The Baby Barter by Patty Smith Hall

Author:Patty Smith Hall
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Thea’s thoughts went all fuzzy. Mack couldn’t have said what she thought he’d said. “Could you repeat that, please?”

“I asked you to marry me.”

This was a joke. It had to be. Though she’d never known Mack to be unkind. But this—offering her a chance to be his wife, to raise Sarah as their child—was just too cruel for him to kid her about. And yet, the determined set of his jaw, the intent expression on his too-handsome face told her he was altogether serious. “Why would you want to do that?”

“Think about it.” He leaned closer, and she felt the air go out of her lungs. “If we got married, Judge Wakefield would let us adopt Sarah without a second thought.”

Marriage with no mention of love. For some reason she was afraid to ask herself, the thought left her depressed. “I thought you wanted to raise Sarah on your own.”

“I did.” Mack hesitated for a moment. “Or, at least, I thought I did. But the more I think about it, the more I know Judge Wakefield was right. Sarah needs both a mother and father who love her very much. Who better than the two of us?”

She couldn’t fault his reasoning. Still...

“If you’re worried you won’t get to see enough of Sarah, I’ve already told you I’d give you time. I want you to be part of her life.”

“And I want you to be a part of her life, too, Thea. What better way to do that than become a family?”

A family of her very own! Her heart fluttered, her fingers and toes numb with joy, the future unfurling before her. She could see them chasing lightning bugs and reading stories together before bedtime, sharing Christmases and Easters and all the other holidays in between, curling up on the couch together in front of the fireplace after the children had gone off to bed and sharing about their days.

Whoa! Where had that thought come from? The man proposed marriage, not love. A means to an end to raise only one child. A way to secure Sarah’s future while assuring their positions in her life.

To secure a family for herself.

She needed to think. Thea stood up and paced across the room, rolling her bottom lip between her teeth. Marry Mack? There was a rightness to it, but was that because marrying him offered her what could be her only chance to raise her niece? Or had the crush she’d nursed for him so many years ago matured into more than a childish fancy? “What makes you think the court will automatically agree to us adopting Sarah?”

Mack stood, Sarah braced against his chest, and walked across the room to stand by her. “Judge Wakefield has never kept it a secret that he would give my adoption file more consideration if I were married. In fact, he said more than once that he would sign the papers the minute I presented my wife to him in his chambers.”

The old coot

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