Beth Cornelison - Operation Baby Rescue

On the first screen, she found a list of the most recent posts and replies. As Kim had said, the topics varied from posts about missing children, questions about legal rights and suggestions for surviving the holidays without your loved one.

She spent several minutes reading the various discussion threads and found the replies of the members to be both helpful and compassionate. No wonder Kim recommended the website. Elise sipped her tea and began mentally composing her introduction. Should she make an official request for information or simply explain what happened to her and see if it solicited replies of similar incidents?

After some thought, she chose to keep her first foray on the message board simple and see what came of it. She could always request similar stories later. At the end of her post, she gave a secondary email address she used for online shopping as her contact info. Taking a deep breath, she clicked the submit button, and her post vanished into the vast beyond. A few seconds later it appeared on the message board.

“Well, Brooke,” she said, stroking the cat’s back as the tabby rubbed against her leg. “All I can do now is wait and see who replies.”

Jared tiptoed into Isabel’s nursery and peered over the edge of her crib to check on his daughter before heading to bed himself. He could stand there for hours and never get tired of watching his little angel sleep. But as usual, the tenderness of the moment, Isabel’s innocence and late hour were a potent brew that brought a pang of grief for what Kelly was missing. And for how much he missed Kelly.

Tonight, however, his memories of Kelly were tinged with a shade of guilt. He knew the source.

Elise.

He’d had a good time with Elise, had felt comfortable talking with her, had felt natural teasing her. And had been attracted to her. Powerfully so.

Maybe that was the root of his guilt. He’d had female friends while Kelly was alive, but his attraction to Elise seemed a bit like a betrayal of Kelly’s memory. He knew he was being ridiculous. Moving on, dating again, didn’t mean he loved Kelly any less or that he’d forgotten her. If the situation was reversed, he’d want Kelly to have a second chance for love and companionship. A life partner to help her raise Isabel. In his heart, he knew Kelly would say the same for him. But his attraction to Elise still left him off-balance somehow. He wasn’t ready to start a new relationship….

Was he?

He brushed a wayward curl away from Isabel’s cheek, and a pang tugged his heart. Maybe he was unsettled being around Elise because he knew how blessed he was to have Isabel, while Elise had lost her best chance to be a parent, had been stripped of the treasure he savored every day.

He shuddered when he thought about losing Isabel. One of the reasons he and Kelly had chosen the private agency they used to adopt Isabel had been the agency’s assurances that the closed adoption process they employed meant the birth parents had forfeited all claims to Isabel. Their greatest fear had been to have one of the birth parents change their mind and try to take Isabel from them after the adoption closed. Just considering that scenario lit a fiery determination in his belly. He’d fight anyone who tried to take Isabel from him with every resource possible. Isabel was his .

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