Choices of the Heart (15 page)

“Oh, my God!” Reese exclaimed. “How close was that? Chloe, we just about ended up in the pokey!”

“We better hit the road before they start looking around too much.” She laughed, in a giddy
I can’t believe it
sort of way, and took his hand. “I’m glad you were more in the mood to make love to me than have a drink.”

“Chloe Anne, I am always in the mood to make love to you.” He pulled her hand through the crook of his arm.

Almost skipping up the street, they walked the short distance to their hotel. She’d had fun. It was obvious in her manner. Her current happiness about made up for all the ugliness they’d experienced that evening. Almost.

Chapter Fifteen

“There she is again, Reese.” Chloe stopped short, just a few yards from the steps leading to their hotel. “The poor dear. What is her mother thinking? She could get stolen, lost, anything in a city of this size!”

“Why does she bother you so much?”

She ignored his question and walked up to the dirty little waif they’d given money to earlier. She knew exactly why the child had such an impact on her, and she’d explain to Reese in detail. Later. At the moment, the child’s safety was what mattered most to Chloe.

She walked up to the girl and bent low to see her face, which was still coated in dirt and muck. In the sparse light from the street and the hotel, the girl’s eyes looked vacant, hollow.

“Spare change, lady?”

When the girl held out a hand, Chloe took it and gave it a squeeze. She wanted to pull the small body close to her—to make her feel some love—something Chloe knew the girl was missing. It was obvious.

“Do you have a mommy?” Chloe asked.

“Chloe,” Reese warned. “What are you thinking to do?”

The small girl nodded, and for a moment, Chloe felt better. At least there was someone to look over her. At least in the most minimal way.

“Will you show me where you live?”

“Chloe!”

She paid no heed to his growl. How could she ignore this? How many people had walked by this poor girl with a blind eye to her plight? She took the girl’s hand again. “Please?”

The child nodded and pulled Chloe down the dark alley.

“Do you know what you’re doing, girl?” Reece asked.

Knowing Reese followed behind them gave her some confidence. She wouldn’t admit that the territory she was about to enter was scary.

She looked back at him and smiled, reaching for his hand with her free one. The girl led them to the end of the narrow alley and turned. It was eerie, dark and completely silent. There were a few people sitting by a fire at the corner where two busy streets met.

The girl continued on in silence, looking back a couple times to make sure they were still following. She’d long ago dropped Chloe’s hand and seemed unhurried in her strides. Reese kept close to Chloe’s side, and although she knew he was against this whole plan, he too, remained.

They stopped outside a brick building, indistinguishable from the others that flanked either of its sides. The girl pointed, and together they walked to the back end of the building and climbed an iron staircase, not stopping until they reached the highest floor.

Chloe’s pulse raced. Was it nerves or the steep climb? The girl opened the door at the top of the stairs, and then they walked down a dimly lit, smelly, grimy hallway cluttered with newspapers and garbage. Babies and children were crying. Men were yelling. What kind of environment was this for a child?

One Chloe knew all too well.

She covered her mouth with her hand, the stench of rotten food and body odor so pungent she wanted to gag. Reese also had a twisted look to his face, but he continued on down the hall with them. They exchanged glances when they entered the last apartment on the left.

“Ma, I’m back,” the girl yelled out.

Reese and Chloe waited at the entrance to the apartment. Chloe was afraid to walk in much farther. The floor was cluttered with garbage and Lord only knew what else. She did look, however and felt immediate disgust. Dirty dishes and clothes were strewn about. The wail of an infant drowned out just about any thoughts Chloe had running through her head. She fought the urge to move forward, to seek out the child they’d followed.

Just as she gave in to the need, a skinny woman, a pudgy baby riding her hip, appeared. “What’d you want?”

Reese stepped forward. “We were concerned about the safety of your daughter.”

“What business is it of yours?” Her face screwed up into a scowl, and she tipped her hardened face back to take in Reese.

“None, really, ma’am, except that a child her age shouldn’t be out on the streets of Chicago at such a time of night.”

“You telling me what to do, mister?”

“I reckon I am, yes.”

Chloe was proud of Reese for standing his ground.

She cackled, rather like Chloe imagined a witch might, and put the child from her hip onto the floor. “I got six mouths to feed. My man took off eight weeks ago and hasn’t come back. Could be dead, coulda runned off. I don’t know what happened to the good-for-nuthin’. I send them brats out ta git money from rich folks like you. Sometimes they pick through the garbage.” She shrugged, not seeming to realize the significance of her demands on her children.

“Where are the rest of your children?” Chloe asked quietly. She could see only the baby and the girl who led them to this squalor.

“Out.”

“Where?” Reese pressed.

“Look, what do you want?” the mother demanded, resting her balled fists on her hips.

“Can we help you with your children?” Chloe asked quietly, not sure herself where the question came from.

The woman cackled again. “Like how, lady? You’re too fancy to be cleaning them diapers.” She hooked her finger over her shoulder at the flies circling piles of soiled clothing.

“We’ll take these two off your hands.” Where had that idea come from? Chloe had no idea what she was doing.

“You must be joking?”

“Why is it hard to believe?” Chloe asked. “What kind of life is this for a child? Making them stand on the street corner at night to collect money and picking through garbage and living in this filth?”

When the woman didn’t answer, Chloe glanced at Reese for help, surprised he had bent down to pick up the crying infant, a baby who wasn’t able to sit up by himself, a child who was lying near garbage and empty food cans on the floor.

“If you can’t take care of them, we’ll help you,” Reese said. “We’ll raise them.”

“Well, hell’s bells; must be my lucky day.”

The smile on the woman’s face made Chloe sick. How could a mother be happy to be rid of her babies? It just didn’t seem right. Not one bit.

“You got Charlie in your hands. He’s just four months old. The girl is Rose. She just turned six.” She pushed her toward Chloe.

“Chloe, are you sure about this?” Reese whispered in her ear. “We have Bobby at home too, honey.”

“We can’t leave them here, not like this.” She met his eyes and knew he understood.

“You have some paper, ma’am?” Reese asked her. “A pen? Maybe you could write something out, saying that you’re giving us your children?”

She chuckled. “I can’t write nothing fancy! I dropped out of school when I was fourteen, when Jimmy knocked me up.”

Chloe looked at her more closely and felt her scorn quickly turning to pity. The woman probably wasn’t much older than her, but life and some very poor choices had added age to her.

“I can write something out, and you can sign it,” Reese told her.

They watched her dig through some drawers in the kitchen, pushing things off the counter onto the floor in her search for writing utensils.

“You have to be sure, Chloe,” Reese whispered. “Can you handle this?”

“If we can afford it, then we’ll do it.” She took the baby from his arms, noticed his beautiful, clear blue eyes and knew they would get along just fine.

He nodded. “We can.”

The mother handed a piece of paper and pencil to Reese. “Would you show Chloe where the girl’s and baby’s things are? Put them in a bag for us?”

Chloe loved how Reese took charge of the situation. He’d questioned her actions but in the end supported her. Could he see how important saving these children was to her? Could he maybe see Chloe as a little girl when he looked at the dirty Rose?

No one saved Chloe as a child, but hell if she would walk by and let others face what she had. They would have a good life together at the farm—all five of them.

Reese wasn’t an attorney, had no idea what to write, but as he thought about it, the words flowed onto the paper. He read them to the woman, had her sign two copies of the same thing and left one for her. He left their farm address, told her if she needed to find them, she could be in contact.

She showed no remorse as she shut the door, holding the wad of cash Reese had handed her. It wasn’t an exchange for the children, he’d told her. It was money for her to get cleaned up and to prevent her other children from continuing to scavenge and beg for food and money. He’d hoped that the others would come home, so he could see their condition, but it wasn’t to be.

His heart swelled as he watched Chloe hold baby Charlie in her arms. The girl, Rose, clung to his hand. And when he looked down at her, he was touched by the smile that lit her face and her eyes. How much sadness had this girl seen?

He knew why Chloe needed to do this. Understood her reasons very well. It was hard for him to accept two strangers into his house, but really, what had been easy for any of them over the course of the past month?

Knowing he and Chloe were doing the right thing for these children was all that mattered. And he
was
doing the right thing. It seemed that that was what his life had become—a struggle to choose and do the
right
thing.

It was the
right
thing to marry Chloe. It was also what he wanted to do, though.

It was the
right
thing to come to Chicago and sort out the mess his brother left behind. It was also the right thing to go home as soon as possible to avoid the thugs.

It was the
right
thing to take these two small urchins from the squalor in which they were living. Possibly that was not the best choice for a newlywed couple, but it was the right choice.

He sighed and lifted little Rose in his arms as they climbed the stairs of the hotel.

The doorman at the hotel gave them an odd look. They’d left alone and had come back with two small children. He didn’t comment as he opened the door for them. He doffed his hat when Reese offered him a tip.

The walk through the lobby was also full of interested looks. A dirty baby and a young girl, walking with a well-dressed couple in the very wee hours of the morning. Reese held his chuckle.

He stopped at the desk and asked for an additional cot and a crib, as well as bedding and linens. The clerk didn’t ask any questions, just looked them over and nodded.

Reese shifted the children’s bags into one of his hands. “Come along, Rosie.”

“No one never called me Rosie afore.” The little girl’s eyes grew large.

“Do you like it?”

Rosie nodded and lifted her arms, letting Reese pick her up again. “You’ll be happy with us, little one. Chloe loves little girls.”

“Is that Chloe?” she asked in a small voice, pointing at his wife.

“Sure is.” He nodded.

“I like her. She’s pretty.”

Chloe looked back over her shoulder, smiled at Rosie and gave Reese a wink.

By the time they reached their room, two bellhops were wheeling in a crib and a smaller bed for the girl. Reese unlocked the door for them and set Rosie down.

The crib was set up in the other bedroom of the suite. A maid hurried in with additional sheets and towels, quickly made up the cot and crib and then hurried out. Reese had always wondered what it would be like to have great wealth—to have people at his beck and call. Rather than helpful, he found the strangers made him uncomfortable.

He relaxed when the four of them were alone, but…now what? He watched Chloe set the baby on a blanket on the floor. She walked toward Reese and surprised him by throwing her arms around him.

“Thank you for this,” she whispered in his ear. “You really made a difference in the lives of these children.”

He held her tight, choked up by her words of praise.

“How about I get them washed up and into bed?” Chloe pulled away but kept her arm wrapped around his waist.

“That’s a fine idea. They both could use a good wash. And Lord knows it’s past the bedtime of any child. Me too, for that matter.”

He watched Rosie play with her brother. How would they adjust to having new parents? Did they understand that they would be staying with them now, that they wouldn’t be going back to the filthy apartment where they had been living? How would he and Chloe adjust to having three children while trying to make their new marriage work, too?

Chloe went to the bathroom, and he could hear the water splashing into the tub. That had to be some kind of record—married less than a week and already parents of three children that neither one fathered or birthed. He chuckled.

Rosie waggled her fingers at him and followed the direction Chloe called to her from. The little girl giggled as the sound of splashing continued. He picked up baby Charlie and tickled his tiny baby toes. The boy was serious, as if he never smiled. He was a quiet baby, hadn’t even uttered a peep since they’d left the mother’s apartment. How would Bobby react to having an older sister and a baby brother?

And what would his parents think? He hadn’t even taken time to consider that. What would the town think when they came back to Broken Bow toting two more kids?