Arden smiled at him, looking radiant in a yellow sundress that brushed against her legs in the breeze. "Like my new car?" she asked.
He hopped down the porch steps and ran his hand up the fenders. Like a beautiful woman. Arden leaned against it, dangling the keys from her middle finger. "How did you find her?" he asked.
"Same way I found Tonya. It was actually the car that led the detective to her. She sold this car for some quick cash, five thousand dollars to be exact."
Travis winced.
"Yeah. So the guy made a huge profit off of me, because he knew what it was worth."
"Did you know what it was worth?" Travis asked.
"Yes. I looked into it before I went there. The guy was not interested in selling. So I had to pay. A lot. But it's worth it because now I have a really cool car."
Travis laughed. "Except it's my car." He stepped toward her and she leaned back against the car, grinning up at him.
"Did you pay for it?" she asked.
"I restored it."
"Finders keepers. It's mine, now." She stretched her arm out, trying to dangle the keys out of his reach. He leaned up against her, the lengths of their bodies touching. He trailed his fingers along the length of her bare arm and wrapped his hand around hers, keys and all. "You're going to have to earn it back," she said.
"That sounds fun," he said. He took her mouth with his and felt her up. She dropped the keys and he snatched them away. "Yes!" he said, stepping back. "Let's go for a drive."
Arden rolled her eyes and dragged her feet to the passenger side. Travis opened the door for her. "I'm not having sex with you in the back of this car," she said.
"Oh, you'll change your mind."
He helped Arden into the car and then went round to the driver's seat. By the time he got in, Arden was on her cell phone. "Okay, you go down the main street and take a right on Rosebud before you get to the hardware store and then a left on Sycamore. Ours is the second duplex on the left." She ended the call and looked up at Travis. "I gotta go home and put on some underwear."
"Who were you talking...you're not wearing underwear?"
She grinned at him and then got out of the car. He got out, too, and stared at her as she walked around the front to his side. "I was going to lure you into the backseat of your car. I can't allow myself to be the only woman in Splitlog who hasn't gotten laid back there."
Travis grinned and felt suddenly hot all over.
"That was Tonya," Arden said, holding her hands out for the keys. "She's headed to my place. She doesn't want you to be there. So I have to go."
"Wait. What?" He absent-mindedly placed the keys in her hand.
"I'll call you as soon as I find out what's going on. I'll try to get her to let you see Emily before she goes."
Travis stood, stunned. His body hadn't forgotten that she wasn't wearing any underwear and his mind was trying to digest what she'd just said. Before he could respond, she'd kissed him on the cheek and driven off with his car.
"
I swear I didn't tell him nothing about you or where you live," Tonya said, cradling a cup of coffee to her chest. "He probably won't even start looking for me for a couple of days 'cause he knows I go stay with my cousin some weekends."
Arden was sitting on the floor next to Emily who lay on a pallet grinning up at the ceiling fan. She rubbed her tummy but watched Tonya.
"Anyway, I was thinking, Travis loves her so much. She should be with him. Don't you think?"
Arden kept her mouth shut. Her suspicions were immediately up.
"It's just," Tonya said, setting her cup on the table, "I met this guy. He wants me to move to Memphis with him. I thought about just safe-dropping Emily somewhere, but I remembered you said I could come here anytime and I remembered how Travis looked holding her."
Arden took a slow breath and put on her cool, expressionless mask. "Travis wouldn't want to be involved in a situation that could lead to heartbreak in the future."
Tonya's expression grew suddenly shrewd. "I'm willing to sign over guardianship to him. I'm willing to put her up for adoption. All legal-like."
Arden's eyes narrowed. Tonya wasn't as dumb as she looked. She wanted something. Arden waited.
"'Course, it'd be so much easier for Bryce and me to move to Memphis if we had a place to live. But things are kind of tight right now."
"How much do you want?" Arden asked, cutting to the chase.
"Ten thousand."
"Jesus Christ!"
"What?" Tonya asked. "You're rich, ain't you? Don't you want Travis to be happy?"
"I'm small-town rich, Tonya. And besides, it's my parents who are rich, not me."
Tonya shrugged. "I guess I can take her with me. 'Least then I'll get the EBT money and the tax credit."
Arden took another deep breath. She squeezed her eyes shut and exhaled slowly. "I'm uncomfortable with the way this is going down. What if you change your mind and then go telling people that I tried to buy your baby from you? Wouldn't I get into trouble for that?"
"It ain't gonna be like that," Tonya said. "We'll work it out so the two are unrelated. I can't take care of the baby, so I'm putting her up for adoption. And you are helping a friend out by giving her some cash so she can get away from her boyfriend who hits her all the time."
Arden wished she hadn't bought back Travis's car, now. She could get ten grand, for sure. But she'd already borrowed from her parents for the car. This, she would have to take from her savings. And it would definitely make a dent. Furthermore, she knew that until the adoption went through, she had no way of assuring that Tonya wouldn't come asking for more money.
Then again, Tonya was offering up her biggest bargaining chip for one lump sum. If she went through with adopting the baby to Travis, she would never be able to come begging again. And for that, her price was a little on the low side. Probably because she had no concept of money. After all, she'd sold Travis's car for five thousand when she could have gotten so much more.
Still. Best to make her think that she was making an unreasonable request. "I can give you five," Arden said.
Tonya's eyes narrowed. "I want ten. I think you can swing it. You'll do anything for that bastard."
Arden smiled. She was right. She'd cash out completely and live in poverty if that was what it took to make Travis happy. "You don't see a dime of it until after papers are signed in front of lawyers."
"I get a grand now. Then Travis gets guardianship. Then you give me the rest. Sound good?"
Arden couldn't believe this was happening. She feared it was some kind of trap. What kind of mother would trade her baby for life with a man she'd just met and ten thousand dollars? "Emily stays with us now. Today."
Tonya shrugged. "Fine with me. I don't got anywhere to put her anyway. Sleeping out of my car."
"How soon will this happen?"
"I'll alert my social worker first thing Monday morning. How soon can you get me my cash?"
Arden swallowed. Could this really be happening. "Stay here with Emily. I'll be back with it in fifteen minutes." The bank was close by.
Tonya shrugged. "Sounds good."
Arden left and came back, half-expecting Tonya to be long gone. But she was sitting on front step smoking a cigarette with the door ajar so she could listen to Emily. Arden coolly handed her the envelope of cash. Tonya's eyes went wide. She took it and thumbed through the stack of hundred dollar bills.
She stood and held out her hand to Arden. Arden shook it, hoping she didn't just doom herself to burn in hell for all eternity. The whole situation was bizarre. Wrong, even. But what could be wrong about Emily having a home with people who loved her and wanted the best for her?
Tonya didn't even look at Emily again. She flicked her cigarette to the ground and then got in her car and drove away.
Travis drove his pickup to Arden's apartment. She had called him and told him to come over right away. Her voice was calm, but he still felt he should hurry. He was thrilled when he arrived and Emily was placed into his arms.
"We're babysitting for the weekend," Arden said. And that was all she said. He beamed. He would make the most of it. Enjoy every second with this little girl. And hopefully her life would be filled with many small moments with him so that she would know there was someone in this world who loved her more than anything.
When Monday came around, Emily was asleep in the bassinet next to his bed. Travis got up and dressed for work. Then when Emily woke up, he put a onesie on her and some socks and took her out into the warm, Spring air. She could hang out with him at work since it was just for the morning.
But then he got a phone call to go to the local DFS. He couldn't imagine what had happened. He packed Emily into her carseat and drove straight to the office. He was shocked to see Tonya sitting there with a social worker and another man he didn't know. The man stood and introduced himself as Harvey Lessinger, a lawyer Mark Butler had hired for him. Travis didn't have time to think. Emily was still in her carseat which he was holding in his left hand. He sat her gently on the floor and took a seat at the table. He looked at Tonya, but her face was stony.
He was holding a pen and in the process of signing a paper when it fully dawned on him that Tonya was letting him adopt Emily. She was terminating her parental rights. It was explained to him that this was all dependent on a court's approval and that afterwards there would still be a lot of process to go through before the adoption was final.
When he would look back on this time in the future, it would seem so amazing to him that things had gone as smoothly as they had. Of course during every step of the process he was a nervous wreck, worried that one little misstep would result in him losing Emily. But none of that happened.
He would come out on the other side of the whole ordeal with the love of a beautiful woman and a sweet, red-headed daughter to raise.
Epilogue
6 months later
Travis glared at himself in the mirror. He tugged at the bow tie for the thousandth time, intending just to loosen it. But as it had been so loosened already it finally managed to come untied.
"She's going to kill you if you can't walk up that aisle and stand there for ten minutes without falling apart." Dustin leaned coolly against the doorframe. His arms were folded over his chest and one foot was crossed over the other. He was chewing gum and staring out the window. His tux was immaculate.
"I fucking hate weddings," Travis said. "I told her that."
"You can put someone else's needs ahead of your own comfort for a couple of hours," Dustin said.
Travis turned his glare on his brother. "Where's Neil?"
Dustin shrugged. "Probably outside flirting with the bridesmaids. In any case, he's dressed and ready to go. You're the only one causing trouble."
"I'm not causing trouble," Travis said. They were in one of the church classrooms and he sat on the edge of the table and started tugging at the buttons on his cuffs. "These God damn cuffs are too tight," he grumbled.
"Would you stop cursing? You're in church."
Travis sat with the sleeves of his shirt and jacket now rolled halfway up his forearms. His knees bounced up and down and he watched the second hand on the wall clock tick extremely slowly. He buried his face in his hands and shoved his fingers through his hair, growling. "What's taking so long?"
"Just fifteen more minutes, man. What's the big deal, anyway?"
"I just hate weddings. I hate dressing up and standing in front of people and all the flowers and women crying."
"So sorry to inconvenience you."
Travis stood then and looked at Dustin. "Why couldn't you have just eloped? This is crazy."
"Emma wants a wedding. Emma gets a wedding." Dustin spat his gum in the trash can. "Be right back," he said, disappearing out the door.
Travis sat again on the edge of the table. A few moments later Dustin returned, his hand on Arden's back, leading her into the room. Travis stood when he saw her and his mouth dropped open. The bridesmaid's dresses were form fitting and then flared slightly at the knee. The sleeves hung off the shoulder. Arden's was a pale, rose pink. Her hair hung down and was swept over to one side, hanging down that side of her face.
She exchanged an eye-roll with Dustin and then smiled sympathetically at Travis. "Good God. You are such a man child," she said. With a deep breath she reached for his tie.
Travis caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and saw what she saw. He was completely disheveled, his tie hanging loose, his shirt half untucked and wrinkled, and his hair standing out in all directions. He watched her as she tied his tie.
Without looking at him, she reached up and tilted his chin up so she could fix his collar. But he couldn't stop staring at her. She unrolled his sleeves and buttoned the cuffs. Then she gave him a quick, mischievous grin as she tucked in his shirt. He closed his eyes and smelled the top of her head as her deft little hands maneuvered about his midsection.
"This, I'm leaving," she said, reaching up to run her fingers through his thick, unruly hair.
He returned her grin and relished the way she was adoring him just now. He glanced past her and saw that Dustin had gone. Then he tipped her chin up and leaned in for a kiss. She pulled back just as his lips touched hers.
"You'll mess up my makeup," she said.
"I'm going to walk barefoot up the aisle because these fucking shoes are a size too small...and you're worried about your makeup?" Without waiting for an answer he grabbed her round the waist and pressed his mouth to hers, slipping his tongue between her lips and kissed until he felt her relax like bread dough in his arms. He dipped down and buried his face in her breasts, kissing the exposed cleavage and listening for her sigh of pleasure. It came with a soft moan and he smiled, standing back to his full height.