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“The baby will go to a specially trained foster mother who will look after her until I pick the right family out for her. Jo and I discussed the foster mother earlier—she knows the baby is coming.”
Two thoughts filled his head. She was made of ice, and how could she not understand that he was the right family!
Anger rose like a tidal wave.
Yevgeny reached for his wallet to retrieve the business card Jo Wells had given him the day before. His hands trembled at the emotion swamping him. “That will not happen. I am taking the baby home with me. I will call your social worker and tell her so.”
“No!” yelled Ella from behind him. “If you take her, I’ll have you arrested for kidnapping.”
The baby started to cry.
Yevgeny stopped in his tracks at the sound and whipped around to face them. Ella was frantically rocking the baby—even uttering hoarse hushing sounds.
When the baby quieted, she met his gaze and said in a more even tone, “You need to think about the baby. It’s not fair on her to form an attachment with you if she’s going to be given to another family.”
Angered and frustrated, he snapped, “If you would stop being so goddamned stubborn, you would know that she should stay with me—be my daughter.”
“And how will that work?” A note he’d never heard from Ella before filled her voice. “You’re never home. You work like a demon—don’t deny it. Keira’s told me all about how Dmitri’s always exhausted.”
He bit back the surge of irritation at his sister-in-law. “I’ll rearrange my schedule.”
“You really believe that?” Ella gazed at him from pitying eyes. “You’re a type-A, high-achieving success junkie... You need your daily fix. Staying home with a baby will drive you crazy. You wouldn’t last more than two days.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Because I know.” Her shoulders drooped as she blew out a breath, yet she didn’t lower the baby; she continued to rock the bundle back and forth. She gave him a sad smile. “I am exactly the same—and people like us are not made to have children. Babies should be placed in families where they will have a better chance of being loved and living fruitful lives. Taking the baby would be a selfish thing to do. Why not be selfless and allow her the chance to be happy?”
The woman didn’t know what she was talking about. He and she were nothing alike. Yevgeny refused to listen to what she was saying.
Yet instead of challenging her claim, he countered, “And you think you’re any less selfish?”
“What do you mean?”
“Christmas is coming.” He gestured to the small tree standing in the corner of the waiting room. “And you’re going to send the baby you gave birth to away to a foster home? Her first Christmas will be spent as an orphan. Alone. I will not allow it. I am calling Jo Wells now—I don’t care how she arranges it, but that baby in your arms is going home with me. No baby should be alone at Christmas.”
Five
Bringing the baby home was the most ill-considered thing she’d ever done, Ella decided ruefully the following morning.
She’d given up trying to get the baby to sleep an hour ago—after a night spent mixing formula and warming bottles and not a wink of sleep. A glance at the large white clock on the ivory-patterned wallpaper revealed it was already seven-thirty Monday morning. Normally she’d be in the office already, her emails read and answered. She’d be about to fetch the single cup of coffee she’d allowed herself each day during her pregnancy. Made from a fragrant, specially ground blend she favored, it was a must to kick-start her day.
This morning she hadn’t even fired up her laptop...much less thought about coffee.
Ella was exhausted.
But it was worth it....
She’d refused to allow Yevgeny to all but kidnap the baby and take it away with him. Once that happened he would never let the baby go. She knew that. The only way to stop that from happening had been to take the baby home herself...and the sacrifice was probably going to kill her.
At the very least, it was going to break what was left of her heart.
She gazed wearily at the tiny girl-monster lying on the plump couch beside her.
“Don’t you think it’s time for a nap?”
The baby stared back at her with round, wide-awake eyes.
Ella sighed.
She had no idea what she was doing but the few tips from a willing nurse that she’d scribbled down on the legal pad before leaving the maternity unit had been a godsend. At least the baby wouldn’t starve—she’d just finished a bottle. Yet it had only reinforced how much Ella didn’t know. After all, she hadn’t attended parenting classes or read any books on child rearing during the pregnancy because that had been Keira’s department. She’d only read the manuals about the dos and don’ts for the period the baby was growing in her stomach, none of which were of any help now.
