Chapter One
Chad
I pace the length of the kitchen, back and forth, with Harper sleeping on my shoulder. The phone I bought for Britney is sitting on the table with her final words queued up and ready for me to watch again. I've already watched that video at least ten times in the past hour, trying to make sense of what happened. I'm about to play it again when Josh and Tyler barrel into the room.
“What the fuck happened?” Josh asks, taking large steps until he’s by my side.
Tyler stops short when he sees the stroller and the newborn baby sleeping inside of it. “She had the baby?”
I nod and let out a deep sigh. Harper shifts in my arms but doesn't wake up. “Let's have a seat, and I’ll tell you what I know.”
The three-year-old doesn't weigh much, but my arm is already getting tired from holding her in this position for the past forty-five minutes.
Tyler holds out his arms to me. “Do you want me to take her?”
Instinctively, my grip around her small body tightens as I possessively pull her close to me. “No, thanks. I'm fine.”
After a few moments of trying to gather my thoughts, I explain what I know. “Dwight heard a baby crying and went out to check everything out. He found the baby, Austin James, sleeping in the stroller. Harper was crying on Britney's chest.”
Josh interrupts. “Did that asshole boyfriend do this?”
His mind went to the first conclusion I came up with as well. “It doesn't look like it. We think she just bled out after a rough delivery.”
Tyler throws his arms up in the air in indignation. “The hospital let her leave without stitching her up?”
I blow out a deep breath. “She said she didn't go to the hospital. She must've delivered him herself and couldn't stop the bleeding.”
“Wait.” Josh holds up a hand to interrupt me. “How did she tell you all this? I thought she was already gone when Dwight found her.”
I push the phone toward them and point to the blank screen. “She left a video.”
Josh leans close to Tyler, and they watch the heartbreaking final words of the scared young woman.
“Chad, I'm so sorry to do this to you, but you're the only person I trust to take care of them. I can't stay here. I can't keep doing this. It's not fair to my babies to live like this. I want you to take care of them, and I promise once I leave tonight, I'll never come back. I won't bother you or try to take them from you.”
I walk behind them to watch it one more time. Tears are rolling down her cheeks as she pauses to take a shuddering breath.
“I made a lot of bad decisions, and I can't keep running from them. Just promise you won't let my parents have Harper and Austin.” She turns the phone toward the stroller, although from the angle she's at, we can't see inside. “That’s what I named him, but you can change it if you want. But right now, he’s Austin James, after my brother.” She chokes on a sob and sniffles before continuing. “AJ was the only person that truly cared about us, and I was so stupid not go with him to Salt Lake City when he offered to help. But I believed—”
She stops speaking then repositions the camera at her face. “No dad is listed on Harper's birth certificate, so you shouldn't have any trouble adopting her. I give you my permission. I want you to adopt my kids. But if you can't or don't want to, just please make sure they go to a good home. Maybe Marge will want them. I just know they deserve better than what I can offer. Better than what I've given Harper since the day we started running from my parents.”
Britney's eyes drift closed and it almost looks like she's falling asleep, but she startles awake and looks around, trying to get her bearings. She looks down at the phone and nods her head. “I'm gonna leave them here where I know they'll be safe until you can get to them. I'm so sorry, Chad. Thank you for everything you've done for us. I just hope your promise to help was sincere. And, um, tell my babies I’ll always love them and that's why I had to let them go.”
The recording stops, and both men look up at me, just as confused and heartbroken as I feel. “So how did she die?” Tyler asks quietly.
“The baby must've been born this morning or yesterday. His umbilical cord is still wet, and he hasn’t been bathed yet. But, Britney didn't fully deliver the placenta, and based on the amount of blood she lost, they think she must've had some damage to her uterus.”
“So, what?” Josh still seems confused. “She just bled out in the driveway, and no one noticed?”
“It looks like it.” I still can’t believe she was right outside the whole time she was dying. I know Josh isn’t blaming anyone in particular, but I can hear some amount of accusation in his voice. She was so close. There were thirty men only fifty feet away from her, and we had no idea what was happening.
“My god.” Tyler grabs a fistful of his hair on both sides of his head and rests his elbows on the table. “My mom is gonna be devastated.”
“What are you gonna do?” Josh turns to me, his voice softer now, realizing that no one is to blame for this tragic turn of events.
I look down at the little girl curled up in my arms and sigh. “I think I'm gonna keep them.”
“Seriously?” Josh stands up and walks to the stroller where baby Austin is sleeping. “How are you gonna take care of them? What do you even feed him?”
“Well, being a safe haven, we have formula and diapers here in case of situations like this.”
“A what?” Tyler lifts his head to question me.
“That means we’re a safe place,” I use my free hand to make air quotes around the term, “for women to abandon unharmed newborns instead of leaving them in a trash can or toilet bowl…or worse.”
Tyler's face contorts in disgust. “People do that?”
I take a deep breath and look down at the sleeping newborn. He’s so tiny and innocent. “Unfortunately, it does happen. In many cases, the mother just feels like she can't take on the responsibility of a baby, or her family doesn't know she was even pregnant. So, these locations were set up so we can keep those babies safe—no questions asked. It’s never happened here, but we keep supplies on hand just in case.”
“So you fed him already?” Tyler joins his boyfriend at the side of the stroller.
“Yeah, he just drank a couple ounces, but the paramedics said that's normal for newborns.”
Josh turns to me. “So, that's it? You just keep these kids? Are there any legal issues around it? Do you have to adopt them or anything?”
This is where it's a little blurry to me too. “Honestly, I don't know. I’ll have to talk to a lawyer tomorrow, and a social worker is coming by tonight to make sure everything is legit. But as far as I know, they’re mine if I want them.” Harper coughs in her sleep, and I wrap the blanket tighter around her small frame, amazed she’s sleeping so soundly despite all that has happened in the past few hours. “I'll have to figure out everything else as I go.”
Tyler looks up at Josh then back to me. “Why do you think Britney didn't want her parents to take them?”
Britney had opened up to me a few times in our conversations, and I had an idea of what happened to her. I felt guilty sharing her secrets with my friends, but in order for me to keep these kids, I will have to be honest with people. This is a good place for me to start.
“Apparently, they were abusive.” I stand up and walk to the sofa, laying Harper across the cushions. After making sure she’s safely tucked into the backrest, I rake my fingers through her hair then turn back to the guys. Tyler's grinning, and Josh seems more relaxed than he was just seconds ago. “What?”
Tyler tries to hide his smile as he reaches for Josh’s hand. “You look like a natural. You’ll be a great dad.”
I appreciate their confidence, but I can’t say I agree. I’ve never had good parental role models, but I’ve been in charge of enough kids in the various foster homes I lived in that I think I can keep them alive. At least long enough to figure out how to be a parent.
“Anyway, Britney hinted that her boyfriend stole a bunch of cash and jewelry from her parents before they skipped town. That’s why Britney was so skittish with people. She was afraid they’d find her.”
“But what does that have to do with abuse?” Josh asked, still confused by her desperation to keep her children away from her parents.
I’m trying to craft my next words carefully, not sure how to respond. “She didn't get into details with me, but she said she had a lot of broken bones as a kid and that she’d never let her parents take care of Harper alone. She went to some kind of continuation school that offered day care, and she watched Harper like a hawk until they finally moved away.”
“What about her brother?” Josh asked, recalling her comments from the video. “If she named her baby after him, he couldn’t have been all bad.”
“She loved him. I tried to get his contact information so I could reach out to him, but she refused to give it up. She just said he was living his own life and didn’t need her drama.”
“Do you think he’d want to hear from you now?” Tyler asked, clearly trying not to overstep.
“Maybe.” I shrug without giving it much thought. I don’t know how I’d feel about some stranger showing up and taking Britney’s kids when she specifically asked me to take care of them. “I think he cares about her, but she was embarrassed by her choices and felt like he wouldn’t forgive her for everything she did. Who knows, maybe he won’t.”
“Or maybe he’d want custody of his niece and nephew.” Tyler gave voice to the fear niggling at the back of my mind.
Damn him and his voice of reason. Sometimes, Tyler’s too smart for his own damn good.