The Baby Barter. Patty Smith Hall

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.”