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“No,” Shay said. “No, she’s not.”

“Yeah, she’s not,” Gus agreed as Eloise tucked herself against Cami’s chair to stare down at the baby eating. “No doubt, she’ll feel the loss for a while. It’ll just take time.”

Cami followed his gaze to his own daughter, who had suffered her own loss at the beginning of her life. Four years without his wife. Four years raising his daughter alone. She had to admire that, not only because he was working full-time as a vet, but that he’d managed to raise such a special little girl as Eloise. Even as her own choices about Lolly loomed before her, it gave her some hope that such a thing was possible. Then again, Eloise was his. Would a court allow a single woman like her to take in a child like Lolly? And did she even want to? Maybe if her hands would stop shaking at the thought of losing her today, she could think rationally about all of it.

All eyes turned to the deputy who walked back in the door, slid off his hat and set an infant car seat down on the kitchen floor. Cami’s heart sank. He meant to take her. Her arms tightened around the baby.

“Well… I spoke with the sheriff,” he said. “And I made your case to him. It’s all fairly uncharted territory for him. One thing about being a small town and all, well, there are some… advantages for this baby. He agrees that special circumstances with the holiday and all, your good family bein’ here to support her, care for her temporarily… he said he’ll wait until after the holiday to bring CPS into the picture and since it’s up in Billings anyway, and you have that note, a few days here or there won’t hurt anything. He says you’re likely correct about availability right now. So… you can keep her here for now, but after the holidays, she’ll be in the hands of the courts. And he’s opening a quiet investigation into finding the birth mother as of today, and when he tracks her down, he means to arrest her for child abandonment.”

That pronouncement was met with a thick silence.

And… a Merry Christmas to all…

Cami got to her feet with the baby. “I understand. Thank you, Dom. Really. Thank you so much for everything. We’ll take very good care of her. I promise.”

He slid his hat back on. “I know you will. Just my personal opinion, but she’s better off here, for sure. I just want to make sure it all doesn’t come back to bite you folks, legally.”

She agreed with that wholeheartedly.

“Here’s a car seat for your use until then. Good luck.” Dom gave the baby a last look and headed back outside as everyone gave a collective sigh of relief.

There was an air of celebration for a brief moment, but just as quickly they all realized that none of this was settled. Not really.

“We need to find Lolly’s mother before they do,” Cami said.

“That won’t be easy.” Sarah took Lolly’s little foot between her fingers. “We’re outmanned, out resourced, and he’s got the courts on his side.”

“We’ll just need a Christmas miracle. That’s all,” Cami said.

“After all,” Izzy said brightly, “’tis the season of Santa and all those kinds of—”

Cami shook her head warningly, urging her off the topic of Santa entirely.

“Uh… right,” Izzy continued confused. “I-I meant, good cheer. People are full of Christmas spirit and feeling helpful.” She wrinkled her brow curiously at Cami.

“What about using Trey Reyes?” Liam suggested.

“Who?” Gus asked.

“A private investigator friend of Shay and Cooper’s. Maybe he can give us some ideas on where to start in trying to find her.”

It had been Trey who’d helped bring closure to a mystery involving Cooper’s father over a miscarriage of justice. A mystery that had unfortunately, involved their own family, as well.

“Cooper’s just running an errand in town. He’s on his way over,” Shay said. “I’ll ask him. If it comes to that, maybe we will have to call Trey.”

Eloise was hanging by Cami’s side, trying to get a better look at the baby. Cami leaned down to her. “I bet Lolly would love it if someone closer to her size gave her a cuddle. Would you like to hold her?”

“Could I?” Eloise’s eyes widened with surprise.

“Here. Let’s sit you down on the couch and you can hold her for a minute. If that’s okay with your dad.”

Gus grinned with a nod. Once she’d settled Lolly into his daughter’s arms, Gus stood beside Cami looking uncharacteristically emotional. “Ella has always wanted to be a big sister in the worst way. Thanks for letting her hold her. She’s in hog heaven right now.”

“I’m happy to make her an honorary big sister—at least for as long as we have Lolly.”

“Yeah,” he said. “That’ll have to do.”

She was grateful to him for standing up for her to the deputy, but it was more than that. Somehow it felt like they were in this together, for better or worse.