Page 22 of Santa Baby
“I am with Child Services. Just who are you, Sir?”
“I’m the owner of the house you are sitting in. The fiancé of the woman you just insulted, and apparently you don’t comprehend how to read - unlike my fiancée - or you would have seen the engagement notice in the papers. But have no fear,” Talia squeezes my hand hard but I make sure to keep my focus - and my ire - on the woman in front of me, “I will be doing a thorough background search on you to find out if you really are from Child Services as you claim. I would never let just anyone come in and try to take Noelle for no good reason before a judge has a chance to hear the case. That would be illegal, wouldn't it, Ms. Stenson.”
“I can assure you I am who I say I am, Sir. What I am not sure of is the game the two of you are trying to play at when there is a lovely couple waiting to adopt this baby and Talia is only dragging out the inevitable. Giving the baby over is what is best for Noelle.”
“And the couple that want a baby for Christmas. That may be so, but until we hear from a judge the baby isn’t leaving our sight. If we’re all finished here, we’ve had a very busy day trying to ready the house and Talia has a lot of preparations to make before the wedding, if you’ll excuse us. Justin can see you out.”
Justin shows up right on time and the woman in front of us has no other option but to leave. This isn’t one of the normal well-fare checks they do on adoptive parents. This bitch came here because it’s personal. And she just pissed the wrong person off if she wants to make it personal. But looking at Talia and the fear in her eyes something tells me I am alone in my assurance that this isn’t right or normal. Something tells me I am going to have to work that much harder to make her forget all about this unpleasantness. A job I am more than happy to undertake…as soon as I make a few phone calls first.
I have a man who owes me a favor from a while back who happens to be a judge. I wonder what he can do - and what strings he can pull for me - to take that worry out of my angel’s wintergreen eyes. I walk her and Noelle back to where Mom is waiting and make my excuses for stepping away.
I don’t want to tell Talia and give her one more thing to worry about or stress over if my friend can’t do anything to help. But I think he can. And I think Ms. Stenson is going to find that things can get very personal if she keeps coming after my angel and our baby. Very personal indeed.
Chapter Seventeen
____________
Talia
Nic leaves me and his mom with Noelle to make some phone calls. And I try to put the meeting with the caseworker out of my mind. She saw right through the act we were trying to put on. I knew she would, but she didn’t buy that me and Nic could be together at all. She thought I was working for him for fuck’s sake.
“Try not to worry about it, darlin’. I’m sure Nic will take care of that woman, and everything will work out just perfectly.” I wish I had the same faith Anita has but I just want it so badly. And typically, people like me don’t get what they want. People like me are used to having things taken from them, not given to them.
We go back to decorating but with Noelle it’s a little more unorganized and chaotic. I end up spending more time in the floor with her than I do helping Anita with the ornaments. A noise in the front hall has both of us tensing up and looking over at one another. I hold my breath waiting for someone to come in and tell me the woman has come back because she’s not done raking me and my life choices over the coals just yet.
But this time when the door opens it’s not the big man in the tight black shirt that told us the caseworker was here. Instead, it’s a…smaller copy of Nic. Instead of bright blue eyes that change with his emotions, this version has a mix of greenish-blue eyes that seem…veiled, keeping secrets from everyone he meets. I much prefer Nic’s blue eyes to this man’s shifting ones. He’s also not as tall as my Nic…not that Nic is really mine. I just…I know him, I don’t know this new man, but I can guess who he is.
Anita goes running for him and wraps him in her arms, “Chris!”
She gives him a kiss on the cheek and pulls back to look at him. “Mother.”
The smile he gives her doesn’t reach his eyes which happen to be turned on me.
“You haven’t been eating enough, you’re getting skinny.”
“I’ve been skinny mother. Nic’s the stockier of the two of us, remember.”
I would hardly call the man ‘skinny’ by any stretch of the definition. He doesn’t have as much muscle as Nic, true, but at the same time, he’s not thin or in fear of being swept away. Instead, he has a leaner body and appears a bit wilder than Nic but that might be because this man is dressed in all black and when I met Nic he was in a suit.
“Who do we have here?”
He moves around Anita and comes over to where me and Noelle have been playing. Even Noelle is waiting to find out what this new guy will do.
Anita starts the introduction but doesn’t get far, “Chris, this is…”
“My fiancée and someone you will not flirt with.” My eyes go to the now-blocked door where Nic is standing. I try to curb my smile at seeing him again but I’m just so happy he’s back that I don’t think I do a very good job.
He comes past his brother to help me off the floor and picks Noelle up in his arms. His brother looks…surprised. His brows are high and for the first time since he came into the room, he loses some of that aloofness that shrouded him. Nic doesn’t pay him any attention and instead focuses on me and Noelle. His thumb runs over the swell of my cheek, and he looks into my eyes trying to find something there.
“You okay, angel?”
I nod and try to give him a smile.
“Angel?” Chris has both of us turning to look his way.
“Chris, this is Talia, your brother’s fiancée and this is Noelle.” Anita comes to the rescue and makes introductions that Nic didn’t seem in a hurry to give.
“Noelle?” I can see the questions running through his head as he takes in the image of Noelle with Nic. She looks like his. “My, my, brother. You have been busy since I left town, haven’t you?”