Cord sighed heavily. “No,” he agreed. “It doesn’t make it any easier.”
Whether it was the evidence that he understood or sheer need, she turned and wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face against his chest and wept. Cord had to fight the sting of his own tears as he held her and let her cry.
When she was all cried out, he tucked a finger under her chin and tilted her head up until their eyes met.
“It’s not over yet,” he reminded her gently. “This could be a false alarm. Or the mother could be incapable of caring for the child. We don’t know yet what this means.”
“I know but—”
He touched a finger to her lips. “No buts. Right now we need to get back out there and see how our girl is doing. It’s the here and now that counts, remember?”
He watched as panic flared when she realized for the first time that he hadn’t brought Ashley with him.
“Who has her?” she asked.
“I left her with Justin. He seemed capable enough.”
“He’d better be,” she said dryly. “He and Patsy have a little boy from her first marriage and one of their own on the way. Nobody’s better qualified to be a daddy than Justin, though. He’s totally unflappable. It’s ironic, really. His father—you met Jordan—was absolutely panicked at the idea of becoming a father when he married Kelly and adopted her daughter. That’s Dani.”
“The veterinarian whose house you’re living in?”
“Exactly. Anyway, Jordan thought he was totally unsuited for parenthood. Turned out he was a natural.”
“Seems to me as if all the Adamses are naturals when it comes to parenthood. I’ve never met a group of people more taken with babies than your family.”
“I know. It’s one of my biggest regrets—” she cut off the potentially revealing statement before its conclusion.
“What is?” Cord prompted.
“That I’ll never have a family of my own.”
“Why on earth would you say that?” Cord demanded. “You’re a young woman. If ever anyone was suited to marriage and kids, it’s you.”
She refused to meet his gaze. “I had my chance and lost it,” she said bleakly.
Before he could respond to that, she turned and walked away.
How? Cord wondered. How had she lost her chance and why was she so convinced that she would never have another one? If ever they were to have a chance, he had to know the explanation behind that despairing remark. How much longer would it be before she trusted him enough to tell him? At the moment, he was deeply regretting his promise to himself not to seek the answers wherever he could find them.
Chapter Seven
On Monday, still panicked by Justin’s announcement of a lead on the baby’s mother, Sharon Lynn refused to let Ashley out of her sight. Barely was the baby ever out of her arms, even as she worked at Dolan’s. She felt as if time were slipping away from her, as if she might turn around at any second and discover that the baby had vanished as quickly and miraculously as she had appeared.
Despite her best intentions, despite all the warnings everyone had given her, she had gone and fallen in love with the child for whom she’d been caring the past couple of weeks. Holding her, loving her, had been like a gift from God, a second chance to have the family she’d dreamed of.
How ironic that another woman had held the child—had given birth to her—and had still somehow managed to let her go. Had it been a sacrifice, an act of desperation, or had the mother been relieved by the very act that so terrified Sharon Lynn—letting go?
Even though she’d known from the beginning that her claim on the baby was tenuous, known that it could end at any moment, with every day that passed without a lead, hope had taken root and started to grow.
By Saturday when she and Cord had indulged in that totally impetuous shopping spree, she had begun to envision a future, one that included all three of them, because somehow she couldn’t think of the baby without thinking of Cord, too. As impossible as it seemed, it fit. It all fit.
And it was all make-believe. Justin’s words had been the proof of that. Ashley had a real mother out there somewhere, a woman who was entitled to her daughter.
No, Sharon Lynn thought fiercely. A woman who abandoned her baby in the middle of a blizzard had no rights. None. She closed her eyes and tried to shut