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I walked to my girls and bent over to stare at Gracelynn. “Looking good, Gracieloo.”
Samantha giggled and rolled her eyes. She thought it was hilarious that I’d altered Gracelynn’s name to create a nickname.
One of Gracelynn’s arms extended toward Samantha, and she made cute little baby noises that melted my heart.
“Please?” Samantha looked up at me with her big blue eyes, giving me a puppy dog expression that would break anyone.
“Sit,” I instructed. Then I moved machines and tubes around until I could put Gracelynn in Samantha’s arms without disturbing or dislodging anything.
“I can’t believe I’m finally holding you, sweet girl,” Samantha cooed softly.
I had imagined seeing her like this, cuddling our babies, so many times—without the medical equipment and hospital setting—and despite the circumstances, it was even better.
Samantha was a natural with babies and children, but something was extra special about the way she was with Gracelynn. Her head dropped low, and she brushed a kiss over the baby’s pretty blond hair. Apparently, she’d been born with a ton of it.
If I hadn’t known better, I might have thought Samantha was actually related to Gracelynn. They shared similar facial features, blond hair, and blue eyes—although, as young as she was, we didn’t yet know for sure what shade Gracelynn’s would be.
It turned out that she’d been born in this hospital, so it was easy for me to get my hands on her records. There wasn’t a lot of information, but what had been in there was still better than nothing.
“I love you, sweet girl.”
Samantha’s whisper was so quiet that I almost missed it. But as they ricocheted around my head for a few moments, I suddenly had an epiphany.
Gracelynn was special to us because she was ours.
Well, shit.
This was going to take a fuck of a lot of work, smooth-talking, and money to cement our claim before our baby girl went into foster care.
Excitement thrummed in my veins as I thought about the day when I’d have both my girls home with me. And soon, another one on the way. Samantha and I would be a mommy and a daddy again. Again. That word made my heart pulse with warmth and anticipation. We already had a head start on filling our house with our family.
6
Noah
“What about Blair Kendall?” I asked, my voice sounding as tired as I felt. Things were not going my way, and I was seriously pissed about it.
The county had been giving me the runaround about Gracelynn for a week. Apparently, they didn’t want to approve me as a temporary foster home for Gracelynn because I was a single man. They wouldn’t grant foster care to Samantha because she was a minor. Charlie and Rhett were out of town, my sisters had their hands full with their own kids, and my parents were too old to be caring for an infant.
I had a team of lawyers working on the adoption proceedings, but I didn’t want to finish the process until Samantha and I were married. But if Gracelynn left the hospital before my baby doll turned eighteen, and I didn’t find someone I trusted to take care of her until then, she would go to foster care. To a place they would not divulge to me. I wouldn’t be able to see her or check on her, and that wasn’t acceptable.
I would do whatever it took to keep her safe, even if I had to go ahead with the adoption without Samantha. But even that wasn’t a guarantee. Money could only speed the process up so much, and there was no guarantee I’d be able to sign the papers before she was discharged.
I’d been expressing concern over sending Gracelynn home, and though the other doctors were confused and a little suspicious of my adamant claim that she shouldn’t be discharged, they hadn’t fought me on it so far.
Blair was my last-ditch effort. She was a mom, married, wealthy, educated, and ran a fucking day care. If she couldn’t be approved for foster care, then the world had lost its fucking mind.
I didn’t know how I would explain all of this to Blair, but I could only tackle one problem at a time.
“Is Mrs. Kendall interested in fostering? We have several children without—”
I hung up. If they suggested a child without special needs one more fucking time, I was going to strangle someone.
Staring at my phone, I tried to come up with a plausible explanation to give Blair, but I had nothing. So I decided to visit her in person and hope that I was hit with inspiration in the moment. She agreed to meet me at the day care when she had enough hands on deck that she could give me all of her attention.
When I arrived, she gestured for me to follow her and walked to her office in the back.
