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Granted, he wasn’t a big-city cop. But he’d had a fair amount of police training and pretty good instincts. Despite her very attractive packaging, this woman was hiding something.
“Except for knowing my birth name, what other proof do you have that these babies are any relation to me at all?”
Chapter Two
Laura’s head snapped up, her eyebrows arched in surprise at his question. “Trust me, Sheriff Oakes, there is no reason in the world why I would lie to you about that.”
“But that doesn’t mean what you’re saying is true. How well did you know the woman who said she was my sister?”
“Half sister. You and she had the same mother. I’ve known Amy since she was ten years old.”
“That long?” The more a witness talked, the more likely they were to get their story confused, if they were lying. Eric wanted this woman talking. He wanted the truth.
Rebecca started to fuss, and Laura picked her up, holding her against her shoulder, patting her back. “My mother took Amy in as a foster child when I was about twenty and going to college. I was still living at home, so I was around a lot.”
Something dark and painful rose in Eric’s chest. “Where was her mother?” His mother, if what she was saying was true.
“Amy was being both abused and neglected. Child Welfare removed her from her home and placed her with my mother for her own safety. It was the best thing that could have ever happened to Amy.”
God, remembering what had happened to him as a kid, Eric could believe that. “Where is her mother now?”
Laura softened her voice slightly. “She died about five years ago. I’m sorry.”
A muscle flexed in his jaw. “I see. You realize I can check your story, don’t you?”
She made an impatient sound and plucked a baby bottle from the diaper bag. “Be my guest. The detective’s business card is in the truck. And my mother would be happy to give you the name of Amy’s former case worker.”
Either she was telling the truth, as she knew it, or she was a damn good actress. But the whole story could still be a scam.
Eric sat down on the arm of the couch and watched while Laura slipped the bottle into Rebecca’s hungry mouth. She did it with such ease, he guessed she’d done it a thousand times before. Probably. He also noted she wasn’t wearing a ring, which likely meant she wasn’t currently married.
“What about the twins’ father? You know where he is?”
“She never gave me his name. I’m not sure if I knew who he was that I’d go looking for him. She’d gone off with him about a year ago. From what she did tell me, he was abusing her. After she got pregnant, she ran away.”
“Smart woman. But if he knew about her pregnancy, he could still show up and claim his parental rights.” Eric couldn’t think of anything worse than losing his own children. But he couldn’t imagine abusing a woman, either.
“I think it’s unlikely he’ll show up, whoever he is.”
“If Amy knew I existed, I wished she’d tried to find me sooner. I might have been able to help.” With a restraining order…or something a little more personal and persuasive.
“She didn’t know about you, not until shortly before her…death.” Her voice caught on the word and her chin trembled slightly as though experiencing a painful memory. “She was going through some old papers of her mother’s. That’s how she…we learned about you.”
Amanda began twisting and turning on the couch like an eel. Almost immediately she registered her displeasure about something. Eric didn’t have a clue what.
“There’s another bottle in the bag,” Laura said. “Mandy’s has a blue top. Can you feed her?”
Panic spiked him in the chest. “Uh, sure, I guess.”
He found the bottle, gave it a little shake as he had seen Laura do, then stuck it in Amanda’s mouth. She started sucking eagerly.
“It would be better if you picked Mandy up and held her while you were feeding her. Cuddling is important to an infant’s emotional and intellectual development.”
“Right.” His brow tightened into a frown. It looked so easy when Laura held and fed Rebecca. In contrast, he didn’t know quite where or what to grab on to, and it irritated him that Laura sounded like a baby-care expert.
“You do this for a living?” he asked. “Taking care of babies.”
“Bigger babies.” She smiled slightly. “They can cry louder. I’m a high school history and government teacher.”
“Oh.” Adjusting his position, Eric picked up the baby, bottle and all, cradling her in his arm. She looked up at him with big blue eyes, trusting him as though he could walk on water.
God, did he dare believe these two babies were really related to him? That they were family? That he had a legitimate claim to be their father and raise them?
“What makes you so sure these records you’re talking about weren’t forged or something.”
“Have you always been this much of a skeptic? Or is it that babies make you that nervous?”
“Come on, you waltz into my life with some crazy story about a sister I never knew I had? Wouldn’t you have some doubts, too?” Less than a year ago a woman had shown up at his brother Walker’s house with a baby in tow and claiming to be his new housekeeper. A totally phony story, which had worked out well in the end, he admitted. “A desperate woman looking to find a decent home for her baby can come up with a very convincing lie.”
She leveled him a look that would make most men back off in a hurry. “I personally guarantee if you don’t want to raise Rebecca and Amanda for any reason at all, they will always have a good home—with me.”
The intensity of her words brought him up short. This woman was not fooling around. “You want to adopt the twins?”
“With all my heart.” A fine sheen of tears appeared in her eyes, but she didn’t let them spill over.
“Then why did you bother to track me down? I never would have known otherwise.”
“Because I promised Amy I would.”
That simple truth, stated with such conviction, had more power than anything else she could have said. She wanted to be the twins’ mother. She loved them. Eric was standing in her way. And still she had kept her word to a dead woman—her foster sister.
Removing the bottle from Rebecca’s mouth, she lifted the baby to her shoulder again, rubbing her cheek against the infant’s blond, fuzzy little head and patting her back.
Assuming the twins were related to Eric, did he have any right to take them away from a woman who so obviously loved them even if it had been their mother’s wish that he raise the pair? What the hell had made her—or him—think he was qualified for the job?
Rebecca gave a very unladylike burp, and milk drooled down her chin.
“I brought along the box of records and snapshots Amy discovered. It’s in the back of my truck.” She laid the baby back down on the couch and wiped the dribble from her lips with the edge of the blanket. “If you’ll watch the twins, I’ll go get it. Some of the pictures are of you and your mother.”
That news drove the air from his lungs. He had nothing of his mother except memories. Some good, some bad. All of which he had tried to repress because the very last memory was of her abandoning him.
LAURA MANAGED to get outside before her chin began to wobble again. She didn’t want Eric to see how strongly his interrogation had upset her. It had taken all of her courage to come here to fulfill Amy’s wishes. She didn’t appreciate being treated like a common criminal. Given a choice, she’d be happy if he decided he wasn’t related to the twins, didn’t want them around.
But her damn conscience demanded she give him all the information she had before he made up his mind about what he wanted to do.
Sometimes being honest really stank!
Grabbing her slender briefcase from the front seat, she went around to the back of the truck and lifted the hatchback. Her suitcase, baby paraphernalia and a crib filled the back of the SUV. Tucked to one side was a shoe box from a discount store that had long since gone out of business. She took that and a small quilt, carrying them inside.
She found him gazing at the babies but couldn’t quite read his expression. It was softer than when he looked at her, more relaxed with at least a trace of awe.
Please don’t take my babies away from me.
He looked up at her.
“This is the box with the snapshots and Amy’s birth certificate. You’ll note the similarity of your mother’s name and hers.”
Eric held the box in his lap unopened for longer than necessary while Laura busied herself by spreading the quilt on the floor and laying the twins down one at a time. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what was in the box. For the most part, he’d put his childhood behind him. He’d grown up. Whatever faults his mother had had, he didn’t dwell on them now.
He didn’t want to reopen wounds he’d spent most of his life trying to heal.
One of the babies made a singsong sound, and he realized he had to see whatever Pandora had in mind for him.
The snapshots didn’t appear to be in any particular order. A young blond girl in a ponytail standing in front of a pickup truck. The twins’ mother, his half sister? A younger version of her on a tricycle. He felt no recognition, no connection.
He picked up the birth certificate and examined it. Amy Maria Thorne, mother listed as Millicent Karen Thorne.
Eric swallowed the tightness in his throat. His mother must have finally found some guy to marry her. She’d been listed Millicent Karen Johnson on his birth certificate. Unmarried.
And then she’d abused and neglected her daughter—just as she had neglected and allowed a hamfisted man to abuse him.
He caught his breath at the next snapshot, he and his mother standing in front of a roller-coaster ride. He’d been maybe seven or eight at the time.
“I remember this.” His voice sounded rusty, his throat was dry. “We’d gone to a county fair. It was the first time I’d ever ridden a roller coaster and some guy with a camera…”
His throat shut down entirely. He couldn’t speak, and it felt like someone had tightened a band around his chest, screwing it down hard.
He stood. He had to get away from Laura. Couldn’t let her see how upset he was.
With a vague wave of his hand, he fled the room.
Why had his mother abandoned him? What had he done that was so wrong?
Sitting back on her haunches, Laura watched him leave. His obvious pain had brought an ache to her own chest. From what she’d just seen and what Amy had told her, Eric’s wounds were fully as deep as his sister’s had been.
Smiling down at the twins, who were now chewing on each other’s fingers, she silently vowed she wouldn’t leave them with Eric until she made sure whatever damage his mother had done to him emotionally hadn’t left him so severely scarred that he was incapable of giving the twins the love they deserved.
If she decided to leave them here at all.
When he returned, his strong, masculine features were tightly under control, and he held himself erect.
“You’ve convinced me,” he said. “Amanda and Rebecca are my nieces. We’re blood kin, and I’ll give them the best home I know how.”
Fear and adrenaline drove Laura to her feet. “It’s not that easy. I’m not going to simply hand the girls over to you.”
“Why not? That’s why you tracked me down, isn’t it? It’s what my sister wanted, right?”
“Not exactly. First, I have to—”
The doorbell chimed, but before either of them had a chance to react, the door opened.
“Hey, Eric, are you home?” a female voice asked.
Laura’s heart sank. If Eric had a woman in his life who could be a good mother to the twins—
A young woman with reddish hair swept into the room followed by an equally attractive blonde.
“Oh, look at those sweet little babies,” the first one crooned, kneeling beside the quilt on the floor. “Look at their tiny pug noses. They’re adorable.”
Laura bristled, her protective instincts rising.
Frowning, Eric muttered, “What are you two doing here? And since when do you use the front door?”
“Since we knew you had company and we came to see the babies, of course,” the blonde responded. “And to meet the woman you’ve been seeing on the sly.” With a welcoming smile, she extended her hand to Laura. “Hi, I’m Lizzie Oakes, Eric’s sister-in-law. And that’s Kristi fawning all over your babies, Eric’s other sister-in-law. We’re both upset he’s been keeping you a secret from the family.”
Laura gaped at the woman before finally taking Lizzie’s hand. “I think there’s been some misunderstanding. Eric and I haven’t been—”
“You don’t have to pretend with us,” Kristi said, playing peek-a-boo with Amanda. “We’re certainly not ones to cast stones.”
“Neither of us,” Lizzie agreed. “We just want to make sure Eric is prepared to do the right thing. A woman shouldn’t have to—”
“Ladies!” Eric barked, causing both babies to twist their heads around searching for the source of that unpleasant sound. “This is Laura Cavendish, who I just met today. And those two babies, who you think are so cute, are my nieces, which is no doubt why you think they’re cute. Family resemblance.”
Jaws agape, both young women stared at Eric.
“What sister?” they said in unison.
“Half sister,” he admitted. “Laura, who knew her when she was growing up, brought the twins here so I could meet them. I’m very grateful for that.” He acknowledged her with a nod. “And it is my intention, based on my sister’s wishes, to adopt the twins and be the best darn father I know how to be.”
“Oh, my…” Kristi murmured.
“Well, then,” Lizzie said. “Congratulations. You’ll be a terrific dad.”
“Excuse me, but it’s not that simple,” Laura told them. She’d been aware via the adoption records the detective had uncovered that Eric had two brothers. She hadn’t expected to be assailed right off by two sisters-in-law, however.
“You’re right,” Kristi agreed, placing a kiss on Rebecca’s forehead before she stood. “Among other things, I don’t think Eric has a lot of experience with babies. I know he’ll be grateful if you could stay here with him for a few days to help him get the hang of things. Unless you have a husband to get home to.”
“No, I don’t—”
“That’s a terrific idea.” Lizzie shot a conspiratorial look in Kristi’s direction.
Eric stepped forward. “Now wait a minute—”
“You’ve got that extra bedroom where Laura can stay,” Lizzie said. “And the room on the south side will make a wonderful nursery. Sunny and warm in the winter. The babies will love it.”
“Trust me, you’ll need a lot of extra help at first,” Kristi added. “Why, I remember when…”
Laura’s head spun as the two women pointed out the importance of having someone on hand who knew how to handle infants. They, the women insisted, didn’t have time to help him out. They had their own families. Laura suspected the whole deal was a match-making scheme. On the other hand, she wasn’t about to leave the twins in Eric’s care just yet. Maybe never. In order to give him a fair chance at proving himself, she needed to give him some time with the babies. Maybe he’d hate all the inconvenience enough to forget being a father.
