PART 3
"What did you say?!" Nick cried out in disbelief.
"I said that you just became a father. All I know is that this baby here is now under your care. Here, this envelope will explain it." The conductor replied. Nick practically snatched the envelope out of the man's hand not even believing that this was happening to him. Jo was speechless after hearing all this. She looked down in the basket and a saw a baby girl with big blue eyes and tuffs of blond hair. The baby only had on a thin poorly made dress, and a skimpy blanket covering the rest of her. Jo quickly took the basket out of the man's hand, and placed her shawl over the baby as her mothering instincts took over.
Meanwhile Nick was opening the envelope. There was a letter in there addressed to him from a lawyer. It read that his brother Ben had gotten married last year to a young lady named Mary Sosa. Soon after they were married, Mary was expecting a baby, but Ben had been shot and killed in a fight at a local bar before the baby had been born. Mary had died in childbirth, leaving the infant in front of Nick an orphan, and a 2 week old one at that! Since Nick was Ben and Mary's only surviving relative, the baby was left to him.
As Nick handed the letter over to Jo, he felt a horrific feeling in his stomach from the knowledge of knowing his brother and his wife were dead. He looked down at his niece and felt numb. He knew nothing about caring for babies! Jo would have to help him out on that. Thinking of Jo made him realize that Jo might not want another baby around the house, since she would have some of the responsibility of raising the child.
"I'm so sorry about your brother, Nick." Jo said, her eyes saying everything that she couldn't express in words.
"Well, what do we do now?" Nick asked. A slight smile came upon Jo's face as she replied "Give this poor baby a name and some food!"
"Right. Then I suggest we get on home." Nick started walking back to the carriage, his head still swimming from everything that had just bombarded him in the last 5 minutes. After helping Jo into the carriage, Nick handed her his niece and climbed in.
PART 4
