“Perfect.”
“He can try. It’s still a longshot,” she warned. “You’re a single man with no proof right now that this baby is your niece, so you don’t have that relationship on your side. I’m on a first-name basis with all of the individuals around this region who are qualified foster care providers, and there’s not a single, unmarried man among them. So—”
“I don’t care who or what they are. I’m not some perfect stranger! Everyone in this town knows the Swift family.”
Not necessarily a good thing. She kept the thought to herself. “Swift Oil pumps a lot of money into Wyoming,” she allowed. “But—”
“But nothing. That should at least buy me enough time with the judge so that I can prove she’s my niece!”
He wouldn’t be able to buy anything else with the judge. She had plenty of experience with Horvald Stokes. The judge cared about one thing—the well-being of a child. Period. “Without the mother here to say anything, you’ll need a DNA test to prove it.”
“Then I’ll get a freaking DNA test!” His voice rose. “How long can that take?” Layla’s face crumpled and she started crying again.
And Linc looked like he was about to lose it.
Maddie decided not to tell him that Layla would need the test, as well. And that would require the judge’s order, too. “I’ll call Archer,” she said again and this time, successfully lifted the baby out of Linc’s arms. She offered Layla the bottle, but the baby turned her fussy face away. Maddie put her against her shoulder as she walked back out to the foyer, rubbing her back. “It’s okay, sweetie. What a night you’ve had, huh?”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
She worked open her purse and started rummaging inside. “I wasn’t talking to you.”
As if she would ever call him sweetie.
Her fingers latched onto her cell phone and she dragged it out of her purse. “When did you start needing glasses?”
She didn’t bother dialing her brother’s home phone. There was no way he’d be home on a Friday night. Archer was the only person she knew who liked his women more than Jaxon Swift did. Instead, she dialed his cell phone and hoped that he would at least be somewhere that the signal reached. Around their area of the state, such a thing was never guaranteed.
“Why?”
She tucked the phone against her shoulder as she bounced the baby and started unwinding her winter scarf. “Just trying to make conversation.”
“I don’t need conversation. I need results.” He left the foyer.
She made a face at his departing back and finally freed the scarf. She dropped it on top of her purse and started unbuttoning her coat.
“This better be good,” Archer’s voice suddenly came on the line. “I was in the middle of something.”
“Middle of someone more like,” she said. “I need a favor.” She quickly told him the situation. “Do you mind calling the judge for me? See if he’s willing to even consider it?”
“What’s your boss say about it?”
She mentally crossed her fingers. “He said it’s my call.” As lies went, it wasn’t the worst she could tell. Under ordinary circumstances, Raymond Marx trusted Maddie’s judgment.
But she had only had a few days off in the last three years. And he’d been adamant. The rules required a minimum of two continuous weeks off every year. She was well past that. Which meant that in this instance, her boss would say she was on vacation and should hand off anything even remotely approaching a case to one of her associates for the next two weeks. Period. She was supposed to be out living her life. Having a date or two. He’d even set her up with his buddy, Morton. Because, despite being a stickler for the rules, Ray really did care about his people.
“Are you going to help me or not?”
“Stay by the phone,” her brother said in answer, and disconnected.
“Nothing like being surrounded by abrupt men,” she murmured. She managed to shrug out of her coat and the baby finally gave up a hard little burp.
“Attagirl.” Maddie shifted her hold on Layla and offered the bottle once more. “Pretty much my thinking, too, where they’re concerned.”
“Where who are concerned?”
Of course Linc would choose that moment to return.
She rounded the foyer table, for some reason wanting to keep it between them. “Nothing important. This looks like the same table that your grandmother had when my mother and I were here. My mom used to let me dust the base because I was always begging to help.” Until she’d learned cleaning was really a chore and not a game.
“It is the same table. No reason to change it.”
She chewed the inside of her cheek when silence fell and she had no brilliant ideas of how to fill it.
Fortunately, her cell phone rang just as she could feel a blush starting to rise in her cheeks. “It’s Archer already.” She didn’t expect such a quick response to bode well, and considering the way Linc’s lips thinned, she suspected he had the same feeling.
She managed to hold both Layla and the bottle with one hand as she pressed a key and held the phone to her ear. “Any luck?”
“Depends on who’s asking,” Archer said. She could hear music in the background. “Not surprisingly, Stokes isn’t inclined to depart from usual procedure, kiddo. File a report with the sheriff and turn the baby over to the hospital until an emergency placement can be made.”
She sighed, shaking her head slightly when Linc’s eyes captured hers. “Well, thanks for trying. I’ll get the ball rolling with the sheriff—”
“No.” Linc’s voice was adamant in her one ear, and Archer’s “Hold on, kiddo,” was cautionary in the other.
She ignored Linc for her brother. “What?”
“Being the weekend and all, Stokes suggested that you could personally take the child into protective custody until the hearing can be scheduled about Swift’s petition. If you agree, that is.”
Linc was standing still, watching her intently. She wished that he’d at least pace. Then he’d be doing something else with all that pent-up frustration besides shooting it all at her from his eyes. And maybe she’d be able to breathe more normally.
It was galling that even after all these years, just being near him made her...edgy.
Layla had drained the bottle, so Maddie set it on the table, repositioning the baby once more against her shoulder as she considered Archer’s words. The hearing had to be scheduled within forty-eight hours, excluding the weekend. “At the latest, we’re looking at midweek, then.” At which time the judge would likely order the baby be placed into shelter care while the prosecutor’s office investigated. They’d start by determining whether Layla was
