Page 37 of Laying His Claim
Slowly Jalissa sat up, her head in a wreath of clouds. Why was she in her bed?
“Wakeup!”he insisted.
She frowned. It wasn’t like him to shout, especially not at her. She looked at the window and realized to her surprise that the sun was on the other side of the house. Half the day was gone.
“What?” she asked blearily.
“Where’s Seb, Jalissa? Where’s our son?”
Invoking that precious name was all it took to snap her out of her puzzled daze. “What do you mean?”
“What do Imean?”he roared. “What’s going on? Where is our child?”
Jalissa threw her legs over the side of the bed and stood, only to discover to her horror that the carpet was soaked with chilly water. Cold fear began to grip her heart.
Instinct had her running for the nursery, with Justin keeping pace. With every step found herself in ankle deep in freezing cold water. Seb’s nursery was a disaster. The water was deeper there, and everything floated: his toys, his books, even the business documents that Justin had forgotten on the floor this morning. Jalissa practically threw herself into the bathroom, choking on her fear. The bathtub was full to overflowing but, mercifully, there was no child in it.
“I turned it off,” he snarled, “since you didn’t seem to have the time to bother.”
She was aghast at the accusation. “Do you think I that I left it on?”
“I don’t have time for this discussion,” he snapped. “We need to find Seb.”
The next ten minutes were filled with sheer terror, as they raced from room to room, searching under beds, within closets, even out in the garden. By the time they returned to the house to repeat the same futile search, Jalissa was in tears.
“If something’s happened to him–” Justin began. His face was a thundercloud, and his anger rolled toward her like black smoke, making her shudder.
Jalissa never found out what he was about to threaten, because the front door opened and in sailed Lorena with Sebastian in her arms, saying in a cheerful, sing-song voice, “We’re baaack!”
Both parents rushed to the nanny’s side, but it was Jalissa who snatched her son from Lorena’s arms, clutching him against her breast, gasping with sobs of relief. Lorena proceeded toward the nursery, mouth agape. “What happened here? There’s been a flood!” She turned to Jalissa. “Did you leave the bath on again?”
“What do you mean, ‘again’?” Jalissa gasped.
Lorena looked at Justin regretfully. “I didn’t want to say anything, because I didn’t want Jalissa to feel bad. But I caught it just in time once or twice.” Then she addressed Jalissa, her voice dripping honey. “I know it’s hard for you to stay focused sometimes, Dear, because of your… injuries.”
The gall of this woman!
Justin looked from Lorena to Jalissa, frowning. “Why did you take Sebastian? Where did you take him?” he demanded.
Lorena looked at Jalissa, puzzled. “Jalissa asked me to take him to the park, so she could get some rest—”
“I never!”
“Don’t you remember?” Lorena placed a compassionate hand on Jalissa’s arm. “You said you couldn’t manage him and all his antics today, and that you needed a nap.”
Realization struck. “Nap? You drugged me! You put something in that juice you gave me!”
“What juice?” Lorena asked, her blue eyes as wide as they could possibly go.
Never had Jalissa wanted to slap someone more. She wondered if Old Jalissa was prone to brawling, among all her shortcomings, because if so she would welcome the chance to flatten that treacherous bitch where she stood.
Lorena kept laying it on, thick as butter. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay? Is it your,” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “head wound?”
“That’s it! Enough.” Jalissa turned to Justin, eyes pleading. “Justin, this woman has been campaigning against me from the get-go. She has been constantly trying to make me look crazy. Making it look like I would hurt Sebastian. I wouldneverhurt him!”
“That’s insane,” Lorena answered with deadly calm. “Why would I want to hurt you? I love Seb like he’s my own.”
“You’reinsane!” Jalissa shot back. She turned to face Justin, pressing Seb against her breast, who by now was aware of the tension in the room and was squirming. “Justin, you can choose to believe me, or you can choose to believe her. But you can’t believe us both. What’s it to be?”
