“Not if I can help it,” Joanna said. “It’ll be tough enough living down the fact that his mother was a murderer who committed suicide. As far as Nathan is concerned, Denny Adams is his only father. They’ll both be better off if we can leave it that way.”
Butch nodded thoughtfully. “What about the other little girl?”
“Cecilia?”
Butch nodded again.
“I’ve been thinking about her. For one thing, we’ve got Pam Davis and Carmen Ortega’s film. I’m hoping that’ll be enough to get the Mojave County sheriff off the dime.
And Andrea Mossman told me she has at least one undercover contact inside the Lassiter compound. One way or another, we’ll get that little girl out of there and pack Harold Lassiter off to the slammer. Cecilia’s only twelve, for God’s sake, Butch. She’s a whole year younger than Jenny.”
347
“Supposing you do rescue her from that situation, what will happen to her then?”
Joanna sighed. “I’m not sure. Child Protective Services will have to be called into play. I would imagine her mother is still in Mexico. The problem is, her mother is also hooked in with The Brethren.”
“If you send her back home, she might be going from the frying pan into the fire.”
“Exactly,” Joanna said.
“So what are you going to do?”
“Talk to Andrea Mossman, and to Edith. Cecilia is Edith’s granddaughter. And she’s Andrea’s half sister. They may be able to work with GPS and establish some kind of custody arrangement. That’s probably about the best we can hope for.”
Butch yawned and looked at his watch. “Wrong,” he said. “The best we can hope for is an hour or two of sleep. Come on. We’ve got to go to bed now. You’ve done all you can for one day.”
Joanna persuaded Lady out of her lap, then the two of them followed Butch into the bedroom. Butch was asleep again within minutes. So was Joanna. It seemed like only minutes later when he was shaking her awake. “Rise and shine or rise and barf,” he said. “It’s late. We’re due at Dr. Lee’s office in half an hour.”
Joanna looked at the clock and was astonished to see that it said nine-thirty. “I’m late for work,” she objected.
“No, you’re not. I called Frank and told him you’d be in after your doctor’s appointment.
I know you. If I let you go into the office for even a minute, you’ll forget.”
Joanna would have argued with him about that, but there wasn’t time. She had to race for the bathroom.
An hour later, with the physical part of the prenatal exam 348
behind her, Joanna-now fully dressed-and Butch sat in Dr. Thomas Lee’s office in the clinic portion of the Copper Queen Hospital. Dr. Lee frowned in concentration as he consulted a calendar.
“From the date of your last period, I’d estimate your due date to be March 7. Of course, human pregnancy isn’t an exact science,” he added. “I can tell you the due date but the baby will arrive when it’s ready-before or after, depending. Are you going to want to know in advance whether it’s a boy or a girl?”
“Yes,” Butch said at the same time Joanna was shaking her head no.
Dr. Lee laughed. “Welcome to parenthood,” he said. “This is only the first of many things the two of you will need to discuss and decide on. Let me know next month, when you come in for your next appointment.”
“What about morning sickness?” Butch asked.
“What about it?” Dr. Lee replied.
“Is there something she can take … ?”
“Never mind,” Joanna put in quickly. “It’s not that bad, and it’ll probably go away in a few more weeks. It did last time.”
Dr. Lee nodded. “If you can tough it out without taking medication, it’s usually better for the baby. There can be side effects, you see …”
“I know,” Joanna said. “I’ll be fine.”
For the next several minutes, Dr. Lee went over a list of general dos and don’ts.
Finally he looked at Butch. “This is your first?”
Butch nodded.
“If you plan to be in the delivery room with her, you’ll both need to sign up for a Lamaze class.”
Butch looked at Joanna. “Is that what you want?”
349
“Of course it’s what I want, silly. If you think I’m going through that all on my own, you’re nuts.”
“All right, then,” Butch said. “Tell me where and when to sign up and I’m there.”
It was close to noon by the time they finished up with Dr. Lee, so they stopped by Daisy’s for lunch. Wednesday was Cornish pasty day, and Butch and Joanna split one of Daisy’s massive, plate-sized meat pies.
“You’re sure you don’t want to know the sex in advance?” Butch asked.
