“Mr. LeBlanc,” the receptionist calls and Noah looks up. She smiles. “You can go back now.”
We stand and Noah wraps his arm around my waist as we follow her directions to a large office with glass walls. A man with dark hair and ice blue eyes glances up as we approach and stands, smiling as we walk in.
“Noah, good to see you again,” he says, holding his hand out and Noah releases me to shake it before he turns to me. “And you must be Kady. I’m Asher Reed.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I say, shaking his hand. After the formalities are over, we sit in the two chairs in front of his desk and he takes a breath as he looks up at us.
“Okay, hit me with it.”
Noah spares a glance at me and I nod. He launches into the whole story, starting with the night he was arrested and the more he hears, the more his eyebrows creep up his face. When Noah finally finishes with the kidnapping portion of my story, Asher blows out a breath.
“Jesus Christ.” He turns to me. “Did you ever go to the police?”
I shake my head. “I’ve been in hiding for the past six years until Noah found me again.”
“Okay, I’d have to look into the statute of limitations on the crimes of kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, assault, and rape but I’m not sure how much you could really do after all these years.”
Noah leans forward. “That’s actually not why we’re here.”
“Then why are you here?” he asks, leaning back in his chair, his gaze flicking between the two of us. Noah glances at me and I clear my throat.
“When I was taken, I had just found out that I was pregnant.”
His eyes widen. “Oh…”
“I gave birth to the baby when I was being held captive and Mr. Ford said the baby died. We’ve discovered that was not true. Our son was left at a fire station and put in the foster care system before being adopted by a family in Port Allen.”
“My God,” he whispers, leaning forward and grabbing a piece of paper. “I’m going to give you the name of an excellent family lawyer I know. Tell them I sent you and they’ll be able to guide you through all this.”
“Actually, that’s why we came to see you. Do we have any rights in this situation?”
He nods. “The child was taken from you and while a judge may have terminated your rights when he was adopted, the kidnapping makes that all null and void. You just need to be able to prove everything you’re telling me and your son will be returned to you as soon as possible.”
“Will the family fight us?”
He gives us a half-hearted nod. “They might try, which is why I’m giving you her number. She’s one of the best family attorneys I’ve ever met and she’ll take care of you.”
My head spins as he hands over the name and number of the family lawyer. Noah stands, holding his hand out to me and I let him pull me out of my chair as I stare at the paper in my hand.
“As we agreed,” Noah says, trying to pass Asher an envelope of cash but Asher shakes his head and pushes it back toward us.
“Don’t worry about it. I didn’t help all that much and even if I had, I wouldn’t charge you for this. What the two of you have been through, it’s… unimaginable and Mr. Ford… he’s a nasty piece of work.”
“You’ve met him?” Noah asks and Asher nods.
“Just once but that was enough.”
Noah nods and shakes his hand. “I hear you there. Thank you for all your help.”
“Of course. Let me know how it all works out.”
“We will. Thanks, again.”
Taking my hand, Noah leads me back out to the lobby and we stop in front of the elevator, waiting for it to reach our floor.
“What are you thinking?” he asks.
“I don’t know…”
Nodding, he wraps his arm around my shoulder and presses a kiss to my head as the elevator doors slide open and we step inside. We ride down to the parking garage in silence as my mind races and my heart aches. I want my son back more than anything but as soon as Asher started talking about getting a lawyer and fighting to get our son back, all I could see was him with tears running down his face as we rip him from his family.
“Baby,” Noah whispers after we climb in the truck. Tears sting my eyes as I turn to him and his face crumples as he pulls me across the seat and into his arms. “What’s going on in that gorgeous head of yours?”
“Do you think we should do this?”
He jerks back. “Absolutely. Oliver doesn’t get to take our son from us.”
“But he already has and now we’re talking about taking him from the only family he’s ever known.” The tears start to fall and I wipe them away, wishing I didn’t feel so lost in all of this. Even though I’ve never spent more than a few moments with him seven years ago, I love that little boy more than I could ever describe. It fills me to the point of pain each time I think about him and not having him with us is torturous but that doesn’t mean it’s what is best for him. How am I suppose to hurt him like that?
“What are you saying, Kady?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to hurt him. He’s this perfect little person that we created in love but he doesn’t know us. How would we be any better than Oliver if we took him from them?”
“Baby,” he whispers, his eyes glossy as he crushes me to his chest again. I grip his hoodie in my hands as my confusion and pain mix together and bleed onto my face in the form of tears. I keep hoping that, at some point, I’ll reach the bottom of the well but no matter how much I feel, how much I cry, there’s always more underneath it waiting to swallow me whole. Finally, Noah pulls back and cradles my face in his hands. “I have an idea.”
I nod.
“How about we go and talk to them and see if we can’t find something that will work for everyone? Because you’re right. I can’t even think about hurting him and they’re not the villains in this story either. They don’t deserve to lose their son anymore than we did.”
A sob bubbles out of me as I grab one of his hands and nod. Of all our options, this seems to be the most fair one. I just hope that they’re willing to hear us out and work with us.
* * * *
We pull up in front of the house and I suck in a breath as Noah glances over at me and our eyes meet. His brows knit together as he holds his hand out to me.
“Ready?”
Nodding, I take it. He opens the door before climbing out and pulling me out of the truck behind him. As we close the door and turn toward the house, Kelly walks out with our son, the little girl we saw the last time we were here, and an older woman who looks just like her. Noah wraps his arm around my waist as we watch them. The older woman loads the kids up in a van and hugs Kelly before climbing behind the wheel. She waves good-bye from the driveway as they back out and we start across the street, hoping to catch her before she goes back inside. The van pulls away and Kelly turns to us, smiling.
“Hey. Can I help y’all with something?”
Noah steps forward and nods. “Yes, ma’am. My name is Noah LeBlanc and this is my girl, Kady Sinclair. We… uh…”