As she handed over the form, another form appeared beneath. “Those are your release forms, your instructions on self-care, and of course your hospital bill. Do you have insurance we can file?”
Jenna gulped. Lie number one. “No.”
“How do you plan to take of this? We take check or credit card, of course, and if need be, we can set up a payment plan.”
“Cash. I’ll pay cash.”
The woman pulled back, startled. “Cash?”
“Yes.” Accessing her bank accounts or using her credit cards would be too easy to trace. Until she and Sophie were established and on their own, she would not even consider such a thing. Maybe never. Cash was the only way.
Jenna reached for her handbag, aware of how out-of-place the designer crocodile looked in the hands of a woman without health insurance. As she withdrew the funds from her wallet, she had the absurd thought that Alice might think she’d stolen the bag, along with the money. What if she called the police?
Jenna’s hand trembled as she counted out the correct amount and handed it over. She could feel the woman’s curious stare and almost hear the wheels turning in her head.
When the last paper was signed and the woman left the room, Jenna felt light-headed with relief. Before putting her purse aside so she could hold Sophie again, she counted the remaining bills in her wallet. A quiver of worry drew her brows together. Never in her life had she needed to consider money. A Carrington simply grew up knowing there was plenty. Discussing personal finance was considered vulgar.
But she was no longer a Carrington. She was no longer one of Pennsylvania’s old money debutantes with an endless supply of cash and credit cards. She was a single mother alone, scared…and nearly broke.
A tangle of nerves and hormones and uncertainty gathered inside Jenna a short time later as she leafed through two newspapers, including a national one, and waited to be dismissed from the hospital.
After careful scrutiny of each page, she sat back against the scratchy chair and let some of her tension ebb away. There was no mention of a missing heiress. At least, not yet.
She flipped to the classifieds of the local paper, the Saddleback Sentinel, and scanned the help wanted ads. After a couple of minutes, her lips curved in wry humor. If she could run a drilling rig or drive an eighteen-wheel truck, she’d be in business before nightfall.
“Looking for anything in particular?”
At Crystal’s voice, Jenna jumped. The nurse stood in front of her with a wheelchair, smile curious.
The newspaper crinkled as Jenna refolded it and placed it on the nightstand. Part of her longed to confide in the friendly nurse and admit she needed a job. She opened her mouth to do just that but Sophie chose that moment to awake with a startled cry. All thought rushed to her baby.
“Is she all right?”
Crystal chuckled. “Yes, Jenna. She’s fine. Baby’s cry. Get used to it. Real used to it. I probably startled her with the noise of the wheelchair.”
“Oh.” Jenna fought down a blush and gingerly scooped her daughter from the Isolette. “Shh, darling, Mommy’s here.”
To her joy, Sophie stopped crying immediately. Her scrunched-up face relaxed as she blinked up at her mother. A swell of love ballooned in Jenna’s chest.
“You two ladies ready for your free ride in a wheelchair?”
“Can’t we walk?”
“Hospital regs, I’m afraid.” Crystal patted the black seat. “Hop aboard the Wolf Express for the only free thing in this hospital.”
With a smile at Crystal’s humor, Jenna complied, jittery to think that in a few minutes, she and Sophie would be alone and on their own. She’d known when she left the estate that this would happen, but she hadn’t expected it to happen quite so soon. She’d hoped to be settled somewhere before Sophie’s birth, to have the trunk full of layette items set up and ready for the baby’s homecoming. She’d even had fantasies of a job where she could keep Sophie with her. Instead, she was down to her last few dollars with nowhere to take her newborn daughter.
Crystal guided the wheelchair down the long, pristine hospital corridor and out the exit toward the parking lot.
“So what did Dax have on his mind?”
The question startled Jenna. She’d tried to put the rugged cowboy out of her thoughts. “I’m not sure.”
“What did he say?”
“He asked if Sophie and I were all right and then he left.”
Crystal chuckled. “He’s not a big talker.”
“I noticed.”
“Hunky, though, huh?”
“I suppose.” She really didn’t want to talk about the cowboy. “I think I scared him off.”