Free Found: One Secret Baby by Nancy Holland Page B

trust on the Joey’s face as they spun in one last circle stopped Morgan’s heart. He’d once been that innocent, that trusting too. And so had Charlie.
    In that instant he knew. He could never let Lillian, much less Charlie’s father, get their hands on this kid. He had to find a way to keep Joey safe and happy.

Chapter Five
    When the music stopped, Joey crowed and laughed, clapping his hands. Someone else clapped too.
    Morgan cringed and looked toward the front hall. Luckily, their appreciative audience wasn’t Rosalie, who had turned her back to hunch over her cell on the porch, but a skinny teenaged girl with bright-red braids
    “Jill!” Joey called to her.
    “Hey, Jojo, who’s your hot friend?”
    Morgan felt a flush creep up his face. This child thought he was hot?
    He set Joey back in the playpen, grabbed the remote, and clicked off the sound system.
    “You’re late.” He wished he’d used a softer tone when she lifted her eyebrows and stared at him.
    “I just got home from soccer practice. The coach made us do extra laps ‘cause some of the girls were talking instead of running the drills.” The girl went over and lifted Joey out of the playpen. “Who’s the hunk, kid?”
    Before Morgan could explain, Rosalie came back in from the porch. Under the harried expression on her face he saw a trace of satisfaction. Her phone call must have been a success.
    The red-haired girl bounced Joey and asked Rosalie, “Aren’t you going to introduce me to the new boyfriend?”
    “He’s not …”
    “I’m not …”
    They’d started and stopped at the same moment.
    The girl raised her eyebrows again and glanced from one of them to the other. Rosalie’s face had gone pink, which for some reason made Morgan smile.
    “Whatever.” The girl handed the kid to Rosalie. “I don’t suppose you’re still going to pay me?”
    Rosalie pulled a five-dollar bill out of her pocket. “You did your best. This should cover the new download you were talking about the other day.”
    “And then some. Thanks. I owe you. Good luck with the hottie. I think he’s a keeper. He even danced with Jojo.”
    Rosalie gave Morgan a look that made him flush again. The girl laughed, kissed the top of Joey’s head, and went out the front door.
    “Obviously you need better child-care arrangements for the weekends,” Morgan commented as he straightened his crumpled shirt and tightened his tie.
    “Obviously you need to mind your own business. What are you doing here, anyway?”
    Before he could answer, the babysitter stuck her head back in the door.
    “By the way, what’s that monstrosity in the SUV parked out front?”
    “Monstrosity?” Rosalie asked.
    The girl shrugged. “It’s one of our vocab words this week. And that thing out there is ug-lee.”
    Rosalie couldn’t tell if Morgan’s face was red from anger or embarrassment.
    “It’s a gift for the kid from Lillian,” he explained.
    “Who’s …” Jill began, but Rosalie silenced her with a glare. “Okay, I’m out of here.”
    The slam of the door behind her rang through the open beams of the Spanish-style living room. Rosalie took a deep breath and turned back toward her unwelcome guest.
    “Why are you here?” Her heart pounded so hard she was surprised it didn’t echo off the beams, too.
    Joey squirmed in her arms, so she set him back in the playpen, where he plopped down and began emitting unmistakable noises from the wrong end.
    Morgan gave Joey an uncomfortable look before he responded. “Perhaps if we sat down?”
    She sighed, shooed the cats off the couch and sat at the end nearest Joey. Morgan took two steps toward the broken armchair, then made a mid-course correction and sat at the other end of the couch. He produced a small white plastic bag from his pocket.
    “I came to get a swab from the kid so we can do a DNA test.”
    Rosalie frowned. “They already took one at his doctor’s office and sent it to the adoption agency.”
    “I know. This is a