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“She’s asleep already. I’m sorry, I know she should be up to sleep through the night, but she was very tired.”
“Oh. Ok.” What did Hunter do to tire her out? She usually became sleepy after a good cry, but I hoped that wasn’t the case.
“I’ll go now.”
“Bye, Georgia.”
She said something else, but I was distracted. I checked the baby monitor to see that Sofi was indeed out cold.
Something just didn’t feel right. I couldn’t tell what it was, but I had a weird, nagging feeling. Why wasn’t Hunter here? Why didn’t he call to tell me he needed someone to watch Sofi? I could have come home and taken care of everything.
My eyes fell on the envelope on the table and I went straight to it, opening it. Maybe it was none of my business, but I just had to know what was so important that made Hunter leave his niece with a sitter and not say a word about it. Inside there was a stack of documents, all related to Sofi. Her birth certificate, her mom’s ID, court orders that placed her in Hunter’s care. What was he doing with all of this?
Someone knocked forcefully on the front door, and it made me jump. I put everything back and ran to answer, surprised that visitors made it past the gate. Hunter was pretty strict about who was allowed to come on the premises, so whoever was out there had to have his approval.
A mousey woman with short black hair and thick glasses was waiting impatiently on the other side of the door. She had a charcoal skirt and black jacket and was holding a clipboard close to her chest.
“Hello,” She said in a low voice.
“Hi, umm, can I help you?”
“Yes, are you Georgia?”
She was looking for the sitter.
“No. My name is Amelia Hart.”
“Oh.” She looked on her clipboard, her forehead frowning with concern. “Mr. Knox said I should ask for Georgia Andrews. He left some documents for me. I was supposed to pick them up earlier, but I was caught in the office.”
“Yeah, he left an envelope.”
“Great.” She followed me inside and I handed her the papers. My confusion grew. “Yeah, everything is here. Well, Miss Hart, thank you for this. I have to go now.”
“Wait.” I’d stopped her when she was almost at the door. “Why do you need Sofi’s documents?”
“The adoption agency needs to check everything for the paperwork.”
My heart dropped. It was almost like the ground had disappeared from under me and I was floating in a void. He was giving her away. He went behind my back and gave his own fucking niece away to be raised by strangers. After everything I’d told him, Hunter Knox decided to do this anyway.
“Adoption agency?”
The woman looked at me with a soft smile.
“Miss Hart, are you family?”
“I…no. I’m Sofi’s nanny. What is going on?”
“I’m sorry, per Mr. Knox’s request I really can’t disclose anything. I have to go now. He wants this to be done as soon as possible.” She disappeared after that, leaving me weak in the knees and devastated.
Hunter was taking her away from me. Why would he do something like that? I thought we had a chance to make it, but he went ahead and destroyed everything. How could he do that? I loved him. I went to sleep in his arms every night, telling himI love him.
My heart broke into a million tiny pieces and was replaced by visceral, powerful, untamed fear. I felt caged and desperate and all I could think about was to get the hell out of here.Sofi and Ineeded to get out of there.
Desperate and blind to all rationality, I ran up the stairs into the nursery and opened the door. The baby didn’t even flinch. She was on her back, sucking on her thumb and one arm around a teddy bear. I looked at her with tears in my eyes. Hunter was right on one thing, she deserved better than a crappy uncle who’d abandon her to the mercy of strangers or some relative no one knew.
In a haze of fear and insanity, I grabbed Sofi’s diaper bag and picked her up from the crib. The movement bothered her and she screeched, but I held her closer to my chest.
“Shh, it’s ok, baby. It’s ok. I’ll take care of you.”
