“We would try.”
“Try?”
“Three infants are difficult to place.”
Liora began crying from Mrs. Fenwick’s arms.
Carys answered from the borrowed basket we had turned into a temporary bed.
Maisie woke against me.
All three cries filled the apartment.
The caseworker waited.
“What would I have to do to keep them here?”
Mrs. Fenwick looked at me sharply.
Marla studied my face.
“Temporarily?”
“For as long as they need.”
“You understand that this is not babysitting.”
“Yes.”
“You will need a larger place, background checks, home inspections, childcare arrangements, legal hearings—”
“What forms do I sign?”
Mrs. Fenwick closed her eyes.
Later, she told me that was the moment she realized arguing would be useless.
The next several months were a blur.
Finch & Nail Hardware belonged to an elderly man named Emmett Crow.
When I explained what had happened, he stared at me over his glasses.
“You intend to raise three babies above my shop?”
