“You volunteered to babysit as a way to see him?” James asked, to make the point with the social workers.
Sophie shrugged. “Of course. It was perfect. I could see him, but he would be with you. I was confused about Harper thinking he was your son,” she admitted. “But then I realized it didn’t matter, because you both loved him. I was going to come over tonight and tell you the truth.”
“You left your hoodie at James’s house on purpose, too?” Harper asked.
Sophie nodded.
“How do you know Mr. Reynaud?” Shelly asked.
Sophie shook her head. “No, I didn’t leave him with James. I left him with Professor Broussard. Harper.”
James nodded. Yeah, that made more sense, too. “But he was in front of my door,” James said.
Sophie swallowed. “I didn’t know that. I followed Professor Broussard home one day after class and saw her go into that apartment.”
Harper looked at James. “I must have gone in to check on Ami that day when I got home.” Then she frowned at Sophie. “Wait. What? You left him with me?”
“Of course. I’ve never admired someone like I do you. I knew that you would take care of him.”
“But… how did you know I would keep him?”
“Because you’re that kind of person,” Sophie said simply. “You help people with whatever they need from you.”
Yeah, she did. James knew that Harper thought she needed everything to go according to a plan, that she didn’t like chaos, that she couldn’t just roll with things.
She was wrong.
“You’re a door opener.” James stepped forward as he said it.
Sophie looked at him and nodded. “Yes.” She focused on Harper. “You are. You would open your door to anyone who needed you.”
“Why not just ask me?” Harper asked.
James could hear her voice was thick with emotion, and he moved in to put his hands on her shoulders.
“Why not just tell me you needed help?” Harper asked again.
Sophie’s bottom lip trembled. “I was scared. I was pregnant while I was in your class last semester but not far enough along for you to notice. I thought about telling you a couple of times but… I just couldn’t. I don’t let things like this happen.” She took a breath. “I’m organized. I’m on top of things. I don’t mess up like this.”
Harper stepped forward. “Like you think your sister does.”
Sophie nodded. “Like my sister does. She doesn’t think. She just goes with her heart. And it causes problems and makes things complicated—for her and my mom. So, when this happened, I knew I couldn’t tell them either. I just messed up. It was this dumb one-night, stupid thing, and I should have known better. But I do know I can’t handle being a mom. I’m only nineteen. I have huge plans. I have a lot of school to get through. Isaac deserves more than I can give him.”
She looked at Shelly. “I really don’t want to be a mom, and his dad doesn’t want him. He’s willing to sign over any rights, too. We hardly know each other, and he wants to pretend this never happened.” She took a shaky breath. “But I love Isaac. I want him to have a great life. A wonderful life. And I knew Harper would do that. She’s just like me, but she’s older and has money and has her plan already in place.”
“You can’t just give me your baby because we’re both really organized and like schedules and planners,” Harper said weakly.
Sophie looked back toward Harper. “It’s not just that. That stuff’s great, of course. I want my son to know how to take care of his business, how to be responsible, and organized to be productive, and to contribute to the world around him.”
James assumed that was another shot at her sister who, apparently, did not take care of her business.
“But you’re also someone who looks at the big picture and thinks long term, and you want what’s best for all the people around you. And you help them get whatever that is as much as you can,” Sophie said to Harper.
James saw Harper’s eyes were filled with tears.
“Why didn’t you just come to me and ask me to take him?” Harper asked Sophie.
Sophie looked a little sheepish for a moment. “I knew that you would have to fall in love with him first. If I’d told you ahead of time, you might have thought about all of the reasons not to do it. But I knew that you would feel protective if you just found him there with a note and that you’d take care of him for at least a couple of days, and by then you’d be in love with him.”
Harper took a shaky breath.
Sophie faced Shelly. “I want her to have him. Please.”
Shelly was watching the whole thing quietly.
James wanted to say something, but he wasn’t sure what. This was clearly all in Harper’s court.
Finally, Harper stepped forward, and she took hold of Sophie’s upper arms. “Thank you for trusting me like this.”
Sophie nodded.
“But you’re his mom,” Harper said. “If you want him, we’ll help you. We will do whatever we can to support you and help you two be together.”
Sophie’s eyes got wide, and she shook her head quickly. “No. No. Really. I can’t be good for him right now. The best thing I can do is give him a fabulous mom.” Her gaze skittered to James. “And Dad.”
James felt his heart thump hard in his chest.
Everyone was quiet. Clearly, they were all waiting for Harper to take the lead here.
After several long moments of her studying Sophie, Harper nodded. “If you’re sure, then, of course, we’ll take care of Isaac for you.” She glanced over her shoulder to James then back to Sophie. “And if you want, you can move into my apartment and keep helping us with him and be right there across the hall to see him whenever you want. We can make it a wide-open adoption. You can be as involved as you want to be.”
Right across the hall. That sounded a lot like he and Harper were going to be living together. He was on board with that. James nodded. “Absolutely. Whatever you want, Sophie.”
But Sophie was shaking her head again. “I don’t know. You don’t have to do that. I don’t want to be in the way.”
Harper just paused for a long moment. Then suddenly she pulled her into a big hug and just held her. It took a second, but Sophie seemed to melt into her, wrapping her arms around Harper and taking a huge shuddering breath with tears streaming down her cheeks.
James glanced at Shelly and saw that the social worker’s eyes were shiny, too.
After a long moment, Sophie pulled back and sniffed. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry to make this all so crazy for you.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Harper told her. She looked at James. “We do pretty well with crazy.”
His heart turned over in his chest. God, he loved her.
Harper looked at Shelly. “Now what?”
“Do you maybe want to take her to the coffee shop downstairs to talk some more?” Shelly suggested.
“No,” Harper said. “I want to take her to her son.”
Shelly shook her head. “I can’t—”
James stepped forward and put his arm around Harper. “Or a judge. Whoever you think we need to start with.”