Page 16 of The Secrets We Built Together

Delaney moved past me, cradling the baby to her chest as she whispered softly to it. A chubby hand reached out and grabbed her long hair, tiny fingers with impossibly perfect miniature nails opening and closing rhythmically around the strands. The baby tugged, a wet giggle bubbling up from those rosebud lips as saliva glistened on her chin.

"I can't believe someone would do this," I said, checking through the car seat.

There was nothing in there except a blanket, a pacifier, and a small soft toy—a rabbit, I realized as I lifted it. One of its button eyes was missing, and the once-plush fur was worn in patches, suggesting it had been loved before being tucked in with this tiny human. Despite its shabby condition, the fabric felt expensive beneath my fingertips. I ran my thumb over the worn places, wondering about the hands that had created those smooth patches.

"There's a diaper bag here too," Trace said, going to the small table on the porch where Delaney liked to have her morning coffee sometimes. "And there's a letter," he added slowly as he turned around.

His wide eyes should have been enough to clue me in on what was about to happen. Honestly, the first place my brain went was that Trace's ex-wife had come back to leave him a parting gift even though I knew that was absolutely impossible given how old the baby had to be.

"It's addressed to you," Trace said, holding out the envelope to me.

I looked over my shoulder, assuming I'd find Delaney standing there with the baby. Except she'd gone inside, and there was only me and Trace out on the porch now.

"Addressed to who?" I asked as I turned back to look at him.

"You," he said quietly, turning the envelope around to show me.

And damn it all to hell if it wasn't my own name scrawled on the front of that envelope.

In suspiciously familiar handwriting.

"This isn't..." I reached out to take the envelope and stared at it in shock.

She wouldn't. Surely, she wasn't capable of doing this.

I felt Trace's hands come to my shoulders as he turned me around and walked me back into the kitchen. All I could do was stare at the envelope, a heavy feeling of dread building in my stomach.

"I don't understand," I muttered as I sat back down in the seat I'd been in only minutes before and yet felt an entire lifetime ago.

Delaney appeared in front. She had that drawn, concerned expression on her face that I usually hated. This time it absolutely terrified me though. Because it meant this was real, this was actually happening.

I looked up in panic when I realized she wasn't holding the baby, only to find Trace carefully cradling it with Cade at his side. The baby's cheek was pressed against Trace's chest, her tiny body rising and falling with each breath. Her eyes were half-closed now, long lashes fluttering against plump cheeks as she curled one fist against her mouth.

Both of them watched me carefully, and yet neither said a word.

"Do you want me to read it?" Delaney asked as I turned back to her.

My immediate thought was no. I didn't want her to see that my sister was capable of doing such a terrible thing. But it wasn't like I wouldn't tell her anyway. Not to mention the fact that we all lived under the same roof. She was going to figure out that this kid was being dumped on us sooner rather than later; it was pretty obvious from the fact that it had just been left outside.

"Anything could have happened," I whispered, suddenly horrified at the thought of that tiny bundle alone in the morning chill.

"Don't think like that," Delaney said softly, reaching up and taking my free hand as she gently rubbed it. "They're fine. They're safe with us now. I don't think they were out there for long."

They. We didn't even know if the baby was a boy or a girl.

I pushed the letter into Delaney's hand. "I can't."

I was still shaking my head as she stood and opened the envelope before sitting in the seat next to me and pulling out the paper.

The first thing Delaney did was flip it over to read the name at the end.

"It's Madison, isn't it?"

Delaney nodded sadly. "Do you want me to read it aloud?"

"Cade, go and get ready for school," Trace said softly from the other side of the table. Cade immediately began to protest. "Just let us do this bit alone," he added.

Cade came over to me and wrapped his arms around me, squeezing me tightly. Tears rushed to my eyes as I held him back just as fiercely. There was nothing that I wouldn't do for this kid, and he wasn't even mine. I couldn't even fathom what my sister was thinking to do a thing like this.

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