Page 33 of Ronny

She wants fifty thousand dollars, and we need to get her to sign her rights over. I tell him to get the ball rolling. It pisses me off that she wants money, but to me it would be worth it to save us going to court over the little girl.

“Give me the address, I am on my way to you guys after I pick up a car seat for her.”

He hangs up and I look at Maverick, my mind blown that all of this is happening and so fast. I never fathomed that I would be an instant parent.

Maverick puts his hand on my shoulder. “When we saw Ronny, we knew he was meant to be our son, and now I get to be a granddad.” He hugs me, and I hug him back.

“I want to thank you for taking such good care of him. You have given him such a great life and saved him from that evil family.” I hiss the last part, thinking of the way his mother treated him.

Maverick chuckles. “Come on, let’s get inside and talk to the bitch,” he curses her, and I giggle, following him inside of the shack.

Lane is still holding the little girl and he hands her back to me as she is whining, her little fists raised in the air before she moves one her mouth, suckling on it.

She must be hungry.

“Do you have any formula for her?” I ask Ronny’s aunt, but she just looks at me like I’m stupid. I guess that answers that.

“I will have the papers drawn up right now to sign the rights over. I have some judges in my pocket.” Lane winks at me and I let out a deep breath, thankful it’s not going to be a long court battle.

It would have been if I went through the system, which is why I didn’t immediately call them as sometimes the MC way is more efficient.

“Lane, do you think Elle’s doctor would take a look at her? I can take her to her clinic for testing. She feels really light.” I bite my bottom lip, scared that the baby is malnourished.

She is tiny, even for a newborn. She starts to whine again, so I lift her closer to me, snuggling her into my chest.

“I don’t care as long as I get my money. I thought her dad would pay child support or something, but he dropped off the face of the earth.” She sighs like it’s the baby that is the biggest inconvenience.

She leans over onto a broken-down coffee table to grab a pack of cigarettes and lights it up, blowing smoke right in our direction.

“Put that out before I shove it down your throat,” I tell her, the anger burning me deep at the disrespect.

She rolls her eyes like she is a teenager and her mom just scolded her, but she takes the cigarette out of her mouth and stomps it out on the couch arm.

I decide to take the baby out of the house and sit down on the porch step, laying her gently on my knees to look her over. She doesn’t even have a clean diaper for this sweet girl. “You will never have to sit in a dirty diaper again, angel.”

I have her report on the step next to me and I look over at her name. I will give her mother one thing, she gave her a beautiful name—Madeline.

I know she is hungry and it’s killing me that I don’t have anything to give her. “No more hunger either, you have had a long two weeks of your life. But no more.”

She put her in the dog bed like she is an animal, she didn’t even have a proper bed for the child. How can someone treat a newborn baby so poorly? It’s breaking my heart.

Not too much time has passed and two trucks are thundering down the roadway, pulling to a stop at the curb. The first truck I don’t recognize, but I know Ronny’s.

The door to the first truck opens and I see a man get out in a suit holding a briefcase, walking straight to me. “Is this her?” he asks me, and I nod.

“This is Madeline.” He looks over her and sighs before he walks inside of the house.

Ronny is practically running to me and stops right before he touches me, looking at the baby.

“Fuck, she is so tiny, baby,” he says softly, like he is scared of spooking her.

“She really is,” I agree, rubbing her thin cheek.

“Can you guys come in now?” Lane asks us, and Ronny helps me stand with Madeline in my arms. I hold her in the crook of my arm.

On the table is a ton of cash and I swallow hard that this is really happening, we are practically buying this baby, but it’s to save her life.

The woman looks up when she sees Ronny and her mouth opens in shock. “Holy shit, you grew up,” she says, not even bothering with a ‘How are you?’ or ‘Are you okay?’

---