the steps, keeping her focus on the bundle at the top. “Jess Parker could have left some sort of wild animal in that bundle to scare me,” she muttered, thinking of one of her favorite students. Jess was older than the other boys and always full of mischief.
Once at the top of the stairs, she looked down into the face of a sweet, rosy-cheeked child. Long blond lashes feathered under its eyes. The blanket rose and fell gently as the child slept peacefully.
Laura looked about but saw no one. Bending, she unpinned a note from the soft blanket. Her fingers itched to touch the child’s soft blond curls. Instead she unfolded the paper and read.
“Mrs. Lee, please take care of my little girl. Her name is Hope and she is a year old. I know you are kind and will make a good mother for her. She is a good eater and in good health. Thank you.”
Laura turned the note over in her hands. Was this real? Had someone, perhaps one of her former students, just given her a child? Her gaze moved back to the sleeping little girl.
Hope.
How many times had she asked God for a child? And now ironically was given one named Hope? Laura picked up the little girl who continued to sleep deeply. She was small to be a year old. Was that why her mother had pointed out she was a good eater and in good health?
Laura cuddled the sweet bundle close. She couldn’t just take her home. Could she? She looked about once more, searching for Hope’s mother. Was the letter legal? Could she keep her? What was her landlady, Mrs. Potter, going to say if she returned to the boardinghouse with the child?
Laura looked down the dirt street at the small town. It was growing every day. Thanks to the lumber business, it had two sawmills, a general store with a built-in pharmacy, two churches, a bakery and a saloon. If only it had two boardinghouses, but it didn’t. If Mrs. Potter held to her rule of no children allowed, Laura didn’t know what she’d do with Hope.
The baby squirmed in her arms. Hope continued to sleep as she worked an arm out of the blanket and stuck two fingers in her small mouth. Then she snuggled against Laura once more.
Motherly instinct swelled in Laura. She gently rocked the baby and sighed. Then Laura straightened her spine and whispered, “You stop right now, Laura Lee. Dreaming and wishing has never gotten you anywhere.” Her gaze returned to the bundle in her arms. “Oh, but I do want to keep you.” She hugged the child closer.
It seemed odd that four years after her husband Charles’s death, she’d been given a child to raise. Laura looked about once more, then started back down the schoolhouse steps. Before she got her hopes up, she’d make sure that she could truly keep the baby.
Thinking of Charles brought about fresh hurt to her wounded heart. He’d wanted children so badly. And she’d disappointed him. How many times after they’d realized she could not bear children had he told her of his disappointment? Too many to count. It wasn’t just his words but the look in his eyes that had cut her to the core. The references that never having a son to carry on the good Lee name was a crying shame. It was her shame that he referred to.
Laura pushed the pain aside and hurried her footsteps toward town. She decided to take the side streets to avoid the many questions that would arise at the sight of her holding a child. Her gaze moved to the sleeping face. Little Hope must be very tired to sleep through the jarring of being held while Laura walked down the dusty roads.
She rushed to the sheriff’s office and slipped inside. Closing the door quickly, Laura turned to find a bemused lawman sitting behind an old wooden desk. For the first time in her life, she was at a loss for words. How did you explain to the town sheriff that someone had dropped a child on your doorstep?
“Good morning, Mrs. Lee.” The sheriff stood and came around the front of the desk. “Please, have a seat.” Once she was seated he continued. “What can I help you with?”
Laura looked down at the child and into the purest blue eyes she’d ever seen. Hope smiled around her fingers. Laura’s heart melted. Someone had given her this sweet child. She knew she’d do all in her power to take care of little Hope and give her a good home. She sat Hope up. “Sheriff, I’d like for you to meet Hope.” She wished with all her heart that she knew where the child had come from. Could she be the product of one of her former students?
He didn’t blink an eye. The sheriff reached out and took the little girl’s small hand. “Nice to meet you, Miss Hope.”
Hope continued to look up at him with big eyes and a grin.
“I didn’t know you had a little girl, Mrs. Lee. Where have you been hiding her?” He leaned a hip against his desk and crossed his arms.
He was teasing her and she knew it. The sheriff was a good man who enjoyed a smile or two wherever they could be found. Laura wondered why the child hadn’t asked for her mother but hugged her closer. “Well, I can’t claim her just yet. This morning I found her sleeping on the school porch.” Laura pulled the note from Hope’s blanket and handed it to him. “This was pinned to her blanket.” She held her breath as he read.
His gaze moved to hers. “Mrs. Potter isn’t going to let you keep her at the boardinghouse, you know.”
The sheriff lived at the boardinghouse also and knew Mrs. Potter’s rules just as she did. “Well, I’m going to ask, but if she says no, I’ll have to find a new place to live. I don’t think she’s so hard-hearted that she won’t give me time to find us a new home.”
He nodded.
“What I need to know is—” She paused. “Can I keep her?”
His gaze moved over the paper once more. “Well, the letter is addressed to you, and the request is clear. I’d say yes. But I’ve a feeling there is more to this than meets the eye. I’ll need to do some investigating. I’d hate to think this young lady’s ma is in danger, but it’s odd that a mother would just abandon her child like this.”
Laura wanted to argue it happened all the time in the big cities, but this wasn’t a big city, and people didn’t drop off their children on doorsteps here. No, he was right. She couldn’t just claim the child, even if she had been delivered like a sack of potatoes.
He sighed deeply. “I’m sorry, Laura. You can’t just keep her. Judge Miller will be coming to town around the first of next month. He’ll make the final decision as to if you can keep her.”
“Are you going to keep her until then?” Laura asked, looking about the dusty jailhouse.
His gaze followed hers. “Naw, I don’t reckon I am. You can keep her with you, if you want to, until the judge arrives next month.”
Joy jumped in her heart. He’d said she could keep Hope, at least until Judge Miller arrived. By then the judge would see just how attached she and the child were to each other. He was a kind man. He’d let her keep Hope. Laura was sure of it.
Now all she had to do was convince Mrs. Potter to let her keep Hope. Or she’d have to find a new place to live that would let her keep the child with her. But where? She was a schoolteacher on a small budget. Could she afford more than the boardinghouse’s fee of two dollars a week?
* * *
Clint Shepard held his daughter, Grace, close. The little girl was sound asleep, something he was grateful for. The two-year-old was a chatterbox.
