Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
“Six,” she says softly. “I was three and a half months along. I saw you outside of your hotel that night. I thought what if my baby had a dad, someone who cared about her?”
“So, you thought if you came onto me, and we slept together that you could come back later and claim she’s mine. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?” There’s no accusation in my tone, only curiosity.
She hesitates.
“Tell me.” I want to hear all of her story. One day, Abby will have questions about her birth mom, and I’ll tell her everything. I’ll tell her the story of a woman who loved her enough to try and give her a better life.
“I was planning on waiting a year, just long enough for everything to be fuzzy for you. Look, I’m not proud of it, OK? I don’t even know her daddy’s name. He was just fifty bucks behind the gas station.”
I swear under my breath and for a moment, I see it. She’s Cassie as a teenager. If I hadn’t been there to fend off the men back then, she would have had no one. No protector. No shield. No big brother. My heart aches at the thought. “Where are you staying now?”
The defiant tilt to her chin tells me that was the wrong question. “What’s it to you?”
I’m not going to get anywhere with that line of questioning. Shit, she’s got to watch her back because she’s the only one watching it. At least, she was until she walked into this house. “Why did you pick me? You could have left her anywhere.”
“Because you were the first guy in a long time who didn’t offer me fifty bucks.”
“Well, then you’re hanging out with the wrong guys,” I tell her and take a seat next to her. She needs a big brother and she just got one. “I’m the manager here. Could use some office help if you’re interested in a job.”
She wrinkles her nose, little freckles dancing across the bridge of it. Will my Abby have those same freckles one day?
“I don’t know a damn thing about offices.”
“I didn’t either when I started running the place. Suppose you could learn on the job like I did.”
She starts digging through her backpack. “Look, I only came back because I realized you can’t do anything without her birth certificate. So, I’m here to give you all the paperwork stuff and see if she’s happy.”
My heart pounds in my chest. She’s going to give me everything for Abby, everything that will allow me to legally hold onto her. I’ll never have to worry about anyone taking her from me.
“Here’s the paperwork the hospital gave me on her. I don’t know what to do next to make it legal.” She passes it to me then snorts. “And I don’t need a big brother.”
I accept the crumpled papers and the birth certificate. “Well, you have one now so deal with it.”
10
CHLOE
“I can’t believe she’s really ours,” I whisper as I trace her tiny features. She’s drinking from her bottle and gazing up at me with peace-filled eyes. Because of Micah, she’ll never have to face the indifference of the system or the disappointment of being shuffled from home to home because no one wants her. Well, I guess I’m helping with that since my name went on the adoption papers today.
Sydney and Micah talked in the living room for a few minutes then he came to the bedroom and told me we were going to see a lawyer. The four of us were able to set up what’s known as a private adoption. There are still a few requirements to meet within the coming weeks. But we’re on the road to legally becoming Abby’s parents.
“I might be biased but I think we got the cutest baby ever too,” Micah says. We’re sitting together on his bed again. The three of us are snuggled under the blankets like a little family. We are a little family, and the thought sends a thrill through me. I never expected that one day Micah and I would be together, let alone raising a beautiful daughter.
Abby grunts as if acknowledging to her father that she is the cutest and she knows it.
Micah croons down at her, “You’re going to stay right here with us and you’re going to grow up a Kringle. We’re going to decorate the nursery in princesses and fairies and anything else you want. Then in the summers, I’ll take you fishing, and we’ll build a tree fort together. I’ll teach you how to throw a ball too. Better than any of the boys.”
I laugh at the childhood he’s outlined. It sounds wonderful and amazing. It doesn’t even surprise me that he’s already thinking so far ahead. My Micah loves to plan and scheme. His ability to think into the future is part of what makes this ranch so successful. It’ll be a beautiful legacy for my Abby to inherit one day with her cousins. OK, she doesn’t have any yet. But with the way West has been looking at Cassie lately, I think it’s only a matter of time.