Attached (Coronado Series Book 3) (26 page)

“I wonder if he’s Sofia’s dad. We need to get as much information as we can from your friend today when she comes by. I want to be prepared if there’s someone out there who is threat to my family. I’m damn happy that I got the dog for us. I’m calling the woman who trained her, and we’re going tomorrow morning. I want us to be able to fully utilize all of the training that she’s had.”

“We better get her some treats if we’re going to put her to work.”

David walked up to their table. “The kid’s gone.”

“I know. He just left five minutes ago. I guess I need to feed you since you hustled out here.”

“It’s going to take more than breakfast to pay me back. I want a homemade dinner as well.”

Cary put her hand on his arm. “Come any night and I’ll be happy to make your favorite meal.”

He gave her a big, sexy smile. “This might be worth it.”

“Don’t smile at my wife that way. Give her a smile that you’d give your sisters.”

“You’re not married yet, and I gave her a perfectly innocent smile.”

“Are you both twelve?” Cary asked. “This sounds like a conversation that would happen in middle school.”

David held out his hands for Sofia and she went right to him. “Women can’t resist me.”

“The women in my family can….without a problem.” Travis said.

“Enough, you two. Is this the famous SEALs-competes-over-anything mentality?”

They both said “no” at the same time.

She shook her head at them as the waitress came up to take their order. “Never a dull moment around here.”

********

Nervous, Cary opened the front door. She wanted the interview to go well and hoped that she and Travis would pass with flying colors. “Hi, Caroline. Come on in.”

“Cary, don’t be nervous. This is going to be easy.”

“How come it doesn’t feel easy?”

“I’m not sure. I want Sofia to be placed with you, so I’m on your side.”

“Come in and let me introduce you to Travis.”

They walked into the house, and Cary realized that their new house was starting to feel like a home. There was a basket filled with toys and a blanket on the floor. Claire rested on her bed in the sunny corner next to the window, and Travis sat on the couch with Sofia asleep on his shoulder. He was watching a game with the sound muted. Travis smiled at the women as he gave a hand signal that the baby was asleep. He got up slowly and walked over to the Pack’N Play and gently placed Sofia inside. He adjusted her onesie and then came back to the women.
 

“Caroline, I would like to introduce you to my fiancé, Travis Mathers.” They shook hands, and Caroline took a moment to study Travis before she released his hand. Cary watched as her friend gave him an approving smile.

“Travis, nice to meet you. Congratulations. Cary told me that you two are recently engaged.”

“Thank you. Cary agreed to make me the happiest man in the world the other night when she agreed to marry me.” He put his arm around her and kissed her head. “I didn’t know that we were going to be in the family way so soon. I think it works out, though, because she wants six children. We need to get busy to make that happen, so if you have any more kids, just bring them on by.”

Caroline laughed and couldn’t decide if Travis was for real or not. She looked over at Cary and watched her shrug.
 

“I know,” Cary said. “He’s kind of overwhelming, isn’t he? It takes a while, but you get used to it.”

“Can we get you anything to drink before we sit down?” Travis asked.

“No, I’m fine. I have some information to give you both, and I have a packet of paperwork that I need to have Travis fill out.”

They all sat down on the couch, and as Caroline dug through her briefcase, Travis grabbed Cary’s hand and squeezed it. He touched his head to hers and spoke quietly. “Don’t worry. They’re not going to take her away from us.” He felt her let out a breath, and she kissed his cheek quickly in response. They were going to be fine, because there wasn’t another choice.

Caroline looked through her stack of paperwork and looked at both of them before she started. “Sofia’s story isn’t a happy one. Her mother was sixteen when she gave birth, and unfortunately she came from an unstable home. She hasn’t received a lot of support or guidance along the way. The father was sixteen as well and has a history of drug use. He also has a criminal record because he got caught hacking in to secure bank sites.
 

The couple were never stable, and Sofia’s birth didn’t help their situation. They tried briefly at the beginning to be parents, but they were never able to overcome the many challenges of having a child so young. The father became unstable and abusive as their failure as parents became evident. The mother ended up in a women’s shelter because she was scared that Sofia was going to become the next victim of the father’s temper. She eventually decided to put Sofia up for adoption because she wanted a better life for her daughter. I think it was the best decision she could’ve made.

I don’t know how she managed, but she got the father to sign off on his parental rights. This happened almost three months ago, and Sofia has been in the foster system since the mother relinquished her rights. The mother has moved away, and I believe the father is still in the area, though I can’t be sure.”

Travis sat up. “I think that’s who we saw yesterday. We were having breakfast in town, and I spotted a kid shadowing us for about an hour. We couldn’t get a picture, so I can’t run his face through the facial recognition software at work. He looked like he was high and perhaps a little unhinged.”

Caroline gave him a worried look. “Travis what’s your occupation?”

“I’m a retired navy SEAL lieutenant, and I work for a security company downtown called ASI. I work with a lot of former SEAL Team members.”

Cary looked over at Caroline. “I know it sounds worrisome when he starts speaking about facial recognition software, but I want you to know that there’s no better man than the one sitting next to me. In fact…”

“Honey, I don’t think she wants to hear all about that.”

Caroline smiled at them both. “Sure I do.”

“Travis has dedicated over fifteen years of his life to protecting this country. He put his life on the line every day so people in this country could go to sleep at night free from worry. He now works for a company that continues to work in that same spirit.”

Caroline smiled at Travis. “I knew what she was going to say, but I wanted you to hear it. Your future wife thinks very highly of you, and it’s sometimes good to hear it.”

Travis looked over at Cary. “I’m the lucky one.”

“Stop, you two, because this much sweetness is going to make me go into sugar shock.” They all laughed, and Sofia started to move around. Claire got up and walked over to the Pack’N Play and looked inside. Once the baby settled, Claire returned to her bed and lay down. “Tell me about your dog. I have a feeling that she’s not an ordinary pet.”

“I got her from a woman who trains dogs for the military,” Travis said. Some friends of ours have one, and I thought it would be a great addition to our family. I like the idea of having her here to look out for the girls.”

Cary looked at her friend. “He’s paranoid and overprotective, but in the best possible way.”

“In light of the father’s behavior, that might not be a bad thing. He has no claim and hasn’t showed any real interest in the baby. But if he’s using, then determining the motivation for his behavior is going to be difficult.”

Travis sat up. “I’m going to call our contact at the SDPD and give him a heads-up. The man I work for has a great relationship with the department and works with a detective who he thinks highly of. His name is Robert, and I think it might be a good idea to get him involved in case the kid loses it.”

Caroline dug through her bag and pulled out a card. “Make sure to give him my contact information. We are required to document anything that happens with the police department for the file.”
 

Travis took the card and looked at Caroline. “What would we need to do if we wanted to adopt Sofia?”

“Let’s get you approved as a foster parent first. Then after you two get married, we can start the adoption process. I want to warn you both that it takes quite a while, and it’s an arduous process that involves a lot of paperwork.”

“It sounds like the navy. No problem.”

“Start with the paperwork and then we can go from there. It’s not usual for us to have a baby in foster care who’s up for adoption. There was not someone in either of the kid’s families who was interested in caring for Sofia.”

“We’ll take care of her.”

“I know. She would be lucky to have you both.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Is your classroom ready?”

“Yes, Ari and I got it done last week. This is the first time that I’m not teaching full time. I can’t believe that it’s all worked out so well. This is going to give me the opportunity to spend a lot more time with Sofia.”

“How do you want to work out babysitting for her while you’re working? I can give my mom a call and see if she can come out for a week or two when you go back to school.”

“The church has a day care program, and it’s right next to the school. I was planning on having her there on the days that I’m teaching. I can check on her and we can have lunch together. It will make me feel a lot more comfortable if I know she’s close.”

“Can you bring Claire to work with you? She could keep an eye on Sofia while you’re in class.”

“I’m sure that once you think about what you just said, you’ll realize that it was a little crazy…even for you.”

“No, I think it sounds reasonable.”

“Moving on…did you finish filling your paperwork out yet?”

“I did, and I’ll drop it off at Caroline’s office this morning on my way to work. Do you have another card for her? I gave Robert the one she gave me.”

Opening her purse, Cary started to go through it and found the card. Looking up, she handed it to Travis and noticed that he was smiling at her. “Why are you smiling at me?”

“Watching you go through your purse reminded me of the first time I saw you in the bar. I watched you unpack your purse and wipe off the table and set your things out so carefully, and I made all kinds of assumptions about you that have turned out to be incorrect. I thought you were a person who would never take a chance or do anything unexpected, and I couldn’t have been more wrong.”

“Was it because I wiped the table off before I set my things out?”

“Yes, and your love of hand sanitizer.”

“I do love hand sanitizer. It’s because I work with small children and I try not to catch every cold that comes into my room during the year. It’s a habit, that’s probably gotten out of control.”

“Why did you take a chance on me? Now that I know you, I realize how crazy it was for you to sleep with me.”

“I wanted my life to change, and I felt the best way to do that was to do the opposite of what I normally do. I thought if I started at one extreme, then by the end, I would be somewhere near the center. I had to do something drastic, so I chose to do things that I’ve never done before.”

“I’m glad I was the one who benefitted from your experiment. Has your life changed enough?”

“I wanted to be totally different, and I think I am.” She heard Sofia on the monitor and got up to check on her. She went into her room and picked her up from the crib and placed kissed on her head. “Did you have a good nap? Let’s get a clean diaper, and then we can have breakfast in a little bit.”

Travis watched from the doorway and admired his beautiful fiancée taking care of the baby and knew that somehow he’d won the lottery. Cary was the woman of his dreams, and she was also an amazing mother. He walked over to the two of them. “Give me some kisses, ladies, because I need to get to work.” He was the lucky recipient of lots of wet, sloppy kisses. “Just what I needed to make sure that I have a great day. Remember to set the alarm when I leave, and take Claire with you if you girls decide to go somewhere. I have put tracking balls in your purse, baby bag and stroller and on the dog’s collar. Remember you have the panic pin. Pull it if you need me.”

“I feel like I’m in Bond movie. We’re going to be fine.”

“I want you to be cautious until we have eyes on Sofia’s biological father. Laird is running his name through the computers, and I should have some information by the end of the day. I want to have a conversation with him. Once I do that, I’ll have a better feel for what we’re dealing with.”

“I promise to keep my eyes open and be careful. We may go shopping later on, because there are a few more things that I need for Sofia. I spoke with Sam’s wife, Karen. Her twins are the same age as Sofia, so I have a new list of must-have items.”

“Did Birdie connect you two?”

“Yes, she thought we could have play dates because the kids are close to the same age. She’s going to come over tomorrow with the kids, and we’re going to have lunch together.”

“Your first play date. That sounds like fun.”

“I’m very excited and a little nervous, because Karen will be my first mommy friend. Did you know that she teaches kindergarten as well?”