Newborn Under the Christmas Tree

Wasn’t that the most appropriate question ever? Liam was still trying to figure that out, twenty minutes after he’d found that damn note.

Not the baby. Finding the baby was fine—a problem to be solved, a situation to be dealt with by passing it on to the appropriate authorities. The baby wasn’t to blame for any of this.

But that note...

The moment he’d seen his name there, linked with Alice’s, naming them as carers for Jamie, his whole body had frozen. And then, milliseconds later, the need to run had surged through him. Thornwood wasn’t his home and he didn’t need anything else tying him to it. This wasn’t his place, Jamie wasn’t his baby and this wasn’t the sort of responsibility he had ever intended to sign up for.

Except he had a feeling that Rose might have made it his responsibility the minute she’d named him in her will.

Heather was still waiting for an answer, Liam realised, looking up at her as she stood in the doorway.

‘Shut the door,’ Liam commanded, and she obeyed before turning her attention to Alice.

Heather’s eyes widened as she caught sight of the baby.

‘This is Jamie,’ Alice said, her voice soft now he was sleeping. What was she making of all this? Liam couldn’t tell. He’d thought he’d seen the same sort of panic he was feeling in her eyes when they’d found Jamie, but now she looked almost...content, holding him. ‘We found him under the Christmas tree.’

‘As far as I’m aware, Santa doesn’t bring babies,’ Heather commented. ‘That’s usually the stork’s prerogative. Have you called the police? No, of course you haven’t.’ She answered her own question with a sigh. ‘Well, at least I get why you needed this, now.’ She held out the bag and Liam took it from her and peered inside.

‘Nappies, clothes, pre-made formula bottles...you guys think of everything. This happen a lot round here, does it?’ They were too well set up for this to be a one-off.

‘Random babies being left as Christmas presents? No.’ Heather glared at him. Liam wasn’t sure if it was because he now owned Thornwood, or just because he was male. Probably both. ‘But we do occasionally have women arrive with new babies who need our help. And sometimes they’re not able to bring much with them.’

The words she wasn’t saying echoed through Liam’s head all the same, and his jaw tightened at the thought of them. Women who had to run, fast. Women who were terrified for their children, in fear for their own lives. Women who had nowhere to go except Thornwood. Women like his mother.

When he’d offered Alice his deal—a promise of a place to continue her work, outside of the castle—it had been for his own convenience as much as hers. He needed them out of the castle in a way that wouldn’t enrage the local populace, and he hadn’t been much inclined to rely on the misogynist tendencies of the occupants of Thornwood village to get away with just kicking them out. That kind of thing never played well in the papers—not to mention on the internet.

But now, watching as Alice carefully unwrapped Jamie—waking him and causing him to scream, of course—ready to put a nappy on him and dress him, he knew it wasn’t just about convenience any more. He’d seen enough over the last week to convince him that Alice wasn’t a gold-digger, she wasn’t sent purely to try him. What she did mattered around here—and it mattered to her.

And for some reason that seemed to mean it mattered to him now too.

‘You’re doing it wrong,’ he said, stepping forward without thinking as Alice tried to get the nappy on backwards. He’d thought those things were fairly idiot-proof these days, but he guessed if someone had never done it before it could take a moment to figure out.

Kneeling beside her, he turned the nappy the right way, so the tabs opened to be fastened at the front.

‘I’d have got there in a second,’ she grumbled.

‘I’m sure you would have,’ Liam said mildly. ‘But since that would have meant another second of this kid wailing, I figured I’d help. What, never changed a nappy before?’

‘She always gives them back at that point,’ Heather said from behind them, where she was preparing a pre-made bottle. She sounded amused, which was more than Liam could manage. ‘In fact, she gives them back when they cry too, normally. Or fuss. Or spit up. Or anything.’

‘Yeah, well, I can’t exactly give this one back right now, can I?’ Alice snapped. Liam watched her as she struggled to get Jamie’s tiny feet into a sleepsuit. Maybe she wasn’t as calm as he’d thought. Especially if she had no experience of babies. She had to be freaking out as much as he was; she was just hiding it well.

‘I can see why you never had kids,’ he joked, trying to lighten the mood, but Alice didn’t laugh. In fact, she paused, just for a moment, in dressing Jamie. And when she resumed the action, her hands were trembling.

Damn. He’d hit a nerve and he hadn’t even been trying.

What was it with Alice and babies? She was clearly out of her depth here, but reluctant to accept his help. Liam suppressed a sigh. Well, she was just going to have to suck it up and let him help her. Not because she needed it, but because Jamie did.

As much as he’d wanted to run, fast and far away from Thornwood, the moment he’d seen his name on that note, he already knew he couldn’t. Not now. He couldn’t just walk away from an abandoned child, any more than Alice could.

His eyes narrowed as he watched Alice wrap Jamie back up in his blanket. Why was that, exactly? Liam knew why an abandoned baby hit his buttons, but which of Alice’s was the situation pressing? Or, the thought occurred suddenly, was it something even simpler?

Alice had been so determined to hold on to Jamie until they found his mother, yet she apparently had no patience or interest in them normally. Did she know who the mother was, perhaps, and this was her way of protecting her? It seemed as likely as any other answer.

Which meant Liam would need to keep a very close eye on Alice, and see who she spoke to over the next day or so. He might have some sympathy for a woman in dire straits who felt she had no choice but to abandon her child—but that didn’t mean he agreed with it. There were other options—there was always another option—and he intended to have strong words with Jamie’s mum about them.

As soon as he found out who she was, anyway.

* * *

Of course, the minute she managed to get Jamie’s tiny limbs safely enclosed within the sleepsuit Heather had found and rewrapped him in his blanket, Dr Helene came bustling in through the library door and they had to take everything off again for her to check him over.

Alice liked Dr Helene. She had the sort of no-nonsense approach that tended to calm people—including Alice, tonight. But at the same time she was caring, kind—and very understanding of the work they were doing at the castle. Helene had more than once been able to help out with women in dire straits, and she had great connections in the city too, which always came in helpful with relocations.

But tonight she hadn’t come alone. Instead she’d brought a woman who Alice had spoken to many times in the course of trying to help the people of Thornwood.

‘Hello, Iona,’ Alice said before turni

ng to Helene. ‘You brought social services?’

‘Iona’s a friend,’ Helene said. ‘She can help us. Now, who does this little man belong to?’ Helene frowned as she peeled off the blanket and pulled open the poppers on the sleepsuit.

‘That’s the million-dollar question,’ Liam drawled. Helene glanced up at him, then apparently dismissed him as of no importance. Alice hid a smile; it would do his ego some good to be ignored, but she supposed she’d better perform introductions.

‘Helene, this is Liam Jenkins—the new owner of Thornwood. And this—’ she pointed at the baby ‘—is Jamie. We found him here, under the Christmas tree, just wrapped in a blanket with this note.’ She nodded to Liam and he handed it over.

Helene scanned the note quickly, and her frown grew deeper. ‘Well, he certainly looks like a newborn. And apparently the mother wanted him to be your responsibility. Have you fed him yet?’

Alice shook her head. ‘We were about to try when you arrived. I was a little concerned about his umbilical cord...’

‘It does look a little rough and ready. But actually it’s been done safely, as far as I can tell. It does look like he was born very, very recently though.’ She pulled her bag closer and took out the necessary supplies to sterilise the cord stump. ‘To someone who knew how to cut the cord without the baby bleeding out, but had no idea what to do next.’

‘Except abandon him.’ Liam was sounding judgemental again. Alice ignored him. Their judgement didn’t matter right now. What mattered was Jamie’s well-being.

‘I can’t even think of any regulars here who it could have been,’ Alice said.

‘I’ve been making a list of pregnant women who’ve visited recently,’ Heather put in. ‘But I can’t see it being any of them either.’

‘We’ll need to follow up with them, all the same,’ Iona said, turning to Helene. ‘Is there anyone who has been into the surgery recently who could be a candidate?’

Helene shrugged. ‘No one obvious, but then you never know what might overtake someone. And, to be honest, if she chose to have the baby here rather than at the hospital, chances are she might not have had any prenatal care at all. She might not even have known that she was pregnant.’