Chapter Six – Rex

Where was she?

Rex walked to the window yet again, looking out at the street below. There was no sign of Mindy’s car. Just as there hadn’t been for the past three hours. At first, he thought that she must be held up in the interview or in traffic. He had even considered the possibility that she had accepted the job and was getting a tour of the facilities. But after the first hour passed, he began to worry.

If it had merely been something that held her up, she’d have texted by now, wouldn’t she?

Ginny gurgled. She was lying on a blanket on the floor with her toys spread around her. Rex left the window and came back to sit next to her. She gave him a grin as she lifted her head and he couldn’t help but smile back.

“Mommy will be home soon,” he assured himself.

Then, when the butterflies refused to calm down in his stomach, he grabbed his phone and checked it again. No messages. No calls. The sound was turned up high.

Maybe he should have double checked when he gave her his number, to make sure that it was saved in her phone properly. He should have asked her to give him her number, too . . . It hadn’t occurred to him that he might need to get hold of her, just the other way around. He kept staring at the screen while Ginny babbled. He pushed one of her toys closer, then set the phone down.

It was going to be fine. She was just held up by something. And that something wasn’t going to be some horrible event. Most likely she was still being shown around the facility, or she was filling out paperwork or something. She had simply lost track of time.

Try as he might, though, his mind kept going back to the worst possible scenario. He couldn’t forget what she had said, about Ginny being better off without her. She wouldn’t have done anything, would she? She wouldn’t have abandoned her, or hurt herself . . . right? Better off without me. What was he going to do if the worst possible scenario became a reality? What would he do if Mindy never came back?

“Right.” Rex carefully picked up the baby, cradling her in the crook of his arm. Sitting around waiting wasn’t going to help anybody. Plus, he needed to come up with a plan.

Ginny was a bear. One day she’d shift, and when Mindy came home, he needed to have a plan to tell her about that. She needed to know about her daughter’s heritage.

The problem was, though, that there were certain rules about human-bear couplings, and he had unfortunately ignored them when he slept with Mindy. By all rights, he should not have had a child with her, certainly not before she was accepted onto the island and knew that bear shifters existed. This wasn’t going to affect just him, and so he swiped through the contacts on his phone and called Noel at the alphas’ landline.

Ginny stuck two fingers in her mouth and started wriggling around, turning her face towards him. She was getting hungry, apparently. Rex got to his feet, pinching the cellphone between his ear and his shoulder, while he grabbed the diaper bag. The phone ringed several times.

Relief flooded him as the phone clicked, indicating it was answered. That relief disappeared instantly the moment he heard the voice on the other end. Tyrell Jarvis. His muscles tensed and his bear snarled.

“What are you doing at the alphas’ house, Jarvis?” he snapped, making Ginny jump in his arms. He flinched and adjusted her. Her little body remained tense, though. “I need to talk with Noel.”

“The alphas are busy at the moment.” Jarvis’ voice had that infuriatingly calm tone that it always seemed to have. That sort of I’m better than you because I can keep my cool while you go flying off the handle type of calm. “What do you need help with?”

Rex almost hung up right away, not about to share his problems with Jarvis. He stopped, though, thinking hard. Jarvis was a dad. He had two kids, he might be able to help him out.

On the other hand, Jarvis was just the type of guy who, on hearing this story, would call the law down on them. Especially if Rex let it slip that Mindy wasn’t back when she ought to be. After all, Jarvis didn’t think Rex should be allowed around his own niece for any length of time. He’d probably assume that Rex was bathing Ginny in toilet water or something.

In any case, with his bear huffing and slapping against his chest, Rex decided that it would be best if he didn’t tell Jarvis anything.

“Rex? You got a message for the alphas?”

“No. I’ll call back later.”

“Rex—”

Ginny whimpered. Rex quickly ended the call, before Jarvis could hear anything else. He checked to make sure that Mindy hadn’t called, then dropped the phone on the counter as he started pulling out everything from the diaper bag, looking for the bottle and formula.

I’m no good for this, he thought, his heart sinking. If Mindy has left . . . if she doesn’t plan on coming back, what am I going to do? I can’t raise a child!

He gazed down at his little daughter, who was squirming again with a pained expression. Tears unexpectedly burned in his eyes. If Mindy was gone, he’d have to give the baby up. For her own good. He was no good to be a father, he couldn’t even be an uncle!

Ginny let out a cry, and then a stink filled the room. Rex could feel her diaper filling like an explosion was coming out of her tiny body. At the same time, Ginny’s mouth opened, and a mouthful of half-digested milk came out of it. It splashed over him, smelling of sour milk, and Rex froze. Ginny started to wave her fists in the air and cried.

“Shhhh.” He tried to soothe her as he grabbed the diaper bag again. Her poop was so runny and had come out with such force that it had gone up her back and was leaking through her onesie. Panic beat at his chest—was she sick? He cleaned her up quickly, using the shower at a low setting with warm water to rinse everything off her small body before he dried her off and dressed her again.

Was she a little warm? Did she have a fever?

Rex held her close to his chest as he slung the diaper bag over his shoulder. He couldn’t take the risk. If she was sick, it could be something serious.

He didn’t even think about writing a note as he left the apartment.

***

The ER room wasn’t as busy as Rex had expected. By the time they got there, Ginny had stopped crying. She napped in his arms as he sat, waiting for a doctor to come see them. The pounding of his heart had calmed and returned to a normal pace. Part of him felt embarrassed about panicking so easily, but he wasn’t going back until he knew for certain that Ginny was okay.

When the doctor finally came, and Rex explained what had happened, Ginny woke up. She smiled and kicked her legs as the doctor checked her. Touching her cheek, Rex thought she still felt just a little bit warm.

“How long have these symptoms been showing?” the doctor asked.

“Uh . . . just today, I think . . . I only got her yesterday.” Rex rubbed his forehead, his bear pacing and growling again. Ginny hadn’t seemed sick yesterday, and she had been fine earlier today.

The doctor hummed and glanced up at him with a smile. “First time father?”

“Yeah . . .”

The doctor chuckled and pulled Ginny’s PJs shut. “Well, she seems to be perfectly healthy. Her temperature is good, and she’s very smiley which is always good. I’d keep an eye on her to make sure that she doesn’t have any more instances, but it was probably just a one-off thing. You’ll want to watch for dehydration. If she’s acting sluggish or doesn’t get very many wet diapers . . . I’ll print off some things for you to look for.”

Rex nodded. He found his hands shaking slightly as relief washed over him. “But she’s okay?”

“Yes. You’re doing an excellent job.” The doctor patted his arm. “You said that you just got her yesterday. Do you mind telling me what you meant?”

“Her mom . . . we were together a year ago.” No point in telling the doctor all the dirty details. “She tracked me down yesterday. I didn’t even know . . .”

“I see.” The doctor nodded. “Well, you don’t have to worry quite so much. There are a lot of community resources, I’ll get you a list of those, too. But you’ll be fine, Mr. Tesla. Your little girl is healthy and bright. Just keep an eye on things, but I’m sure she’ll be fine. I’ll get you a number you can call for any further concerns you may have.”

Rex nodded his thanks and gathered Ginny back up into his arms. The doctor left briefly and returned with several papers containing the information that she had promised him. Slowly, the restless pacing of his bear eased.

He cradled Ginny in his arms and headed back home. She felt a lot heavier walking back to the apartment than she had when he had been running to the hospital—he didn’t have a car seat so he couldn’t drive—and his mind turned to Mindy. He wouldn’t have panicked so badly if she had just called him!

Just as he thought this, his phone rang.

“Where on earth are you?”

The instant relief at hearing Mindy’s voice quickly dissolved into anger, especially considering that she started screaming at him.

“Where have you taken my daughter?” Mindy howled, so loud over the phone that Ginny jumped and started to cry. “You have no right to take her away without telling me, bring her back right now!”

“I didn’t have your number.” The stress and worry from the hours of silence crashed down on him, making his voice come out far angrier than he had intended. “And you don’t damn well have a leg to stand on, yelling at me when you should have been back three hours ago! Couldn’t you have—” He choked back his words. Ginny was screaming, upset with the noise, and people were staring. “We can talk when I’m back.”

He hung up at once and adjusted Ginny, putting her on his shoulder so he could pat her back. Frustrations mounted inside of him, but he fought them down, concentrating on calming his daughter. He took a longer route home, skirting around a small park where he finally got Ginny settled. Her crying had taken it out of her, and by the time he got back to the apartment, she was sleeping.

Rex didn’t look at Mindy as he took Ginny to the bedroom and put her in a nest on the bed, making sure things were propped up properly so she would neither roll off the bed nor be smothered.

When he went into the living room, an accusing shout was already on his lips. It died there, though, when he looked at Mindy.

She sat on the couch, eyes red, nose running. A large bruise was rising up on her cheek, and her lower lip was split. She clutched a bag of peas to her wrist, and he saw welts rising on her other arm. Every accusation and curse he had been ready to fling at her evaporated.

His bear snarled, smashing into his ribs. He had to fight off the urge to shift right there. He wanted to find whoever had hurt her and rip them to shreds, but he wasn’t even certain someone had hurt her. Maybe she had been in an accident or something. Every urge in his body told him to pull her into his arms, hold her tightly and shield her from the world. When he stepped forward, though, she flinched, and he moved back again.

Dropping to one knee, Rex looked her in the eye. “What happened?”

Tears streamed down her face. With a cry, she threw herself at him. She clung to him, her body shaking. Rex held her as tightly as he dared. He wanted to reassure her, to tell her nobody would hurt her again. To apologize for every fear he’d had about her abandoning her daughter. His voice wouldn’t work, though, and all he could do was hold her. His bear grunted, annoyed with the lack of action he was taking, but he pushed that aside.

“What happened?” he asked softly when her tears started to ease.

Mindy shivered. “I owe someone money.”

She told him everything about the loan shark. How she had ended up in debt to him in the first place, and the two years of misery that had followed. Today, after her interview he had cornered her and told her he didn’t think she was taking her debt seriously enough. He tried to take her car. When she refused to give it up, he had slapped her around.

“He pinned me to the car and told me that he didn’t like my attitude. Said that he was doing me a favor by taking the car. I told him that I needed it for work . . . He said I’d better find a different mode of transportation and took it.” Mindy buried her face into his chest. “I don’t know what he’ll do next, Rex. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put this all on you. I just . . . I don’t know what else to do.”

Rex smoothed her hair back and kissed her forehead gently. “You don’t have to do anything. I’ll take care of this, Mindy. You don’t have to be afraid, I’ll protect you. I promise.”

Mindy pulled back, her eyes wide as she looked up at him. “Really?”

Rex stared back, not understanding why she looked so startled.

“You’d do that . . . when you don’t even know me? You don’t even know if I’m telling the truth!”

His bear grunted, and he pulled her closer. “I know enough. I know you need help, and I will not allow this man to terrorize you any longer.”

He kissed her, gently, mindful of her injuries. And Mindy grabbed him by the neck and brought him back down for a deep, passionate kiss with tangled tongues and desperation behind each movement. Rex couldn’t resist the wave of passion that came over him and sank into her embrace.