Piece by Piece by Laura Bradford

Author:Laura Bradford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2020-04-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Dani studied the picture of the towheaded man smiling down at the pretty dark-haired woman and the tiny baby sleeping contentedly in her arms. The man, listed only as Tim, was thirty-eight, his wife, Sheila, thirty-six. The couple, according to the write-up beneath the thumbnail-sized picture, were unable to have children due to an unnamed medical condition. But because of the courage and selflessness of an unwed mother on the other side of the state, they—

“ ‘Are now Mom and Dad to their sweet son, Ryan,’ ” she read aloud.

Flipping the brochure over, she searched for a date and, when she found none, she resorted to guessing how old Ryan might be today. Two? Three? Maybe four or even older? Then, was he happy? Were Tim and Sheila good parents? Had they brought another baby home by now, making Ryan a big brother?

And what about the unwed mother? Did Sheila and Tim send her reports on Ryan’s progress? Did they have plans to tell their son about his birth mother one day or would they keep the details of his birth from him?

Slowly, she opened the brochure Martha had quietly handed to her across the counter on her way out of Dr. Braden’s office and willed herself to breathe, to focus. Knowledge was power; it was a favorite expression of Jeff’s and one he used quite often around the house with the kids, and at work with Tom and the rest of the team. Ava, of course, was too young to understand the meaning behind the words, but Maggie—and sometimes even Spencer—seemed to grasp its gist most days.

A soft tap at the front door pulled her attention off the list of the top five most frequently asked questions and fixed it, instead, on the snippet of cowboy hat she could see above the simple cloth panel blocking everything else from view. Quickly, she closed the brochure, slid it underneath the empty breakfast basket she’d yet to set back out on the porch, and stood, her frustration over the interruption powering her not-so-quiet sigh.

As she neared the door, the cowboy hat swiveled around to reveal the top of a forehead and the uppermost creases of anticipation.

“Hey,” she said, cracking the door open to the full-body view of her host’s brother. “What’s up?”

Hooking his thumb over his shoulder at the now-familiar black pickup truck parked in front of her porch rather than the barn, his mouth inched upward in a smile. “I’d like to take you somewhere if you have a little time?”

She looked from Caleb to the truck and back again. “I don’t think so. I really should just stay here.”

“Did you eat breakfast?”

“Not really. I-I wasn’t hungry.”

“Lunch?”

She thought about the apple she’d tried to eat, but after the first two bites she’d shoved it in the refrigerator on reflex. Not wanting to lie, she followed her shrug of indifference with a whispered “some.”

“Come with us,” he said, taking a step backward. “We won’t keep you out for long. I promise.

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