3. Levi

3

LEVI

L evi was almost frozen in place by the oddness of the whole situation, but he forced himself into action.

“ Hi there ,” he murmured softly, bending immediately to unstrap the little one and guessing from the puffy, pink coat and the tiny bow that the baby was probably a girl.

She began to whimper as soon as he unlatched the first strap, as if she had just noticed that she’d been left behind.

“Don’t you worry,” he tried to comfort her. “We’ll get you out of here and find your parents.”

The thick pink coat made it hard to feed her arms out of the straps, and it took him a nerve-racking minute to get her out. By the time he did, she was showing off a set of healthy lungs with a wailing cry into the cold night air.

“There we are,” he said in the most reassuring tone he could muster as he lifted her in his arms. “You’re okay now, baby. We’ve got this.”

She snuggled right into his chest, her indignant crying quickly melting into shuddering sobs. As soon as she was safe in his arms, the truth of the situation landed on him so hard that it almost took his breath away.

Someone left a baby on my front porch.

Panic set in as he and the baby clung to each other, their breath pluming in the frigid night air. Levi’s mind spun as he tried to figure out who would have left a baby at his house.

He remembered the bundled-up person he had passed—the one who hadn’t wanted to make eye contact or say hello. The one who was headed right for…

“The train station,” he realized out loud.

Whoever it was, they’d been moving like they were in a hurry. He glanced at his watch and tried to remember how often the trains ran at this time. Levi was suddenly sure that if he wanted to have any chance of finding this baby’s mom or dad, he would have to get to the station before the next train did.

“Hang on tight,” he told the baby as he headed down the porch stairs.

She was obviously too young to understand, but she stayed quiet and didn’t give him a bit of trouble as he thundered down the steps.

Once he was on flat ground, he started running as fast as he could with the baby cradled in his arms. He thanked the heavens that he’d grown up in this town and knew every high curb and all the spots where the sidewalk angled over a tall tree root. Even with only the streetlights to guide him, he knew exactly where he was heading.

He could hear the train rumbling into the village as he ran the last block, pushing as hard as he dared with the little one in his arms. She couldn’t be more than about six months old, but she was starting to feel heavy by the time the platform was in sight.

The train pulled up just as Levi caught sight of the bundled-up person he was chasing down. He hadn’t been this out of breath since boot camp, but he gathered all the voice he could muster as the person headed for the nearest car.

“ Wait, ” he called out as he finally remembered why they were so familiar. “ Andrea, please, wait. ”

His old friend paused, ticket in hand, and Levi found himself praying inwardly.

Please don’t let her go. Please don’t let her abandon this little one.

Andrea’s shoulders slumped and she turned back, slipping past the other people heading into the train to walk across the platform to Levi.

“Andrea,” he sighed in relief as she approached.

Her face was a study in misery, and as she got closer, he noticed the dark circles under her eyes and the sweat on her brow, in spite of the cold.

It had been almost four years since he had seen his old Army buddy, but she seemed to have aged far more than that. It was no wonder he hadn’t recognized her with the hood pulled up.

“Levi,” she said. Her voice sounded almost rusty.

“We don’t have to talk about it here,” he told her, looking around at the people walking home from the train station all around them. “Let’s go back to my house and have something to eat.”

He didn’t remember doing it, but he must have abandoned his dinner on the porch floor when he saw the baby. She turned and gave one last longing look at the train, but it was already pulling out of the station.

“Okay,” she said, her voice completely defeated.

They walked home again in silence. Levi was grateful for the chance to let his heartbeat slow and to remind himself that for her to have done what she had tried to do, Andrea must be in very difficult circumstances.

Some of his fear and anger began to melt away as they walked. He’d had his share of troubles, same as everyone. But he’d blessedly never been in a situation anything like the one his friend must be in now, and he couldn’t help but be thankful for that.

It was only as they headed back up the porch stairs that he realized she hadn’t even offered to carry the baby, and he hadn’t once thought to hand her over.

Something fiercely protective clenched instinctively in his chest at the idea of handing the little one back, though he knew she wasn’t his responsibility.

“What’s this?” she asked, noticing the white paper bag by the door.

“That’s our dinner,” he told her.

She bent and grabbed it, along with the plastic soda bottle, the baby’s car seat, and a gray backpack he hadn’t even noticed when he found the baby. She waited while he opened the front door.

“Come on in,” he told her gently.

It was deliciously warm inside after being out for longer than he’d planned. He walked her through his office, which was in the original living room of the house and included the center hall and the powder room.

The door in back opened up to the rest of the first floor, where he had set up the dining room with a loveseat as well as a wooden table. An arch on one side opened to the kitchen. On the other side was the stairwell up to the bedrooms and upstairs bath.

“Sit,” he told Andrea, grabbing two plates from one of the cupboards with the baby tucked snugly in one arm.

He couldn’t help noticing how efficiently her little legs wrapped around his chest. Her chubby little hands industriously explored his shirt and then his hair as he worked. Now that he wasn’t completely panicked, it was kind of nice having a baby along for the ride.

“ Agggghhhhh ,” she crowed suddenly, the funny, happy sound ending in a wet raspberry noise.

Levi glanced down and couldn’t help smiling back at her merry little face.

“Well, hello to you too,” he told her. “Are you hungry?”

She smacked him on the shoulder, her eyes going wide and her little mouth forming an “o”. Then she chuckled at him and made another raspberry sound.

He turned to Andrea to see if she had food for the baby, but her head was down on her folded arms on the table.

“I’ll bet you can have a little mashed banana,” he said quietly, glad to have a nice ripe one in his fruit basket.

“I’m sorry,” Andrea said softly. Her words were muffled by her arms, but he understood them.

“She’s yours,” he said as he grabbed a third plate, a spoon, and the banana.

It wasn’t really a question. He was pretty sure this had to be Andrea’s baby. Or else things were even more complicated than he’d imagined.

“Yes,” Andrea said. “I made some bad choices, but I kept it together until she was born, and after that too. Until about a week ago…”

He frowned, rethinking her pale skin and bruised-looking eyes.

“What happened?” he asked, sitting down and pushing a plate with a slice of pizza toward her as he started mashing up the banana.

The baby made an impatient sound and he put a tiny amount on the end of the spoon and offered it to her. She wolfed it down happily and wiggled for more.

“Before I was in the service I… I had some problems,” Andrea said.

He kept feeding the baby quietly, sure Andrea had more to say, and wanting to give her space to tell her story her own way.

“Substance abuse,” she said, her voice so flat he could feel the shame pouring off her. “I did as much rehab as insurance would cover, which wasn’t much. I knew I needed a big life change. My doctor thought I was delusional for thinking the Army could fix me. But it did. The structure and routine saved my life.”

“I had no idea,” Levi said, meaning it. “You never put a toe out of line, not even on leave.”

“That’s what sobriety means,” she said, nodding. There was a touch of pride in her eyes and for a moment she looked like the woman he had once known. “Anyway, I guess postpartum hit me pretty hard, and I was on my own…”

She trailed off, looking like her heart was broken.

“I’m so sorry, Andrea,” he said, putting a hand over hers. “But you two can stay here for as long as you need to. You know you’re family.”

“I can’t,” she said, sounding frantic. “I got a spot in a special rehab program, and I have to go now if I want to make it. I know I don’t have the right to dump my child on you. But I didn’t know where else to turn. You always talked about your hometown and your family, and it seemed like such a nice place. The kind of place a baby would be happy…”

Tears slid down her cheeks and he realized what it must have taken for her to get herself and the baby all the way here when she was feeling so low she could hardly hold her head up. Levi was humbled by her strength, and determined to help her.

“I’m happy to take care of the baby for as long as you need me to,” he said right away. “I’m glad you’re going to get the help you need. But you can’t just leave her here. It’s not that simple. We have to do this the right way.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean we need guardianship papers, or I couldn’t even take her to the hospital if she had an emergency, since we’re not related,” he told her gently. “Now, I have a buddy who does child and family law. We can go see him first thing in the morning, and then get you where you need to be.”

A night to think things over would probably do them both a lot of good.

“I have to catch the next train,” she said, her voice turning frantic. “Please, Levi. If I miss my intake, that’s it.”

“Okay, look, I’ll call him,” he told her. “Try and eat while I call, okay?”

He glanced at his watch again, figuring that they had just about an hour before that last train of the night left the station.

We can get this done. Somehow.

Ten minutes later, he was hanging up with his friend and heading to the computer in the office to print out the form. Apparently, because the baby’s mother was initiating the guardianship and Levi agreed, it was an incredibly straightforward one-page document.

The only trouble was that it had to be notarized to actually be official.

“Come on, come on, come on,” he muttered to the printer.

“ Deeeek ,” the baby added, chuckling.

He grabbed the paper off the machine and headed back into the kitchen.

Andrea’s head was on her hands again, but two bites of pizza were missing, and it looked like she’d had a little of the Coke.

“Okay,” he said quietly.

“Can I sign it?” she asked eagerly, eyeing the form in his hands.

“We need a notary,” he told her. “But I know one, and her office is on the way to the train station. ”

Andrea was on her feet in a heartbeat, and they threw on their coats and headed out again.

“There’s some stuff for her in the bag,” Andrea told him, pointing to the backpack. “Not much, though.”

“That’s fine,” he told her. “We can get just about everything we need right here in town, and there’s a big box store up on Route One for the rest.”

Andrea nodded, her lips pressed together like she was trying not to cry.

“You don’t have to leave her,” he said. “We can figure something out.”

“I need to do this,” she said firmly. “I’ll be okay.”

The cold air outside sharpened Levi’s mind, and he began thinking about what he was about to do. He had never taken care of a baby before, so he didn’t have much know-how. There were so many questions, including a big one he couldn’t believe he hadn’t already brought up.

“Hey, what’s her name?” he asked Andrea.

“Flora,” she said.

There was a wistful note in her voice, and he imagined the Andrea he had once known choosing that pretty name for the daughter she was about to have. His chest ached and he drank in a deep breath of the fresh night air.

She’ll be herself again once she completes her program.

They reached the real estate office quickly, and sure enough, the lights were still on, and Sloane sat at her laptop, working away. She looked up at him in surprise when he tapped on the door.

“It’s late,” Andrea murmured.

“She works long hours,” he said, nodding as Sloane got up to open the door for them.

“Hey,” she said. “What’s up?”

“Sloane, this is my old Army buddy, Andrea,” Levi said. “And her daughter, Flora. We were wondering if you could notarize something for us. Sorry it’s so late, but it’s kind of urgent.”

Sloane only blinked at him for a second. He didn’t blame her. It was an odd situation.

“Yes,” she said, shaking her head once. “Of course. Come on in.”

He gestured for Andrea to go first, and she shuffled in, looking around the pretty little office with alarm in her eyes.

“Here it is,” he told Sloane, handing over the document.

Her eyes scanned it, and he clocked the moment she realized that it was paperwork for a guardianship. But Sloane was nothing if not professional, and she didn’t say a word.

“I can notarize your signatures, no problem,” she said. “But we need a witness.”

Levi’s heart sank as he thought about the empty village around them. Even the pizza shop would be closed by now. Maybe they could head back toward his place and knock on doors until they found someone.

“I need to get on that train,” Andrea bit out desperately.

“I know someone who will be around,” Sloane said, grabbing her stamp and supplies. “Let’s go.”

They followed after her. It was only when he realized they were heading for the corner of Ambler Road that Levi put together who they were going to see.

“Lily?” he asked Sloane.

“Is that going to be a problem for you?” Sloane asked, stopping in her tracks.

“No,” he said, unable to make eye contact with her.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“I’m sure,” he told her, nodding grimly.

“Is she your ex or something?” Andrea asked.

“No,” he admitted. “Worse. I’ve kind of had a thing for her forever, but I’ve never been able to work up the nerve to actually talk to her.”

“Levi ‘Lion-Heart” Williams is scared to talk to a girl?” Andrea asked, her eyes twinkling almost like old times as she pulled up the nickname he’d gotten in boot camp.

“Just this one particular girl,” he muttered, trying not to smile. It was good that she was teasing him, and made it worth being a little embarrassed to see her perk up a little.

“She must be pretty special,” Andrea said, shaking her head. The corners of her mouth were pulling up just the tiniest bit like she wanted to smile.

They turned the corner and as Sloane predicted, the lights of the toy store were still glowing like a beacon.

“So pretty,” Sloane said as they approached the shop.

Levi studied the display in the window, thinking about how many times he had passed the shop in the evening on the way to the post office and seen Lily putting it together. From the snowy base, to the pretty dollhouses forming the village, to the cars and trucks in the little town, to the reindeer pulling a sleigh above it all with Santa waving as they hung in the air on nearly invisible wires, Levi had watched it come together at the hands of the creative woman in pink.

But of course, the window display had never really been what he was looking at. When they were finally close enough to see inside, his eyes searched the magical space hungrily.

It didn’t take him long to spot Lily, a faraway look in her eyes as she jotted down something into a notebook. The drawers of the cash register stood open, as if she had been struck with inspiration while tallying up for the night, and had stopped in the middle of it to write down her idea, the pink, feathery plume of her pen tracing loops through the air like a wand.

Levi had been all over the world, but he had never seen a more magical sight than this one small, blonde woman in a pink cardigan, looking like a fairy who had floated down to Trinity Falls just to tug at his heartstrings.

“ Bah,” Flora cried out, her little hands letting go of his shoulder to reach for the pretty things in the window.

Pull it together, Williams, he told himself inwardly. You can’t waste time mooning over your high school crush. You’re about to become this baby’s guardian.

And somehow, in the warm glow of the toy shop lights, that idea didn’t seem quite as scary as it had just a few minutes ago.