From Midwife to Mommy Read online

  But he would go through with it. Because his brother had asked him to take care of this child if something happened to him. And because the little girl was a Montgomery, and that made her his responsibility.

  He had failed to keep his brother safe from his father’s destructive influence, but he wouldn’t fail this child. On paper, Lana Sanders looked like the perfect mom, but Trent knew better than to believe everything he read. He would protect Michael’s child as he should have protected Michael.

  Once the court awarded him custody of his niece he would pack up and head back to Houston, where he belonged. Somehow he would have to find a way to make things work till then.

  * * *

  “Lana, I want to tell you first that I know this isn’t going to be easy for you. You’ve been taking care of Maggie for months now, and I know you love her very much. Second, you need to know that the court has to consider any interest the biological family has in Maggie.” Ms. Nelson the social worker stated. “I’ve seen the letter they have from Chloe, telling Mr. Montgomery’s brother about her pregnancy. And then, of course, there’s the resemblance that none of us can deny.”

  “And where was this biological family when she was six weeks old with no one to take care of her?” Lana spat out.

  She looked across the table at the man who had been sitting quietly as she had questioned the social worker. Those blue eyes that she had found so appealing earlier now seemed ice-cold as they followed her every movement. He might as well just be an onlooker into this catastrophe he had orchestrated. Her life had suddenly been turned upside down, and he acted as if this was just another meeting for him to attend. As if he had no interest at all in the outcome.

  But then he shouldn’t have any interest in her and Maggie’s life. He shouldn’t even be here.

  The pain of her nails biting into her hands had her uncurling her fingers. So far she had managed to rein in her temper. Now, running her hands through her hair, she pushed it back from her face and wished she had left it up in the clip. She could feel the heat of anger in her face and she knew the sight of her reddened face and scattered hair couldn’t be a pretty picture.

  She would have to get herself under control before she reached panic mode. That was not something she wanted either of these two people in the room to see. Taking a deep, steady breath, she willed her body to relax. Turning back toward the social worker, she pleaded her case once more.

  “What about when she was just born and she was going through withdrawal? Was there anybody from this so-called family interested in Maggie then?” Lana said, glad that she no longer heard a tremor in her voice.

  “I’m sorry,” Trent said. “I wasn’t aware of the child until a couple of weeks ago. If I had known I would have seen to it that my brother was here when she was born.”

  “And where is this brother of yours, huh? Why is it that you’re here without him?” Lana asked. “If he’s Maggie’s father why isn’t he here?”

  Lana watched the man she had earlier thought of as cold turn glacial.

  “My brother passed away three weeks ago.”

  The shock of the statement stunned her into silence. The man who was supposed to be Maggie’s biological father was dead? She stared at the man sitting across from her, who had shown no emotion while discussing his brother’s death. He was just full of bombshells, wasn’t he?

  “So why are you here? Why are you so interested in Maggie’s life when apparently your brother had no interest at all?” Lana asked.

  Turning toward the social worker, she noticed that the older woman had shown no reaction to this new information. Realizing that Ms. Nelson must already know about the death of the supposed biological father, she felt the relief of earlier fade.

  “There is no way you can expect me to give Maggie up to a man who isn’t even her father. It’s one thing to consider the father’s rights, but this man is a stranger to Maggie. You have to see that Maggie is better off in a home where she feels safe and loved. That’s why Chloe didn’t take her. Why she left her with me. She wanted to make sure Maggie would always be in a stable home. She didn’t want to ever have to worry that her baby was not being properly taken care of,” she said as tears spilled from her eyes.

  No way. No way would she let them take Maggie.

  “We’re not making any changes as far as Maggie is concerned until we investigate the situation, Lana,” the social worker said as she took Lana’s hand and squeezed. “The first thing we’ll do is have a DNA test done on both Maggie and Mr. Montgomery.”

  “I’ll give you the information you need to contact me,” Trent volunteered.

  “Thank you,” the social worker responded. “And your lawyer has given us the information you have in relation to your brother’s alleged paternity.”

  “And, having given you that information, I would like you to consider allowing me some visitation with the child,” Trent said.

  “‘The child’ has a name. It’s Maggie. And why should I let you anywhere near her?” Lana asked.

  “It’s your decision at this time, Lana, but we do have good reason to think that Mr. Montgomery’s brother was Maggie’s father,” said Ms. Nelson. “And if the DNA tests come back to show Mr. Montgomery as being her uncle, he will be able to ask for visitation while the court decides on custody.”

  Lana looked at the man across from her. Cool blue eyes watched her from beneath thick dark lashes. She’d seen that calculating look before, only then it had been on the face of a toddler trying to figure out how to get another cookie after she had eaten her limit.

  There was no denying the similarities this man shared with Maggie. And she feared that the DNA test would only confirm what her eyes were telling her now. Chloe had never said much about Maggie’s father, but she had said she’d written him a letter telling him she was pregnant when she hadn’t been able to get him to answer her calls. She had listed Maggie’s father as “unknown” on the birth certificate when she hadn’t heard anything from him, and she had refused to discuss him any further with Lana.

  Lana rubbed at the tight knot she felt forming at the back of her neck. How could this day have gone so wrong? She was suddenly bone-tired. She knew she had to accept the fact that this fight wouldn’t be won here today.

  “I’ll consider it,” Lana said. “But if I agree, I will be present at all times.”

  “Thank you,” Trent said.

  “About the DNA, Mr. Montgomery... I’m sure your lawyer has made you aware that the results when testing for an aunt or uncle of a child will not be definitive. It will give us more of a likely match than proof of a biological relationship.”

  “Actually, it’s Dr. Montgomery, Ms. Nelson. But please call me Trent.”

  For a moment Lana thought her brain would explode at this new piece of information. While she knew the court wouldn’t show any prejudice as far as financial circumstances were concerned, it would surely still consider if a child’s needs could be met. What if they felt that this Dr. Montgomery could provide better for Maggie?

  “I’ll contact you both after we receive the DNA results and set up another appointment,” Ms. Nelson continued as she stood, letting Lana know that there wasn’t anything else to be said today.

  Lana stepped out of the room and drew her keys out of her purse with trembling hands. She was glad she had sent Maggie home with Amanda instead of having them wait for her. She would have to use the time it would take her to get home to get herself together.

  Thank goodness she had found Amanda, a medical student, while she had been looking for a roommate. With Amanda able to fill in as babysitter in exchange for rent, she had the extra help that a single parent needed.

  She’d go home and get Maggie into bed, call Nathan to see what her options were, and then she would come up with a plan. Dr. Trent Montgomery might think that he had everything going his way, but they said possession was
nine-tenths of the law and right now Maggie was hers.

  Lana had only been fifteen when she had beaten the cancer that had been growing in her body. She’d lived through chemo and radiation treatment. She’d stumbled a bit when she had learned that the treatments that had saved her life had destroyed her dreams of having children, but she had managed to keep going even though she’d been hurting.

  She was a fighter and she didn’t give up. And she was about to make a certain cowboy wish he had never left Texas.

  CHAPTER TWO

  LANA WALKED OUT of LDR Four and headed for the OB nurses’ lounge. The delivery had been complicated, due to the size of the baby boy, and the new mom had needed extra reassurance that everything was fine with both her and her baby. Now she would have to hurry back to the office as soon as she’d finished signing off on her orders.

  She could hear the whispers and laughter of the nurses as she turned the corner of the nurses’ station. There had to be some new rumor spreading through the hospital, because she noted that everyone was gathered around Kat, the queen of hospital gossip. Usually she would have paused to hear what the newest bit of gossip was, but today she didn’t have time.

  As soon as her paperwork was completed she changed out of her scrubs and headed back to her office. She didn’t want to leave her patients waiting any longer. Irate pregnant women could be downright scary, and her staff could only appease them with promises of her return for so long.

  John Lincoln, one of the pediatricians employed by the hospital working the obstetric hall, waved from the nursery hallway as she passed. A few seconds later she heard her name called and turned to find John was following her, with another man dressed in the hospital’s light blue scrubs beside him.

  Lana stopped and stared at the two men even as she shook her head in denial. There was no way this could be happening to her.

  “Hey, Lana,” John said as he approached. “This is Dr. Trent Montgomery. He’s taken the locum tenen position we’ve had open since Dr. Lee left.”

  “We’ve met,” Lana said as she turned toward Trent. “What are you doing here?”

  “As John just told you, Ms. Sanders, I’ve accepted a temporary job with the pediatric department,” Trent said. “I’m looking forward to the two of us working together.”

  Work with the person who was trying to take Maggie away from her? No way was that going to happen.

  “But why? Why are you here?” Lana asked.

  John looked at Lana, then back at Trent with a frown. “I take it you two know each other?” John asked.

  “We’ve met.” Lana said as she moved to one side of the hall to let a nurse pushing a patient in a wheelchair pass.

  She noticed the look the nurse gave this new doctor in town. Yeah, she hated to admit it, but he was something to look at. Even with his high-dollar suit and cowboy boots gone he looked good. The pastel color of the cotton scrubs should have dimmed some of that masculine power that he threw off, but instead it seemed to amplify the hardness of the body they covered.

  There would be a swarm of women circling around him as if he was roadkill as soon as they got a good look at him. And she would just leave them to it. Because no matter how good he looked she didn’t want him anywhere near her and Maggie. Why was he doing this to her? Her life was stressful enough without him in her hospital, where she would be running into him all the time.

  Crossing her arms, she leaned against the wall. There was no way she was going to let him know how rattled he made her. She didn’t care how sexy he looked standing there, she was going to let him know exactly how she felt about this ploy of his. Because that had to be what this was—just one more way to intimidate her into giving up Maggie.

  But it wouldn’t work, she was tougher than that. She would not let him get to her. There was too much at stake here. She had too much to lose to let a hard-bodied, hard-headed man get the best of her. She’d play his game if that was what it took to beat him.

  “I’ll catch up with you in the lounge,” Trent said to John.

  Lana waited till John was out of hearing range before asking the question that was burning her tongue. “What do you think you’re doing here, Dr. Montgomery?” she asked. “Why aren’t you back in Houston?”

  Lana watched him take in her knowledge of that piece of information. Yeah, she’d done a little online stalking and it had paid off.

  She’d found out that he worked in one of the largest women and children’s hospitals in Houston as a pediatrician, for Pete’s sake. Why he worked as a doctor at all, when he came from a family loaded with oil money, she didn’t understand.

  After seeing several pictures of him at different social affairs, all with a different beautiful woman on his arm, she had thought her heart would stop when she’d found an article that listed him as one of Houston’s most eligible bachelors and had seen what was listed as his estimated net worth.

  After that she had read everything the internet had on him, looking for something—anything—to use against him. But she hadn’t found anything, and with every article her fear of losing Maggie had increased.

  And apparently all the while she had been checking him out, he had been checking her out too. Because even if he had a good reason for leaving the hospital in Houston, the fact that he’d shown up at the hospital where she practiced out of all the hospitals in Miami meant he’d done his research. Or paid someone else to do it.

  Wasn’t that what the rich did? Hired someone else to do all the dirty work for them? There were no coincidences with men like Trent Montgomery. No, he had an agenda in coming here, and she would find out what it was one way or the other.

  “After my lawyer informed me that the courts would look favorably on me being within their district, I took leave from my job in Houston. Also, it made sense that it would be easier to work with you as far as visitation goes if I was living in the area. A temporary position opened up here, so I inquired and was offered the position.”

  As if the pediatric department was going to turn down a qualified pediatrician who had graduated from Emory and done a residency in neonatology when they were so short on staff.

  “Besides, Miami is a beautiful city,” he said as he moved closer, leaning in toward her as a group of staff members came down the hall. “Who wouldn’t want to live here?”

  She knew better than to let his look of innocence fool her, and she certainly wasn’t going to let the fact that his body was now only inches away affect her.

  “What did you tell the interviewers?” she continued, as she tried to ignore her speeding heartbeat. She hadn’t discussed her court appearance with anyone at work—had just told those who’d asked that there had been a small delay in the paperwork at the court.

  “I told them I had an interest in the position due to some business I had here in Miami,” Trent said as he moved back a few inches. “I don’t see why the hospital should have any concern for our private affairs.”

  Realizing she had been holding her breath, Lana let her lungs expand fully. The racing of her heart let her know she was allowing this man to get to her, and that wasn’t acceptable. She would have to stop letting him intimidate her.

  “And I’m supposed to believe that you just happened to end up at the same hospital where I work?”

  Trent shrugged a shoulder, then gave her a smile that set her teeth on edge. This was a man who not only knew he was charming, but also knew how to use it to his advantage.

  “That’s what I thought,” Lana said as she moved once more to let one of the unit nurses pass.

  The fact that it was the same brunette nurse who had walked by earlier didn’t surprise her. Word had clearly already gotten out that there was a new male doctor on the unit, and the fact that he was sexy as hell meant that he would be getting even more attention than usual.

  Soon the fact that she knew the new doc would come to the attenti
on of the staff. And that was something that she didn’t want to deal with right now.

  * * *

  Trent watched Lana as she stomped off, then stopped to pull a ringing phone from her pocket and answer it. He’d known she’d be angry when she found out he’d obtained a job at the hospital she worked at, and he couldn’t blame her. What had surprised him was his reaction to her anger. The woman was as feisty as a wild filly, and reluctantly he had to admit that he’d found it entertaining and even a little arousing to watch her spit and sputter as she reached her boiling point with him.

  And that was the strangest thing. Normally the sight of a woman’s anger sent him running in the opposite direction. He’d seen enough of his mother’s tantrums with his father to know he didn’t want any part of that in his life. But this woman’s anger was different. It was hot and furious, but at the same time it was controlled and non-threatening.

  And she was sure something to see when her green eyes started to spark lightning strikes at him.

  The woman would have his head if she knew that while she’d been doing all that ranting and raving he’d been thinking about how cute she was, trying to intimidate him with her five and a half feet against his six-feet-two-inch self.

  The insistent screech of the beeper attached to his scrub bottoms went off and he read a message from the ER, concerning a preterm imminent delivery coming in.

  “Which way to the ER?” he asked Lana as she ended her call.

  For a second she just stared at him. Then, shaking her head, she turned down another hallway. “Come on, I’ll show you,” she said, not looking back to see if he was following her.

  “There’s a thirty-three-week antepartum coming in by ambulance,” he said when he caught up with her.

  “She’s thirty-four weeks and six days. That was her husband on the phone,” she said.