Falling into a Second Chance by Alie Garnett
Chapter Twenty-Two
The living roomwas small and cozy, with not as many toys as Agatha would have liked the baby to have. But that didn’t matter; Agatha wasn’t looking at the house or the toys.
Little hands were holding on to the coffee table as she wobbled on her feet, all smiles at her accomplishment. Two little teeth showed on her wide smile. Her hair was curly and standing on end and was as black as Agatha’s. The baby looked at Agatha with big brown eyes that Agatha knew were Christopher’s, not her own.
“You’re very good at that, Poppy.” She touched her chubby arm in wonder. Her baby was amazing.
In the kitchen, both the parents were watching her and whispering to each other. Agatha knew they were worried, but there was nothing Agatha could do. The adoption was final. Though Agatha had the ability to visit the baby with her parents’ consent. When she had called that morning Steven and Ronni had been more than willing to let her come for a visit.
When she had knocked on the door, the woman who answered had a blonde baby in her arms. Ronni had said the baby’s name was Emma, and Agatha had told her she had a sister named Emma. Since then, Ronni had remained in the kitchen with the smaller baby until her husband had come home from work.
Taking Poppy’s hand, Agatha held it so that the baby could walk away from the table, but Poppy did not trust her to not let her fall. The baby had been right to not trust her because when the chunky little legs gave out, Agatha wasn’t fast enough to catch her, and she fell onto the carpeted floor. But it was enough to make Poppy cry.
When her parents didn’t rush into the room, Agatha picked her up, holding her tight, wanting to make her better, wishing her baby never cried. Feeling the warm body against hers, she wanted to cry herself, not knowing how she was going to walk away from her today. This was exactly why she had never come before.
Poppy’s tears subsided, and Agatha continued to hold her. She would have to give her back soon but wanted to hold her forever. Agatha cradled her head with its fine, curly hair and hoped the baby was soaking up the love Agatha was giving her.
“How is it going?” her daughter’s mom asked, coming into the room.
“Good,” was all Agatha could respond to the woman who was lucky enough to raise this amazing little person.
“She must know you’re her mom.” Ronni nodded at Poppy still in her arms.
“No, you are her mom. I won’t take her away.” Agatha promised, but still held her tight.
“Steven and I have been talking, and we think that you coming to see us today is a sign,” Ronni said as the man came into the room.
Agatha stiffened. They were not going to let her see the girl again. It was their right to say no to her in the future; they only had to let her see Poppy when they wanted to, and if they didn’t want her to, there was nothing she could do. They must have felt as awkward about her being there as Agatha did, that her being there would disrupt everything in their family. Tightening her grip on the baby she just fell in love with, she wanted to cry, right there in a stranger’s living room.
“You see, Agatha, Ronni has her hands full with the two babies. We were lucky enough to get pregnant on our own and only found out after Poppy came to us.” Steven looked over to the hallway to the bedrooms.
“Emma.” Poppy’s baby sister, just like Agatha. They had that in common.
“Yes, Emma. And the doctors said that it happens that way sometimes. The pressure to have a baby is lessened when you adopt, and then you finally get pregnant. They don’t think having more will be as difficult as having her.” Ronni smiled.
“That’s good. I’m from a large family. It was a great way to grow up,” Agatha said, still rocking her baby, hoping the couple would let her see Poppy again, just one more time.
The couple traded glances, making Agatha’s heart sink. She had only gotten to see Poppy once. It was more than she had ever thought she would want to see her, but one visit had made her realize once wasn’t enough. Agatha had even taken a few pictures on her phone so that she can look at her in the future.
“What my wife means is that we will be having more children of our own. When we adopted, we thought we would never have kids of our own. Now we have Emma and will probably have more.” Steven’s face was serious.
“What does that mean for Poppy?” Agatha couldn’t figure out what they were getting at. They loved her baby as much as she did.
“It means that we would like to back out of the adoption,” Stephen said calmly, like he wanted his chicken sent back at a restaurant. Or maybe even with less caring in his voice.
“What? You don’t love her?” Agatha demanded as she scrambled to her feet.
“We do love her, but we realize that we love our own daughter more,” Ronni said, as if that was possible.
“You don’t love her anymore? Now that you have another kid, this one is not good enough for you?” Agatha turned Poppy away from them, protecting her, not wanting her to see what was happening, even if she could hear it.
“You don’t understand you don’t have children,” Stephen said, as if Poppy wasn’t hers even if she had put her up for adoption.
“I don’t need to. I am a feeling human, one who thought my kid was in a loving home. That’s why I gave her up, so she could have a loving home.” Agatha tried to stop the tears but couldn’t.
“I have a folder containing the information your lawyer will need to get custody changed back to you.” Stephen held up the file. “We already signed everything that is needed. I’m a lawyer and had it drawn up after you called. We knew it was a sign.”
“You’re just returning her? Like a shirt you outgrew?! My kid?” Agatha stomped over and grabbed the file from him. No way was she leaving her baby with these people.
The couple exchanged looks again and Stephen got up. “I’ll get her car seat.”
By the time Agatha drove away, she had enough food for a few days and a dozen diapers. Poppy was secured in the back seat of her car, and the paperwork was on the seat beside her.
Agatha drove straight to her lawyer’s office. She hoped that Aspen was still there. If not, she would have to go to Harrison. This all needed to be done today. No way was she letting those two change their minds and take her baby again.
Walking into the office, she asked the receptionist for Aspen and was told she was busy this afternoon. Luckily, when Agatha broke down crying, Aspen was able to make time for her. In the same conference room she had bought her house on Monday, she watched Aspen and another lawyer looking over the paperwork in the file.
It was taking far longer for them to read the papers. She knew she should have looked at them, but her mind was full of other things. There was a long list of things she would need for the baby, and it was going to take a while to buy everything and then get it all organized. It was going to be a long day.
“It looks like everything that is needed is here. Sebastian’s calling Steven and Ronni Chambers to make sure everything is done correctly. But let’s get this stuff signed so when he comes back, we can just fax everything where it needs to go before the weekend.” Aspen handed over the paperwork and had Agatha sign in seven places to get her daughter back.
That was all it took—less signing that she had done for her house, and she was a mother. Again.
Now she just had to tell everyone about it. Another secret she had kept from her stepmom and sisters. And what about Chris? How was she going to tell him he was a dad?
