The Sun Sister (The Seven Sisters #6) - Lucinda Riley Page 0,224

would be, and I just couldn’t risk letting anything bad happen to her.’

‘You’re not suggesting we should keep her, are you?’ Bill said after a pause.

‘Why not? We don’t have children and never will. Why shouldn’t we adopt her?’

Bill stared at Cecily as though she had truly lost her mind. ‘Are you serious? You would actually entertain the thought of bringing her up here as our child?’

‘Yes! We have a home, enough money . . . and besides, Njala obviously knew what was going to happen. She asked me to help her baby in the few words of English I’d taught her. I’m convinced that’s why she left the baby close by; she wanted me to find her.’

‘I’m sorry, Cecily, but you’re lapsing into fantasy. As you said, it was simply the dog that found her by chance whilst you were taking a walk through the woods—’

‘A walk we’d taken every day for the best part of two months. Wolfie knew Njala’s scent, which is bound to be similar to Stella’s . . .’

‘You’ve named the baby?’ Bill looked grey with exhaustion.

‘I had to call her something, didn’t I? Here, I’ve winded her and she’s sleeping. Would you like to hold her?’

‘No, Cecily, I would not.’ Bill pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. ‘I’m sorry, but we simply cannot keep her.’

‘Why?’

‘Because . . .’

‘Yes?’

‘She is black. Adoption of such a child just does not happen in our world, or anywhere else in the world for that matter.’

‘Why, Mr Forsythe, the great champion of the Maasai, who even has one at his side everywhere he goes. Underneath all that, you’re just as prejudiced as everyone else! Well, let me tell you something: if this baby goes, so do I! Because I made a promise to that poor young girl and I will not send her baby away, you hear me?!’ Cecily rose with Stella in her arms, marched to the bedroom, then slammed the door behind her and locked it.

Laying the baby down on the bed next to her, Cecily burst into noisy tears.

‘Don’t worry, little one,’ she hiccupped, ‘I’ll die before I let harm come to you, I swear it.’

Cecily was woken by a knock on the door. She looked at the clock and saw it was past midnight. The baby was stirring next to her, stuffing her knuckle into her mouth, which was her way of saying she was hungry.

‘Cecily, can I please come in?’

As Stella needed a bottle anyway, Cecily reluctantly unlocked the door with the baby in her arms. She didn’t so much as look at Bill as she walked out past him to fetch the bottle. Having warmed it, she sat down on a kitchen chair to feed her charge.

‘Forgive me, Cecily,’ he said as he appeared at the kitchen door. ‘You’ve done nothing wrong at all.’

‘No, I haven’t,’ Cecily hissed. ‘And anyone who says I have is a despicable human being.’

‘I agree,’ Bill said, sitting back down in the chair he’d occupied earlier.

‘I mean it. If you suggest again that this baby goes to an orphanage, I will pack my things and leave with her. Do you understand?’

‘I hear you loud and clear. But the fact remains that society has not yet been awakened to cross-racial adoption, on either side,’ he added firmly. ‘Perhaps someday that won’t be the case and I pray it is so.’

‘I don’t care about what society says and I didn’t think you did either!’

‘Cecily, believe me, if I did care about the rules of society, I’d never have married you in the first place, and we certainly wouldn’t even be having this conversation. I’d have simply grabbed the baby from you and whisked her away to Nairobi. So please, give me some credit. Nevertheless, the three of us do have to live in society, however much we try to bend the rules. And a white couple adopting a black baby is literally unheard of.’

‘I—’ Cecily opened her mouth to speak, but Bill put up a hand to stop her.

‘Hear me out, please. You’ve obviously become emotionally attached to the baby. Which is understandable, given the loss of your own child. I have only known about this . . . situation for a few hours, so forgive me if I’m struggling to come to terms with it. The fact is, Cecily, that even if you did leave with the baby, you have nowhere to run to.’

‘Of course I do! Katherine, or even Kiki would take us