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“Fifteen,” she muttered as I gasped.
“Shit,” Scribe cursed, shaking his head.
“Do your parents know where you are?” Mike asked, taking a step forward while she shook her head.
The young girl silently cried as she looked at me. “I’m so sorry. When I found out I was pregnant, my foster parents kicked me out of their house. I didn’t know where to go. When I told my boyfriend, he broke up with me. Told me to never contact him again. I had nowhere to go and only twenty bucks in my pocket. I stayed with a few friends at first, but when their mothers found out I was pregnant, they told me to leave.”
“Where have you been living then?” Frank asked, coming to stand behind me, placing his hands on my shoulder to give me the strength I didn’t have.
“On the streets. Sometimes I’d stay at a shelter. But mainly the streets.”
“What is your real name?” Mike asked.
“Fiona Mitchell,” she whispered before grabbing my hand. “I tried to take care of him. I really did, but I couldn’t. He needed someone better than me. Someone who knew what they were doing. When I saw you, I just knew.”
“Knew what?” I asked, my heart breaking for this poor child.
“That you were his mom. You are so good with people. I watched you for days. You help everyone. You are so kind and generous. You can give him a life I never could. When I saw you leaving your house that morning, I followed you. I knew you would be walking past the alley, so I covered him as best I could and laid him on the cardboard. I watched when you picked him up. You didn’t think twice, and when you walked away with him, I knew he was safe. That you would love him forever.”
“Oh God,” I cried, hanging my head.
“As Ms. Mitchell’s legal counsel, you have no case here, Mike. You heard Ms. Mitchell. She was there when Claudia picked up her son. She never abandoned him. She waited until she knew he was safe.”
“Scribe, it’s not that simple,” Mike groaned.
“The hell it isn’t,” Frank added. “Fiona chose a medical professional. Not some civilian on the street. The girl said it herself. She watched Lidi for days. She chose my woman.”
“Look, guys, I wish it was that easy, but it’s not. Fiona is a minor who had a baby. Then proceeded to give the child to a stranger.”
“Hey!” I snapped.
“Sorry, Claudia, but I’m speaking the truth here. You’ve never met this girl. Now, I can possibly get the DA to agree to drop the child abandonment charges, but she endangered her son.”
“No, I didn’t,” the young girl piped up. “I was there the entire time. Even when her friends showed up and that guy had a panic attack. I even followed her until they all disappeared into her home.”
Mike sighed. “Fine. But I still need to call CPS. Fiona is a minor.”
“I’m not going back into the system. I will run away the first chance I get.”
I don’t know what made me say it, but the second the words left my mouth, I knew it was the right thing. “Fiona is coming home with me.”
“What?” King asked.
“Claudia, I don’t think—” Mike muttered, before Frank interjected, “Lidi. Baby, we need to talk about this.”
“No,” I rounded on everyone in the room, shaking my head while I angrily wiped my tears away. “I’m not leaving her fate to the foster care system. I’ve seen what happens to those kids, Frank. I can’t do that to her. I won’t. I’d never be able to look our son in the eyes, knowing I left his birth mother to the state. Please understand. I just can’t!”
Wrapping his arms around me, he softly whispered, “Alright, baby. It’s going to be alright. I promise.”
“What are our options here, Scribe?” Frank asked while I sat silently next to him in Beth’s coffee shop.
I still couldn’t believe that Charlie’s birth mother was a young fifteen-year-old girl. The rage I felt deep inside me was all-consuming. I was always clear with everyone about how I felt about the foster care system. It was horrible and that was putting it lightly. The entire system needed a major overhaul, but because most of the kids came from displaced families and weren’t infants, no one truly cared about what happened to them. Instead, they all turned a blind eye, which allowed shit like what happened with Fiona to happen. Instead of putting her with a family who could nurture, love, and guide her, Fiona was thrown out and thrust into a world she wasn’t ready for. And for that alone, I would always despise the system.
Not only was Fiona forced to live on the streets, no one batted an eyelash. How was that fucking possible? A young teenage girl, alone, pregnant, with no help.
People were just fucking cruel, and it sickened me.
“I don’t know, Frank,” Scribe sighed. “This is a clusterfuck right now. First, we have Lidi’s petition for adoption. While Lidi is an upstanding citizen with a solid job and suitable home, CPS had reservations because of her work hours. However, she remedied that when she hired George as a partner. Second, her adoption is being challenged by someone in Richmond. My bet, the boy’s parents found out the truth and want their grandchild. Then there is Fiona, who is a child herself. Now, if she told the truth, which my gut is telling me she did, then we have a young mother who technically gave her child away.”
