The baby chose that moment to move against Paige, who drew the heavy corduroy aside.

Sami's eyes were closed. One small fist was by her mouth. Paige gently unfurled the tiny fingers and put her thumb inside. "This," she said with a sigh, "is the baby Mara was to have adopted. She arrived a few hours ago."

"The woman killed herself right before that?"

It didn't make sense to Paige, either. Then again she thought with great reluctance, maybe it did. Mara had been foster mother to five children over the years. Tanya John had been the latest. Taken from abusive parents, she had lived with Mara for nearly a year, during which Mara had believed she was happy, coming out of her shell, growing more confident.

Then, out of the blue, she'd run away. When found, she had been placed in another foster home. Mara had been heartsick.

Paige wondered if Tanya's running away had been such a blow to Mara's confidence that she had doubted her ability to mother Sami.

But you didn't say anything, Mara. Right up to the end, you talked with enthusiasm about adopting the baby. You went through all the preparatory work, bought everything you needed, decorated the baby's room. You were on the verge of bliss.

Could she have gotten cold feet? It didn't seem possible.

Wearily Paige said, "Something happened. I'm going to have to find out what."

"And the baby? What happens to her?"

"She's mine until better parents are found."

"Are you married?"

She looked him in the eye. "Nope."

"And you're a practicing pediatrician?"

She felt suddenly lightheaded. "Yup."

"What'll you do with her while you work?"

Her voice went higher. "Beats me."

"You must have plans."

"Actually"her lightheartedness rose to vague hysteria"this has all happened so fast, I haven't had time to make any."

He looked away in disgust. "You're some role model for these kids."

His eyes recaptured hers. "Do you always do things so haphazardly?"

"I never do things haphazardly," she cried.

"I didn't ask for this. It just happened. I lead an orderly life. I like leading an orderly life. But what was I supposed to do, send the baby ckr "Of course not, but you can't just haul her around wherever you go."

UWlly not?" Paige asked with a flash of belligerence.

"Because it isn't good for the kid, for one thing, and for another, it isn't appropriate.

If you're going to be coaching cross-country" "Then you do know who I am?"

"Damn right," he said. "It's my business to know. But I didn't know you had a baby, and now that I do I question the wisdom of your bringing her on campus. These kids have problems enough of their own.

They need the full attention of everyone who works with them."

"I can give them my full attention."

He sighed. "It's a matter of discipline, don't you see? For years life at Mount Court was totally unstructured. Classes were held some days and not others, attendance was rarely taken, curfews were ignored, dorm behavior was unruly. These kids know nothing about delayed gratification or, God forbid, abstention. What they want, they get.

What they can't have, they sneak. They were brought up that way, and the school did nothing to set them straight. So there have been scandals galore incidents of alcohol poisoning, drug abuse, near warfare with the towniesand I'm supposed to clean it all up."

He thrust a handful of fingers through his hair. "For that, I need to establish discipline. We're talking rules here."

Paige waited for him to go on.

He looked pained, almost uncomfortable with what he was saying, and for a minute she wondered if indeed there was kindness in the man. In the next breath he dashed the possibility. "Rules can't apply to some people and not others. People leave their children home when they come to work."

"I'm not here for work. I came to talk to the girls as a friend."

"Then when you come as their coach."

"That's not work, either," she argued because she believed she was in the right. "It's fun, which is why I do it gratis. I love being with these kids. I care for them. I would have thought that if you're in this field, you did, too, which is why I'm amazed you wouldn't let me talk with them tonight. They needed someone to ground their thinking.

They needed an adult.

Before I got here, they were working themselves into a frenzy, or doesn't that bother you? Are grades all that count? Are you simply here as a paper pusher?" ] He made a sound of disgust, cocked his hands on his hips, and looked out the window at the campus.

"The damn place is in ruins. Our endowment is next to nothing, we can barely make ends meet, and that's without a single one of the physical improvements that are years overdue. The Board of Trustees is terrified that we're going down the tubes, and just when we need to raise money, our alumni are deserting us in drovesso, yeah"he looked backuto some extent, I'll have to be a paper pusher, but that isn't to say I don't care about kids. Of course I care about kids. I wouldn't be in this godforsaken town if I didn't. Hell, I was a teacher myself for years."

She liked him better when he was worked up.

He was more human that way. "Really."

"You don't believe me? I taught science."

"I had pegged you for math. That's always struck me as the most rigid of the disciplines." "I am not rigid.

"You sure sound it to me. But, hey, if you want a rash of suicides at this school, kids who think it'll be just fine to follow along in Dr.

O'Neill's footsteps, that's your responsibility." A tiny cry came from the baby carrier, erasing whatever satisfaction she had found in roughing up Noah Perrine. "Oh, my.

She speaks." Sami's eyes were only half-open. She was crying in her sleep.

"Maybe she's wet," Noah suggested.

"Thank you. I might not have guessed." She rn l the baby. with little effect.

l !

"More likely she's tired of being in that carrier. How'd you like to be squished against another person for hours?"