Page 102 of Rule Breakers Fall Hardest

“A doctor will be in shortly to speak with you,” the social worker pipes up. “I have some papers I need to go over with you—it’s about temporary custody. We should do that while your lawyer is still here.”

Daire nods, his complexion paler than normal. “Yeah. All right.”

“There’s a private room down the hall.” This comes from the cop who hasn’t spoken until now. I honestly forgot the guy was in the room.

“Okay.” Daire nods woodenly. “Will you stay with him?” he asks me.

“Yeah.” I give his arm a reassuring squeeze. “Of course.”

When it’s only Sammy and me, the room is eerily quiet. I stand beside his crib, watching him, at a loss for what else to do. After a few minutes, he flails and fusses.

“Shh,” I croon, touching his cheek. I wish I knew more about kids and how to comfort him. The poor thing is hooked up to machines monitoring who knows what. I don’t even want to think about how bad the accident must have been if his mom and… well, dad, for lack of a better way to describe the guy, didn’t survive.

It hits me then—that Sammy has lost the only parents he knows.

And he’s stuck with us.

His biological father and a…me.

Two people who’ve been doing all we can to prepare to have shared custody of him but who are sorely lacking in hands-on experience.

“Oh, Sammy.” I smooth his soft blond hair back. “What are we going to do?”

His bottom lip juts out, wobbling.

“Please, don’t cry,” I beg. “I don’t know what to do if you cry. I’m not even sure I’m allowed to pick you up.”

What are we going to do?

The house is babyproofed, and we took the CPR class. We’ve even watched numerous videos, but all the information we’ve received feels useless when I consider having to actually care for a tiny human.

I find myself running through a mental checklist of what I remember and noting things we might still need to do.

It’s all so overwhelming, but it pales in comparison to what this baby has been through in the past twelve hours.

I didn’t know Danielle or her husband, but it doesn’t matter. They lost their lives, and that’s tragic.

I wipe a tear off my cheek. “We’re going to take good care of you, Sammy,” I say, stroking his head. “You’re already so loved by us.”

I pull the chair up beside his crib and sit. I don’t have much of a voice, but I sing to him, nonetheless, hoping it’ll comfort him since I’m not sure I can hold him.

Shockingly, it only takes a few moments for his eyes to grow heavy.

As he drifts off, I curl my legs beneath me and settle into the chair to wait for the others to return.

At some point, I doze off, but when my head lolls, I pop my eyes open and scan the room. Sammy is sleeping peacefully. I’m peering at him, studying his features and fighting a yawn when Daire enters the room.He smiles at the sleeping baby before crouching down in front of me.

Taking both my hands in his, he whispers, “I’ve been granted temporary custody. We’ll have to attend a hearing to establish permanent custody, but Nina said it shouldn’t be an issue. Danielle and her husband don’t have any family that should give us any trouble.”

I nod, wiping the sleep from my eyes. “When can we take him home?”

This cold, white place can’t be good for a baby.

“The hospital wants to monitor him for another couple of hours to be sure they haven’t missed anything.” He plucks his keys from his pocket and hands them to me. “Are you okay to drive home? You could get a few hours of sleep and come back and get us when he’s discharged. I didn’t even think to grab his car seat or anything before we rushed out.”

I take the keys from him, trying not to yawn again, wishing I could stay but knowing he’s right. I’ll need to prepare to bring him home. “Yeah, I can do that. Keep me updated, okay?”

He steps back, giving me room to stand. “I will.” He drops a kiss to the corner of my mouth.

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