but right now nothing short of a positive custody ruling in their favor would calm her.
Cord had been wonderful. Though he’d continued to work at White Pines every day, he’d spent every spare second with her. He’d tried valiantly to anticipate her needs, to offer reassurance when she needed it most and a shoulder to cry on whenever she was overcome with panic. No man could have been more devoted. She would owe him for the rest of her life for standing by her as he had.
“You need something in your stomach,” Cord said now, watching with a disapproving scowl as she toyed with the oatmeal in her bowl. “Can’t you eat just a little?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t think I could keep it down.” She regarded him fearfully. “Cord, what if...?”
He touched a silencing finger to her lips. “Don’t. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it.”
“I can’t let her go with that woman,” she whispered. “She won’t be safe.”
“The judge will see that,” he promised, moving behind her to massage her shoulders. His touch was like magic, soothing away tension.
“Do we dare take a chance that she won’t?” she asked, unable to shake her sense of dread. “Maybe we should just pack everything up and leave Los Piños.”
His hands stilled on her shoulders. She could feel the tension that was now radiating from him.
“You don’t mean that,” he chided. “We can’t spend the rest of our lives on the run. What kind of home could we make for Ashley, if we did that? What kind of example would we be setting? And more than that, what kind of man would I be if I encouraged you to leave the family you love?”
“But Ashley would be safe. That’s all that matters.”
“She will be safe,” he insisted. “The judge will leave her with us. I believe that with all my heart.”
“Then why do we have to take the baby with us to court?” she asked reasonably. From the moment she’d learned of that demand, there had been a terrible knot of dread in the pit of her stomach. “I’ll tell you why. It’s because the judge might decide to take her from us right then and there.”
Cord sighed heavily. “She could, yes, but, darlin’, I don’t believe that’s going to happen, not with the evidence we have about Hazel Murdock’s fitness, not with your family there to testify to the care we’ve given the baby. We have to have faith.”
Sharon Lynn had plenty of faith. She believed that God had guided Vicki Murdock’s boyfriend to her door that icy winter night. He’d been protecting the baby then. She just wished she could be as sure that the judge would be guided by God’s wisdom. It had been her experience that humans sometimes made terrible mistakes with tragic consequences.
“Come on, darlin’. It’s time to go,” Cord said quietly. “I’ll get Ashley.”
“No. I will.” She needed to hold on to the baby as long as she could, especially since it might be the last chance she ever had.
Cord regarded her with understanding. Before she could rush from the room to get the baby, he placed his hands on her shoulders and forced her to meet his gaze.
“Darlin’, I believe with every part of me that this will turn out all right.”
“I want to believe that,” she whispered. “I really do.”
“Whenever your faith starts to waver, put your hand in mine and hold on tight.”
She reached up and touched his cheek. “Thank you. I don’t know if I could have faced this without you.” She wished she could say more, wished she could say the words she knew he wanted to hear, but she was afraid to, terrified to admit that she had come to love him for fear he would somehow be lost to her, too.
“You could have faced it, because you’re an Adams. You come from a long line of strong people,” he said, his gaze warm and steady and reassuring. “But I’m glad we’re in this together. Ashley needs us both.”
She drew herself up, squared her shoulders and smiled bravely. “Yes, she does, and we’re going to see to it that the judge recognizes that.”
Cord grinned. “That’s the spirit.”
At the courthouse a few minutes later they were instantly surrounded by a whole slew of Adamses. Even Sharon Lynn had to admit that united, they presented a formidable force to be reckoned with. She was also reassured that the judge was an old friend of her grandfather’s, a woman known for her fierce protection