“Holy shit, you’re serious?” she asks, her eyes bugging. “We have a sister?”
Owen leans back in the hospital bed and messes with the buttons.
“Can I hold her?” she asks.
“Of course,” Ollie murmurs, picks her up, brings her to Cami, before laying her gently in her arms.
“She kind of looks like a potato.” Owen grins, looking over at her. "We can call her tator tot.”
I snort. “Well, she does need a name, but I’m not sure it’ll be tator tot.”
Cami reaches out, lays her hand on Ollie, and says, “Hey, are you okay?”
He nods. “Just shocked. Didn’t have this on the agenda for the day or my bingo card for this year.”
“And how do you feel about all this?” Cami asks, looking at me with a worried expression.
“I’m shocked. But here for Ollie,” I say firmly, sliding my arm around him.
Maggie looks emotional and fans herself. She whispers to Violet, “I just can’t...”
The knock on the hospital door comes way too soon. Again. I’m expecting Theresa, who has been dying to come in here, but for some reason, Ollie isn’t having it. I don’t know what she said or did before I got here, but he is not happy with her. Well, unhappier than usual, we’ll just put it that way.
I look up from where I’m perched on the edge of the bed, and Ollie looks up from the baby at the same time. Owen’s on the couch in the corner, legs dangling, working through his bag of pretzels like it’s his job.
The door opens, and in walks the hospital social worker wearing a badge, and a familiar face is right behind her, the CPS worker, Monica.
Owen squints. “Wow,” he says, looking at Monica. “Do we get a punch card or something? Like every five visits, we win a prize?”
I press my lips together. Ollie chokes back a laugh.
“Can we have a moment with Mr. and Mrs. Kendrick?” the hospital social worker gently asks the room.
“Can you stay, Cami?” Ollie asks.
“Of course,” she murmurs.
Owen shrugs. “Sure. I’ll just be over here mentally preparing for my free footlong sandwich for the next visit.”
Neither of their faces give anything away, and neither of them laughs.
Walker, Violet, and Maggie all file out to the waiting room, looking back at us and waving.
The hospital social worker explains that they can’t discharge us until CPS conducts an interview, given the circumstances and that this is standard protocol in situations like these.
But it all sounds like noise. It makes me swallow and look around, fear creeping in. I hate that CPS is involved, and I don’t want them around Owen—or this baby.
It makes me wonder how often things like this happen. How often do mothers abandon their babies and leave a note for the father to come, who had no idea there was even a baby in the first place?
I wish I knew what she was thinking and why she did this. Is she going to come back and take her from us? Are we going to fall unbelievably hard for this brand-new tiny human, only to have to fight for her, too? Because, I’m getting tired of fighting for everything that I have.
Monica stands there the whole time, face unreadable, eyes moving from Ollie to me to the baby and back again like she’s trying to solve a highly complex puzzle.Me, too, Monica. Me, too.
“I didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” she finally says. “I haven’t even completed my first investigation.”
“Yeah,” I say with a smile. “It’s weird. That seems to be our word of the day.”
She nods slowly and looks at me cautiously. “We’ve received recent additional information that your marriage may not be legitimate.”
