AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But surely Mrs Van Dyke had no inkling that anything had happened between them. She hadn’t even seen them together. She couldn’t possibly know.
‘What kind of questions?’ she finally asked.
‘The kind of questions you’re skirting around about. Why exactly would a mother leave a baby on our doorstep? What reasons could she possibly have? And why this doorstep? Why not another?’
Carrie sat back in her chair. All the things that had been circling in her brain for the past few days. Even though they were in the background, she hadn’t really focused on them, or given them the attention they deserved. Looking after Abraham, and trying to decipher her emotions towards Daniel, had taken up all her time and energy.
It was time to sit back and take a deep breath. To look at things from a new angle, a new perspective.
‘I guess I need to take some time to think about this,’ she said quietly.
‘I guess you do.’
It was like being in the presence of an all-knowing seer. A person who knew what was happening but left you to find it out for yourself.
She stood up and walked over to pick up Abraham again. Just holding him close seemed to give her comfort. It was amazing how quickly she was becoming attached to this tiny person.
‘I’ll get Dan to bring your shopping up later.’
‘That’s perfect, Carrie.’ She gave a little nod of her head. ‘You’ve taken on a big job, and I commend you for it. But Abraham is someone else’s baby. It’s so easy to love them, and it’s so hard to let them go. You need to protect yourself. You need to look after your own heart.’
Carrie placed her hand across Abraham’s back. ‘I know that. I know that this won’t last. As soon as the snow clears, Abraham will go to Angel’s to be assessed. Social services already know about him. I’m sure they will already have somewhere for him to go.’
She nodded towards the television. The title for a new episode of Diagnosis Murder was just beginning to roll. ‘I’ll let you get back to your television.’ Had she really been up here for an hour? ‘Thank you for letting us visit, Mrs Van Dyke.’
‘No, thank you, Carrie. I hope I’ll be seeing you again soon.’
‘I hope so, too.’
She headed towards the door. Even before she opened it Abraham twitched in her arms as Mrs Van Dyke reached for the remote control and the sound boomed around the apartment again.
Carrie smiled as she closed the door behind her.
She lifted her head. It was as if her own doorway was beckoning from across the hall. She’d barely been in there for the past few days. Just twice for a shower, a change of clothes or to pick up some baking ingredients.
Last time she’d been in there Dan had kissed her.
After this morning that almost seemed like a lifetime ago.
She propped Abraham up on her shoulder. She knew exactly what she was going to do now. She wanted to leave Dan to sleep a little longer. Hopefully then he would be in the mood to talk.
In the meantime she and Abraham would have some quiet time together. It didn’t feel like a betrayal to have him in her arms any more. It just felt right. As if he belonged there.
But most importantly she had someone she wanted him to meet. Someone she wanted to talk to him about.
To let him know that there was room in her heart for everyone.
CHAPTER TEN
THREE HOURS LATER she was back downstairs. Abraham had slept for a few hours while she sat quietly and looked through the things in Ruby’s box.
It was the first time she’d ever managed to do it without breaking her heart. She was still sad, a few tears had still slid down her cheeks. But this time it hadn’t been so hard to put the things back in the box. It hadn’t felt as if her life was over. It hadn’t felt as if there was nothing to fight for any more.
And that wasn’t just because Abraham was in her arms. It was because she was beginning to feel different.
Daniel appeared in the doorway, his hair rumpled and sticking up in every direction but the right one. ‘Hey, how long did I sleep?’
She glanced at her watch. ‘We’ve been gone for four hours. We had to come back down because Abraham needed another bottle.’ She hesitated for a second. ‘We need some more supplies, and Mrs Van Dyke needs some things. How would you feel about leaving Abraham with her for a little while?’
He nodded and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. ‘I think that sounds like a plan.’
‘Are we almost out of nappies already?’
Dan looked over and nodded, staring into the bottom of the powdered-milk can. ‘We’re almost out of everything. I definitely need to buy some more coffee. It’s the only thing that keeps me awake. I’m usually never this tired.’
Carrie walked over to him, leaving Abraham to kick his legs freely on the towel for a few minutes. ‘You’re usually never looking after a baby. How do you do on night shifts?’
He gave her a rueful look. ‘The busy nights are fine. The quiet nights? I drink about six cups.’
‘Will Mr Meltzer have anything left?’
Dan shook his head. ‘No. We’ll need to go further afield. Do you have rain boots?’
‘Wellies? Sure I do.’
‘Then get them. Go and get changed and I’ll make a few calls to see where we can get some supplies. Are you okay walking a few blocks?’
‘Of course. Do you want me to take Abraham up to Mrs Van Dyke?’
He shook his head. ‘No, I’ll do it. You go and get changed.’
She should have known. Dan wanted to check on Mrs Van Dyke himself. He really was a good guy. So why was he so down on Abraham’s mother? It just didn’t fit with the rest of his demeanour.
Ten minutes later she was ready. Her pink wool coat, purple scarf and purple woolly hat pulled down over her ears. Her wellies firmly in place with her jeans tucked inside.
The nip of frost was still in the air as they stepped outside. Dan pushed a piece of paper into his pocket and held out his gloved hand towards her.
Carrie hesitated for just a second. There was nothing in this. He was being mannerly and making sure she didn’t fall over in the snow. This wasn’t about the kiss that they’d shared—not at all.
She put her hand in his. ‘How far do we need to go?’
The snow was deeper than she’d expected. Not quite deep enough to reach the tops of her wellies, but not too far off it. ‘A few blocks,’ he murmured.
It only took a few minutes for her to realise that trudging through the snow was harder work than she first thought. She could feel her cheeks flush and her breathing get harder. This was the most exercise she’d had in days. But there was something almost magical about being the first set of footprints in the clean, bright snow.
They walked for ten minutes before they came across their first snowman. He was built in the middle of the sidewalk at a peculiar angle. The hat had slipped and one of the stones that had been an eye had fallen out.
Dan smiled as she stopped to admire him. ‘Oh, no. Here she goes. Snowman envy again.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I saw your face when you watched the news report. The shops we’re visiting are right next to Washington Square Park. If you really want we could stop and build one.’
She shook her head. ‘But I didn’t bring a carrot. Every good snowman needs a carrot for a nose.’ She smiled. ‘Actually, I’d much prefer to do a snow angel. Less work, more fun.’
They walked around the edge of the park towards the shops. There were a number of independent stores with lights on inside. Dan pushed open one of the doors quickly and shouted through to the back. ‘Aidan, are you there?’
‘Hi, Dan.’ The guy appeared quickly from the back of the shop. ‘Sorry, the phone keeps going ever since I got here. Seems th
e whole world needs supplies right now.’ He nodded to the bags on the counter. ‘I think I’ve got everything you requested—including the baby supplies. Anything you want to tell me, buddy?’
He looked from Dan to Carrie, and back again. ‘It’s not what you think. We found a baby on our doorstep a few days ago. Social services can’t get through to pick him up and we need some supplies to take care of him.’
Dan’s face was a bit flushed. As if he knew exactly what Aidan had been thinking. Was he embarrassed? Was he embarrassed that people might think they were actually a couple?
‘This is my neighbour Carrie. She’s giving me a hand with the baby.’
It seemed so.
Aidan nodded at Carrie and rang up the purchases on the register. ‘Hopefully this will last only another day or so. Then you’ll both be able to stop playing babysitter.’
