Mad About You

cleared her throat. "Then he came over, and when he told me they'd found Bailey, Jr."—her voice escalated—"I didn't know what to say." She offered him a watery smile, and his heart tripped. "Eight long years I've been waiting to hear those words, and I didn't know what to say."
    Bailey ground his teeth. He ought to have been there, if only to comfort Virginia as he should have eight years before. "I'm sorry, Ginny," he said, his pet name for her slipping out. "I'm so sorry." He slowed his step and reached for her hand to squeeze it.
    She stopped abruptly and stared at their hands. "Sorry?" Her forehead crumpled. "You're sorry they found our child?"
    Bailey searched for the right words. "No, I'm not sorry this nightmare is finally over. I'm just so sorry you had to hear the bad news alone."
    "Bad news?" Ginny looked confused for a few seconds, then her eyes rounded in astonishment. "Oh, Bailey, I... I mean, you... I thought you realized..."
    Now it was his turn to be confused. "Realized what?"
    "Bailey." She searched his eyes, her voice filled with wonder. "Our son is alive ."

Chapter Two

    BAILEY STOOK STOCK-STILL. His voice seemed paralyzed. He felt his mouth open and close, but no sound came out. Ginny's face faded in and out of focus, and for a few seconds he thought he might pass out. Her words were too incredible to be true. "What... how..." A passerby jostled his arm, startling him. The man apologized and kept moving.
    "I need to sit down," she said, her chin quavering. Bailey looked up and saw they were only a few steps from the coffee shop. He grabbed her hand and led her to the door. For a full minute she clasped his hand tightly, and Bailey felt a strange stirring in his midsection. Just like old times.
    They claimed a booth, sitting across from each other. He relinquished her hand reluctantly. Ginny sighed as she sank into the plush upholstery. She looked exhausted. Pink rings glowed around her eyes, nose, and lips. Bailey felt a rush of sympathy for her, but couldn't wait any longer for answers. "Ginny, what's going on?"
    She inhaled deeply, still clenching the shredded tissue in her hand. "Detective Lance received a call from Fort Lauderdale this morning. A woman there passed away a few weeks ago, and before she died, she told a nurse she'd taken her son from a grocery store in Columbus, Ohio, as an infant." Her voice choked, and she bit her bottom lip to steady herself.
    Bailey reached for her hand again, wanting to comfort her, but she pulled back and straightened her shoulders. "I'm all right," she said bluntly.
    I'm not. Let me touch you, let me share. He lowered his hands to grip the sides of the small table, but his equilibrium still seemed off. Ginny's lips moved slowly, and he concentrated fiercely on the words coming out.
    "After the woman died, the nurse reported the conversation to the authorities. When the Fort Lauderdale police could find no proof the woman had given birth, they ran a computer search on unsolved kidnappings. When they contacted the Columbus police, Detective Lance took over." She swallowed audibly. "He said he wanted to be sure before he got our hopes up, but apparently the boy's fingerprints match our son's, and the DNA sample they took at the time of the kidnapping is a match, too." Her voice turned squeaky on the last words, and she smiled tremulously at Bailey.
    Panic twisted in his gut, the one question he'd worn threadbare in his mind leaping out. "Was he... abused?"
    She shook her head vigorously. "No, thank God."
    He released a pent-up breath and dragged a hand over his face. After being emotionally detached from everything and everyone in his life for nearly a decade, the events of the past few minutes made him feel as if he'd been fileted, with his heart on display. "I can't believe it… I just can't believe it." He spread his hands, desperate for firm ground. "What happens next?"
    Her lips parted slightly. "What happens next?" Her voice was incredulous. She straightened, her back pressed against the bench seat. "I'm going to Florida to get my child. Mom and Dad are flying down with me tomorrow morning. I came to see if you wanted to go with us."
    His anger flared at her insinuation. Could she possibly think he wouldn't want to claim his son? "Of course I'm going," he blustered. "I'm his father. I didn't mean to sound as if ... oh, hell, I don't know what I meant." He leaned back into the cushion and glanced around the half-empty cafe. "This has thrown me for