Even if it meant they adopted Sophie.
“You know I’ll fix this,” he steadily contended.
And reached for his cell.
28
The worst part about traveling back to New York was that Kate wanted to be wholly presen
t, physically as well as mentally. For Denny, of course. Certainly for Charlotte.
Unfortunately, there was a part of her that agonized over how Sophie was dealing with, adjusting to, internalizing the fact that her mother had survived the injuries she’d sustained in the stairwell that ill-fated night. And had then succumbed to them days later.
Nikki had volunteered to stay behind in Mexico City, to be with Sophie as much as possible—who had, indeed, been placed into protective services while the authorities sorted out the details on their end and worked with the attorney Jude had hired to ascertain what it would take for Kate to at least gain temporary custody of Sophie while the child’s fate was determined.
She and Jude went to New York to fulfill their obligations, nerve-wracking though it was for Kate…and Jude had to suffer through her separation anxiety from Sophie.
“I don’t think we should mention any of this to anyone at the wedding,” she told him on that morning’s flight to JFK. “For one, this is Denny and Charlotte’s day. I don’t want anything to spoil it—and my mother getting wind of what we’re kind-of-sorta-maybe up to will most definitely spoil the mood.”
“You don’t think she’d find it endearing that you’re attached to Sophie and want to take over raising her?”
Put like that, heart palpitations nearly ripped through Kate. Who would have guessed she’d ever feel this protective of a kid? Especially one that wasn’t her own.
She said, “My mother will trivialize it or be wholly offended for one reason or another—she won’t cast my plight in a positive light, believe me. Somehow, this will be torturous to her and detrimental to her social standing…or something absurd in that vein.” She heard the disdain in her voice and sighed. She shouldn’t jump to conclusions or judge…but Kate knew her mother well.
There wouldn’t be much empathy on her mother’s end. For sure, she’d find some reason to be displeased with Kate’s decision. Likely the fact that socialite and doctor’s wife Betsy Stockman’s one and only daughter was taking on a Spanish-speaking five-year-old out of wedlock, rather than her first born being Kate’s and her legally wedded husband’s child.
Kate was accustomed to living outside the family norm. This, however, might send her mother over the edge. Therefore…
“Let’s just keep it all under our hats for now,” she told Jude. And sipped her mimosa, because she was in desperate need of some fortification. With any luck, she’d arrive at the Plaza with a nice buzz and a smile on her face.
At least she could rest easy that Nikki was back in Mexico to maintain a stabilizing presence with Sophie and continually explain to her that Kate would return that very weekend. After tomorrow’s family brunch with the newlyweds, in fact. A little more than twenty-four hours, which Kate knew would feel like weeks to both her and Sophie.
God, how she’d gotten attached without even fully realizing it!
But the heart and the soul made these types of decisions—just as her heart and soul had chosen Jude. And by all that was wonderfully cosmic, his had chosen Kate.
She grinned at him, clinked the rim of her champagne glass against his bloody Mary tumbler and said, “I can survive a day of Stockmans and complete and utter silence about what happened in Mexico City. I have you to keep me centered.”
“And if anyone suggests you stay in New York longer, I will insist we have to get back so I can help the last of the survivors with their passport issues.” There’d been some detainment on the part of the embassies in Mexico City, for those who had questionable backgrounds or a criminal offense on their record. Rectifying the reentry into another country without proper documentation required extensive communication and a lot of paperwork that Jude had been trained to facilitate.
Mostly, though… He was offering to be the excuse that got him and Kate out of New York and back to Sophie all the faster.
She leaned in close and murmured against his lips, “You truly are my soulmate.”
“And you know I’d do anything for you… Right, Kate? I love you more than I ever imagined it was possible to love another human being.”
“Thank you for that.”
“You saved me,” he whispered, his gaze locked with hers.
“We save each other, Jude. That’s what makes this love so magical.”
“Resilient,” he added.
“That, too.”
He kissed her softly and Kate sighed. Then she quietly said, “I wonder if we should make a stop at City Hall before we go to the Plaza.”