Borrowed Baby by Marie Ferrarella Page A

have you been?" he asked accusingly. "On a date?"
    Liz shivered and ran her hands up her bare arms. In her hurry, she had left her wrap at home. "Sort of," she tossed off absently. "Never mind that now, what's wrong with Casie?"
    "If I knew that," he retorted, glaring, "I wouldn't be taking her to the hospital."
    Rather than waste any more time talking to him, Liz elbowed Griff out of the way, opened the car door and leaned into the back seat where Casie sat strapped in and howling.
    "What's the matter, honey?" Liz cooed, feeling Casie's forehead. "She's hot."
    "I already know that. She's been crying like this since nine and she won't stop. I've changed her, tried to feed her, even sang to her and she just kept crying."
    Despite the urgency of the situation, Liz couldn't help reacting to what he told her. "You sang to her?" She couldn't picture it.
    "It worked last night," he snapped, cutting short any sort of comment she was going to make.
    Liz saw that Casie was rubbing her mouth. She was trying to shove her fist into it. But Griff said he had already fed her, so it wasn't hunger prompting Casie. More than likely, it could only be one thing.
    "Well, I'm afraid it's not going to help in this case, at least, not yet." Liz began to undo the car seat's restraining straps.
    "What are you doing?"
    "Taking her out." She pulled the baby out of the seat and began walking toward the house.
    It took a moment before he realized that she was doing exactly what she said. What was wrong with this woman? "I was going to take her to the hospital." Annoyed, he hurried after her.
    "I don't think you need to. I think she's just teething."
    "Teething?" he echoed. Was that what this was all about? All this noise over teeth? He eyed Liz suspiciously. "Are you sure?"
    She nodded. "She's about the right age for her first one. Open the door."
    He did. It struck him that Liz was taking a lot upon herself, but he was at his wits' end and the baby needed help. They would settle the issue of who was in charge here later.
    "Turn on the light and I'll show you." Once he switched it on, Liz turned the sobbing baby toward it. "I'm sure I'm right."
    She put her finger into the little girl's mouth and lightly felt around. She winced as she was rewarded in her search. Casie was biting down.
    "See, right there, on the bottom." As gently as she could, Liz pried the baby's mouth open just wide enough to inspect the tiny dot of white emerging on a field of pink. The area around it was swollen. "It's coming in right here."
    Griff stared incredulously. "She's making all that noise over a tooth?"
    "It hurts like hell, Foster," Liz informed him. She looked around. She remembered seeing a modestly stocked bar around somewhere this afternoon. "Got any whiskey around?"
    He stared at her. "Isn't this an odd time to ask for a drink?"
    "It's not for me, it's for Casie."
    He reacted immediately, taking the baby from her. "Are you crazy?" As far as he was concerned, it was a rhetorical question, but he didn't think she'd be this far off.
    The protective gesture he displayed might have been lost on him, but it wasn't on Liz. She tried not to smile. Whether or not he admitted it, he cared about
    Casie. "I don't suppose you have any Anbesol lying around?"
    "Any what?"
    "That's what I thought." Gently she took Casie back from him. "Anbesol is a topical anesthetic that numbs the swollen gum. Whiskey does the same thing. It's the best we can do until morning. Then you can go to the drugstore and get some Anbesol and one of those teethings rings filled with liquid." She saw the strange way he was looking at her. "You put that in the freezer. The frozen liquid soothes her gums when she bites down on it. Now move."
    He muttered under his breath as he went to the bar in the family room. Reaching under the counter, he took out an almost full bottle of whiskey. He had never thought in his wildest dreams when he purchased the bottle that it would be used to soothe a baby's sore