The Baby Barter

“They’re ready to cut the cake!”

Both women turned to where a boy of about twelve stood on the porch at the top of the stairs, a wooden cane bearing the weight of his lean frame. Scowling, he fidgeted with his tie, leaving it slightly off center. His dark coat sat precariously on his shoulders, as if the boy hadn’t decided whether to fling it off or not.

“He looks happy to be here,” Thea commented.

Maggie’s warm laughter coaxed another rare smile from her. “Billy’s not quite sure about this wedding stuff, but give him a plate of Aunt Merrilee’s cooking and he’s happier than a puppy with two tails.”

Thea relaxed a bit. She’d always liked Maggie, liked her plain talk and friendly way of treating everyone the same, no matter their social status. “Please tell your aunt congratulations from me.”

“You can tell her yourself.” Before Thea had a chance to respond, Maggie tucked her hand into Thea’s arm and pulled her out of the shadows.

Thea glanced around, praying no one else would notice her. “I’m not exactly dressed for a wedding.”

“You look fine, and I refuse to let a woman who served our boys overseas get away without a piece of Merrilee’s wedding cake. It’s the first time she’s baked anything since they stopped rationing sugar and eggs.”

The thought of such a sweet delight after four long years was almost too much for Thea to bear. But staying for the reception felt too awkward. She’d approach Ms. Aurora another time, maybe get up the nerve to go to her door and ask about Eileen’s baby. She may not know the woman personally, but she’d heard enough about her kindness and generosity to the children she’d taken in to her home, disabled children who’d been abandoned, to hope that this had all been a simple misunderstanding. One they could resolve easily...after which, she’d be able to bring Eileen’s baby home.

A screen door slapped shut in front of her, and she found herself staring into the dark wool of a man’s suit coat. She lifted her gaze and admired the taut muscles of the man’s broad shoulders, his tanned neck, the thick mop of dark hair that reminded Thea of walnuts ready to be shaken from the tree. He turned slightly, and a soft gasp rose in her throat, just as it had when she’d caught sight of Mack early today. The young boy she’d admired as a teenager had grown into an amazingly handsome man.

Who was more than likely married, Thea reminded herself. A faint sense of disappointment settled over her. Best if she kept her distance. No sense giving folks around here any more reason to talk about the Miller girls if she could help it.

A soft sound, something between a coo and a whimper, drew her attention to a tiny bundle of pale pink ribbons and ivory lace squirming in his arms. A baby? Well, of course, he’d have a child if he were married. Even in high school he’d talked of settling down and having a large family. But wait, she’d seen this child before—recognized the ribbons and lace of her outfit. Yet it hadn’t been Mack holding the little girl when Thea had seen her before. She was certain of that. So who had it been?

There was something distinctly familiar about this child, about the sunny blond curls that hugged her head like a Sunday bonnet. Mack lifted the baby to his shoulder and the little girl staring out at the small crowd, her piercing blue eyes watchful, absorbing everything around her. Recognition caused Thea’s lungs to constrict in her chest, a joy so overwhelming, it threatened to shoot out of her fingertips and her toes.

She recognized the outfit from seeing that precious baby with Aurora Adair. The baby in Mack’s arms was the mirror imagine of her sister, Eileen.

Chapter Two

“Look who I found wondering around the yard.”

Mack turned at Maggie’s exclamation, his heart picking up tempo as he raked a glance over Thea, startled to find blue eyes the color of a summer storm staring back at him, causing the muscles in his shoulders to bunch and tighten. An uneasiness gathered in the pit of his stomach. Why was Thea here?

And why had she been nosing around Ms. Aurora’s place?

“Can you believe it, Mack? Thea’s finally come home!” Maggie pulled Thea closer. Had the two of them been good friends in school? He couldn’t remember. Thea had pretty much kept to herself between classes. He’d only gotten to know her during her junior year when they’d both worked at the movie house in town.

Maggie was right. No one, especially not him, had ever expected Thea to come back to Marietta. What had brought her back home now? Settling his hand against the baby’s back, he took a step back to put some breathing room between them. “Theodora.”

Thea stiffened, her delicate chin lifting at a stubborn angle. “Sheriff Worthington.”

He didn’t know why but the sound of his professional title on her lips felt like more of a dig than a proper show of respect. Maybe she’d done it because he’d used her proper name rather than the nickname she preferred. He’d have to tread lightly, then. No sense starting a war with the woman, not until he had some idea as to why she’d been snooping around Aurora’s. Mack forced what he hoped was a relaxed smile against his lips. “Welcome home.”

She gave him a curt nod that reminded him of the pretty teacher he’d had a crush on back in fourth grade. “Thank you. I just wish I was here under better circumstances.”

“That’s an odd statement seeing how we’re at a wedding.”

Her fingers clamped down on her purse like a vise. “I mean...”

Thea still had that same little habit of nibbling at her lower lip when she was uncertain about how to act or what to say. Whatever had brought her here made her uncomfortable.

“Always suspicious, aren’t you, Mack?” Maggie tilted her head slightly toward Thea as if to share a well-kept secret. “I guess that’s a good trait for a sheriff to have. Probably why the town council hired him in the first place.”

That, and the fact he’d been about the only man left after Pearl Harbor was bombed and men shipped out to serve in the war. Mack turned to Thea. “Sorry about that. Occupational hazard.”

She nodded, then turned her attention to Sarah, the tension he’d noted in her earlier softening as the little girl reached out for the slender finger Thea held up for her. “How old is she?”

Mack studied her for a long second. Most people chose to ignore Sarah, or worse, asked questions about the bright pink scar that had connected her nose to her mouth. Why hadn’t Thea fallen into that pattern? “Five months. She was born on Victory in Europe Day.”

A gentle smile bloomed across Thea’s face as the baby grasped her finger and gave a playful squeal. “She’s so beautiful.”

“Thank you.” Mack narrowed his gaze. Sarah had been called many things in her short life, but never anything close to beautiful—at least, not by anyone but him.

“We were just talking about what happened to Eileen,” Maggie said, patting the baby’s back. “Maybe you could answer some of her questions about that night.”

“You were there?”

“Yes.” Mack’s gut tightened at the note of sadness in Thea’s voice. As the top law enforcement agent in the county, he’d seen his share of car accidents, most fender benders, others deadly. But the scene he came upon the night Eileen died had haunted him for weeks after the accident. Two people just a couple of years younger than he lost in the blink of an eye, so close to the happiness they both spent most of their lives in search of, only to lose it in one unthinkable instant.

Of all the losses the town had suffered during the war, watching Eileen Miller die was the one that had driven him to his knees.

“Why don’t I take Sarah while you two talk?” Maggie slipped her hands beneath the baby’s arms and lifted her away from Mack’s shoulder. “I need the practice, anyway.”

They stood in awkward silence as Maggie shifted the child. Oddly enough, Thea seemed to drink in even the slightest movement Sarah made until the child was nestled against Maggie’s shoulder.

“Goodbye, sweet pea. See you again soon,” Thea whispered as Maggie carried Sarah down the stairs and out into the yard. Soft strands of blond curls fell against Thea’s shoulders as she tilted her head back to meet his gaze. “So you’re a...daddy?”

The words brought a smile to Mack’s face despite himself. “Not yet, but I will be soon.”

A tiny line of confusion creased the smooth area between Thea’s brows. “How...?”

“I’m adopting her.”

Thea’s pleasant chuckle felt good to his ears. “You make it sound like your wife doesn’t have anything to say about it.”

Was she fishing to find out if he was married? The thought sparked a warmth in his chest that he immediately tamped down. It had been years since he was a smitten teenager who cared what Thea Miller thought of him—he wouldn’t make that mistake again. “Considering I don’t have one, she doesn’t.”

Thea stared wide-eyed at him as if she were searching for answers and coming up short. How could he have forgotten the soft silver sparks that rimmed the deepest blue around her irises, turning the color from indigo to violet? He found himself noticing the tiny dimple in her right cheek, the different facets of pink that colored her bottom lip, the pale scar high on her forehead.

“What about the baby’s family? Shouldn’t they have a say in the matter?”

Mack blinked at the unexpected questions. Most people had wondered why he wanted to take on the responsibility of raising a child, especially a baby with special needs, not worried about the family who’d abandoned her before she’d barely taken her first breath. “Sarah’s mother gave her up when she was just a few minutes old.”

The mouth he’d been fascinated with just seconds before went taut. “Poor woman. Probably didn’t know what to think after what she’d gone through.”

Mack’s throat tightened. Was Thea implying the woman had been coerced into letting the baby go? “Sarah’s mother could have kept her.”

Thea leveled pleading blue eyes at him. “Maybe she thought she didn’t have a choice.”

Oh, people had choices. Mack saw it in his work all the time. And when they got caught making the wrong one, they had to face the consequences. Thea had never understood that, especially where her wayward sister was concerned. Mack straightened and crossed his arms over his chest, his suit coat pulled uncomfortably tight. “Why have you been nosing around Ms. Aurora’s the last two days?”

Her brows drew together slightly. “How did you know about that?”

At least she had the good sense not to deny it. “It’s my business to know what’s going on in this county.”

“Ms. Adair reported me.”

If he hadn’t been so annoyed, he would have laughed. Thea had always been quick to call things as they were, except in the case of her sister. “You still haven’t answered the question.”

She closed her eyes, her fingers tightening around the straps of her purse. Her words were a soft whisper, as if in prayer. “Lord, I don’t know where to begin.”

Unease knotted in Mack’s stomach. Thea had never been one to cry uncle, not even when the burdens her family placed on her fragile shoulders seemed to be too much to carry. What could have happened that would shake her this badly? Lord, give me the wisdom to handle this situation with Thea. Help me treat her fairly no matter what happened in the past. Mack rested a hand against the small of her back and gently pushed her toward a row of empty chairs. “Why don’t we go over here and sit down?”

Faint color gathered in her cheeks as he held out a chair for her then took the place beside her. “The bad guys don’t stand a chance with you, do they, Sheriff?”

A stall tactic, but he remained quiet, ready to listen. Thea would open up about whatever was bothering her when she was ready.

She cleared her throat. “It has to do with what was going on with my sister the last few months of her life.”

“You mean the accident?”

Golden curls shimmered against the pale skin of her neck as she shook her head. “No, I mean...before the accident. When she came back to Marietta last spring.”

Eileen Miller was in Marietta last spring? Not possible. Mack would have noticed. The woman had always been the type to stand out, draw attention—so different from her sister. “The night of the accident was the first time I’d seen her in years.”

She drew in a deep breath as if to snap at him, then must have thought better of it. “But she was here in town last spring. In particular, around May eighth.”

Sarah’s birthday. The best day Mack had had in years, falling head over heels with the abandoned baby who had been placed in his arms—and deciding to adopt her. While everyone else celebrated the end of the conflict in Europe, Mack celebrated the beginning of his new role, that of Sarah’s father. “Eileen had a way of making her presence felt. If she was here, Thea, I would have noticed it.”

“I know she was here, Mack. She wrote in a journal she kept that she was out at the farm with Momma on VE Day.”

Mack blinked. That wasn’t possible. How had Eileen snuck back into town without him being aware of it? Granted, last spring had felt like a roller-coaster ride with President Roosevelt’s unexpected death, then the war ending in Europe, not to mention the Bell Bomber Plant laying off some of the women workers. What else had happened right under his nose that he’d been unaware of?

“Don’t beat yourself up over it, Mack. Eileen probably kept out of sight due to her condition.”

Mack turned sharply to stare at her. “She was pregnant?”

The news wasn’t truly a surprise. Eileen had been trouble since the moment she started powdering her nose and wearing high heels. Mrs. Miller had always been very stiff, very proper. She wasn’t a warm person, not even with her daughters, but she’d been tolerably friendly, participating in community events and active in the church until the gossip surrounding her younger daughter’s antics had begun. After that, she’d rarely come to town. Whenever Eileen got into trouble, it was always her big sister who came to bail her out.

But it seemed odd he hadn’t heard about Eileen coming back in the spring or having a baby. Odder still that the few times he’d been called out to tend to Mrs. Miller, who had grown increasingly rattled and confused as age set in, never once had the woman mentioned a child. Mack scrubbed his jaw. “Where’s the baby then?”

“That’s just it, Mack. Momma says the baby has been stolen, and I need to go and bring her home.”

Another mess for Thea to clean up. Hadn’t that always been the way with Mrs. Miller and Eileen? Well, this was one problem he could help her clear up. Mack shoved his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out the small notebook and stubby pencil he kept on him for moments like this. “Do you know the name of the baby’s father? I could check with him, see if he or his family have the child.”

“No, but...” She hesitated, what color she had in her cheeks fading, though her chin still arched at a determined angle. Whatever she was about to say, Mack knew he wouldn’t like it. “Momma knows who has the baby.”

“Who?”

“Ms. Adair.”

“Aurora?”

Thea gave him a certain nod. “Momma said she knew it the first time she saw Ms. Adair in town after the baby was born.”

“That’s why you’ve been spying on Aurora’s place.” The pieces began to fall into place for Mack. “You think Sarah is Eileen’s baby?”

“It makes sense. Sarah looks to be about the right age, and she’s the spitting image of Eileen when she was a baby. Momma said it would be like Ms. Adair to take her.” Sorrow along with another emotion—determination?—stared back at him. “That child you want to adopt is my niece, Mack. And I want to take her home.”

* * *

For a moment Mack’s eyes went wide with shock, and he didn’t seem to be breathing. Then he huffed a laugh and shook his head.

Surprise shot through Thea. He thought her claim was so ridiculous that he was laughing at her? Not very gallant for the boy who’d protected her from the ugly whispers her sister’s behavior had generated around their high school campus, who’d listened as she’d poured out her heart over her mother’s indifference, who’d been more than her friend.

He was the only one who ever seemed to understand her—and he knew how much her family meant to her. Eileen was gone, but her sweet baby was here, and all Thea wanted was to give that darling girl a home with her family. Why was that so difficult to understand? Shouldn’t Mack be happy that someone from Sarah’s birth family wanted to claim her now? Instead, he seemed to find the very idea laughable. “Maggie would have your hide if she heard you laughing at me like that.”

“Maybe,” Mack replied, giving her an unrepentant smile that made her heart trip over itself. “But she’d have to catch me first.”

A smile tugged at the corner of Thea’s mouth, but she caught herself before she made a complete idiot out of herself and smiled back. What on earth was she doing, almost flirting with the man! She had to make him understand the situation. Otherwise, Eileen’s baby would be adopted by him, and the opportunity to raise her sister’s child would be forever lost to her. “I don’t think what I said was that funny.”

“It wasn’t.” A weak grin tugged at his lips. “It’s just that Ms. Aurora has a hard enough time providing the necessaries for the children left in her care without going out and stealing more of them to spread her resources even thinner.”

“Maybe there was a misunderstanding,” Thea argued. “Maybe Eileen was upset, or overwhelmed, and considered giving up her baby. But Momma says she changed her mind. She just didn’t get a chance to take her back before the car accident. This isn’t an abandoned baby anymore—this is a little girl whose family wants her. Momma and I are entitled to have her.”

Thea glanced into blue eyes studying her intensely as if he were staring straight into the very heart of her soul. She swallowed. No wonder the people of Marietta trusted Mack to watch over their town. He could probably drum a confession out of the most hardened criminal, let alone a young girl still haunted by the cries of her sister, years ago, longing for the first child she’d borne—a child she had held only once before the baby was whisked away in the night, never to be returned. Thea had left town to find that baby...and she had failed. This was her chance to make things right, and she wasn’t going to let it go. How could she make Mack at least listen to what she had to say? “Have you ever known me to lie, Mack?”

He glanced down at her, the lines in his face taut. This was killing him. Thea knew it, but wasn’t it better to learn the truth now than after the adoption had gone through? “What kind of proof do you have to back up your allegations that Sarah is Eileen’s child?” Mack asked. “A birth certificate? An entry in the family Bible?”

“I haven’t checked with the courthouse about a birth certificate yet.” She’d never seen a family Bible around the house but that didn’t mean her mother didn’t have one stashed somewhere. “But I do have Eileen’s journal. She wrote about delivering a little girl, just as everyone was celebrating the end of the war.”

“Which will only prove she had a baby around VE Day.” Mack leaned close enough so that only she could hear him. “Until you have some kind of proof that Sarah is that baby, I’d suggest you keep your claims to yourself.”

“Then will you promise to hold off on the adoption until we’ve figured out this situation?” she countered.

A muscle in Mack’s jaw jerked slightly, then he relaxed. “I’m not sure there is anything to figure out, Miss Miller. According to the courts, Sarah has been abandoned and can legally be adopted.”

“Miss Miller,” was she? So, he’d dug in his heels. Well, she could be just as stubborn. Thea crushed her fingers into the leather sides of her purse. She’d need a new one after the punishment this one had taken today. “You can’t think I’m just going to let you adopt my niece without putting up a fight.”

“We still haven’t established Sarah is Eileen’s child.”

“It’s like I told you. Sarah’s the right age, and she has the same sandy-blond hair and blue eyes that Eileen did when she was a baby.”

“That’s all circumstantial evidence, Thea. You’re going to have to do better than that.”

She knew that, but the more she thought about the situation, the more convinced she was that the little girl Mack aimed to adopt was her niece, especially considering what her mother had told her of the baby’s abnormalities. “According to Momma, she was born on May eighth. I’m sure the birth certificate will back that up, once I locate it.”

“She probably wasn’t the only kid born that day,” Mack replied, though his cheeks had gone slightly pale beneath his tanned complexion, as if the news had hit a sore spot. Clearly, that was Sarah’s birthdate, as well. “And finding the official record might not be as easy as you think. It can take months for a birth certificate to be filed, and I happened to know Mrs. Williams left to stay with her sick sister up in Tennessee not two days after Sarah was born.”

“The preacher’s wife delivered Sarah?”

Mack nodded. “Placed that precious girl in my arms no more than an hour after she was born.”

It felt as if the air had been sucked out of her lungs. “You were there?”

“Mrs. Williams called me at the station. Said the girl and her family didn’t want anything to do with the baby so could I come by her house and take the baby to the hospital until Dr. Adams could get someone from the state to take over her care.”

Thea’s world tilted slightly, a dark mist settling over her eyes. “Why didn’t you do something? Did you try to talk Eileen out of giving her baby up? Or at least convince her to wait a day or two before she made such a huge decision?”

Thea didn’t realize she was shaking until Mack rested his hands on her shoulders. “First—” he spoke to her in that calm way of his that had always made her feel so safe “—why would I have any reason to believe Eileen was the one giving up Sarah? I didn’t even know she was back in town. I certainly didn’t go back into the delivery room to see the mother—that wouldn’t have been appropriate. And secondly, Mrs. Williams takes her position as midwife very seriously. She wouldn’t turn a child over to the authorities without being absolutely certain the mother understood exactly what she was doing.”

Mack had a very real point. The protocol Mrs. Williams had followed was the same they used in the hospital. Still, she couldn’t help her suspicions, especially after what she’d seen years ago, in her dealings with Miss Tann. Maybe Mack could answer a few questions she still had about the night Sarah was born. “How did the baby end up with Ms. Adair instead of at the hospital with Dr. Adams?”

Mack’s lips flatlined. “I took her there.”

“Why?”

“Because once he heard about her condition, Dr. Adams wanted to send her away.” Mack glanced around. Some of the guests had begun drifting out of the house and back into the yard. Thea wondered what tales about her and the sheriff would be making the rounds about town tomorrow.

Well, if they wanted something to talk about, she’d sure enough give it to them. “He wanted to put her in an institution because she had a cleft palate.”

His stony gaze sent a chill up her spine. Being on the wrong side of the law would be a hazardous business with this man in charge. “What did you say?” he asked, his voice low and dangerous.

“Whoever did her first surgery did a good job, but from the sounds she was making, I suspect she’ll need more. Momma’s been so worried about how the baby would survive with...a defect so severe. There are new procedures that could give Sarah a normal life.”

“I know. There will be time for those later.”

Thea blinked. Why was he waiting? Hadn’t the surgeon explained to him that the risk of complications rose as the baby grew and the bones of the head and face fused? Did he not have the authority to arrange for the surgery since the adoption had not yet gone through?