Page 11 of The Cowboy's Miracle Baby

“What? You wantmeto feed her?” She grinned and snatched the bottle out of Cami’s hands. “Well, we’ll just have to feed you then, won’t we? Yes, we will. Because babies need to eat. All the time. Yes, they do.”

Ryan wandered into the kitchen, fully dressed for the cold outside, still rubbing his eyes. “Is that cinnamon buns I smell?”

“Yes, dear,” Sarah said. “And by the time you’re done with the horses, they’ll be here waiting for you.”

He moaned, obviously hungry as he grabbed his coat off the rack near the door. “Starving.”

“That’s what the horses are thinking right about now, too.” She laughed, and Cami knew Sarah loved teasing him. Ryan never needed prodding to take care of the animals, despite the cold and the early hour. Today’s temperatures would mean breaking the ice on the water troughs as well as feeding the stabled horses. “Uncle Liam’s already out feeding the cattle.”

Cami glanced out the window. There was little snow yet, but the landscape looked like a tundra with an icy wind scuttling across the open pasture.Brrr.

She thought of Lolly’s mother and wondered where she was right now and if she was somewhere warm and safe.

“How’s the baby?” Ryan asked, taking a peek as he wrapped a scarf around his neck. “She staying or going?”

A man of few words, he got right to the point.

Sarah and Cami both spoke at once.

“Going.”

“Staying.”

Cami shot a look at Sarah. “I mean for today… then who knows?”

At this Ryan lifted a sardonic brow. “Somebody better figure it out.” He headed out into the cold, shutting the door behind him.

The chill invaded the warm kitchen for a moment.

“He isn’t wrong about that.” Sarah sighed, feeding the baby in her favorite chair near the window. “So, what is your plan? If you mean to not turn her in, that is.”

“I didn’t say that I wouldn’t.” Cami dipped her finger into the icing waiting on the cinnamon buns and popped it in her mouth. “Hey. Didn’t Izzy volunteer as a child advocate in the Dallas courts before she met Will?”

“That’s right. She did. So?”

“So maybe she’d have a good take on what I should do here.”

“What do you want to do?”

“I want to find Lolly’s mother and find out why she felt she had to do this. Help her.”

“Help her? You don’t even know who she is.”

“I don’t. At least I don’t yet. But she knew me. Somehow.”

Sarah stared down at the baby who was now milk-drunk and nearly falling asleep. “Could she have been one of your students?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. I’d hate to think that one of my students could end up this desperate.”

“Izzy is coming over later this morning to go over decorations for their wedding.”

Which was happening, Cami remembered, two weeks from today.

Sarah went on. “Maybe she’ll have some insight about little Lolly here.”

Cami nodded. “Maybe. Mom, I hate to ask this, but I left my car at the church last night and I need to go pick it up. Could you watch her after I put her down for a nap if I can get Shay to drive me in?”

“Oh, I think we can manage.” She grinned at Lolly. “Can’t we? Yes, we can…”

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