And Baby Makes Six. Linda Markowiak

You had things Kathy would have wanted. I knew she liked lilacs. She always did.”

      Emotion flickered in Jenny’s eyes for the barest second, so quickly that he almost missed it. But he knew in that moment that his sister had meant a lot to this woman.

      Crystal had been scratching the cat. Now she looked up from the floor. “I want to stay with Miss Jenny,” she whispered.

      Oh, hell.

      Instinctively now, he squatted. At his movement, the cat leaped up in the air and took off. Crystal jerked, wrapping herself around Jenny. Jenny hugged her, whispered something into her ear that Mitch couldn’t catch.

      The social worker cleared her throat. “Your uncle is family, sweetie. He lives in a big house in Ohio, which is a very nice place to live, and you’ll have four cousins.” She spread her hands helplessly. “He loves you. He told me so.”

      Mitch had told her that, over the phone when he’d got the shocking news of his sister’s death in an auto accident. Had that only been two days ago? Saying he loved his niece wasn’t really a lie. He was sure he would love her…just as soon as he got to know her.

      Jenny gently disengaged from Crystal and stood. “Why don’t you find your kitty and see if she’s hungry? You know how hungry she gets, and how much she relies on you to take care of her.” Surprising Mitch again, she pulled a little plastic bag of cat treats from the pocket of that yellow outfit.

      “Can we talk?” It was Jenny Litton again, her eyebrow raised in polite inquiry.

      He nodded, out of his league. He wanted to do what was best for Crystal.

      Jenny stroked Crystal’s hair. “Will you be all right with Mrs. Winters for a while? Just for a minute? I need to talk to your uncle Mitch.”

      “Do I have to go with him?” she said, her eyes filling with tears.

      Jenny hesitated.

      Mrs. Winters said, “Sweetie, we’ve talked about this.”

      Mitch seized on a sudden inspiration as the kitten munched on a cat treat. “I have a dog at home.”

      A flicker of interest crossed his niece’s face.

      “And ponies.”

      “Ponies are big.” She frowned.

      Mitch figured it was best not to mention that Face-off was about as big as one of the ponies. “I also have a hamster, and some fish. They aren’t big.”

      Crystal no longer looked as ready to burst into tears as she had a moment ago. He was just mentally congratulating himself when Jenny Litton motioned him toward the door.

      He got to his feet, too, but thought about not following her. He was in no mood to be ragged on for not being a better brother. But the alternative was for her to speak her mind in front of his niece, so he followed her out. The hallway was hot—the air conditioner in the social worker’s office didn’t cool the air out here. Hard to believe it was October.

      Jenny motioned him toward the window, out of the way of the few passersby. “I’m sorry for your loss,” she said politely. “Kathy—” She stopped and moistened her lips, and Mitch realized she wasn’t as cool about this whole situation as she pretended to be. “I was your sister’s best friend.”

      “Like I said, I appreciate your handling the funeral.” He’d been camping with his sons in Colorado, when he’d got the news of Kathy’s death. It had taken a while to get to an airport and book the kids on a flight home with nineteen-year-old Luke in charge.

      She smoothed back her already-smooth hair. The sun caught a little gleam from her round gold earrings. She had a nice chin and dainty ears—don’t look.

      She said, “From what I know about you, your life is pretty complicated. Like you said at dinner last night, you’re a widower. You have three teenage boys and an eleven-year-old. I can make things easy for you. I’m prepared to take custody of Crystal today. She’ll have a good home, and your conscience will be clear.”

      “I’m her uncle.”

      “Crystal doesn’t know you. And quite honestly, Kathy didn’t talk about you much. As far as I know, you never came for a visit.”

      Guilt pinched him. “I didn’t have time.”

      Her chin tilted in a sort of southern belle arrogance. “You didn’t have time?”

      “No. I didn’t.”

      “What makes you think you’ll have time now?”

      “I’ll make time”

      “I have the time. I live alone—” Abruptly, she bit her lip.

      “Crystal is my family.”

      “She doesn’t want to come with you.”

      “As you said, that’s because she doesn’t know me. Yet. She’s family. I’m sorry if you had…plans to keep her. I don’t know how much time you actually spent with Crystal—”

      “I’ve known her for three years. I’ve baby-sat. I’ve spent days at the beach with both Kathy and Crystal. I’ve had dinner at their house—I’ve had them over to mine. We’ve rented videos—I got her Mulan last week. Your interaction with Crystal was to send her a ball and glove that she’s never used.” Though her voice was carefully polite, he heard the criticism in it.

      He told himself not to react—either to her tone or the fact that she knew a lot more about Crystal than he did. There must be a book or something out there on how to raise little girls.

      She looked him full in the eye. “Kathy intended to change her will.”

      “But she didn’t. Or are you going to try to prove in court that she did?”

      Her mouth went slack. There was a long pause. “No,” she said softly, so softly it was almost a whisper. “Not now…” Her voice trailed off.

      He was going to win. Suddenly, on what should have been a surge of satisfaction, Mitch felt like a bully. Jenny Litton cared about his niece and she knew about little girls. Mitch only knew about raising boys. On top of that, Crystal liked her.

      “Look, I…” He shut his mouth before he could admit his insecurities aloud. “Listen, you don’t have to like me. But think of Crystal. It’s obvious she trusts you. If you tell her things will be okay with me, I think she’ll feel better.”

      She shifted her little purse from one hand to the other, and there was a long, uncomfortable pause. “She loves the kitten. You’re going to let her keep her kitten, aren’t you?”

      “Of course. I’m not a jerk, no matter what you think.”

      She flushed a very becoming pink, a wash of color on her perfect, pale skin. “I can help you take her to the airport.”

      He was impressed. The woman was a good loser. “Thanks.”

      “I’m doing this for Crystal. Not for you. I mean—”

      “I know exactly what you mean.”

      She blushed harder. “I’ll give her my phone number. She can call me anytime. Collect.”

      “She doesn’t need to call collect.”

      “Collect,” she said firmly.

      Whatever. “Okay. That sounds like a plan. Let’s go.” He turned to head back into the office to break the news to Crystal.

      He held the door to the office open. As she passed by him on her way inside, she whispered, “Listen. If I hear there’s a problem, either from Crystal or the social worker in Ohio, I’ll be on the next flight to come and get that little girl. And believe me, if I have to, I’ll take you to court and fight you for her.”

      They were almost in the office. She added, “I’m