21. Jenner

Chapter 21

Jenner

The day after we got home from Vegas, our happy little bubble burst.

We got a call from the adoption agency asking us to come in for a meeting. The director's administrative assistant said it was urgent and that they needed to see us immediately. The Speed were still on break, so we told them we'd be right over.

Evie was in full-blown panic mode on the drive to the agency's office.

"Do you think Paige changed her mind? I haven't heard from her in a few days. Should I reach out?"

I reached my hand over the center console to grasp hers. "We don't know what's going on. Let's just sit tight until we do."

"Jenner, we were so close." Her voice broke, and along with it, my heart.

I wanted to give this woman the world, but I had failed time and time again.

"It's gonna be okay, I'm sure of it." The lie slipped easily from my tongue. I wasn't sure of anything. Deep in my gut, I knew this meeting was the end of the road on our adoption journey—at least, in regards to one involving Paige.

During the rest of the drive, I mentally berated myself for getting excited, for forming an attachment to the baby Paige carried, and for already thinking of her as ours. I should've known better. All of it seemed too good to be true.

Evie clung to me as we walked the hallways of the agency and were told to wait in the director's office because she was in the middle of an interview between a birth mom and prospective parents.

Sitting side by side before an empty desk took me right back to the last time devastating news had been delivered to us.

I gripped Evie's hand while we waited in the fertility specialist's office. "I'm sure everything's fine."

She chewed nervously on her lower lip. "What if it's not?"

"We're young," I countered. "They said it's not unusual for it to take over a year to conceive. And I'm not sure we can even count it as a full year when we missed the ovulation window five times because I was on the road."

Evie shook her head. "I just know something is wrong with me."

"Maybe it's me," I offered.

Tears welled up in her pretty purple eyes. "I have a bad feeling about this, Jenner. I don't know why."

"Hey." I moved from my chair to kneel before her, wiping away a tear that slid down her cheek. "I love you, Evie. So, no matter what the results of these tests are, we will figure it out. Together. Okay?"

Squeezing her eyes shut, she nodded but couldn't stop a sob from bursting free. I tucked her against my chest, holding on for dear life, praying with everything I had that the doctors were prepared with a plan—that we could overcome this obstacle and find our way to becoming parents.

The door to the office opened, and Evie let out a whimper.

Pulling back enough to kiss her, I whispered, "I've got you."

I retook my seat as Dr. Burton dropped onto his desk chair. He gave Evie a kind smile, offering her a box of tissues. Sniffling, she pulled a few from the box before blowing her nose.

When he left the box on the edge of the desk, my heart sank.

Clearing his throat, Dr. Burton began, "Mr. and Mrs. Knight. Thank you for coming in today. I felt it was best to share the findings of your tests in person."

Evie's hand reached out blindly for me, and I gripped it with both of mine, providing the anchor she so desperately needed, even if my world was about to crumble right alongside hers.

"They were bad, weren't they?" she asked, her voice hoarse from crying.

Tapping the file on his desk, he replied, "No. Not bad. But they were inconclusive."

"Inconclusive?" I questioned. "What does that mean? More testing is required?"

The doctor opened the file—our file. "There's nothing in here to suggest that you shouldn't be able to conceive a child naturally."

"So . . ." Evie paused, likely trying to work through his words in her brain. "There's nothing wrong with either one of us?"

"Not that I can tell. Since you've been trying for over a year and have been unsuccessful in conceiving, that does mean I can diagnose you with unexplained infertility." Evie sucked in a sharp breath, so he rushed to explain, "Try not to panic. I know it sounds scary, but getting that diagnosis means we can explore options. And it doesn't mean that you couldn't get pregnant on your own next month."

"What kind of options?" I asked.

"To start, we can try some medications to increase your follicle production. I must warn you, however, that this could lead to a multiple pregnancy."

My wife squeezed my hand. "That's a risk we're willing to take."

If this weren't such a serious situation, I might've laughed. It was one thing to willingly agree to twins or triplets in a state of desperation, quite another to deal with the realities of carrying, delivering, and raising multiple babies at the same time.

"We can try that for six months or so," Dr. Burton continued, "and if that doesn't do the trick, we can move on to IUI, where we would place the sperm directly into your uterus to increase the likelihood of conception."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"The final option is IVF, which is a much more invasive and taxing process. Not to mention costly."

It was my turn to speak up. "Money is no object."

Yeah, it sounded pretentious, but it was true. And I needed Evie to know that I was willing to sacrifice everything I had for her.

"Right." Dr. Burton nodded. "If you're all set to go down this road, I can have a prescription waiting for you at the front desk, and we'll take it from there."

"Yes. That's what we want." Evie's voice grew eager.

"Perfect, let's give that six months and see if we can't make a baby."

"Thank you." Standing, I offered my hand to the doctor Evie's brother had referred us to. He was the best in the Midwest, and we'd traveled to Chicago to visit him.

He shook my hand. "Hopefully, you'll have no cause to come back this way, and you'll be sending me pictures of a chubby-cheeked little cutie before this time next year."

Leading Evie from his office, I whispered in her ear, "We've got this, babe. We just needed a little boost, is all."

And I truly believed it.

The door to the office opened, and in stepped the agency's director, Miranda Williams. Her poker face was shit, and the stern frown on her lips had dread rolling down my spine.

Sitting behind her desk, she folded both hands atop the polished wood, getting right down to business. "I'm afraid we have a problem."

Add a terrible bedside manner to the lousy poker face.

Evie whimpered by my side, but instead of comforting her, I leaned forward, challenging, "What kind of problem?"

My mind skipped right over Paige backing out to something being wrong with the baby. I wasn't sure which scenario was worse because both would kill Evie.

Miranda didn't falter at my harsh tone. "It's come to our attention that you falsified records to obtain this adoption."

And just like that, the rug was ripped out from beneath us.

A hand flew up to Evie's mouth to stifle her sob.

After all this time, we'd thought we were in the clear. If they were going to discover our deception, we figured they'd have done so long before now—not when we were mere weeks away from bringing home our daughter.

Willing myself to remain calm, I decided to play dumb, in case they didn't have the whole picture. Maybe there was some way we could work around whatever they'd found and still make this adoption happen.

"I'm not sure what records you're referring to," I countered.

Miranda held my stare. "We received an anonymous tip that you and Mrs. Knight have been estranged for quite some time, and your ‘reconnection' coincided with when our agency accepted your application."

Anonymous tip? What the fuck?

Only a handful of people knew about the adoption, and each one was thrilled for us to start a family. So, who the hell ratted us out? And why?

When I didn't respond, Miranda continued to speak over Evie's quiet sobs. "Upon further investigation, we were able to pull up a divorce decree for Jenner and Evangeline Knight dated four years ago."

"Did your research also bring up that we were recently remarried?"

Evie perked up, crying, "We are married!"

Miranda sighed. "That may be, but you were not at the time of your application."

I wasn't done going to bat for our family. "Ms. Williams, I assume you've read Evie's cover letter?" She nodded in confirmation. "So, then you know the hell we went through trying to create a family the traditional way. I can't imagine it would come as a surprise to you that our years of treatments yielding no results caused a strain on our marriage. The emotional toll was extremely high."

Turning to Evie, I held my hand out to her, which she gratefully accepted. "I love my wife. That's a fact, and it's remained true through all our ups and downs. I can't change the fact that I was unable to give her a baby, but I would move heaven and earth to make her dream of motherhood come true. Are you going to sit there and tell me that shifting the date on a piece of paper up two months would really make a difference to you and your agency?"

"Mr. Knight. I'm sorry, but my hands are tied. You and your wife have misrepresented yourselves, and there's no telling what else you might've lied about. I cannot allow your adoption to proceed, as I would feel uncomfortable placing a child in your home. Today marks the end of your relationship with our agency."

The color drained from Evie's face the same way hope leaked from my chest as reality sank in.

My wife jumped up from her chair, throwing a hand over her mouth as she ran from the room, muttering, "I'm going to be sick."

I was on my feet in a flash, poised to chase after her, but I couldn't resist one final parting shot at the woman who'd just broken my wife's heart.

"Are you happy now? You've crushed her dream."

Her tone didn't hold a trace of remorse or sympathy. "I'm sorry, but you did that yourself."

And fuck, if I didn't hate that she was right.