Chapter 7
"What the hell is that?"
Nicholas heard as his eyes flew open to see Ruby wide-eyed staring down at him. He glanced down at his chest where the sleeping baby laid sucking her thumb.
"It looks like a baby to me," Nicholas said, "A sleeping baby, so don't wake her."
“Where did it come from, Nicholas?" Ruby asked with irritation.
“I suppose where most babies come from,” he said with a smirk on his face.
"Dammit, Nicholas, where is its mother?" Ruby almost shouted.
"It’s a she and I don't care where her mother is. She was a crack whore and is probably dead." Nicholas said flatly.
"Who's coming to get her?" Ruby questioned.
"Look, no one is coming to get her. Her mother was trying to buy crack. She tried to get them to take the baby as payment. They left her out in the cold. So I took her." Nicholas explained.
"We have to call the police. We can't keep her, she has to have another family." Ruby argued.
Nicholas stood with the baby against his chest. He walked over to the kitchen and began preparing a bottle. "I'm going shopping for a few things. Is there anything you need me to get for you?"
"Nicholas, we can't keep that baby!" Ruby spat. "You have no idea how to care for a baby. You are just too young. You are only seventeen, for God sakes." Ruby argued.
"Ruby, I'm not letting her go. I know how to care for a child. We have a home and I can provide for all of us. I have money put away and I can always make more.
"Yeah, I know how you make your money. What's going to happen when you're arrested? They will find out that she's not yours. Then what?" Ruby argued.
"I told you a long time ago that I would get us both out of the slums. I have. I'm not finished. She needs us. I’m not going to let her down as I did with my sister." Nicholas said calmly.
"I'm not her mother, I won't pretend to be. I will help you as a paid nanny. I can't work with a baby here, it just wouldn't feel right. But, Nicholas, you have to get a real job or something. This has to be stable. God help us if we get caught with her. This is really stupid, Nicholas." Ruby said exasperated.
Ruby knew he wasn't going to budge on this subject. She felt that if she put some stipulations on this situation that he would turn in the child. She also knew that Nicholas wasn't your average seventeen years old. But she had been gone almost a year and had her own little secret. She cared for Nicholas and they had been intimate. She had not been prepared for those consequences. She had assumed that he wouldn't have been either.
"Can I trust you to keep her while I go get her the things she needs?" Nicholas asked with concern.
"Yes, Nicholas, you can trust me," Ruby said with sarcasm.
Nicholas gave her the baby. "I'll try not to be gone too long.
Ruby watched as he gathered his things and ran out the door. She looked down at the baby in her arms. "Looks like I have a big problem on my hands."
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