He turns to me, a little lost and my mind screeches to a halt. Hell, how do we tell this woman who we are? She scowls at Noah then her eyes widen and she gasps.
“Oh my god…”
Noah turns back to her and we all stare at each other for a second before she places a shaky hand against her chest.
“Y’all better come inside.”
As she turns away from us, Noah flashes me a “what the hell do we do” look and I slip out of his hold before grabbing his hand and pulling him along behind me as I follow her up to the house. I get the impression that this woman knows exactly who we are and she’s been preparing for this day since the day she adopted our son.
Their house is just as gorgeous inside and my throat feels dry as my stomach rolls. Shit. How the hell are we supposed to compete with all this? Noah barely has anything and I’ve just got the cabin and a rundown truck that probably should have died three years ago. Kelly leads us into a beautiful white kitchen with a giant island in the middle before pointing to a large round table.
“Have a seat, please. I’m just going to get some tea going and go get my husband.”
We nod as she sets a kettle on the stove and leaves the room. As soon as we’re gone, I blow out a breath and wring my trembling hands together.
“You okay, baby?” Noah asks and I shake my head.
“I have no idea. You?”
He scoffs. “Same.”
We cuddle together as we wait for them to return and when the kettle starts whistling, Kelly comes back into the kitchen with her husband, TJ, on her heels. He studies us as he helps her grab some cups and arrange them on a tray before bringing everything over to the table. We’re all perfectly polite as they pass out the cups but there’s a current of tension filling up the room and I clear my throat, feeling the need to try and put everyone at ease.
“Before we start with why we’re here, I just want to ask that you’ll keep an open mind. We recognize that you are the only parents Thomas has…”
“Nicholas,” Kelly snaps, her gaze flying up from her cup of tea to meet mine. I nod, biting back tears.
“Right, Nicholas. We don’t want to take him from you, if that’s what you’re thinking…”
TJ scoffs, interrupting me. “Just try. This was a legal adoption and we have a damn good lawyer.”
“Actually,” Noah whispers. “That’s the thing. It wasn’t a legal adoption but as my girl was saying, we don’t want to spread anymore pain around, which is why we’d appreciate if you’d hear us out.”
“What do you mean it wasn’t a legal adoption?’ Kelly asks, studying us and I suck in a breath as I raise the teacup to my lips and take a sip.
“That’s kind of a long story.”
She nods. “We have time.”
“The day after I discovered I was pregnant, I was kidnapped.”
Kelly gasps and TJ’s eyes widen.
“I was held hostage for a year where I gave birth to Tho… Nicholas. The man holding me captive took him away to get checked by a doctor and when he came back, he told me he had died.”
“Oh, God,” Kelly whispers, tears welling up in her eyes.
“I think you all know the rest of the story.”
“How did you get away?” TJ asks, still looking skeptical as he studies us.
“A man who was like my father found me and freed me.”
Kelly shakes her head as she stares at the table and I bite my bottom lip as I peek up at Noah. I’m sure this has got to be hard to hear and her mind must be spinning. When I turn back to her, she’s staring at Noah.
“He looks just like you,” she whispers and I grab his hand, giving it a squeeze as tears form in my eyes. She turns to me. “What is it that you want?”
“I grew up in foster care, myself, so I know how lucky he is that y’all found him and gave him a loving home. I don’t want to take him away from the only family he’s ever known but I very much would like to know my son,” I plead, gripping Noah’s hand tighter as I fight back tears. They share a look and my stomach heaves.
“Look,” Kelly sighs. “This is all a lot to take in. Could you maybe give us a minute to talk?”
We both nod and they stand before leaving us alone in the kitchen. I turn to Noah.
“What do you think?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know but whatever happens, we’ll figure something out, okay?”
“Okay,” I whisper and he leans in, pressing a kiss to my forehead. I lay my head on his shoulder and count the minutes as my heart thumps in my chest. Time seems to slow to a crawl and when they finally walk back into the kitchen and sit at the table, I feel like I can’t breathe. They have the power to completely ruin me. Kelly sighs, folding her hands in front of her.
“Uh, let me just start off by saying that we’ve been open and honest with Nicholas about the fact that he was adopted but this is all a lot to take in and the fact of the matter is that we don’t know y’all, which makes it hard to decide if this is a risk we should take when it comes to our son.”
Noah’s body tenses next to me and I give his hand a squeeze as TJ’s eyes narrow on him.
“That being said, we’d like to ask you guys to give us a little time to think this over and if we decide it’s okay, we’ll leave it up to Nicholas to decide when he would like to meet you guys.”
Noah’s jaw tenses. “I see and we’re just suppose to wait indefinitely? We came to you because we hope to work with you but we have no qualms about taking this to a courtroom if we have to. You two are the ones with no rights here.”
“Noah,” I hiss, my heart pounding and my stomach churning. They are standing between us and our son right now so threatening them isn’t his brightest idea. TJ holds his hand up.
“We understand that this was not your choice but we’ve been the ones taking care of him for the past seven years and I think that will count for something.”
Noah’s eyes get that determined glint in them and my heart feels like it’s going to burst. “Is that how it’s going to be then?”
TJ nods.
Shit.
This is not going as planned… at all.
Both men stand, looking like they are ready to face off and I jump up, holding my hands out between them.
“Wait, please. If we do this, if we go down this road then Nicholas is the one that’s going to get hurt.”
“She’s right,” Kelly says, standing up with the rest of us as she turns to me. “Please give us two weeks to decide and we’ll let you know.”
I nod. “I guess I can live with that.”
The boys continue to glare at each other as Kelly and I exchange numbers. She promises to contact us before the two weeks are up and Noah threatens her with a lawsuit if we don’t hear from them by then before we manage to make it out of the door. As soon as we’re outside, TJ slams the door in our face and I spin on my toes, growling as I march down the front step and cross the street to the truck.
“Kady,” Noah calls, jogging to catch up with me and when he reaches me, I shove him.
“Why couldn’t you just be nice?”
He sighs and wraps his arms around me as I continue trying to fight him but without warning, all the fight leaves my body and I start to cry, gripping his t-shirt.