response to her boyfriend comment. For a moment, she even looked embarrassed by it, but she shrugged. “I understand. I mean, of course, this is life-changing. But I just want you to know, if there’s anything I can do, you can count on me.”
“Thanks.” He nodded but he’d leave it at that. Last thing he needed was for Felicia to start jumping the gun with their relationship when he had something so much bigger to focus on now. She’d been cool from the beginning, and her offering to help was a nice gesture. But he didn’t want to give her the idea that, by life-changing, this meant he was ready for any other type of commitments. He’d leave things between him and Felicia as is for now. But if she ever used the B-word again to describe his relationship with her, he’d be sure to address it.
Chapter 4
Three months later
Orlando
Because of the vaccine records left with the baby, and the result of the paternity test, two things were for certain now. One, Baby O was without a doubt Orlando’s child. And two, the mother, whose name he hadn’t recognized, was deceased. The news in both instances had felt so surreal. Orlando didn’t remember the mother; although the name felt too formal. Maria Angelica Banuelos was the name on the coroner’s report but was likely not how she’d introduced herself. She’d died of an overdose just a month and a half after the baby was born.
Whose care the baby had been in for the other almost two months of his life before he was left at Orlando’s doorstep remained a mystery. Not that it mattered. The police had since ruled out any chance of a wrongful death in the mother’s case. It was a clear-cut self-inflicted overdose.
Only other question that remained was whether it’d been accidental or intentional. From the coroner’s report, Orlando knew it’d been prescription meds she’d OD’d on, not street drugs. As if that made a difference. An addict was an addict regardless of what kind of drugs they were shooting up, snorting, or popping. As strangely shocking as the news of her death had been, Orlando was now relieved. His feelings hadn’t changed about whomever abandoned the baby not deserving to be part of his life. In fact, as soon as it’d been confirmed Baby O was his, that protective instinct he’d begun to feel even that first day had multiplied tenfold. Orlando had since decided, if the mother ever came around, he’d fight tooth and nail to keep her out of his son’s life. Now that he knew she’d been an addict, it would’ve been a guns-a-blazing fight to the death to keep her far away from his son. It hurt to admit it, but he’d had the misfortune of knowing firsthand that, no matter how good a person the addict was, getting their fix always came before anything and anyone. No matter how much they may’ve loved them. With that thought, he pulled off his beanie and stared at it, bittersweetly shaking his head. “Yep,” he whispered, feeling a little choked up suddenly. “No way would I have allowed it.”
Shaking off the heavy sorrow, he thought about the one good thing he knew about the baby’s mom instead. Good for him anyway. His lawyer had told him it was a good thing that she had no family. None that they could trace back to anyway. From what they’d been able to gather, she’d lived alone. While she died as an adult—just twenty-two—they’d been able to find little more about her background than she’d been in jail a few times. As far as they knew, she was an only child who’d been in foster care most of her life, so they’d hit nothing but walls when trying to trace back any next of kin. This meant when, not if, Orlando finally got custody of his boy, he wouldn’t have to deal with anyone else wanting to be part of raising him.
“You’re moving?”
Snapped out of his thoughts, Orlando turned to the curvy young girl on the sidewalk, peering up into the U-Haul truck, hands shielding her eyes from the sun. He shook his head. “Shop’s staying. I’m just moving out of the apartment upstairs.”
“Oh,” she said with a strange smile even as she continued to shield her eyes from the sun with her hand. “Good to know. I don’t know much about choosing auto shops, and this is the only one I’ve ever brought my car into