5. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
W innie cuddled up behind Bear on the motorcycle. She remembered last year when she was with Rascal because she’d told her sister not to put her with Bear. She was hiding their relationship from her family.
Then the next day, the kids had been delivered. It was hard to believe Joey was one. They’d done a cake and presents, but with him being so small, she hadn’t gone all out since it had been the week before Christmas. They’d had everyone over for dinner, and the guys had looked at the playset to see if it needed to be expanded.
Winnie had barely kept quiet because her house was already overrun with more toys than they could fit nicely anywhere. She’d thought when she and Bear had the house built last March and even included a space for Kennedy that they’d never run out of room. She’d seriously underestimated the amount of stuff her children received. Between her dad, sisters, Rascal and Meg, along with everyone else, they were overflowing. The big plus was that since Joey was older, she could pass some of the stuff along to Remi and Sarah for their babies.
Bear pulled up at the house on their list. Slice pulled in behind them. Winnie got off the bike and then turned to Slice.
“Are you helping us out here?” Winnie asked.
Slice got off his bike and unhooked his bag. He showed Winnie the tag. His tag indicated this address. She unhooked their bag and checked the tag. They both showed the same address but Slice’s had a B on his bag and their bag had an A .
Winnie, Slice, and Bear walked up to the door. Slice pointed to two mailboxes—one with an A and one with a B. The house must be divided into two apartments.
Bear knocked on the screen door. A young kid answered.
“Mom, it’s Santa Claus and his elves,” the kids yelled.
“I told you not to answer the door,” she yelled back, walking up behind him. “Can I help you?” she said.
“Well, we’re here to deliver to this address with the A. He’s here to deliver Apartment B,” Bear said, indicating Slice.
“Oh, I’m Apartment A, but I haven’t heard anything from Apartment B since I saw them throwing stuff in their car a couple of hours ago. If you want to double-check, the landlord gave me a key to let maintenance workers in,” she said.
“Slice, why don’t you see if they answer, and if not, you can get the key. We’ll bring in your stuff,” Winnie said, following the woman into the apartment.
A small tree was in the corner with some presents underneath. Winnie recognized the woman as one of the new teachers at the elementary school. She didn’t remember that the woman had any children.
“Thank you. I told Regina we were fine. I have two kids here that are my long-term fosters. I also do emergency foster care, but I don’t have anyone right now,” the woman said.
“We appreciate you providing for children in the foster care system. Us bringing some extras is our way of saying thank you. Also, if you ever have issues with the landlord fixing something, we’ll also come to take care of any emergencies, no cost.” Bear said, putting some packages under the tree.
Winnie pulled out the envelope from her sack and handed it to the woman. “This is for any incidentals you all need or whatever you want to spend it on.”
“Thanks, Winnie. I appreciate everything you all do for us. The repairs to my car had to be expensive, but you all charged me the cost of an oil change,” she said.
Slice walked around the house to the entrance to Apartment B. What he’d wanted to do was stay in the house and chat with the woman in Apartment A. Her smile was quick, and it lit her eyes. The foster kids at her house were lucky to have a woman who smiled so easily as their mom.
And the smell of fresh bread in the house had his stomach growling. He was a sucker for homemade bread and, after coming to Bluff Creek, drowning it in Sandhill Plum jelly. He’d added an extra mile to his daily runs just to be able to eat all the things he enjoyed at Bluff Creek.
He knocked on the door and waited to see if anyone answered. The wind had picked up a little but was still manageable by Kansas standards. He knocked again. He didn’t want the family to miss out on anything just in case they hadn’t left earlier, like the woman had thought.
Slice heard a sound and looked around to see if he could figure out what it was. It almost sounded like a kitten. He bent down by the porch to see if he could hear it better. The sound seemed fainter. He walked across the porch, trying to hear the sound again. As he passed in front of the window, the sound seemed to get louder. He leaned his ear against the windowpane. He was positive the sound was coming from inside the house.
Had the family friggin’ gone off and left their animal alone in the house? Some people didn’t need the responsibility of animals. He’d go get the key, and if he had to, he’d take care of the kitten or cat. It was hard to tell what age the animal was.
He stomped around the house and went into Apartment A.
“No one’s answering, but I think the family left their cat or an animal behind. Can I have the key to go in?” Slice asked the pretty woman.
“Sure. Here it is. I didn’t know they had an animal, though,” she said.
Bear followed him out. He could always count on his new brothers to have his back.
“What did you hear?” Bear asked.
“Something crying, like a kitten maybe,” Slice said, opening the screen door and sliding the key in the lock. Jiggling the key a little to make it work, he unlocked the door and walked in. He paused to listen for the sound again.
A small cry echoed through the house, and he walked toward the sound. Maybe in one of the bedrooms or the bathroom. Bear checked the bathroom they walked by as Slice continued back to what he assumed were the bedrooms.
He walked in and paused at what he saw, then he moved into crisis management. It wasn’t a friggin’ kitten. It was a small infant in only a light blanket, lying in the middle of a mattress that had had the sheets stripped off of it. He picked up the baby and opened his cut to cuddle the child close. The baby was tiny—oh so tiny. He pulled the blanket a little away from the baby and saw a wet, slimy umbilical cord clamped with a clothespin. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but he was helping this child.
He walked out into the hall to Bear.
“I need a blanket or maybe a couple towels. Someone left a newborn baby boy.”
If he wasn’t so worried about the baby, Slice would have found Bear’s mouth dropping open funny, but this baby needed help. They found a couple towels and Slice wrapped the baby up in them, then tucked him inside his cut, and they headed back to the other apartment.
He walked in with Bear following behind him. Bear was on the phone calling Stella.
“Did you find the kitten?” the woman asked.
“No, I found a newborn baby abandoned,” Slice said.
“What? Oh my goodness. I have all sizes for diapers and clothes, so we can take care of the baby’s immediate needs. Is it only in a blanket?” she asked as Slice pulled the towel away.
“Yes, he is,” he said, pulling the towel away.
“EMTs and the sheriff are coming,” Bear said.
The woman led Slice back to a bedroom.
“Let’s get him in something warm until they get here. I’m the only emergency foster care around, so most likely he’ll end up here unless he needs to go to the hospital. As soon as the EMTs check him, I can give him a bottle,” she said.
Slice wasn’t sure how he felt about leaving the baby with her and just throwing everything at her. He felt responsible for the little one since he’d found him. His heart hurt thinking about what could have happened if the family hadn’t been on the list for Santa’s Slay to visit tonight.
After the baby was in a diaper and clean, warm clothing, and the woman had swaddled him in a clean blanket, she turned to him.
“So I guess I should introduce myself. I’m Faith. Would you like to hold him?” she asked.
Slice nodded. “My name is Slice. I’d love to.”
He stood in the room and tucked the little boy close to him for warmth. His blue eyes were staring up at Slice. Slice wasn’t sure what was in store for this boy, but he knew he would do whatever it took for this little one to have a safe life.