Then Jude leaned in close to Kate again and murmured low enough for only her to hear: “Isabelle’s gone, sweetheart.”
Jude’s throat tightened with each word.
His gaze returned to Nikki, who had tears in her eyes, silently relaying the tragic news.
He let out a long breath, then dipped his head to Kate’s once more.
“I’m so sorry, baby.”
His gut clenched. He knew Kate had developed a kinship with Sophie from the moment she’d scooped her into her arms in the stairwell. She’d spent every spare moment with her here in the hospital, assuring Sophie her mother would be fine, assuring her everything would be fine.
She’d tracked down Sophie’s father to a prison—and there was no conceivable way the man was getting out anytime soon. He was in for life on multiple murder charges, having been an enforcer for a regional drug lord.
Jude knew in his heart that Sophie was infinitely better off with her father in prison. Except that now…she had no mother.
Jude’s eyes squeezed shut briefly, blocking out the sight of Kate with an orphan (for all intents and purposes) in her arms. A five-year-old girl who had latched onto Kate as much as Kate had latched onto her.
His heart wrenched.
Kate wasn’t the motherly type. She claimed to have no maternal instincts and yet…ever since that night when she’d intuitively protected Sophie, Kate had made it a point to check in on the girl every chance she got.
Jude swallowed down a lump of emotion—and love—and focused on the reality of the situation.
He told Kate, “We have to find Jeanette. She’s the one working to place children without homes.”
Kate’s head snapped up.
Their eyes connected.
She didn’t say anything, though tears pooled in the corners and Jude could clearly see exactly what she was thinking.
She verbalized it, anyway.
“We can’t just…leave her.”
His insides coiled tight. Jude could barely breathe.
He shook his head. “Kate. This is—”
“Jude.” Fat drops filled her eyes. Sophie clung to her, crying hysterically and clearly not planning on releasing Kate anytime soon. If ever.
Jude scrubbed a hand down his face.
He reminded her, “We have to be in New York at the end of the week. Kate—”
“I can’t leave her,” Kate asserted. She relinquished her hold on Sophie, spreading her arms wide. Sophie’s grip around Kate’s neck only tightened. “See?”
Kate embraced the girl again.
Every fiber of Jude’s being pulled taut.
This was wholly unexpected: a kid clinging to Kate out of emotional distress—and Kate responding to the S.O.S.
Again…Jude knew she had no inclination to have children with him. Sure, she was acclimating to the idea of an engagement/engagement party. A wedding. Even the notion of them living together in his vast apartment.
But when it came right down to the kid scenario… He understood that concept was one well outside her mental realm.
And yet… Here she was, reacting so innately, so naturally to Sophie’s distraught disposition, her entire desolate situation.