Lydia took out a notepad. “Well, this changes things.”
Pru’s cheeks went impossibly paler. “What do you mean?”
“There's nothing about Mr. Bohannon in my case records. If he's going to be a part of the household, he'll have to go through the same approval process you did before we can do the home study.”
“But that's months more waiting!”
Flynn had no idea what she’d already gone through to get approved thus far, but this sounded very much like starting over. A sick feeling set up in his gut. “Is there nothing else to be done? She’s already come this far.”
“Well, you can apply for an exception.” The admission came grudgingly. “It's still sixty days, but it's quicker than all the other certification processes.”
“Then we’ll do that,” Flynn said.
“And if the exception isn't approved?” Pru asked.
“Then we find Ari a new placement.” Lydia’s lips pursed with disapproval. “She shouldn’t have been in the home in the first place without all these certifications complete, but Mae seems to be rather lax about such things.”
“She was friends with my mother for twenty-five years. And my mother took in more foster children than any other single person in all of Stone County.”
“Rules exist for a reason,” Lydia insisted. “But we’re working with the situation we have. You’ll need to go down to the Department of Human Services to pick up the paperwork to file the exception to policy.”
“And once that’s done?” Pru asked.
“Get the exception filed. I’ll be in touch about the rest.” With a few more notations on her pad, she shoved it into her briefcase. “I’ll see myself out.”
Chapter Seven
SHOCK KEPT PRU IMMOBILE as Lydia Coogan left the room. There was probably something she should have said, but she had no idea what. There was no proper protocol for this situation, no Emily Post guide to the right way to handle being caught with your lover by your foster child’s social worker. The only possible way it could have been worse would have been if she’d walked in on them in flagrante. Even that could have been explained. Maybe. It wasn’t as if celibacy was a mandatory requirement for fostering and adoption. But this?
As the front door shut, Pru found the strength to pull away and round on Flynn. “What the hell were you thinking? Engaged?”
He ran a hand through his hair—still mussed from her fingers. Jesus. And Ari had seen her standing in his shirt.
“I panicked. I was trying to protect your reputation—sleeping with your fiancé certainly seemed better than sleeping with a guest.”
His panic response was to invent a proposal? Pru shoved up from the couch to pace. “Okay, maybe, under any other circumstance that would make some measure of sense. But that woman controls whether the adoption goes through. You heard her. By making this announcement, you’re now a part of this. And what’s it going to look like when my brand new fiancé up and hits the road in a couple of weeks? This is a disaster! I’m going to lose her.” Fear rose up and gripped her by the throat. “Oh God, I’m going to lose her, all because I was foolish enough to think I could have something for myself.”
Pru covered her mouth to hold back the sob. What had she done? She’d made Ari a promise, and because of her selfish desire to do something else, be something more, she’d jeopardized that promise and the family the girl had come to trust.
Flynn crossed to her in two strides, wrapping strong arms around her. “You won’t lose Ari. You won’t. It will be all right, mo mhuirnín.”
“How?” she demanded, wanting to shove away, yet needing the support. How the hell had she come to depend on him so fast?
“I’ll stay.” The simple words fell between them with all the gravity of stone, sure and solid as a foundation, and so much what she wanted she could hardly breathe. “I’ll fill out the paperwork, submit to the background check, do whatever’s
necessary to make this happen.”
Pru could only stare at him, looking into the blue eyes so steady on hers. She didn’t dare believe what she was hearing. “You’re seriously willing to stick around for possibly months, faking an engagement to me, to make this work? Because that’s what this will be. Months. In one place. You haven’t stayed put that long anywhere since you were eighteen.”
If he felt an iota of panic over the idea of it, he didn’t show it. Instead, he framed her face in gentle hands. “I got you into this mess. I’ll get you out. I won’t let your involvement with me damage what you’ve built for that child.”
The heart that had been opening to him from the moment they’d met simply rolled over and exposed its tender underbelly. That he’d be willing to do this—change his whole life, whatever plans he’d made for the next several months—for her, for Ari—simply undid her. Still, good intentions aside, she had to make him see what he was really getting into.
“Think about what you’re saying, Flynn. We have to convince everyone that we’re really engaged.”
“That’s not exactly a hardship, Pru. I like you. I respect you. And God knows, I’m attracted to you. Hell, the guests already think we’re married.”
A fact which had given her pause more than once, but she hadn’t seen the point in correcting people who wouldn’t be around longer than a few days. “The guests aren’t who she’ll be interviewing. This whole process means your life gets put under a microscope. She’ll be talking with your friends, your family, and all of mine. How are we going to explain this? None of those people knows we’re involved. None of them can shed light on our history together because we don’t have one. And it doesn’t look any better to be engaged to a man I’ve known two weeks.”