Kitabı oku: «Daddy Devastating», sayfa 3

She had a white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel. “Milo can’t hurt her.”

She was taking his warning very seriously, but there was no reason for Milo to go after Emily.

Because she looked ready to lose it, Russ reached over and skimmed his hand down her arm. Why, he didn’t know. After everything she’d just learned about him, his touch probably wasn’t very comforting.

“How badly did I mess up your investigation?” Julia asked. She stopped when the light turned red and drummed her fingers impatiently until it turned green. She gunned the engine.

“I can salvage it,” he assured her.

But Russ wasn’t certain of that at all. Still, he had no choice but to try.

Julia pulled to a quick stop in the parking lot of the Wainwright Hotel. Even though it had three floors, it was a fairly small building and only had about two dozen rooms. He’d already guessed that that was where she’d be staying, since it was the nicest hotel in a town that was seriously lacking nice things. The outskirts of the town were okay—more family oriented; and more likely than not, if you were in downtown San Saba, you were looking for trouble.

“Let me call my partner, Silas Duran,” he told her. “He can make the arrangements for a security escort, and I can wait with you until everything is in place, so you can leave.”

“You trust this Silas?” she asked.

Russ nearly gave her an automatic yes—but stopped. He settled for a nod.

Silas was a fellow agent and probably well trained. But Russ didn’t like that Silas had only been on this case for a couple of days. He also didn’t like that Silas might have pulled strings to get the assignment. That’s the way it seemed to Russ, anyway. But that was a problem for him to mull over when he had more time.

She opened her door and looked at him. She nibbled lightly on her bottom lip, caught it between her teeth for several seconds. “I suppose you want to see Emily?”

He did. But the timing was all wrong.

Or was it?

Russ didn’t know how long it would take to get this investigation back on track, and he couldn’t leave San Saba until Milo put him in touch with the head honcho—the slimeball only identified as Z. Russ wanted to find Z and lock him away for a long, long time for what he’d done. If it took him weeks or longer to do that, it would be weeks before he first got to see his niece.

“Yeah,” Russ heard himself say. “I’d like to see her. I won’t stay long.”

He had to pay an uncle’s tribute to his dead brother’s child and give Julia a promise that he would be back as soon as he could.

Since Julia was obviously too anxious to stay put any longer, Russ took out his phone and called Silas while they made their way into the hotel. He also kept watch around them, and breathed a little easier, once they made it into the lobby.

“Russ,” Silas answered, “I was just about to call you.”

Oh, no. Even though he’d only been working with Silas a short time, he knew that tone, and this wasn’t good news.

“Where are you now?” Silas asked.

“With Julia Howell.” Ahead of him, Julia made it to the elevator and jabbed the up button. “She’s about to leave for her estate, but I need to request a security detail for her.”

“We have a problem. She can’t leave,” Silas said.

Russ hoped he’d misunderstood. “What do you mean?”

“I mean she can’t leave. If she does, this investigation is over, and you get to start it from scratch.”

Because he might lose signal in the elevator, Russ clamped onto Julia’s arm to stop her from stepping into it.

“I need to check on Emily,” she insisted.

Russ pulled her to the side so he could continue this conversation, a discussion that he was positive he wasn’t going to like.

“Explain,” Russ told Silas.

“Milo just called his contact to set up another meeting for tomorrow afternoon. We can choose the exact time and the location.”

Russ relaxed a little. Maybe the investigation hadn’t been ruined. Maybe he could rescue that baby after all. “Well, that’s good. The meeting’s critical.” And it was critical they control the location so they could set up security.

“No, it’s not good.” Silas said, cursing. A first. He had never heard Silas use even mild profanity before.

Russ listened to Silas’s news. Yep, it was bad all right. And a few moments later, he was doing his own cursing. “Can we change Milo’s mind?” Russ asked.

“No. Believe me, I tried, but he was adamant. We can take extra precautions. We can even bring in a few more agents. So the question is, do you think you can talk Julia Howell into cooperating?”

Russ looked over her at and saw the nerves right there at the surface. He could possibly convince her to do what Milo wanted. Possibly. But even if they controlled the security and the meeting place, it didn’t mean something wouldn’t go wrong. Julia could ultimately be in more danger than she already was. If that was possible.

Milo would dig to find out who she was, and then he’d wonder why an heiress worth fifty million would get involved with a lowlife like Jimmy Marquez. By doctoring her records, they could make it work.

Well, maybe … if they could convince Milo that Julia had a thing for slumming or bad boys.

“The stakes are too high to fail,” Silas reminded him.

Yeah. And that was the real bottom line.

One way or another, even if he had to resort to begging, even if he had to put her in more danger, Russ had to bring Julia deeper into this.

Because a baby’s life depended on it.

Chapter Four

The moment Russ ended his call, Julia got them into the elevator. Everything inside her was starting to spin. Her breathing was too fast. Her thoughts were going a mile a minute.

She tried to make herself slow down, so she could think this through, but the only thing that kept going through her mind was the importance of keeping Emily safe. Later, she’d berate herself for coming here to San Saba before she had thoroughly assessed the dangers. Julia had been in such a hurry to carry out Lissa’s dying wish that she hadn’t considered that some dying wishes just couldn’t be fulfilled.

This was obviously one of them.

She had to grab Emily and leave the minute Russ had a security escort in place.

When the elevator door finally opened, Julia rushed out. She fished her keycard from her purse and slid it into the lock as soon as she reached the door. Then she hesitated—looked back at Russ, who was right on her heels.

“What?” he asked. After a moment of studying her face, he cocked his eyebrow. “Trust me, I’m having second thoughts about being here with you, too. But unless you got a time machine in that purse, we can’t go back to the bar and undo what happened.”

True, but Julia still didn’t open the door. “Just how much are things messed up?”

“They’re messed up,” he answered. Now it was his turn to hesitate. “But I swear I’ll do everything humanly possible to keep Emily safe.”

Julia nodded. That was something at least. “You should know, I don’t handle danger well. Old wounds.” She added “Literally.” Out of breath, she knew she had to get control of herself.

He touched his fingers to his chest. “Does this mean you’re about to have a panic attack or something?”

“No,” she snapped.

That wasn’t exactly the truth. She might have one. It wouldn’t be the first.

“I’m not sure what it means. I just thought you should know that alley meetings and having guns pointed at me aren’t things I can handle.”

“You already have,” he reminded her.

“Things I can’t handle again,” she said. “Or after the fact. I usually don’t break during the heat of the moment, but afterward, all bets are off.”

Russ stared at her, and that stare reminded her of how close they were. Not as close as in the alley of course, but still close enough. He was a disturbingly attractive man, and the sooner she got him out of her life the better.

He huffed, cursed under his breath and reached out to touch her arm, as he had earlier. A sort of gentle rub, with just the tips of his fingers. It had worked then. A small miracle. But she was too close to the edge for it to work now. Still, she didn’t move away from him.

“When I was seventeen I was attacked.” Her words rushed out with her breath, and she felt her heart pounding. Her chest began to hurt. And she had no idea why she was telling him any of this. “A date went wrong. My parents had warned me that the guy was bad news. I didn’t listen. I thought I knew more than they did. And when the guy tried to rape me, and he couldn’t, uh, perform, he stabbed me three times and left me to die in the trunk of my car.”

The tears came, and she cursed, used the profanity to quell the building anger. She wasn’t that naïve girl anymore. It wasn’t worth crying or panicking over now. She’d been rescued twelve years ago, and was still alive.

“Shhh,” Russ said, his voice so calm. He put his arm around her and eased her closer. Not quite a hug, but almost. “Want to show me your scars, and I’ll show you mine? “

She went stiff and eased back a little so she could make eye contact. But he was busy lifting his chest-hugging black T-shirt. She got a good look at his toned and tanned chest, his tight abs and the scar just to the left of his heart.

“I know a little bit about being left for dead … and staying alive.” He lowered his T-shirt. “So do you. That’s good, Julia. Because I need you to be a survivor.”

She smeared the tears off her face and narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

He opened his mouth as if he were about to answer, but then he shook his head. “Let me meet my niece first, and then we’ll talk.”

She just continued to stare at him so, he reached around her and opened the door. Or rather, he tried to do that. The nanny had obviously put on the safety latch and chain.

“It’s me,” Julia called to Zoey.

“Julia, thank God you’re here. You scared me with that phone call.” Zoey opened the door, but she stopped when she spotted Russ. Probably because Russ looked … well, dangerous.

And was.

“Everything’s okay,” Julia said, trying to assure the woman. “I might have overreacted.” She hoped she had, anyway. Julia motioned toward Russ and shut the door. “This is Russ Gentry, Emily’s uncle.”

Zoey’s dark brown eyes widened, and she looked him over from head to toe. “What happened to the birth father?”

“My brother was killed,” Russ replied, as he double-locked the door.

“Oh.” The young woman probably didn’t realize that her mouth had dropped open. She stayed that way for several moments. “Well, I’m sorry. And I’m sorry for Emily. She’s barely two weeks old and already an orphan.”

Yes. She was. The poor thing. Julia would soon have to figure out what to do about that orphan status. She’d need to contact her attorney and see what the process was to become Emily’s permanent legal guardian.

Julia thought of her old baggage. The old wounds. They were the reason she’d given up the idea of having children of her own. She hadn’t wanted to bring a child into her world of panic attacks, nightmares and fear. A “recluse,” the press called her. Well, while that might be good enough for her, she couldn’t raise a child in a vacuum.

The idea caused her to take a deep breath.

“Emily’s still asleep,” Zoey explained, stepping to the side. “She hasn’t woken up since you gave her the bottle before you went out to talk with Mr. Gentry.”

That wasn’t a surprise. Emily slept a lot, and when she wasn’t sleeping she was eating, fussing and requiring a diaper change. Still, with all that work involved, Julia hadn’t expected to find the baby to be so enthralling. She had tried not to let herself get attached, but there was nothing to hold her back now.

“This way,” Julia told Russ, and she led him through the small living area, in the direction of one of the bedrooms in their three-room suite. Julia had had the crib moved into her own room so she could stay up nights with Emily. Zoey was using the other.

The door was already open, and the lamp was on, so she had no trouble gazing fondly at Emily in the crib. Julia automatically smiled—and she was glad for that reason to smile. With the incident in the alley, she needed something to bring her back to normal, and Emily had a unique way of doing that.

With Russ right next to her, she tiptoed closer and stared down at the baby. She was so precious, with her light brown curls and pink cheeks.

“Her eyes are brown,” Julia whispered to him. Like Russ’s eyes, and no doubt, his twin brother’s. Now that they were side-by-side, Julia could see the resemblance even more. Emily definitely had the Gentry DNA.

“Despite the circumstances of her birth, she’s very healthy.” Julia gave the pink blanket an adjustment that it didn’t really need. She just needed to touch the baby. “She weighed seven pounds, three ounces when she was born, but she’s already gained nearly a pound.”

When Russ didn’t say anything, she looked at him. But he didn’t seem to notice that she was even in the room. His attention was focused on Emily.

“She’s beautiful,” he whispered. He touched Emily’s hand lightly, and she closed her fingers over his thumb. He sucked in his breath. “She’s like a tiny angel.”

There was so much emotion in his voice, Julia had to do a double take to make sure Russ Gentry had spoken those words.

He had.

This was the man who had stared down gunmen in the alley?

He was turning into a marshmallow right before her eyes.

“Oh, man,” he mumbled. The smile started in the corner of his mouth and spread until it was a full grin. “I didn’t expect this.”

Julia didn’t need clarification. She’d had the same reaction when she first saw the child.

“The love,” he said. “It’s instant. I mean, it’s like my blood knows that she’s my niece.”

She understood that, too, but she suddenly became very uncomfortable.

She thought Russ would do a quick peek and head back to the sitting room so they could have that talk he’d mentioned. But this was no quick peek.

He drew back his hand so he could scrub it over his face. He groaned softly. “Okay. I can deal with this. I can make it work.”

“Make what work?” Julia asked.

He tipped his head to Emily. “I was due to move to a supervisor’s job in the next year anyway, but this will just speed things up. I’ll get out of undercover work when I’m done with this case.”

“What do you mean?” Julia said that a little louder than expected.

He shrugged, as if the answer was obvious. “A desk job in the San Antonio office will give me regular work hours. And it’ll be safer. I can have a more normal life. And I can finally get a haircut,” he added, shoving the strands of hair away from his face.

Julia put all those things together. Oh, no! He couldn’t mean that. “Are you saying you want to raise Emily?”

He gave another shrug. “Of course. She’s RJ’s daughter. My niece. I’m her next of kin. Who else would be raising her?”

“Me,” Julia blurted out.

That erased any trace of Russ’s goofy smile. “You’re her cousin. I’m her uncle, and her father was my identical twin brother. That’s a closer bloodline than you have with her. Besides, if Lissa had wanted you to raise her, she would have said so.”

It felt as if someone were squeezing a fist around Julia’s heart.

“Lissa said that because she thought Emily’s father was alive. And because she probably thought I didn’t want children. She was wrong. Besides, need I remind you that you’re in the middle of a dangerous investigation?”

“An investigation that’ll end soon.” He stared at her. “You want to raise her yourself?”

Julia managed an indignant nod. “Well, I am the natural choice.”

That was far from the truth, but Julia wasn’t speaking with her head. This was a heart thing.

“Why? Because you’re a woman? Because you’re rich?” he asked, challenging her. “I can feed her a bottle and buy her clothes just as well as you can.”

Since this was obviously about to turn into a nasty argument, Julia gave Emily’s blanket another adjustment and caught onto Russ’s arm so she could lead him out of the room.

Zoey was there, apparently waiting for an update, but it would have to wait. “Could you excuse us?” Julia asked her, then waited until Zoey was in her room before she continued.

“What makes you think you’d be a good father?” Julia demanded.

“Maybe the same thing that makes you think you’d be a good mother,” he countered. “I love Emily. It doesn’t matter that I just saw her for the first time, I love her.”

“And I don’t suppose it matters that the dangerous elements of your job could follow you from undercover work to a desk?”

“The FBI makes it a priority to protect the families of their agents.”

She was about to launch into the next wave of the argument, but he lifted his hand in a stop-right-there gesture. “Look, this isn’t a good time to go at each other about custody. We can work that out later.”

“Can we?” she snapped.

“We can,” he calmly assured her. Russ glanced around the room, and his attention landed on the minibar. Next to it was the small microwave she’d had brought in so she could heat up Emily’s formula.

“Do you have any hard liquor?” Russ asked.

Julia was still in a fit of temper, and that trivial-sounding question didn’t help. “Help yourself.”

“It’s not for me. It’s for you.” He went to the bar, selected a bottle of bourbon and poured some into a glass. He brought it back to her and motioned for her to sit on the sofa.

Because Julia’s legs were still wobbly, she did. She also took the drink and had a sip, despite the fact that she hated bourbon. As expected, it watered her eyes.

Russ eased down on the sofa next to her. Not on the other side. But practically hip-to-hip with her. So close that she could see the trouble brewing in his eyes.

“This drink is to help pave the way for what you need to tell me,” she said.

He nodded and combed his gaze over her. “I’m physically attracted to you. That’ll be a problem—”

“What?” The remark was such a surprise that it took her a moment to continue. “This is what you needed to tell me?”

“No. It’s just FYI. I keep thinking about your lace panties. I keep thinking about kissing you. That’ll be a problem because I’m a guy, and in my mind, that attraction will get all screwed up, and I’ll have this overwhelming need to protect you. I can’t have that now, because there’s someone else I have to think about.”

Julia had another sip of the bourbon and was disgusted that she needed it. “Am I supposed to understand that?”

“Yeah. Because I’m pretty sure you’re attracted to me, too.”

She tried to deny it. Tried hard. But the lie wouldn’t make it past her throat. “I won’t get involved with you.” No lie there. It was the truth. Julia didn’t get involved with anyone—ever.

“Good.” He didn’t seem insulted. More like relieved. “Because I need to ask you to do something, and I don’t want sex, lace panties or attraction to have any part in your answer.”

She stared at him. “You’re not making sense.”

“I will, soon.” He took the drink from her and finished it. “Milo, the gunman from the alley, contacted my partner to set up another meeting.”

“Good.” She nodded. “You said the meeting was important.”

“It’s more than important. And Milo won’t go through with it unless I bring you with me.”

Julia felt her heart skip a very big beat. “W-what?”

“Normally, I wouldn’t have even considered it, but the stakes are astronomical. Besides, if I don’t bring you, Milo will be even more suspicious. He might panic and do something stupid. Something that could set things back worse than they already are.”

Oh, God. Julia wished she’d finished that drink after all. Her heart started racing. She could feel the adrenaline flash through her. The anxiety hit her like a ton of bricks. She was racing toward a full-blown panic attack.

“Just take a deep breath,” Russ said, as if knew exactly what she was experiencing. He caught onto her chin. “Don’t make me put my hand up your dress again.”

“What?” She pushed him away from her.

“That’s right. Get mad. Slap me if it’ll help. Hell, kiss me. Do whatever you need to do to stop that response. It’s old garbage, and you’re stronger than you think, Julia. I watched you in that alley, and if I thought for one minute that you couldn’t handle this, I wouldn’t be asking.”

She blinked. No one had ever accused her of being strong. And much to her surprise, it worked. She felt her heart rate ease back to normal.

“That’s good,” Russ mumbled. “And for the record, I’ve never threatened to put my hand up a woman’s dress before. Well, not unless it involved mutual foreplay.”

A nervous laugh escaped before she could stop it. But she had nothing to laugh about. Nothing. Russ had just told her he wanted her to meet with a dangerous criminal.

“What’s at stake at this meeting?” she asked.

He met her eye to eye before he answered. “A baby’s life.”

Russ said it so softly that it took a moment to sink in. Julia gasped. “A baby?”

He nodded. “A child just a little older than Emily.” Russ took a deep breath. “I’m at the tail end of an investigation. Milo thinks I’m a black-market baby buyer, and that my client is someone rich, but who doesn’t have the credentials or the background for a legal adoption. Milo’s boss is the seller, a man whose identity I need to know so I can stop him from doing this again. Or it’s entirely possible that Milo is working alone. Either way, he has the baby.”

“Then why not just arrest Milo and make him tell you where the baby is?”

“Because he’ll just deny it. And if he’s put in jail, he’ll have his hired guns take the baby, go in to deep hiding, and we’ll never see the child again.”

She touched her fingers to her lips to stop them from trembling. “Where did they get the baby?”

“They stole him from his parents, Aaron and Tracy Richardson. And they left a note, warning the parents not to go to the authorities or the baby would be harmed. Thankfully, the Richardsons called the cops and the FBI anyway, because we learned that Milo or his boss intended to sell the child all along—probably by pitting the buyer he thinks he has waiting against what the parents will shell out. The baby will go to whoever pays the most.”

Julia hadn’t thought this day could get any worse, but she’d obviously been wrong. “My God.”

“Yes, I’ve been saying that a lot lately myself. People are messed up, Julia, and they do disgusting things. If I don’t complete this sale and get the baby, then Milo will find another buyer, and the little boy will end up being sold. Maybe he’ll get lucky and get good parents. Maybe he won’t. We know from past deals that Milo has been very careful about the buyers he chooses.”

Julia didn’t feel a panic attack, but her heart broke at the thought of an innocent child being bought and sold. “And if I don’t go …”

“The meeting won’t happen.” He lifted his shoulder. “Not unless I can somehow reason with Milo.”

She’d already seen him fail to do that in the alley, when Milo had cancelled the meeting. A cancellation that’d happened because she was there. If she hadn’t chosen this night to approach Russ about Emily, then the stolen baby might have been rescued and on the way back to his parents.

“How safe will this meeting be?” she asked.

Russ took a deep breath. “We can set up security in the area to take out any of Milo’s men if they make a wrong move. I don’t think they will. This is about the money. Milo wants the huge middleman fee, and I think he’ll play nice to get his hands on the cash.”

Julia stayed quiet a moment and gave that some thought. “And what would I have to do?”

“Maybe just stand there and look beautiful. Which won’t be a stretch,” he added, in a mumble.

She hated that she felt flattered with that ill-timed compliment. “Then why does Milo want me there if I’m just to be your arm dressing?”

Now it was Russ’s turn to have a few moments of silent thought. “Could be several possibilities. He might already know you’re a rich heiress. He might think you’re the actual buyer instead of Silas Duran, the agent we have in place for that. Or he might just want you there because he believes it’ll be safer for him.”

“Safer how?”

“If Milo suspects this is a sting operation, then he could see you as a shield of sorts. The FBI wouldn’t go in with guns blazing if you’re in the line of fire.”

“This is a lot to put on you,” Russ continued. “I’ll understand if you say no.”

If she said no, Julia couldn’t live with herself, but if she said yes, she might not make it through the meeting without a panic attack. Still, she would be there. She would fulfill Milo’s demand, and if she had an attack, so what? It would be humiliating for her, but it might speed things along with Milo. Besides, there really wasn’t a choice here. Julia knew what had to happen.

“I’ll do it,” she heard herself say. “Just tell me where I have to go and what I have to do.”

Russ didn’t seem surprised that she agreed. He simply nodded and gave her another of those arm rubs.

“We’ll know the details of the meeting in the morning,” Russ explained. “For tonight, there’ll be an agent outside your room. I won’t leave until he arrives.”

“Where’s the stolen baby right now?”

Russ shrugged. “We don’t know. But I’m sure he’s fine. The deal is to deliver a healthy baby boy to the buyer.”

That was something at least.

Julia heard the soft sound. It was barely audible, but it got her to her feet so she could go to the bedroom. Emily was stirring in her crib.

Russ got up, too, and followed her. “She’s awake.”

When Julia reached the crib, she saw those big brown eyes staring up at her. The baby looked first at Julia, then at Russ.

“Hi, princess,” Russ said, before Julia could say anything.

But he didn’t stop with just a greeting. Russ reached down into the crib and picked her up. He didn’t hesitate, and he didn’t say something clichéd about being afraid she’d break. He eased Emily right into his arms, cradling her protectively against him, and he rocked her as if he’d done this a thousand times.

“What?” he said, defensively, when he glanced at Julia, who was staring at him.

She had several questions she was trying to ask at once. “Do you have children of your own?”

“No. And I’m not married, either. Never have been. But I love kids. Always have.”

Obviously. “This isn’t your first time holding a baby, is it?”

“Hardly. Most of my coworkers and friends have kids. I’m godfather to three of them. All boys.” He leaned down and gently kissed Emily’s forehead. “What about you? Do you have much experience with kids?”

“Plenty,” she lied. Truth was, Emily was the first and only baby she’d ever held.

He chuckled when Emily puckered her lips. “I rescued a little boy not much older than her just three months ago, and I held him for hours before we could get him back to his parents. He was a cute kid all right, but nothing like the little angel here.”

Rescued? So, the stolen baby wasn’t his first. She supposed that made Russ a hero of sorts. And he certainly seemed to be a natural with Emily.

My God. She could actually lose custody of Emily to him. Yes, she had more money than Russ. Well, maybe. But she had also been in therapy for twelve years. She had panic attacks. And the final blow—Lissa hadn’t asked her to raise Emily. She’d wanted Julia to merely be the locator, and Lissa had murmured that dying wish in front of several members of the medical staff and a cop.

None of that would be in Julia’s favor.

Still, she had to fight; and her first step was to put some distance between Russ and her. Between Russ and Emily. Out of sight, out of mind might help him realize that he didn’t want to give up his undercover life after all.

“You’re breathing fast again,” Russ pointed out. But he didn’t look at Julia when he spoke. He kept his attention on Emily and made cooing sounds.

Cooing!

“I was thinking about Lissa,” Julia mumbled, and forced herself to breathe normally.

“You were close to her?” He didn’t wait for an answer, as he announced “The angel just smiled.”

Julia looked at the baby, who did indeed seem to have the right corner of her mouth lifted into a pseudo-smile. Her first. And she’d smiled for Russ, not for her.

“Lissa and I weren’t close,” Julia admitted. “But we used to be.”

“Before the attack,” Russ added when she didn’t say more.

A cooing hero with ESP. Great. This wouldn’t be a custody battle, it would be a custody war.

“Yes,” she finally answered. “It was Lissa who set me up with the guy who stabbed me. He was a friend of hers.” A friend from the wrong side of town, her parents had said. Lissa had been from the wrong part, too. That’s what had drawn Julia to her. And look how that had turned out.

Russ pulled his attention from Emily and looked at her. “You blame Lissa for what happened to you?”

“No. But she blamed herself. We weren’t close after that, and I was too broken to try to mend things between us.” Uncomfortable with yet another personal wound that she hadn’t intended to reveal, she reached out and took Emily. “It’s probably time for a diaper change.”

Now, that should send Russ running, Julia thought. But it didn’t. “I can do it,” he said, when Julia placed the baby in the crib. “With my godsons, diapering can be a challenge. I’ve gotten hosed down more than once.”

He reached into the bag next to the crib and pulled out the wipes and a diaper, but he had barely gotten started when his phone rang. The sound shot through the room and startled Emily. Julia picked her up again before she could break into a full-fledged cry.