“I’m glad you came. I’m sure it was good for Lucas to see some familiar faces.” The warmth of Cassie’s greeting wasn’t matched by Andrea or her husband. The woman refused even to meet her gaze.

My guts vibrated in warning mode. I seized Cassie’s hand and pulled her closer to me. I waited for the guy to make a move.

He started with a cough. Despite his huge frame, he managed to look awkward as he shuffled his feet and shrugged his shoulders. “Andrea and I, um, we thought we should tell you that we called an adoption agency last month.”

“You’ve decided to adopt? I’m sure Andrea will be a great mom. Congratulations.”

I swallowed a groan and pulled her closer under my shoulder. She threw me a questioning look. Still, Loretti didn’t comment and kept on with the shuffling and shrugging.

Shit, the guy had no balls whatsoever. “You’re talking about Lucas.”

Cassie shuddered. I helped her stand up straight.

“Yes. We wanted you to know. Um, because Andrea said how real nice Mrs. MacBride was to her.”

“That’s so very decent of you.” Sarcasm wouldn’t help. My girl had frozen beside me “What do you want me to say? That you have our blessing to adopt our son? You’re mistaken, Mr. Loretti. I’m sure your friend Mrs. Sorenson told you we applied to get Lucas back. We’re his birth parents.”

I saw a flame ignite in Loretti’s dull eyes. He was starting to get worked up. “You gave up on the boy once. I’m sure a judge will look at it and see you could do that all over again.”

“Never,” Cassie cried through a sob. Her lips trembled.

My hand gripped her shoulder even more tightly. The threat in my voice contradicted my next words. “Mr. Loretti, you should do what you have to do. We will do the same. However be aware that I will explore every legal avenue to ensure that Lucas, Cassie and I can be a family at last. I won’t leave any stone unturned.” The shrugging and shuffling doubled in frequency, so I added, “There are plenty of other children who need a loving family” to tone down what I’d said.

Loretti opened his mouth but no sound came out for a while until, “Andrea is very attached to the boy. He’s a great kid.” With that, he guided his wife back to their car.

I spun Cassie around so that the couple couldn’t see anymore how the news had hit her. I marched her to a bench not far from Alfredo’s grave. The crowd had already dispersed. There were only us and a couple of cemetery employees left. She slumped down, her arms wrapped tightly around her stomach as though she had been punched. I knelt at her feet, my fingers caressing her hair before gently sliding them down to massage her neck and shoulders.

Minutes passed without her saying a word. Slowly, the tension in her body receded. Finally, she let out a loud breath followed by a bitter chuckle. “You saw this coming.”

“Yes, but—”

“When?”

“From the first time we met her. She looked far too intense around Lucas.”

Another bitter chuckle. “And there I was baking cookies with the woman. I’m so fucking dumb. You should have told me.”

My hands followed her jawline, the curve of her neck and ended intertwined on her lap. “I’d hoped I was being paranoid.”

“Is that why you were desperate to meet up with Curtis today?”

My fingers squeezed hers. “I’m not desperate, Cass. We are Lucas’s birth parents and it does matter a great deal in eyes of the law. We have to press on with the adoption as if nothing had changed.”

“Everything’s changed.”

“No! We’ll be a family again soon. I’ll keep my promise to you, Cass. I will.”

Unshed tears blurred the bright blue of her eyes.

I checked my watch. “We should be on our way if we want to make it on time for Curtis and then the airport.”

She lifted her chin in that tough way of hers. I helped her up. Before heading to our rental car, Cassie paused by the hole where Mr. Guidi’s coffin lay. I heard the whispered good-bye she addressed to him. In my heart, I saluted him too. My promise to Cassie was also to Lucas’s grandfather.

The drive to Curtis, Curtis and Brown, LLP was punctuated with only a few words. Apart from that, we remained stuck in our own bubble of worry. Their downtown offices were plush with carpets as thick as the Aspen snow. The colors were neutral but refined and the furniture were dark mahogany wood.

A secretary led us to Curtis, who was his usual owlish self. I shook his hand. I was almost relieved to see the man. I didn’t waste any time and dived into the development regarding the Lorettis. The double arch of his eyebrows challenged some of my confidence.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Mr. MacBride. We’d be in a more secure position without the Lorettis’ interest in Lucas. Case-file mining is proven best-practice by child caseworkers in finding temporary or permanent placements.”

“Case-file mining?” Cassie asked.

“A caseworker will try and explore the connections a child already has with supportive adults. In Lucas’s case, people who know him personally or professionally. Close neighbors would likely qualify here.” Curtis steepled his fingers together. “At this stage though, you should focus on your own application and make sure nothing slows down the home study. I’ll take care of the inter-jurisdictional angle.”

“Tell us what you expect from us and we’ll deliver.” No matter how much work I had with my new job, I’d nail down every question he sent my way.

“Now that we have completed the application forms, we should schedule pre-service training and preliminary interviews with the family worker in D.C. As soon as it’s done, I’ll push forward for the home study.” He picked up a fountain pen and started scribbling notes. Without looking up from his notepad, he asked, “Cassandra, when will this tour of yours be over?”

“It’s over. At least for me. By the end of the week, I’ll be with Josh in D.C. I have to clean up my finances back in Kansas by selling my gran’s farm to pay off her medical bills.”

My hand crashed against the arm of my chair. Cassie made a point of fixing her gaze on Curtis who kept swinging back and forth between the two of us.

“I’m available as soon as next week for an interview. I’ve already Googled some parent support groups in D.C. How many training sessions will be required, do you think?”

“Four to ten. The more the better, since you’re young and have no previous parenting experience.”

I tilted my upper-body forward, my fists still wrapped tightly around the pommels of my chair. “Cassie, we need to discuss this.”

“Not now,” she cut in and without another look at me offered the warmest smile to Curtis, whose cheeks switched from stark white to a pale purple. “Is there a way to speed up the home study process?”

“Well,” Curtis pushed his glasses back up to the top of his nose. “Make sure all the information you supply is complete and accurate. In addition to that, you should get on with your autobiographical statements and contact the people you’d like to use as personal references. The idea is to be as transparent as possible. You’ve already provided me with your financial details, marriage license and birth certificates. So we have a head start.”

“When do you think we can expect to have Lucas with us?” There was so much longing in her voice that I almost forgot how pissed-off I was with her.

Curtis wriggled in his seat. “I tend to avoid making predictions like that, Cassandra. A lot of things can go wrong, but if you’re ready to get the ball rolling and dedicate yourself completely to the process for the next months, I’d hope for you to have Lucas scheduled for a pre-placement visit around Christmas. You are his birth parents after all and had the full support of his grandfather.”

Hope emanated from every cell in her body. She gave a short nod to the attorney, but her shoe kept tapping against the foot of her chair. Cassie sauntered out of the attorney’s office. When we stepped out onto the sidewalk, it had started to drizzle and the breeze had built up into a wind.