I’ve always wanted to go to California so that’s where I’m headed. I want to find a better life for myself.
Ginger
Just then Sierra heard Alex parking his SUV in front of her house and she ran out onto the porch and across the yard to meet him.
“Oh, Alex! You’re not going to believe this! I can hardly believe it myself. And I don’t know what to do! You’ve—”
Alex grabbed her by the upper arms as she did a frantic dance on her toes.
“Whoa, honey. Just calm down. Where’s the baby?”
A breath rushed out of her. “On the couch. Asleep. He just downed the last bottle.”
Alex’s arm slipped around her waist as he urged her toward the house. “Come on. Let’s go in and you can tell me all about it.”
Just having Alex near was enough to soothe her frayed nerves. By the time they entered the living room and took seats on the couch, her body had begun to relax somewhat.
“Okay. Start from the beginning and don’t leave anything out,” Alex instructed.
Sierra rolled her eyes. “Dear God, do you always have to be such a—lawyer?” She reached and collected a piece of paper from the coffee table. “Just read this. It explains most everything.”
Alex took the note and quickly read through the carefully printed words. When he looked up at Sierra, his green eyes were as hard as stone.
“She just left him. Without a backward glance. Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
The cold irony in his voice stunned Sierra. Alex had dealt with all sorts of crimes in his profession. He was used to seeing human nature at its worse and for the most part he took it all in stride.
“Alex! You’re making Ginger sound like—a murderer, or worse!” Sierra gasped.
Rising, Alex went over to the baby and gazed down at his sleeping face. As Sierra watched a muscle tick in his jaw, she realized that this whole situation had brought painful memories back to him.
“Can you think of anything worse than abandoning your own child?” he asked sharply.
Her face full of concern, she got to her feet and laid a gentle hand on his arm. “Alex, I’m—sorry,” she said softly. “I shouldn’t have involved you.”
A tight grimace etched his rugged features and then just as quickly the pained expression disappeared and he shook his head. “Forget it, Sierra. I came here to help you. Not to condemn anybody.”
When Sierra’s sisters, Gloria and Christina, had been gone from the family and her parents had constantly fretted about their welfare, she’d often lamented her worries to Alex. During one of those times, he’d surprised her by saying that at least Sierra knew who her real parents and siblings were.
Sierra had pressed him to explain the comment and he’d eventually confessed that, when he was thirteen, he’d discovered his adoption papers among his parents’ important documents. Mitch and Emily Calloway had never told Alex that he was their adopted son. They’d always led him to believe that he’d been born to them right there in a Dallas hospital.
Alex had confronted the couple with the adoption papers and he’d eventually learned that his biological mother had left him on the steps of a human services building in Dallas. He’d only been two days old at the time. The truth had shaken the very foundation beneath Alex’s feet and Sierra wasn’t at all sure that he’d ever made peace with the circumstances of his birth.
“If it’s too upsetting to you—”
“Sierra! I’m here. And I said forget it. Okay?”
Biting down on her lip, she studied him with worried brown eyes. Alex groaned and reached for her hand.
“Sierra,” he said, his tone suddenly gentle. “It’s all right. I’m a big boy. You don’t have to worry about me.”
The touch of his fingers wrapped around hers was strong and warm and comforting. Sierra unconsciously tightened her hand around his. “All right. So what do you advise me to do, Counselor?”
“Does Ginger have a family?”
“Yes. But the father has a restraining order against him. He drinks. And if he lives in the same house with the family, he beats on the mother and the children. Mrs. Rollins is trying to make a living for herself and her other children without him. There’s no way she is capable of caring for an infant. She’s just an inch away from having her own children taken away from her.”
“Sounds like a lovely home life,” Alex said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
She sighed. “People can get themselves in some real predicaments, Alex. We’re not all perfect and at least Mrs. Rollins is trying to overcome her mistake of a bad marriage.”
Shaking his head, he pulled away from her and walked across the room. “God, Sierra, that soft heart of yours is going to get you into big trouble someday. Not everybody in this world has good in them, you know.”
He was standing at one of the open windows, his forearm resting against the wooden seal as he looked out at the darkening night. Sierra left the couch and went to him.
“Alex, Ginger wanted me to have this baby. The note plainly says so. Doesn’t that mean anything?”
His eyes widened in complete disbelief. “Are you telling me you want to keep the baby? Is that what this is all about?”
A pleading expression crossed her face as she held her hands outward and upward. “Alex, I don’t want the boy to go to some orphanage or foster home.”
He stabbed a forefinger toward the couch where the infant was quietly sleeping. “That little guy doesn’t have any attachment to you.”
Lifting her chin with defiance, she said, “Maybe not yet. But he will. And I know I can take wonderful care of him.”
“Okay. Okay. I don’t see any problem with you being a foster mother. But as for Ginger’s note, I’m not so sure it would stand up in a court of law. You’ll have to become his foster mother on your own merit.”
Sierra breathed a bit easier. She didn’t know why the baby had become so important to her. She’d only had him with her for a few hours. And babysitting was nothing new for her. Friends were often asking Sierra to watch their children and not once during those occasions had she felt the sudden, unshakable attachment as she had with this little guy.
Her smooth brow puckered with concern. “Do you think that’s possible? Child care services are so picky.”
His lips slanted wryly. “We won’t know until we talk with them,” he said and before she could reply he started to the phone. “Where’s your directory?”
Sierra found the book for him and stood anxiously aside as she waited for him to make the call.
After what seemed like an eon had passed, Alex finally hung up the phone and looked up at her. “Someone will be here within the hour. While we wait, why don’t we have some coffee?”
Nodding numbly, Sierra started toward the kitchen. “You watch the little guy,” she told him. “I’ll bring the coffee in here when it’s ready.”
Alex opened his mouth to protest, but he closed it just as quickly. The baby was asleep. He wouldn’t have to do anything. And Sierra was already in enough turmoil without him riling her with what she would consider foolishness on his part.
Besides, he didn’t want to explain to her that it bothered him to be around babies. Or maybe she’d already guessed that. She’d apologized for bringing him into this situation. Apparently she’d realized Ginger’s behavior had reminded him of his own biological mother. Damn the woman, wherever in the world she was. She’d not wanted Alex any more than Ginger had wanted the precious little life sleeping on Sierra’s couch.
Tentatively he walked over to the baby and stared down at him. He was a handsome guy with thick lush lashes resting on his rosy cheeks. His arms and legs were long, predicting a tall man, while his chest promised to be wide and strong. His tiny lips made sucking movements and Alex was suddenly struck by the baby’s total innocence, the overwhelming need for someone to nurture and care for him.
Sierra would be a good mother. He didn’t have to think twice about that. But did he want
to see her get mixed up with someone else’s child? Did he want to see her get tangled up with any child?
“I’m sorry, Miss Mendoza, but our first obligation is to place this child with its own family. I’ll need to make a concerted effort to find the birth mother.”
Sierra swiped a hand across her forehead as she looked at the woman sitting in the armchair. Nancy Williams was a large, older lady with weary blue eyes and graying brown hair. She looked exhausted and Sierra figured she’d been in and out of several homes today. Places that weren’t really homes but had to be inspected as such.
“Mrs. Williams, when you read the Rollins file, you’ll see that placing the baby in that home is impossible. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’d be neglected.”
“I’ll read the file Monday,” the woman promised. “As for now, the sheriff needs to be contacted and the baby placed in a foster home until we can locate Ginger Rollins.”
Sierra darted a look at Alex, who was sitting close beside her on the couch. Thank God, he’d never left her side since the woman had arrived. Right now she needed his strength.
“Why?” Sierra asked. “I’m perfectly capable of caring for the child. I can be his foster mother.”
The child care worker’s smile was too patronizing to hold any sort of warmth. “I’m certain you’ve never been a foster mother before, Miss Mendoza. And we have several homes with openings now. It won’t be a problem to place the baby in one of them.”
Sierra wanted to throw herself against Alex’s chest and cling to him for dear life. He couldn’t allow this woman to take the baby away. He just couldn’t.
Reaching for his hand, she gripped it tightly and said, “I may not have been a foster mother before, but I have taken care of children. I can give him a good home.”
“Miss Mendoza—”
“Look, Mrs. Williams,” Alex suddenly interrupted the woman. “Sierra has worked for several years as a social worker. She understands what it takes to make a home for a child. Along with that, she’s an upstanding member of the community. She’s lived here in Red Rock all of her life and her parents own a popular eating establishment here in town. I can assure you she can produce excellent references to her character.”
The woman studied the two of them for a moment, then let out a long breath as though she’d carefully considered the situation and hated to deliver her decision.
“Well,” she began, “I’m sure Miss Mendoza is a reputable person, but we do like for there to be a man in the house and—”
“What luck,” Alex interrupted again. He slid a possessive arm around Sierra’s shoulders. “Sierra and I have decided to get married soon and since we’d like to have children right off, having the baby here would be wonderful practice for both of us.”
The woman’s face brightened considerably. “You two are getting married?”
Nodding, Alex answered without hesitation. “Yes. And if you need my references, I practice law in San Antonio. You can either call my office or stop by.”
Sierra suspected she must look like a dying carp, so she snapped her mouth shut and tried not to hide the shock rushing from her head to her feet. What was Alex doing telling this woman an out-and-out lie? she wondered wildly. He hated liars! And he hated the idea of marriage even more!
Chapter Three
“Oh, well, that changes the whole situation,” Nancy Williams said. “I’m sure there will be no problem for you to keep the baby here with the two of you. I’ll notify the authorities of the child’s whereabouts. And later, on Monday, I’ll need for you to come down to our offices and sign some papers. Say, around ten o’clock in the morning?”
“I have to be in court Monday morning. Can we make it in the afternoon?” Alex asked.
Smiling wanly, the woman rose to her feet. “I’m sure that will be fine, Mr. Calloway. I’ll call Miss Mendoza with a time.” She turned a serious look on Sierra. “If you start having reservations about this, don’t hesitate to call. Here’s my card.”
She placed it on the coffee table and Sierra left the couch to see the woman to the door. After another round of thank-yous and goodbyes, Sierra closed the door behind Nancy Williams and rushed out of the small foyer and into the living room where Alex still sat beside the baby.
“Alex! What has come over you? Are you taking some sort of mood-altering drug? Or have you and Pauline been having afternoon tequilas?”
Alex chuckled as he watched Sierra come to a screeching halt in the middle of the room and plant her fists on both sides of her hips.
“I’ll have you know that I’m completely sober.”
Her hands flew helplessly up in the air as she shook her head with disbelief, then tossed a hank of tangled black curls away from her face. “You’re sober,” she repeated with a sardonic roll of her eyes. “And you sat there and lied like a sneaky dog—implying to that woman that we are engaged and want children! What came over you anyway?”
Alex couldn’t possibly tell Sierra what had come over him. Frankly, he didn’t know. He was almost as stunned as Sierra was by his behavior. Yet now that it was done, he felt happy about the sudden impulse, as though something inside him was saying his intervention with a little white lie had been the right thing to do.
“What are you yapping about?” he countered. “It worked, didn’t it? You got to keep the little guy. He’s not going to an orphanage or a foster home. At least for now.”
A pent-up breath rushed out of her and as it did she suddenly felt exhausted. The day had been a roller-coaster ride and now Alex was acting so out of character she was actually worried about him.
Going to the couch, she eased down next to him and laid a palm on his forehead. “You can’t be well. Even on the most sane day of your life, you’d never tell anyone you were getting married.”
“Bull,” he said with a shrug, then turned his gaze on the baby. “What difference is it going to make what I told that woman? She’s not going to bug this place with a camera.”
Sierra noticed, not for the first time this evening, that Alex’s features softened whenever he looked at the baby. There was a tenderness in his eyes that she’d never seen before and she had to admit she was very drawn to this new side of her friend.
“No,” Sierra reluctantly agreed. “But eventually she, or someone else like her, will be back here to check up on us. They’ll know that we aren’t married. That we’re not even living together!”
Turning his attention back to Sierra, Alex leaned over and grasped her by the upper arms. “We’ll deal with that when the time comes. Besides, by that time you’ll probably be ready to place the child in a good foster home.”
Sierra didn’t think so. But she wasn’t going to argue with Alex tonight. He was right. For now everything was okay and she needed to leave it at that.
Closing her eyes, she nodded. “I’m sorry, Alex. I didn’t mean to get so carried away.” She looked at him as a weak smile slanted her rosy-pink lips. “And I do thank you so very much for stepping in and convincing Mrs. Williams to let me keep the baby.”
Releasing his hold on her arms, he reached up and patted her cheek. “No need to thank me, kiddo. We’re friends. We’re supposed to help each other.”
In Sierra’s opinion what he’d done was above and beyond the call of friendship, but she wasn’t going to point that out to him. The whole idea of them being engaged, even in a fake way, had left her feeling awkward and acutely aware of Alex’s hand touching her cheek, his thigh pressing into hers.
Her throat suddenly tightened and she swallowed as her gaze dropped to her lap. “I couldn’t think of anyone else to call but you. It means a lot to me that you came running.”
He didn’t reply immediately and she lifted her gaze to see he was thoughtfully studying her.
“Don’t get soppy on me, Sierra. You know I’m not worth it,” he said, then rose to his feet and walked over to a small table where he’d left his coffee cup. Picking it up, he asked, “What are you going to call him?”
“The baby?”
He cocked an eyebrow in an arrogant, upward slant. “That is what this is all about, isn’t it?”
Knowing her cheeks were turning pink and hating him for it, she pushed herself up from the couch and walked over to where he stood.
“You can be a real ass, Alex.”
“If I was any other way, no one would recognize me,” he said, then smiled to buffer his words.
She groaned, but stopped herself from saying anything. From the first time she’d met Alex, nearly nine years ago, she could see he was wearing a callous, who-gives-a-damn cloak around him. But there were times that the cloak cracked just enough for her to see inside the man and she’d learned he had a big heart that was very capable of being broken. No one else but Sierra seemed to see this about Alex Calloway, the successful trial lawyer. And she supposed that was a major reason she did her best to overlook his sarcastic veneer. She knew there was far more to the man than the slick words that came out of his mouth.
“I don’t know what to call him. Whatever he was named before—well, that life for him is over. He needs to start new with a whole new name. Got any ideas?” she asked.
Alex started to remind her that whatever she decided to call the baby would only be temporary. Just like her custody of him would only be temporary. But she seemed so happy about her new little charge, he couldn’t bring himself to burst her bubble.
What the hell has come over you, Calloway? You take one look at a woman with a baby in her arms and you get soft as cornmeal mush.
Shaking away that disgusting thought, Alex said, “What about Bowie? After real Texas hero, Jim Bowie.”
Sierra’s brown eyes widened as she rolled the names over her tongue. “Jim Bowie. Bowie. Yes, that’s nice and strong. Bowie—” She paused abruptly and shrugged. “Well, I guess we can’t pin a last name on him. But Bowie will be enough for now.”
As if he seemed to know he was being discussed, the baby began to stir. By the time Sierra reached him, he was squalling at the top of his lungs and punching the air with two tight little fists.
Fortune's Heirs: Reunion Page 37