Page 49 of Accidental Silver Fox Daddy
I’m about to head back to bed when I hear it again. It’s a cry, no doubt about that, and it’s right outside my door.
Surely not, I think to myself as I walk slowly back to the door. This is the kind of thing you see in movies or weird episodes of medical and law shows. Not real life.
I open my door and it takes a moment for my brain to materialize what I am looking at. My heart drops through my chest and into my stomach.
It’s a baby carrier.
An infant car seat with a blanket covering it.
For a moment, I think I’m being pranked, but when the fussing continues and the blanket moves around, I realize it’s not a joke. There’s a real baby in there.
Maybe it’s a trap, I think. Before I do anything else, I call the security guard at the front gate of the neighborhood.
“Bryan? Yeah, this is Zane. I was wondering if anyone has come in the last thirty minutes.”
“No one who doesn’t live here, no. Is everything all right, Mr. Calloway?” he asks.
“Another weird question,” I say. “Does anyone in the neighborhood have a baby?”
“Only the Duprees,” he answers. “Had twins last month.”
“Hmm,” I answer.
“Do you need me to call the police?” Bryan asks.
“Probably. There was an unexpected…package…at my house,” I answer.
“What kind of package?” he asks, and the baby starts to cry.
Bewildered, I shove my phone into my pocket and inch forward. When I pull back the blanket, my heart drops.
It is a baby.
A tiny baby with chubby cheeks and wisps of blonde hair and bare feet.
“Holy shit…” I let out. Then I look around again one more time before carefully picking up the carrier and taking it inside.
I set the fussing baby on the kitchen counter because I am not really sure what to do next. Obviously, it belongs to someone. Not me, but someone. I just have to figure out who. As I stare down at the baby, it looks back up at me. For a moment, nothing happens. Just a shared look of curiosity. Then its lip begins to quiver, tears fill its eyes, and it starts to cry again. And by cry, I mean wail.
“Shit,” I say sharply. I want to pick it up, take it out, and hold it. But I have no idea how to undo the belt that is strapping the child to the contraption. The crying has turned into full-fledged screams now, and I have no idea what to do.
Then suddenly, I hear Ashlyn’s voice from behind me.
“What in the world is going on?”
Chapter 21
Ashlyn
“It’s a baby,”Zane says as if that answers the twenty questions that just dumped into my brain.
“I see that,” I say, my eyes darting between a panicked Zane and a distressed baby. As much as I empathize with panicking people, my maternal instincts kick in and the baby takes priority.
“Who’s baby is it?” I ask, going over to the car seat.
“I don’t know,” Zane says as he shakes his head.
“Why is this baby here?” I ask as I unbuckle the belt and free his arms from the straps.
