Not Quite Mine (Not Quite #2)(10)
Author: Catherine Bybee

The older woman paused and took in Katelyn’s frame. Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t look like you just had a baby.”

Her heart leapt. The woman’s observation wasn’t something she’d seen coming. “I adopted.” She said the first thing that popped in her head. Sticking close to the truth would probably be best anyway. Thinly veiled truth was better than a flat out lie. Many years of skirting the truth would come in handy to keep Savannah’s identity hidden.

Katie glanced over her shoulder and found Monica peeking over her seat. After sending a reassuring smile, Katie swiveled forward and tilted her face away from the people surrounding her. She wore little makeup and dark sunglasses in hopes of avoiding anyone recognizing her on the plane. If someone did notice her, they’d probably second guess who she was based on the sole fact that Katie never flew anywhere but on her daddy’s plane. Not to mention she was wearing sweatpants…workout clothes in public for God’s sake. Even the T-shirt she was wearing belonged to Monica and sported some of Savannah’s lunch.

Before boarding the plane, Monica and Katie had taken turns walking Savannah around, hoping that, when buckled in a car seat, she wouldn’t grow restless and call more attention to herself than necessary. A baby, especially one as tiny as Savannah, drew attention and more than one neck craned to get a glimpse.

The last of the passengers took their seats.

Grandma kept talking about her grandchildren, the soothing voice seemed to be putting Savannah to sleep.

Maybe the flight won’t be so bad.

The words no sooner fled her mind before the captain’s voice swam over the PA to welcome them aboard. Sadly, the intercom squeaked at a high pitch and jarred Savannah to a full-on wakeful scream.

Passengers turned toward her as Katie attempted to coax a pacifier into Savannah’s mouth. She wanted nothing to do with it. The plane taxied from the terminal and the noise of the engine helped cut some of the noise coming from such a small person.

The coy smiles and oohs and aahs over “such a tiny thing” swiftly turned to ugly looks and rolling eyes.

“Shh, it’s OK…” Katie couldn’t stop the pitiful wails any more than stopping the tide.

Grandma offered some encouragement. “Don’t worry. Babies cry. Everyone knows that.”

Still, every passenger within four rows honed their ugly stares on her.

So much for keeping a low profile.

As soon as they reached cruising altitude and the captain turned off the seat belt sign, Katie lifted Savannah from the car seat, laid her on her chest, and managed to calm her down. A little.

Half of the time in flight was soothing a fussy infant and dodging dirty looks. It took every ounce of decorum for Katie not to tell the people close by to mind their own business. Lashing out at them for their snide looks and not-so-quiet whispers about babies on airplanes would warrant more attention, not less.

With any luck, this flight would be the only commercial one Savannah would have to endure.

Even Grandma had hit her limit by the time they landed. Katie’s nerves sizzled like onions at the county fair. As soon as the diaper bag, handbag, and Savannah in her car seat were shrugged over a shoulder or an arm, and Katie was laboring across the tarmac to baggage claim, Savannah then decided to go to sleep. It was dark, the peanuts on the plane not only didn’t constitute an in-flight meal, they also gave Katie indigestion. She couldn’t even enjoy a glass of wine. The thought of her drinking while a baby screamed in her lap felt irresponsible, even to her.

Monica caught up to her and asked how she was holding up. Katie nearly decked her for talking so loud. “She’s finally asleep! Keep it down.”

The noise of the airport and all the travelers wasn’t bothering Savannah one bit, yet somehow Katie knew that Monica’s inquiry would.

Monica’s jaw drew down as she peered over the edge of the car seat. “We didn’t hear her very much where I was.”

“You’re full of shit.” The whole damn plane scowled at her as she walked off.

“Babies cry. No biggie.”

“She’s too young to be traveling.” Katie repeated the words murmured between the lips of several women on the plane. Women who were obviously mothers. Mothers who obviously knew babies better than her.

“The biggest problem with babies traveling is illness. Lucky for you…” Monica grabbed one of five bags rolling on the conveyer belt in baggage claim. “…I’m a nurse and can clue you in if little Vanna here gets ill.”

Little Vanna, as Monica called her, was now sound asleep. Her hands would twitch when a loud noise sounded inside the huge building, but she didn’t wake. The strong urge to kiss her soft cheeks clutched Katie’s heart but she didn’t dare for fear she’d wake.

“We’re going to have to grab a cab,” Monica said after hoisting every bag to their side. “I wasn’t expecting to come home for a few days and my ride was busy.”

Katelyn sighed. Now this was something she could handle. And a smelly cab wasn’t going to disturb the peace of a sleeping child. She handed the car seat over to Monica. “Wait here. I’ll get us a ride.”

Ten minutes later they were seated in the back of a stretch limousine with Savannah puffing little breaths through her pouty pink lips.

“Where to, Miss Morrison?” the driver, asked.

Monica rambled off her address before closing the clear window between them and the driver.

The limo was from the Ontario Morrison Hotel. Although Katie didn’t know the driver by name, she would by the time she showed up to the hotel, and she’d buy his loyalty one way or the other.

“He thinks the baby is mine, doesn’t he?” Monica asked.

Katie glanced at the back of the driver’s bald head as he pulled away from the curb. “He sees two women with a baby. I’ll say enough to throw him off. Don’t worry.” Laying the groundwork for an affair wasn’t as complicated as it was for hiding a baby. Katelyn’s thoughts traveled the tide to Dean. Now hiding the baby from him took a complicated weave of lies. Hiding Savannah from everyone else would take more time, more effort.

So why was she doing it? Why work so hard to keep a baby that wasn’t hers?

The sun had set and the lights of the suburbs of Los Angeles sped past the windows of the limo. Her entire life had been spent in limos and surrounded by other luxuries her father afforded her. She’d seen the world, twice. She’d dined with the rich and famous, skied the Alps, and sailed in the Grecian Sea. She spoke enough French to buy expensive clothes in Paris and order a decent meal there as well, but she wasn’t happy.