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dashed away
her tears.
    Looking up, Anna said in a
frantic whisper, “Take him and hide him. Hide him where they
can't find him.” Anna thrust her baby at Nicole. “Please,
take him and run!”
    “No! Are you crazy?”
Nicole barked. She tried to push the baby back, but Anna released
the infant and Nicole was forced to catch the baby in her arms.
    “What the hell are you
doing, Anna?” Nicole was growing alarmed. This wasn't the
Anna she knew. Anna Ward was a level-headed, even-tempered,
responsible woman. She held a respectable job, and never even had a
speeding ticket. She wasn't irrational and unhinged. Was she
suffering from some sort of psychosis?
    “Anna, get a hold of
yourself,” Nicole said sternly. “You're scaring the
baby.”
    Brendon had woken up and was
squirming and crying in her arms. Nicole looked down at the
red-faced infant and tried to shush him.
    “I have to go,”
Anna said, scrambling out of the booth.
    “Anna, sit down,”
Nicole ordered. “Your son wants you. Hold him, Anna. Come
on.”
    Anna shook her head and
backed away, covering her mouth with one hand. “I have to go,”
she sobbed. “Mommy loves you, Brendon. I love you so much.”
She looked up at Nicole. “Please, protect him. Keep him
safe. Let him live.” Her eyes lingered on the boy. “I
love you, son.”
    Nicole tried to stop her but
Anna bolted out of the diner and fled across the street, heedless to
the traffic. Nicole watched in horror as Anna narrowly avoided being
run down by a car and made it to the other side of the road. She
kept running like a madwoman, not stopping and not looking back.
    Nicole stared down at the
baby and huffed. “What's up with your mom?” The baby
fussed and made a sound of distress. “There, there. Don't
worry, buddy. I'll call her back in a few minutes after she's calmed
down. I don't know what's gotten into her, but I'll give her a good
talking-to.”
    Nicole rocked the baby until
he quietened down. Her frown deepened as she recalled Anna's strange
words and behavior. Anna had seemed more frightened than depressed.
Was she going to do something foolish?
    Nicole pulled out her phone
and dialed Anna's number. “Come on, Anna. Pick up the phone.
Your son needs you,” she hissed.
    But Anna wasn't picking up.
    Nicole weighed her options
and decided to wait at the diner for a while more. If Anna came back
and found her gone, she might start panicking again. Anna Ward
wasn't an irresponsible mother. She had just left her son with
Nicole and fled in a moment of insanity. Everyone was entitled to a
moment of madness once in a while.
    “She'll come back,”
Nicole muttered to the baby. “She will come back for you. She
loves you.”

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

    Luke went back to his
apartment to grab breakfast and shower. Nicole's scent lingered in
his bedroom and bathroom and he liked it. He liked it a lot.
    Whistling, he shaved,
showered and got ready for work. He gobbled down a bowl of oatmeal
and drove to the Black Bears headquarters in a very good mood.
    He was seeing Nicole again
tonight. Jade had answered his message almost immediately, adding
lots of smiley faces and hearts and kisses to her message. She was
excited to meet up with Nicole and she said she would call Prisha to
make a reservation at Curry Corner.
    Luke arrived at the office at
the same time as Dylan. His brother-in-law grinned at him and said,
“Big date tonight, eh?”
    Luke laughed. “It's
not a date. You and Jade are coming too, remember?”
    “Yeah. Jade is so
excited! She told me this morning that she used to babysit you and
Nicole when you guys were kids. It's always nice to meet up with an
old friend, but...Nicole is not just an old friend, is she?”
Dylan said shrewdly.
    “Nicole is...special,”
Luke answered carefully.
    “I bet she is.”
    Luke could feel Dylan's eyes
on him, and he knew that there was no hiding anything from Dylan.
Dylan Hart had been his mentor when he first joined the Black Bears
Group. Dylan