“I think we should call DCFS,” Alec suggests. “Make sure you do it the right way so she can’t take her away from you since you’re not legally the father yet.”
“I agree.” Chase pulls out his phone. “But first, I’m hiring an attorney.”
He calls several attorneys, including the ones my dad and Alec’s mom recommends, but at the end of each call, instead of hiring them, he keeps thanking them and hanging up.
“What’s going on?” I ask him, concerned. After rocking Hazel, she fell asleep, so I laid her down on the couch, creating a barrier so she’s safe. Since Carter was in the room watching TV, he said he’d keep an eye on her.
When Chase doesn’t answer right away, I take his hand in mine. “Don’t shut me out. What’s wrong with all these attorneys?”
He sighs. “I can’t afford them. LA is expensive as hell. I have some money in savings, but it won’t be enough if we run into any problems, and then I’ll have to switch attorneys. I have a couple credit cards, but I need to buy her stuff…” He sounds so damn defeated, and my heart aches for him.
“Who do you want to hire?”
He eyes the list he’s made. “The guy Mila recommended sounded good. He’s a little older, but handled her divorce.”
“Then hire him,” I tell him.
“Georgia, I can’t let you—”
“Yes, you can, and you will. We’re in this together. I have more money than I’ll ever spend in my lifetime. Money I received from a man who hurt my mom and neglected me.” Tears fill my eyes, but I force them back. “There’s nothing I would rather spend that money on than to help a father get custody of his little girl.”
Three hours later, Chase has hired attorney Ben Schneider. Ben has filed for emergency custody based on Victoria’s note and has an appointment scheduled for Chase to take a court-appointed paternity test tomorrow, as well as a court date scheduled for next week.
Hazel has woken up, and after looking through her bag and finding some baby food but no bottles, and speaking to Abigail’s pediatrician who assures me at this point it’s okay to feed her regular soft food, I heat up some sweet potatoes I brought that was part of the lunch for the guys and feed them to her. I also shred some of the chicken and feed her that as well. She eats while sitting in my lap, the entire time banging on the table and giggling at Chase and Alec, who make faces at her.
“Chief said I can use the personal days and vacation time I’ve accumulated to take some time off and get Hazel situated,” Chase says a little while later.
“Good. We can go by the store and order her stuff and have it delivered. While we’re there, we can get anything else she needs like clothes and diapers and wipes…” I start making a mental list of everything she’ll need.
“What about a car seat?” he asks.
“It’s attached to her stroller.”
After installing her car seat into my truck, since she doesn’t want to leave my side, Chase and I head home to drop off his car and then go to the baby store.
I place Hazel into the shopping cart and she looks around curiously while I wheel it through the store. Noticing that Chase is completely out of his element, I take over, grabbing everything we might need. On occasion I ask him for his opinion and he gives it to me, but for the most part, he lets me do my thing. I’m not a mom, obviously, but I was there with Lexi while she was buying everything for Abigail, and my cousin Micaela also has two babies—RJ, who’s two and a half, and Dustin, who’s six months old.
While we’re walking through the clothing section, Hazel reaches out and grabs a onesie, making us both laugh.
“Do you want this, pretty girl?” I ask, finding her size and handing it to her.
Her face lights up as she brings it to her mouth, munching on the fabric. “I think she likes it,” Chase says with a soft smile aimed at his daughter.
After ordering a complete nursery and paying extra for next day delivery, we check out with the cashier and then head home. We’re both exhausted, so we go through a Starbucks drive-thru to get caffeinated, and once we’re home, I play with Hazel while Chase brings everything in and then sets up the portable crib-slash-play pen, so she has somewhere to sleep tonight.
“Where should we put it?” he asks.
“Either my room or yours…”
“About that,” he says, gripping the curves of my hips. “I know we have an extra room, but I was thinking, what if we kept the spare room as is and cleaned out my room for her nursery?”