Boone (Eternity Springs The McBrides of Texas #3) - Emily March Page 0,1
type of communication with them would have him breaking out in a cold sweat. His hand hovered over the receiver as he debated letting the call go to voicemail. It was well past business hours, after all.
No. He was a swingin’ D, right? He wasn’t going to duck a freakin’ phone call from Fort Worth. “Screw it,” he muttered and picked up the receiver. “Boone McBride.”
“Boone? This is Ellen Woods.”
Boone’s brows arched in surprise. Ellen Woods had been a colleague of his at the DA’s office. “Ellen. Nice to hear from you. Except, you’re calling from WTC? Don’t tell me you’ve gone over to the dark side.”
She laughed. “No, I’m still fighting the good fight. I’ve been here for a meeting. I had an empty conference room and time to reach out to you, but my phone is about to die, so I’m using theirs. Boone, something rather unusual has come up. It involves you.”
He took a seat in his desk chair and said a wary, “Okay.”
“Yesterday Sarah Winston reached out to me for help. She’s been trying to reach you. She thinks you’re dodging her calls.”
I am. He’d dodged three calls from Sarah Winston today.
Boone picked up a pencil and began tapping its eraser on the desk. “She’s still with Child Protective Services, isn’t she?”
“Yes. She—”
“Tell her I said no.”
“Boone—”
“Tell her to talk to Jenkins or Moffat. They’re tough as nails on child abuse cases. Either one of those guys will do a fabulous job for Sarah.”
“But—”
He interrupted. “Okay, look. I’ll do this much for her. Tell her I’ll read over what she’s done before they go to trial, but I’m not working the case.”
“Boone McBride, would you please zip your lips long enough to let me get a word in edgewise? Sarah is not looking for legal help. That’s not why she’s been calling.”
“Oh.” He set down the pencil. “I’m sorry. The last case she brought to me was brutal. These days I’m sticking to writing wills and contracts for real estate deals.”
“She told me that. That’s a shame, because you have a particular talent working with victimized youth. Children adore you. Your heart is so big.”
Boone stifled a snort. If he had a big heart, it was due to all the scar tissue.
Restless now, he rose from his chair and walked to his window where, if he stood in the right spot, he could see the chimney in the master bedroom of the new house Jax Lancaster had built for him up at Hummingbird Lake. He’d moved in a week ago, and he’d opened the last box earlier today. He was close to being ready for the wedding guests arriving next week.
With his gaze locked on his home, his haven, he said, “I hate to rush you, Ellen, but I have somewhere I need to be soon.”
Home. Sitting on the dock, getting a worm wet. Short of rolling around his bed with a beautiful woman, it was his favorite way to wind down at the end of a summer day. “What is the message Sarah wants you to pass along?”
“You need to call her. There’s a baby, Boone. A newborn. He could be yours.”
Boone took just a second to do the math, and then burst out laughing. Last fall he’d been having an affair with a ski instructor over at Wolf Creek. The affair ended by Thanksgiving, but they’d remained friendly. They’d had lunch together just two weeks ago, in fact. He’d been monogamous during the affair and celibate since. “No, Ellen, take my word for it. A newborn child cannot possibly be mine.”
“He’s officially a Safe Haven baby who was surrendered at a fire station. He arrived with a letter from the mother naming you as his legal guardian. She said she wanted you to adopt her baby, but she didn’t know how to find you.”
Boone went still. “Excuse me? Say that again?”
“Someone who knows you surrendered a newborn at a fire station.”
“Who?”
“We don’t know. She didn’t say. That’s what the Safe Haven law is all about.”
Boone knew that, of course. Texas law provided that a parent could leave a baby up to sixty days old with an employee on duty at any hospital, emergency medical services provider, or child welfare agency and not be charged with abandonment. Parents were encouraged to give information about the child’s health, race, date of birth, place of birth, and the parents’ medical history, but it wasn’t required.
Ellen continued, “Sarah did say there was a separate, personal message for you.”