Page 10 of Rufus

“Thank you.” Mia glowed at him. “Would you like to hold her?” She shyly held out the sleeping baby. “We’ve named her Elizabeth, for obvious reasons, but we intend to call her Lilybeth.”

Rufus felt a momentary relief knowing that he wouldn’t be reminded of his dead wife every time he spoke of or to his granddaughter.

A relief that became lost in the ether the moment he took the tiny baby in his arms, his gaze riveted on his granddaughter’s perfect features.

She looked so much like Mia had as a baby. Wispy red-gold hair and eyebrows, perfectly rounded cheeks, a button nose, and a perfect rosebud of a mouth. Her hands were up against her tiny chest, her fingers so long and slender, she didn’t seem to know what to do with them.

Rufus choked with emotion when the fingers of one hand opened and then closed around the index finger on his left hand, connecting them irrevocably despite him knowing it was a reflex response to his caress.

It was magical, and a moment in time Rufus knew he would never forget. Especially when it reminded him so much of having a newborn Emily placed in his arms.

Much as he wanted to continue holding Lilybeth, he knew he mustn’t be greedy. After all, he had the rest of his life to hold and spoil his granddaughter.

Darius might be a taciturn bugger at times, but there was no doubting his deep love and protection of Mia since Rufus had escorted and given his daughter to the other man two years ago. Rufus could see by the emotion in his son-in-law’s dark eyes that Lilybeth was now very much a part of that same love and protection.

Rufus didn’t doubt that the two men would ensure no harm ever came to Mia or Lilybeth.

Rufus lifted his head to glance at Molly standing a few feet away. She seemed to be doing her best to appear invisible. Which wouldn’t do at all.

He glanced at Mia and Darius, eyebrows raised questioningly, waiting until they had nodded their permission before approaching Molly. “Have you ever held a very young baby?”

She looked startled. “When would I have had the opportunity to do that?”

Rufus shrugged, surprised by her unexpected aggression. “Maybe at the children’s home?”

* * *

Molly inwardly cringed at how shrewish she must sound. She’d reacted that way because Rufus had caught her off-guard with that question.

She forced a smile. “They tended to keep the newborn and young babies in a different part of the home.” Her glance fell to Lilybeth. “She’s beautiful,” she murmured softly, tears stinging her eyes.

Those tears escaped and fell softly down her cheeks after Rufus had placed the baby in her arms.

Lilybeth was so tiny, the smallest baby Molly had ever seen or held.

Her breath caught in her throat when the baby’s lids suddenly fluttered open and she found herself being looked up at by green eyes ringed with the same turquoise as her mother and grandfather. Molly knew babies as young as this weren’t able to focus properly yet, but it was still slightly unnerving to have Lilybeth appear to almost be staring straight into her soul.

And finding her wanting.

CHAPTER FOUR

“Okay?”

Molly gave Rufus a startled glance, having briefly forgotten he was standing beside her. “Fine.” She nodded abruptly. “You have a beautiful daughter,” she told Mia and Darius before chuckling, her cheeks hot, as Lilybeth began to root around against her chest. “I think she wants feeding.” She crossed the room to give the baby back to Mia.

Lilybeth’s sudden need to be fed, plus the arrival of a ward assistant with the roses in a vase, created enough distraction for Molly to be able to quietly leave the room.

She drew in a deep breath of much-needed air once she was in the hallway.

She hadn’t realized meeting Lilybeth, seeing Rufus with her in his arms, would be quite so…emotional. If she had, she might not have agreed to accompany him here.

As it was, after holding Lilybeth in her arms and feeling as if the newborn baby could see all the secrets Molly kept hidden deep inside her, she’d realized it was time for her to go.

She hadn’t thought it would happen as soon as this, had hoped to have more time, but she’d done what she came here to do, and now it was time for her to leave. Not just the maternity hospital, or the animal shelter, but London itself and the people she had come to know here.

She’d come to the English capital with only one purpose in mind, and now that purpose had been served. She just hadn’t realized how much of a wrench it would be to up and leave when it came time for her to go.

All her adult life, she’d been moving from place to place, searching, always searching, for the people and the place where she would feel as if she belonged.

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