the rest of his life, rocking her. His eyes slipped shut and his entire body ached for Erin.
When the tears burned behind his eyes, he stood up, put the baby into Kara’s arms and thrust his hands deep into his pockets. “I know it’s not elegant but it works.” His voice was gruff. “Don’t mix medicine into food or drink unless you clear it with the doc first. And never tell her it’s candy or yummy or anything like that. I gotta go.”
He didn’t wait for a reply. He strode back to the other room, fastened Trevor and Travis back in their cases. Time to get the hell out of there.
*
“Oh. My. God.” Elena collapsed onto the sofa, fanning her face. “That man is hotter than the sun. Totally PD.”
With the baby on her hip, Kara closed her front door, locked it, and rolled her eyes. “You’ve been married all of six months. Shouldn’t Lucas be the only guy you call panty-dropping?”
Elena waved a hand in annoyance. “Oh, trust me, Luke has nothing to worry about. Reid didn’t even notice I was in the room. Neither did you, for that matter,” she added with an eyebrow wiggle.
Kara joined her sister on the other end of the couch. “Oh, please. He can’t stand me. He thinks I’m a bad mother.”
Elena rocked her head from side to side. “I admit, he’s opinionated about the way things should be done. But I didn’t see disapproval in those very nice eyes of his. He checked out your boobs. And you kept looking at his butt.”
“Oh, God, Laney.” Kara shut her eyes and lowered her head. “I’ve been out of high school for a very long time, you know.”
“Yeah, I know. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t a Look.”
“What look?”
Elena’s smile widened. “The look, Kara. The one like a full page ad screaming, I want you.”
Kara’s face grew hot. “Okay. So I looked. It doesn’t mean we’ll be choosing china patterns.”
“Give it time. It obviously hasn’t occurred to you that this whole there’s a problem with your certification form thing this afternoon might have been just a ploy to see you again?”
Kara froze. It hadn’t. She thought about that for a minute and then shook her head. “No. If anything, he orchestrated that just to check up on us. Maybe he thinks I keep Nadia chained to her crib or something.”
“Ma!” Nadia squirmed and Kara put her down, happy to see Nadia interested in playing. She moved to the basket and pulled out a cardboard picture book to put at Kara’s feet. “Ma!” She said again.
“No, ba
by, that’s a book. Book.”
“Book!”
“Good girl!” Kara applauded with a bright phony smile pinned to her face. As soon as Nadia’s attention was caught by something else, it faded.
“Kara. She’s okay. She didn’t cough at all and the fever’s down.”
Kara didn’t find that thought comforting. “The doctor said it tends to hit at night.”
“Then I’ll stay here tonight. Just in case.”
Kara nearly leaped up to inflate the air mattress but then remembered her sister had her own life, her own job, both of which she’d skipped today to be there for her and her daughter. “No, honey. Luke needs you home.”
“Kara, you know Lucas wouldn’t even blink if I told him I was staying here to help you with Nadia.”
Kara shook her head. No. She had to do this on her own. She was the one who messed up, starting with her choice of men and now she was a single mother. Her mind flashed back to her first breakup. She couldn’t have been more than fifteen and was convinced the pain would never end. Somehow, Mom knew. She’d called her from her office and instead of yelling at her or feeding her dumb platitudes, her mother had told her to hop on a train and meet her in Manhattan. They’d spent the evening eating decadent desserts and trashing boys and by the time they’d gotten home, Kara had stopped feeling sorry for herself and was ready to move on.
Mom would have taken one look at Nadia yesterday and known she wasn’t feeling well. More importantly, she’d have known how to help her. Kara squeezed her eyes shut. She’d be so disappointed in her if she could see her now.
Maybe that’s why she wasn’t sending her any signs the way she had for Elena.
Chapter Six
‡
The next morning was sunny and warm, a perfect June day. She’d fastened a wide hat over Nadia’s curls and had sweaters for both of them folded in her bag in case it got chilly. She also had a picnic lunch packed. It was going to be just a Mommy and Baby day in the park.
Mom used to take them to the park nearly every day when she’d been little until Elena got to the age where she ruined whatever plans they’d tried to made. Elena had been… well, she’d been a brat.