Free Taken: A Kept Novella by Sally Bradley Page A

all. But now… What if Anna’s swab showed that fifty-percent match Sophie’s mother would have? He still couldn’t shake that scenario from his mind. Had Sophie been with her birth mom all this time? Did Tony have a third child he never knew about?
    He searched her face, looking for similarities to his brother-in-law, but those blue eyes of Sophie’s—the ones blinking at him now—sure weren’t from Tony’s side of the family.
    Sophie grinned at him.
    Cam grinned back. “Hey, Soapy. You’re awake.”
    She reached for him but didn’t sit up, and he knew immediately how bad of a day it had been. “Unckie,” she said, her voice small, her smile huge. “Unckie here.”
    He held her small, wide palm in his and stroked his fingers across the crease, the way she liked it. “I’m here. Couldn’t go through the day without seeing my favorite girls.”
    She tried to sit up, and Cam rose to help her. She reached both arms for him, and he sat down next to her so she could hug him. So he could hug her.
    She held him tightly and kissed his stomach.
    He kissed the top of her head.
    But her usual enthusiasm, her excessive greeting that warmed him every time, just wasn’t there. She was too tired tonight. And weak. Way too weak. “You have a rough day, Soapy?”
    She mumbled something and leaned against him, eyes closing.
    This just wasn’t her. His poor girl needed sleep. And a donor. Yesterday. He squinted at Anna. “She okay?” he mouthed.
    Anna nodded. “Tired,” she mouthed back.
    “Where Dom?” Sophie asked.
    “Mom’s in her chair. Behind you.”
    Sophie looked over her shoulder, then grinned like she hadn’t seen Anna in a great while. “Dom!” She reached out one hand and waved her over with her chunky little fingers.
    Anna obeyed and settled on the other side of the bed.
    Somehow Sophie managed to get one arm around her mom too.
    “Cameron brought a friend to meet you,” Anna said.
    Sophie looked up at him, her eyebrows furrowed. “Friend?”
    “Her name’s Jordan. Can you say that? Jordan?”
    “Jor…en,” she tried.
    “Jordan,” Cam repeated.
    And then Jordan was beside him on the bed, her smile for Sophie warming him. “Hi, Sophie. I’m Jordan.”
    “Jordan,” Sophie said again.
    “That’s right. I’m glad I get to meet you. Your Uncle Cam loves you lots. I can tell by everything he’s told me about you.”
    Yeah, he loved Sophie a lot. Jordan too. He traced the dark hair around her temples, the long strands she’d made wavy today. The long, dark eyelashes around those brown eyes. It’d been so hard last night to tell her everything . But what a relief to know that there were no more secrets between them.
    And what a relief that she was still here beside him. Still happy to be his girlfriend. To meet this little girl who’d thrown so much of his life into turmoil.
    “Cam?”
    Jordan was looking at him now—no, laughing at him, her smile struggling to contain itself.
    And so was Anna.
    Clearly he’d been caught mooning.
    Oh well. As if he cared that the two women in his life knew how he felt. “Stop it. What’d I miss?”
    Jordan spoke. “She asked if I’m going to take care of you like Anna takes care of her.”
    “Yes.” Cam’s nod for Sophie was emphatic. “She’ll get to feed me—”
    “ Get to?”
    “—and wash my laundry and pick up all my toys.” He grinned at Jordan at that one. “All my Matchbox cars.”
    Jordan laughed and rolled her eyes.
    Anna watched them. “I missed something there.”
    Yes, she had. “Jordan’s got this weird… thing for toy cars.” He shook his head sadly at Sophie. “Isn’t that funny, Soapy? That someone like Jordan would play with teeny, tiny little cars?”
    Sophie nodded. “I like my baby. And my bear.” She suddenly searched her bed, almost frantic in the motion. “Where my bear? Where bear?”
    From the bench in front of the window, Logan held up the bear, his eyes still glued to his book. His rear still glued to