Standing up, I place my hand on the back of her head and the other under her butt to hold her up. Warmth hits my back as Kane wraps his arms around us both. The social worker is staring at us with tears in her eyes.
Kane places his hand on her back and she jerks again from the contact. Kane drops his hand and he looks out at the field with his jaw clenched. He’s pissed, and so am I. What kind of mom lets her child get hit? What kind of fucking mother doesn’t care for her child? Today is the day this little girl won’t ever have to worry about anything like that again.
“I have some papers here for you to sign. I checked everything, and it’s obvious that you can financially care for the child. I checked your records and everything came back clean. I will be back in a week to check on things.” She nods her head at Kane and points to go inside the house.
Kane puts his hand on the small of my back and leads me up the steps. Arabella is still wrapped around me tightly. Her little fists clenching my shirt.
“This way,” he tells the social worker and points toward the kitchen.
Her mouth is open as she stares around at the house. She turns to Kane. “Wow, your house is amazing.” She then turns her head to the boxes of toys and bed things for Arabella. Her face softens and turns to look at me. Smiling, I hug Arabella tighter to me.
“I see you guys are well prepared.” She doesn’t say anything else as she follows Kane into the kitchen.
What do I do? Follow after them? Stay here? Deciding to stand at the door frame that leads into the kitchen so I’m in view but not close enough to think I’m eavesdropping, I watch as Kane signs some things and the social worker puts them into a file. “I will be on my way. It was nice to meet you.” The social worker turns to Kane and then to me.
“You too,” I tell her. Kane just nods but doesn’t take his eyes off me. The door shuts a minute later.
What do I do now? Maybe she is hungry.
“Are you hungry, baby?” I ask her softly. I can feel her nod slightly against my shoulder. “What would you like?” I ask again.
“Pizza?”
Looking up at Kane I smile at him. Kane takes out his phone to place the order.
“Kane, I’m going to sit in the living room while we wait for the pizza.”
He nods his head. His eyes are sad when he looks at Arabella. She reminds him of himself when he was a kid. The product of having to live with a mother who did drugs and did nothing to care for her child.
Sitting down on the couch, Arabella doesn’t move. After a few minutes she starts to move around a little, and then she turns her head and her eyes connect with him. Her icy blue eyes have me sucking in a sharp breath. Her eyes are identical to Kane’s.
I can feel Kane walk by us and sit down beside me. His hand touches my thigh as he looks down at the little girl. She sits up a little farther to get a better view. Looking at Kane, I notice him smiling at her slightly.
“Hey, baby,” Kane whispers to her. He smooths her hair away from her face. She doesn’t flinch.
She sits up all the way, her eyes never leaving Kane. Kane rubs his thumb over her cheek. Her eyes widen. Bracing myself, I prepare for her to start crying. To my utter disbelief, she lifts her arms and reaches for Kane.
She wraps herself around him like a monkey. Her little fists clench his shirt. Her face goes to his chest. Kane wraps his arms around her protectively. He gives me a pained look. I know how he’s feeling. It’s tearing me up inside at the thought of what made this little girl this way.
The doorbells rings and Arabella cries out and burrows deeper into Kane’s chest. He holds her tighter. Putting my hand over my mouth, I try to hold in my sob. Kane leans to the side slightly and pulls out his wallet. He nods to the door. Nodding, I go to pay the pizza man.
Hurrying, I pay and grab the pizza, gently closing the door behind me not wanting to startle Arabella. Going to the kitchen I grab plates, two waters, and a cup of milk. Setting everything on top of the pizza box, I carry it back to the living room.
Arabella is still cuddling to his chest. “Food’s ready.”
Kane lifts her up so she sitting in his lap. Opening the box, I place a piece on each of our plates. Noticing that Arabella’s eyes never leave the food, I quickly cut the pizza up into little pieces so she can pick it up and eat it herself.
Sitting down, I put the plate into her lap. She stares down at it for a second before she nervously looks around her like she’s waiting for someone to snatch the food away any second. She slowly picks up a piece and lifts her to her mouth and takes her first bite. She barely bites into it before she starts chewing and shoves the rest into her mouth. Kane and I don’t eat—we can’t take our eyes off of this little girl.