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Jamie steps forward and offers his hand to Melanie. They shake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he says.
“Christy tells me you’re getting married soon,” Melanie says.
I nod. “Yes. On the 12th of December. We’ve been together for three years. We just haven’t gotten around to making it official.”
Melanie smiles. “That’s okay. A piece of paper doesn’t make or break a relationship. Christy’s told me a lot about you two. She thinks you’d be wonderful parents, and her opinion is good enough for me.”
“Did Christy happen to mention that I’m blind?” Jamie asks. “I figured I should put that out there. Full disclosure and all.”
Melanie chuckles. “Yes, she did. She also told me it doesn’t stop you from doing whatever you want to do.”
“That’s true,” I say. “Jamie doesn’t let anything stop him.”
Jamie gestures toward the back room. “Shall we go sit down and get to know each other?”
The four of us go into the studio and sit. There’s a little seating area with four upholstered chairs situated around a low, square wooden coffee table.
“Can I get you something to drink?” I ask the sisters.
Christy passes.
Melanie says, “Plain water for me. Thanks.”
Once we’re all settled, Melanie pulls a notepad out of her handbag and flips it open. She obviously came prepared. “I have some questions for you. Do you mind?”
“Not at all,” I say. “Ask away.”
She proceeds to grill us, asking us about everything from our political views to our life philosophies, our views on religion, on education. She asks how we think children should be disciplined. She asks if we believe in spanking. She asks us about our extended families and whether or not there are other children in the family. She asks about our careers, our finances, even our credit scores.
When she exhausts her list, she invites us to ask her questions. We do, covering a lot of the territory she did.
After two hours of Q&A, she asks us what is probably the most important question to her. “Are you agreeable to an open adoption? I want to know my daughter. I want to be able to celebrate her birthdays with her, Christmases. I won’t overstep my bounds, and I would know full well who her parents are—you. Not me. But I do want to have contact with her.”
“Jamie and I have discussed this at length,” I say. “We both agree that it would be in the child’s best interest to have a relationship with her birth mother.”
Jamie asks one of the key questions that have been on both our minds. “What about the father? Where does he stand in all this?”
Melanie nods as she pulls a piece of paper from her portfolio and hands it to me. “He’s already signed away his parentalrights. He knows I’m planning to put the baby up for adoption, and he’s okay with that. He’s no longer in the picture, and he’s chosen not to be part of her life.”
I nod, wondering how Melanie feels about that. “I see. And what about your parents? Are they—”
“Our parents have both passed,” Christy says. “There’s really no other family. It’s just me and Melanie.”
After we all agree to take some time to think everything over, Melanie and Christy leave.
But honestly, I don’t think there’s much for me and Jamie to think over. This is the chance of a lifetime dropped right in our laps. I can’t imagine we’d say no.
* * *
When we get home, Jamie and I sit on the sofa together as we process what we learned today.
“What do you think?” he asks.
I sigh. “Part of me thinks it’s too good to be true.”
“Yeah, me, too. But Melanie seems level-headed. I believe she’s thought this through carefully, and she knows what she’s doing.”
I say the thing that scares me most. “She could change her mind at the last minute.”
