Chapter 7
T he office building was huge, and it took them a few minutes to get from the front doors to the offices of Baker, Word, and Fogerty. From the sign on the door, Blue ascertained that Glen was the Baker. His name was first, and Blue took that to be a good sign.
The office itself was terrifying. There were pieces of artwork on the walls that Blue was pretty sure cost more than all the money he’d made in his life combined.
Everything was beautiful and elegant. It smelled clean too, and Blue thought about that ratty rug in Indigo’s room.
His little house had a musty, stale odor to it, and he made a mental note to see what he could do about that.
“Mr. Baker will see you now,” a young woman told them and led the way to a set of large double doors, their wooden surfaces gleaming. She opened the door and swept an arm inward, encouraging them to enter.
“Anne! It’s so good to see you!” the man behind the desk said, rounding the end of the huge wooden work area and embracing Anne.
“It’s good to see you too, Glen! I missed you at the Christmas party last time around.”
“Yeah, well, I was in the middle of a helluva trial and I just couldn’t spend any time away from the office. Shelby wasn’t happy about it, but we won, so there’s that. And who do we have here?” he asked, pointing to the Wallaces.
“Oh! Sorry. This is BrentWallace and his little girl, Indigo.”
As soon as Anne had finished the introduction, Glen extended his hand to Blue. “It’s great to meet you! Any friend of Anne’s is a friend of mine. She’s a cutie,” he said, gazing down at the sleeping baby, then motioned for them to take a seat. “Now, what exactly is going on?”
To Blue’s embarrassment, that was exactly the moment Indigo decided to start fussing.
“I’m so sorry, sir,” Blue said, trying to figure out what to do.
He took her from her carrier seat and cradled her in one arm, and she quieted down immediately.
Anne had pinned her pacifier to her little top, and Blue tickled her lips with it until she took it and sucked away.
“You don’t have to apologize. That’s what babies do. Now, tell me about this difficulty you’re facing,” Glen said and sat back in his chair.
Blue started the story and when he told Glen how Indigo had come to him, Glen laughed. “Oh, god, that sounds like a bad movie plot!”
That had never occurred to Blue, and he chuckled. “Well, now that you mention it…”
“Someone wasn’t very creative, were they?” Glen said, still laughing. “Sorry. Go on. So what happened then?” Glen asked.
Continuing on with the story, Blue explained everything that had happened, and Glen interrupted him. “Do you have her birth certificate with you?”
“Sure.” It was a good thing Anne had encouraged him to bring it along. “And the note she left is there too.”
“Aha. That’s useful. So we’ve got a note telling you that this is your child and her birth certificate with your name on it. I’ll have my assistant make copies of them. So, what happened then?”
It took a little while, but Blue finally got to, “And when the woman from social services left, my boss came out and fired me.”
“Oh. No. That’s, no, that’s just wrong. Okay, so social services put you in a position that caused you to lose your job. And are you working now?”
“No. It just happened this morning,” Blue explained.
“And have you heard from the social worker yet?”
“Yeah. She called earlier and made an appointment for tomorrow at nine o’clock.”
Glen sat back and tapped his ink pen against his lip. Blue could almost see the gears turning in his head. “Okay, let’s attack this meeting tomorrow morning first. We’ve got to make sure she sees you in a positive light.”
“It may be too late for that, sir. When she called, I blurted out that my boss had fired me because of her visit,” Blue said, feeling pretty damn foolish.
“No, that’s okay. Now she knows that if you don’t have a job, it’s not your fault.
And if her superiors find out that she did something that left you jobless, she could be in a lot of trouble.
That could work for us.” Glen scribbled something on his legal pad.
“Let me ask you this. How would you rate your home where a child is concerned?”
Blue shrugged. “I have no idea. I’ve never had a child before.”
“Okay, let me try it this way. If you had a child, would you want them to stay with the person who lives in your home? I mean, as far as the house is concerned?”
That was something Blue had never thought about.
After giving it some consideration, he said, “Well, it’s shabby, but it’s warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
My furniture is old, but it’s not dangerous or anything.
I’ve tried to do a decent job putting a nursery together for her, but I’ve only had her a week.
I’d like to paint and get a new rug, but now there’s no money for that.
There are a few pictures on the walls, and the shower Anne’s friends at the hospital gave me left me with the things that are necessary. No frills, but she has what she needs.”
“What about what you need?” Glen asked.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what you mean.”
“I mean, you should be able to live too. You should be able to eat, and to have clothes and somewhere to sleep. What can you afford to spend on yourself?”
That question made Blue feel like the biggest loser on the planet.
He struggled to say, “I don’t spend money on myself.
I never have.” It was almost impossible for him to get out the next words he had to say.
“I made barely over minimum wage. No benefits and no vacation time. No sick leave. Nothing.” When he listened to himself saying that, it made him sick.
He was sitting there in that austere office, across the desk from a man in an impeccably ironed white shirt and expensive tie, and he felt like a worthless bum.
This was a mistake , Blue thought. He’s going to laugh me right out of here .
His mouth dropped open when Glen said, “Well, it sounds to me like your old boss did you a favor. You can most definitely do better than that. You’re a mechanic, and mechanics are in demand.
I don’t think you’ll have any trouble finding a job.
But I’ll tell you this. You said exactly what I wanted to hear.
You’re not concerned with yourself. Your main concern is for this child. ”
“Yes, sir.”
Glen stared at him and rolled his pen between his finger and thumb. “Let me guess. Your mom and dad divorced when you were young and you were brought up by a single mom.”
Blue shook his head. “I never knew my parents. I was put in foster care when I was a toddler, so I don’t remember them.
” He could feel himself shrinking, getting smaller by the minute, more insignificant and less of a person.
“The things that happened to me… No child should have to live through that. No one should.” Blue closed his eyes against the tears he felt pooling in his lower lids, then opened them and looked straight at Glen.
“Can I show you something?” Glen nodded, so Blue handed the baby to Anne, stood, slipped off his tee, and turned with his back to Glen.
Anne burst into tears, and he wasn’t surprised.
He knew what his back looked like. There were scars from cuts and whippings and all kinds of beatings, and at least a few cigarette burns.
A full minute passed, a minute in which Blue felt humiliation like he’d never felt in his life.
He hadn’t wanted Anne to know, but he wanted this man to know, to see where he’d come from and to at least know he wasn’t playing the lawyer’s sympathies.
Slipping his tee back on, he turned to Glen, and he could feel his soul hardening, readying for the verbal abuse he was sure was coming.
All he said was, “This is never going to happen to my daughter as long as I have breath in my body.”
Glen’s face was expressionless when Blue sat back down.
But his words were all the new dad needed to hear.
“Mr.Wallace, I’m going to do everything in my power to not only see that never happens to your daughter, but to be sure that you get to be the one who protects her from anything and everything like that.
” He leaned over to his phone and punched a button.
A voice came through the speaker and said, “Yes, sir.”
“Gretchen, get on the phone and start making some calls. I want case citings for custody of a parent with whom a child has been abandoned. I also want you to call McDermott and tell him I want some background on a VirginiaParker at child protective services. We should be able to find out if there have ever been any actions taken against her for abuse of power or neglect of a minor under her supervision. Oh, and tell Jody to call his dad. I’m going to want to have a sit-down with him and get some questions answered. ”
“Yes, sir. Right away, sir.” The phone went dead and Blue wondered what was about to happen.
“One of my clerks is the son of a retired family court judge. I don’t do much family law, so I’m going to consult him. In the meantime, this is our strategy for your meeting with Ms.Parker tomorrow,” Glen said. He punched the phone again. “Valerie?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Could you come in and take notes, please?” he said forcefully.
“Yes, sir.” In seconds, the door opened and a young woman in a beautiful business suit strolled in and took a seat. “Ready, sir.”
“She’ll write down what we talk about, then type it up and get it to you. You may have to work all night, but this all has to be done.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll do whatever you say, sir,” Blue said. And he meant it. If this man was willing to help him keep his daughter, he’d do whatever he was told. And when Anne reached over and took his hand, he knew for certain that he wouldn’t be doing it alone.
“Got that done,” Blue said, tossing a sponge into the bucket at his feet. “I don’t know if it looks any better, but it sure smells better.”