Jarrod listened carefully as James Sherlock spoke. He could not believe what he was hearing and hoped his facial expression would not give him away.
"Do you have any questions Mr. Barkley?"
Jarrod smirked, "Several." James simply looked at the attorney and patiently waited. He knew he had just given him a lot of information and it was obvious he was still trying to process all of it.
Jarrod sighed as he asked, "Why did her grandparents do that?"
James looked down; ashamed that he had worked for such an awful family, "I wish I could tell you Mr. Barkley. I guess they thought if Danny was unable to find you and Abby first they would have a back-up plan."
"But how did they find out about Martha's father?"
"Mr. Wells father had someone watching the church continuously since you had the restraining order placed on Danny. Apparently one of the young men he hired followed Sister Catherine and was able to intercept the letter Martha sent to her father. When Mr. Wells read it he went to see the man in prison. They struck up a deal and Mr. Wells hired a man to pose as Toby Mitchell so if you had made it that far they would still be able to get Abby with you being none the wiser."
Jarrod closed his eyes and blew out a long breath, "I don't understand how anyone could do this to their own granddaughter."
"You may not believe me but Mr. And Mrs. Wells do love Abby and thought they were doing the right thing. It wasn't until I showed them all the files I had collected over the years on their son's activities that they realized they had made a mistake. They sent an anonymous letter to Sister Catherine hoping she would find you before it was too late."
"I finally figured it out," Jarrod spat disgusted at himself for not catching it sooner.
"Mr. Barkley you had other things on your mind such as keeping Abby away from her father."
"What are their plans now for Abby?"
James smiled as he removed some papers from his valise. "They want to work out an arrangement with you Mr. Barkley."
Jarrod frowned as he looked at the paperwork and said, "An arrangement?"
James handed Jarrod the piece of paper and said, "An arrangement. You see the Wells are on up their in age and they both know they will most likely not live to see Abby finish school. The little girl has been through enough in her short life and they are concerned if she comes to live with them now it would affect her when they pass." James watched Jarrod but knew the attorney was using his courtroom training to show no emotions right now.
James pointed to the paper Jarrod was holding and said, "The Wells think the best thing for Abby is for her to be your ward Mr. Barkley. They are willing to sign over their rights to you as long as they are allowed to visit Abby at least twice a month. In addition they have also both wrote letters of recommendation for you to be Abby's ward." James paused to let Jarrod soak all this in before continuing. "After they have passed if you so chose to legally adopt Abby I have two more letters each of them have written to support your decision."
Jarrod just shook his head not believing what he was hearing. He had been prepared to fight with everything he had but now...Jarrod finally found his voice and said, "Why are they doing this? Not less than two weeks ago they hired a man to pose as Abby's grandfather."
"As I told you earlier they were not aware of their son's treatment of Abby and her mother. They do love Abby unconditionally and want what is best for her which is to be with you Mr. Barkley. I told them how hard you fought Danny in court to get Martha's divorce granted and then to have custody of Abby awarded to Martha before Danny..." James voice trailed off ashamed he had been a party to this. James cleared his throat and said, "I realize I have given you a lot of information to process so if you need to think about it I can come back later as I need to make arrangements to have Danny's body returned back to San Francisco." James got up but Jarrod stopped him.
"I know what I want but I have to talk to Abby first."
James smiled and said, "Of course. Would you like me to send her in here?"
Jarrod nodded his head not trusting his voice.
James walked out of Jarrod's room and went to the front of the doctor's office to find Victoria, Audra, Mary and Abby talking.
James tipped his hat, "Excuse me ladies but Mr. Barkley would like to see Abby."
All the women looked at James but his face showed no emotion. "If you'll excuse me I need to go make some travel arrangements and I'll be back shortly." He left before any of the women could question him.
Victoria stood up and offered her hand to Abby, "Let's go see Jarrod, shall we?"
Abby smiled but did not take Victoria's hand; she was still a bit shy with the older woman but Abby liked her because she smelled pretty like Audra.
Victoria knocked lightly on Jarrod's door before opening it. If Victoria was hoping to get any information from Jarrod she was wrong.
"Thank you mother. Could you please give us a few minutes while we talk?"
"Of course," Victoria closed the door to find Mary and Audra standing beside her.
"Well," Mary questioned.
"Nothing."
Mary and Audra drooped and joined Victoria in waiting by the door.
Abby walked to stand beside Jarrod.
He smiled at her and said, "We need to talk, princess."
Abby didn't like it when Mistah Jarrod wanted to talk. "Ok."
Jarrod patted the bed beside him and Abby carefully sat beside him because she knew he was still hurt. She looked at Jarrod and waited.
"You remember who that man was that just left?" Abby nodded her head yes. "He brought some papers for me to sign but I told him I needed to talk to you first before I signed anything." Abby just looked at Jarrod not sure what he was going to say next. "I want you to think about this before you answer me okay?" Once again Abby nodded her head yes as Jarrod took a deep breath to calm his nerves down. He knew what he needed to say but he wasn't sure how to tell Abby so she would understand it.
"If given a choice who would you rather live with me or your grandparents?"
"Fo'evah?"
Jarrod smiled and said, "Well at least until you get married." Abby made an ugly face as she did not like boys and Jarrod laughed at her face.
Abby thought for a moment and said, "What about Ms. May?"
"Regardless of who you live with Mary will be there for you always."
Abby kicked her feet back and forth for a few minutes which made Jarrod extremely nervous. She finally looked at him and smiled, "You."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Can I still see my gandpants?"
Jarrod beamed as he answered, "Yes that can be arranged."
Abby grinned widely, "You Mistah Jay." She reached up and gave him a hug around his neck but Jarrod grabbed her and pulled her tight against him as he let the tears fall.
Abby whispered, "I love you Mistah Jay."
Jarrod's voice was full of emotion as he said, "I love you too princess."
Jarrod finally put Abby back down hoping she would not notice he had been crying. "What do you say we tell the ladies?" Jarrod motioned to the door.
Abby smiled as she jumped down and ran to the door. She slung the door open causing Victoria and Audra to almost fall in. Jarrod couldn't help but laugh at his mother and sister.
"Were you two trying to listen in?" Jarrod asked in between gales of laughter.
Victoria put her hands on her hips as she straightened up and said, "Yes."
Mary came in behind Victoria and Audra and looked nervously at Abby and Jarrod. Abby ran to Mary and grabbed her hand dragging her to Jarrod's bed.
Jarrod smiled at Mary and cleared his throat. He suddenly froze not quite sure what to say but Abby blurted it out for him.
She happily clapped her hands and said, "Guess what? I'm going to stay with Mistah Jay fo'evah!" The little girl started dancing around again.
Victoria looked at Jarrod and whispered, "Did she say what I think she said?"
Jarrod smiled not trusting his voice and beamed from ear to ear while nodding his head yes. Victoria and Audra rushed to hug him while Mary smiled widely.
Abby ran to Mary and said, "You too Ms. May."
Mary frowned at Abby and looked to Jarrod who smiled, "What do you say Mary?"
Mary was overcome with emotion as she looked at Jarrod and Abby. Abby wasn't sure why Mary was crying and asked with a timid voice, "Why you sad?"
Mary sat down and brought Abby to her and said, "Oh honey I'm not sad. These are tears of joy."