We were sitting in the lawyer's office and I was having deja vu. We'd done this before, haven't we? Ransom was once again bouncing his knee and biting his nails, staring off into space. "You need to relax hun. Everything will be ok."
"Why would she do this?"
"At the risk of sounding like a big bitch, she was milking being pregnant and having your baby because she knew it would get to me. And now that Paris is here and she sees all that goes into being a mother, she can't handle it."
"Wow..." is all he says.
"I told you I was going to sound like a bitch."
"You're not still that angry with me, are you?"
"Of course not."
"Mr. Drysdale?" the receptionist called us back.
"What's going on?" he asks.
"Come to the back," she says before leading us to a conference room where we could hear Paris crying. Ransom barges in and immediately takes her. She quiets down once she realizes she was safe in her father's arms.
"So what happened?" I ask Mike, who has entered along with Laurel's lawyer.
"It seems that Laurel has decided that motherhood was not all that she thought it would be. She left you with this letter that she asked that you read before we go any further." her lawyer says before handing Ransom the envelope.
He gently passes me Paris and I start bouncing her, watching her inspect me before recognizing who I was and cooing and gurgling at me. I watched as Ransom's face went from frowning, to anger and finally stopping on surprised. "What is it?"
"She's leaving and giving up her rights to Paris. There's paperwork in here for you to become her legal guardian." I blink a few times and shake my head to clear it. Surely I misheard him.
"What?" I ask, shifting Paris slightly so I could grab the letter without the risk of dropping her.
"Even with this letter of confirmation, there are still some legal hoops we need to jump through. You need to fill out the paperwork in order to be declared her legal guardian, alongside her father. Once it's filed, there won't be any problems." Laurel's lawyer says.
I turn to Mark. "What's your recommendation?" I ask him, trusting his opinion.
"If I were you, once you're established as legal guardian, I'd move to adopt her." I nod.
"And what about Laurel? She can't just show up and demand Paris back, can she?"
"She's given full custody to Ransom, so she won't be able to do anything about that without going through the legal system."
"Ok." I say, handing Paris back to Ransom. "I'll sign the guardianship paper. But I think we need to talk about the adoption. Can we have a few days to figure that out?" I ask as I grab the form and carefully read it over before signing and dating.
"Of course." Mike says before taking the paperwork back. "I'll file this first thing tomorrow and then call you with any updates." I thank him and Ransom shakes his hand.
"Let's take her home. It's way past her bedtime." Ransom says, leading us out.
...
So this chapter isn't super long but I didn't want to leave y'all with a cliffhanger, so I hope you like it.
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Falling Apart, Together✓
Fanfiction~Completed~ Ransom Dryesdale had been best friends with Bentley Reynolds's older twin brother Archer since they were babies. Their moms have been friends since childhood and their dads since college. They were always close, all three of them. Ransom...
