Page 14 of Saber's Surrender

“When we were in our late teens, Roxy and I had a hard decision to make. We chose the ultimate sacrifice over selfishness.”

I internally scoff and roll my eyes when he makes that misinformative statement. If he were going to be truthful, he’d tell her we were at a stalemate in regard to our son and we childishly pushed each other away like the children we were. We were nowhere ready to be adults let alone raise a child.

“We were a statistic and in the end, we gave our son up for adoption. As you can see for yourself, we aren’t those people any longer. We have productive lives and profitable careers. We’re steady and stable, and against all the odds and years of separation, we found our way back to each other.”

He’s putting such a fairytale spin on our story right now that I’m surprised lightning hasn’t struck his lying ass dead. A choked sound escapes my lips and I pat my chest in a silent apology. Saber’s hand squeezes mine and I turn to look the other way so I can hide my facial expression.

“With testing, we discovered that Canyon is our boy,” he goes on to say even though the DNA test hasn’t come back from the lab yet. However, we put a rush on it so by the time we need to show her the evidence, we should have it in hand. “We’d like to figure out a way to bring him back into our family, as well as his sister, Egypt.”

“She’d be a welcome addition,” I tack on, giving her my best smile. One I’ve used numerous times with patients that are mercurial.

“Were these tests approved by me?” Mrs. Tremain asks, now looking apprehensive. “Because I’m their pseudo guardian and anything ran on them has to go through me for approval.”

“We took the liberty before you were assigned their case. We needed to know so we could figure out how to move forward with our claim. I apologize if I did anything wrong, Mrs. Tremain. Honestly, my deeds were noble and not meant to run roughshod over you. I swear,” he says, laying on thick. “I thought I was doing the right thing and that if you had a jump start on things it’d be less paperwork for you. We know how hard you work for these children and that nobody ever gives you a helping hand.”

Who the hell is this man? He’s like Jekyll and Hyde. One minute he’s barking at me and the next he’s fluttering his eyelashes like a damsel in distress.

“Oh, thank you so much. It’s a thankless job, but it’s about the children. I can’t even tell you about some of the things I’ve seen and heard. You’re right, I appreciate the helping hand,” she purrs.

Oh, for fuck’s sake, she can’t be seriously buying into this load of bullshit can she? I mean, if I didn’t know him as well as I do, I’d probably believe his act. It’s almost worthy of an Oscar at this point. Not to mention, the constraint I’m using to refrain from rolling my eyes should earn me one for a supporting role or something!

“When you get a chance, if you could get me a copy of the results, it would be a valued welcome. Paperwork is the devil,” she giggles. My head snaps in her direction because she’s gone from sounding like a grown ass woman to a tittering teenager.

“Is it difficult for something like that to occur?” I question, trying to reel both of them in a bit. “I mean, we did sign away our parental rights but we were teenagers. Will that hold any kind of sway over a judge? Because we’ve both suffered with our decision.”

There, Saber, take that! I can act too!

“Well, there’s a few hoops you’re going to have to jump through and it wouldn’t happen overnight. We’d have to place them with an approved foster care home, of course. The two of you would need to complete those courses as well, then, once home visits are completed, you’d basically have to adopt your own child along with Egypt, of course,” Mrs. Tremain says.

“Of course, we’d be willing to take Egypt as previously stated,” Saber replies, as if I didn’t say that exact same thing earlier. Prick. “They’re already dealing with the grief of losing the only parents they’ve ever known, so there’s no way we’d even consider separating them from each other.”

Mrs. Tremain looks down at her laptop and makes a noncommittal noise. “I see here that there’s a local couple who recently went through the classes. They adopted the child too, so that might assist you both with how that process works.”

I bite back my grin because I suspect she’s probably talking about RiffRaff and Jillian. “Who is it?” Saber asks. At Mrs. Tremain’s startled look, he adds, “We just happen to know a lot of people in town is all, and some friends of ours adopted a little boy not too long ago whose parents both passed away.”

“Well, I’ll just preface what I’m about to tell you with this, the father is in a motorcycle club, but the club itself is heavily involved in the community, and the mother is a vet tech at the local animal hospital. He only answers to RiffRaff, though. Wouldn’t even let the judge refer to him by his legal name. It’s in a sealed envelope, however.”

A startled chuckle escapes me when I hear the two’s names. Somehow, even though Saber didn’t share this information with me, I know that those are the people he had in mind to care for Canyon and Egypt.

“We know them well,” I advise the social worker.

“RiffRaff and I belong to the same club, Mrs. Tremain. And you’re right on the account that we are highly invested in our community and do whatever we can to help the town. Roxy and I both take care of the club’s medical needs as well as the patients that come through the hospital doors. Neither of us have a record so that’s not something you’ll need to worry about when it comes to the two of us. We’re clean and productive members of society.”

“I’m not worried in the least when it comes to the Imperial Knights, of that I can assure you. There have been plenty of times when we’re lacking in funds, clothing, and food for the children who haven’t been placed yet, and y’all’ve stepped up to the plate for us. The first time that you men and women put on a charity run was one of the most thrilling times in not only the workers' lives, but the kids too. Every time I think back and remember the looks on some of the boys' faces when they got to sit on the bikes and rev the engines makes my heart pitter patter.” She thumps her palm to her chest when she wraps up her thoughts.

Pitter patter? The woman’s vocabulary is stuck on toddler verbiage. Damn, now I’m being judgmental, it’s time to back up my caboose and reflect on the coal chunks coloring my jealous streak… black char that Santa is surely going to be stuffing my stocking with next Christmas.

“Okay, so we’ll get those results to you as soon as they become available to the public. When can we start on the classes? Also, I thought it might help the kids assimilate a little better if their things could be gotten from their home?” Saber asks. “I’ve been thinking about this since I realized who he was, so I apologize in advance for all the information I’m heaping on you.”

If he lays it on any thicker, I’m gonna need to pull out a pair of boots! Not to be outdone, I jump back into the conversation. “I’m sure the club will help us gather their things once you tell us how to proceed.”

“Well, there are a bunch of legalities, of course,” Mrs. Tremain muses, jotting something down. “But I’ll add those questions to my list and head into the office to make some phone calls and see if RiffRaff and Jillian would be willing to take on Canyon and Egypt.”

I see a small smile on Saber’s face and realize he’s hiding something from not only me, but Mrs. Tremain. Guess I need to wait for her to leave to see what he’s got up his sleeve.

CHAPTER

NINE

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