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“But I want you to be with me when I meet her.” Was she suggesting that they simply walk away? Where had all of this gone so wrong? “When we got in the car this morning, I never imagined that we’d be coming here only to leave again.”
“I’m supposed to do what you want while you ignore what your behavior did to me, is that it?” Grace said, the disbelief in her voice tearing at him.
“But there is so much that has to be done as soon as possible,” he protested.
“Not until we talk about this. I mean it, Aidan.”
“What do you want me to do?” he asked, exasperated by her attitude. “This is my child. You can’t really want me to walk away. It’s just that right now you’re hurt and upset. You’ll feel differently when you see Emma.”
She focused her gaze on him with a look he knew so well—desperation and hope mixed together. “Okay. Before she gets back here let’s run through the possibilities.”
“Which are?” he asked, suddenly aware that he had never considered that there might be a different answer than the one he’d constructed from Deidre’s request.
“Emma is a little girl who has only known the life she’s living right now. How can we assume that moving her to our place, taking her away from everything that is familiar is going to make her life better? What if she has family here who could take her? An aunt and uncle, maybe? I have to believe that Deidre chose you because she believed you’d do what was best for her daughter. And that’s what you and I have to consider. Have you considered that if we decide not to take her, there will have to be other options for her care?”
Shock sparked through him. “Grace, not for a minute have I considered not taking her. I thought you understood that. We’ve waited all our married lives for a chance to have children. Now we have that chance.”
Grace closed her eyes for a few moments, her body trembling. “Aidan, there is more than one answer here. There has to be. I’m not ready to take on the care of that little girl so soon. There has to be a way to work this out so that we have time to adjust to what all of this means.” She looked straight at him, her expression one of determination. “If you’re not willing to do that, I have no other option but to leave you here to work things out on your own.”
“Leaving? You can’t. I mean you wouldn’t leave a child who needed you.” He struggled to accept that Grace might leave. “Grace, I’ll make a reservation for us at a hotel where we can stay while we work out how to do this. If you like, we’ll wait to meet Emma later. I’ll leave a note for Lisa, and that way she’ll know how to find us. I’m sure that if you think about this, you’ll come to realize that being with us in our home is the best answer for Emma.”
The look in Grace’s eyes was one of deep regret as she spoke slowly. “I can’t do this right now because what I feel matters. I need time to come to grips with what has happened to you and to me, to our marriage. Yes, Emma’s care is important, but so is the state of our marriage and my feelings. I will not make a snap decision about something that will affect the rest of my life. If you won’t see things my way, try to understand how much I need time to think about this… I’m going home.” She looked into his eyes, holding his gaze. “I want you to come with me, but that’s up to you.”
“No. Grace, please don’t.”
“Aidan,” she whispered, her voice thick. “It’s better this way. I don’t want to fight with you, but I can’t decide to take custody of this child this quickly.”
By her resolute expression, he knew he’d lost. “Grace, I wish you’d stay. We could get to know Emma a little, see how much she needs us to care for her, to give her love and stability in her life,” he said, making one last attempt to convince her.
