Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
It looked like she, or he, was wearing a fuzzy pink bunny suit from where I was, and when I shot off the porch and came around the front of the SUV, I realized that it was, in fact, right out of A Christmas Story. The toddler could not have been more than three.
“Hi, cookie,” I greeted the child, who instantly leaned sideways into my arms. “What’s your name?”
“Ruby,” she told me, reaching up to tangle her little hand in my hair.
“Where’s your mommy, sweetie?”
But she didn’t answer, instead heaving out a breath and bumping her head down onto my shoulder so I got a bunny ear in my face.
“Take her home,” Sam directed me, pulling his cell from the back pocket of his sweats. He normally put it on the coffee table in the living room when he got home, but he was carrying it because he was waiting on a call from Chris Becker. Apparently one of his guys was being checked into rehab, and they were going back and forth about how to proceed. “I’m gonna go house to house and see who’s missing a kid.”
Of course he was. That was how knights in shining armor did things.
“First you come home with me and put on a coat, a hat, a mask, and boots. That is non-negotiable,” I informed him. “I refuse to have you catch pneumonia when we’ve kept clear of Covid this whole time.”
He agreed under protest.
“Like running around in wet socks in sixteen-degree weather is smart.”
“I need to find her parents,” he growled at me.
“You will,” I soothed him, reaching up to touch his cheek. “How did you even see her?”
“She was in the street,” he grumbled, and I could hear his simmering anger.
God help whoever Sam found.
Turning, I walked the little girl back to my house and into the waiting arms of Hannah, who took her immediately to the kitchen when Ruby answered that yes, she was hungry. Kola and Harper decided to go with Sam instead of starting the next quest in Diablo, mostly because I shot my son a look. I didn’t want Sam stalking up and down our street without backup.
When Ruby had to go to the bathroom, Hannah took her, but she went in alone.
“Just like you at three,” I told my daughter.
“Really?”
I nodded. “You were potty-trained too, and you weren’t a baby anymore, so no one was allowed to go in with you.”
“Independent is good.”
“It is,” I agreed. “As long as you don’t leave home too fast.”
She blew me a kiss as the door opened. Ruby couldn’t reach the sink to wash her hands, because we didn’t have a stool. Hannah got one from the kitchen, because she and I were not tall people, and Ruby was very pleased.
I was checking the neighborhood message board online when I was surprised by a knock at the front door, and answered it to find a social worker, a police detective, and two uniformed CPD detectives.
“Good evening, Mr. Harcourt,” the detective greeted me after showing me his badge. “I’m Detective Daley O’Meara.”
I shook his hand, and I could tell he was smiling from the crinkle of the laugh lines around his eyes. He was masked, as they all were, but the warm tone of his voice came through loud and clear. I liked him immediately.
“May we come in, sir, and assess your short visitor?”
“Please,” I allowed, stepping aside and letting them in. The two uniforms remained outside. “You can come in too.”
“Oh no, sir,” the female officer declined, smiling. “We’re here in case the child’s parents show up and simply want to take her and go.”
“That won’t fly, right?”
“That’s correct, sir.”
“Please let me make you both some coffee or cocoa or something. And I have outdoor heaters I can set up, and––”
“Sir, we will not turn down the cocoa, but the heater isn’t necessary.”
“You got it,” I told them, and closed the door and darted to the kitchen.
Ruby didn’t want to get out of Hannah’s lap as she talked to everyone, and it was cute how she wanted to give everyone a graham cracker.
I used my Yeti travel mugs and got the officers all squared away, and by the time Sam got back, frozen, with Kola and Harper looking like popsicles as well, the social worker was ready to take Ruby with her. The thing was, it was already late, and they only had a few places to take toddlers, and it was going to be scary for her.
“We can keep her until you find her a family or come up with grandparents or something,” Sam told them.
“That would probably be best for tonight,” the social worker agreed.
Detective O’Meara shook Sam’s hand, and I watched my husband give him a pat on the face that I wasn’t expecting. Watching them all leave, my Yeti mugs returned, I turned to my husband after he closed the front door.