Free Linda Ford by The Baby Compromise

beginning?
    She tucked in her chin hard. She could do this. She was capable and strong...not just a rich, city girl.
    But she fought a desire to cling to the strength of his hand as he helped her down. Instead, she pulled away. She would not reveal any weakness to this man. Or anyone.
    She reached for the baby Colton held, but he shook his head. “I’ll take him.” His low words rang with insistence and something else. Desperation? She studied him as he faced the door. Was he afraid to face his own parents?
    Heidi clung to Rebecca’s hand. “He said they were nice,” she whispered.
    Her words jolted Colton from his staring. “They are nice. They’re my parents, remember? Now, come along.” He led them to the door, opened it and hesitated. “You won’t be offended if I go first?”
    She started to sigh, then stopped, not wanting him to think she’d sniffed. “I’ll overlook it this one time.”
    He chuckled. “I’ll bear that in mind.” He stepped into the room.
    Rebecca caught a glimpse of a table cluttered with dishes, chairs scattered around it, a stove with pots sitting on top and a cupboard equally untidy. She swallowed back a growing alarm that screamed to escape.
    Heidi peeked around her. “It’s a little messy,” she whispered.
    She’d never noticed before the child’s knack for understatement. Likely because they’d never before faced a disaster area.
    “Ma, Pa, I brought company.” He stepped to a doorway leading from the kitchen.
    Rebecca saw the tension in Colton’s back, making the muscles across his shoulders bunch. That couldn’t be a good sign.
    “Company?” A woman’s voice quivered. “How can I deal with company?”
    Colton moved out of sight.
    “Where did you get a baby?” asked a deeper voice. Colton’s pa.
    “A baby!” Mrs. Hayes sounded positively alarmed.
    “I’ll explain everything after you meet the company.” Colton sounded guarded.
    He returned to the doorway and waved them forward.
    Clinging to the rigid lessons in proper deportment that had been drummed into her head all her life, Rebecca stepped forward, her head high, no fear on her face. Heidi clung to her like a burr.
    A cot stood against one wall of the room with a woman perched on its side. Seemed she had been resting there until Colton made his surprise announcement. She was thin except for her protruding stomach, with gray hair that needed brushing and green eyes like Colton’s. A table stood before the cot, covered with a huge assortment of dishes. From where she stood, Rebecca saw dried food scraps on many of them. Every space not covered with dishes held assorted papers and books, like a hodgepodge of life laid out for display.
    She couldn’t say what she’d expected, but not this. Not a house littered from wall to wall. Rebecca steeled her expression to reveal none of her distress.
    “Ma, Pa, this is Rebecca Sterling and Heidi... Sorry, I don’t know your last name.” He directed the latter statement at Heidi.
    “Strauss,” she whispered.
    “Heidi, Rebecca, my father, Louis Hayes.”
    Mr. Hayes sat in a wooden rocker next to the table. He was a big, handsome man with features Colton obviously inherited. Deep lines on his face hinted at the pain Colton had told them about. He tried to get to his feet and the lines deepened.
    Colton sprang forward. “Pa, what are you doing?”
    “I have to stand to shake hands.”
    Colton tucked the baby into his left arm and helped his father to his feet.
    Mr. Hayes offered his hand to Rebecca. “I’m pleased to meet you.”
    She shook his hand gingerly, suspecting that every movement increased his pain, and withdrew as quickly as she could and still be polite.
    Mr. Hayes turned to Heidi. “Pleased to meet you, too, little lady.” He held out his hand.
    Heidi brushed her palm to his without lifting her head and Colton helped the man back to his chair. He sat in a way that signaled pain.
    Colton waited until he was settled, then indicated his mother.