Kaya let out the breath she’d been holding when Bryce took a step backward and shifted his gaze to the baby. In that spellbinding moment, Bryce had awakened something deep inside her. Curiosity? No. She told herself that it was antipathy. He was on a mission to destroy her. It would be in her best interest not to lose sight of that fact. His penetrating stare was one of intimidation. That was all it was.
She watched as he cradled Anastasia’s tiny head in one of his large hands and clasped the other around the scrawny little body. Ignoring the flailing arms and legs, he raised her close to his face and began to sing a song Kaya had never heard before.
Sweet baby child, hush, don’t you cry
Momma’s gone away for a little while
Soon she’ll be home with a bright happy smile
And she’ll hug and rock, her sweet baby child
Sweet baby child, hush, don’t you cry...
As she listened to the words that would never come to pass, tears pooled in Kaya’s eyes. Lauren was gone, not for a while, but forever. She would never kiss, nor hug, nor rock her sweet baby child again.
In the midst of her troubling thoughts, the deep, soothing rhythm of Bryce’s voice resonated through Kaya, melting away her fears and frustrations over his meddling.
She felt blessed relief.
The man could sing a fledgling from the safety and comfort of its nest, she thought, watching him pace back and forth with Anastasia in his arms. Luther Vandross had nothing on him. With a voice so beautiful, so touching, he could have been a star.
Anastasia apparently thought so, too, because as Bryce chanted the chorus over and over again, her screams eventually faded to an occasional hiccup and a series of soft, throaty gurgles.
He’d succeeded where she had failed.
“Yes, that’s it, sweetheart,” he cooed, gazing into the tiny face with the most tenderness and patience Kaya had ever seen in a man. “Uncle Bryce knows just what you need, doesn’t he?”
He settled her against his wide chest, his enormous hands supporting her back, his long brown fingers wrapping around the perimeter of her body. Kaya would never have dreamed a man holding a baby could look so irresistible. Especially a man she didn’t trust with that very same baby.
“That’s my baby,” he said as Anastasia blew out a bubble and gurgled at him. “You miss your mommy and daddy, don’t you? I know, darling. I miss them, too. But Uncle Bryce is home now. He’ll take good care of you, little Stasia. I will always be here for you. I promise from the bottom of my heart.”
He came to a halt in front of Kaya, sending a pleasant combination of masculine odor and baby powder up her nostrils. “You’re not taking these children out of Granite Falls,” he warned in a low, gruff tone. “This is their home. It’s where they belong and it’s where they’ll stay. Why don’t you make it easy on everyone, Kaya, and just sign them over to me? I know what they need.”
“That’s not what their parents wanted, Bryce. They named me legal guardian in their will.”
“Where there’s a will, Miss Brehna, there’s always a way to break it.”
Kaya folded her arms and stared up at him, not knowing whether he was referring to her heart’s will to take the children to Florida, or the legal document that gave her custody of them. Perhaps a little of both. “I don’t want to argue with you again, Bryce. At least not today,” she added, remembering what Libby had said, or not said about the “something awful” in his past.
“We don’t need to argue at all, Kaya. Just do what you know is best for them.”