tried to yank his arms away from Nick, tears running down his face now.
All Darcy wanted to do was hold the boy until he calmed down, but she couldn’t, even though he was her cousin—family. Besides Fletcher, she was probably his closest relative in the area. But no one knew that but her.
“Let me go. Dad doesn’t care.” A sob caught in Corey’s throat.
Nick still held Corey, but when he knelt in front of the boy, his expression softened. “But I care about you. It’s gonna snow and get really cold tonight. Did you think about that?”
Corey looked to the side. His blue gaze—so much like Darcy’s—landed on her. “Who are you?”
The words I’m your cousin almost slipped out. Instead she smiled and said, “I want to help you.”
“You can’t. No one can.”
The hopelessness leaked into his words and broke her heart. Coming to Haven was so much harder than Darcy had ever thought it would be.
“That’s not going to stop me from trying. I don’t know about you, Corey, but Miss Hill and I are cold. Let’s settle this somewhere warm.”
Her cousin stuck out his lower lip. “Fine. Nothing’s gonna change.”
“There are a lot of people searching for you and worried about you. Mrs. Scott was beside herself. She called the sheriff.” Nick kept his hand clamped on Corey’s shoulder and started back toward the elementary school parking lot.
“Dad will be mad about that.”
“What did you think was going to happen if you ran away?” Darcy boxed the boy in on the other side and prepared to go after him if he broke loose from Nick’s hold.
“Somethin’ better. Anywhere would be better than here,” Corey mumbled and dropped his head as he shuffled his feet toward the edge of the woods.
When Darcy returned to Mobile, the first thing she would do was hug her parents. She knew raising kids was difficult, but seeing someone like Corey only made her want to have her own children more than before. She had so much love to give a child.
She’d been blessed to have a wonderful mother and father. But others, like Corey, hadn’t been. Maybe while she stayed in Haven, she would check out the boys ranch. Her biological father might not want to have anything to do with the place, but she did.
The minute they returned to Nick’s truck, he settled Corey inside. While the boy sat sandwiched between them, Nick called Mrs. Scott to let her know they had found Corey.
The child folded his arms over his chest and hunched his shoulders farther down as Nick drove closer to Corey’s house. In that moment Darcy felt like a fish in the Gulf taking the bait and being caught. It would be hard to drive home to Mobile without making sure something long term was done for Corey. The question was what. Nick, one of the few people who cared for the child and the person who had stopped to help her tonight, might be able to assist her with that.
Darcy didn’t even know Corey, and still she wanted to do everything she could to take care of him. Make sure he was warm and fed a proper meal. There was something about the child that drew her—more than family ties. There was a lot of anger in Corey, but beneath it she sensed a need to be loved, or maybe she was just putting herself in Corey’s situation and projecting her emotions onto him.
As they drove away from Dry Gulch, where they’d left Corey with the neighbor, Darcy turned to Nick. “Where I live, I volunteer at a shelter and work with children to find solutions for their situations. I’ve seen families deal with a member who is an alcoholic and the toll it puts on them, especially the children. Some of the kids have to grow up so fast because they are left to fend for themselves. It breaks my heart.”
Nick waited at a stoplight to turn onto the highway that would return them to Haven. He slid a look at her, his expression still full of worry. “Me too.” Unspoken emotions dripped from those brief words.
“What do you think will happen to Ned?” Darcy asked the question she was sure was on both their minds. They had left Dry Gulch after the sheriff arrested Ned and hauled him to jail.
“He’ll probably only get a slap on the wrist. I’m more concerned about Corey. At least he’s with Mrs. Scott for the night.”
“Are you upset that Ned wouldn’t let you take Corey home?”
Nick gave her a tired smile. “Am I that transparent?”
“Well...yes.”
“Ned doesn’t want to be the father he should, but he feels threatened by my relationship with Corey. I’m glad Ned let Mrs. Scott take Corey without much of a fight. She’ll take good care of the child, and I’ll go to her house tomorrow morning.”
“But you wanted to take him home.”
“Yes, I feel responsible for him,” Nick said, although she hadn’t asked a question.
“Because of the promise to Doug?”
“Yep. When I give my word, I mean it. But it’s more than...” Nick’s voice trailed off in silence. “He’ll be all right. I’m glad she called the sheriff earlier. All Corey had with him was a thin blanket. He could have frozen tonight.”
There was something Nick wasn’t saying. What? “Ned could be looking at child endangerment and neglect. The state could step in.”
“I hope they do something this time.”
“What do you mean, this time?”
“I have reported Ned’s behavior before, but nothing was done. He left Corey alone overnight. Corey called me afraid because he heard a noise outside. I came over to be with him until his dad showed up in the morning. That’s when my precarious relationship with Ned turned from bad to worse. Thankfully Mrs. Scott has been able to step in more, but she’s had health issues. She’s a temporary solution but not a permanent one.”
“How about the boys ranch for Corey?”
“I know they have room for one more boy, and I’d much rather see Corey there, but Ned would never go for it.”
“Unless this time the state does something about it.”
“I volunteer at the boys ranch, and it’s done a lot for the kids who live there. I’m there several times a week. It would be so much better for Corey than living with Ned. The boys ranch isn’t like what Fletcher says. They aren’t hooligans but kids who need extra help.”
She wasn’t surprised that Nick would volunteer at the boys ranch. In the short time she’d been with him, she’d seen a man of action and heart. “Then I’ll pray to the Lord something is done for Corey.”
“In my experience He hasn’t helped much.”
There was something in Nick’s voice—pain—that touched her. Who did he turn to when he
