* * *
Lizzie couldn’t do this. She simply couldn’t make polite conversation with people who might want to take away the most important person in their lives. She wanted to leave with Violet. She’d do it if it wasn’t for the fact that she was on an island and could go only so far before they’d find her.
The guests declined refreshments, and Jared suggested they move to the family room so Violet could play while the adults talked.
How could he be so calm and rational when her heart was about to explode out of her chest at any second?
“We all know why we’re here,” Dan said, “so how about we get right to it?”
“That works for us.” Martin turned to Jared and Lizzie, who sat together on a love seat. “My client was unaware that he’d fathered a child until recently. Needless to say, the news came as a shock to him, and he was at once very eager to meet his daughter.”
“She looks like you did as a baby, Brooks,” his mother said tearfully.
“I was thinking the same thing,” his father said, his voice gruff.
“Are you going to take her from us?” Lizzie asked, her voice hitching on a sob. “Because if you are, I want you to know we’ll fight for her until our last breath. She’s lived with us for more than six months. We’ve sat up with her all night while she was teething and when she had a fever. We’ve tucked her into bed every night and woken up to her happy squeaks every morning. For one hundred and ninety-two days, she’s been the center of our lives. If you try to take her from us, we’ll fight you.”
As an attorney, Kendall would’ve advised her sister-in-law to take a more conciliatory approach. But as a mother, she wholeheartedly approved of Lizzie’s blunt words.
“We don’t want to upset her life,” Brooks said haltingly. “But I’m not sure how I’m supposed to go on with my life, knowing I have a child in the world being raised by people who are strangers to me.”
“So get to know us,” Jared said. “Come to visit any time you want. All of you. There’s no reason you can’t be part of her life, but as my wife said, if you want to take her from us, we will fight you. We can either spend years raising this child with your reasonable involvement, or we can spend years in court.”
Wait. What did he say? She hadn’t expected him to say that and didn’t want strangers involved in raising Violet.
“We understand that you weren’t told of her existence,” Jared said, “and we feel for you in that situation. We really do. But we hope you have some empathy for us, as well. We’ve devoted our lives to this child since her mother left her with us, and we’re weeks away from the adoption being final. As you can imagine, this situation has been extremely distressing for us.”
Violet crawled over to Lizzie, who picked her up.
“I’m sorry for the pain this has caused you,” Brooks said. “That’s not our intention. I wanted to meet my daughter. Could I… Would it be possible to hold her?”
Lizzie tightened her arms around Violet. No, it was not all right if he held her.
Sensing her mother’s disquiet, Violet burrowed into her embrace.
“Lizzie.”
She looked at Jared, who nodded as he reached for Violet.
Lizzie feared if she let her go, she might never get her back.
“It’s okay,” Jared said softly as he took the baby from her and transferred her to Brooks, who sat on the sofa with his parents on either side of him.
“Hey, baby girl,” Brooks said. “You’re so pretty and sweet.”
“She’s beautiful,” Denise said.
Lizzie thought she might die right then and there watching them fawn over her child.
Jared took her hand and held on tight.
Five minutes passed, or maybe it was five hours, for all she knew or cared. Give her back. Give her back. Give her back.
Violet suddenly seemed to realize she was with people she didn’t know and began to cry the way she did when she was scared.
Lizzie crossed the room to retrieve her child, who immediately settled when she was back in the arms of the only mother she’d ever known. She took her out of the room and went to the rocking chair in Violet’s room, where she’d spent hours soothing her baby girl.
That’s where Jared found her twenty minutes later.
