Page 36 of Slice

“The well-dressed woman you saw a couple times sounds like she was the person who checked on the pregnancy. When she started having contractions on Christmas Eve early in the day, her brother got mad and then started making phone calls. She remembers holding LB on her chest after having him, then her brother put a cloth over her mouth. She woke up in an apartment, which was in Dallas. Her brother wasn’t there, so she looked for clothes she could wear and money. She’s spent the last couple of weeks trying to make her way to Bluff Creek.

“From what Ambush said, she doesn’t want to be a mom but wants to know the baby is okay. By now, they should be close to pulling in. We need to know how you want to handle it.”

“How do we know she’s telling the truth?” Slice asked.

“She gave her name and her Social Security Number to Ambush. Sarah and I did some digging. It looks like everything checks out with her story, at least what we can verify. Her notes in her file at school had one of her teachers asking social services to check on her because the teacher thought the brother washurting her. Two days later is when he pulled her from school and they moved,” Scoop said.

“So, she’s fourteen and alone in the world. She’s had a baby that she has no memory of making, and her scum of a brother is in jail for the foreseeable future. Does that sound about right?” Faith asked, handing LB off to Remi so she could pace around the room.

“What do I want to do? I want to wrap that girl in my arms and tell her I can’t fix what happened to her, but from every day forward we’ll take care of her. That’s what I want to do, but she may not want to be around LB every day. I want to protect her and give her parents who love her,” Faith finished, wiping the tears she couldn’t keep in one second longer.

Slice stood up and pulled her into his arms. “Then we’ll make it happen. There is some reason I found LB and some reason that she has found her way back to us.”

War nodded and typed something into his phone, then walked toward the front door. Faith waited.

“Locks is directing Ambush to the house,” War said, then waited by the door.

Faith stood still, unable to even walk toward the door at this point. Slice’s arm around her kept her in the moment. How should she act? What should she say? This girl was just a child still, even though she’d had a baby.

The door opened, and a tall, bulky, bearded biker in a black jacket walked in, then moved to the side for Faith to see a young girl with dark hair and a frame way too skinny for just having a baby, standing there, wary with just a hint of hope in her eyes.

“This is Deborah,” he said.

Faith knew what to do immediately. The same thing she’d done for every foster kid walking through her door. She showered them with love. She walked to the girl.

“Honey, I’m Faith, and I’m so glad you found your way to us,” she said, then enveloped the girl in her arms. Deborah waited a second, then threw her arms around Faith and started sobbing. The girl shuddered in Faith’s arms. Faith just held her tight, letting her know she was okay.

“You’re safe here, baby. It’s okay,” she murmured. Faith wasn’t sure how long she just stood, reassuring Deborah and holding her, but it was long enough for War, Remi, Sarah, and Scoop to leave. Ambush stayed, which she was grateful for because Deborah obviously trusted him, or she wouldn’t have ridden on his bike with him.

“Do you want to sit down and get something to eat? Do you want to see or hold LB?” Faith asked.

Deborah pulled her head back and looked up at Faith. “LB?”

“Sweetie, we didn’t have a birth certificate, so Slice started calling him Little Buddy, and then my other two boys, Micah and Isaiah, shortened it to LB.”

Deborah sniffed, and Slice handed her a tissue.

“I think I’d like to hold him,” she said.

Faith turned toward Ambush, who Remi had handed LB off to as they left. He was sitting on the couch.

“Deborah, he has your eyes,” Ambush said, then laid LB in her arms after she sat beside him. “Have you ever held a baby before, besides a couple minutes after he was born?” Ambush asked.

Deborah shook her head no. Faith knew this wasn’t her time to break down. She’d stay strong for this young girl whom life had treated so unkindly, and then later, she could break down.

“When he’s this little, his neck muscles don’t have the muscle tone to hold his neck steady. When you hold him, you want to support his neck like this.”

She moved her arm to support his head. “Like this?”

“Exactly. See, you’re a natural.”

Deborah sniffed a little and then kissed his forehead. “I love him, but I don’t think I’m ready to be his mommy now, or if I ever will be,” she whispered.

Slice took Faith’s hand and tugged her over in front of Deborah.

“What about if you were his sister? If you want to, you can become our daughter and finish growing up as his sister. When he’s older and can understand, we can tell him you gave birth to him if you want,” Slice offered.

“You really want me after all I did?” she asked.

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