Against the Odds (Fighting to Survive #2)(2)

Robert

I kiss Leah before I look over at our attorney, Bruce. “What do we need to do?”

“You don’t need to do anything. The hospital will be in touch. I’ll let you know when they do and I’ll start preparing the paperwork to file. Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

“It is,” Leah and I say in unison.

We leave the attorney’s office and I call our parents to meet us at our house. Leah and I go to the florist to get Jamie some flowers. The florist also sells a variety of trinkets and Leah searches a small bin of miniature stuffed animals until she finds a bunny.

“Jack?” I ask.

“Baby Jack,” she corrects.

We visit the cemetery and lay the flowers and bunny down. Leah picks the weeds and brushes the leaves away. We talk to Jamie like nothing has changed. The news we received today doesn’t change anything when it comes to Jamie. She is still and always will be our little girl. I loved her yesterday, I love her today, and I’ll love her tomorrow. No matter what.

We drive the distance to the house mostly in silence. I know Leah is in deep thought trying to work everything out in her head. I have no idea how all this will work out. Bruce said people could say things that are unspeakable. Like what kind of things? What could anyone possibly say?

We pull up to the house and our parents are already there waiting for us. They are on the front porch talking.

“Are you ready, Sweets?” Robert asks.

“I am.”

I walk into the house after everyone. Dad and Tim are carrying bags of food. We didn’t tell them why we wanted to see them; they already knew. Leah, Sue, and Mom set the table while Tim, Dad and I set the food and drinks out. They don’t ask why we asked to meet them. Other than the clanking of the glass dishes, the room is otherwise quiet.

We say a prayer before we eat and I watch as Leah fills her plate. I was worried she wouldn’t eat. We sit down and Leah begins. “Our attorney called us this morning.”

“Are the results in?” Dad asks.

Leah looks over at me and I hold her hand under the table. “They are. They revealed that Jamie couldn’t be our biological child,” I say. Just saying those words out loud causes a pain in my chest. I rub my hand over my heart to ease the pain. It doesn’t work.

“I’m sorry…,” Mom begins to say.

“Don’t be,” Leah says. “It doesn’t change anything with Jamie. She was ours and she still is. Nothing will ever change that.”

Dad says, “What does this mean? What happens next?”

“We wait. The attorney will contact the hospital and he’ll file a motion for us to see our daughter.” I look around the room at all the sad faces.

“You want visitation rights or custody?” Sue asks.

“Yes, we do,” Leah says, sternly. “She’s our daughter; we want her. She belongs with us.”

Tim and Dad look at each other before looking at me.

“Have you thought this over?” Dad asks. “I know she is your daughter, but have you thought about the repercussions of this?”

“What do you mean?” I ask. Leah squeezes my hand under the table.

Mom speaks up and says softly, “Robert and Leah, have you thought about the other family?” She pauses and then continues. “They will also want to see their daughter.”

“Jamie’s gone; I can’t help that,” I say.

“I understand that. What if they want to claim her body, or move her gravesite? What if they want to exhume her body and have her cremated?”

Leah stands and runs into the bathroom. “I’ll go with her,” Sue says as she stands.

“I’ll go, too,” Mom says.

I stand from the table and pace the floor. “I didn’t think about that. I didn’t think for one minute about Jamie being taken from us.” I pace again and say, “We’ll lose all rights to her. They could exhume her tiny, little body and take her someplace else. We may not have access to her, ever.”

“Robert that is a possibility. There’s no way to know what will happen. We just wanted you to consider that as a possibility,” Dad says.

“I need to check on Leah.”

I walk into the bedroom and I can hear Leah dry heaving. I walk into the bathroom and Mom and Sue wiping Leah’s forehead with a damp cloth.


“I’ll help her,” I say as I dampen the cloth to make it cooler.

She stands up and flushes the toilet. “We can’t win, can we? Right when I thought it might be easy, it’s not. Nothing we ever do is easy.” I watch as Leah walks over to the sink and washes her hands. “I love Jamie, I don’t want someone prohibiting us from visiting her grave, or relocating it.”

I don’t know what to say. They won’t, they’re not. I can’t say that and know for certain it’s the truth. The truth is, I have no idea what will happen. We gain a daughter and we lose Jamie. “I hug Leah close to me and wrap my hands in her soft black hair. I don’t say anything. I can’t. Everything I say will be a lie. There’s a tap at the door and Leah wipes her tears before answering it.

“I just wanted to check on you.” Leah’s dad is standing on the other side of the door.

“I’m fine. Just facing reality.”