Mail Order Stepbrother Read Online Free PDF

skills.
    “Not forward,” she wrote back. “Just the next step.”
    “Are we ready for the next step?”
    Melanie bit her lip, taking his words more seriously than he probably meant them. She didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how he would take her enthusiasm for the idea, didn’t even know if she should be enthusiastic for it. What if he started calling? What if she didn’t like the sound of his voice? What if he didn’t like the sound of her voice? What if she couldn’t keep herself from saying something that would frighten him off? What if he somehow used her number to find where she lived, to steal her identity? What if this had all been some sort of scam to earn her trust so he could hurt her in some, here-to-for undefined way?
    There were so many what-ifs.
    Before she could decide how to answer, he came back with nothing more than his ten digit cellphone number.
    What was done was done.
    ***
    Melanie spent her one, truly free, day off shopping for little plastic sailboats her mother could use as party favors for Burton’s birthday bash. She wasn’t sure why her mother couldn’t find sailboats in San Diego—or Los Angeles, since apparently, she and Burton had been spending quite a bit of time there—but she promised she would help, and this was what her mother wanted.
    She was walking out of the third craft store she had visited that day, with her purchases in hand, when she stumbled into Jack. More than two weeks she’d avoided going down to radiology so that she wouldn’t have to see him, and here he was, walking into a craft store on her day off.
    “Dr. Spence,” he said, clearly as surprised as she. “How are you?”
    Melanie nodded, trying to think of something clever to say when a pretty blond woman, clearly not much older than twenty, came up behind Jack. She slipped her hand through his arm even as she balanced a baby against her shoulder with the other hand.
    “Jack?” she asked, the lack of trust in her voice like a punch in the stomach. At least, to Melanie.
    “Tess, this is Dr. Spence, the one I was telling you about.”
    A sense of dread washed over Melanie at those words. But the woman’s face lit up like he’d just told her Christmas had come early.
    “Dr. Spence, it’s wonderful to meet you,” the girl said, stepping around her husband and thrusting a hand at Melanie. “When Jack told me he talked to you about Eli’s condition, I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I was.”
    “Eli?”
    Jack’s face twisted into something like anger—or maybe annoyance—as he gestured with a nod of his head toward the baby.
    Melanie, who was always drawn to babies, slid her hand up the infant’s back before cradling his little head. “How old is he?”
    She was expecting to hear something like five or six weeks by the child’s size, but was surprised when Tess said, “Six months.”
    Melanie glanced at Jack. He rolled back on his heels, anger flashing in his eyes. “Down Syndrome,” he mouthed above his wife’s head.
    A whole list of complications ran their way through Melanie’s mind. She immediately knew why Jack had told his wife that he spoke to Melanie specifically. Babies with Down Syndrome tend to have problems with their cardiovascular system, usually some deficit in the formation of the heart that causes what is essentially a hole in the center that allows blood to flow improperly. Melanie lifted the infants hand and could see that his fingers had a blue tint to them. He was a very sick baby.
    “Can I hold him?” she asked with a soft smile.
    Tess’ eyes lit up. “Of course.”
    Melanie took the child gingerly into her arms, her eyes moving over the purse of his little lips and the quick, rough movement of his chest. He had the telltale markings of a child with Down Syndrome—the flat nose, upturned eyes, and slightly protruding tongue—but he also had his father’s strong jawline and his mother’s pale hair. Beautiful. Melanie again ran her hand over the