Page 7 of The Baby Plan

“I’m fine, thank you,” said Yvonne, pleasantly. “May I sit down?”

“Please!”

Yvonne perched on the edge of the small, lumpy sofa, and Sophie resumed her earlier position in the armchair.

“This is a routine visit in the circumstances, nothing for you to worry yourself about. My department was contacted this morning about your sister when her records showed she had a child. The hospital said Natasha had a sister and they thought you’d be caring for the baby. Without an address for you, this seemed the obvious place to check first. May I offer my condolences? Her passing must have been a terrible shock.”

“Thank you. It was.” Sophie felt some relief at this opening.

“Of course, you won’t have had a chance to think long term about Alana,” Yvonne continued. “I understand there’s no dad in the picture though? It says ‘father unknown’ on her records?”

“Yes... Alana doesn’t know her father,” answered Sophie, not wanting to go into the details of Samson’s earlier visit.

“So, you’re her guardian at the moment then?”

Sophie nodded her reply.

“Is there anyone to help you?”

“No. We’re fine as we are. I can manage.”

“I would be able to find a place in foster care for her if it’s needed? Even if it’s just while you get yourself together...” Yvonne offered.

“No!” said Sophie, quickly. “That won’t be necessary.”

“So you’re happy to care for her long term?”

“Absolutely,” Sophie said, firmly.

“And do you have children yourself?”

“No . . .” admitted Sophie.

“Don’t worry,” said Yvonne, kindly. “Would it be all right if I left my phone number with you, and took down a number for you? Any problems or queries, give me a call straight away, any time.”

“Sure,” Sophie replied, breathing a sigh of relief, and accepting the contact details Yvonne offered. She wrote her mobile number down.

“I’ll need to check in every now and again to see how you two are doing. Maybe we could meet in about a week to talk about how you’d like to proceed with making your guardianship official? You live locally?”

“No, in London.”

“Oh. So you’ll be going back there?”

“I don’t know, I suppose so . . . I haven’t thought . . .”

“OK. What’s your actual address?” Yvonne noted it down in her folder. A few more questions followed about Sophie and her life, and the pen scribbled away.

“Well, let me know if there’s anything I can do to help,” said Yvonne finally, standing up to leave.

“Thank you, I will,” said Sophie, showing her to the front door.

“Good luck to you both,” said Yvonne.

Sophie gratefully shut the door. Yvonne had seemed nice and supportive, but she’d been so worried Alana would start screaming, or that Yvonne would spot she was doing something completely wrong with the baby and would insist she wasn’t capable of being her niece’s guardian, she’d been on tenterhooks for the whole conversation. She hadn’t even noticed that Alana had contentedly fallen asleep in her arms. Sophie quickly carried her niece to her cot and placed her gently in it, resolved to at least have a quick shower and get dressed before the doorbell rang again.

What a start to looking after Alana. Surely things could only improve from now on.

Chapter 3

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