Chapter 2
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Pamela couldn’t believe that Anderson didn’t recognize her.
He had no idea who she was, and it was almost heartbreaking—yet she probably should have expected it.
Just because he was still on her mind didn’t mean he’d ever even given her a thought.
Just another memory that seemed to go AWOL while she wasn’t paying attention.
She always knew she would see him again, but it never occurred to her that he would not even recognize her.
How was that possible? They hadn’t been boyfriend and girlfriend, but they had hung out in the same group in high school.
Enough interactions had transpired between them that she would have thought he would have recognized her easily.
Maybe he did. Maybe he just couldn’t place her, but the fact that he was here and looking to gain at least temporary custody of his sister’s children was something she had never expected.
Those poor babies …
She hadn’t even known that Talia still lived in San Diego. How did that happen? Probably because Talia’s last name was different now. Probably because life got in the way. Probably because Pamela’s thoughts always gravitated toward Anderson, not so much Talia.
Pamela shook her head. She hadn’t seen him in all these years.
Once he’d left, he was gone-gone, and everybody else could just be damned.
That was apparently his attitude and had been that way for a very long time.
He’d always been one of those people who didn’t sweat the small stuff, and, once he was done, he was done.
Yet, if you were on his good side, he was there for anything you needed, for as long as necessary.
Pamela groaned as she drove to the courthouse.
In addition to her other cases, she had a lot of follow-up to do on this one.
Now that temporary care was arranged with Anderson, she needed to pull the file and look for red flags on any of the parties involved to watch for any updates or potential danger to the babies.
This would include checking Anderson’s record because he must have a clean record for her to hand over custody for longer than today.
She should have done it already as it was.
Today had been pretty busy already for her, without the new court case and transporting the triplets to Anderson.
She could only hope that his background check allowed her to grant him temporary custody.
She wanted him to do this for his sister, but Pamela still had a job to do.
Part of that job was making sure Anderson would be a decent stand-in father—and mother—for the triplets, until his sister could get back on her feet.
The problem was, Pamela wasn’t sure how recovery would go for Talia. According to the doctors, her injuries were severe, and, though she would likely recover, that rehab road would definitely be difficult and long, particularly if she intended to look after her babies on her own.
Of course the husband was an unknown factor in the equation.
Pamela had been trying to contact him this whole time, first to care for the children himself, and now to at least ask for his permission to allow Anderson to have temporary custody.
The birth father’s approval would make her job a lot easier, but, so far, she had received no response from him. And that worried her in a big way.
She really didn’t want to find out that he’d had something to do with Talia’s assault.