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She gritted her teeth together, then shook her head. “I don’t want those.”
The lawyer looked even more startled. “Dr. Keele has been very generous.”
“I’m sure he has,” she spat out, placing a protective hand over her belly. “But you can tell him to kiss my—”
“Ma’am, I think you should—”
This time she cut him off. “And I think you should go. You’re not welcome. You can tell Dr. Keele he’s not, either.”
The lawyer looked torn a moment, then shoved the envelope toward her and left before she could toss it back.
“I’ll fight him on this,” she called out to the retreating man, who glanced at her over his shoulder, a confused frown on his face.
“What was all that about?” Chrissie asked, walking up next to her and staring down the hallway.
“Charlie is filing for custody.”
Chrissie’s mouth dropped open. “Seriously? I thought he didn’t want anything to do with the baby?”
“Obviously I was wrong about that, too.” She waved the envelope in front of her friend. “He can’t have my baby.”
Okay, so logically she knew he could, and would, have time with their baby. That was what she wanted, right? For her baby to grow up with a loving father to be there for him or her, even if he hadn’t been able to be there for Savannah? She did want that, but the thought of him taking her to court... Her stew threatened to make a reappearance.
How dare he do this to her so coldly? Without even discussing it with her first? They’d been together a year. A year! Didn’t she deserve an actual pick-up of the phone and, Hey, I’ve decided I do want to be a part of my child’s life. Let’s talk about it? How could she have thought she knew him so well, inside and out, and have been so very wrong?
She’d thought he loved her. Lust and love were two very different things. Because she’d wanted to believe she’d credited Charlie for being more than he was. He was nothing better than every other Joe Schmoe looking for a good time.
Yet even now she had a difficult time convincing herself of that. Look at what a great con job he’d pulled on her that, even after a month of not hearing from him, she still struggled to believe that he wasn’t the awesome man she’d put up on a pedestal. After he’d proved that she didn’t matter enough to discuss major life decisions with, such as moving two hours away or wanting legal rights over their child.
“Maybe he just wants visitation,” Chrissie suggested, staring at Savannah. “If so, that’s a good thing, right?”
It was. Although anxiety coursed through her, she truly did want Charlie to be a part of their baby’s life. Yes, that made things a hundred times worse for her because it would mean seeing him, but their baby knowing his or her father was more important.
If Charlie wanted reasonable legal rights to their child, she wouldn’t fight him despite what she’d flung at the retreating lawyer.
She threw the oversized envelope down on the dining room table next to her half-eaten bowl of stew and slowly sank onto a chair. Chrissie joined her and took her hand into hers, holding her tightly. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Chrissie nudged her.
“Maybe you should open the envelope to see what it says.”
Savannah closed her eyes and tried to go back to the happy place where she’d existed just a few months ago when she’d thought she was the luckiest woman alive. She’d been so naïve, so trusting, so caught up in being in love that she’d just looked at Charlie through rose-colored glasses and seen what she wanted to see. Foolish. Never again would she be so easily fooled. Never again would she open up and give her heart away.
She didn’t need him.
She didn’t need anyone.
“Savannah? How can you not rip that open?”
Resting her head in her hands, she sighed. “I don’t want to know what it says.”
“Well, I do.” Chrissie picked up the envelope as if to open it. “If you’re not going to open this, I am.”
“Give it to me.” Savannah took the envelope from her friend and tore into the end. Nausea rose from the pit of her stomach. Her baby’s future had been reduced to legal documents compiled by a lawyer.
She pulled out the blue-backed document and a key, stared at it in confusion, read the lawyer’s letter in even further confusion.
In total shock, she lifted her gaze to her curious friend. “He’s lost his mind.”
Chrissie gave her an expectant look. “Well, what did he ask for? Surely not full custody. And what’s up with the key?”
