A Baby for Easter by Noelle Adams Read Free Book Online Page A

today. She
was in a good mood all day. She loves her little bouncy seat.”
    He glanced over at the seat in question, which seemed
strangely out of place amid the rather Spartan interior of the old house.
“Good.”
    When he didn’t say anything else, Alice decided she would
just sit there until Micah decided to say something himself.
    If he didn’t say something soon, then she would just leave
and walk the path to her little apartment and leave him to his stew and
silence.
      He finished his bowl
and set it down on the side table. Then he leaned back against the couch with
the piece of bread in his hand. He looked over at her.
    “What is it?” she asked, rather softly because the look in
his eyes worried her. “Have you heard something about Cara?”
    “I got the results from the paternity test. She is my
daughter.”
    “Oh.” Alice cleared her throat. Then swallowed. Then cleared
her throat again. “Well, I guess that’s…that’s good to know. Are you…” She had
no idea what to ask. “How do you feel about that?”
    “I think it’s…good.” He spoke as stiltingly as she had. “It
would be hard, at this point, to find out she wasn’t mine. She just…feels like
mine.”
    “Yeah.” Alice could definitely understand that, and she
thought it spoke well of Micah, since he clearly didn’t want to just get her
out of his hair because it was easier for him.
    “But I don’t know what to do now.” He slouched down so his
head rested against the cushion and closed his eyes. “She needs a good life,
and I don’t know if I can give that to her.”
    “I’m sure there are hundreds of couples who would love to
adopt her, so that’s always an option.”
    “I know.”
    She studied his face and thought she saw reluctance there.
“But maybe she needs her daddy.”
    He opened his eyes and met hers, and they gazed at each
other for a minute.
    “I just don’t know,” he said at last, glancing away. “It’s
not fair to her, if I can’t do it…right.”
    “You wouldn’t be alone.” When Micah’s eyes flew to her face
again, with some sort of wordless question, Alice felt flustered and added
quickly, “I mean, you have your family and everyone from the church, and there
would be plenty of people to help you. What does Daniel say?”
    “I haven’t told him about the results yet.” He sighed and
took a long sip of beer. “I haven’t told anyone.”
    She was someone. At least, she thought she was. Maybe Micah
didn’t really count her as someone important, though.
    She shook off the glum reflection and made herself focus on
what was important. “Well, you don’t have to decide immediately. You’ll need to
discuss things with your lawyer before you do anything definite.”
    “Yeah.” He sighed and gave her a half-smile. “How do you
always have such a level head about things?”
    She didn’t think she had a particularly level head. And, for
some reason, the question bothered her, as if he thought she were some emotionless
drone who was just there to keep things running smoothly. “Just lucky, I
guess,” she said, trying to sound light. She stood up and glanced at the time.
“I better get going. I have to be at the church early tomorrow. I’ll be over
tomorrow morning at around seven, if that’s okay with you.”
    “Yeah.” He looked surprised, but he stood up too, leaving
his beer bottle next to the empty stew bowl. “That’s fine.”
    He followed her into the kitchen, where she quickly emptied
the leftover stew into a plastic container and put it in the refrigerator. She
filled the dirty pot with water and told him to just leave it for her to clean
and put up tomorrow.
    He made an impatient face, which she was pretty sure meant
the pot would be cleaned and put away when she got there the next morning.
    She was about to walk out the side door when he said, “Oh,
wait. I have something for you.”
    She blinked. “You do?”
    He reached into the bag he’d put on the counter earlier