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"Love her."
"No. It won't work. There's no way… "
The mother glanced at Brenna. "If you don't take her, I'm just going to dump her in a trash can somewhere. I can't take her home with me."
"Surely the baby's father— "
"I don't know who he is." The teenager was pulling on her discarded jeans as she spoke. Taking a deep breath, she stood up, one hand braced against the wall behind her.
"What are you doing?" Brenna asked.
"I'm leaving." A sob rose in the girl's throat. "Do whatever you want with the baby."
"But— "
"Don't try to stop me," the girl said. "You look like a nice lady. You keep her."
Rising, Brenna cradled the infant against her breast. "She will be well cared for, I promise. Do you have somewhere to go?"
With a nod, the girl turned and staggered toward the sidewalk.
Brenna watched until the girl was out of sight, then smiled at the baby in her arms. "Hello, precious."
"Brenna, you know we can't keep it."
"Yes, we can."
He swore softly. "Do you want to tell me how? What are you going to do when she wakes up wet and hungry in the morning?"
"We will find a nanny," Brenna said calmly.
"And what are you going to do until then? What are you going to do when she wakes up hungry and wet tomorrow?"
Brenna frowned. "I do not know."
"Are you determined to keep her?"
"Yes."
He swore again, but how could he deny her the one thing that she had always wanted, the one thing he could not give her? "All right, come on."
"Where are we going?"
"To find someone to take care of her tomorrow."
"But how? Who?"
"Leave that to me. Take her home and clean her up. I'll be back soon." And so saying, he vanished from her sight.
With a shake of her head, Brenna went home.
Carrying the baby upstairs, she filled the bathroom sink with warm water and washed the infant from head to toe. When that was done, she wrapped her in a fluffy towel. The baby gazed up at her through dark blue eyes and then, with a yawn, her eyelids fluttered down and she was asleep.
Going downstairs, Brenna sat on the sofa, the baby cradled in her arms, wondering where Roshan had gone.
A baby! Roshan ran a hand through his hair. She wanted to keep the baby! What the hell was she thinking? Who ever heard of a vampire raising a human child? It was unheard of, unthinkable, impossible.
Shaking his head, Roshan went to the emergency entrance of the hospital and made his way up to the maternity ward. What on earth were they going to do with a baby?
He stopped the first nurse he saw. She frowned at him. "Sir, I'm sorry, but visiting hours were over long ago."
"Yes, I know." His gaze captured hers. "But I need your help, Sandra."
"My help? Yes, of course."
Quickly, he explained what he needed. Twenty minutes later, she followed him out of the hospital.
Arriving at the house, Roshan found Brenna sitting on the sofa, the baby asleep in her arms. Morgana sat on the mantel, her ears laid back, obviously annoyed by the infant's arrival. Roshan had never realized cats could frown, but Morgana was definitely miffed at the thought of sharing Brenna's time and affection with another. Roshan had to admit that he wasn't too crazy about the idea, either.
"Who is this?" Brenna asked, her gaze darting to the nurse and back to Roshan.
"This is Sandra. She's a nurse in the maternity ward at the hospital. She's going to look after the baby until we can find a nanny."
"But… you cannot just bring a stranger here. Surely they will miss her at the hospital."
"I'll worry about that later." He took a large plastic bag from Sandra's hand and handed it to Brenna. "This has everything the baby will need for the next few days."
"But— "
"Stop worrying. As soon as we get a nanny, I'll send the nurse home. She won't remember anything."
"It does not seem right," Brenna said, "to keep her here against her will."
"If you've got a better idea, I'm ready to hear it."
Brenna shook her head.
"All right then." He turned to Sandra. "Your room is upstairs at the end of the hall. I want you to go to bed now. During the day, you'll sleep when the baby is asleep and wake when the baby wakes."
"Yes," Sandra said.
"And you'll retire when the sun goes down. Do you understand?"
"I understand."
"That will be all. The room at the top of the stairs is yours. Good night."
"Good night," she replied, and left the room.
Humming softly, Brenna laid the sleeping infant on the sofa and sat beside her. Opening the sack, she pulled out a diaper, a little white cotton shirt, a cap, a pair of tiny socks, a blanket. In passing, she noted there were several bottles of formula in the sack, as well as baby wipes and more diapers, bottles of baby powder, lotion, and shampoo.
Roshan stood near the sofa, his arms crossed over his chest, while Brenna diapered and dressed the infant, then covered her with the blanket.
Rising, Brenna slipped her arms around her husband's waist. "You are not angry with me, are you?"
"No."
"She is lovely, is she not?" Brenna asked, smiling down at their new daughter.
"Indeed," he replied, but he was looking at his wife, not the child. "What will you call her?"
"I would like to call her Cara Aideen, after my Granny O'Connell," Brenna said. "If it is all right with you."
"Whatever you want is fine with me."
Finding a nanny proved far easier than Roshan had expected. He put an ad in the local newspaper, requesting that those interested in applying for the job do so after six p.m. They hired the first woman who came to the door. Her name was Charlotte Ray, and she was a wonderfully cranky grandmotherly type. She wore her gray hair in a tight bun at her nape and viewed the world through bright blue eyes that were both worldly wise and compassionate. Roshan installed her in the apartment above the garage. She had accepted the DeLongpres' strange lifestyle without question, but then, Roshan had offered her a great deal of money, enough to silence her curiosity and assure her loyalty.
Life, indeed, was good, made so by the lovely woman who had bewitched him one moonlit night. Brenna. She had given him love. She had given him laughter. She had given him a child.
Indeed, his little witch had given him everything he had thought forever lost to him.
