Forever Right Now

My eyes darted between Gerald and Alice Abbott, and I felt like I couldn’t move; shouldn’t move, from the front stoop of the house. I had to guard it. Because Olivia was inside and they were here.

“We’re here,” Holloway said, each word like a knife in my chest, “to talk about the custody arrangements for Molly’s daughter—my clients’ granddaughter—Olivia Abbott.”

Sawyer

Jackson hung up the phone and tossed it on the coffee table. “Not the best news. The officer said since Molly is an adult and left of her own free will, she’s not technically ‘missing.’”

I looked up from the baby in my arms taking a bottle Molly had left in the gigantic diaper bag. “She abandoned Olivia,” I said. “That has to be illegal. You’ve finished the Family Law section. Tell me. They’ll track her down for child abandonment, right?”

Jackson rubbed his chin. “Safe Haven laws protect her. She can’t be arrested. If she leaves the baby with a parent—you—it’s considered legal abandonment after six months. If she leaves her with a non-parent—maybe also you—it’s one year.”

“I can’t do this alone.”

“You might not have to do it at all,” Jackson said, his Mac open on his lap. “They sell paternity tests at the Walgreens. It’s non-legal for any official capacity, but accurate. You’ll at least know if Molly was telling the truth. And if she was lying, you take the baby to CPS and go back to your life.”

I glanced down at Olivia. Go back to my life, I thought. Like nothing happened. I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat.

“How long does the test take?”

“Three days from the time you mail it to the lab,” Jackson said. “Simple enough.”

“The test won’t hurt her, right?” I asked. “If I have to draw her blood or prick her finger, forget it.”

“Nah, man, cotton swab to the cheek.”

I nodded. The baby stirred, made a little sound as she ate. I settled her better in my arms. Around me—us—the detritus of the party lay scattered across the coffee table and on the floor. Olivia’s bottle from this morning stood next to an empty pilsner.

I was still in my Man in Black costume. I’d had to sleep with Olivia on my chest, propped on my bed and surrounded by pillows, paranoid she’d roll out of my arms, and woke up every time she moved. I had no place to put her down.

I didn’t want to put her down.

Jackson shut his laptop. “I’ll go get the test. There’s no point in panicking until we know for sure what the deal is.”

“Three days until results?” I said. “What the hell do I do in the meanwhile? I have nothing.”

“We’ll take her to my mom,” Jackson said with a grin. “Henrietta will set you up.” He clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

I stared at the people in front of my house.

Everything’s going to be okay.

Except at that precise moment, the words felt laughably weak. I tightened my grip on my briefcase.

“Mr. Haas,” the lawyer, Holloway, said. “We’d like to have a sit-down with you. The four of us.”

My gaze darted to the Abbotts, who were watching me with a strange mixture of sadness, fear and hope in their eyes and painted over their features.

“I have a final this morning,” I said. “My last final for law school. It’s kind of important.”

The Abbotts stiffened at my sarcasm. Holloway was unperturbed. “Perhaps, after?”

“After, I have a meeting with my advisor to sign off on my graduation requirements. My schedule is full.”

“Please,” Alice said. “We only need a little time. An hour?” Her glance darted to the house behind me. “Is she there? We’d like to see her…”

“Not going to happen,” I said, making her flinch, and despite my bone-numbing fear, I felt a little sorry for her.

Fuck that, they want to take her away from me.