“Hello, Penelope,” she said softly, a big smile on her lips that just seemed so inappropriate to the moment. “I can’t tell you how lovely it is to see you again.”
I glanced at Harrison. He stepped back slightly to include this woman in on our intimate circle.
“This is Julia. Julia Castiano Rowell.”
The birth mother.
My heart seemed to stutter in my chest as I caught a look between her and Harrison that just seemed too familiar. I remembered her. Remembered meeting her as a child. I’d thought she was so beautiful then.
Now? I just thought she didn’t belong here.
My knees seemed to grow weak. Lack of sleep was catching up to me.
Harrison wrapped his arm around my waist and guided me to a chair in the small waiting room. He sat beside me, not removing his arm. I leaned forward, trying to take a few deep breathes. An image of Harrison with Julia passed through my mind. She was exactly the kind of woman I’d imagined he would date: tall, thin, model-like, and blond. Don’t all billionaire playboys date blondes?
Why was I thinking about this now? I should be thinking about JT, thinking about his surgery and the chances that he would never be able to walk without a limp, let alone play football again.
“Did you get to see JT before they took him to surgery?”
I turned my head, resting my cheek against my knee for a second before pushing myself back up into a sitting position.
“Yeah.”
“How is he?”
I shook my head. “They have him on some pretty strong painkillers. He was asleep most of the time.”
Harrison nodded. “That’s what they said downstairs.”
“Downstairs?”
“Harry harassed the entire ER staff until they found someone who could tell him what was going on with JT.”
A beautiful, dark-haired woman appeared in front of me, dressed quite stylishly in a tan suit that fit her figure perfectly. She wasn’t straight and boyish like the birth mother, but she wasn’t as curvy as me, either. She had a nice smile and green eyes that were so much like Harrison’s that there was no way I could mistake for anyone but a relative.
“Penelope, this is my sister, Libby. Lib, this is Penelope.”
Libby. I’d seen that name on his phone. I’d assumed it was a girlfriend.
That’s what I got for making assumptions.
“It’s nice to meet you, Libby,” I said.
“I just wish it was under better circumstances,” Libby said. She touched my shoulder lightly. “Is there anything I can get for you? Anyone I can call?”
I was touched that she would be so considerate, considering I was currently embroiled in a custody battle with her brother. I forced a smile.
“I don’t think there’s anything to do now but wait.”
Chapter 20
Harrison
The wait has got to be the worst part of a crisis. And everyone seemed to have a different way of handling it.
Julia picked at her nails for about forty minutes, then she slipped out, disappearing for the better part of two hours before she came back with lukewarm coffee for everyone.
Libby sat quietly in one corner of the room, texting on her phone almost the entire time.
Nick came up to check on Penelope four times before I finally suggested he would be helping out much more if he’d just go back to the bakery and make sure everything was running smoothly.
Sean and his mother handed me a phone number and left.
My mother was nowhere to be seen.
Finn smoothed things over with the judge and went home, promising to bill me three times his normal fee for the aggravation of coming here without actually doing anything. As far as he was concerned, the hearing was just delayed until JT was better. I hadn’t told him about Penelope’s legal forfeiture yet.
Penelope remained glued to her seat, barely moving and not talking. I could feel the tension rolling off her shoulders. I desperately wanted to do something to relieve it, but I didn’t know what. Watching her struggle to stay calm only reminded me of all she’d already lost with the deaths of her parents, and how much more she stood to lose if I followed through with my fight for JT.
Not that there would be much of a fight if I took her up on her offer. But, right now, it didn’t seem right to even consider it.
The doctor finally came out after about five hours. I stood too quickly, my back protesting after sitting in that hard, plastic chair for so long. I turned to Penelope, but she was already out of the chair and ducking around me to speak to the doctor.
“He came through the surgery like a champ,” the doctor was saying as I moved up behind Penelope. “The break was a little more complicated than we originally believed. We had to insert four sets of plates in order to stabilize it.”
“I assume he’ll need rehab,” I said. “How soon can he start?”