Bianca was in Columbia? Where had she been all this time? Wherever she’d been hiding out, she must not have read a newspaper if she didn’t know about Phoebe and Kyle getting married. The news had been splashed all over South Carolina and beyond. Diplomats from around the country had congratulated them last night at the D.C. dinner party.
A marriage they’d consummated, the scent and feel of him still lingering under her satin gown. Had it only been a few short hours ago they’d left for Washington, D.C.? Good God, her world was blowing apart faster than she could gather up the pieces.
At least Bianca seemed oblivious to all the changes that had gone on in their lives, which would give them a few precious hours to get their thoughts together before Nina’s mother burst through the door. “I’m not at home. I’m in Hilton Head—with Nina.”
She couldn’t even think about the upheaval this would cause for Nina. She’d just been settling into the Landis home and their new—more secure—life. Phoebe’s belly clenched.
“Hilton Head?” Bianca asked. “What are you doing there?”
Phoebe glanced at Kyle beside her in the parked car inside the lighted garage. How would Bianca react to the news they’d married? Even more important, didn’t Bianca care what had happened to her child? Of course not, or she wouldn’t have simply disappeared. “I’m taking care of Nina.”
“Oh, how’s the kiddo doing?”
The throwaway tone grated along Phoebe’s already raw nerves. It was obvious Bianca was unharmed and had chosen to fall off the face of the earth.
Phoebe resisted the urge to throw the phone as maternal anger mushroomed inside her. “Nina’s fine. Since you left her with me last summer, she learned to roll over. She’s almost sitting up on her own.”
“Good, good. Thanks for babysitting. Do you have an extra key hidden around here somewhere? It’s not under the flowerpot like it used to be, and I really need a place to crash.”
Babysitting? Babysitting! Two months—nearly three months now—went way beyond some kind of nanny gig, especially with an infant.
“I took the key with me when I left my apartment.” She’d closed up the place but had kept paying rent. She’d planned on going back, but deep down she’d always thought Nina would be with her. Now Nina had both her biological parents in the picture, which left little room for a babysitter. “Uh, Bianca, I’m in Hilton Head with Kyle Landis. When you didn’t come back, I brought her here to her father.”
She watched Kyle’s jaw flex, his face stark and hard, anger darn near rolling off him in waves. Nina would have a fierce defender in her Landis father. Silently Phoebe sent up a prayer of thanks that she could count on him now.
“He’s back from Afghanistan?” Bianca’s voice breezed from the phone. “Wow, cool, I was planning to get in touch with him.”
How could she be so blasé about letting Kyle know about his daughter? Would Nina have ever had the chance to know this big and wonderful family if Bianca hadn’t told Phoebe?
He gestured for her to keep talking.
Phoebe swallowed down the wad of fear clogging her throat. “Well, you can come to Hilton Head and talk to him in person.”
“He’s probably mad, isn’t he?” Bianca asked, hesitancy tingeing her voice for the first time. “Could you just bring Nina back here?”
Phoebe’s patience snapped. If Bianca thought she could steamroll over her old, quiet friend, she was in for a rude awakening. “I can’t do that, Bianca. You abandoned your daughter. Kyle has temporary custody.”
“Phoebe,” Bianca gasped, “what in the hell have you done?”
“You didn’t leave me any choice when you walked out on your child.”
“Fine, I’m getting a hotel for tonight. I’ll meet you in Hilton Head tomorrow.”
It was less than three hours’ drive. Nothing would have stopped Phoebe if it were her child, and oh, God, she could lose Nina now. “Call when you get close to town and I’ll give you directions to the house.”
Bianca hung up without another word.
Phoebe stared at the phone in her hand, a chill settling all the way to her bones. Her teeth started chattering. Vaguely, she heard Kyle speaking to her, offering up soothing words about how everything would be okay. But she couldn’t think of anything but checking on Nina.
Phoebe tossed aside her phone and bolted from the car. Bunching her dress up, she raced into the house, up the stairs, not stopping until she reached Nina’s nursery.
The crib was empty.
Kyle heard Phoebe’s scream.
He sprinted into the nursery and found her clutching a baby quilt to her chest as she stood by the crib. “Where’s Nina?” Panic lit her eyes as she looked frantically around the nursery. “You said she would be taken care of. I shouldn’t have left her for even a second. Oh, God, do you think Bianca lied and she’s already taken her?”
Kyle cupped her shoulders. “Calm down, it’s okay. Nina is in the main nursery. The sitter put her there and went to sleep on the daybed. Nina hasn’t been alone for even a second since we left.”
Phoebe sagged with relief. He pulled her to his chest, understanding her fear and vowing for her—for Nina—he wouldn’t let anyone harm one hair on their heads. She shuddered against him, and it ripped him up inside to see his normally cool wife fall apart.
With a final trembling sigh, she straightened. He only had a second to register her damp eyes before she charged out and into the hall. Her high heels clicked along the hardwood floors as Kyle followed her to the green nursery his mother kept for all her grandchildren.
Phoebe cracked the door open slowly—warily?—and peered inside. She slumped against the door frame, her eyes closing, releasing two fat tears. “Thank God.”
Kyle stopped behind her and peered through the door at the baby fast asleep in the spindled crib.
His daughter.
He allowed himself a selfish moment to just stare at Nina and reassure himself she was okay, she would be okay. He memorized her features, a face he should have studied more fully before now.
She had the Landis chin and hair. If she were awake, he would be staring at his own eyes. But beyond that, he knew she liked her feet uncovered and she giggled when he waved her favorite panda-bear teething toy in front of her face.
It was so damn little to know. He should know more. He would know more. He wouldn’t be that part-time parent jetting off for months only to find out his child had met a milestone while he was gone. He had options, damn it.
She was his daughter.
He loved her. And in the morning, he could lose her to a woman who didn’t think anything of disappearing for nearly three months. He’d never known this kind of fear before, not even when he’d been shot down in Afghanistan. The full impact of that crushed his chest until he damn near couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t even imagine what kind of hell Phoebe must be feeling. His wife had loved this little girl for months.
He started to reach for Phoebe, but she stepped deeper into the room. She quietly called out to the sitter, gently waking her, smiling her thanks and telling her she was free to go to the guest room across the hall.
Once the sitter bustled past him and into the other room, Phoebe curled up in the corner of the daybed as she’d done her first night here.
Watching her distance herself from him, Kyle realized he wasn’t just in danger of losing his daughter, he could also lose his wife.
“I’m here to pick up my daughter.”
Bianca strode into the foyer of the Landis mansion, flicking her wavy red hair over her shoulder with a gesture Phoebe recognized as calculated to catch male eyes. It usually worked.
At least today, Kyle seemed oblivious to Bianca’s dubious charms, currently encased in skinny jeans and a lime-green tank top. His barely banked anger steamed behind his eyes. Nina didn’t seem to notice the tension, however, as she patted him on the face with her panda-bear teether clutched in her chubby fist.
Even as tense as things were between her and Kyle, Phoebe was relieved to have his support in this standoff with Bianca. He’d called the rest of his family this morning and they would all return within hours.
Kyle palmed Phoebe’s back. “Let’s all step into the living room and talk. There’s a lot to go over from the past few months.”
Bianca eyed the wide-open entryway, her deeply tanned fingers gliding over a blue-and-white Fabergé egg by a crystal vase of lilacs. She strolled deeper into the living room. A wall of windows let sunshine stream through and bathe the room in light all the way up to the cathedral ceilings. Hardwood floors were scattered with light Persian rugs around two Queen Anne sofas upholstered in a pale blue fabric with white piping. Wingback chairs in a creamy yellow angled off the side. The whole decor was undoubtedly formal, but in an airy, comfortable way.
Phoebe feared Bianca was seeing dollar signs. But if she’d only wanted money, wouldn’t she have come to Kyle right away?
Bianca spun on her spiky green high heel and extended her arms. “My baby.” She gripped Nina so firmly Phoebe had no choice but to let go. “Aren’t you beautiful, and so big?”
“Yeah,” Kyle muttered, “they grow. As a matter of fact, they grow a lot if you don’t see them for nearly three months.”
Phoebe rested a hand on his arm, wary of angering Bianca, especially when they didn’t have a clue what she had in mind. “Where have you been? Do you realize how worried we’ve been?”
“Were you worried about me, or did you just care because of Nina?” Lifting an eyebrow, she hitched the baby on her hip awkwardly. Nina squirmed and threw her panda-bear plastic teether on the floor. “It doesn’t matter now. I’m back and ready to see my girl.”
Kyle stood, feet braced, in the archway between the living room and foyer as if blocking any chance of escape. “You fell off the face of the earth so completely we thought you might be dead. You still haven’t told us where you were.”
“Sorry about that. I went to the islands with this important director. He said he had a part for me.” Bianca pried Nina’s fingers off her giant gold-hoop earrings. “He lied, the scum, but I got a vacation out of it. Mothers need vacations. I’m all rested now and ready to snuggle with my little girl.”
Phoebe resisted the urge to grab Nina and run. “You can’t just abandon Nina for months and think I’ll trust you to take care of her.”
Bianca looked back and forth between Kyle and Phoebe standing close together. “Ah, I see how it is.” She jostled Nina uncomfortably as the baby tried to climb down. “You’ve got Kyle now and if you lose the kid, you lose him. He’s quite a catch. I can see how you wouldn’t want to give all that up.”
Phoebe bit back the impulse to snap at Bianca. Kyle was more than some “catch.” He was about so much more than his bank balance. He was an honorable man who cared about his family, took his responsibilities seriously and even appreciated the simple beauty of beachside rides in an open-air car.