Call Her Mine (Harmony Pointe #1)- Melissa Foster Page 0,3
need me cooking you breakfast.” She gazed over her shoulder at him with a smile that lit up the sky as she lifted the top of the basket and said, “Willow’s got you covered.”
Ben’s heart nearly stopped at the sight of a tiny sleeping baby nestled among blankets in the basket. “Fuck. Me.”
“I . . . um . . . Wha—” She followed his gaze to the baby in the basket and gasped, dropping to her knees beside it. “Holy cow, Ben! It’s a baby!”
He took a step back, as if he couldn’t get away fast enough, and said, “Why is it on my porch?”
“I don’t know!”
“There’s a note. Grab it.” He pointed to an envelope tucked into the side of the blanket. “Whose kid is it?” He looked up and down the street. For what, he wasn’t sure, but he got a twisted, dark feeling in his gut as Aurelia rose to her feet, the color draining from her face.
She handed him the letter with a shaky hand and said, “She’s yours.”
“What? No, it’s not.” He snagged and scanned the typewritten letter. His heart pounded faster with every word. Dear Ben, I’m sorry to do this to you, but I didn’t know where else to turn. I’m not in a position to care for a baby. I hope you can make room in your life for your daughter.
“What the fuck?” He looked down at the baby. “I need to call my lawyer and the cops. This is bullshit. Some crazy bitch wants money or something.”
Aurelia looked at him like he was crazy.
“What?” he snapped.
“I . . .” She swallowed hard and looked down at the baby. “We should get her inside.”
“No, we shouldn’t. We should take it directly to the police station.”
She shook her head, her gaze moving between him and the baby in the basket. “Are you crazy? If she is your baby, do you really want her going into social services? Being cared for by strangers?”
“It’s not mine, Rels.” He grabbed the basket by the handles and said, “Grab the top of the fucking basket. Let’s take care of this.”
She picked up the top and followed him inside. “This is a baby, and pink blankets indicate a girl. She, not it. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to get a shirt on, and then we’re going to the police station.” He set down the basket and took his phone from his pocket. “But first I’m calling my attorney.”
“Wait!” She grabbed his wrist, her brows imploring him to listen. “Don’t. Please. Let’s just think for a second.”
He scoffed. “Think? Aurelia, it isn’t mine. Seriously.”
“You can’t know that for sure. Even the best birth control is only ninety-nine percent effective.”
“Christ. Do you want this baby? Do you have some weird baby fetish that I don’t know about? Because you can have it and deal with the crazy bitch who’s going to report that her baby has been abducted. And then you’re looking at defending yourself instead of asking for help up front.”
She paced, crossing and uncrossing her arms. “Ben,” she said pleadingly, “you have to find out if she’s yours for sure before you give her up.”
“Fuck that.” Now he was pacing. “I’d know if I had a baby.”
“How? By osmosis? You travel all the time. God only knows how many women you’ve screwed.”
“I’m careful, Rels. So fucking careful.” Because the last thing he wanted was a baby by some random hookup.
“But what if she’s yours? Take it from a girl who would do anything to know who her father was. Knowing is everything.”
He closed his eyes, his heart breaking for Aurelia. Her mother had hemorrhaged and died when Aurelia was born and had never revealed the identity of Aurelia’s father to anyone. She’d only said that he wanted nothing to do with her or a baby. Aurelia had confided in Ben about how hard that was for her, and she’d been brought to tears a number of times with a longing so deep he’d felt her emptiness as his own.
He looked at the baby again. Its lower lip was quivering, but all he saw was Aurelia as a baby, orphaned at birth. Damn it.
The baby started crying, and he said, “You’ve got to pick it up.”
“I don’t know anything about babies! I’ve never even babysat. You have a nephew. You pick her up.” Aurelia crossed her arms, watching him expectantly. His nephew, Louie, was his younger sister Bridgette’s adorable six-year-old son.