babysitting type. Not for an infant, anyhow.
Two minutes stretched into three and she peered inside, wondering if she should keep waiting or just leave. The baby was still wailing pitifully. Another two minutes passed and the screams increased in intensity, until the infant had worked itself into a frenzy of choking and gasping. It sounded as if the deputy needed some help, and if he didn’t, that poor baby did. Sydney didn’t typically walk uninvited into stranger’s houses, especially strangers with the authority to throw her in jail, but she had to do something.
Her maternal instincts overwhelming her, she stepped inside. The house was smaller than hers, but cozy. A black leather sofa and matching love seat, glass-top coffee and end tables and a television on a mahogany credenza were the only furniture in the living room. Guy furniture. Dirty plates, cups, bowls and baby bottles littered every flat surface. The walls were freshly painted stark white, the hardwood floors newly polished. And it smelled like…baby powder.
She followed the screams down the hall past a small empty room, then a larger room with a mussed, king-size bed, chest of drawers and a floor covered in discarded laundry. Deputy Valenzia’s bedroom, she surmised with a flutter of interest. She wondered how many women he’d taken to that bed… She probably didn’t want to know. If the rumors were true, living right next door, she would see the evidence soon enough.
Feeling like a snoop, Sydney continued on to the bedroom at the end the hall and looked in. A white crib sat adjacent to a matching dresser and rocking chair, and against the far wall was a changing table. In the middle of it all Deputy Valenzia stood with the hysterical infant over his shoulder, patting her back, looking as if he might burst into tears, too.
It just might have been the sweetest thing she’d ever seen.
“Can I help?” she asked over the screams.
He didn’t look angry that she’d let herself in. In fact, he seemed relieved to see her.
“She was up half the night. I don’t think she likes the new house.” He awkwardly shifted the baby to the opposite shoulder and patted her back. Sydney had never seen a man who moved with such natural ease look so uncoordinated holding a baby. It was unbelievably cute.
“Change is difficult for young children,” she said, stepping tentatively into the room. “They’re creatures of habit.”
The baby whimpered against his shoulder, then lifted her head and wailed again—and Sydney’s heart melted. The child’s plump red cheeks were dotted with tears, her clear blue eyes wide and accusing.
“Oh, she’s beautiful,” Sydney breathed. “How old?”
“Five months.”
She held out her arms. “Let me try.”
“You have experience with babies?” he asked, extending a protective hand across the child’s back.
“I worked in day care all through college, taught school for ten years and I have a daughter who suffered a severe case of colic,” Sydney said. “Though I still say she’s more trouble as a teenager.”
“That’s good enough for me.” He thrust the squirming, noisy bundle into Sydney’s arms. “This is April. She’s all yours.”
CHAPTER THREE
“O H, SO YOU’RE April.” Sydney held the baby up to get a good look at her. “I thought you were a puppy.”
“A puppy?” Daniel asked.
“Yesterday you said April drooled on your cell phone so I assumed she was a dog.”
“A puppy couldn’t be much more destructive. She puts everything in her mouth.”
He watched as his new neighbor laid the baby against her shoulder, rubbing her back. Sydney wasn’t beautiful in the conventional sense, but there was something about her, something that appealed to him. The eyes that were a little too round, the slightly upturned nose that was too cute to belong to a mature woman, and the sprinkling of freckles across her cheeks that made her look twelve. Although, he was guessing she was probably only
Two minutes stretched into three and she peered inside, wondering if she should keep waiting or just leave. The baby was still wailing pitifully. Another two minutes passed and the screams increased in intensity, until the infant had worked itself into a frenzy of choking and gasping. It sounded as if the deputy needed some help, and if he didn’t, that poor baby did. Sydney didn’t typically walk uninvited into stranger’s houses, especially strangers with the authority to throw her in jail, but she had to do something.
Her maternal instincts overwhelming her, she stepped inside. The house was smaller than hers, but cozy. A black leather sofa and matching love seat, glass-top coffee and end tables and a television on a mahogany credenza were the only furniture in the living room. Guy furniture. Dirty plates, cups, bowls and baby bottles littered every flat surface. The walls were freshly painted stark white, the hardwood floors newly polished. And it smelled like…baby powder.
She followed the screams down the hall past a small empty room, then a larger room with a mussed, king-size bed, chest of drawers and a floor covered in discarded laundry. Deputy Valenzia’s bedroom, she surmised with a flutter of interest. She wondered how many women he’d taken to that bed… She probably didn’t want to know. If the rumors were true, living right next door, she would see the evidence soon enough.
Feeling like a snoop, Sydney continued on to the bedroom at the end the hall and looked in. A white crib sat adjacent to a matching dresser and rocking chair, and against the far wall was a changing table. In the middle of it all Deputy Valenzia stood with the hysterical infant over his shoulder, patting her back, looking as if he might burst into tears, too.
It just might have been the sweetest thing she’d ever seen.
“Can I help?” she asked over the screams.
He didn’t look angry that she’d let herself in. In fact, he seemed relieved to see her.
“She was up half the night. I don’t think she likes the new house.” He awkwardly shifted the baby to the opposite shoulder and patted her back. Sydney had never seen a man who moved with such natural ease look so uncoordinated holding a baby. It was unbelievably cute.
“Change is difficult for young children,” she said, stepping tentatively into the room. “They’re creatures of habit.”
The baby whimpered against his shoulder, then lifted her head and wailed again—and Sydney’s heart melted. The child’s plump red cheeks were dotted with tears, her clear blue eyes wide and accusing.
“Oh, she’s beautiful,” Sydney breathed. “How old?”
“Five months.”
She held out her arms. “Let me try.”
“You have experience with babies?” he asked, extending a protective hand across the child’s back.
“I worked in day care all through college, taught school for ten years and I have a daughter who suffered a severe case of colic,” Sydney said. “Though I still say she’s more trouble as a teenager.”
“That’s good enough for me.” He thrust the squirming, noisy bundle into Sydney’s arms. “This is April. She’s all yours.”
CHAPTER THREE
“O H, SO YOU’RE April.” Sydney held the baby up to get a good look at her. “I thought you were a puppy.”
“A puppy?” Daniel asked.
“Yesterday you said April drooled on your cell phone so I assumed she was a dog.”
“A puppy couldn’t be much more destructive. She puts everything in her mouth.”
He watched as his new neighbor laid the baby against her shoulder, rubbing her back. Sydney wasn’t beautiful in the conventional sense, but there was something about her, something that appealed to him. The eyes that were a little too round, the slightly upturned nose that was too cute to belong to a mature woman, and the sprinkling of freckles across her cheeks that made her look twelve. Although, he was guessing she was probably only
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