The Family Gathering (Sullivan's Crossing #3)(27)

“Sure,” she said. “Yes. You know he is.”

“He’s new around here but he has good connections. What made you decide to take a chance on him?”

“It was coffee. I didn’t take that much of a chance.”

“I knew we’d have to have this talk eventually. Sidney, I think it makes sense for you to be cautious and go slowly after what David did to you, but if I believed the majority of men were like him, I’d lose faith in all mankind. Just take your time. But when I think you might close yourself off from life, I could cry.”

“There’s more to life than finding the next man,” she said.

“Way more, especially in your case,” he said. “You gave up so much. He cost you so much...”

“So now I’m finding the balance in life. And apparently you already found it. But hey—the next time you have a date or whatever it is you have, just tell me you’re going to the library and I’ll be sure to cover for you.”

Rob looked amused. “You should go to the library sometime, Sid. And I could cover for you.”

“I think it’s going to be quite a while before I need you for that.”





   The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.

   —GEORGE SANTAYANA





6

CONNIE BOYLE WAS on his twenty-four-hour shift but he took a little personal time to go home. He wanted to talk to Sierra right away. He didn’t think he should wait until his shift ended the next morning, although he did suspect it might be better if they slept together after having their talk.

“Well, isn’t this a nice surprise,” she said when he walked into the house they shared. She’d just been emptying the dishwasher. “Are you home for dinner?”

“I have a couple of hours,” he said. “And we have that leftover lasagna.”

“Let me make a salad to go with that and warm it up.” She stopped what she was doing and looked at him. “Is something wrong?”

He sat down across the breakfast bar from her. Molly immediately stuck her cold nose into his hand for a pet. “Yeah. It was a bad day. There was an accident. A fatal accident. But there was a survivor. A four-month-old baby boy. We don’t even know his name.”

“Oh, Connie,” she said. She walked around the breakfast bar and put her arms around him. “Sometimes I don’t know how you do what you do.”

“Sometimes I don’t, either.”

“Is he going to be okay? The baby?”

“Looks like it but he’s getting an extrathorough workup.”

“When did it happen?” she asked.

“This morning. There were three cars, out on the highway, but only one fatality. Plenty of injuries, though. And one car caught on fire. Everyone got out—just some minor burns. But the baby... There was just him and the mother and she died at the scene.” He shook his head. “They’re going to be looking for the family, but in the meantime, he’s in emergency foster care. Tonight Rafe will take him home.”

“Rafe?”

“Rafe and Lisa are certified foster parents.”

“Those two,” Sierra said. “Aren’t they just pure gold? Three kids of their own, living on a fireman’s wages, and they take in foster kids, too.”

“Well, it’s because they have three of their own that they’re only signed on for emergency foster care. That means just until permanent placement is found.”

“He probably has family, Connie. A dad at least. Grandparents. Aunties and uncles and cousins. If anything happened to Cal and Maggie, God forbid, I would raise Elizabeth.”

“You’re probably right. The county will be looking. Meanwhile, he’ll be safe with Rafe and Lisa. But it brought something to mind I want to talk to you about. I’m going to ask you a very hard question but you can take your time on the answer.”

“You really know how to scare me,” she said.

“Oh, honey, don’t ever be scared. Your answer is final with me, you know that. But here’s what I want to know. Would you consider being a foster parent?”

She was clearly flabbergasted. “Huh?”

“I understand your worries about having children with me—primarily your father’s mental illness in the gene pool. I am not worried about it, but I leave that up to you. I don’t want you to ever go against your best judgment to keep me happy. But foster care might be something we can do together. If you like being around kids, that is. I see you with Elizabeth and you’re so good with her. See, I’m already certified. And since I was single and working, I did what Rafe did—I was available for short-term coverage.”

“I didn’t know that,” she said. “How could you be? You’re not even married! Do they let single men be foster parents?”

He nodded. “And domestic partners and young couples and older couples and all kinds of unique situations. There’s a pretty serious evaluation process but things like gender or sexual orientation are not disqualifiers—there are much more important considerations. They want to be assured of home safety, dependability, knowledge, and there’s a background check. Then there are those home visits...”

“But you never had any foster kids...”