Second Chance Romance (Southern Nights) Completed

Chapter 17

Tomorrow, he told himself. He would be back tomorrow and God willing, maybe Jade would have her memory back and something good could come out of all this.

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It took Austin a while to get used to holding Libby with one arm and walking with a crutch under the other. But he did and somehow he managed to get both of them next door and checked into a room.

Libby was now sleeping in a bed, only slightly half waking once when he first laid her down. Austin sat in a chair by the bed and found himself fixated on the little girl. She reminded him so much of Jade. Her curly dark locks framed her heart shaped face and those long silk lashes framed her inquisitive girlish eyes.

A wave of fierce protectiveness washed over him. He wanted nothing more than to protect this little girl from all of the bad things in the world. Her cries from when she wanted her mama still rang in his head and his heart broke for her when Jade didn’t recognize her. Even after they had gone down to the cafeteria, he still heard her sniffling and knew that she had cried herself to sleep.

He thought back to the moment that he saw that board coming down from the ceiling and crashing on top of Jade’s head. She was so still that he thought he had lost her. He had just found her again after all this time and he realized then that he wasn’t ready to lose her now.

When they were kids on the cusp of adulthood, he didn’t fight for her when she left. He let her go because he knew he didn’t deserve her.

This time, it was different. He would fight for her. He wouldn’t let her go. He was given a second chance and this time, he wanted to do things right, starting with this little angel sleeping so sweetly in front of him.

The first pink rays of dawns early morning light started to spill into the room. Austin stared over at the clock and saw that it was just after six in the morning. He needed to talk to someone. He knew what he needed to do; he just wasn’t sure about how to go about doing it.

Standing up, he went over to the table where he had taken out his wallet and phone and picked up his phone. Austin glanced back over his shoulder, making sure that Libby was still asleep before quietly slipping just outside the door.

Once he was outside, he called his brother for help. He wanted to get an injunction that would allow him temporary custody of Libby, at least until Jade could remember. In the meantime, he would do whatever he could to help Jade get reacquainted with her daughter because right now, that was what mattered the most.

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“Do you think mama will remember me today?”

“I don’t know,” Austin said honestly. They were on the elevator, heading back up to Jade’s room. “But if she doesn’t then remember what we talked about this morning?”

Libby bobbed her head up and down. “Yup. We will have to let her get to know us again.”

“That’s right.” Austin gave her hand a little squeeze when the elevator door opened. He led her out into the hall and was getting pretty good moving around with one crutch now. He had spoken with his brother several times this morning already. Tim had put him in touch with Brody, an old college friend of his that was an Attorney in Raleigh. They had to get a copy of Libby’s birth certificate to rule out the father before Austin could file an injunction for temporary custody. Brody didn’t think there would be any problems considering the situation and felt like they should have everything in place before the day was over with.

When they reached Jade’s door, Austin felt Libby’s hand tremble in his own. They had a long discussion this morning over breakfast about what had happened to Jade. For the little girl to only be five years old, she was incredibly bright Austin had thought to himself. She was trying her best to be brave when all she really wanted was for her mama to hold her and love her like before.

Knowing there was no use in prolonging the moment; he gave her hand a little tug and pulled her into the room with him. When they walked in, Jade was sitting up in her bed, staring out the window.

“Jade?” Austin called out her name and waited for her to turn to him. When she did, he hadn’t expected the swell of emotion that swamped him. He had almost lost her.

He gulped and somehow forced the words out of his mouth. “How are you feeling this morning?”

Jade blinked. She stared up at the tall stranger that had been in her room the night before and felt nothing. She glanced down at the little girl who she admitted looked like her and felt a fit of frustration because again, she felt nothing; nothing but blank emptiness. This was her daughter. Even if she had no memory of her shouldn’t she at least feel something? Familiarity? Love? Anything?

She felt the sting of tears prick behind her lids and brought her hand to her mouth. A broken sob tore from her chest. Why was this happening to her? Why couldn’t she remember? For hours, she had done nothing but sit here in this bed and tried to remember something, anything about who she was and still came up empty every time. It was like she had been sucked into a vortex of nothingness and she couldn’t find her way out.

“Mama, don’t cry.” Libby broke away from Austin and ran up to the side of the bed. She didn’t hesitate and climbed up on the bed beside of her. “Mama,” she spoke again and lifted her small hand to her mother’s face. “It will be okay mama, Austin promised.”

Jade sniffed and pulled the little girl into her arms, holding onto to her for dear life. She buried her nose into her hair and squeezed her eyes closed. She may not remember her daughter but she couldn’t deny her. Not now.

Glancing up, she met Austin’s penetrating gaze. He was devastatingly handsome and when he looked at her so intensely she felt her insides melt like butter. For a long minute, they stared at each other, Jade holding onto Libby for dear life.

It was Austin’s ringing phone that broke the sizzling trance between them.

Jade jerked away from him and turned her attention back to the little girl in her arms.

Austin grabbed his phone out of his pocket and also turned away from the scene, bringing it up to his ear.

“Hello.”

“Hey bro it’s me.”

“Yeah, I know,” Austin said. “I saw the caller ID.”

“Yeah, right,” he laughed a laugh that held no humor. “Um,” Tim started nervously and then blew out a heavy breath that Austin could hear over the phone. “Look bro, I don’t know how to tell you this…”

Austin heard the censure in his voice and went on full alert. “Tell me what Tim?”

“Are you sitting down?”

Austin was confused and after going on twenty-four hours with no sleep, highly agitated. Aware that Jade and Libby were just a few feet away, he walked out of the hospital room and leaned his back up against the wall just outside the door. “Just tell me already.”

“Well, Brody pulled Libby’s birth certificate from the public records and uh…”

“And what Tim?” he snapped, pressing his thumb and his fore finger over his temples. “Is there going to be a problem getting the injunction or something?”

“Yes and no,” Tim answered him solemnly.

Austin dropped his hand to his side. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Austin, you don’t need an injunction for custody because-“

“And why not?” he interrupted him. “You’re not making any sense here Tim. I explained everything to you this morning.”

“I know,” Tim breathed out. “You don’t need temporary custody because Austin, according to the birth certificate, you’re listed as Libby’s father.”

“Do you want to run that by me again?”

“I said that you are Libby’s father Austin. You don’t need-”

Tim stopped talking and pulled the phone away from his ear, staring blankly at it when he heard the unmistakable sound of the line going dead. "a custody order," he finished.