Page 8 of Without You, Scotch and Sammy 2

“Jones picked her up behind Skeeter’s Diner. She was unconscious with her head in her husband’s lap. They were both swimming in the clouds.”

“She’s okay?”

“She’s physically okay. Jones called an ambulance and had her transported a few hours ago.”

“I’ll head over to the hospital when we’re done here then.”

“Yeah. Good plan.” He picks up the folder with her name written in bold down the edge, and flipping a few pages, he reads silently for a minute. His eyes slowly come back to mine. “She won’t be able to just leave with that baby.”

I nod. “I know.”

“It’ll be addicted. It’ll need--”

“She.”

Ed’s eyes snap back to mine. “Hmm?”

“It’s a girl. Shari had scans. She told me it’s a girl.”

“I’m concerned.”

I nod again. “Me too. She’ll have such a tough start. She’ll have addiction withdrawals. She’ll be born small, even if she’s born at full term--”

“You’re right on all accounts,” Ed admits. “But I meant I’m concerned about you.”

“Me? Why?”

“I read the report about what happened at the hospital. I know what she asked you.”

I shake my head quickly. “I can’t. I won’t entertain--”

“So why do I get the feeling that you are entertaining the idea? It’s not like it’s the first time you’ve taken kids in. I’m concerned because this time, you’re freaking out. Why the adamant no, Samantha?”

I continue to shake my head as my hands shake and my heart squeezes painfully in my chest. “I can’t--”

“I’m not saying you should. Hell, I think it’s a terrible idea. I’m just wondering why it’s personal this time.”

Why is it personal?

Because I want to take that baby home and keep her safe forever. I want to take Shari home too. I want to fix her, and I want to make her a better mom. I want to save that baby girl from the painful withdrawals I know she’ll face soon.

Her life will start in one of the most horrendous ways, and even though I know it’s coming, there’s not a damn thing I can do to help her.

Her very first battle begins the day she leaves her mom’s womb, and she has to fight it alone.

“It’s not personal. I just don’t have room in my life for a baby with special needs like that.”

Ed’s eyes call me a liar, but he doesn’t call me on it. He glances over my notes again, then he looks back up. “Go to her. See what’s going on and see what the hospital staff will tell you. We have to prepare for that baby to arrive soon.”

“She’s only six months.”

“That only leaves us three months at the most. I’m pressing for court mandated rehab before she gets that baby back.”

“She doesn’t want custody.”

“You know as well as I do how these situations can go, Samantha. It’s one thing while that baby is inside her and she’s still a faraway thought. But once she’s born, Mrs. Lytto may change her mind. We’re not sending a newborn baby to spend a cold winter in a tent, so rehab, then we’ll set her up in a women’s shelter until she can get on her feet.”

“What about her husband?”

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