Getting Off Easy

by Erin Nicholas

  “Listen, yeah, you’re a person who is very willing to help others who need you,” Celia said. “But what you really are is an enabler. For your students. You always encourage them to try new things and do what’s calling them. For me. You tell me to take chances and risks. For James. You help him take all of this on. And that’s a really great thing to be,” she added quickly, when she noticed Harper’s frown. “We’ve talked several times about how great James is. Having someone support and encourage him is awesome.”

  “You think so?”

  “I absolutely do,” Celia said firmly as they picked up their cups. “You are smart and put together and organized and calm. When you tell the rest of us that we can and should do something, we believe it.” She shrugged. “You’re an amazing cheerleader. And with James, you’re actually getting your hands dirty. You’re helping him do these big things. He might kick the door down, but having you walk in with him, makes him more confident going in there. Figuratively.” She smiled. “And literally, I’m sure.”

  Slowly, Harper nodded. “I’m like a quieter, smaller, better-dressed firefighter.” She looked at Celia. “Those guys have his back. They make it easier for him to be confident going in to do his job helping people in a fire. I’m like that, but at home. In a skirt.”

  Celia laughed. “Yes. Exactly. James absolutely knows all about how important it is to have people to depend on. You’re a great team.”

  “Professor Broussard?”

  Harper turned with a smile, to find Sophie behind her. “Sophie! Hi!”

  “Hi.” The girl gave her a big smile. “I was hoping to run into you here before you headed to class.”

  “I do like my habits,” Harper admitted. She did. But maybe there was a way to balance that with the craziness of a life with James. Because she had to accept the fact that life with James would always be full of unexpected adventures.

  “I left my hoodie over at your place the other night. I was wondering if I could stop by tonight and get it,” Sophie said. “And I’d love to say hi to Isaac.”

  Hearing his name unexpectedly like that caught Harper by surprise, and she felt a jab in her chest. Her smile fell away, and she sucked in a quick breath.

  “Are you okay?” Sophie asked, looking concerned.

  Harper swallowed and nodded. “Yes. I… of course you can stop by for your hoodie, but… Isaac won’t be there.”

  “Oh. If it’s not a good night—if you’re going to be out or something—I can come another time.”

  “No. It’s not that.” Harper blew out a little breath. “He’s… It turned out that James isn’t his father. The DNA test came back. Actually, the same night you were there.”

  Sophie frowned. “Oh, I see. But… what does that mean? Why isn’t Isaac with you?”

  “He was taken to a foster home,” Harper told her, blinking against the tears. “Since he’s not James’s son, he doesn’t have any rights and can’t keep him. But he’s been looking for the mom and applying to be a foster parent and… it’s just complicated and will take some time. So he has to be in an already approved foster home for now.”

  Sophie looked pale, and she was shaking her head. “No. That’s not right. He’s supposed to be with you.”

  “We want him,” Harper said. “We’re going to try to get him back.”

  “You are still together?”

  “We… are. We’re not getting married right now. But we’re seeing each other.” She assumed that was true. Last night was the first time they’d talked about anything since Isaac had been taken away. But it had seemed good. She couldn’t marry him right now, but she loved him. She wanted to be with him. Wanted to see where it would all go without the forced togetherness. And panic and exhilaration that Isaac had brought to them.

  “Why aren’t you getting married?” Sophie asked, frowning.

  “We were going to get married to make things easier with Isaac. But that’s not necessary now.” She shrugged. “It was really fast, and we just need to take some time.”

  “But you need to be together to get him back.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “The mom wanted you to have him,” Sophie insisted. She was breathing hard.

  “We don’t really have proof of that,” Harper said. “If she actually said that, turned over her rights, worked on a private adoption with us, something, it would be easier. But as it is, the state has no proof of… anything, really.”

  Sophie started shaking her head. “No. This is wrong.”

  Harper reached out and took her hand. “I know it feels wrong. I’ve been sick and sad ever since it happened, but the social worker said that he’s doing well, and the home is great and—”

  “How do you know the social worker?” Sophie broke in.

  “Um… through the hospital. St. Michael’s. Through a nursing friend of ours.”

  “What’s her name?”

  Harper frowned. “Shelly Welsh.”

  “I need to go.” Sophie turned and started across campus.

  Something niggled at the back of Harper’s mind.

  “Wow,” Celia finally commented.

  “I need to go after her,” Harper said. “Something’s not right.”

  Celia nodded. “Looks like maybe you’re going to have to be the one to knock on this door.”

  Harper gave her friend a quick hug. “Talk to you later.”

  She started across the grass toward the parking lot where Sophie was headed. As she walked, she sent a group email to her students canceling class.

  She got to her car as Sophie was pulling out of the lot. Harper caught up with her three blocks later. She didn’t even mind if Sophie saw her following.

  It only took four more turns for Sophie to confirm what Harper had suspected.

  At the next stop light, she texted James.

  Need you to meet me at St. Michael’s.

  He responded almost immediately. On my way. What’s going on? You okay?

  I’m okay. Sophie’s on her way there. Shelly’s office.

  James stepped off the elevator on St. Michael’s sixth floor, his heart thundering.

  He wasn’t sure why he was here. But he had an idea.

  Raised voices became clear as he turned down the hallway. He picked up his already fast pace.

  “He’s mine! I get to decide what happens!”

  James arrived to find Sophie squaring off across Shelly’s desk from the social worker. There was another woman standing on Shelly’s side. Harper was on Sophie’s side of the desk.

  “It’s complicated now, Miss Duncan,” Shelly said.

  “I have his birth certificate. I’m his mother. This shouldn’t be complicated,” Sophie said.

  Sophie was Isaac’s mother. That sunk in faster than James would have expected. Not that it made sense, exactly, but it made sense that they were here now. And at least there was a connection between them and Isaac’s mother.

  Though it was between Sophie and Harper, not him.

  Harper noticed James first. She gave him a wide-eyed oh, shit look followed by a relieved smile. “Shelly, please,” Harper said to the other woman. “Help us here.”

  “She abandoned him,” Shelly said. “That essentially terminates her rights.”

  “I didn’t!” Sophie protested. “I left him with a friend who I knew would take care of him!”

  “But you left him,” Shelly said.

  “But the statute says that it has to be for four months without making myself known or six months without providing for his care at all or maintaining any contact,” Sophie said. “It’s only been a few days, and I was going to tell Harper and give her the birth certificate and everything as soon as I knew she was in love. And I helped take care of him the other night and planned to keep helping babysit.”

  Everyone stared at her for nearly a whole minute.

  “You know the child abandonment statute?” Harper asked.

  But James wasn’t surprised. This was the girl who’d
showed up to babysit with a binder.

  “Of course,” Sophie said. “I looked it all up ahead of time.” She frowned. “I wouldn’t just drop my baby off on a stranger’s doorstep. I knew you were home. I put him there, I knocked, and I ran.”

  James was starting to understand that this girl had not really abandoned her child. She’d… provided another home for him when she thought she couldn’t give him a good one.

  “You volunteered to babysit as a way to see him?” James asked, to make the point with the social workers.

  Sophie shrugged. “Of course. It was perfect. I could see him, but he would be with you. I was confused about Harper thinking he was your son,” she admitted. “But then I realized it didn’t matter, because you both loved him. I was going to come over tonight and tell you the truth.”

  “You left your hoodie at James’s house on purpose, too?” Harper asked.

  Sophie nodded.

  “How do you know Mr. Reynaud?” Shelly asked.

  Sophie shook her head. “No, I didn’t leave him with James. I left him with Professor Broussard. Harper.”

  James nodded. Yeah, that made more sense, too. “But he was in front of my door,” James said.

  Sophie swallowed. “I didn’t know that. I followed Professor Broussard home one day after class and saw her go into that apartment.”

  Harper looked at James. “I must have gone in to check on Ami that day when I got home.” Then she frowned at Sophie. “Wait. What? You left him with me?”

  “Of course. I’ve never admired someone like I do you. I knew that you would take care of him.”

  “But… how did you know I would keep him?”

  “Because you’re that kind of person,” Sophie said simply. “You help people with whatever they need from you.”

  Yeah, she did. James knew that Harper thought she needed everything to go according to a plan, that she didn’t like chaos, that she couldn’t just roll with things.

  She was wrong.

  “You’re a door opener.” James stepped forward as he said it.

  Sophie looked at him and nodded. “Yes.” She focused on Harper. “You are. You would open your door to anyone who needed you.”

  “Why not just ask me?” Harper asked.

  James could hear her voice was thick with emotion, and he moved in to put his hands on her shoulders.

  “Why not just tell me you needed help?” Harper asked again.

  Sophie’s bottom lip trembled. “I was scared. I was pregnant while I was in your class last semester but not far enough along for you to notice. I thought about telling you a couple of times but… I just couldn’t. I don’t let things like this happen.” She took a breath. “I’m organized. I’m on top of things. I don’t mess up like this.”

  Harper stepped forward. “Like you think your sister does.”

  Sophie nodded. “Like my sister does. She doesn’t think. She just goes with her heart. And it causes problems and makes things complicated—for her and my mom. So, when this happened, I knew I couldn’t tell them either. I just messed up. It was this dumb one-night, stupid thing, and I should have known better. But I do know I can’t handle being a mom. I’m only nineteen. I have huge plans. I have a lot of school to get through. Isaac deserves more than I can give him.”

  She looked at Shelly. “I really don’t want to be a mom, and his dad doesn’t want him. He’s willing to sign over any rights, too. We hardly know each other, and he wants to pretend this never happened.” She took a shaky breath. “But I love Isaac. I want him to have a great life. A wonderful life. And I knew Harper would do that. She’s just like me, but she’s older and has money and has her plan already in place.”

  “You can’t just give me your baby because we’re both really organized and like schedules and planners,” Harper said weakly.

  Sophie looked back toward Harper. “It’s not just that. That stuff’s great, of course. I want my son to know how to take care of his business, how to be responsible, and organized to be productive, and to contribute to the world around him.”

  James assumed that was another shot at her sister who, apparently, did not take care of her business.

  “But you’re also someone who looks at the big picture and thinks long term, and you want what’s best for all the people around you. And you help them get whatever that is as much as you can,” Sophie said to Harper.

  James saw Harper’s eyes were filled with tears.

  “Why didn’t you just come to me and ask me to take him?” Harper asked Sophie.

  Sophie looked a little sheepish for a moment. “I knew that you would have to fall in love with him first. If I’d told you ahead of time, you might have thought about all of the reasons not to do it. But I knew that you would feel protective if you just found him there with a note and that you’d take care of him for at least a couple of days, and by then you’d be in love with him.”

  Harper took a shaky breath.

  Sophie faced Shelly. “I want her to have him. Please.”

  Shelly was watching the whole thing quietly.

  James wanted to say something, but he wasn’t sure what. This was clearly all in Harper’s court.

  Finally, Harper stepped forward, and she took hold of Sophie’s upper arms. “Thank you for trusting me like this.”

  Sophie nodded.

  “But you’re his mom,” Harper said. “If you want him, we’ll help you. We will do whatever we can to support you and help you two be together.”

  Sophie’s eyes got wide, and she shook her head quickly. “No. No. Really. I can’t be good for him right now. The best thing I can do is give him a fabulous mom.” Her gaze skittered to James. “And Dad.”

  James felt his heart thump hard in his chest.

  Everyone was quiet. Clearly, they were all waiting for Harper to take the lead here.

  After several long moments of her studying Sophie, Harper nodded. “If you’re sure, then, of course, we’ll take care of Isaac for you.” She glanced over her shoulder to James then back to Sophie. “And if you want, you can move into my apartment and keep helping us with him and be right there across the hall to see him whenever you want. We can make it a wide-open adoption. You can be as involved as you want to be.”

  Right across the hall. That sounded a lot like he and Harper were going to be living together. He was on board with that. James nodded. “Absolutely. Whatever you want, Sophie.”

  But Sophie was shaking her head again. “I don’t know. You don’t have to do that. I don’t want to be in the way.”

  Harper just paused for a long moment. Then suddenly she pulled her into a big hug and just held her. It took a second, but Sophie seemed to melt into her, wrapping her arms around Harper and taking a huge shuddering breath with tears streaming down her cheeks.

  James glanced at Shelly and saw that the social worker’s eyes were shiny, too.

  After a long moment, Sophie pulled back and sniffed. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry to make this all so crazy for you.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” Harper told her. She looked at James. “We do pretty well with crazy.”

  His heart turned over in his chest. God, he loved her.

  Harper looked at Shelly. “Now what?”

  “Do you maybe want to take her to the coffee shop downstairs to talk some more?” Shelly suggested.

  “No,” Harper said. “I want to take her to her son.”

  Shelly shook her head. “I can’t—”

  James stepped forward and put his arm around Harper. “Or a judge. Whoever you think we need to start with.”

  Shelly opened her mouth then closed it. She glanced at the woman next to her. “What do you think?”

  “Can you produce the birth certificate today?” the woman asked.

  James assumed she was another social worker.

  “Yes,” Sophie said quickly. “And hospital records. I had him here.”

  Everyone looked surprised for a moment. Then Harper said, “Okay, what else do we need t
o do?”

  “It’s not like she dropped him off at a drug house or with an abusive ex or something,” the other woman said with a sigh.

  James winced. He was sure they’d seen both of those things. And worse.

  Shelly nodded. “And she’s right about the statute,” Shelly said. “There is a time frame applied. And she left him with people she knew.” She finally smiled at Sophie. “He can go home with you for now, and then we can help you get started on an adoption process when you’re ready. Let me make some calls and see what the next steps should be.”

  Sophie took a deep breath and lifted her chin. “As long as my baby is back with me and Harper and James tonight.”

  Shelly opened her mouth, but Harper said firmly, “Tonight, Shelly.”

  Finally, Shelly took a breath. “Yes. Tonight.”

  It took twelve hours. Twelve very long, stressful hours.

  But they were finally home. All of them. Together.

  Sophie was asleep across the landing in Harper’s apartment—where she was going to be staying full time now. Part of her concern with keeping Isaac had been that she lived in the dorm. She had to. It was what she could afford with her scholarship. She couldn’t have kept the baby in the dorm with her. Now she had an apartment. For free, for now. She didn’t like the idea of taking charity, but Harper had convinced her that even if she didn’t think she could be a full-time mom, Isaac would benefit from having her around. Harper was referring to it as a live-in-nanny situation. But James knew she was betting on Sophie being head over heels for her son, and once they removed all the pressures that had made her believe she couldn’t keep him, her perspective would change.

  Right now, though, James and Harper sat on his couch with Isaac lying lengthwise on Harper’s thighs, looking up at them. He was dry, fed, and apparently not that sleepy.

  “He’s starting to stay awake longer already,” Harper commented.

  James nodded. “He’s changed a lot just in the time we’ve had him.”

  Isaac had his hands wrapped firmly around Harper’s thumbs. He gave them a little smile. James couldn’t help but return it. It might have just been gas, but it still looked sweet.