Shocking Sapphires - Ann Omasta Page 0,9

scratching a chalkboard, but I had to admit that it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if she had been speaking to me. Some irrational urge made me want to be the recipient of her warm compliments and tender kisses.

When she returned to my bedside, she was cradling a baby in her arms. Although I could only see the back of his head, I instinctively knew it was my son.

“Scout,” the word whooshed out of my lips, making the woman’s startled gaze dart to me.

She turned the baby around, so I could see his face. His soft pink cheeks were as pudgy as I remembered, and he was dressed in adorable navy-blue striped coveralls that hadn’t been in the bag of supplies his mother had brought when she dumped him at my doorstep.

I breathed out a sigh of relief that my child was obviously being very well taken care of, but even that extra bit of movement had me wincing in pain.

“We should call the doctor in to talk to him while he’s awake,” the man weighed in with his opinion.

I hadn’t realized he was in the room, since he was out of my line of vision. It hurt too much to even think about moving my head around to look at him.

“Let’s give him a little while longer.” The woman’s tone was pleading.

The man reluctantly agreed with her, raising serious red flags in my mind. Why would she want to keep me from seeing my doctor? Were they deranged stalker fans, who thought they knew me and wanted me all to themselves? Why did they have my baby?

The concerned thoughts swirled around making my head throb even harder. My biggest worry was for Scout. It didn’t make sense for a random couple to have custody of him. He should have been placed with an agency, until I recover enough to get out of here and take care of him myself.

When Scout began to whimper, the woman started bouncing and swaying as she patted his back. Her soothing ministrations worked almost immediately.

Once my son quieted down, she turned her attention back to me. She seemed delighted to find that my eyes were still open. “Good morning, sunshine!”

I blinked in response, not wanting to risk escalating my pain level again by speaking unnecessarily.

Not seeming offended in the slightest by my silence, the woman went on. “I’m Molly Malone, and this is my brother Max. He is the firefighter that found Scout at the station, and we’ve been taking care of him ever since.”

Even though her words were obviously meant to be reassuring, it was a great deal of information for my sluggish brain to absorb.

“We already love him to pieces,” the woman revealed as she kissed the top of my baby’s head, reigniting my concerns about her mental state.

Leaning in, she added, “We know who you are and have even seen a couple of your movies.”

At this, her brother released a disbelieving ‘pfft’ sound from his lips before saying, “You know you’ve seen every single one of his movies multiple times, Molly. Don’t even try to deny it, or I’ll tell him about the giant shirtless poster of him you had hanging in your room during high school.”

“Max!” the woman half-shouted, obviously furious with her brother.

The loud yell had me squeezing my eyes tightly shut. I really just wanted this obnoxious woman and her sibling to deliver Scout to the proper authorities and go away, but since they had my son, they had all of the power.

Forcing my mind to focus on speaking, I whispered, “Once I’m better, I’ll take a photograph with you and autograph your poster to thank you for temporarily watching Scout.”

My hopes that this would appease them enough that I could suggest they take my son to a licensed foster care facility until I was able to take care of him were dashed when the woman tossed back her head and laughed before saying, “Oh, we want way more than that from you. Max is right… I am one of your biggest fans.” She paused to toss a glare at her brother before continuing, “So, I am going to take care of you and Scout for as long as it takes.”

A chill raced down my spine as mental images of how the famous author in Misery was ‘taken care of’ by his biggest fan. Suddenly, I began to wonder if I was in a hospital at all. It seemed beyond strange that a legitimate medical facility would