Do You Take This Baby? by Wendy Warren

Author:Wendy Warren
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Though Gemma had lain awake for the past two hours, watching the numbers on her digital clock progress with agonizing lethargy toward midnight, the knock on her door was still startling. She bolted up in bed as Ethan’s silhouette hovered uncertainly in the spill of hall light.

“Gemma?” he whispered. “You awake?”

Heart thundering, she gathered the covers around her and sat up. “Yes,” she whispered back. “Is something wrong?”

Quietly, Ethan entered the room. The baby stirred but, thankfully, didn’t rouse.

Moonlight streamed through her window to reveal the strained lines of his face.

“I can’t sleep,” he admitted.

“Me, either.” For once, Cody was the only one who seemed peaceful.

The mattress dipped under Ethan’s weight as he settled at the edge of her bed, his head lowered.

After Jeanne had left that morning, Ethan had gone for a long run, returning drenched in sweat, but no less troubled than when he’d set out. Gemma had asked if he wanted to talk, receiving a bleak, “Not right now, thanks.” She’d gotten that same answer when she’d asked if he wanted lunch. He’d spent most of the day alone, sequestered in his study, making phone calls.

Twice when he’d emerged to get water and aspirin, he’d looked at Cody with such bald angst, Gemma had physically ached with the desire to help. But how? The teacher in her wanted to sit him down and insist that he read the materials Jeanne assigned. And why hadn’t he attended the classes? The friend in her wanted to hug him and say everything would be okay. Realistically, however, she knew Ethan and Cody were standing on a rug that could be pulled out from beneath them, and she was scared.

After several moments of heavy silence, Ethan turned to face her. “I spent the day on the phone with the investigator I hired. No progress in finding Sam yet. I called my lawyers next, and they were able to recommend a family law group that’s supposed to be tops in custody issues around adoption. I have an appointment with them in a few days, but the attorney I spoke with today said there are a few strikes against me already. First, I made a mistake telling the social workers that I only wanted to keep Cody until my sister could be found. To be honest, I didn’t want to take him at all. I just wanted to talk some sense into Sam until they told me she’d disappeared.”

“Those are honest reactions,” she said. “But now you know Cody, and you can explain that your feelings have changed—”

“It’s not that simple.” He sounded as agitated as he looked. “There are things...” He stopped, seeming reluctant to continue. “It wouldn’t be smart for me to try to keep Cody if the best I can give him is me and a series of nannies. No judge is going to want to picture a kid raised by nannies, anyway. Not if someone else can give him a two-parent family, like Jeanne said.” His eyes were bleak as he looked at her.

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