The Baby Barter Read online

  Mack pulled his fist back, then plunged it into the mattress. The people who knew him would know the rumors of misbehavior weren’t true, that he’d been isolated at Ms. Aurora’s only to keep from spreading the chicken pox around town. But what could he do about those who didn’t know him as well, those who would believe the rumors? What kind of standard did that set for the town if the sheriff was accused of immoral behavior?

  And what of Thea? He’d witnessed the pain she’d gone through when talk centered on her sister’s wild behavior, had comforted her when she’d been snubbed, watched her hold her head high even as people whispered around her. Even now, some of the old folk would have her wear a scarlet letter because of Eileen’s actions. What would people say about Thea now? Would they listen to reason or brand her with the same ugly names they’d given her sister? Mack wouldn’t sit by and watch her get hurt like that, not when a marriage would silence people’s tongues.

  That was if Thea would take him, disability and all.

  “You both want to raise that little girl downstairs so why not team up? Get married and adopt her together,” Beau said. “Judge Wakefield wouldn’t have any reasons left for holding up the adoption then.”

  “You make marriage sound like I’d be joining the football team.” Of course it all seemed that simple to Beau. He had the kind of marriage Mack had always wanted for himself, the kind of marriage his parents had had, a lifelong promise, a covenant between him and his bride to love, honor and cherish each other until the Lord called them home. A life with a woman who chose to be with him, to love him, to grow together in the good and bad times.

  Not a woman forced into marriage because of public opinion or to skirt around the adoption laws.

  He needed to talk to Thea. It was her reputation at risk. To leave her out of the conversation about her future, about their possible future with Sarah, felt just plain wrong.

  Besides, the other option besides proposing was letting Beau take him home—and Mack couldn’t leave now. Not after he’d seen the way that exhaustion wore on Thea. Sarah and the rest of the kids needed him. One desertion in a person’s life was one too many. He couldn’t do that to Thea or the kids. “How long does it usually take to get over chicken pox?”

  “A week, give or take a day or two,” Beau said. “Why?”

  “Then come back in a couple of days and we’ll talk again.”

  Beau stared at him for a long moment. “It would be better if I monitored you at your own home.”

  “Better for who? The town council? If they’re so worried about my reputation, have them send somebody out here to help Thea with the kids. Because that’s what I intend to do the next few days.”

  Beau shook his head. “They’re not going to like this at all.”

  “Maybe not, but I wouldn’t like myself too much if I didn’t stay and help Thea care for these kids now that I’m feeling better.” Mack scoffed. “Just because a bunch of old hens got a bee in their bonnet about the situation between me and Thea doesn’t mean I’m going to turn my back on doing what’s right for my daughter.”

  Concern clouded his friend’s expression. “I understand, you know I do, but you’re talking about your livelihood here. If you lose your job, no court in this country would consider giving you that baby.”

  Beau was right. Why win the battle if it meant losing the war? Compromise seemed the only viable solution, though it left a sour taste in his mouth. “Can you get me until tomorrow? Just long enough to spend some time with Sarah and make sure she’s okay?” And Thea, too. She needed sleep, and he wanted to make sure she got some rest after being run ragged these past few days.

  “That shouldn’t be too hard. I’ll let them know that unless they want a full-blown epidemic of the chicken pox right before Thanksgiving, they’d better let you stay put.”

  “Thanks.”

  “This may give you a short reprieve,” Beau started. “But don’t think that the town council is just going to drop this. I talked to several of them last night about the possibility that you’d hire Thea to be Sarah’s nurse after her surgery, and that didn’t go over very well. I didn’t know someone could raise their eyebrows so high.”

  If Mack hadn’t been the topic of conversation, he might have liked to have seen that. Instead, it felt as if he’d jumped on the Ferris wheel at the county fair and it was spinning out of his control. Once again, Thea had entered and wreaked havoc on his life. Only this time he wasn’t helpless—there was something he could do. If Thea was willing to agree...

  Mack closed his eyes. Father in Heaven, You’re going to have to sort out this mess that’s my life right now. Give me wisdom and strength to follow You in all my ways. In Christ’s name, Amen.

  Chapter Eight

  Thea dried the last soup bowl and set it alongside the others. Sarah’s sporadic cries from across the room as Ms. Aurora walked her around the kitchen table tore Thea’s heart to shreds. She wiped her palms on the skirt of the apron she’d borrowed, then turned and held out her hands. “Let me take her for a little while and give you a break.”

  Ms. Aurora shifted the baby’s weight on her hip. “You could use a break, too. The kids have run you in circles since the rooster crowed this morning.”

  Sarah tilted sideways, waving her arms in the air, a signal Thea recognized. The baby wanted Thea to hold her. She scooped the baby up, the now-familiar scent of calamine lotion floating in the air between them. Sarah curled up into her, her warm body a sweet weight. “I’ve worked long hours before.”

  “On the front line over in Europe during the war,” the woman said softly as she walked over to the cupboard and opened it. “Weren’t you afraid you’d get killed?”

  “Constantly.” Thea rested her cheek against a patch of the pale blond hair that swirled around Sarah’s head and held her tight. But the prospect of death wasn’t as horrible as the fear of being alone, of having no one to come home to. That fear had driven Thea back to Marietta, ready to see her mother and sister again, to try and put their grievances in the past.

  But there’d been no family to come home to. Eileen was gone, and Momma... The thought made her heart contract into a painful knot.

  Thea glanced down at the baby nuzzled against her shoulder, her deep, steady breathing a comfort after so many sleepless nights. Watching this child suffer had torn a hole through her. Thea would have gladly borne the itching and fevers Sarah had endured to give the child relief. How in the world would she bear the weeks of pain this baby would go through recovering from the surgery to correct her mouth and nose?

  Mack would be there to lean on for support.

  Her heart fluttered as she remembered how close he’d come to kissing her. She’d wanted his kiss, had almost stretched up on her toes to breach the distance between them and cover his lips with hers. What would Mack have thought? Would he have branded her as wild as her sister? He’d probably laugh if he knew the truth, that in all her twenty-six years Thea had still never experienced a real kiss. Wouldn’t it have been lovely if Mack had been her first?

  But not with the question of Sarah’s parentage hanging over their heads. No, it was best for everyone that Beau had interrupted when he had.

  “You’re deep in thought over there,” Ms. Aurora said as she walked over to the cupboard.

  Thea rocked the baby in her arms. “Just letting my mind wander. I’m too tired to think too much.”

  “I could do with a cup of coffee.” Ms. Aurora opened the cabinet door and took a cup and saucer down. “How about you?”

  “I’d love one,” Thea whispered on a shaky breath, Sarah finally asleep. “But the children...”

  The older woman held up a delicate hand. “The little ones are napping while Claire and Billy keep Ellie occupied in her room.”

  “My mother...”

  “Upstairs napping, as
well.” She extracted another cup and closed the cabinet. “Being around all these children has about worn the woman slap out.”

  “We could all use a good night’s sleep.” Thea yawned as the baby snuggled deeper into the crook of her neck.

  Ms. Aurora chuckled as she carried the cups and laid them on the linen-covered table. “That doesn’t happen much around here, even when all of the children are well.”

  Nights with no sleep for someone of Ms. Aurora’s advancing years had to be wearing on her health. Yet Thea had seen that she loved these children with a joy and patience most parents didn’t demonstrate. Shame knotted in the pit of Thea’s stomach. She had severely misjudged the woman. Cradling Sarah tightly against her shoulder, Thea maneuvered herself onto a chair at the table. “I owe you an apology, Ms. Aurora.”

  The older woman looked at her with startled eyes. “Whatever for?”

  Thea swallowed. This was harder than she’d thought it would be. “I judged you based on someone else I knew, a woman who wasn’t kind to the children she took in.”

  “Who in the world would do something like that?”

  Georgia Tann. “Just someone I knew from my nursing school days.”

  “I hope you reported her to the authorities.”

  Repeatedly, for all the good it did her. “Anyway, I’m sorry for judging you.”

  Ms. Aurora gave her the same sweet smile Thea had seen her give the children time and again. “It’s all right. If I’d seen someone mistreating a child like you have, I’d be suspicious, too.”

  No wonder everyone thought so highly of Ms. Aurora. Thea sat back in her chair, the weight on her heart a little less heavy now that she had the older woman’s forgiveness. “I do have a couple of questions.”

  “I’ll answer anything you like as long as it’s my story to tell.”

  “Well,” Thea began, “what made you decide to take in all these kids?”

  “If you mean did I go out looking for these children, I didn’t.” She opened the silverware drawer and pulled out two spoons. “God just put them in my path.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Ms. Aurora returned to the table with a coffeepot and sat it on a crocheted pot holder in front of her before taking a seat. “When I was growing up, I didn’t have the opportunities to marry. I was in the hospital during the time most girls are courted. By the time I was released, I was more interested in enjoying my freedom than being chained up again.”

  Why had Ms. Aurora been hospitalized for such a long time? Or had she been in an institution? Thea decided not to ask. “But if you wanted your freedom...”

  “I know. Silly me!” Ms. Aurora chuckled. “But God knew the real desires of my heart. He knew that I wanted a family even if that didn’t include a husband.”

  “That must have been very difficult for your parents to understand.”

  Sadness blew across the woman’s expressive face then just as quickly, dissipated. “They were gone from my life by then. Anyway, here I was, unmarried and yearning for a family of my own. So I did what I’d always done. I asked for God to provide me with a child if it was His will.”

  “You asked God for a baby, and He gave you one?”

  “Well, not a baby, but two little boys.” Ms. Aurora reached for the coffeepot and poured Thea a cup before pouring her own. “I was at the grocery store one day and saw a little boy stealing a loaf of bread. John, that’s Claire’s daddy, was about ten years old then.” She shook her head. “That boy, he had my heart even before he told me he’d only taken the bread to feed his little brother. Their daddy deserted them after their mother died. John was fine, but his little brother, Matthew, was severely crippled.”

  The thought of those boys left to the streets to fend for themselves caused an ache to well up in Thea’s soul. “Did the police ever find their father? Was he brought up on charges for abandoning them?”

  “No.” The woman must have sensed Thea’s outrage and continued. “Taking it to the courts would have put the boys in danger of being sent to one of the state institutions, and we couldn’t chance that. So Mr. Worthington and I worked out a plan. The grocer wouldn’t press charges and I’d take the boys home and give them a place to live.”

  “Mr. Worthington?”

  “Mack’s daddy, and a very good man. I don’t even think Mack knows this but his father used to bring us groceries every week so we wouldn’t have to do without.” A soft smile lit her face. “Mack’s done the same thing since he became sheriff four years ago. Sometimes I wondered how that boy managed to put food on his own table when he gave most of his ration stamps to us.”

  Yes, Mack would do that. Even as a boy, he’d always put others’ needs first. That was how they had become friends in the first place—he’d shared his lunch when there had been nothing at home for Thea to eat. “How did Sarah come to live here?”

  “That was a sad situation.” Ms. Aurora spooned a heaping tablespoon of sugar into her steaming cup. “Mack showed up with that little baby, only a few hours old, and it was so plain to see he was just heartbroken at the thought of her mother not wanting her. He’d fallen in love right from the start. He’d been told that the daddy was killed overseas and that her momma was all set to keep the child, until she saw Sarah’s condition. Once she realized the full extent of her problems, she asked to have the baby taken away.”

  Thea flinched at Ms. Aurora’s words. Would her sister give up her own child simply because she wasn’t physically perfect? Thea feared she knew the answer, but there had been no one to tell Eileen there were medical procedures to correct her baby’s misshaped mouth and nose.

  “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken so harshly about Sarah’s mother, not knowing if...”

  “It’s all right, Ms. Aurora. I know my sister wasn’t a saint.” Thea hesitated, shame washing over her. “I’m just going on the belief she wasn’t in her right frame of mind when she gave the baby up.”

  “That’s a possibility, as rough a time as your mother said she had.”

  That startled Thea, considering she’d had to drag any information out of her mother. “Momma talked to you about my sister’s delivery?”

  The woman nodded. “She said that Eileen was in labor for almost three days before your mother finally drove her over to Mrs. Williams to see what was taking the baby so long. Said it was the most scared she’d ever been.”

  Three days! Why hadn’t Momma called for help sooner, or better yet, called for an ambulance to take Eileen to the hospital? Was her mother already suffering confusion and poor decision-making then that had put her sister and niece in danger? Thea held the sleeping child closer. If she’d been there, she would have taken control of the situation, comforted her sister, maybe kept Eileen from making a terrible mistake. Sarah whimpered.

  “You’re holding her too tight. Ease up a bit,” Ms. Aurora instructed in a gentle tone.

  Thea released her hold on the baby slightly. “I’m sorry, darling girl.”

  Sarah’s answer was to stick her sock-covered fingers into her mouth and curl back into Thea’s neck.

  “You mind if I ask you a question?”

  Thea braced herself. If there was one thing she’d learned about Aurora Adair in the last three days, it was that she was as blunt as a dull scalpel. “What would that be?”

  “I can’t help but wonder what’s the real reason you’re all fired up to raise Sarah.”

  Thea brushed a lock of Sarah’s silky soft hair away from her face. “I believe she’s my niece, so of course I want to raise her.”

  “Not everyone would. I mean, it’s a lot of responsibility to take on, raising a child. Especially a child with special needs. Alone, for the most part.” The older woman brought her coffee cup to her mouth.

  Thea stared at the sleeping child resting in her arms. Yes, she’d
thought about all the hardships of raising this baby with no help from anyone but Momma—and a diminishing amount of help to be expected even from her. She’d have to deal with the constant worry about money, the stigma that went along with being a single mother. But it would be worth it to have the chance to raise this precious girl. She owed it to her sister.

  She wanted it for herself.

  Thea looked over at the older woman, a mournful smile on her lips. “What is it?” Thea asked.

  “You love that little girl,” Ms. Aurora answered quietly.

  “Yes, I do.” Though if someone had told Thea a month ago she’d be here, back in Marietta, nursing a houseful of people with the chicken pox, falling in love with her niece, she would have thought they’d lost their marbles. But why did Ms. Aurora seem so sad at the prospect? “Don’t you want me to love her?”

  “Of course I do. Every child should be loved and loved abundantly.” She pressed her lips together as if trying to find the right words. “But Mack loves her, too. I’d hate to see that boy lose his chance at raising Sarah if it turns out your sister is Sarah’s mother.”

  Thea nodded. She didn’t want to see Mack hurt any more than Ms. Aurora did. But regardless of what she wanted, either she or Mack was going to end up with a broken heart. “If I’m given custody, I wouldn’t think of cutting Mack out of Sarah’s life. She loves him and I want her to be—what was that phrase you used?—loved abundantly.”

  “And if she isn’t your niece?”

  The thought stole Thea’s breath away. Maybe a week ago, it would have mattered whether or not Miller blood ran through Sarah’s veins, but now that Thea had held her, had nursed her through the chicken pox, had heard her baby giggles, she couldn’t imagine her life without Sarah. “I’d still love her and only want what is best for her.”

  “I believe you would.” Ms. Aurora smiled before taking another sip. “It must have been hard, coming back here after the war, trying to pick up the pieces of your life.”