Page 59 of Obsessed Fox

"What did I say about what-ifs? They aren't going to change their mind," Hendrix tried to reassure me. "The only relatives she has are you and your parents. The judge already ruled they weren't fit to take care of her."

"I know what you've said, but our lawyer assured us it would be an emergency custody hearing. It's been two weeks."

"It all worked out in the end."

Yeah, after my niece was forced to stay in foster care for two weeks. The lawyer assured me we would get custody, but my name change put a little snag in things. Apparently they needed to prove I wasn't lying about being her aunt, and since my brother wasn't on the birth certificate, it was a little tricky. Thankfully the FBI and marshals’ service was willing to testifythat my brother was in fact her father. After that it was a matter of paperwork and inspections.

A lot of inspections. I was glad to know they wouldn't just hand Olivia over to some strange person without proof, but I was itching to see my niece for the first time.

Hendrix had met her. His friends had met her. The judge had thought it best not to bring her to court considering the trauma she endured from watching both her parents die so cruelly, so I had yet to lay eyes on her.

I needed to know she was safe.

"There she is." Hendrix pried my fingers off his arm and motioned for me to move.

Olivia was beautiful. A spitting image of her mother but with her father's green eyes. She was escorted through the airport by her case worker, a woman I’d met in court.

"Ms. O'Connor, Mr. Parks. It's nice to see you both again. Olivia, this is your aunt Maisie. You will be living with her and Hendrix."

"Where's Lex?"

I looked at Hendrix who was quick to answer. "He's in the car waiting for us."

From what Hendrix described, Olivia and Lex had formed a bond when he was forced to watch over her in the vehicle while her father bled out. I was told this wasn't the first time she had asked about him.

Olivia nodded her head but kept her eyes planted firmly on the ground. The case worker warned me this would be hard. Olivia was in therapy but it wasn't going well. She was refusing to talk. She barely came out of her room at her foster home and they said she hardly ate. We had a long road ahead of us but I was determined to try my best to make it as pleasant as I could.

"Hi, Olivia. I'm so happy to finally meet you."

She didn't look up. She didn't even acknowledge that she heard me, and doubt began to creep in. Hendrix, being the good man that he was, read my mind and squeezed my hand. He provided me the reassurance I needed.

"Are there more bags?" I was completely spacing on the case worker’s name. It would hit me after we pulled away but wasn't that always how it went?

"Yes, we checked two bags. I'll help grab them and then make sure Olivia's situated with you before I have to catch my flight back."

The silence was intense as we walked through the airport to the luggage claim area. Olivia didn't talk. Her case worker was content to just walk alongside her and I didn't know how to break the tension.

The wait for the luggage carousel was agonizingly slow. The only thing stopping me from coming out of my skin and saying random nonsense was the fact that I could see the nerves rolling off Olivia. She was playing continuously with a leather band on her wrist similar to the one Hendrix wore. I was about to ask her about it when luggage started to come down the chute.

The case worker, whose name I really needed to learn, grabbed two small purple suitcases off the belt as they came through. The fact that this was all the worldly possessions my niece had was a knife to the gut. I would need to make sure to find time to take her shopping. Hendrix and I had agreed we wouldn't decorate her room until Olivia had the chance to tell us what she wanted, but I couldn't imagine anything other than clothes could fit inside the two suitcases and one small backpack she wore.

"Is this everything?" I glanced down at the bags.

"This was all Olivia wanted to bring, yes."

I looked over at Hendrix who was quick to reassure me. "I know Special Agent Rogers mentioned the house was beingpacked up. I'll make sure nothing is thrown out, in case she wants something later."

Relief flooded me. I didn't want Olivia's decision while she was coping with a trauma to be final. Who knew what she would want one day? The last thing I wanted her to feel was regret for leaving something behind.

"Thank you."

Hendrix merely smiled. He’d been doing that a lot lately after it took me so long to accept my brother's death. I wouldn't go as far as saying I had completely accepted it, but each day got better.

He was right. I needed to do this for Olivia. She was counting on me. Thankfully Janie was amazing and willing to work around the clock to keep Wickedly Delicious running smoothly. There was no way I could do that, plus take on my niece. Maybe others could, but right now I didn't have the mental capacity for it all.

One day I would. That day just wasn't today.

We walked out to the waiting SUV in silence. We had parked in the drop-off zone and I was surprised to see there wasn't an officer waiting to yell at us. It probably had something to do with the mean-looking giant with a beard down to his chest. Lex stood guard with his arms crossed over his chest. His ass rested on the hood and one leg was crossed over the other. Intense didn't even begin to describe the vibe he gave off. I doubted anyone wanted to go toe-to-toe with him.

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