Isabella: Our Adopted Baby

Chapter 13

Quinn's comment really made me think. She didn't want me to be miserable during the month that I was with them. I, too, didn't want to be miserable while I was there. That meant I had to find things to occupy me while I was there.

I sat on the bed as I thought of what I could do to occupy myself. My phone had been taken so that wasn't an option. I was sure any technology that could connect to the internet was off-limits.

That didn't leave me with much.

I got to my feet and adjusted the dress so it covered the stupid diaper that they were making me wear. I left my room and ventured across the hall to Quinn and Giovanni's room.

I walked inside the room and went over to the bed. I ran my hand over the blankets that lay neatly on the bed. They had made the bed after getting up and it honestly looked really nice. They seemed like the type of people who paid someone to clean for them though.

I sat down and looked at the items on the bedside table. There was a picture of Giovanni and Quinn, smiling at the camera. There was an alarm clock with green lights angled towards the bed. Lastly, there was a lamp with a cream-colored lampshade. I assumed it was Giovanni's side considering it was boring and lacked personality.

I opened the drawer and was disappointed to see there was nothing inside. I expected to see car keys or a wallet or something.

Below the drawer was a shelf where books were stacked on top of one another. They were all books on architecture or landscape photos from various places around the world.

I got to my feet and glanced around the room. There had to be something interesting to do or look at around the house.

I saw the closet door and made my way to it. I opened the doors and stared at the clothes hung in order by color.

I got down onto my hands and knees and found some shoe boxes on Quinn's side of the closet. The first box had a pair of black heels. The second box had some random receipts and scraps of paper with things written on them. The third box I found was different than the others.

The box was nicer and in better shape than the rest. I lifted the lid off and found a sonogram image inside. The baby looked big, not like the jelly bean you usually see in the first ultrasound. I set it on the carpet beside me and picked up a small pink onesie. It was clearly meant for a baby. A small baby.

"Find what you're looking for?"

I turned and saw Quinn standing in the bedroom, in sight of the closet. I swallowed and opened my mouth to talk.

Quinn didn't give me a chance to say anything. She held up a hand to stop me. "If you're planning to use this to blackmail me, I want you to know that it won't work."

"I-I wasn't." I hadn't even thought of blackmailing her with what I'd just learned. Losing a child wasn't something I messed with. Children in general were areas I didn't mess with.

"Why are you in here in the first place?"

I wanted to tell her the real reason but it didn't make me look good. Especially not after finding her box of keepsakes for a child she never got to have.

My silence must have been a good enough answer for her. She walked over to me and reached into the shoebox. She pulled out a picture and turned it around so I could see. It was a picture of Giovanni and Quinn in a hospital room. Quinn was lying in the bed, holding a wrapped-up baby. The baby was small and purple, more than it should have been. "This is why we use ASI. We know it's not conventional but it's all we have."

"Why don't you adopt?"

Quinn sighed. "Adoptions take a long time."

"So?"

"I can't wait years to find a child. There isn't even a possibility that we would end up with a child. Things fall through all the time with adoptions."

"Is it any different than this?" I asked, nodding to the box in front of us.

She stuck the items back inside the box and then put the lid on it. She put the box back with the others and gave me a cold look. "I'm done with this conversation. Stay out of here or I'll tell ASI that you breached your contract."

I stared at her in disbelief. She was serious. It worried me to think that the contract could be so easily breached.

It made me feel like I was walking on eggshells.

Before she could scold me further, I stood and walked out of the closet. I went back to my room and shut the door behind me.