Atlanta, Georgia
Clay Anderson finished his text to his girlfriend and placed his cell next to his office phone. It was raining and the view of the Atlanta skyline was a bit blurred, but Clay never bothered to look outside anyway. His construction company, Anderson Homes, was the top construction company in Fulton County and the surrounding Atlanta suburbs. He lived in a brand new home in the Dunwoody area and was very well-respected among his peers in the business. Yes, by all standards, he'd made it. Lately, however, he was finding it difficult to keep up his relationship with Gia, his girlfriend, and Anna, his wife of nearly three years. He'd gotten bored with Anna shortly after she'd lost the baby. She'd gained weight and cried all the time it felt like to him. He made sure to get home after he knew she'd be asleep as this made it easier to find time with Gia, whom he'd met at a City Commissioner's dinner three months ago. Anna had grown suspicious once, when she'd come to the office and found Gia walking out, but Clay had passed her off as an administrative assistant who worked on the floor above his. Anna had fallen for it, but Clay had made it clear with his receptionist to make sure she let him know when Anna was on her way in.

He hadn't always been frustrated with Anna. It had only been after the miscarriage that she'd suddenly felt needy and weepy towards him all the time and Clay never did well with that. He hadn't wanted children in the first place. Of course, he was even more relieved when Anna said she didn't want to try again for a while. Tonight he wouldn't think about it. Tonight he would be with Gia in her loft apartment on the other side of town and had already told Anna he had a business dinner yet again. He was just about to text Gia something dirty when his office phone rang and he quickly placed his cell phone back on the desk to answer.

"Clay Anderson,"

"Hello, Clay. My name is Lane Wilkes. I'm a lawyer in the southeast part of the state. How are you?"

Clay cleared his throat, wondering what this would be about. He sat up in his chair and began to aimlessly doodle on his desk calendar. "I'm fine. How may I help you?"

"I'm calling about your daughter, Sutton Elizabeth Ryan. Do you have any contact with her?" Obviously, Lane knew this answer but he had to ask it anyway. He was also interested to hear how this guy would respond.

Clay froze. His daughter. He hadn't thought about James Ryan in years. He knew he had a kid but had removed that so far from his brain that it was foreign to him. Anna didn't know, not that he had volunteered that information, and he'd never once even mentioned James to her. His relationship with James Ryan had been a nightmare from beginning to end. She was gorgeous, Clay had fallen, but he never knew how to make her understand him. She'd caught him cheating but he'd manipulated her into thinking it wouldn't happen again and he knew very well it wouldn't stop. When James had told him she was pregnant, Clay hadn't wanted to believe her. And that night when he'd stormed out of her apartment in Orlando, he knew he would never see her again. 

"My d-daughter? I'm sorry, Mr. Wilkes, but I don't have contact with her or her mother," Clay answered. "Are you trying to get me for child support?"

"Not at all," Lane said. "I just wanted to let you know that in the near future there might be a few papers you'll need to sign stating that you agree with the adoption of Sutton Ryan to Joshua Scott Chasez, Ms. Ryan's boyfriend."

"Yeah, sure. I'll sign them whenever you send them to me," Clay was interrupted by a text from Gia, telling him what she was doing right then and what she planned on doing to him tonight. When Lane asked for his address, Clay was responding to Gia and was sure to give him the address to the Anderson's Dunwoody home. 

Clayton, Georgia

James sat in the driveway of 3140 Maple Street. When she'd been a child, her parents had taken walks along this very street with her and the family dog, Milo. She'd remembered this particular house because of its dorm windows that overlooked the front yard. It had been a white house with black shutters when she was younger, but now the house was painted a pale yellow and the shutters were white.  A veranda style porch wrapped itself around the front of the house and a tire swing hung from the oak tree that stood next to it.  She knew the backyard overlooked the Chattakeegee River and that it also had a pool because once as a little girl, she'd snuck behind to see what this childhood dream house was like from the back. The house was still just as beautiful as she had remembered. And it was for sale.

She got out of the car and went over to the For Sale sign, which had a few pamphlets in a container on the side of the sign. She went back to her car and read over it. "Spacious 4bdr, 3bth home. 3884 sq ft. Year built 1945. Fireplace in Master Bedroom. Pool with diving board." The price listed was exactly what she and JC had been looking for. She pulled out of the driveway and headed toward Main Street to Brewster's.

JC was on his second mocha frappe when James walked into Brewster's. He had his laptop opened and his headphones on, which is how James usually found him when she'd come into the shop during the afternoon. He smiled when he saw her and took his headphones off. "Hey, you look happy. What's up?" he asked, as James sat down across from him.

James slid the pamphlet across the table to him and grinned as he looked it over. "I used to love looking at this house when I was a little girl. My parents and I would take walks around this neighborhood and I used to always stop and gape at it," she said, as he looked up at her.

"It's perfect, James," he smiled. "Should I call the real estate agent and see if we can go look at it?"

Twenty minutes later, JC and James were standing in the interior of the house on Maple Street. Upon entering, a staircase greeted them with hardwood floors throughout the home. On the left was a large dining room, on the right, a formal living room. Going beyond the staircase was a den overlooking the Chattakeegee and the pool, which, compared to Chad's, was much smaller, but beautiful nonetheless. The kitchen looked into the den and had been recently revamped with stainless steel appliances. A hallway in front of the den and the kitchen led to the master bedroom, which took up most of the first floor. Upstairs were three more bedrooms, a Jack and Jill bathroom, and another bathroom at the end of the hall that connected with the bonus room over the garage.

"Have there been any offers made?" JC asked the realtor, as they walked back downstairs. 

"Only one and I'm waiting to hear back from them any day now," she replied. They were now standing in the foyer at the front door and James was looking over the dining room again as they spoke.

"I'll double the offer," JC said, and James' eyes grew big as did the realtor's. They walked outside and down the sprawling front porch. "You have my number, just let me know what we need to do next."

"Definitely," the realtor had tried not to show how shocked she was but James had nearly squealed with excitement when they'd gotten in the car.

"Double the offer! Baby! We're definitely getting this house!" James threw her arms around JC's neck and began to kiss his cheek, his forehead, and his lips all in a frenzied excitement. 

JC returned her kisses and tried to back out of the driveway all at the same time, until their little make out session had to be halted until they made it back to Chad's.  Lane's car was in the driveway and so they silently promised to continue what they'd started later that night. James went upstairs to see Sutton and JC sat down across from Lane on the couch. 

"Someone had a good day," Lane raised an eyebrow and smiled at JC. His hair had been messed up in the process and Lane could see him discreetly trying to button up two buttons on his shirt. 

"We found a house and we're pretty sure we've got it," JC told him. "It was James' dream house or something like that when she was a kid. Right in our price range and it's perfect for us."

"Well, then, I've got something to make your day even better," Lane mused, "I was bored in the office today," and he pulled a folded piece of paper out of the side of his blazer pocket. "So I drew up these adoption papers. They're not the real ones of course, but I did speak to Clay Anderson on the phone. Guy's a tool. I'd expect it to be a very easy process, should you go through with it-"

"With what?" James asked, coming down the stairs. "What is that, Josh?"

Josh hesitated and then smiled sheepishly at her. "I-well, I talked to Lane about the process of adoption. So I could know for Sutton. And he drew up fake papers just to show me what they'd look like. He also spoke to Clay and thinks it's going to be pretty easy to do."

James' face fell and she looked at Lane. "You-you spoke to Clay? When?"

"Earlier today," Lane felt put on the spot and wondered if this was a good reaction or not. Where was Chad when he needed to know how to decipher what James meant? "It was a short conversation. He thought I was going after him for child support but eased off when I told him about the adoption."

James turned to JC and narrowed her eyes at him, "When were you going to tell me this?"

"Baby, I thought you'd be excited! You knew it would come eventually. We're buying a house together and you know I want to marry you. Of course adopting Sutton would be the most logical next step!" JC stood from the couch and went over to James, taking her in his arms and kissing her forehead. "I'm sorry, James. I didn't want to upset you-"

"No, that's not it. It's just, I don't know, he said Clay's name and then you both act like you've been in on this for a while," James looked up at JC. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Because I know how you are. I know that taking it slow means a lot to you. I was going to talk to you about it, but I wanted to get through the talent show and settled into the new house. I promise I wasn't going behind your back or anything," JC reassured her with a gentle kiss on her lips. "Okay?"

She slowly nodded, giving a shaky sigh, and looked over at Lane. "What's he doing now? Clay, I mean?"

"He owns his own construction business in Atlanta. He seemed willing to go forward with the adoption process if you should so choose," Lane explained. "But he didn't seem to want to know anything about Sutton."

James slowly sat down on the couch and bit her lip, wondering what to do or say next. It became so quiet that JC could almost hear crickets. Finally, she looked at JC and then at Lane. "Thanks. I'm not mad, it just took me off guard." She took a breath and paused before she said anything else. "Josh, you can't adopt Sutton until we're married, right?"

JC didn't hesitate, "Right."

"Can we get through this talent show and the house before we talk about this again? It just feels like there are now a million and one things to do and this is not something I can think about. Not you adopting her, I mean having Clay involved in all of this and the possibility of having to see him. It's just not something I want to think about right now," she leaned back against JC. "You understand, right Josh?"

"Of course I do," JC smiled down at her and ran a finger through her hair. He looked over at Lane. "Thanks again for your help in all this."

"Anytime. Just let me know when you're ready to proceed," Lane stood and went into the kitchen to fix a drink.

Later that evening, Sutton had asked JC to read to her before she went to bed. The story she'd chosen was The Giving Tree and one of her favorites. When he had finished, Sutton crawled under her sheets and JC bent down to kiss her cheek. 

"Josh? Can I ask you something?" she inquired, as JC was walking over to her door.

"Of course, baby girl. What is it?" he walked back toward her and stood over her. 

Her eyes searched his before she said anything again.  "Josh, my friend Carly at ballet asked me if you were my dad. Can I tell her you are?" JC looked down at her and felt more pride and more love for her than ever before. This was his little girl. No matter what a piece of paper was going to say one day, he was the only dad she'd ever known.

"Absolutely," he bent down to kiss her again. 

"And can I call you 'Dad' now?" 

JC's heart felt as though it would soar out of his chest and burst as he replied, "Yes."

James sat downstairs with Chad waiting for JC to come back downstairs. She'd been quiet most of the evening and after she'd explained everything to Chad, he knew why. So much had happened today for her that he was picturing her brain exploding any minute from input. He watched her pretending to watch the Lifetime movie they'd chosen to watch, but all the while knowing she was replaying everything that had gone on that day. He knew she was being cautious but he also knew it was getting harder and harder for her to guard her heart. She'd let JC in and now, they were about to buy a house together and it looked as if marriage wasn't far off. All of it had happened so fast for her and Chad knew James was terrified of it all.

"Hey," he broke the silence and James looked over at him. "Chin up, doll. It'll be okay. I promise."