AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah. She seemed scared. And if she claimed that it was Roger’s, and Roger says there’s no way that it could be his, she lied. I guess because of the way she seemed petrified, not even giving us her name, and leaving immediately, even though I thought it was obvious that she loved the baby, I just thought that rather than needing money, like I thought first, that she was afraid for its life for some reason.”
“Yeah. I thought at first she wanted money too, but if that were true, surely she would just say it was your brother’s baby and you need to give her a certain amount. She could have said one million dollars, and that wouldn’t have been out of the realm of possibility.”
“Exactly. She could ask for a lot of money. Enough to set her up for life. But she didn’t ask for a cent.”
“No. That’s a good point.” Ellen felt a chill go down her backbone. What could possibly make this woman so afraid that she would give up her baby in order to protect her?
She knew that drugs could do scary things to people. And there was a whole world out there that she really didn’t know anything about. She’d never been involved in drugs in any way, thankfully. Her world had revolved around cattle and dogs and the farm, and none of that was particularly scary, although it was dangerous at times.
But dangerous in a straightforward way. Not dangerous in a drug lord out to get you for some addiction that you can’t control kind of way.
To her mind anyway, it was a much bigger danger.
“I’m a little scared. To be honest. I’ve heard really terrible things about drug lords and what those people will do in order to get money.”
“Yeah. It can be pretty nasty.”
She didn’t ask how Travis knew, but she assumed that in South America he’d seen more than a little bit of that.
She started digging through the bag, trying to put drugs and killers and thugs who might be lurking around any dark corner out of her mind. If she started thinking about that, she’d be afraid to take one step in the dark.
“Here’s a piece of paper,” she said, pulling it out and turning it toward the streetlight so she could see the writing on it. “It looks like instructions.”
“Good. Hopefully they’re very detailed.” He paused. “It makes me a little nervous that she was able to fit all the instructions for the care of a human child on one sheet of paper.”
“One side of one sheet of paper,” Ellen corrected him after she flipped the paper over and saw there was no writing on the back.
“Is there a phone number I can call?”
She skimmed down the page. “No. No phone number. No email address, and...no name.”
“Man. I know you’re probably right to be afraid about the whole drug thugs, but...this scares me worse.”
“The responsibility of having a human life all on your shoulders?” Ellen said, understanding how chilling it could feel to be the one responsible for keeping the small one alive.
“Yeah. That’s exactly right.”
“Well, the instructions are about how much she eats, when to feed her, and her favorite songs.”
“That’s it?”
Ellen skimmed over the paper again. “Yes. That’s it.”
“All right. That doesn’t leave me with much.”
She fingered through the bag. “There are diapers. Not a lot, and a baby goes through a lot. I would say there are enough diapers for two or maybe three days.”
“All right. I can make it to the store in the next two or three days, if I have a car seat.”
As he spoke, her phone buzzed.
She picked it up and read the text.
Sure. The closet isn’t locked, so go help yourself.
She barely had finished reading a text when another one came in.
Not to be nosy, but are you pregnant?
