Breath of Scandal(56)

Jade pausea on the threshold and tried to puzzle through what the packed suitcase implied. Velta's stare was stony and defiant. The man's eyes were shifty and wouldn't meet Jade's. She wanted to demand an explanation, but maternal instincts won out. Dropping her handbag on the bed, she moved to the crib and lifted the crying baby into her arms.

She cuddled Graham against her chest. "Shh, darling. What's wrong? Mornmy's here now. Everything's okay." She rocked him until he stopped crying, then addressed her mother. "What is he doing here?"

The man's name was Harvey something, or something Harvey. Jade couldn't remember. She had intentionally blocked it from her mind after ripping up his business card and hurling the pieces at his face. She had insisted that if he didn't leave the maternity ward voluntarily, she would have him evicted. Although he presented himself as the founder and director of a private adoption agency, Jade had a different interpretation of his career. He was to an adoption agency what a drug dealer is to a pharmacist.

Harvey had been Velta's find. She had told Jade that he was the answer to all their problems-namely, Jade's illegitimate child. Without consulting Jade, Velta had brought him to the hospital the day after Graham was born. Harvey had offered her several thousand dollars for her baby boy.

"A white, male newborn without any defects brings the highest price in the business," he had said.



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Sandra Brown



Breath of Scandal



157



That's when Jade had raised a hue and cry that had disturbed other patients and alerted the nursing staff.

Jade clutched Graham tighter now as she glared at her mother. "I told you long before Graham was born that I would never put him up for adoption. I repeated it after he was born. I meant it then, and I certainly mean it now. Ask your friend to leave, or I'll call the police."

"Harvey isn't here on account of you or your baby," Velta said.

Jade divided a wary glance between them. "Then what's he doing here? How did he know where to find us?"

"I called him last night and told him where we were." "Why?"

Graham was beginning to wriggle within her tight embrace, but she didn't relax it. Despite what her mother had said, Jade was afraid she might snatch the child away from her. Unfortunately, their troubles hadn't drawn her and her mother any closer together. Over the last year, their tenuous relationship had steadily deteriorated. Jade's preoccupation with getting an education annoyed Velta. In her opinion, the solution to an illegitimate baby was a husband.

"Let's go back to Palmetto, Jade," she had suggested one day in early summer, when temperaments were as turbulent as the sultry weather. "At least there we would be outcasts in familiar surroundings. If you'd act halfway decent to them, I'm sure you could get one of those three boys to claim Graham and many you."

Jade had almost struck her. "Preferably Neal Patchett?" "Well, living in that fancy house of his would be a world better than this dump!" Velta had cried, flinging her arms wide to encompass their shabby apartment in Savannah. "It wouldn't have happened in the first place if you'd been nicer to him."

Jade had picked up Graham, run outside, and hadn't come back until the thunderstorm broke. Velta never brought up returning to Palmetto again, so Jade assumed she had finally given up on the idea. Apparently she had, but had formed another plan that somehow involved Harvey.

"You still haven't told me what he's doing here," Jade said.

"Ever since that day at the hospital, Harvey and I have been seeing each other on a regular basis. Secretly, of course. "

Jade hugged Graham even tighter. Had they cooked up a scheme to have Graham taken away from her? Would they try to have her declared an unfit mother? She would not let that happen. No one was ever going to take her child from her.

"Harvey had the decency to overlook your rudeness," Velta said. "Remembering the scene you caused in the hospital, I can't imagine why he's being so forgiving, except that he's got a good heart." Velta turned to the man and smiled. "Anyway, I could see when we got here yesterday that you fell in love with this place. Regardless of what I want, you're danmed and determined to go to school here. So, last night when you went to get the hamburgers, I called Harvey in Savannah and accepted his proposal."

Shocked, Jade echoed, "His proposal? You mean a marriage proposal?"

"That's right," Velta replied defiantly. "We were waiting for you to get back so we could leave."

Jade gaped at them incredulously, then burst into laughter. "Marna, you can't be serious! You're actually eloping with this character? Tell me this is a joke."

"It's no joke, I assure you. Harvey cleared my things out of the apartment in Savannah and brought them with him. Whatever is left, you can have. Come on, Harvey. We've waited long enough."

Harvey, who hadn't said a word, picked up the suitcase and turned toward the door. Velta followed.

"Mama, wait!" Jade put Graham back in his crib and ran after her mother, catching up with her at the side of a gray sedan.

"Are you out of your mind?" Jade asked. "You can't just run off like this."

"I'm an adult. I can do whatever I want to."