Chapter 8 - THE MOTHERS WHO NEVER STOPPED LOOKING
Pamela met the other mothers in spring.
Four women.
Different ages.
Different cities.
Same expression.
The look of someone whose grief had been questioned so many times she had learned to speak carefully.
One had been told her daughter died after respiratory failure.
Another had signed adoption papers while under heavy sedation but remembered repeatedly saying no.
One believed for six years that she had voluntarily surrendered her child because hospital staff told her there was no safe alternative.
Pamela listened.
Then said:
“I thought I was stupid for stopping.”
One woman answered:
“So did I.”
That was how the Hayes Family Recovery Project began.
Pamela hated the name.
Roman suggested Voss-Hayes.
Worse.
Eventually:
The Open Cradle Project.
Independent nonprofit.
Medical-record advocacy.
Legal assistance.
Support for mothers facing coercive adoption practices.
Funding came from court-ordered restitution, outside donors and a capped donation from Roman.
Capped.
Pamela insisted.
“You do not get to own it.”
“I understand.”
“You say that too quickly.”
“I've learned.”
“Suspicious.”
Roman smiled.
The first successful family reunification happened eight months later.
Not one of Pamela’s children.
Another mother.
Another stolen child.
The boy was seven.
The reunion was slow.
Supervised.
Messy.
Beautiful.
Pamela cried for hours afterward.
Roman held her.
By then, touching each other had changed.
Not employer.
Not crime boss and waitress.
Not two adults forced together by stolen children.
Something else.
Roman never pushed it.
Pamela noticed.
One evening after the triplets fell asleep, she sat beside him.
“Why haven't you kissed me?”
Roman nearly choked on his drink.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
He looked unusually uncomfortable.
“I assumed that would complicate things.”
“It would.”
“Exactly.”
Pamela smiled.
“You're afraid.”
“No.”
“Terrified.”
Roman glared.
She leaned closer.
“You're worried I'll think you're using the children.”
“Yes.”
Honest.
“You're worried the court will think it.”
“Yes.”
“You're worried if we fail, they pay for it.”
“Yes.”
Pamela’s smile disappeared.
Good answers.
She touched his face.
“Then we go slowly.”
Roman’s voice lowered.
“Is that permission?”
“For what?”
He looked at her mouth.
She smiled.
“Yes.”
Their first kiss lasted perhaps four seconds.
Then Mia began screaming from the baby monitor.
Pamela laughed against Roman’s mouth.
“Romance.”
Roman closed his eyes.
Theo joined.
Then Eli.
“Triplets.”
“Your idea.”
Roman stared.
“My idea?”
“You signed the papers.”
“Dangerous argument.”
They went upstairs together.
The kiss could wait.
May you like
For once, neither minded.
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