“You wouldn’t have had to go through it alone,” Kit said in practically a whisper with the kind of reverence normally reserved for talking during church service.
“I knew you were there if I needed you.” Those words rang hollow. He had wallowed in self-pity for too many months afterLynn’s death. He’d cursed everyone and everything that had once been sacred to him.
“That’s not the same thing, and you know it.” Kit’s scolding tone struck a chord.
“You’re right,” he said. “I should have told you everything.”
“I knew Lynn was sick and that you’d had your ups and downs, but I didn’t know it was…” Her voice trailed up as she looked at him with the sincerest eyes. “Explains a lot about the last couple of years.”
He nodded. He knew she was talking about the way he’d withdrawn from her and everyone else. The lack of communication with his family. The way he’d treated brothers who didn’t take his calls now.
A dawn of understanding passed behind Kit’s eyes.
Rather than keep going down a path that couldn’t be undone, he shifted the conversation to the real reason Carys was here. “I’m confident that I wasn’t sleeping around a year ago. And now you know the reason. But that leaves this little girl in limbo, doesn’t it?”
“Officially? Yes.”
“What about unofficially?”
“You haven’t taken a paternity test to prove you’re not the biological father so I have no reason to disregard your name on the birth certificate.” She put a hand up to stop him from protesting. “I’m not saying you are. I believe you’re being honest. However, I have a government document that implicates you as the father and no DNA test to disprove it.” She looked at him with pleading eyes. “If you are officially not the father, then Rue goes to a seriously understaffed orphanage while I hunt down next of kin. You are a good person. You came to the aid of a stranger in this horrific storm. Not many people would risk their own safety under these circumstances. In fact, most wouldn’t have called back.”
“The name Stephanie Cross suddenly rings a bell,” he said, catching on and appreciating the show of confidence in him. If he could buy some time for Carys to find a suitable home for Rue, he wouldn’t stand in the way. It felt like he could finally do something good for someone else. He felt useful for the first time in a long time.
Carys shot him a look. “What are you saying?”
“I was hitting a lot of bars a year ago. Drinking more than my fair share.” His admission got a stern look from Kit. “I’m not proud of it, but I figure honesty is the best policy.”
“And this is true?” Carys asked.
He raised his right hand with three middle fingers extended while his thumb held down his pinky finger in the Scout Sign. “Hand to god.”
“Okay, I can work with that narrative,” she said on a slow exhale, needing to revise her report.
Blaize caught Kit’s gaze. “You okay with a baby staying here for…what?” He looked to Carys.
“A couple of days, maybe more,” she said. “Next of kin will have to be found, then notified of Stephanie’s death if that proves to be the case, and I can screen them for suitability. This girl is too young to remember anything that we do for her, but believe me when I say it’ll matter in the long run more than you can know.”
The heaviness in those words struck Blaize. Had Carys lost someone important to her at a young age?
“IT’LL BE NICEto have a little one around again,” Kit said. “We haven’t had a crib in this house in a lot of years. Your father got rid of everything I kept for you and your brothers. Said this wasn’t a storage facility.”
Carys noted the tick in Blaize’s jaw at the mention of his father. She would mention that safety standards were different now and it wasn’t advised to use cribs and such that were decades old if that would make it better. Based on his tense expression, it wouldn’t. This conversation was bigger and had more weight. It was about casually throwing away memories. She got it. Her father hadn’t been any better. He’d gotten rid of all Carys’s memorabilia, too.
“You’ll have to tell me when you’re ready to take the DNA test,” she said to Blaize. “I appreciate you buying time for me.”
Thunder cracked.
“Do you want to settle in for the night?” Kit asked, surprising Carys with the question.
“I don’t have any clothes or supplies for myself,” she stammered. “I’m sure the storm will blow over, and then maybe…”
When she really thought about it, she needed to stay. Kit would be fine taking care of Rue. Still, leaving felt strangely like abandonment. Was it because paternity hadn’t been established? Was that the niggling feeling in the back of Carys’s mind warning her to stick close to Rue? Did it have to do with guilt for pushing an infant on a family where she didn’t technically belong?
Definitely all of those things. She couldn’t imagine walking out that door, going home, and getting any sleep tonight. Especially not after what happened. Was her car even drivable?
“On second thought, I’d love to take you up on your generosity,” she said. “Thank you for your hospitality.”
Kit smiled as her gaze bounced from Carys to Blaize and back. “It sure is nice to have a few more females in the house for a change.” She seemed to catch the implication of her casual comment when she shook her head. She flashed her eyes at Blaize. “I don’t think that came out right.”
