Chapter 7

Natalie was so happy to be getting discharged from the hospital. We spent a half an hour in her mother's ICU room. It was heartbreaking but she handled it quite well. My father has become very protective of her. She calls him Charles and he lets her. Hell, he even smiles when she says it. I get a kick out of them.

Heidi is not doing well at all. The shunt they placed in her skull has only marginally reduced the swelling. There is no telling when she could wake up but the longer she stays in the coma the less likely it is she will recover. Dr. Cullen helped answer all of Natalie's questions. She was surprisingly grown up when it came to what she wanted to know. She could tell it was serious and she asked questions about what happens if Heidi doesn't wake up. Dr. Cullen told her exactly what he told me. She said that her mom didn't want to live on machines but they never had any kind of papers to make that official.

She kissed her mom on the cheek and told her she'd come back to see her in a few days. We left my contact information with the nurses so they could contact us should anything happen.

When we arrived at the hotel we ordered some pizza and got settled. Natalie wanted to take a bath so I gave her some privacy to do that. She was still sore and a little uncomfortable because of her ribs so I had to help her with her hair and getting out of the tub. We watched Beauty and the Beast while we ate. Around the time that the prince was falling in love, Natalie was falling asleep.

I got a call from Dr. Walsh while I was moving Natalie to the bed. When I picked up the phone she was very apologetic.

"I'm so sorry to call so late. I have been reading Natalie's records all day. I found out that she is completely up to date on all her immunizations and while she was raised with a heavy hand she wasn't beaten. There are no broken bones or noticeable bruises. The doctor who cared for her is local and surprisingly not a free clinic. She actually was taken to annual appointments and had care for illnesses," she rambled.

"That's great. I guess Heidi really did love her daughter. Did you find any mention of family?"

"Um, yeah that's what I wanted to talk to you about. I had Heidi's records pulled as well. She is a product of the system. She is from Denver, Colorado. She was raised by her grandmother until she was twelve. Then her grandmother passed away and she was placed in foster care. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how that can end badly. She was moved from home to home until she left the system at eighteen."

"What happened then?"

"Well she kind of falls off the grid for a while but turns back up at age nineteen with Natalie's birth record. She held a few jobs and got state aid for about four years. Then in 2009 she was arrested for prostitution. There are ten arrests in all for solicitation and prostitution. She was never held more than forty-eight hours but there is no record of any change of custody for Natalie during those times. She wasn't taken by the state in any of those instances."

"So she was likely alone for days at only age four. That is terrible. No wonder she is so self-sufficient at nine years old," I say in complete awe of this resilient little girl.

"Yeah, most likely she was. I found out that Heidi's parents are dead. Her mother died when Heidi was only a child and her father died in prison in 2003. There is no one to contend her placement with you. I have no record of Natalie's father. There is no one listed on the birth certificate and there doesn't seem to be anyone who stands out in Heidi's past."

This is great news for me but sad news for Natalie. I can't imagine not ever knowing my child's father or not having known my own father.

"Ok well that's great. Now, who do I speak to about getting her into counseling? She is obviously going to need it after what she witnessed and now knowing about all of this, I think it is probably wise to have her see someone."

"I will send you some names. I would love to take her but I don't have regular office hours anymore. Actually the first person I'd like you to contact is Dr. Rosalie McCarty. She is great with kids."

She gave me Dr. McCarty's information and told me to contact the case worker about a more permanent placement for Natalie. I was hopeful about the future although I felt guilty about planning to take Heidi's parental rights away when she couldn't very well have a say in the matter.

After my talk with Dr. Walsh I took a bath, soaking in the large hotel tub. After the last twenty-four hours I was exhausted and felt stress in all my joints. I thought about how Natalie's life had changed in such a short time. She had to be so confused and scared about her future. I decided that I would talk to her about living with me in the morning. I knew she would want to be with me but wasn't sure she would be too keen on making that permanent while her mother was in a coma. I just knew that I couldn't just sit back and let her go back to her mom after everything that had happened.

I thought about Edward too. It's just my luck that I would meet a great guy when my life was in complete chaos. He seems so sweet and caring. He is unbelievably handsome. His green eyes seem to look right through me. The strength of his arms when he held me was so comforting. I am so glad I met him, even if it was under terrible circumstances.

I drag my relaxed body from the tub and dry off before throwing on a pair of knit shorts and a tank top. I head back to the couch and pick up my cell phone. Before I lose my nerve I dial Edward's number and hit send. He picks up on the second ring.

"Hello."

"Edward, its Bella."

"I know. How's Natalie? Did you get settled in okay?" he says.

"She's asleep. She crashed pretty quickly tonight. We had some pizza and watched a movie," I say, feeling like I was talking to an old friend more than a near stranger.

"I'm sure she did. Poor kid. How did she do seeing her mom?"

"She is amazing. She was upset but she asked a lot of questions and your father was wonderful."

"My father? He's Heidi's doctor? That's good, he's the best," he says with what I can tell is a smile.

"Yeah, he was great. She asked a lot of questions about what happens next. Will Heidi wake up and what happens if she doesn't, stuff like that. He told her straight up, what to expect and what decisions would need to be made. She is too grown up for a nine year old."

"She's not a normal nine year old, Bella. She's had to deal with so much more than any kid I know."

"You don't know the half of it. I talked to Dr. Walsh tonight. Natalie has been mostly on her own since she was four. Four! That's ridiculous! It sounds like Heidi did what she could and she did make sure Natalie had good medical care."

"Yeah, I pulled Heidi's record. She was arrested ten times for prostitution or solicitation. There is no mention of a child in any of the records. She was held three separate times for two days but all the other times she was able to post bail and get out. The person who bailed her out is the owner of the apartment complex. The three times she couldn't post bail, were the first three arrests. If I was a betting man, I'd say she worked out a deal with him."

"Yeah, probably, although he's a pretty nice guy, he may have just helped her because of Natalie. He filled out papers for public aid stating she worked for him to help her get aid. She never indicated that he took advantage of her services to pay her rent. She paid him cash and it seemed she always paid him first before any utilities."

"Anyway, any word on family. I know you were worried about that," he asks changing the subject.

"Yeah, they have none. Heidi was raised by her Grandmother after her mom passed away and her father died in jail. Her Grandmother died and she was put into foster care. She took off as soon as she was eighteen and had Natalie at nineteen. She worked some small jobs for about four years before she was arrested the first time. In a nut shell, there is no one to contest my petition for custody. I am going to talk to Natalie about it tomorrow."

"Do you think she'll be okay with it? I mean its one thing to live with you while her mom gets better but what do you think she'll say to you becoming her mom, permanently."

"I really don't know. I want to explain that the way her mom was living is not safe for her to be a part of and help her understand that she deserves better. I don't want to keep her from her mom, if she gets better, but I can't in my right mind let her go back to living like that. I don't think a judge would allow it either."

"Probably not. I know I wouldn't want her back in that situation again. Even if nothing had happened the other night, she had been neglected for so long," he says with a sigh.

"Yeah but Heidi was trying to get better. I had hoped that since she had been able to save some money and get all her bills caught up that I could convince her to get a job again. From what I can tell she started hooking to make more money faster. She worked regular jobs for the first four years of Natalie's life. I wonder if she was just too far behind to catch up and felt like it was all she could do," I say, voicing my thoughts.

"Probably. There aren't a lot of jobs for people with no education and no support. I don't know how she worked steadily for four years with a kid and no help."

"Me either. Well, I hope that Natalie will be agreeable to living with me and letting me get custody of her." I really need to change the subject; I can feel all the stress creeping back into my muscles. "So how would you feel about a date with both Natalie and I, maybe tomorrow or the next day?"

"That sounds lovely. I don't want to rush you guys though."

"You aren't. I think it would be good for her to get out and do something fun."

"Well, if you're sure. We could go to one of those places where kids jump on those blow up things," he offers.

"She's pretty sore still so maybe we could just take her to one of the museums. I bet she's never been to the zoo, we could take her there."

"That sounds great. Why don't you have your talk with her in the morning and then call me. I'm off tomorrow and don't have to work until eleven on Monday so I can go either day," he says with that same smile in his voice.

"Sounds good. So tell me about you. I've met your dad and your best friend slash brother-in-law, who else is there?"

"Oh well I have a sister, obviously, Alice. She is my Irish twin. We are only eleven months apart. I call her Pixie because she is really small and can't sit still so she seems to flitter around like a little fairy. She's a therapist like our mom. They have a practice near the hospital. Mom, Esme, is a family therapist and Alice is a couple's therapist. Mom is, well, she's great. She always wanted us to be independent but she was also a worrier. We put her through the ringer as kids. I was a wild teenager and Alice started dating Jasper when she was fourteen. He was eighteen. It was not a good time in our house."

"I bet. My father would have had a heart attack if I'd brought home someone four years older than me at that age."

"Yeah, Dad wasn't the problem because he knew Jasper's family and trusted him. Mom had a fit and forbid Alice from seeing him. Alice is not easily deterred so she just threatened to move out and live with Jasper's family if she couldn't see him. Mom called her bluff and Alice packed her stuff. It wasn't until Jasper came to the house with Alice in tow to ask my mother permission to date her that mom started to give in. Jasper explained that he would walk away from Alice if he had to because he refused to be the cause of such strife. He insisted that he loved Allie with all his heart and that he was being a complete gentleman with her. Alice almost blew it for him when she snorted and said 'a little too gentle, if you ask me' a little too loud. Mom then realized that he was telling the truth and that she was lucky that he'd been the one Alice fell for, any other boy would have taken whatever Allie was willing to give them."

"How about you? How old are you?" I ask, realizing I had no idea.

"I'm twenty-six. I was a typical teenage boy. I played baseball and basketball. I also play guitar. In high school I was pretty popular and kind of a dick. I was in a band and then with the sports, I had girls around all the time. I wasn't very nice to them but they kept coming so I thought I was cool. It wasn't until my dad sat me down and told me what an ass I was that I realized that what I was doing wasn't really cool at all."

"What do you mean you weren't very nice to them?" I ask afraid that he was like Tyler.

"Well, I used them for sex and stuff. I would date a girl and cheat on her because one of her friends would offer me something. I just generally didn't give a shit about them. The other guys on my team were doing it and we all thought we were awesome."

"How did your dad find out what you were doing?"

"The worst way possible. Two of the girls I was dating came into the clinic he was working at the time, asking for a pregnancy test. He had seen one of them at the house because she was supposed to be my girlfriend. She ended up being pregnant but the other one wasn't. They both told him they had slept with me."

"Oh my gosh. So you are a father?"

"No. It turned out to be a false positive. When he did a blood test it came up negative. It was too late though, he was already really disappointed in me. He came home and told me that my girlfriend had come into the clinic for a pregnancy test and that it was positive. The blood test results were still a few days away. I freaked out and tried to deny it. That just pissed him off. He ended up telling me about the other girl and told me what a gigantic asshole I was. He made me get tested for STD's and had multiple talks with me about sex and pregnancy. He made me call my girlfriend and talk to her. We even had to sit in front of her parents and tell them about the pregnancy together."

"Oh wow! That's what I would have done too. So I hope that made you change your ways."

"Yep! There was no freaking way I was ready to be a dad. Hell, I was only sixteen. I was so relieved when that test came back negative. She was all upset like someone took away her puppy but I knew it was for the best. I ended up breaking up with her and didn't date again till my senior year. I've only had three girlfriends since then. I learned to treat a girl right from Jasper and my dad."

"That's good. This would have been a very short relationship if you were still an asshole," I say with a laugh.

"Yeah. So what about you? What were you like as a teen? How old are you, since you asked first."

"I'm twenty-four. I was a good girl. I really didn't get into any kind of trouble. I lived with my dad, you know the Police chief, so I didn't have guys breaking down my door. I have a small group of friends that I met in the third grade and have been friends with ever since. I dated a few guys in high school but nothing serious. I've only been with a few people, one of which was my last boyfriend, Tyler." I told him the whole story about Tyler. We talked for hours that night. It was great. Once we got all the past and relationship stuff out of the way he started asking me about little things, like my favorite music, food and color.

We found out that we have a lot in common. We both love Italian food but could live on a good hamburger. We both listen to classic rock but secretly love the bubblegum pop music from the 90's. The only thing we differ on is color. My favorite is blue but his is yellow. Neither one of us care for the Mariner's even though we are from Seattle. I'm a St. Louis Cardinal's fan and he is a New York Yankee's fan. We both are big Green Bay Packer's fans. It's funny that we neither one like the Seahawks or the Mariner's.

We talked until around three in the morning when I started dozing off. "Hey, why don't you go to bed and I'll talk to you tomorrow?" he asked after I dozed off for the second time.

"I'm fine," I lied.

"Yeah sure you are. You are exhausted and while I can stay up all night talking, I'd rather not be the reason you can't go to the zoo tomorrow."

"Good point. Okay, then I'll call you after I talk to Natalie. This has been fun," I say, yawning.

"Sounds like you've had a ton of fun. Good night, I'll talk to you tomorrow," he says, chuckling.

"Good night."