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Over the child’s head, Cami met Gus’s eyes. There were no good answers on a night like this. There were only questions.

*

After stopping atthe store on the way back to the Hard Eight, Gus drove Cami and the baby back home. In the middle of a cold snow flurry, they pulled into the ranch house and unloaded the armload of supplies they’d bought.

He’d been to the Hard Eight multiple times to treat one of their horses or cattle but never inside the house. It was a classic Montana ranch house half-built of logs and half of more modern additions with a big front porch and rockers facing east toward the sunrise.

Inside was every bit as warm as it looked from the outside with a river rock fireplace crackling with a fragrant piñon fire against one long wall and a spruce Christmas tree propped in one corner awaiting decorations. The house was a mix of old and new, warm and rich with a collection of a lifetime of memories and books and coziness.

Cami’s entire family was gathered around the long, pine table in the dining room deep in an animated discussion about the ranch development. There was Shay Hardesty, Cami’s older sister and her new boyfriend, horse trainer Cooper Lane. Liam, Cami’s older brother was there alongside his older brother, Will Hardesty and his fiancée Izzy. And at the head of the table, Sarah, Cami’s mother. When they entered the room, the sight of the baby in Cami’s arms stopped whatever discussion they’d been having in its tracks and ushered in a stunned silence alongside the cold outside air.

Cami’s mother Sarah was the first to notice them. An uncanny slightly older version of her daughter Cami, Sarah was still a pretty woman in her late fifties.

“Is… is that a… a—” she began.

“Baby?” Liam finished.

“Why, yes. Yes, it is. A baby,” Cami said, scanning the faces of her family. “Sheis.”

“But… whose?” Cami’s older sister, Shay, said.

“I can explain…”

“Is there something you’ve been meaning to tell us, baby sister?” her brother, Liam teased. “Or are we bringing in ringers now to fill our guest reservations?”

“Not funny,” Cami informed him, “and she’s not mine. We don’t know exactly who she belongs to—”

“What?” Sarah said, alarmed.

“Someone left her in the church. For me. Apparently.”

A stunned silence followed that statement.

Gus leaned into the impasse. “There was a note.”

“For Ms. Hardesty,” Eloise said. “From the baby’s mommy.”

Sarah got to her feet and hurried to Cami’s side, pulling the blanket aside to reveal the baby. “For you? Oh, my heavens. How old is—?”

“I don’t know,” Cami said. “But judging from her size, maybe a couple of days? Maybe a week?”

Shay and Cooper’s rescue puppies Pippa and Poppy galloped into the room at the sound of visitors and gleefully greeted Eloise, who sat fearlessly down on the floor to pet them.

“May I?” Sarah asked, holding out her arms.

“You have more experience than me.” Cami handed the baby over to her mother who proceeded to unwrap her from the bundle of blankets. Vintage-looking blankets with baby patterns of yellow ducks and pink elephants. Threadbare blankets over those of faded white. But carefully, lovingly tucked around the child against the cold.

Unfurled, the child lay dressed in a clean onesie and diaper, a skinny little thing, but as Cami had first noticed, beautiful. Her bright blue eyes blinked up at Sarah and her tiny fist opened and closed around thin air. A too-big silver bracelet dangled from her little bicep and caught Sarah’s eye immediately. She fingered the bracelet, then looked questioningly at Cami.

She shrugged and shook her head. “I know. We bought formula,” Cami said. “Well, Gus did. And diapers. At least enough for the weekend. If… we have her that long.”

Sarah’s gaze came up to Cami’s. “Who would leave a child to you? Who could leave this precious little thing behind?”

Cami bit her lip. “Someone desperate. Who needs help, I imagine. They could have left her at the fire station. There’s a Safe Haven drop there. But—”

“But they left her for you instead? You said there was a note?”

Cami pulled it out of her pocket and handed it to her mother who read it quickly. “I can’t explain it. I have no idea who wrote it. Or why she would think I’m the best person to take care of this baby.”