‘That really happens?’ Liam asked, obviously sceptical. Alice didn’t blame him; it sounded so unlikely. How could anyone not know that there was a life growing inside them? She’d known, within a few days. And when that life was gone...she’d known that too. The loss had almost swallowed her up.
‘Not often,’ Helene admitted. ‘But probably more often than you’d think.’ She finished her examination and straightened up. ‘Okay. Let’s get this little man wrapped up, fed and asleep. Then we can all talk about what happens next.’
‘He’s okay?’ Alice chewed her lip as she wriggled Jamie back into his clothes. He was so tiny, so helpless. The thought of what might have happened if she hadn’t come through the main hall just then, if she’d stayed at the fundraiser and hadn’t been back that way that evening... No. She couldn’t think that way. Someone would always have found him.
It just felt weirdly like fate that it was her.
‘Babies are surprisingly hardy,’ Helene said. ‘You must have found him very soon after he was left. He’d barely had a chance to get cold. And, lucky for him, it looks like the birth must have been straightforward—although I wish I could examine the mother and make sure she’s okay too.’
‘His mother.’ Alice sighed. ‘We have to find her.’
‘We will,’ Heather promised. ‘I’m on it.’
‘And in the meantime, I assume you don’t want to alert the police just yet?’ Helene said. Iona raised her eyebrows.
‘Not yet.’ Alice thought of some poor, desperate woman being led away in handcuffs for making the worst decision she’d ever have to make. ‘Give us a chance to put this right first. Find the mother. Figure out what’s best for her and for Jamie.’
Helene nodded. ‘Okay. I’ll come back tomorrow to check on him, but in the meantime...’
‘I can take him,’ Iona said. ‘We have places we can look after him, until the mother comes forward.’
‘And what if she doesn’t?’ Liam asked. ‘If we involve the police, they can launch an appeal, right? Ask the mother to own up.’
‘They could,’ Iona allowed. ‘But that’s not always the best move.’
‘How do you mean?’ Alice asked, frowning. She hadn’t thought about appeals. She’d just thought about Jamie, and how his mother had wanted her to look after him. About how she knew, deep inside her, that she must do that, however much it hurt, so that Jamie was safe.
‘Sometimes those appeals can be counterproductive,’ Iona explained. ‘The mother knows the baby is safe then, and that makes it easier for her to stay hidden. She’s more likely to come forward if she doesn’t know what has happened to Jamie, so that she can make sure he’s okay.’
That made sense, she supposed, although she hated the thought of some poor woman panicking alone, never knowing what happened to her child. How could anyone live like that?
‘Which is why it might make sense for Iona to take him,’ Helene said.
‘No. His mother wanted me to look after Jamie. I’ll take care of him.’ Was that her voice? Her words? What was she thinking? She knew nothing about looking after babies. Heather was right—she didn’t just pass back the crying babies or the vomiting ones. She handed them all back, the first chance she got. Not because she didn’t like them, didn’t love their new baby smell and their soft skin. But because...
Because it was just too hard. Being so close to something she knew she could never have, not any more.
So why was she putting herself right next to this baby, this helpless child who would hopefully be going home to his mother in the next twenty-four hours? This was the worst idea she’d ever had.
And yet she couldn’t bring herself to let him go, to trust anyone else to care for Jamie.
‘You?’ Liam sounded incredulous. ‘You couldn’t put a nappy on without help.’
‘I’ll figure it out,’ Alice snapped. ‘Don’t you think I can do it?’
‘On your own?’ He raised one eyebrow. ‘Probably. But why would you want to?’
‘Because he doesn’t have anybody!’ How could he not understand this? ‘He needs help so I will help him. That’s what I do. And Heather has her own kids to get home to, and everyone else here has enough on their plates, so it comes down to me, okay? So I will do it.’
‘Of course you will. But why do you want to do it on your own?’ Alice stopped and stared at him. He could not possibly be suggesting what it sounded like he was suggesting.
‘Because that’s how I do things,’ she said slowly, realising as she spoke the words how true that was. And how sad, actually.
‘Yeah, but this time I’m right here.’ Liam shrugged. ‘She left him to both of us to look after, remember? It’s not like I can do much around Thornwood until I get our deal underway, so I might as well help you with this. With him.’
‘Sounds like that’s sorted, then.’ Helene picked up her doctor’s bag, and Iona nodded.
‘I’ll come back tomorrow with Helene to see how things are going,’ Iona said. ‘But in the meantime, try and keep him away from other people as much as you can, to try and draw the mother out.’
‘And good luck!’ Helene added.
‘No, wait,’ Alice started to say, but Iona and Helene were already preparing to leave.
‘So we have a plan.’ Liam flashed that too charming smile at the other women. ‘Then, ladies, thank you for your help. But I think we can take it from here.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
OKAY, HE KNEW this was crazy. What was he thinking, offering to help Alice Walters look after a baby? Had he been thinking at all?
Probably not. But he couldn’t forget the note in his jacket pocket—the one asking him to take care of Jamie. Given how many times he’d been turned away by people who should have cared for him, how could he do the same to a helpless baby?
Besides, he saw how the tension in Alice’s shoulders had lessened, just slightly, and how the lines around her eyes looked less pronounced as she realised she wouldn’t be doing this alone. She knew she needed him; that much was clear. She was still gripping the baby close to her chest, as if she was afraid someone might snatch him from her arms at any moment. But she didn’t look quite so much as if she was about to bolt out of the door and run for the hills.
Liam understood the impulse—hadn’t he thought of doing exactly the same thing? The only thing he still wasn’t sure about was, if she’d run, would she have taken Jamie with her or not?
She obviously didn’t have much experience with babies, and from what Heather had said she didn’t seem particularly interested in them either—until now. Which brought him back to the nagging question at the back of his mind: what was it about Jamie that made her hold on so tight?
If it was that she knew who his mother was, staying close and helping her might enable him to find out too. And if not...well, they might not have got off to the best start but Alice clearly needed his help. He wasn’t about to abandon her—or Jamie.
He knew how it felt to be abandoned. Unwanted. Cast out or turned away. He couldn’t let this baby, born in Liam’s own ancestral home, start his life that way.
Thornwood Castle might never have been a home or even a refuge to him, but Alice had made it one for others. And now it could be one for Jamie too.
‘How come you know so much about babies, anyway?’ Alice asked, sounding sulky as Jamie started to fuss again. ‘Or was the nappy thing just a fluke?’
Liam reached out to take Jamie from her. Alice held on for a second, obviously reluctant to give the baby up to him, but finally released him. Supporting Jamie’s neck with one hand, Liam held him against his chest, humming a little to help soothe him.
‘Not a fluke,’ Helene commented as she shrugged on her coat. Heather looked less impressed, Liam realised, but he doubted there was anything he could do to impress her.
‘I had younger siblings,’ he said by way of explanation.
Heather frowned. ‘I thought you were Rose’s only living relative.’
‘Foster brothers and sisters,’ he expanded. ‘Various families, but no blood relatives.’
And that was what it all came down to in the end, for Rose. His blood. It might not be pure, but there was enough of her ancestors’ DNA pumping through his body to be better than nothing.
‘You were fostered?’ Alice asked, her brow furrowed. ‘But why—’ Jamie cut her off with a short cry.
‘Do you have that bottle?’ Liam asked, glad for the interruption. ‘I think he’s hungry.’ Alice gave a quick nod and rooted through the bag, pulling out the sterile bottle, snapping off the lid and screwing on the teat before handing it to him.
Liam slipped the teat between Jamie’s lips and waited for the tiny boy to suck. This, he could do. Taking care of a baby might prove easy compared to avoiding Alice’s questions, longer term. He might not have known her long, but he was already sure that she was the sort of person who needed all the information, and didn’t stop asking questions until she had it.
He knew what she’d been about to ask—why hadn’t he come to live with Rose? Given how much respect she’d obviously had for his great-aunt, he suspected the real answer would disappoint her. In fact, she’d probably just assume that he’d refused or done something awful to make Rose reject him.
Which was fine by him. Better than having the world know the truth—that his own family had disowned him, just because his mother wasn’t married to his father.
That was all in the past, now. Thornwood Castle was his, and there was no family still alive to look down on him.
Jamie spluttered and he removed the bottle, hardly even surprised when the baby spit up milk across the arm of his shirt.