Page 77

“Of course. Let me know how it all works out.”

“We will. Thanks, again.”

Taking my hand, Noah leads me back out to the lobby and we stop in front of the elevator, waiting for it to reach our floor.

“What are you thinking?” he asks.

“I don’t know…”

Nodding, he wraps his arm around my shoulder and presses a kiss to my head as the elevator doors slide open and we step inside. We ride down to the parking garage in silence as my mind races and my heart aches. I want my son back more than anything but as soon as Asher started talking about getting a lawyer and fighting to get our son back, all I could see was him with tears running down his face as we rip him from his family.

“Baby,” Noah whispers after we climb in the truck. Tears sting my eyes as I turn to him and his face crumples as he pulls me across the seat and into his arms. “What’s going on in that gorgeous head of yours?”

“Do you think we should do this?”

He jerks back. “Absolutely. Oliver doesn’t get to take our son from us.”

“But he already has and now we’re talking about taking him from the only family he’s ever known.” The tears start to fall and I wipe them away, wishing I didn’t feel so lost in all of this. Even though I’ve never spent more than a few moments with him seven years ago, I love that little boy more than I could ever describe. It fills me to the point of pain each time I think about him and not having him with us is torturous but that doesn’t mean it’s what is best for him. How am I suppose to hurt him like that?

“What are you saying, Kady?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to hurt him. He’s this perfect little person that we created in love but he doesn’t know us. How would we be any better than Oliver if we took him from them?”

“Baby,” he whispers, his eyes glossy as he crushes me to his chest again. I grip his hoodie in my hands as my confusion and pain mix together and bleed onto my face in the form of tears. I keep hoping that, at some point, I’ll reach the bottom of the well but no matter how much I feel, how much I cry, there’s always more underneath it waiting to swallow me whole. Finally, Noah pulls back and cradles my face in his hands. “I have an idea.”

I nod.

“How about we go and talk to them and see if we can’t find something that will work for everyone? Because you’re right. I can’t even think about hurting him and they’re not the villains in this story either. They don’t deserve to lose their son anymore than we did.”

A sob bubbles out of me as I grab one of his hands and nod. Of all our options, this seems to be the most fair one. I just hope that they’re willing to hear us out and work with us.

* * * *

We pull up in front of the house and I suck in a breath as Noah glances over at me and our eyes meet. His brows knit together as he holds his hand out to me.

“Ready?”

Nodding, I take it. He opens the door before climbing out and pulling me out of the truck behind him. As we close the door and turn toward the house, Kelly walks out with our son, the little girl we saw the last time we were here, and an older woman who looks just like her. Noah wraps his arm around my waist as we watch them. The older woman loads the kids up in a van and hugs Kelly before climbing behind the wheel. She waves good-bye from the driveway as they back out and we start across the street, hoping to catch her before she goes back inside. The van pulls away and Kelly turns to us, smiling.

“Hey. Can I help y’all with something?”

Noah steps forward and nods. “Yes, ma’am. My name is Noah LeBlanc and this is my girl, Kady Sinclair. We… uh…”

He turns to me, a little lost and my mind screeches to a halt. Hell, how do we tell this woman who we are? She scowls at Noah then her eyes widen and she gasps.

“Oh my god…”

Noah turns back to her and we all stare at each other for a second before she places a shaky hand against her chest.

“Y’all better come inside.”

As she turns away from us, Noah flashes me a “what the hell do we do” look and I slip out of his hold before grabbing his hand and pulling him along behind me as I follow her up to the house. I get the impression that this woman knows exactly who we are and she’s been preparing for this day since the day she adopted our son.

Their house is just as gorgeous inside and my throat feels dry as my stomach rolls. Shit. How the hell are we supposed to compete with all this? Noah barely has anything and I’ve just got the cabin and a rundown truck that probably should have died three years ago. Kelly leads us into a beautiful white kitchen with a giant island in the middle before pointing to a large round table.

“Have a seat, please. I’m just going to get some tea going and go get my husband.”

We nod as she sets a kettle on the stove and leaves the room. As soon as we’re gone, I blow out a breath and wring my trembling hands together.