The Unclaimed Baby by Sherryl Woods

ranch this weekend, if she’s still staying with you. Nothing I love more than fussing over a new baby.”
    He was gone before she could reply, but not before the casual invitation stirred up all of her worst fears. Would the baby be with her by the weekend? Would she even be with her tomorrow? The uncertainty was difficult now. How much worse would it get as time passed? What would her impulsive decision to become the child’s foster mother lead to? What would it cost her?
    â€œIt doesn’t matter,” she murmured, settling the baby into the carrier so she could clean up the lunch counter and grill from the day’s onslaught of customers. She didn’t matter. The baby’s well-being was all that counted, and for now she was in a position to see that nobody ever hurt that precious child again.
    Another round of curious neighbors and family members dropped in around four. By nightfall, she was sick of being subjected to concerned glances and of listening to all the warnings. She was ready to close up on the dot of six, if only to prevent any more lectures from well-meaning relatives. Just asshe was about to lock the door and breathe a sigh of relief, Cord appeared. Given the hints her grandfather had dropped earlier, she wasn’t sure just how welcome she ought to make him.
    â€œToo late to get dinner?” he asked, his expression hopeful.
    She regarded him warily. “That depends.”
    â€œOn?”
    â€œWhether you intend to offer advice.”
    He grinned. “I gather your family’s been calling on you today. I assumed as much from the ruckus going on out at the ranch all day. Every time one of the women came back with a report, all the men gathered around to hear it. I got the feeling your brother and your father were just itching to sneak into town and take a look for themselves. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they showed up tonight.”
    â€œThey’ll probably hold out till tomorrow. Grandpa Harlan came in their place.”
    â€œI’m not surprised. He probably would have been here Saturday right after he talked to me, if the roads hadn’t been so bad. He had more questions than a reporter sniffing out a hot scoop.”
    â€œI’ll bet. Watch your step around him or you won’t have a secret left.”
    Cord met her gaze evenly. “I’m not all that big on secrets, not with the people who matter to me. I’m a cards-on-the-table kind of guy. What about you?”
    â€œI don’t know. In my family, it’s virtually impossible to keep any,” she said a little wistfully. “Itmight be nice to try sometime. I’ve always wanted to be mysterious. That’s hard to pull off when you’ve lived in the same town all your life and your life’s an open book. Do you know how difficult it is to get any privacy at all with relatives looking over your shoulder every time you turn around?”
    â€œThink about the flip side. You could be like me and not have anyone to share things with at all. Believe me, darlin’, you’re better off.”
    â€œI suppose,” she said, but after a day like today she had a really hard time relating to his perspective.
    â€œSometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t have done what you did, just taken off and gotten a fresh start someplace totally new.” She thought of her uncle Luke and her cousin Angela. “Of course, others in my family have tried it and wound up right back here again. Only one moved far enough away to get some peace and quiet, but she’s back with her family at the drop of a hat. All she has to do is hint and Grandpa sends Uncle Jordan flying up to bring them all down.”
    Cord listened thoughtfully, but his expression was skeptical. “Why would you leave all you have here, a family, a business, your home?”
    â€œIt might have been easier,” she said quietly, thinking of the days after Kyle’s death, when she’d