“You have to understand, Itried,” she pleaded. “I tried so hard to be a good mom. But when the sixty-day deadline got close, I knew I couldn’t give him the life he deserves. That’s all I want, you know? What’s best for the baby. Even if it’s with some other family.”
Melanie pulled out a tissue and blew her nose. “We live on the north side of Fresno, so I drove down to this side to surrender him to a fire station where nobody would know me. Just in case. After dropping him off at the door, I cried the whole way home.” She let out another sniffle. “But I knew I was doing the right thing. That’s what I’ve kept telling myself these last few weeks: that he’s probably with a good family by now. In a nice home, with a white picket fence and maybe a golden retriever who sleeps next to his crib, to protect him. That’s what I told myself.”
She blinked a few times. “Then I got a phone call from a fireman at the station, and he told me…” She looked at me, then at Derek. “You still have the baby? I don’t understand. Why isn’t he with a loving family now?”
The last part had a hint of accusation in it. I felt Derek tense next to me. It was time to tell her the truth, and hope she understood our reasons.
“When we found the baby on the door of the station,” Derek began to explain, “I wasn’t sure what to do. I knew about Safe Haven laws in theory, but had never had it actuallyhappento me before. I have a sister who works for the California Department of Social Services, so I called her. She gave me all the information on what paperwork to file and how to turn him over to the system.
“And then,” he said with dramatic emphasis, “she made a casual comment. She said it was a shame he wasn’t surrendered a few weeks later, becausethenthey would have a bigger budget and a broader foster parent pool to use. It turns out, the system was overloaded and under-budget. There were only a few foster families in the Fresno area with availability, and all of them had complaints on their record.”
Melanie sat very still. “Oh.”
“I grew up in a foster family like that,” Derek said. “I didn’t want Anthony to experience the same thing. So I made the decision to hold him for a few weeks until the new budget and foster family pool came in, andthenturn him over.”
Melanie had tears in her eyes again. “I didn’t… I didn’t know that my baby…”
“No,” Derek said emphatically. “You had no way to know. This isn’t your fault. This is somethingIdecided to do for the baby’s well-being. That’s the reason I didn’t turn him over immediately: because I was waiting for my sister to tell me when the situation was better. So that the baby would go to a good family, like you wanted.”
“You did that for him?” Melanie asked. “You took care of a baby you didn’t even know, while doing your own job as a fireman?”
“I did.”
Melanie relaxed visibly. “That’s so selfless of you. Thank you.” A smile touched her lips. “Thank you for doing what was best for my baby.”
He glanced at me, and then told Melanie, “I was also trying to do what was best for you, too.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
Derek hesitated before answering. “Safe Haven laws require that the baby be surrendered within seventy-two hours of birth.”
Melanie blinked in confusion. “The other fireman on the phone said something like that, but he’s wrong. I looked it up when I was in the hospital with Anthony. It’s sixtydays…”
“In Texas, yes,” I said gently. “In California, it’s seventy-two hours. And since you surrendered him in California, that’s the law that matters.”
The blood drained out of Melanie’s face as the ramifications of that sank in. Then she started crying again.
I slid out of the booth and joined her on the other side, putting an arm around her shoulder. “You didn’t know. It’s okay. You did what you thought was best.”
“If we turned him over to Social Services,” Derek explained, “you could have been legally prosecuted. Maybe a judge would go easy on you, but…” He shrugged as if there was no way to know. “My sister was working on a way to slip the baby into the system and back-date it. So it would appear like you surrendered him earlier than you actually did.”
I held her while her sobs petered out. My mom stuck her head out from around the counter to look at us, but I waved her away.
“Thank you,” Melanie finally said after blowing her nose. “Thank you for doing what was best for the baby, and for trying to help me. I’m glad everything worked out in the end.”
Derek cringed. “Well, it hasn’t totally worked out. That man who called you, Billy Manning, found out that we were keeping the baby off the books. He’s blackmailing me over it.”
Melanie’s eyes widened again. “Oh no…”
“Everything is going to be fine with you and the baby,” Derek quickly added. “I’m going to give Billy what he wants and make sure nobody finds out about you and the baby.”
“Oh. Okay.” Melanie blinked. “What does he want?”
Derek smiled sadly. “It’s not important. It’s worth making sure Anthony goes to a good home. But I wanted to make you aware, in case Billy contacts you again.”
“I won’t talk to him again. I’ll ignore his calls, I promise.”
“Thank you,” I said.