Shelly opened her mouth then closed it. She glanced at the woman next to her. “What do you think?”
“Can you produce the birth certificate today?” the woman asked.
James assumed she was another social worker.
“Yes,” Sophie said quickly. “And hospital records. I had him here.”
Everyone looked surprised for a moment. Then Harper said, “Okay, what else do we need to do?”
“It’s not like she dropped him off at a drug house or with an abusive ex or something,” the other woman said with a sigh.
James winced. He was sure they’d seen both of those things. And worse.
Shelly nodded. “And she’s right about the statute,” Shelly said. “There is a time frame applied. And she left him with people she knew.” She finally smiled at Sophie. “He can go home with you for now, and then we can help you get started on an adoption process when you’re ready. Let me make some calls and see what the next steps should be.”
Sophie took a deep breath and lifted her chin. “As long as my baby is back with me and Harper and James tonight.”
Shelly opened her mouth, but Harper said firmly, “Tonight, Shelly.”
Finally, Shelly took a breath. “Yes. Tonight.”
It took twelve hours. Twelve very long, stressful hours.
But they were finally home. All of them. Together.
Sophie was asleep across the landing in Harper’s apartment—where she was going to be staying full time now. Part of her concern with keeping Isaac had been that she lived in the dorm. She had to. It was what she could afford with her scholarship. She couldn’t have kept the baby in the dorm with her. Now she had an apartment. For free, for now. She didn’t like the idea of taking charity, but Harper had convinced her that even if she didn’t think she could be a full-time mom, Isaac would benefit from having her around. Harper was referring to it as a live-in-nanny situation. But James knew she was betting on Sophie being head over heels for her son, and once they removed all the pressures that had made her believe she couldn’t keep him, her perspective would change.
Right now, though, James and Harper sat on his couch with Isaac lying lengthwise on Harper’s thighs, looking up at them. He was dry, fed, and apparently not that sleepy.
“He’s starting to stay awake longer already,” Harper commented.
James nodded. “He’s changed a lot just in the time we’ve had him.”
Isaac had his hands wrapped firmly around Harper’s thumbs. He gave them a little smile. James couldn’t help but return it. It might have just been gas, but it still looked sweet.
“Do you think this will work?” James asked, reaching out to give the baby’s foot a little squeeze.
“Yes,” Harper said simply.
“How?”
“However it needs to.” Harper looked up at him. “She needs us, too.”
“Yeah.” Sophie clearly had a complicated relationship with her family. What she needed right now was support. Period. Day to day, what that looked like, might change. But James and Harper were nothing if not flexible. And a great team. “So if she decides to keep him, we’re okay?”
“Not exactly.”
He knew what she meant. He wasn’t okay either. But they could handle this. Together.
“If I can keep you, I’m okay.” Harper leaned over to put her head on his shoulder.
James wrapped his arm around her, feeling his chest warm.
“We will just take care of whoever or whatever comes to us,” Harper said. “Right now, we’re kind of fostering a baby and a teenage girl. And whatever happens tomorrow, we’ll deal with it.”
James kissed the top of her head, feeling his heart swell. “You’re going to be okay with that? Not being able to schedule and plan everything?” He didn’t need Harper to change. He loved her just as she was. But he had to admit that she’d blossomed and seemed so much happier since she’d just started going day to day and taking care of things as they came.
Harper shifted so she could look up at him. “You know what I realized? About opening that door?” she asked.
“What?”
“That I never knew what was going to be on the other side. But I kept opening it. Because I knew you would be there. Whatever else came along with that didn’t really matter.” She gave him the most beautiful smile he’d ever seen. “I think you’re the only constant I really need.”
James felt everything in him tighten. With need. He looked down at the baby. He couldn’t do all the things he suddenly needed to do to, and with, Harper because they had a baby. Kind of. For now. But for now was enough.
He could, however, kiss the hell out of her. James cupped the back of her head and pulled her in. “I still want to marry you, Professor. But this time, you can tell me when you’re ready.”
Just before he kissed her, she said, “I’m ready.”
James pulled back, looking into her eyes. “Are you sure? Is it because we have the baby back?”
She shook her head. “I know we might not be keeping him. Or maybe we’ll have him for a year or two and then Sophie might be ready to be on her own. Or maybe we’ll send our girl off into the world after she graduates, and she’ll come back and visit all three of us. I don’t know. But… there will be so many other adventures and people and things that need us. We’re really good together and all of this—the dogs, the babies, the teenage girls, the lizards, and trees—they all orbit around us. We’re the center. Us. Together.”
He kissed her before she could say anything else. This woman… she still made him weak in the knees. She was starting to see how amazing she was, and he was so damned grateful to get to be around to watch her discover all her kickassedness.
Their kiss was interrupted, however. He supposed that if their life was going to be full of pets and kids, he should get used to that.
Though a loud baby fart followed by the unmistakable sound of that baby filling his diaper—and then some—would never be romantic.
Harper laughed and looked down at Isaac. Who was grinning up at them. “Wow.”
The smell hit him a second later, and James shook his head. “I was wondering how to get you naked again.”
“To the shower, then?” she asked.
“And this time you don’t need to keep your pj's on,” he told her with a wink.
“Our hands are going to be kind of full,” she said, tipping her head toward the squirming baby boy who was starting to get uncomfortable in that diaper.
“Yeah, until he’s asleep. But you can just stay wrapped in a towel until then.” James scooped the baby up from her and stretched to his feet.
Harper rose as well and started for the bathroom, stripping her shirt up and over her head. She tossed it to the side and looked over her shoulder. “I’ll get the water warmed up.”
James watched her go then looked down at the baby. “Seriously. Best wingman ever.”
Six months later…
Harper sat next to James on the folding chair, watching Sophie and Isaac. He could stand up if she held his hands, and he was bouncing, holding on to Sophie’s fingers, watching the other kids play.