Love Will Keep Us - Book 5

Shooting Hoops

STEF POV

"Hey, Mama Dukes! You made it!" Corey smiles widely as I walk over to the court having quickly gone home and changed out of my uniform. I had worked this morning, and was looking forward to spending some time with the boy once he was out of school for the day. It had been awhile since we hung out like this much less played basketball like we used to before Lena and I got together. Partly I felt badly about how things had gone the last few months, even if he had surely been acting like a damn fool, but I needed to make sure he still knew I wasn't all that bad.

Today I was actually not feeling too bad, even if I still didn't tell  Lena who Jude might be. It wasn't easy, because I wanted to protect her so badly but I knew eventually I would need to tell her the truth. But honestly I didn't even know the real truth about who Jude really was and was only going by my gut.  Lying to her was never high on my list of things to do, but right now I couldn't risk hurting her more.

After the phone call came in the other night from Jude's foster mom, Shirley, Mike and I had helped look for the boy  finding him hiding in the couple's garage. How they didn't see him, I had no clue, but I did know that he was a small kid and most likely could move into smaller spaces easily. He had had the red truck that I gave him on my last visit to the house, and it looked as if he had been crying which broke my heart.

FLASHBACK

"Hey, buddy, remember me? I brought you that bright shiny truck you're holding," I hold out my hand to the small boy who was crunched behind the big tool bench in the garage. I had heard sniffling only to find him hunkered down.

He looks at me wide eyed, not moving an inch as I kneel in front of where he is positioned. Mike had gone to get Ben and Shirley to tell them the good news as they both were a mess when they couldn't find him at bedtime.

I dig in my pocket and find a hard piece of peppermint candy and place it in my hand as I hold it out to him. "Look what I found. My mouth gets kinda dry sometimes, and they taste like candy canes. Do you like candy canes? MM?" I smile softly as he stares at me a bit longer then nods his little head.

"Here, sweets. You can have it, but you need to come out now, okay? Ben and Shirley are really worried about you, baby boy. They really are, and they called me to help them find you."

I lick my lips as he clings to his toy truck, his little chubby legs bent up to his chest. I notice that he has on a pair of jean shorts and a zipper hoodie with the hood over his little blonde head as he begins spinning the wheels on the truck.

"I know you overheard your foster mom talking about your mama going to jail. And I know this isn't the first time she's gone away, but you are safe now, sweetheart. You really are, and you don't have to worry about food or if you'll have a warm bed to sleep in. You can have all the trucks and cars that you want...all of that, baby."

He begins humming to himself softly as he runs the toy truck over the wall in front of him, and my heart breaks into a thousand pieces. Knowing what I know about Jude makes everything clearer to me than ever, and if this happens to be Will's baby boy, I will do everything in my power to gain custody of him, if it's the last thing I do. For I had promised him that I'd always look out for his babies...even if he didn't know about this one.

FLASHBACK ENDS

Of course, he still hadn't spoken a single word, and his foster parents were surely beside themselves on what to do to help the little boy. I had half a mind to bring him home with me, but I knew that I couldn't just do that and risk losing this job I had waited so long to get. Plus, what in the hell would I tell Lena? What would we tell Frankie and Corey and well, my sweet Callie? Callie. Maybe she was right, I was so good at helping everyone else's child but my own.