“She just turned seven months old. She won’t even remember them.” Mari’s voice was low, and I imagined the tiny infant I saw that night in the hospital grown up. She came into the world beautiful and was undoubtedly even prettier now. She took after her mother, and the thought made me shudder. I hated the feeling of her hand on me, where I only craved Hayden’s touch.
Her daughter wasn’t responsible for her mother’s behavior, and my heart ached for Ava. I’d never tell Mari to hurry and make a decision on this, but Ava must be terrified with strangers.
We were all strangers, as well.
The door opened hard, and I watched as Becca stormed inside. “What the fuck is going on? Is it Ryan again?” She looked at Mari at the table, dropping to the chair beside her. “What’s wrong?”
“I just got a call from a lawyer.” Becca frowned at her. “She called to tell me that Vivian and her mom died in a car accident.”
“What does that have to do with us? We haven’t spoken to her in a few months?” Becca told her before her face went pale. “Oh, fuck. She put as the guardians, didn’t she? I knew that she talked about it, but thought she changed her mind.” Mari began to cry, and Becca let out a slow breath. “Oh, fuck. What do we do?”
“We stay calm and talk this out.” They both looked at me. “Talk this out, every detail. You get to make a choice here.”
“It’s a baby that she trusted us with. Isn’t that carved in stone?” Mari asked as I pinched the bridge of my nose in thought.
“I am not exactly sure, but we could talk to someone. A lawyer,” I determined, looking at the girls. “You have to support her, after all.”
“Oh, there’s another part. The grandma left an inheritance when she died two years ago, and the majority of it will be going to us. That helps with the financial part.” Mari looked from me to her girlfriend.
“What about work and schedules?” I gently pressed. “You’ll need someone to watch her all of the time. She’s not even one yet. I know that Hayden and I would help out, and even Gram could be involved. She’d actually love that.” I smiled at the idea of her interacting with a little girl. She didn’t have a large enough family to have a lot of grandchildren, and I never wanted that before Hayden.
“Amy will be moving here, too. She’d like to help.” Mari said as she stared thoughtfully at the wall. “She was a cute baby last I saw her.”
“Really pretty,” Becca agreed, and they shared a tender smile.
“You’ve decided, haven’t you?” I asked as my phone rang. I saw Hayden’s name, wincing as I gazed at them. “Let me get this.”
“What’s going on? Where is Becca?” Hayden asked immediately. “Gray?”
“Come to their place. We’re having a family meeting, but everyone is fine.” I smiled as he let out a sigh. “I knew you were performing, Hay. Come home.”
We ended the call, and Becca rested her face in her hands. “Is he going to shit his pants?”
“Yes,” I replied, knowing that there was a long time that Hayden never wanted kids. I didn’t know how he’d feel about Vivian’s daughter, but she was a baby that needed a home either way. “We’ll talk about it. I know that we’re not a part of this based on any law, but we’re family. We make decisions together.”
We waited until he came to the apartment and sat beside me after we made more tea. “So, what’s going on?”
Mari explained the situation as his eyes got wide. “The fuck. You’re the guardians?”
“Yep,” Becca replied as she closed her eyes. “This is so much to take in. I want to think it over, but she’s in foster care until then. Is she safe?”
“I hope so,” Mari said, staring at her girlfriend.
“Do you want kids?” I asked as Mari smiled.
“We’ve talked about it. We’ve been together a while now, and we’re living together. I know she’s it for me.” Becca leaned over to kiss Mari. “This might not be the image of motherhood that we planned, but she’s a little girl that deserves a good life. It seems that her dad signed her away after she was born.”
“I agree,” Mari said as she gave us a small smile. “They told us to call back after the weekend was over. It gives us a chance to think this through. I guess we should look over the house. Is this enough space?”
“The guest bedroom becomes a nursery,” Becca said and shook her head. “I don’t even know what that entails.”
“Tami and Jay have babies. We could go see what they have, and ask them some questions,” Mari suggested.
“That’s a good idea,” I said, smiling at them.
We left the girls there an hour later, calmer and accepting of the situation. Hayden led the way into the apartment, looking at me once he was in the kitchen. “They’re taking her.”
“They seem to want a baby. This one needs a home,” I told him, pulling him against me for a kiss. “I’ve thought about having kids with you before.”
“Yeah?” He asked, meeting my eyes. “Me, too.”
“We’ll make great uncles. This will be practice for us,” I kissed him again, and he wrapped his arms around my neck.
The girls went to see their friends and eight-month-old twins the following morning. They wanted a good idea of what they were getting into, and I joked to Hayden that twins would look so insane that they’re getting off easy.”
“Can you do that with a baby?” Hayden wondered as I chuckled.
“They do sleep, go for sleepovers, and spend time with family. Think it comes before your sleep.” We both laughed, sharing a long kiss.
We had lunch with the girls after they got home, talking everything over. Tami gave them a good idea of what they would need, and they came back with a list.
I ran into Mari, heading to Gram’s that evening once the theater opened. “Whatcha doing?”
“I need Gram’s advice. She had three kids.” I wished they were better for their mom and their own families.
“She did.” I smiled. “Want company?”
“Yeah,” she said as I headed over to tap on Gram’s front door.
Gram gave us fresh cookies, and we sat at the table for her wisdom. She seemed surprised by the situation, given what she knew about Vivian and her relationship with all of us. She agreed that it was a baby that needed a home and that the mom trusted us. She knew how much responsibility this would be, and even smiled when she talked about the first Christmas with a baby in the house.
After that, Mari jogged upstairs to call Amy.
“This is crazy, Gram.” She smiled at me.
“Those girls can do this. They’re good people, and they have a lot of support. The baby is older, so hopefully, she’ll sleep through the night.” I realized that they lived close to me, scrubbing a hand through my hair.
“Oh, God. Will we all lose sleep?” I reached for another cookie, chewing the edges off as she watched me.
“You’ve been doing that since you were a little tot. Jackson used to want to race, taking these huge bites. You would just do your own thing.” She shook her head. “What about you and Hayden? Do you want babies?”