Page 52 of The Surrogate Nanny

“I’m the owner of this store and I know most families in the area. I’ve never seen you or this cutie before.”

My eyes blurred with rage—a feeling I hadn’t felt since Anthony Powell arrived on my doorstep demanding Nori.

Who does she think she is? She knows most of the—who the hell knows every family in the city?

“Are you new to the neighborho—”

“You know what? Never mind. You don’t deserve my money,” I said, returning the clothes to the rack.

I had finished loading Nori’s shopping bags into the back of the SUV when I was approached by two officers.

“Good afternoon, ma’am,” one of them greeted.

“Good afternoon. Is there a problem?” I asked defensively.

“I hope not. We received a call about a possible kidnapping in progress.”

My breath caught in my throat. One of my worst nightmares was about to play out right before my eyes.

“Whose child is this, ma’am?” the other officer asked.

“She’s my child. I’m her mother.”

The nosy bitch from earlier stood behind the officers with her arms folded across her chest. She commented under her breath about how Nori couldn’t possibly be mine.

“Ma’am, do you have some identification or something proving you’re this child’s mother?”

“Why would I? Do you carry your children’s birth certificates with you when you go shopping?” I challenged.

“No, ma’am. I don’t, but...we must take kidnapping allegations seriously.”

“I agree. Kidnapping allegations should be taken seriously, but let’s be real here. Do you think my black ass would’ve kidnapped a child and come leisurely shopping in this rich-ass area?”

“There’s no need to get aggressive.”

“Yes, there is because y’all are behaving as if the concept of blended families is new. Does this child look like she’s being kidnapped?”

As if Nori understood the severity of the conversation, she held up her sippy cup and said, “Mama, juice.”

“Wow. Look at that. She just called me Mama. Don’t worry, baby. I’ll fix you more juice when we get in the truck.”

I moved to go around the officers when one of them blocked my path.

“We’re gonna need you to come down to the station until we can sort this out.”

I shook my head, unclipped Nori from her stroller, and held her tightly to my chest. “No. As far as I’m concerned, this has already been sorted.”

“We’re gonna need you to come down to the station until we can sort this out. Maybe the father can meet us there? We’ll hold onto the child while we ask you a few questions.”

“Absolutely not!” I exclaimed, pulling out my phone to call Anthony.

“Ma’am—”

“Stop! I’m calling her father,” I explained as my call went to voicemail.

Pick up the phone, Anthony!

I called three more times before they started advancing on me. One of them had his hand on his belt. My stomach lurched as I dialed Jonathan’s number.