Page 53 of Love Me Boldly

All the baby things.

As the sun was starting to rise, my eyes were dry from lack of sleep. Jonah was sleeping soundly on the couch, bundled in his blanket and between pillows so he couldn’t fall off.

There was no way I could go to class. I didn’t have anywhere to take him, or any way to get him there safely.

Except…

It was early, but Caroline would be up. Probably getting my uncle breakfast and packing his lunch before he headed off to work.

I grabbed my phone and wasn’t surprised when she answered after the first ring.

“What’s wrong? Car won’t work?”

I didn’t blame her for assuming something was wrong. I rarely called her for anything.

My car not working would be a normal day worst-case scenario, but oh, how far off the mark she was.

“I need help. Can you come here?”

* * *

Caroline stoodin my living room with her hands on her hips, gaping at the still sleeping baby. Jonah was so bundled up only his face was visible, and he’d wiggled a little so an edge of the blanket now covered his forehead.

“She just dropped him and ran off?”

“Yep.” It was the sixth time she’d asked the question.

“I can’t believe this.” Her voice carried anger, but she said it quietly enough so as not to startle him, but I could feel her rage building. Her head whipped toward me. “Why wouldn’t she tell me? When she called? And why call me at all? Why not ask?—”

Her words broke at the end, and she shook her head. Caroline and my mom had been super close once. That relationship fractured when Mom started showing up high on pain meds and forgetting things and screwing up orders. While she and Caroline always planned on running the restaurant together, I long ago figured out that while the restaurant was Caroline’s passion, it was Mom’s duty. Caroline never fired Mom since she couldn’t actually do it, but their closeness was gone long before Mom was.

“I don’t know,” I whispered, my voice raspy. Caroline and Uncle Paul couldn’t have kids. They quit trying when I was ten, things I learned later when I spent time with Caroline and was older. “She only asked about Dad. Didn’t even act like she cared I was here.”

But she’d named him Jonah. In some way, that warmed me. She’d loved me once, and to this day still remembered something important about me. Maybe in her own way, she still did love me.

It wasn’t enough, it never would be. But it was better than nothing.

“What kind of car was it?”

“I don’t know, Care. The bumper was falling off, and it was rusty. Was definitely older than my Jimmy, though.”

“Did you get a license plate?”

“No.” I shook my head. “It was dark. Why?”

“She’s only been on the road a few hours. We could find her and get to her.”

“Get…what?”

Caroline gazed at Jonah. “She loved him enough to get the birth certificate. That takes time. She loved him enough to bring him here instead of ditching him somewhere. She…Lydia is still there, somewhere. If I can get to her…”

“Caroline.” I went to her and wrapped my hand around her bicep and leaned against her. “I know what you’re saying, but she’s gone. You at least have the county she delivered in. If you want to find her, you can start there.”

“Right now I’m so ticked at her, I want her arrested for child abandonment. I mean, what the hell, Holly? What areyousupposed to do with him?”

“I think one parent in prison is enough for me.”

She snorted and smirked at me. “It could also get her free of drugs. Get her some help. You can’t raise him, Holly. You have college and a life to start living.”

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