Chapter 3
Mrs. Shultz’s words hit Sawyer like a physical blow. This couldn’t be happening. There was no way he could take care of an infant on his own. And even if he could, he neither wanted nor was equipped to handle responsibility for the care and safety of yet another human being. Not after the way he’d failed so miserably with Lanny.
Struggling to keep his tone businesslike, he backed up a step. “I live alone and I work here at the mercantile all day—I can’t take care of an infant. Surely there’s someone else better able to take him in.”
Mrs. Shultz shook her head. “As far as we know, you are the only family he has left. If you do not give him a home, he has nowhere left to go but an orphanage.”
Sawyer’s mind scrambled for an alternative. Truth to tell, the kid might actually be better off in an orphanage than left to his care. But he couldn’t bear the thought of abandoning the kid that way.
“How do you know there’s no one else? In fact, how did you even know to contact me?”
The man stepped forward and set the bag he was carrying on the counter. “This contains Aaron’s things.”
Sawyer stared at the satchel. Such a small legacy. Had the boy’s parents left him nothing?
Mr. Shultz reached inside and pulled out a large, well-worn book. “When we arrived in Sutton’s Corner we met Reverend Rodgers, who had been watching over our Katherine until we could get there. In fact, he and his wife were trying to care for all the children who had been orphaned by the fever and had no one nearby, including Aaron.”
He held the book out to him across the counter. “The reverend had the family bible of Aaron’s father, and your father’s name was in it, along with a letter from him that gave us this location. It was he we were coming here to seek.” Mr. Shultz gave Sawyer a sympathetic look. “We only learned of his passing after we arrived.”
“What about the boy’s mother’s family?” Sawyer set the bible on the counter beside the bag.
Mr. Shultz raised his hands with a shrug. “According to Reverend Rodgers, she had no family in Sutton’s Corner, and no one who survived knew anything about family members she might have had elsewhere.”
Sawyer felt a little flicker of hope. Not knowing was not the same as there not being someone—it just meant no one had looked.
Mrs. Shultz stepped around the counter, interrupting his thoughts as she all but thrust the infant in his arms.
Sawyer tensed. He’d never held a baby before, and he wasn’t sure exactly how to go about it.
“He is a sweet boy,” Mrs. Shultz said as she gave the baby a pat, “but naturally he has been missing his mother. According to the family bible, he will be five months old next week. And Reverend Rodgers mentioned that his parents called him AJ.”
“AJ.” Sawyer stared down at the little boy, and he could have sworn the boy stared back at him in recognition. He certainly had the Flynn nose—sloping and slightly bent—and the dark, coffee-brown eyes that were like his father’s and his own. And that cowlick on the top of his head was just like the one Lanny had had.
Family. With something akin to awe, Sawyer felt that jolt of connection all the way down to his toes.
No, he couldn’t abandon this little tyke to an orphanage. There had to be another, better option out there.
Then AJ’s face scrunched up, his mouth opened, and he began crying at the top of his lungs.
Did the kid somehow sense Sawyer’s reluctance to take him in?
Sawyer hastily handed the baby back to Mrs. Shultz. Without a word, he marched to the door, trying to marshal his thoughts. He needed more time.
“Mr. Flynn, please, you are not leaving?”
Sawyer grimaced as he heard the alarm and disapproval in the man’s voice. He flipped the sign in the door window and pulled the shade. “Of course not. I just wanted to give us a bit of privacy while we discuss this.” The last thing he needed right now was for some busybody to show up while he was still trying to figure a way out of this.
Mr. Shultz drew himself up. “What is there to discuss? You are the boy’s only family, you are responsible for him.”
“I understand that. But I can’t take care of an infant, at least not on my own.” His mind was spinning, frantically measuring options and discarding them. If only he’d replaced his housekeeper, Mrs. Greeley, when she retired last summer. But Lanny’s death had occurred shortly after, and it just hadn’t seemed worth it.
Mr. Shultz spoke up again, drawing his thoughts back to the present. “Then you must find someone to help you. Find yourself a good, strong wife perhaps.”
Sawyer had something less drastic in mind. He would hire someone to help care for AJ, someone older and dependable like Mrs. Greeley. Hopefully, within a few weeks he’d be able to find a more permanent solution. Because he’d work very diligently to try to find a relation on AJ’s mother’s side who’d be willing to take the boy in. And if there was a God in heaven, there would be someone.
The boy deserved better than what he could offer.
But the Shultzes were waiting for him to say something. He schooled his expression. “It’s going to take me time to make the proper arrangements.”
“We only planned to remain in town overnight,” Mrs. Shultz said, “but perhaps we could add a day or two to our stay and I could help with Aaron while you make those arrangements.” She was looking at her husband as she said this.
Mr. Shultz stroked his beard, obviously mulling over his wife’s suggestion.
“It really would be a great help to me,” Sawyer said, hoping to sway the man. “And it’s what would be best for AJ.”
The older man finally nodded. “I suppose we could use a rest before we resume our trip home to Ohio.”
Sawyer let out a breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding. A reprieve!
Mrs. Shultz gave him a stern look. “I will help you with little Aaron while we are here, but you, Mr. Flynn, must begin to take responsibility for him. I will teach you how to feed him and change him and all the other things I can show you in the time we are here.”
Sawyer wasn’t exactly cheered at the prospect, but he knew when to give in gracefully. “Yes ma’am.”
“While you work here at your store, he will stay with us. But in the evenings he will be your responsibility.”
Sawyer’s mind screamed a protest. “Do you think that’s wise?” he asked, trying to play on her sympathy for the babe.
“It will help Aaron get used to his new home.” She gave him a sympathetic smile. “And you must start sometime.”
Sawyer had a sudden inspiration. “Well then, why don’t we let him really get used to my home? Rather than staying at the hotel, all of you can stay at my place while you’re here. I have an extra room.” He mentally winced, remembering he now had two spare rooms. But he wasn’t ready to let anyone use Lanny’s room just yet. “And I have a very comfortable sofa in the parlor your granddaughter can sleep on.”
“We have already checked in at the hotel.”
Rather than respond, Sawyer turned to Mrs. Shultz. “I’m willing to try my hand at caring for AJ, ma’am, but surely it will be in his best interest for you to be around if I run into trouble.”
Seeing the woman soften, he turned back to Mr. Shultz. “And I’m sure you would be more comfortable in a home than at a hotel. You’d have full access to my pantry and larder. And unlike the hotel, there would be no charge.”
Mr. Shultz turned to his wife. “Perhaps that would be best.”
Relieved, Sawyer offered them a smile. “Thank you. I’ll stop by the hotel after I close the store this afternoon and escort you there.”
He saw the little girl staring at the display of candies in the jars on the counter. With a smile, he moved forward. “Do you have a favorite?” he asked her.
She nodded and pointed to the lemon drops.
“Good choice.” He stepped around the counter and grabbed one of the papers he kept for just that purpose. Quickly rolling it into a co
ne, he dropped a half dozen of the candies inside and folded the top closed.
He actually liked young’uns and had hoped to have several of his own someday. But that was before his wife had packed up and left him to return to her parents’ home in St. Louis.
Mrs. Shultz gave him instructions on a few things he’d want to have on hand before the baby moved in. Then the Shultzes made their departure.
As he went about gathering the things Mrs. Shultz had suggested, he thought again about the possibility of AJ having kinfolk on his mother’s side. The best way to find out would be to contact the detective agency he’d already hired to track down Clyde Gilley and commission them to undertake yet another search. Hopefully they could handle this matter faster than it was taking them to find Gilley.
But in the meantime, it looked like he’d be expected to play the role of single father to an infant.
Heaven help them both.
Chapter 4
Emma Jean smiled down at Henry as they stepped out of the butcher shop. She patted the wrapped bundle she was carrying. “If we combine this package of meat and soup bones with some of the vegetables from the garden, we should be able to eat like kings the next few days.” Though truth to tell, it was more bone than meat.
Henry nodded with bright eyes. “I can’t wait. I sure was getting tired of eating plain old greens and squash.”
It had taken her nearly a week of meeting trains to earn enough money to buy these miserly bits, but it had been worth it to see the smile on Henry’s face. She just wished she could have gotten him the licorice whips he wanted.
She nudged him with her hip. “What do you say we skip meeting the afternoon train and just go on home and cook this up?”
Her suggestion was rewarded with a wide smile and an enthusiastic nod. And for a little while she was able to imagine all was right with their world.
The way it had been before her pa turned from merely a drunken wastrel to an outright criminal, a thief and murderer.
It wasn’t just because he was gone now. Any money Clyde Gilley had scraped up in the past, along with what he could find of her earnings, was more likely to be spent on liquor and gambling than on household expenses. But the violence he’d visited on this town three and a half months ago had made his children about as welcome in their hometown as an agitated skunk with its tail raised.
Shaking her head to clear it of those bleak thoughts, Emma Jean spied the Shultz family exiting the mercantile just up ahead. Apparently they’d taken care of whatever business they had with Sawyer. But Mrs. Shultz still held the baby.
Had she been wrong about why they wanted to speak to him? Or had he refused to accept the child?
Emma Jean picked up her pace slightly until she and Henry were right behind them. Ignoring the voice of her conscience, she indulged in a bit of eavesdropping.
“He did not seem eager to accept his responsibility. What kind of man is this Sawyer Flynn who would balk at even the idea of taking in a child?” Mr. Shultz’s tone was heavy with disapproval, and Emma Jean had to bite her tongue not to defend the mercantile owner. If only this stranger knew what Sawyer had been through…
“Now Papa, he did eventually agree to take the boy. He just asked for time to make arrangements.”
So Sawyer was going to take in the babe. What sort of arrangements would he be making?
“What that man needs is a wife,” Mr. Shultz declared. “It is not good for a man of his age to go through life alone, especially now that he will be raising a child.”
Actually, Sawyer had been married at one time. Unfortunately, Mrs. Flynn didn’t live in Dewberry any longer—in fact, she wasn’t even Mrs. Flynn now. How hard had it been for a proud man like Sawyer to realize his wife wanted to divorce him?
The Shultzes turned in to the hotel, and Emma Jean shook off her thoughts of Sawyer and picked up their pace. Walking through town was like walking a gauntlet of disapproval and outright antagonism.
As they reached the outskirts of town, some of her tension eased and her mind went back to Sawyer and his “arrangements.” Was he looking for someone here in town to take the child in and raise as their own? Or was he merely looking for someone to care for the child while he was at work?
If things were different, it was a job she’d happily apply for. Not only did she love little children, but to be honest, she would welcome the chance to be close to Sawyer himself, even as an employee. It would also be the answer to so many of her troubles.
But things were not different, and a Gilley was the last person Sawyer would ever consider hiring.
Arriving at her homeplace did nothing to lighten her spirits. The gaps around the windowsills that were mere annoyances right now would be real problems once winter set in. And the roof had sprung yet another leak. The fence around the garden needed work, and the barn door was hanging on one hinge.
She felt as if her whole world was being held together with twine, and the twine was starting to unravel.
The vegetable garden was keeping them fed for now, but that would play out soon and, thanks to one of her pa’s rampages, her stores of preserved vegetables and fruit were only about half what she’d had at this time last year.
At least the pecans were finally falling from the trees and the persimmons would ripen with the first frost, so she and Henry could do a bit of scavenging in the woods to supplement their stores. If they were lucky, they might even find some mushrooms or chickweed.
But still, unless there was a drastic change in their circumstances, she wasn’t sure how the two of them were going to make it through the winter.
Sawyer could hear Mrs. Martin humming as he knocked on the back door of the preacher’s house. She immediately opened the door and smiled when she saw him.
“Well hello there. I wasn’t expecting you quite so early.”
“I hope this isn’t inconvenient, but I have a few things I need to take care of this evening, so I closed the store a bit early.” Sawyer reached into the delivery cart and hefted the sack of flour onto his shoulder. “Where can I put this for you?”
Mrs. Martin stepped aside. “Just set it next to my flour bin here.”
With a nod, Sawyer stepped past Mrs. Martin, eager to complete the delivery and move on.
Mrs. Martin moved to her stove. “I heard you discovered a new addition to your family today.”
Sawyer grimaced. The news had spread mighty quick. Several folk had come in the store this afternoon, ostensibly to shop, but it was obvious they were fishing for gossip. It was yet another reason he’d closed early. “So it seems.”
“A baby, I hear.”
“AJ is about five months old.”
She gave him a bright smile. “I’m very happy for you—it’s always good to have family around.”
Sawyer’s jaw tightened at her words, unintended reminders of his loss. Rather than respond, he busied himself with stowing her flour.
She didn’t appear to notice his reaction. “You be sure to let me know if there’s anything I can do for you and the baby. God didn’t bless me with children of my own, but I know a bit about tending to little ones.”
“Thank you, but I’m hoping to hire someone to help me full time, at least until I can arrange for more permanent accommodations.” He straightened and dusted his hands. “You don’t know of someone who’d be willing to take on the job, do you?” The preacher’s wife seemed to be a good judge of character. A reference from her would go a long way to setting his mind at ease. “It would hopefully be someone like Mrs. Greeley, an older woman who can stay overnight in my home without inviting gossip but who is still spry enough to take care of a young child.”
Mrs. Martin wrinkled her nose thoughtfully. “I’ll give it some thought. I’m sure I can come up with a name or two.”
“I’d appreciate that.” He tipped his hat. “Give the reverend my regards.” He bid her good evening and made his exit before she could ask any more questions.
Before heading back to the
store, he made a stop at his own place, unloading cans of condensed milk, evaporated milk, and lengths of linen and flannel per Mrs. Shultz’s request, along with a few other items he figured he’d need with guests in the house. Stepping into his own kitchen, he looked at it with fresh eyes, noting how hollow and stark it felt.
Once he’d put the last of the cans away, Sawyer moved to the parlor where he set AJ’s bible next to his father’s in the bookcase.
Then he paused a moment. Almost of their own accord, his feet moved down the hall to the bedchamber at the far end. He slowly opened the door but didn’t enter. Instead, he stood on the threshold and let his gaze scan the room, ticking off every familiar detail.
The dusty collection of rocks scattered on the dresser along with a lone blue jay feather.
The shirt tossed carelessly on the back of a chair.
The bedside table that held a whittling knife and a notched chunk of wood, the wood shavings littering the floor below.
The bed coverings that weren’t quite straight and the two copper coins lying there.
Everything was just as his brother had left it that nightmarish morning in July. He could almost imagine Lanny had just stepped out for a moment and would be back shortly.
Sawyer shut the door and retraced his steps to the kitchen. Lanny would have been so excited at the idea of having a baby in the house, and he would have showered the infant with love. Between the two of them, he and Lanny might have managed to make a good home for AJ.
But Lanny wasn’t here. Which meant Sawyer was forced to face this on his own. Another crime to lay at Clyde Gilley’s door.
Sawyer stepped outside, took a deep breath, and grabbed the handles of the cart. Given the choice between taking care of a baby on his own or facing a nest of angry hornets, he’d pick the hornets every time.
But he didn’t have a choice, so ready or not, it was time to face the inevitable.
Chapter 5
Once the Shultzes were settled in, Mrs. Shultz pulled out the bag that had contained AJ’s bible earlier. “Come,” she told Sawyer, “let me show you Aaron’s things.”
Sawyer (Bachelors And Babies Book 6) Page 2
