Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24199 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 121(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24199 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 121(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
My heart aches when I see him, the way it always does. For the first few weeks of his life, I was his constant companion. My sister may have given birth to him, but I was the one who looked after him.
I was the one there for the late-night feedings and diaper changes. At the time, I assumed she was dealing with the baby blues. I figured she would bond with him eventually. But as if she’s reading my thoughts, my sister says, “I’ve realized that I’m not mom material.”
“It’s a little late for that.” My temperature rises, and it has nothing to do with the swell of bodies around me. My nephew deserves better than her.
I’ve texted her a million times, telling her that I’ll hire a nanny to look after the boy. She always waves away the offer. But now, Katie blows out a frustrated breath. “This is your fault. You’re the one who convinced me to have him. You said he was a little miracle.”
Fuck, fuck. I hope that babies can’t understand what’s being said around them. I hope that he can’t sense his mom’s animosity at this moment. The thought that he could feel unwanted cuts deep in my chest.
She continues, oblivious to the way she’s carving out my heart, “So I’ve decided he’s yours now.”
She nudges the car seat toward me with the toe of her boot.
“What the fuck? You can’t give a baby away!” I glance at Henry to back me up, but as usual, his face is impassive. He’s paid far too much money to have an opinion on anything that my family does.
She shrugs. “I don’t care what you do with him. He’s your problem now.”
There’s no blood in my veins anymore. It’s all lava, hot and sticky, threatening to erupt. Despite all the crazy shit she’s pulled while she’s on drugs, I’ve always been able to convince myself that it wasn’t Katie acting this way. It was a chemical reaction to the medication she’d been putting in her body.
But this is different. She’s stone-cold sober, and she’s rejecting her son. She turns to walk away, and I grab her arm. I’m desperate to get through to her, to stop her from rejecting him. “This means you’re signing over your parental rights to me.”
I think the words are going to get through to her. I think they’ll make a difference. But the same dead look is in her eyes when she nods. “Let me know when you have the paperwork together.”
With those words, she melts into the crowd.
I stare after her for a long moment before I finally realize there’s nothing I can do. I can’t make her want my nephew. With a deep breath and a silent prayer that I can be what he needs, I unbuckle the car seat. My hands are shaking so I have to try it twice. Then I’m pulling little Ollie into my arms. “Hey, buddy. It looks like it’s you and me again.”
3
HALE
“So, you’ve seen my office and the gym. Now, this is the library,” I tell Ollie as we stand outside. He spent a month here after he was born, and we were constantly together. But I took that month off and stayed in the cabin.
The entire time she was here, Katie never ventured into town. She crashed at my home and let me wait on her hand and foot. Any time I tried to encourage her to go out and make friends or find a hobby to fill her time, she’d insist that she didn’t feel well and claim the stress wasn’t good for the baby.
Despite Katie’s behavior, the month that Ollie was born was the happiest one of my life. I’ve always loved this little boy. It amazes me that I have him back in my life. I wish the circumstances were different. I wish Katie could be a mom to him, but since she won’t be, he has me. I’ll always be the one in his corner.
Now, I wander through the stacks of books, talking to Ollie quietly before we come to the children’s section. I’ve never been to this part of the library before. The wooden train in the corner looks sturdy and has a bench seat designed so that parents and kids can read together. I settle there with Ollie in my arms.
I spent a week in Colorado, with Henry, working out the details of my new parental rights. When you have access to millions, it’s easy to send things through the system and get a judge to sign off on them. Ollie officially became mine yesterday.
I talked several times with Katie over the past week. I begged for her to accept her son. But in the end, she insisted she was done with him.
Somewhere during our conversations, she let it slip that she’s been keeping Ollie on antihistamines. She claims it’s because he has terrible allergies. I think she was keeping him asleep so that she could party whenever she wanted.