The Baby Claim
“And we have to watch over her until we know…” Glenna rocked gently. “If Fleur is my husband’s child and Deborah Wilson has given up her rights, then I could be a potential guardian, legally. Right? Because if he had lived, this would be my stepchild.” The pronouncement was filled with logic, acceptance and generosity. Everything that made her so damn attractive to him. But he knew they needed to slow this down.
“That’s a complicated issue, Glenna, with a lot of ifs—”
“But possible.” Her interjection betrayed her determination. Looking back at the baby, she leaned forward to kiss the tiny pink forehead and smooth the whispery hair.
And just like that, the tender gesture made him feel as if he had walked in on a private moment. As if he was seeing a side of Glenna no one but him had ever witnessed—one she perhaps would not want him to see.
He cleared his throat. “The word of the night. Possible. She could be my child and I will operate from that perspective starting now. I won’t have her ever thinking I wasn’t her champion.” He and Glenna would figure this out. But if this was his child, he would be there for his daughter.
“I’m not sure I trust you to mix formula.”
A smile twitched his lips. He raised his brows high. “I can do fractions.”
“Can you burp a baby and change diapers?”
He shrugged. “I can find a sitter.”
“Or we can work together.” Her eyes were glassy in the muted light, but still fierce. The question of paternity meant neither of them would relinquish the child.
The idea settled in him, the rightness of the solution. Working with her to care for Fleur would only further his goal of pursuing Glenna. Yet even as he thought of the advantages, he forced himself to keep things light so as not to scare her off.
“Are you propositioning me?” he teased.
Snorting on a laugh, she shifted in the rocking chair, lightly patting the baby’s bottom. “With baby puke on my shoulder?” She winked, her mouth smiling but her eyes still holding a hint of hurt, fear. “Sure.”
“Damn, you’re making me remember why I liked you.”
“I’m sure I can make you forget just as quickly.”
He knelt beside her, avoiding her challenge and truly studying the baby for the first time. How was it he didn’t know somehow if this was his child?
Regardless, he felt protective toward the innocent life. “She will have the full weight of my protection.”
Glenna’s face knotted briefly in surprise. But as soon as their eyes met, a cord tightened between them. He felt it in his stomach, knew that he had to have her, convince her. Even amid all these complications…
There was something tangible between them.
His cell phone chimed, a loud ding that knocked his gaze away.
Broderick bit back a hiss of frustration and pulled out his phone. “That’s my dad. They’ve got formula for the baby, a nurse practitioner…and an attorney, my sister Naomi, who’s speaking with the police.”
* * *
As the early Alaska dark settled, Glenna realized she and Broderick had unexpectedly joined forces.
They had both positioned chairs by the new portable crib. Fleur snoozed with a full stomach, oblivious to the massive changes going on around her.
The house was stocked with baby gear and food. The nurse had checked the baby over and she appeared healthy. The police had determined there were no missing child alerts that matched Fleur. The birth certificate had been registered, and an APB on Deborah Wilson’s car had turned up that she had indeed crossed into Canada. Beyond that, she’d disappeared.
Which left Glenna and Broderick as this baby’s only possible family.
Broderick’s sister Naomi was a fierce lawyer. Sure, she had a brilliant legal mind, but she was also a bit ruthless and certainly didn’t sugarcoat a thing.
Naomi’s eyes narrowed as she spoke to them. “Let me talk to a friend of mine in child services. There are so many children in the system… Given that you’re willing to admit possible paternity, we’ll try for a temporary guardianship until the matter can be settled with DNA tests. If you’re amenable. Glenna, the lab can use something of your husband’s, like an old hairbrush, or perhaps his mother once saved his baby teeth…”
Glenna’s already overloaded mind balked at Naomi taking over in such a complete fashion. Suspicion inched up Glenna’s spine. Her mom might trust the Steele family, but that didn’t mean Glenna was on board with letting a former business rival make choices for her life. Naomi was a well-known shark and her loyalty would be to her own family. “Temporary guardianship? For which one of us?”