Page 90 of Justice Denied

“Hey, little lady.” He shifted the baby in his arms, tucking her in close to his chest. “You gave us a scare last night. Guess you wanted to be on the outside to see what all the fussing was about.”

Emily stood and pulled a walker forward. “I’m going to get a cup of coffee. You two need to sort out whatever”—she waved a hand in a circle—“this is, or I’m bringing back a knife to cut the tension.”

Seth cuddled the baby as Emily left the room. So it wasn’t him imagining things. Even Jetta’s mom could feel the tension between them. The silence built between them like a brick mason adding to a wall. He rocked the sleeping infant back and forth, wishing he knew the right words to say. The wall clock ticked off two minutes before he couldn’t stand it any longer and decided a softball question might loosen things between them. “Do you have a name picked out for her?”

“No.”

He snuck a glance at the bed, but Jetta had turned her head toward the window, away from him and her baby. Her stiff posture and crossed arms gave him scant hope things would thaw between them. Maybe talking about what he’d learned about the case might help. “I spoke with a detective after the ambulance left last night and gave them a description of the two men who grabbed us. They had the vehicle, which had been stolen. No surprise there.”

No reaction from Jetta.

He directed his words and attention to the baby cuddled in his arms. “The police called me while I was driving to the hospital to say they’d picked up the two men who’d taken us, along with the cop you said had put you in the vehicle.”

“Someone from the Loudoun County Police Department came by for my statement this morning.”

She’d spoken an entire sentence—that was encouraging. He had so much to tell her, but her withdrawn demeanor locked the words inside him.

A nurse came in into the room, glanced his way, then headed over to Jetta. “What do you need, Ms. Ainsley?”

Seth’s heart sank at the implication Jetta had pushed the call button rather than ask him for assistance.

“I’m very tired. Can my baby go back to the nursery for a while?”

The nurse nodded toward Seth, a smile tipping up the edges of her mouth. “Your husband seems to be handling baby just fine.”

The misunderstanding brought heat to his cheeks, and he dipped his head toward the infant, sensing now was not the time to let Jetta see how pleased he was to be mistaken for her spouse. Maybe one day…

“He’s not my husband.”

The harsh words doused his happy haze with the finesse of a bucket of ice water. He whipped his head up, but Jetta spoke to the blanket on her bed.Please, look at me.If she would only meet his gaze, he was sure they could figure this out, whatever this was, together.

“In fact, I don’t want him in my room or around my baby.”

Seth froze, shock at her blatant rejection turning him into a statute. He opened his mouth but couldn’t push any words past the lump blocking his throat. He wasn’t sure what he could say to that statement anyway.

The nurse frowned, her head swinging from Seth to Jetta. “Has he done something wrong?”

“No, I just don’t want him around.” Jetta hunched down in the bed, turning on her side away from Seth.

“Okay.” The nurse approached Seth, holding out her arms for the baby.

Seth didn’t try to fight it. Jetta had determined to shut him out, and he wouldn’t argue, not here in front of the nurse. Maybe later, when Jetta had regained her composure or had more time to think, she would realize her mistake and they could work through things.

For now, he dropped a kiss on the baby’s head much like he’d done with her mother last night. Then he carefully transferred the precious bundle to the nurse and hustled out of the room, tears dampening his cheeks before he’d taken more than two steps. At the elevator bank, he swiped at the moisture on his face before punching the down button with more force than necessary.

“Leaving so soon?”

The teasing note in Emily’s voice sliced into him, making the wound her daughter had inflicted bleed even more fiercely. Hurt once again clogged his throat, but this time, he got the words out. “Jetta told me she didn’t want me around, that I had to leave.”

“Oh, Seth. I’d so hoped…”

“Me too.” He couldn’t hear what Emily had hoped for him and Jetta, not when his heart resembled raw hamburger. The hurt mixed with anger, filling him with the driving need to pummel something until he could make sense of Jetta’s actions. Maybe someone would be up for sparring at the gym. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. “I’ve got to go.”

Without waiting for an answer, he slipped into the waiting car. Forty-five minutes later, he strapped on boxing gloves and stepped into the ring to meet his opponent, a muscular man nicknamed The Beast. He bumped gloves with The Beast, then took the first swing, connecting solidly with the man’s jaw.

As they traded punches with Clancy refereeing, Seth tried to give his anger and frustration over Jetta’s decision to excise him from her life to God. But the thought that wouldn’t leave him alone was an old friend, one who reminded him of the many times the women in his life had deserted him. First his grandmother kicked him and his mother out of her house, which exacerbated his mom’s downward spiral. Then his mom refused to work her plan to get him back. Now Jetta shut him out of her and her daughter’s life.

The Beast landed a vicious uppercut, sending Seth against the ropes with a split lip. He spat out the blood, then nodded to Clancy he would be returning to the fight. The older man shook his head as he allowed them to continue.

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