Verdict: Daddy

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“Maybe a few days…but most likely not at all.”

He slumped in his chair as if resigned to the inevitable. “What do I have to do?”

Sensing his distress and hurting for him, Marissa switched into her objective legal mode, both for his sake and her own. She had to suppress her feelings to prevent them from coloring the facts. “First thing in the morning, you call the Child Protection Investigation Department of the county sheriff’s office. They’ll pick up Annie.”

“What’ll they do with her?”

“Debbie Arnold, my friend who practices family law, promises they’ll put her in a good temporary foster home. She’s agreed to act as the child’s legal representative, pro bono. She’ll make certain that Annie’s well taken care of.”

Blake nodded, so obviously dejected Marissa had to squelch again the urge to hug him and struggled to regain her objectivity. “Debbie thinks she can get you a hearing with Judge Standiford within a couple days.”

Blake’s expression brightened slightly. “And the judge will return Annie to me until she’s adopted?”

“Whoa, not so fast. There’s another aspect we haven’t considered.”

Blake cocked his head. “What?”

“Annie’s mother.”

“The judge can’t give her back to a woman who abandoned her.” Blake looked horrified. “What if the mother does it again?”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Sounds cut-and-dried to me,” he said grimly. “Obviously, her mother didn’t want her.”

“It appears so,” Marissa agreed, “but child protection investigators will have to locate the mother. First, because abandoning her child is a criminal offense—”

“Locked up, she couldn’t have Annie back,” Blake said with clear satisfaction.

“Although abandonment is a third-degree felony, women who abandon their children aren’t always sent to jail,” Marissa said. “The court considers all the circumstances. Annie’s mother may have had a very good, even if misguided, reason for leaving her baby on your porch.”

“But if Annie’s placed in foster care, I have a shot at getting temporary custody?”