Free Still Here: A Secret Baby Romance by Kaylee Song, Laura Belle Peters

was all so quaint. Nothing fancy or high brow, nothing like the old Wyatt. But somehow this scene fit. He just belonged here among all these people. Most of whom waved at him or said hello.
    This was a part of who he was now.
    “I was thinking maybe we could check out the-“ he started, but he stopped his sentence right in the middle. I didn’t see why, at first, but as soon as I realized what he was looking at I understood.
    A big man was towering over a small child next to the ring toss, his hand raised up high as he screamed at her. “I told you not to drop that ice cream! I just paid for it. I told you to keep it in both hands.”
    He was going to hit her. Right there. In the middle of all those people. I didn’t even notice it until after Wyatt did. I didn’t even realize it was happening. He was going to hit her, and hard too, I could tell by the way he had his hand cocked back.
    How had I not seen it?
    “Come on now, man. Why don’t you give the kid a break, she’s little,” Wyatt interjected as he walked right between them. He put his body between the large man and the child’s. “Here, I’ll even buy her an ice cream, put it in a cup instead of a cone so she won’t drop it.”
    “Please, Hank?” The little girl’s voice was so small, so fragile, it sounded like it was about to break.
    “Here, sweetie, let me go take you to get a new ice cream,” I said as I swooped in and grabbed her hand, we were right next to the line for ice cream. She’d probably had her own cone for a few seconds, if that.
    “Ungrateful little brat. I took her and her momma in and all she does is waste my money. And you, who the hell do you think you are?” The large man turned his attention on Wyatt, but I had the girl and I wasn’t about to let her go. From the slur of his voice made me wince.
    “Calm down, sir. I’m only trying to help. She’s small, and it’s clear she didn’t mean it. It was just an accident.” Wyatt was calm, his face completely unchanged, like he was talking to just anyone.
    Not a total monster who was about to hit a girl for something anyone could have done. Heck, I probably could’ve done it.
    “Don’t you tell me to calm down. Look, I don’t know who you think you are, but you don’t tell me how to parent.” I could tell by his stagger and the way his words smashed together that he was drunk.
    “I’m not trying to tell you anything,” Wyatt said. He was starting to get defensive and I was afraid a fight would break out.
    Not because I was afraid that Wyatt couldn’t handle himself, but because I was worried about this little girl being exposed to more violence than she already was.
    “What’s your name, sweetie?” I asked as we got up to the counter. “Would you like a piece of my funnel cake?”
    “Ella.” She said then she added, “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”
    “My name is Rose. Ella, is your momma here?”
    She nodded.
    “Okay, what kind of ice cream do you like? We’ll get you an ice cream then find your mom.” I couldn’t make out what Wyatt and the big man were saying, I could just tell from the sound of their voices that it was getting worse.
    “Bubblegum flavor!” Ella said as she walked up to the counter. At least she was innocently oblivious. As I was paying I caught a woman coming towards us with a fierce look in her eyes.
    Ah, must’ve been the mother.
    “Hi there, is this your daughter? She dropped her ice cream and was scared. I got her a new one and then said I would come find you,” I explained, a sweet smile on my face. I’d casually skipped the part where her shitty boyfriend was about to smack this poor little girl right across the mouth.
    “Ella, what did I tell you?” she said as she grabbed her and pulled her away from me.
    I caught my frown and made sure not to flinch.
    “Where is Hank?” she asked.
    Ella just pointed, we all looked.
    Hank was being escorted away by a couple of police officers and Wyatt was standing there